Criss' Thread

[Theats]

Can we expect to see these NPC factions in game by years end?

 

[Criss]

Can we expect to see these NPC factions in game by years end?

Probably. The economy and trading mechanics are being worked on next, which means TG ships will be in first and within a month or two. Possibly within the next few releases.

 

[kiraen]

The economy and trading mechanics are being worked on next

:D

 

[Theats]

Awesome!

The addition of factions, even in a basic NPC form will greatly add to the single player experience, or even PvE of sorts on servers.

 

[Criss]

Greetings citizens!
Another weekly post about the ships of StarMade! This week it's the Outcast Patrol Ship.

The patrol ship stands out in the Outcast lineup. Most of the larger vessels follow similar design aesthetics. The smaller vessels vary quite a bit. The nature of the Outcasts means they manufacture larger vessels to more uniform standards. Smaller vessels are designed for smaller parties or individuals, and as such do not follow the same standards.

The ship is darker than most. Outcast military vessels are painted darker, while their civilian craft are lighter. The ship comes equipped with mounted cannons and two turrets. Another oddity, as the Outcasts make less use of turrets on their craft than other races, more so on a vessel of this size. Many systems are exposed, and while this might be seen as a flaw, the ship can go toe-to-toe with the Trading Guilds Patrol Ship.

Lastly, large armor panels may extend or retract to cover the engines and aid in intimidation tactics.

Next, I want to talk about future posts. We recently finished our fleet build contest. It was a resounding success. We have since judged almost all 180 fleets, and approved of around 50+ to make it into the game. Over the course of these posts, we might take a look at some of these builds on this thread. No lore will be given, however we will take a look at what makes a fleet a fleet. Obviously we will keep a few secret, even though you can download them yourself. This won't start till we announce the winners.
Anyway, thanks for reading!​

 

[Reilly Reese]

Greetings citizens!
Another weekly post about the ships of StarMade! This week it's the Outcast Patrol Ship.

The patrol ship stands out in the Outcast lineup. Most of the larger vessels follow similar design aesthetics. The smaller vessels vary quite a bit. The nature of the Outcasts means they manufacture larger vessels to more uniform standards. Smaller vessels are designed for smaller parties or individuals, and as such do not follow the same standards.

The ship is darker than most. Outcast military vessels are painted darker, while their civilian craft are lighter. The ship comes equipped with mounted cannons and two turrets. Another oddity, as the Outcasts make less use of turrets on their craft than other races, more so on a vessel of this size. Many systems are exposed, and while this might be seen as a flaw, the ship can go toe-to-toe with the Trading Guilds Patrol Ship.

Lastly, large armor panels may extend or retract to cover the engines and aid in intimidation tactics.

Next, I want to talk about future posts. We recently finished our fleet build contest. It was a resounding success. We have since judged almost all 180 fleets, and approved of around 50+ to make it into the game. Over the course of these posts, we might take a look at some of these builds on this thread. No lore will be given, however we will take a look at what makes a fleet a fleet. Obviously we will keep a few secret, even though you can download them yourself. This won't start till we announce the winners.
Anyway, thanks for reading!​

When are winners announced?

 

[Criss]

When are winners announced?

When we are ready to announce them.

 

[Criss]

Greetings citizens! It's time for another ship post. This time we've got the Outcast Exploration Vessel.

The ship itself if quite an odd design. As mentioned before, the smaller ships of the Outcast faction do not follow standard designs, and so they vary quite a bit in looks.

This vessel is intended to be used as an exploration craft, however it has also been used as a scout. The ship comes with a very large sensor array extending from the main body. There are twin engines at the ends of wing like structures. The cockpit of the vessel is encased in black metal frames, and you will see this particular bridge design in other builds. You might also notice a large embedded structure on the top of the hull. This is the jump drive, and you will see this jump drive configuration on many larger Outcast craft.

Towards the rear of the craft you can find a docked Exploration Pod. Should you enter the ship from here, you would find yourself in the crew quarters. The ship accommodates 2 - 3 people. It is intended for short range expeditions. There is a lower deck dedicated to bringing aboard cargo and salvage.

The ship is quite weak, and is purely intended for exploring derelict structures. The ship does come with an anti gravity system, to fight the effects of planetary gravity wells. Various configurations of this vessel exist, with some being fitted for more cargo space, or others exchanging various systems for defensive weaponry.

Admittedly, this is the strangest craft in the Outcast lineup. It's a good looking vessel. Although it looks the least like the rest of the fleet, and so a new exploration ship may be added in the future.

With that out of the way, I do have a few questions for you all. I mentioned variations of these vessels, yet so far we have yet to build any. Ship hull variations would hopefully add some more diversity in each fleet/faction. One thing I have yet to decide is how to go about it. I know that I want the variants to serve slightly different roles, and to also have different paint jobs. The paint jobs can be minimal, like striping pattern changes.

Another thing I wanted to discuss was the idea of extremely rare ship spawns / rare ships. This could mean two things. A variant of a hull that we know of that is significantly stronger. Or an entirely new design handed out only to the best and most dangerous members of the various factions. I would be okay with both. If we do these rare ship builds, or even variant hulls, we will not be revealing them. These would be worth the surprise.

