Read by Council AstroTech Beams - Repair using a blueprint

[Benevolent27]

Alright, so this idea is to give astrotech beams the ability to repair a ship using a blueprint. You press R on an AstroTech computer, a menu opens, and you insert a blueprint. Connect the astrotech beam to a storage. Behind the scenes, blueprints would have a unique identifier number. When a ship is created using a blueprint, it has the same hidden identifier. When repairing the ship, the beams would replace blocks that are no longer on the ship and repair ones that are damaged, using up blocks from the attached storage. To help balance this, it would have a 5 minute cool time from when a ship is in combat. Also, I think AstroTech beams should be allowed to have tertiary effects. Punch-through would allow the beams to heal deeper into a ship, explosive would allow it to repair wider parts, etc.

As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I really hope we get away to not only repair ships using Astro techno beams but completely build them and stations as well. Stations and some large ships still require blueprints to spawn in so I really hope one day for similar system to shipyards using the astrotech allowing us to actually construct stations instead of them poofing into existence.

 

[GalactusX]

the idea is original, but that is already designed by the shipyard... if the astro tech beams repair the entire ship when hit, and not just the cubes in which impacts ... that can may be better

 

[Benevolent27]

the idea is original, but that is already designed by the shipyard... if the astro tech beams repair the entire ship when hit, and not just the cubes in which impacts ... that can may be better

I know shipyards have a repair function. This idea differs from that in that Astrotech would be used to selectively repair. I don't know if it would be realistic to have an entire ship be rebuild if it is hit by an AstroTech beam. Plus this would reduce the uses for it.

One reason someone may want to use AstroTech beams in this way is because they may not have all the parts necessary to repair the whole ship, but they want to repair the cockpit. Or perhaps a player wants to use an astrotech system instead of a shipyard, because shipyards destroy everything in a ship's inventory and they do not remember what was on the display modules. This selective repairing would also allow creative uses. For example, a person might create a carrier ship and use AstroTech beams to replace missing ships when it docks to the station. Or maybe someone builds a "regenerative ship" that uses docked entities to shoot astotech beams at the main ship to repair it.

I just thought this would be a cool idea and make the AstroTech beam actually useful.
[DOUBLEPOST=1456665667,1456665122][/DOUBLEPOST]

I really hope we get away to not only repair ships using Astro techno beams but completely build them and stations as well. Stations and some large ships still require blueprints to spawn in so I really hope one day for similar system to shipyards using the astrotech allowing us to actually construct stations instead of them poofing into existence.

Yeah, ships/bases in a can is not really realistic. I think it'd be pretty cool to use a base blueprint and then create it using an AstroTech ship.

 

[nightwalker_007]

I've made suggestions about ships with NPC's being able to repair a damaged ship, so long as the required parts are in the ship's inventory before. My understanding from previous posts by Schine is that there will be some mechanism where a ship will remember what it's original design was before it started taking damage so that it could be repaired at a shipyard without a design.

I've also suggested the use of an onboard shipyard/design computer to help automate the repair process: Stopping Advanced Build Mode spying Basically the idea is, the player would design their ship in this computer and enter an special build mode, and then the ship would construct it's self without the player's direct intervention based on the new stored design.

 

[Benevolent27]

I've made suggestions about ships with NPC's being able to repair a damaged ship, so long as the required parts are in the ship's inventory before. My understanding from previous posts by Schine is that there will be some mechanism where a ship will remember what it's original design was before it started taking damage so that it could be repaired at a shipyard without a design.

I've also suggested the use of an onboard shipyard/design computer to help automate the repair process: Stopping Advanced Build Mode spying Basically the idea is, the player would design their ship in this computer and enter an special build mode, and then the ship would construct it's self without the player's direct intervention based on the new stored design.

Hmm, interesting. I do like the idea of NPC's being able to repair a ship. But at the same time, I think the AstroTech beam could use a bit of a buff to make it actually useful.

That's an interesting concept about the special build mode. I think I'd prefer a "Build in Virtual Sector" mode for the shipyard though, rather than it replacing build mode. I'd like to be able to fly the ship around, test weapons, etc., while I build a ship.

 

[NTIMESc]

This is a great idea, and would introduce a "Medic" class to ship design. Targeting a damaged ship (with it's design loaded) would show an "x-ray" type view of the ship, with missing/damaged blocks in red.

The addition of effects systems to the AstroTech is also a great idea! Perhaps support systems could be included too, so we can have a repair pulse, or lock on repair missiles!

 

[XyNox]

I really like the thought of zooming around a big ship in a little repair vessel. As long as the repairing appears locally, this is already enough of a compromise compared to shipyard repair. Just make sure those green healing "damage" numbers stop popping up when repairing a fully healed block, it is quite irritating.

 

[Magrim]

What if astrotechs only repaired / replaced hull and armor? Shipyards would then retain most of their usefulness.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

What if astrotechs only repaired / replaced hull and armor? Shipyards would then retain most of their usefulness.

Shipyards would still be the faster more convenient option. A shipyard is more likely to have a larger stock pile of materials needed to repair and any repairing ship would also have to have storage but that mass would slow you down.

 

[NTIMESc]

any repairing ship would also have to have storage but that mass would slow you down.

I imagine a cargo ship, with the supplies, and one or more repair shuttles that can deploy from it. The cargo ship enters the sector, then a repair shuttle deploys, using the cargo ship as personal cargo.

For that matter, large ships could have there own repair supplies, and the repair shuttles just deploy from the mother ship.

 

[Dire Venom]

Great suggestion!
The spawning-from-blueprints has always nagged me and Its not something that would be ideal when starmade is in a more polished state.
Shipyards should obviously be the most effcient way to build/repair but astro beams should be more than capable of building/repairing entities.
It would add a ton of immersion as well.

 

[Benevolent27]

This is a great idea, and would introduce a "Medic" class to ship design. Targeting a damaged ship (with it's design loaded) would show an "x-ray" type view of the ship, with missing/damaged blocks in red.

The addition of effects systems to the AstroTech is also a great idea! Perhaps support systems could be included too, so we can have a repair pulse, or lock on repair missiles!

I do like the x-ray vision idea! And lock-on repair missiles.. hahah. That would be hilarious.
[DOUBLEPOST=1456753207,1456752774][/DOUBLEPOST]

What if astrotechs only repaired / replaced hull and armor? Shipyards would then retain most of their usefulness.

I think that, just as in real life, there can and should be more than 1 way to do things. I don't think giving the AstroTech beam this functionality would make everybody want to stop using the shipyard. Here's why:

AstroTech:
Pro: Nothing is destroyed in repairing the ship
Con: You have to fly around and repair a ship with another ship that has AstroTech beams or build a complicated apparatus that would do it automatically.

Shipyard:
Pro: It's easy peasy to use. It's great for doing a complete rebuild of a ship.
Con: You have to take everything out of the ship storages, all the display modules are reset during the rebuilding process, all jump drives are emptied, and all logic systems are reset.
[DOUBLEPOST=1456753290][/DOUBLEPOST]

I imagine a cargo ship, with the supplies, and one or more repair shuttles that can deploy from it. The cargo ship enters the sector, then a repair shuttle deploys, using the cargo ship as personal cargo.

For that matter, large ships could have there own repair supplies, and the repair shuttles just deploy from the mother ship.

I like the idea of being able to use personal storage for the astrotech beam. Perhaps it could work like a salvage beam, but in reverse. If connected to a storage, it uses that storage. If not, then it attempts to pull from the active inventory of a pilot, whether it is their personal inventory or personal cargo.

 

[Lukwan]

Shipyard:
Pro: It's easy peasy to use. It's great for doing a complete rebuild of a ship.
Con: You have to take everything out of the ship storages, all the display modules are reset during the rebuilding process, all jump drives are emptied, and all logic systems are reset.

I totally support this idea regarding making Astro-Tech more 'Handy'.

The problems with Shipyards are mostly bugs that are in the process of being addressed (except storage, which I think is intended to be that way). I simply wont use the Shipyard until these things are fixed. By default the Blueprint remains the most reliable and stable of all the options. If the Blueprint can retain logic-links, jump-charges, and display-text it is only a matter of time before the Shipyard is patched to do so as well.

 

[Benevolent27]

I totally support this idea regarding making Astro-Tech more 'Handy'.

The problems with Shipyards are mostly bugs that are in the process of being addressed (except storage, which I think is intended to be that way). I simply wont use the Shipyard until these things are fixed. By default the Blueprint remains the most reliable and stable of all the options. If the Blueprint can retain logic-links, jump-charges, and display-text it is only a matter of time before the Shipyard is patched to do so as well.

Yeah, I completely agree about blueprints. I lost quite a large number of blocks to shipyard bugs before. I only use the shipyard currently to deconstruct smaller ships.

If you ask me, they should rename the "Repair" function of the shipyard to "Rebuild," because that is essentially what it is doing. I've always liked the idea of the AstroTech beam though, and I'd like to use them, so I'd like to see slightly different uses between them. I think rebuilding a ship should reset it to it's state when it was saved as a shipyard design, but the jump drives should be empty.

 

[NTIMESc]

they should rename the "Repair" function of the shipyard to "Rebuild," because that is essentially what it is doing

Wasn't it mentioned somewhere, that ships would be able to keep track of their original blocks(someday)? I can't see why a star-ship couldn't store its own design in its data banks. I was kind of hoping that the whole tear-down-the-whole-ship-to-fix-a-chip-in-the-windshield operation would be improved at some point.

 

[Benevolent27]

Wasn't it mentioned somewhere, that ships would be able to keep track of their original blocks(someday)? I can't see why a star-ship couldn't store its own design in its data banks. I was kind of hoping that the whole tear-down-the-whole-ship-to-fix-a-chip-in-the-windshield operation would be improved at some point.

I do agree that it's a bit ridiculous tearing down a whole ship just to repair a few blocks. Lol. It would be nice if they streamlined the shipyard function a bit.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I do agree that it's a bit ridiculous tearing down a whole ship just to repair a few blocks. Lol. It would be nice if they streamlined the shipyard function a bit.

Yeah I sure hope that's not the intended function of the repair feature. I can't wait for shipyards to get some love. They were not even supposed to have a core anchor and they are riddled with bugs.

 

[Benevolent27]

Yeah I sure hope that's not the intended function of the repair feature. I can't wait for shipyards to get some love. They were not even supposed to have a core anchor and they are riddled with bugs.

It seems to me that they are more interested in pushing out new features right now than working out bugs, but I have been seeing a few fixes to the shipyards being released here and there with some of the patches in the last few months. We'll see.