smaller ships, bigger universe

[Calbiri]

So this has nothing to do with ship block count, so don't get started on that here please.

I know schema possibly plans to increase sector size and make variable sized planets, to make space feel more properly sized.
That's great, but I propose going one step further.

First, Make all planets bigger than current standard so that the current size (planer block count) is more like a small moon.

Second, reduce the size of any block placed to 1/8 the cubic size if natural blocks (1/4 the size on each face).

Mining a natural block takes 8times longer (since you will receive 8 small blocks from it)

All ship type blocks will be of the smaller type, but with the current numerical attributes remaining the same as they currently are
(this means that no rebuilding or rebalancing is needed for saved ships)

Now, without any major drawbacks or hardware expenditures, your ship is not only 1/8th as small, but the planets can use more mass as schema has suggested and sectors can be made larger to dramatically increase the feeling of being small compared to the solar system around you.

Again, this would not nerf your ships might in any way, nor cause more strain on hardware, it would only make planets and sectors feel much larger

A few clarifications,
I refer 1/8th CUBIC size, so the player would only be reduced to 1/2 his current height to match the new spaceship block size.
Possibly a factory could be used to recombine 8planet type blocks into 1 large black to allow "Terraforming" or other natural looking planet modifications.

 

[Youka]

Interesting indeed, sectors are dramatically undersized and it\'s not rare to cross a sector without even noticing with the current speed.

But then the game would need some \"fast travel\" system to not make space trips boring and awfully long. =)

 

[schema]

I don\'t really understand. If the blocks as well as the player is smaller, there wouldn\'t be any change at all in perception.

 

[Calbiri]

Only the players ship/station are smaller. Planets and such as well as sectors remain the block size they are now, this makes planets feel larger to the new smaller player, without needing to increase the block count of the planet.

Travel speed could remain as is, no need to reduce it, the size differential could possibly allow more free play on acceleration and the speed/mass ratio

 

[Colt556]

I see, so basically we shrink ships and player by half, yet everything else remains the same. It\'s a case of \"Honey I shrunk the Dreadnoughts\". Compared to players and their perspectives, ships and blocks would be the same as they are now. So my massive 1140 block wide ship would still be 1140 blocks wide. But since the blocks themselves are smaller, the entire ship is smaller. So what was once a sector-spanning ship is now smaller than a planet. The planets remain unchanged, so a planetary block would essentially be the same size as the player. So with planetary blocks you only need to carve out one block to pass through, rather than two.
At least that\'s how I\'m understanding it. And if that is indeed the case, I\'d love it.

 

[Calbiri]

that sounds about right

 

[schema]

Hmm that would unfortunately bring one big problem: 2 different sizes of blocks.
While theoretically possible, I don\'t really want to break the basic principle of the game.
I think I rather just scale up planets and sectors to get the same effect.

 

[Present_containing]

The idea of having smaller blocks to play around with that is, although upon view of schema\'s post, yeah it might be a bit more complicated to have two sizes of block and build in interaction for those two sizes.

 

[Calbiri]

How heavy are planets in the game? Since they don\'t/can\'t move is it feasible to have planets that are considerably larger in their block count?