My questions to you.
1 - Do you think we should do a lot of variant hulls or fewer?
2 - I don't want to change the paint job drastically for variant hulls. I would be okay with adding other details to denote it's new purpose however. Thoughts?
3 - What are your thoughts on rare / legendary ships and their designs. For example: the Trading Guild Faction could get legendary freighters (riveting I know), but they could come with some heavy defenses and extreme cargo capacity.

I am already expecting everyone to want legendary builds to happen. I want them to happen. Creating them will take longer than normal and that means they will likely come later. I also expect to do a minimum of three for each faction in various sizes.

That's all folks. Thanks for reading!

 

[Reilly Reese]

1 - Do you think we should do a lot of variant hulls or fewer?

Variants are always better. Preferably these could be added after the update drops these though so as to not slow down development and provide regular new content.

2 - I don't want to change the paint job drastically for variant hulls. I would be okay with adding other details to denote it's new purpose however. Thoughts?

You could take a pointer from EVE and add some small changes here and there like extra wings, engines or techy bits and bobs.

3 - What are your thoughts on rare / legendary ships and their designs. For example: the Trading Guild Faction could get legendary freighters (riveting I know), but they could come with some heavy defenses and extreme cargo capacity.

I'd like this though different naming conventions for each faction would fill this better than universal conventions. I.E. Legendary Freighter = Reinforced Bulk Freighter or Legendary Outcast Frigate has a unique name like "Claw of the Forgotten"?

 

[Blaza612]

1 - Do you think we should do a lot of variant hulls or fewer?
2 - I don't want to change the paint job drastically for variant hulls. I would be okay with adding other details to denote it's new purpose however. Thoughts?

While variants are all fine and dandy, I would have randomly generated variants. Basically, each section of a ship has got x different variations, with x spots for extra shit to be tacked on, and the game will back a completely random set, so as to keep variation up. Certain things can be attributed with certain roles, which could make it a more procedurally generated system.

3 - What are your thoughts on rare / legendary ships and their designs. For example: the Trading Guild Faction could get legendary freighters (riveting I know), but they could come with some heavy defenses and extreme cargo capacity.

Again, I think the random/procedural generation would be great, except with a legendary category that has the different sections crafted so meticulously in both systems and looks so as to be much more unique to the rest.

Now, when it comes to outcast lore, if they're simply a bunch of savages I'm gonna stab whoever wrote the story. I'm hoping that the story is gonna go down that the Trading Guild and the majority if factions that it's "partnered" (controlling) with are oppressive assholes, and the outcasts simply ran away from them, trying to create their own new factions but being shut down as they're a threat to the Trading Guild.

Also, with scavengers, make them Mad Max style space ships. Have a combination of anti-shield weaponry, massive speed and damage pulse. A LOT of damage pulse.

 

[Criss]

naming conventions

Tbh naming conventions hasn't been discussed yet. I don't know if schema had any plans. Right now the names are pretty plain, but we could come up with some interesting ideas, even just as placeholders. Legendary ships are probably a long ways away, so it's not something to worry about now.

random/procedural generation

The issue here is that this is the exact thing we want to avoid with ships. I currently cannot imagine a good system being implemented anytime soon. We discussed this sort of generation for space stations or rooms in structures, but not entire ships.

outcast lore

We have not revealed much. Essentially they are a bit nomadic. They've got some bases. They form militias (not full militaries). They are a loose organization trying to survive. If you've watched any of The Expanse tv show, they are sorta like the asteroid miners in that series. (btw that show is good).

scavengers

We already have their style picked out. It will vary the most ship to ship. One of their ships is a refit TG frigate, another ship is an engine core with broken hull attached the sides. There's a lot of different ideas and they will probably have the largest selection of ships when the first batch of assets are complete.

 

[Lecic]

3 - What are your thoughts on rare / legendary ships and their designs. For example: the Trading Guild Faction could get legendary freighters (riveting I know), but they could come with some heavy defenses and extreme cargo capacity.

I think legendary variants of ships would be cool, especially if you encountered something crazy like a Legendary Dreadnought.

 

[Blaza612]

The issue here is that this is the exact thing we want to avoid with ships. I currently cannot imagine a good system being implemented anytime soon. We discussed this sort of generation for space stations or rooms in structures, but not entire ships.

It honestly wouldn't be too difficult. The pieces would connect to the others in the same style, and the hull wouldn't even need to change dramatically, just a bunch of different details. This would add a LOT more variety and would be less painful than pre-making all of the ships.

However if they are going to be implemented somewhere down the line, I'd recommend getting a few variations, with each section looking completely different to every variant, then when the procedural ships gets implemented, less work for you to do.

We have not revealed much. Essentially they are a bit nomadic. They've got some bases. They form militias (not full militaries). They are a loose organization trying to survive. If you've watched any of The Expanse tv show, they are sorta like the asteroid miners in that series. (btw that show is good).

