Here are some additional hull shapes I'd like to see.

[dreadofmondays]

View full size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/94454272/blockproposal.png

 

[RadGH]

I was talking about this with dread on chat, and I think the new shapes would be a good addition... but only after some sort of more convenient shaping system is in place. when you are running down a flat surface filling in 45* ramps it\'s not a big deal, but if you\'ve got anything complicated then it becomes very tedious placing the shapes.

I think to compliment the shapes a tool should be made (either held by the astronaut or some new builder\'s module in build mode -- if not just always available in build mode). The shape tool I would imagine takes a solid block and automatically shapes it based on (at least) two factors:

1. The surrounding blocks. Corner pieces would be shaped differently than an inline piece, while triple connection pieces may have their own as well.
   
2. The shape mode, which is one of a few options (this is what dreadofmondays is suggesting). Some shapes to choose from would be: Block (unshaped, default), Slant (45 degree angle), Concave (round, inwards), Convex (round, outwards), and possibly more. Each shape would require modeling for all of the possible positions, inline, corner, standalone and the 3d equivalents.

Here\'s a wonderfully crafted picture that might help illustrate the idea:


Click to see full image

 

[TDude]

It would be nice for more shapes, but the Colors is what I would want. I\'ve noticed between white and Grey there isn\'t much difference, while others have a easy to see color differnce. Not just that Some of the colors need there Lighter counterpart, to add more diversity to the color schemes of ships, and buildings.

Still it would be great to see new shapes, it would make some good/nice looking ships, Into the most impressive pieces of work.

 

[EpickMan98]

I like the idea, but think of the work of what would be needed for the colission box and this is a voxel based game, so I highly doght the curves would make it.

 

[sagethe13th]

I can do without the half blocks and curved blocks. But this game desperately needs inside corner blocks. Those tri blocks would be all kinds of useful aswell.

 

[I_is_Tinsy]

Also with wedges, you should be able to place a different color, say, purple, by a grey one that is in the opposite orientation, so there is a full block that is half purple and half grey, divided along the diagonal, and also be able to do that with some of the blocks you\'re suggesting to add, like the half block, or the curved one.

 

[abzu93]

I\'m attempting a full size recreation of the Nostromo and as you know it is a pecularly angled ship. The original posters shapes would be perfect.

 

[Soban]

OP +1

 

[Zaflis]

That is so many different blocks, i can\'t even imagine having them all as separate in my inventory. There would need to be a UI system that lets decide the solid/wedge/corner same way we select orientation.

 

[Gasboy]

The corner wedges we currently have need to have a greater amount of placement ability. Its square side can only be oriented \'up\' or \'down\', which leaves out 4 possible ranges of orientation. This change itself would lend to more interesting ship shapes without adding any new shapes.

And a big +1 to the OP, that is a well done presentation of new possible block types. :D

 

[Riftmaster]

Several times now, I\'ve encountered a situation wherein placing the flat side of the corner wedge against the end of a beam would make for a nice pointy bit, or similar stuff.



And couldn\'t.



At first I thought it was just me screwing stuff up, but then I tested it a bit and realized it was not even possible



Edit: That said, changing it will greatly increase the number of positions that block can be placed in, to the point that scrolling through them might be a bit tedious...

 

[Jolkanin]

...We kill the batman.

Overused quotes aside, why doesn\'t this game just use the same auto-adjusting function as Minecraft? Except with slopes and curves and whatever else there is as well?

 

[MichaelSeph]

half blocks, the missing inside wedges and everything except the curved blocks are GREAT additions, I was thinking of something like that, like in the image of \"Why can\'t we have something nice\", he would really use those half blocks and half wedges...



But the curved in StarMade part, they do have some use, but I\'m kinda skeptical about that xD

 

[Kaamio]

We could do away with the separate blocks and instead have shaping options for regular hull. I don\'t think it would be away from gameplay if different shapes were removed as separate blocks. You could have them in advanced build mode like current orientation, add one for shape, second for \"bottom direction\" and keep third for rotating through remaining variables.

For example: we\'re placing grey hull on our Grand Ship of Awesome

Shape selector: corner block (the one we have now)

Main orientation selector: bottom towards rear of the ship

Secondary orientation selector: cycle through 4 different orientations where corner block is with it\'s full square side towards rear of the ship.

Then we put corners on the prow of our ship and have a fancy Ramming Spike of Doom installed, yay! Then we realize ramming doesn\'t really work and think it\'s slightly less awesome but still worth the minimal effort because it looks cool.

 

[LoLzboi]

Ramming works if you don\'t mind completely crippling your own ship too.

Also these blocks are a great idea! The curved blocks would kind of damage the experience since they would not follow the same style as the rest of the ship and so they would stand out. That however can be fixed by just squaring them up to the geometric thing Rad said thus allowing for curved parts of a ship without making them stand out much. This actually makes me really happy since interiors can become something more interesting and feel larger even though they take up the same amount of space (thanks to the half blocks).

 

[GROOV3ST3R]

Treat every single block as a box in terms of collisions - job done. No need for intricate curve collision shapes if the ships will likely never require this kind of level of sophistication. Simplify! Just a box, nothing more.

Visually, these blocks would be a blessing for my sore eyes ^^ I could really use them right about now ^^

 

[Digi]

Too many types of blocks, it would be better to have a hull block and then choose a sub-model... but not like the orientation one because that is annoyingly slow to change...



Or a real-time cutting tool for blocks ? Imagine just placing cubes all around your ship then nicely trimming the edges and making it smooth whenever needed... that would ease building by alot !

 

[Puck]

this should be definitively looked upon, except the curved variations {that\'s my opinion}

and aswell, as somebody suggested, a more compact way of storing them in your inventory

 

[katCrusader]

Except that the player model walks on those, making nice ramps janky

 

[sagethe13th]

I know I said I could do without the half blocks. But thinking about it they world add a level of detail that would greatly improve the designs of smaller ships. Thinner wings and fins, more sleek body shapes, these would be a great addition to the game.

Putting additional thought into curved blocks led me to conclude that they are actually a bad idea. They would greatly increase the number of faces that have to be rendered and drag down performance even more. Doing the collision meshes would cause a number of problems as well, including even worse game performance. Handling their collisions as blocks isn\'t a good solution either because it\'s annoying to get stuck on empty space when visually you should be able to pass though.

I would also like to see pyramid blocks added in. These allow for the creation of pyramids with odd sides, ship nose cones that end in a point, and spiky antenna that aren\'t two blocks thick. There many other uses I\'m sure. Image below: