blocks to have moving parts on ships

[refirendum]

Are there any plans for blocks that allow for attached-to-ship parts to move/actuate? like a rotation block controller and direction/end point configurable rotating docks that can be controlled with logic or an activation module in the hotbar?

activate the controller block and the parts rotate to their activated state position that you can set end points and what direction it travels to get there maybe? and it moves opposite that in inactive mode?

Is there a plan to bring sliding types of blocks? something to move parts of the ship linearly?
possibly a ship docking style of block that can pass a ship entity along modules until it reaches the endpoint dock and enhancers affect the entire path?

If there are ideas that would work well for this, or code that wouldn't be super clumsy for it, do reply because this would be a great addition to the game (especially since elevators, sliding parts, rotating parts, etc. would be more easily realize-able on a ship)

Because it is quite difficult to implement any sort of moving part using turret docks.

 

[Mariux]

You have no idea how much I want this in the game. Just imagine working VTOL engines or extendable docking arms...

 

[therimmer96]

I think the best way to do this would be to have them as different "ships" minus the core that are "docked" to a rail without the silly 1/2 block gap. So you place a block touching the rail, and it appears as its own entity, you just cant tell.

 

[refirendum]

i suppose that would be right and good.
i also think that if they are connected to the ship via this system, they share shields and power both ways with the main ship(maybe sliding part cores and hinge cores place-able in build mode?)

 

[Mariux]

i suppose that would be right and good.
i also think that if they are connected to the ship via this system, they share shields and power both ways with the main ship(maybe sliding part cores and hinge cores place-able in build mode?)

Agreed. It would be very annoying to have a retractable antennae of your titan destroyed by some random dinghy just because it didn't have enough shielding on it's own...

 

[ltmauve]

In addition, could we get docking ports to move using these as well?

 

[Criss]

Pretty sure this was confirmed. No source though.

 

[aceface]

Are there any plans for blocks that allow for attached-to-ship parts to move/actuate? like a rotation block controller and direction/end point configurable rotating docks that can be controlled with logic or an activation module in the hotbar?

activate the controller block and the parts rotate to their activated state position that you can set end points and what direction it travels to get there maybe? and it moves opposite that in inactive mode?

Is there a plan to bring sliding types of blocks? something to move parts of the ship linearly?
possibly a ship docking style of block that can pass a ship entity along modules until it reaches the endpoint dock and enhancers affect the entire path?

If there are ideas that would work well for this, or code that wouldn't be super clumsy for it, do reply because this would be a great addition to the game (especially since elevators, sliding parts, rotating parts, etc. would be more easily realize-able on a ship)

Because it is quite difficult to implement any sort of moving part using turret docks.

Anyone who is going to complain about it being a performance issue is wrong - because we have turrets. A rotor would basically be a turret that spins round and round when turned on/off.

 

[Mariux]

Anyone complaining about it being a performance issue is wrong - because we have turrets. A rotor would basically be a turret that spins round and round when turned on/off.

Exactly, although I'm sure the devs can find a better way to attach those moving parts to the ship then the turrets, because it's a bit hard to imagine that every moving part would have a core...

 

[Thalanor]

It is easy enough from a technical standpoint to update only the vertex positions that actually change in the VBO, so no performance worries.
This would be so incredibly helpful for industrial vessel design, adding life to hangars, moving parts on ships...

 

[Winterhome]

Ref, if this gets added, I demand that we start making mobile suits.


In any case, yeah, it's been confirmed. Schema wants it, the devs want it, the testers want it, the people with influence want it. I hope we get a system to control them with scripts, too >_>

 

[jayman38]

There needs to be a way to make groups and subgroups within groups, so that you can have multiple moving parts within a moving part. Example: A door is a group that moves within another group as an elevator, sliding along an elevator shaft. Grouping needs to work on multiple different block types.

I'm thinking that a simple C-V linkage would be good enough, with multiple links per block. A many-to-many relationship, maybe? (From the example: A block in the door is linked to both the door and to the elevator, and the door could consist of different blocks, including hull and glass.)

I'm looking for ideas from the community on how to do this grouping and multi-level subgrouping in an optimal way, so that the dev team can see these ideas. The more good ideas they see, the sooner we get the stuff.

 

[ltmauve]

I think the best way would be some sort of C-V based system. You would have a controller block (Let's call it a servo), either a linear servo or a rotary servo type, and you would select any sort of block to make it be part of the moving group. However, if you select another servo, all blocks under that one are shown as selected automatically, but in blue rather than purple (since they are part of the secondary servo's "entity")

Linear servos would have marker blocks of some sort. These would be C-V'ed in a chain (that is, 1->2->3->4->5..., not 1->(2+3+4+5)) and when you activate one of the markers, the linear servo moves up or down the chain (or from 1->last or last->1) to get to it. Note that the offset between the markers will determine where the servo moves. This means you can hide markers off to the side of wherever you have your elevator. You can also adjust the timing of the system by hitting R on the servo itself. It would give you a menu, telling you where each marker is and the distance between adjacent markers, as well as letting you adjust the time the servo takes to travel between each pair of markers.

Rotational servos would also use the markers. The orientation of the servo would matter, as this determines which axis the group rotates about. The markers provide rotational information based on the angle needed to go from the axis of rotation to the marker. Like the linear servo, it has its own config screen.

 

[combat_wombat]

This would be awesome. I'm totally making a transformer if this happens. :P

 

[Bench]

Can say this is something we've been working on, in one form or another.

 

[ltmauve]

Can say this is something we've been working on, in one form or another.

That all you can tell us at this time?

Also, another thing I thought of was to have a version of the servos that don't affect the physics. So if you have a few blocks that you want to move for a cosmetic effect like weapon ports, engine vents, fans, maybe even a blast door over a window, you could use it and it wouldn't affect the server load at all

 

[Bench]

That all you can tell us at this time?

For now yes.

 

[refirendum]

Azereiah Yes. I will make a gundam if this happens.
think of the depth you could add to your ship: rotating engine parts, decorative turbine housings with actuating sliding vents so that you can see the innards spinning when you tell the vents to slide open.... mega cannons with sliding or rotating-open covers that open wide to reveal the weapon's glow... and then PEW! shoots a shield-killing beam
ships with variable wing geometry or turret arrays that can be tucked inside the ship and then actuated out for more turret defense coverage...
docking ports that are retractable... sliding blast shields, rotating pieces placed in front of cameras to simulate an enhanced HUD... sliding blocks that can slide different status displays in front of your camera so that you can monitor more different activity within your ship along with the logic system... ships that look seamless and flush that suddenly slide open all of their armor plates and become blossoms of destruction...

moving space station parts, rotating sections for that centripetal simulated gravity look... a galaxy alive with life...

 

[Mariux]

Can say this is something we've been working on, in one form or another.

 

[KiloZulu]

The new update mentions a future rail system for docking - this sounds useful for creating sliding parts. An example might be the retractable landing bays for fighters on Galactica. I have at least one ship that I've wanted to add retractable wings to for carrier docking.