Ship blueprint presets (Default ships)

    Keptick

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    Starting out the game as a new player can be very daunting, there's a lot of weird mechanics, and the tutorial, while being very well made, doesn't cover absolutely everything when it comes to ship building. This is why I'm suggesting default blueprints for new and old players to use. Reverse engineering is often an excellent way of understanding how things work. However, (and no offense to whoever built them) the current Isanths are a pretty bad example. They only demonstrate a single, underused ship class.

    Suggestion:
    The implementation of Ship blueprint presets. Aka; default blueprints. Blueprints that are in the game by default, but not in use by the pirates. These ships should be of varying classes, ranging from isanth sized to even 40k mass (this is very debatable). Pirates should NOT have access to these ships by default.

    The upside is that it should be incredibly easy to add to the game. And it'd also be a good opportunity for a community build contest!

    Edit: Just to clarify, I'm not talking about pre-filled blueprints spawning in a player's inventory at the start of the game. I'm just talking about some default blueprints in the catalog. A player would still have to gather the materials to spawn them if they're playing in a survival setting (aka not using admin commands).

    Why?:
    To give new players a guide, a template to ship building. It's often much easier to modify a pre-existing thing than completely building from scratch. Once they're ready they could start building their own ships, at their discretion. It'd also instill a higher build standard onto new players, something that is badly needed right now. They'd just see the shiny default ships and tell themselves "hey, you know what? I'm gonna build something better!". Instead of threading down the dark path of the brick.

    It'd even be beneficial for the older players that dislike building and prefer survival and PvE/PvP. Instead of browsing through the ocean that is the community content they'd have direct access to a variety of ships balancing aesthetic and combat aspects.

    Secondary suggestion:
    I'm pretty certain this has been suggested before, but having the ability to create folders in the ship catalog would be really really nice. Those of us with 200 ships would love to have the ability to sort them out between turrets, titans, fighters, etc... It'd also make it easier to shelve the Default ships into their own folder.
     
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    This is one of those suggestions that makes me think 'why isn't it already like that?' This seems like it would be very easy to implement (given a stable of starter blueprints, which can easily be community sourced), and would indeed give new players an excellent leg up. I'm not sure whether I would take the top end of the default blueprints all the way up to 40k mass, but Fighter-Destroyer sizes, absolutely.

    Folders would also be great, a versioning system (which could either be implemented via folders or similar), would also be awesome. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has half a dozen versions of the same thing suffixed by mk_1, mk_2, etc.
     

    Keptick

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    This is one of those suggestions that makes me think 'why isn't it already like that?' This seems like it would be very easy to implement (given a stable of starter blueprints, which can easily be community sourced), and would indeed give new players an excellent leg up. I'm not sure whether I would take the top end of the default blueprints all the way up to 40k mass, but Fighter-Destroyer sizes, absolutely.

    Folders would also be great, a versioning system (which could either be implemented via folders or similar), would also be awesome. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has half a dozen versions of the same thing suffixed by mk_1, mk_2, etc.
    Yea, I'm really surprised that it wasn't suggested already. It's just one of those things that seems really obvious once you think about it, lol

    And same here for the blueprint suffixes.
     
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    something like that is already in the game,
    i dont know if its just in the dev build, but its in.
    You can set a blueprint or equipment in the default serveroptions.
    the blueprint can be filled or unfilled with blocks.
    the idea to give free ships is a stupid one.
    We had a small shipcontest on our server last year, because of this.
    Somewone wanted to write a script to spawn a free ship. Just 500mass.
    But the negative would be. Its like free blocks for everyone just by tiping in a command.

    greez
     

    Keptick

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    something like that is already in the game,
    i dont know if its just in the dev build, but its in.
    You can set a blueprint or equipment in the default serveroptions.
    the blueprint can be filled or unfilled with blocks.
    the idea to give free ships is a stupid one.
    We had a small shipcontest on our server last year, because of this.
    Somewone wanted to write a script to spawn a free ship. Just 500mass.
    But the negative would be. Its like free blocks for everyone just by tiping in a command.

    greez
    Where in my suggestion did you read "free ship"? I'm not talking about pre-filled blueprints that are in player's inventory when they start the game, that'd be incredibly stupid (and yes, I know that it's a thing).

    What I'm suggesting is default blueprints in the CATALOG. You'd still need to gather the resources to spawn them. I'll edit the main post to make that clearer.
     
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    CyberTao

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    An easy-to-modify starting ship sounds like something Cal was working on before. A nice catalog of decent ships to choose between would be nice, and would lower the overall usage of doombricks imho (since there is ships to use that require no effort to build), but I am unsure if that is something that should be included in vanilla. Why? Well, look how outdated the current pirates are. I would rather see servers make use of the community shipyards to create their own catalogs (which is why I thought we had shipyards in the first place).

