Exposed module output requirements

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    In case you didn't notice , starmade ships can be entirely covered in hulls or blocks of any kind - thrust will still work , beams and projectiles will pass right through as they're fired. This suggestion thread assumes there's no critical technical reason behind this state of affairs.

    Output clearance could become an important point in combat balance and depth , also allowing more types of disabling weapons that need to hit specific module groups.

    Weapons should be easy enough to figure - if there's no clear cone of fire for a given weapon output , it simply won't work after you leave build mode. Weapons outputs changed in combat due to broken modules would count as obstructed to prevent edge cases.

    This would improve combat in many ways. Facing enemies to constantly shoot them would expose your weapons if they're shooting back , so it would become much preferable to strike the enemy's from an angle with no risk of retaliation. Short ranged arrays would be especially vulnerable , and limited to a single block depth.

    Thrusters would need a clear line from their outputs into space. Ideally they should give bonus thrust for a certain ratio of clear outputs to module count , so that better engines have to be more exposed. Those lines would also check for docking volumes so that sub-ships and turrets would not work to cover them.

    As a result , they would be much easier to disable , either with the output blocks destroyed or specialized weapons used on them. A fleeing opponent could be caught and eventually frozen in place.

    These are the conclusions of a previous discussion , be sure to reply if we missed something.
     
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    Aesthetics are just important in a game like starmade as are combat balance. If all systems needed to be exposed than nobody would be able to use ice crystals and lava to make beautiful engines or intimidating guns. Larger ships often need an aesthetic output on their weapons because walls of tiny AMCs or a single tiny gun port can look weird.
     
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    If your ship is built to look pretty then it\'s not going to be efficient.

    It would be awkward to toggle that mechanic with a server variable , making separate rules for roleplay servers.

    A better solution would be pass-through decoration blocks with selectable textures , but that\'d take more effort to implement.
     
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    I agree people sticking their thrusters around their ship core is annoying. WHY CAN I NOT TORPEDO THEIR ENGINES!