So this suggestion is mostly an aesthetic one,
Current beams are just straight beams, cant be curved, merged, reflected, merged etc unlike real light beams and those cool looking laser weapons in movies.
Example of what I mean by combining beams
Here the individual beams merge at a central point before firing as a single combined more powerful beam
But that doesn't look very elegant, here is the the warpray from starcraft 2 beta attacking
Notice how the beams curve before merging? It looks pretty dope
So how to implement?
Assuming the current rendering engine can draw curved beams (which I think it can), all that needs to be done is a way to define the path taken by the beam from the weapon output and a way to define the output point where the final merged beam shoots out
This can be done through placing invisible blocks in build mode (similar to placing placeholder blocks in shipyard). These path defining blocks or nodes are then connected in desired order of desired path, the game then automatically draws smooth curves or straight lines between these nodes. Its like using the free transform tool in Photoshop
Drawing smooth or straight can be toggled using on/off on these blocks where if on, the segment between the on-ed block and the next block will be straight and if off, it will be curved. This allows for maximum customization
To reduce lag and complexity of implementation, all beams before the actual final output will be purely aesthetic and wont interact like a weapon. Only the final output beam interacts normally like any normal beam does. This is simpler to implement as the weapon part simply needs a change in position of output whereas the redirecting part is just drawing lines.
The final output beam will have stats equal to the combined stats of the individual beams that constitute the final beam. Though may be prone to exploit such as putting effect on one beam and damage on the other to get both cheaply, this may be addressed by only combining raw stats like damage and period but only apply effects if all beams have that effect and the effect power is the lowest common denominator
Illustration of implementation:
Thanks for reading, leave any feedback below, feel free to give suggestions/improvements
Hope this will be implemented as it will be really really cool and make beam ships look more authentic
Current beams are just straight beams, cant be curved, merged, reflected, merged etc unlike real light beams and those cool looking laser weapons in movies.
Example of what I mean by combining beams
Here the individual beams merge at a central point before firing as a single combined more powerful beam
But that doesn't look very elegant, here is the the warpray from starcraft 2 beta attacking
Notice how the beams curve before merging? It looks pretty dope
So how to implement?
Assuming the current rendering engine can draw curved beams (which I think it can), all that needs to be done is a way to define the path taken by the beam from the weapon output and a way to define the output point where the final merged beam shoots out
This can be done through placing invisible blocks in build mode (similar to placing placeholder blocks in shipyard). These path defining blocks or nodes are then connected in desired order of desired path, the game then automatically draws smooth curves or straight lines between these nodes. Its like using the free transform tool in Photoshop
Drawing smooth or straight can be toggled using on/off on these blocks where if on, the segment between the on-ed block and the next block will be straight and if off, it will be curved. This allows for maximum customization
To reduce lag and complexity of implementation, all beams before the actual final output will be purely aesthetic and wont interact like a weapon. Only the final output beam interacts normally like any normal beam does. This is simpler to implement as the weapon part simply needs a change in position of output whereas the redirecting part is just drawing lines.
The final output beam will have stats equal to the combined stats of the individual beams that constitute the final beam. Though may be prone to exploit such as putting effect on one beam and damage on the other to get both cheaply, this may be addressed by only combining raw stats like damage and period but only apply effects if all beams have that effect and the effect power is the lowest common denominator
Illustration of implementation:
Thanks for reading, leave any feedback below, feel free to give suggestions/improvements
Hope this will be implemented as it will be really really cool and make beam ships look more authentic
