- Joined
- Aug 23, 2016
- Messages
- 758
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- 129
Newb Edit
Ah, in my newb-cocoon here I was completely unaware of templates
:D (Thanks to the first two posters below!)
They do pretty much every thing I've described (although you can't set a yard to mass produce them), and so pretty much render this idea obsolete!
What
I like the idea of modular ships, they have plenty of positive (and negative) attributes, but I uderstand and accept that for a game like this they cause problems and need to be discouraged. I'm not complaining about this at all.
There is one aspect of modular ships I think the game should attempt to keelp though: being able to build parts of a ship ("components") and then put a ship together from components (fully or partially).
Why
For example if I build a bridge I love in one ship, and want to use it in my next ship, I can't unless I build it again by hand, or use it as a docked module in both ships.
Or if my fleet/faction uses a standard hangar in all ships large enough, it has to be bult by hand for each ship design, or used as a docked module in every ship.
Or if I build a logic jump engine I want to use in every ship I build, it has to be...(as above)
Or if I have standard weapon types/sizes (non-turrents) that I want to use in other ships, they have to be...(as above)
This idea is the soultion to all of the above (and all somilar issues).
How
I imagine the easiest way to implement this would be a new block: a "Component Dock/Core"
Example
Misc
Ah, in my newb-cocoon here I was completely unaware of templates
:D (Thanks to the first two posters below!)They do pretty much every thing I've described (although you can't set a yard to mass produce them), and so pretty much render this idea obsolete!
What
I like the idea of modular ships, they have plenty of positive (and negative) attributes, but I uderstand and accept that for a game like this they cause problems and need to be discouraged. I'm not complaining about this at all.
There is one aspect of modular ships I think the game should attempt to keelp though: being able to build parts of a ship ("components") and then put a ship together from components (fully or partially).
Why
For example if I build a bridge I love in one ship, and want to use it in my next ship, I can't unless I build it again by hand, or use it as a docked module in both ships.
Or if my fleet/faction uses a standard hangar in all ships large enough, it has to be bult by hand for each ship design, or used as a docked module in every ship.
Or if I build a logic jump engine I want to use in every ship I build, it has to be...(as above)
Or if I have standard weapon types/sizes (non-turrents) that I want to use in other ships, they have to be...(as above)
This idea is the soultion to all of the above (and all somilar issues).
How
I imagine the easiest way to implement this would be a new block: a "Component Dock/Core"
- It would enable building around it just like a ship core or build block.
- It would be able to be entered and piloted like a ship core (but only with extremely low acceleration/speed, and all computers/shields/etc would be non-functional, to prevent player abuse)
- It would be able to dock either to any block in a ship or to another Component Dock placed in a ship (a minor point I haven't fully thought through), and when this is done the component is fully and completely merged into the ship - the ship and the component irreversibly become a single ship. The Component Dock block should probably be destroyed and replaced by empty space or wire mesh at this point.
- Components could be stored as blueprints (as anther blue print type besides ships and yards), shared, and mass produced in shipyards.
Example
- You have a 10,000 partially built ship frame. It needs a hangar of the design agreed on by your faction.
- You check the server catalogue to see if a faction member has uploaded the hanger component.
- No-one has, so you build it yourself: starting with a Component Dock block, you build the hangar so the block is at the rear of the hangar, where it will be adjacent to an existing block in the ship
- You enter flight mode in the completed hangar component (2000 blocks large), and pilot it into position
- You activate the Component Dock with one of the existing blocks on the ship
- All the blocks in the hangar component become blocks in the ship, al relative to the docking point between component and ship. The Component Dock block is automatically destroyed.
- The component no longer exists, you now have a 12,000 block ship that includes a faction-approved hangar.
Misc
- This suggestion doesn't in any way replace any part of the current building system, it just complements it.
- This mirrors the way many things are built in real life (cars for example: the components are produced somewhere, then brought together into a single car)
- This idea has no negative impact on lag in combat, the way that modules do, because because the components are fused/absorbed into the mother ship during building. Once used they no longer exist as separate entities.
- The thread title is slightly misleading: this isn't "anti-modular", it just gives one positive aspect (the biggest one IMHO) of modular ships without any their negative aspects - it furthers the apparent goal of the devs to encourage non-modular ships, without outright bans
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