Building/Repair System Suggestion

[Templar_Luke]

Hey guys. I know this kind of topic has been done, redone and overdone and that ship repair system is unlikely to change, but I just came up with this idea, and I thought it would be a good thing to post and let you discuss on it.

So, currently, the repair system works as the repair beams will heal any physically existing damaged blocks.
What I've read say for quite a while was: Repair Beams should heal the entirety of a ship, wether the blocks are there or not. Many people found issues with it, like keeping track of every blueprint for every ship you may have, making bigger entity sizes, more lag, etc...
I think my idea is slightly different. While keeping the current repair beams to work the way they do, a new system could be added, like a Building Beams. Here is how I think Building Beams could work:
-Blueprint importing, exporting, spawning would all remain the same;
-Building Beams would NOT repair damaged blocks;
-You can only rebuild your faction's ships, if you have the right permissions to do it (permission added on faction member permissions);
-Building Beams would be 2.5x (value is subject to change) slower than Drydocks, and could NOT be automated;
-To use, you assign a blueprint to the ship you want to rebuild and then fire the beams, probably at any spot on the ship. This could be done with a command line (/blueprint assign *blueprint*) or with a button on the interface that would assign the ship you are targeting;
-Building Beam use on any ship/turret would disable the ship's systems (thrust, weapons (missiles as well) and shields);
-Building Beams would use blocks stored on the Building Ship's PlexStorages to rebuild the damaged ship;
-If a blueprint tries, for some reason, to build into an active docking port, the game won't allow it;
-After you leave the Building Ship, the blueprint assignment would be removed to prevent lag;
-Obviously, the bigger the array group, the faster it would rebuild;
Also, I do understand that the future Dry Docks that are planned would probably make this obsolete, but this system's main purpose would be to work as a portable thing that you could (for example) rebuild turrets with after a battle, if you are far from home.

Opinions? I would like to know the viability of this idea, as it could be a practical thing to have in the future.

EDIT 1: Added more conditions, to attempt fixing issues found with the idea.

 

[CyberTao]

Honestly Turrets should just be scraped and replaced if they are too damaged :p But I can see what cha mean.

I think the coming HP system would give Astro-tech use and though I may be wrong, Provide a way of rebuilding a ship :u As Far as I know, you could just add a instant that happens when HP hits 0.

The issue with your idea is the Nature of using a command :u which would require admin-ship (or a rework of the admin system). That and its also kind of confusing o -o What would happen if you select one BP, and then fire at a completely different ship for example? What happens if its misaligned and tries to build into a active docking zone?

This could also be weaponize, but selecting a BP that is a Massive block of Dirt and firing it at a enemy ship :u Increasing its mass and blocking cockpits, maybe even the core o -o

 

[Argyle_Ninja]

Being able to rebuild quickly out in the field would pretty much negate having to stop and dock up at a shipyard for repairs. Depending on how quickly you could replace blocks with a hefty sized pile of Astrotech beams, I'm thinking you could just have a massive repair ship docked somewhere inside your titan that would instantly start patching holes that get blown in the hull.

 

[Templar_Luke]

"The issue with your idea is the Nature of using a command :u which would require admin-ship (or a rework of the admin system)."
The idea of the command line thing is an option, the other option was the use of a button on the interface, I said that as well...

"What would happen if you select one BP, and then fire at a completely different ship for example?"
The idea of assignment of blueprints would make like you select a ship, (F key, as you normally would) then you choose a blueprint, and then press a button somewhere on the interface that would assign the blueprint to the ship. The only issues this would have would be if you missed to target the correct ship, which for its purpose (while it's supposed to be portable, it's not supposed to be a mobile solution), would rarely happen, since you would be targeting a stopped target. This way, the beam shot at anything else would do no damage at all. Also, the blueprints, when assigned, would link to the core, making it be the "centre" of the ship and making everything on the orientation relative to the core.

"What happens if its misaligned and tries to build into a active docking zone?"
Well, in that case it would work just like it does when the player is building, it would not allow the blocks to be placed.

"This could also be weaponize, but selecting a BP that is a Massive block of Dirt and firing it at a enemy ship :u Increasing its mass and blocking cockpits, maybe even the core"
The thing of it breaking the core would never happen, since this system would *ideally* only PLACE blocks, not remove any present ones, so the only thing blocked would be the view.
I see the weaponizing thing as well... ideally the only ships you would be able to repair would be your own faction ships, so you could do no harm against enemy, neutral or allied ships. Also, to fix any unwanted-not-so-trustworthy faction member from wrecking your (and your pals') creations, this (useability of the Building Beam) would be permission you would assign in faction ranking.

 

[Templar_Luke]

Being able to rebuild quickly out in the field would pretty much negate having to stop and dock up at a shipyard for repairs.

I see what you mean as well... obviously Building Beams would be a lot slower than the drydock method, could NOT be automated (no drones flying around fixing your ship), and a ship could not repair itself.

Depending on how quickly you could replace blocks with a hefty sized pile of Astrotech beams, I'm thinking you could just have a massive repair ship docked somewhere inside your titan that would instantly start patching holes that get blown in the hull.

The bigger the beams, the faster it repairs, up to a capacity that could not be increased by adding anything else, only by having more ships doing the rebuild (obviously, the repair rate of a drydock would be much faster, say, 2.5x or 5x times the repair rate of a beam) Also, to prevent too much combat going on when rebuilds are being done, all weapon systems (including turrets, if you are or not rebuilding one), thrust systems and shields would be down, to allow the ship to be repaired.