Recognized Craftable Multi-stack Armour

[Lukwan]

Much discussion on streamlining the factory crafting gave me these ideas:

1) ---Allow hull and armour multi-stacks to be crafted as a group. All individual recipes would remain with one additional recipe for the group of 'special-teams' shapes using the basic cube version for a source of Material.

The time and cost would remain the same but imagine the savings in key-strokes! Based on my experience with building I would suggest the following breakdown of ratios:
-36% Wedges
-23% Pentas
-23% Heptas
-18% Corners

Other builders may use different ratios (or for simplicity; just make them equal.)

2) ---Allow the advanced factory to use its existing recipe for Advanced armour as well as the ingredients needed to make said recipe. So it could also draw hull in the appropriate quantities to make its advanced blocks. Again, each factory would retain it's normal crafting recipes but this would change would reduce tedium on the factory floor greatly.

There are levels of complexity and tedium that will remain a part of the game forever because to loose them would diminish the variety and fun of SM. As such, any complexity or tedium that is 'optional' should be scrutinized for potential streamlining.

 

[SkylordLuke]

I swear i saw the same suggestion yesterday

EDIT
yes,and not 1.. but 2 very similar suggestions.
I guess this one does have some unique suggestions,but in the context of reducing steps to create wedges/slabs from one block of armor,this one too is going after the same thing,so it would be appropriate to discuss this is existing threads. but since its already here,I guess we can overlook that

here are the threads ,just from yesterday that are talking about same things:
1: Recognized - Remove Hull/Armor Manufacturing Cube Middleman Step
2: Read by Council - Hull simplification for shapes

I will add this to frequent suggestions thread
edit*
added to planned under the context of streamlining the process of producing the wedges/slabs,but not exactly as stated in this thread,we will see what devs think about this

 

[Valiant70]

We really just need to put all the shapes into a system similar to the slabs and have a single item called "Hull/Armor Plate"

 

[jstenholt]

A-hem... and color. I like how often we hear this suggestion. It gives me hope that this might become a thing in the near future.

 

[Benevolent27]

Yeah, I think freeing up people to change color and block shape would allow better creativity and modification of ships. If someone wants to make a purple and white ship with advanced armor, but then change it up to orange and blue, right now all the existing armor they have is worthless and they have to go mine more fertikeen. Why restrict their ability to redesign the look of their ships? Really all that should be needed to change the color is paint. In the advanced world of space exploration, do they really lack the technology to change the color of armor?

 

[Lukwan]

We really just need to put all the shapes into a system similar to the slabs and have a single item called "Hull/Armor Plate"

Actually I like this idea even better.

 

[Nickizzy]

Actually I like this idea even better.

I love how one guy make a good idea, then another guy says he likes it, then it's that guy who gets his post an agree, not the idea guy. No offense to anyone, just had to point out that silly paradox.

Now i have to contribute. Darn.

Really just I agree to, that seems to be the best idea. Make the slabs have slab 1, 2, 3, 4, and then wedges, heptas, ect.

 

[Auriga_Nexus]

Agreed with the above. Why bother having separate item types for each shape of block when we can just lump them all together and have one hull/armor block represent all the different shapes for that block?

I play a game called Empyrion: Galactic Survival that has block-based crafting of ships and bases, and this is the solution they implemented: basically you have your block type (Steel, armored steel, glass, concrete, etc) and recipe needed to create one of each block type. However, the shape of the block is abstracted until you actually place the block, at which point you can pull up a menu to decide which shape you want.

This should be easy to do for Starmade, in fact the mouse-wheel menu for multi-stacks already give us part of the necessary code framework for implementation. If we wanted to go further, we could even get rid of having separate stacks for colors, and instead make a "paint gun" or similar tool to allow us to change the block color before we place it. It can even work for light blocks as well. With this the only separation would be between different armor types (hull/standard/adv/cryst) or block types (light block, plex/glass/blast door, etc), which would save loads of space and help keep things organized for crafting.

 

[Benevolent27]

Agreed with the above. Why bother having separate item types for each shape of block when we can just lump them all together and have one hull/armor block represent all the different shapes for that block?

I play a game called Empyrion: Galactic Survival that has block-based crafting of ships and bases, and this is the solution they implemented: basically you have your block type (Steel, armored steel, glass, concrete, etc) and recipe needed to create one of each block type. However, the shape of the block is abstracted until you actually place the block, at which point you can pull up a menu to decide which shape you want.

This should be easy to do for Starmade, in fact the mouse-wheel menu for multi-stacks already give us part of the necessary code framework for implementation. If we wanted to go further, we could even get rid of having separate stacks for colors, and instead make a "paint gun" or similar tool to allow us to change the block color before we place it. It can even work for light blocks as well. With this the only separation would be between different armor types (hull/standard/adv/cryst) or block types (light block, plex/glass/blast door, etc), which would save loads of space and help keep things organized for crafting.

I would prefer this method. For painted hulls, however, would the color be lost when picking up the block? Personally, I'd prefer the color to not be lost, but instead it can either be changed using a paint gun while building or stripped using a new type of factory block called a "paint stripper" which simply removes paint and outputs uncolored hull/armor. The other option to a "paint gun" would be to have factories create colored hull/armor from uncolored blocks and the paint stripper to strip them.