This idea is great! But, some griefers would go out and secretly take out a colonies O2 generators, and laugh as the colonists died slowly... D: I would hate that. There would also probably be people liking the old game, because the current version is much simpler, so maybe this could be a new gamemode system like this:
Gamemodes: Sandbox (regular game) Warfield (this stuff added)
And different servers would use these different gamemodes.
WARNING! The following info is very long. If you are afraid of your brain exploding, skip it.
Also, I think that along with premade weapons bought at the shops, I think that there should be a \"Crafter\" kind of like Minecraft\'s crafting table, which lets you select what you are building (weapon, armor, AI, other) and \"craft\" regular blocks into microblocks and back. It should also let you modify these things.
Maybe these microblocks could be used in place of the special weapon stuff, like to make a pistol you make AMC microblocks and generator microblocks, and instead of special firing mechanisms, just use the respective computer microblocks. And, to make a rocket launcher, there could be new blocks like Solid Rockets and Decoupler Blocks, which respectively are temporary thrusters that are activated and cant be shut down, and split something in two at the point of the block. The rocket launcher could be simply a micro missile CPU and missile arrays, or, more complexly, it could be a handle with a micro Decoupler Computer (That sets off decouplers) and a micro Solid Rocket Activator (That sets off all linked Solid Rockets), and a rocket made of a stick of micro Solid Rockets with a warhead of micro Disentegreators, and you activate the rockets thenn the decoupler to shoot the rocket, and rebuild the rocket to reload.
For \"crafting\" AI\'s, you would need a special Billy AI microblock (I used the name because everyone else does for the new soldier AI) to start off, and you could install weapons directly on it or give it seperate ones.
For \"crafting\" armor, a little model of the player would appear in the crafting module are and you would build off it. When you are done, (and you can add shields and everything in microblocks), you name it and it becomes an item. There would be special armor slots in you inventory, and you put the armor in those. The armor types would be separated into six groups: Exohelmet (helmet), Chest Armor, Gauntlets (arm+hand protection), Greaves (leggings), Boots, and Hybrid (combination of several). You can choose which type to start with, and for hybrids, you choose which armor tyes it will be of. Different armor types will only allow you to build over certain areas of the player model displayed. And no, weapons installed in these cannot be used.
The \"other\" type is just simple objects that when finished become items and you can place them. They can be up to a block and can be anything. Lamps, decoration, you name it, just craft it and place it.
Extra stuff: Visor Blocks (You can see through one side but not through the others, the ones that arent see-through can be colored, effectively making a sort of one way viewing area like sunglasses) For helmets and stuff
NOTE: Some of this stuff might be a little too complex/buggy/har to implement! It is not necessary, nor am I expecting much or any of it. I just thought I would get these ideas out here.