Dans' big ol list of ideas

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Greetings all,
As you've probably gathered by now, this is a list of suggestions that have come out of my noggin between the near constant brain farts, if any of these ideas have been suggested before i will try to link them to the appropriate forum, and ill try to post images explaining what i dribbling on about to make it easier to understand.


Build Blocks on Asteroids

Spoiler: Clicky Clicky!

So as some of you may have noticed, you can't build badass asteroid bases because for some reason build blocks don't work on asteroids. I mean just imagine the possibilities, you could have a series of small bases set out amongst an asteroid belt, space rocks with big ol turrets mounted on top or even flying statues to your magnificence.

Pros -

• Asteroid bases
• Asteroid turret defenses

Cons -

• Might be easy targets on PvP servers

Modular Turrets

Spoiler: Clicky Clicky!

Now this is an idea ive been wanting to see for some months now - the possibility to have modular (if that the right word) turrets, for example if you had a 2 part turret, a base which can only turn left/right 360* and a cannon which moves up and down in a 180* arch, the two parts would share power/shields/thrust and weapons, this could stop clipping issues with turrets moving into walls while aiming.

Pros -

• Looks brilliant
• Would stop clipping through walls/floors

Cons -

• Current turrets might need remodelling to incorporate this feature.

Angled Mirror Modes

Spoiler: Clicky Clicky!

Now this would help all of the builders out there, Current mirror modes are set at 90* of each other, this idea would have an additional 4 set at 45* angles, this would be perfect for building shapes like domes,
spheres, circles etc.

Pros -

• More availible angles for builders.
• Easier for building round style buildings.

Cons -

• Takes up a bit more space in the Adv. build mode menu.

Docking Wedges

Spoiler: Clicky Clicky!

Yes, yes i know, another turret based idea, this one is simple enough, wedged docking blocks to allow angled docking. As someone who loves to have perfectly smooth hulls on both ships and stations, id like to see this implemented as it will allow sleeker designing and turrets that fit perfectly anywhere.

Pros -

• Will allow designs to be well defended without compromising looks.
• Turrets will be able to sit perfectly nearly anywhere.
• Will stop OCD nutters like myself from twitching when we see an out of place block.

Cons -

• None that i can think of.

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

- Placeholder -

Edit 1 - i may have hit create thread by accident, ignore this forum for now

 

[hindos]

While obviously suggested before, I like how concisely and clearly you present each one. Particularly I like modular turrets, which I thought would be a possibility with chain-docking so I made a bunch; unfortunately I only found out too late that turrets cant dock to turrets :/ . Asteroid bases would also be interesting, although a clear workaround would be to salvage a few, then eyeball it and create an identical one in ship form. Then you can save that in your catalog and start churning out asteroid defense platforms.

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Aye, ive done that salvaging idea before hand, it would be far easier if build blocks would work.

 

[SkullCollector]

Oh yes please, give us the wedged docks. I have plans for a capital with quite a bit of slanted armour but little flat surface area for turrets to mount. The two-part system for turrets could therefore also prevent clipping into elevated sections of the hull, if I understood that rambling correctly. Although, unless we magically get hinges and mechanical parts, the barrels would clip into the base while angling, right? That's a fair price for not having the entire thing's backside disappear in the ship.

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Yeah i guess that would happen, unless the barrel section would have no clipping enabled.

 

[starhaiden]

it would be good to be able to extend arms and retract them

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Arms of what? the turret barrel?

 

[starhaiden]

I mean wings of a space ship

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

ah yes, i read up on that before hand, is you wanted wings that function only for looks id recommend having plexidoors linked up to a logic system that opens them like hangar doors.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

We can't get build blocks on asteroids because people might use that to quick mine minerals (asteroids have more resources) and because asteroids can be moved easily, if you bump your base with a capital and the server has no slowdown say bye bye to your base. I've done that a few times with a small ship I've been working on. It would be good to use as a portable re-spawn point, though.

I think you can have modular turrets, if you work with AI cores and turret dockers enough.

I like the rest.

Most of these have been wanted for a while now but I like how you though out good bits and bad bits of both.

 

[ltmauve]

One of the cons of spiltting the turret into two pieces is that then you have to split the shields, and you reduce the size for weapons, and small turrets are already at a disadvantage and this would make them even harder.

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Thats why i said

the two parts would share power/shields/thrust and weapons

 

[SkullCollector]

There might indeed be an issue with weapons; if the barrels were split from the rest, weapons could lose their grouping bonuses and be split into several groups acting independently (i.e., more outputs with less DPS). One solution I see is to build the turret as usual, but then requring us to designate, like you do with projectile outputs, the rearmost part of the barrel as a hinge. It will not be split from the group, but instead have the chosen block act like a ball socket restricted to the Y-axis and, like, 1 degree for fine tuning on X. If automatic block detection for the length and housing of the barrel is too complicated, let us select an area for the barrel, and then the joint.

This would also encourage clever turret designs, assuming block detection gets implemented and barrels cannot go downwards through the turret base, or upwards through the gunhouse, if there is any.

To avoid confusion in build mode because of clipping at the joint, have the barrel reset when entering build mode. (And generally have a hotkey to reset all docked turrets to their default direction, while we're at it.)

 

[jayman38]

I hate the idea of using up a block ID, but I think it's needed for two-part turrets that everybody wants. *deep breath* here we go:
I think we need a new block type for Weapon Barrel. It should be linkable to any weapon group and any weapon type, and should need to be built within a certain (configurable) distance of the associated weapon group. Then, the main weapon system would be in the main part of the turret, and the barrel, where the effect is emitted from, is in the tiny little part where the barrel should be. The distance limitation would be needed to keep from building barrels on the outside of ships and creating massive weapon systems deep within a protected core elsewhere in the ship.

This would use 6 Block IDs, I think. One for each of the six directions.

What happens when all the barrels for a weapon system are destroyed? Maybe the output would go back to the regular emitter block on the main weapon system. On the other hand, maybe it would be more realistic if the weapon became non-operational if the barrel is destroyed. It would be bad if your entire weapon system went offline with the destruction of three little barrel blocks. What a pain that would be! I personally prefer the way weapon systems are reduced and limited by damage. Disabling an entire 200-block weapon system by destroying the 5-block barrel part of it should be an optional mod and not be in the default game.

 

[Cyco_Reaper]

You can pretty much do this with turrets now. I forgot who did it, but someone had a moving dock for the turret that raised it in and out of the hull. If thats what you were looking for, thats what I got out of the picture at least.