    People who build doombricks are not concerned with looks at all really, and chances are that if we had a contest, most of the best looking ships would probably end up in the default catalog (not to mention looking mix-matched as hell). That will not help stop doombricking, because doombrickers will not want to copy the advanced detailing used on those kind of ships.

    I dunno, a catalog would be nice, but the effects of it will be limited. People will always aspire to build larger than the default ships, it might help some people who want to build nice ships, but I don't think people who don't care for nicities would suddenly care.
     

    Keptick

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    An easy-to-modify starting ship sounds like something Cal was working on before. A nice catalog of decent ships to choose between would be nice, and would lower the overall usage of doombricks imho (since there is ships to use that require no effort to build), but I am unsure if that is something that should be included in vanilla. Why? Well, look how outdated the current pirates are. I would rather see servers make use of the community shipyards to create their own catalogs (which is why I thought we had shipyards in the first place).

    People who build doombricks are not concerned with looks at all really, and chances are that if we had a contest, most of the best looking ships would probably end up in the default catalog (not to mention looking mix-matched as hell). That will not help stop doombricking, because doombrickers will not want to copy the advanced detailing used on those kind of ships.

    I dunno, a catalog would be nice, but the effects of it will be limited. People will always aspire to build larger than the default ships, it might help some people who want to build nice ships, but I don't think people who don't care for nicities would suddenly care.
    It something especially aimed at new players. The learning curve is pretty damn steep, especially for players new to voxel games. As such, the player retention isn't super optimal.

    Having something to start with other than shitty isanths would be pretty helpful, imo. Not everyone goes on servers or visits the forums to get new ships, especially not new players.
     

    Asvarduil

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    It's something especially aimed at new players. The learning curve is pretty damn steep, especially for players new to voxel games. As such, the player retention isn't super optimal.
    Yes. Yes yes yes. I've lost a few (crappy) ships, simply because I didn't know how to build a ship in the first place.

    Also, while some people would say, "Oh, go read the Wiki, you bloody casual! Blargh! [Insert Nerd Rage]", that's a huge barrier - modern game design teaches us not to disrupt the player when they're in a "flow" state. Having to break out of the doing by going to the Wiki does just that. The Wiki should be a helpful supplement, not a prerequisite to playing - this isn't D&D 2.0. [/rant]

    But...yeah, some presets would be very helpful.
     

    CyberTao

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    The learning curve is pretty damn steep, especially for players new to voxel games
    Static ships will not help to explain the systems though. You could have a fancy 10/5/7 Weapon system to show how you can have varying support %s on weapons for different effects, but if you do not know how it works, you will not understand why it works like that. The same goes for power efficiency, we still have people copy/pasting the 5x5x5 reactors everywhere because they do not understand how it works, at best we could imply that they should use 1x1 lines via this.

    The reason the wall is so steep is because everything is open at the start. It's a solid wall of numbers and variables, and not everyone will be able to pick it apart from a few examples (especially if they have to play and understand the game in other to get them). Honestly, an "adventure" styled pre-set universe that slowly introduces the features at a steady rate would probably work better (Think X3 styled tutorial, it's there, but you can just bugger off and ignore him to play the game).

    Note; I just got up, still half asleep, so may just sound like babble.
     

    NeonSturm

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    Just to clarify : I agreed to first and second paragraph, not to the third where you say it may sound like babble :D

    I think newbies need a way to reset their ship if they did messed up => delete ship, get blocks to spawn it again.
    Just use a tutorial to teach them how to save and build/spawn blueprints => And make this one much more accessible (Add find-default-spawn button)
     

    Keptick

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    Just to clarify : I agreed to first and second paragraph, not to the third where you say it may sound like babble :D

    I think newbies need a way to reset their ship if they did messed up => delete ship, get blocks to spawn it again.
    Just use a tutorial to teach them how to save and build/spawn blueprints => And make this one much more accessible (Add find-default-spawn button)
    Can't that be done with advanced build mode and right click? :p

    And is there no tutorial on blueprints? If not, than wow.... that's one of the core aspects of the game.
     

    NeonSturm

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    And is there no tutorial on blueprints? If not, than wow.... that's one of the core aspects of the game.
    Dunno - BP items are newer.
    Also the question is whether newbies know how to enable the tutorial or to find the spawn again (or the setting).
     

    Snk

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    I feel like if this has 10 agrees it should get a Dev tag...
     

    Lecic

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    This would be very nice. Also, on top of pre-existing blueprints, how about a starter ship? Something big enough to take on an isanth or two and with easy passageways around internals to show how they work. It could even have a basic turret and a ramp, to explain rail mechanics as well.
     
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    I think everyone is forgetting that we were told when we got the new stations that new default catalog ships would be handled roughly the same way. They just have not gotten around to running contests/selection processes.
     

    Keptick

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    I think everyone is forgetting that we were told when we got the new stations that new default catalog ships would be handled roughly the same way. They just have not gotten around to running contests/selection processes.
    I don't recall reading that anywhere, but if it's the case than cool!