Docking should be split: Rails, Turret, Fixed

[ltmauve]

Pics or it didn't happen doesn't work.
Also, would it work for this hanger? Which, by the way, has a room almost directly beneath it, so nothing that sticks into the floor too much.

Spoiler: If it doesn't work for this...

See all the docking ports? Also, the ones in the center go out to the sides.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I'm going stir crazy right now because i left in the middle of this debate and now i have a design for your ships that you'll all love. A universal docking stick that looks good and doesn't get in the way of anything.

All my docks send signals to the mother ship so any docking stick would have to contain (1) Core, (2) Rail Docker (3) Activator (4) Wireless Receiver plus an additional set of activator and wireless receiver if I want to be able to undock the ship. It also has to be able to reach far enough to accommodate any ships that may have the center of mass up higher then the previously seen ships as it is a universal hanger. I don't know about the people who build battle boxes but considering my carrier has a full interior there is no way I can accommodate that many blocks sticking into the rooms below.

 

[jath]

You're in for a treat. Wait until Monday and I'll show you. I'll have it for dl as well.

 

[WaffulMann]

Hang on guys, will turret barrels share weapons with the bases?

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Hang on guys, will turret barrels share weapons with the bases?

currently? no, would be a great feature though, even if it's just the ability to link slave and tertiary and keep the master in the barrel.

 

[Malacodor]

To balance out docked entities sharing 100% of the ships stats this out anything docked to a rail might not be able to have AI installed making it so they cannot act as fixed guns.

That's an important point! Why should I use fancy rail-based hangar doors and the like if I can have the same functionality with plex doors, which work faster, require less blocks, are 100% shielded and have all defensive effects the ship they are part of has? And if my hangar door undocks due to damage it can get stuck and my fighters are trapped inside. The current system deepens the trench between RP ships and ships built for combat. The former can have all kinds of rail stuff while the latter is largely better off without it (aside from turrets of course).

 

[jath]

It's true that combat ships are better off with plex doors, for the time being, however, if we either removed plex doors, or made them the same type of weak spot docked doors are, we open up all types of boarding party possibilities.

Anyway, i have that universal small ship dock built. I'll make a video in the morning, and put it up for download later after that. It's pretty cool. It works for any ship that can fit in the space and doesn't take up any extra room.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

It's true that combat ships are better off with plex doors, for the time being, however, if we either removed plex doors, or made them the same type of weak spot docked doors are, we open up all types of boarding party possibilities.

Anyway, i have that universal small ship dock built. I'll make a video in the morning, and put it up for download later after that. It's pretty cool. It works for any ship that can fit in the space and doesn't take up any extra room.

While I still want "gravity" based core centric docking I've though of an idea to test out on my carrier. It's not universal but it exploits a design similarity between all my small craft. I'm still interested to see what you came up with though.

 

[Dire Badger]

I would like to point out that I served a naval gun for many years. and the argument that 'most of the gun is not in the turret' doesn't hold water.

The base of a 9 inch gun or even most 'main battle guns' was composed of the following items:
ammunition feed/ejection mechanism (irrelevant in starmade, no ammunition)
In some guns, the pilot/firer's compartment, although this was rare.
Rotation and manual targetting system. This is simplified in starmade, but is basically what is in the bottom
The hatch, servicing room, and a tunnel for someone to crawl up into the gun.
The 'gun' itself was the firing mechanism and the turret, which were solidly affixed to each other, the whole barrel/firing assembly needing to be swiveled to fire. Very similar to the new rail system.

The problem is not with rails. The problem is that shields, power, and weapons scale FAR TOO WELL. Thus necessitating big defenses and gigantic weapons. This is also the reason why armor sucks and no one wants to fly a fighter. Because big weapons are just insanely over-the top. While obviously the difference between a 4 block weapon and a 5 block weapon should be 25%, the difference between a 400 and a 500 block weapon should be far less pronounced, closer to 2.5%. and the power system needs to be COMPLETELY reworked, from scratch, eliminating the whole 'dimensionality' thing altogether.

But no one wants to call attention to the elephant in the room, because admitting it suggests a huge nerf (That won't really have any effect since everyone gets nerfed equally)

In essence, 25 turrets with 10 points of weapons each should be vastly more powerful, overall, than a single turret with 250 points of weapons. Why? because each of those turrets must also contain a bobby ai, an extremely expensive firing computer, the turret mechanism, and each of those tiny turrets run the risk of getting much more easily scraped off by a counterattack.

It's a matter of risk (and expense) versus reward.