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the show. I've heard a lot about it and I'd love to, just I can't so yeah. :p

But as long as the outcasts are actually fighting for proper morals/ideals, then we all G. :p

We already have their style picked out. It will vary the most ship to ship. One of their ships is a refit TG frigate, another ship is an engine core with broken hull attached the sides. There's a lot of different ideas and they will probably have the largest selection of ships when the first batch of assets are complete.

Those are some good looks, though I still like the idea of Mad Max in space. Having scavengers solely focus on taking down shields then ramming with damage pulse would be FAR more interesting then just another faction that uses normal guns on trashy ships. :p

 

[therimmer96]

Legendary TG ship would be cool, could be something like a colony ship, explaining all the cargo and defenses

 

[yo'aj Qel]

1 - Do you think we should do a lot of variant hulls or fewer?
2 - I don't want to change the paint job drastically for variant hulls. I would be okay with adding other details to denote it's new purpose however. Thoughts?

Well, I think that should depend on the faction. I would actually like to see close to no variations on TG ships (making them easier to manufacture in large quantities) but A LOT of variations on scavengers (because practically every ship is pieced together uniquely). I think it is important to still keep the ships recognizable. So you should keep the general shape and the colour palette (same proportions of same colours).

I'm not convinced by the idea of random generation. Sure, it would be cool if you could generate especially scavenger ships like borderlands makes weapons, giving you millions of unique ones - but that does sound pretty impractical.

3 - What are your thoughts on rare / legendary ships and their designs. For example: the Trading Guild Faction could get legendary freighters (riveting I know), but they could come with some heavy defenses and extreme cargo capacity.

I agree that this is a very cool idea. This way you can have ships that are much more dangerous but also much more rewarding if you manage to capture them. I think these ships should stand out quite a lot, visually and statswise. So you could either make them huge or give them unexpected tools like stealth.

 

[Blaza612]

but that does sound pretty impractical

Please elaborate.

 

[Jananton]

Well, in relation to points 1 & 2, personally I think there shouldn't be too many variants. I feel it is, or should be, for a large part lore related.
Since the Outcasts are a nomadic(?) faction as an example, variants could exist for groups that haven't been in contact with each other for a long time, like the evolution process were different lines from the same origin evolve in different directions when not in contact with each other for prolonged time.

As for point 3, of course there should be extremely rare legendary ships to be found. I like the idea someone suggested that these should have typical personalized names instead of a general type name. A touch like that will highly add to the immersion when you're lucky enough to encounter one, and... live to tell the tale of course.

Greets,

Jan

 

[yo'aj Qel]

Please elaborate.

Well, different reasons. First, there's no similar feature, so it probably comes with a lot of programming effort, even though I can't judge that. Also there are some differences to the Borderlands example I mentioned. Hand held weapons are a lot smaller than spaceships compared to everything else that needs to rendered in the game and they are all roughly of the same shape - which isn't the case for spaceships. But the probably biggest problem I see, is that you need a fixed scheme on how to assemble your ship. You have to have "slots" for certain parts of the ship, such as main body or wings or engine, that have to be present on every variation of your ship and have to have roughly the same shape on every one. You also need to have specified "junction" points, where the parts fit together - in all likelihood this will have to be rail docking. Therefore it would on the one hand be complicated to just change small details - because small autonomous objects in SM are... complicated due to the block nature of the game. On the other hand this would make rather strong modifications of the original model necessary, which is something that Criss probably doesn't want to do

But that's just my feeling about this, maybe there's an easier way to solve this, that I'm not seeing. I don't see an easy way to realize this with the current game mechanics. :/

 

[Kingofanime]

1. I think the trade guild is more likely to make a newer ship design than a variant(rare 100 year old cargo ship vs common current cargo ship vs rare new cargo ship), but the scavenger faction would be highly likely to have variants as they try to get a slight edge on each other.

2. I would prefer variants to have some kind of small exterior detail change. Enough that if you're really close to it, you can tell it's different. This would allow someone searching for them to go on a kind of scavenger hunt in a really small fast vessel searching for them, and then later call in the fleet, when they find what they want.

Whatever you do, as long as you're making stuff, keep up the good work.

 

[Blaza612]

First, there's no similar feature, so it probably comes with a lot of programming effort

Procedural Generation isn't actually that hard to make. It's a simple random number generation with limits based on the previous number. Hell I could write up my own version if there was a good enough reason to. :p

But the probably biggest problem I see, is that you need a fixed scheme on how to assemble your ship. You have to have "slots" for certain parts of the ship, such as main body or wings or engine, that have to be present on every variation of your ship and have to have roughly the same shape on every one. You also need to have specified "junction" points, where the parts fit together

You quite literally just described the looks part of it. :p

in all likelihood this will have to be rail docking.

No, it wouldn't. It'd just require setting each blocks position, which would just derive from the current BP's spawning system.

Therefore it would on the one hand be complicated to just change small details

Again, no. You can just place them on top of the shit already there.

While I'm only an amateur programmer, I still know my shit. :p