Solar Smelters

[Groovrider]

I want to harness the power of the sun, but not for weaksauce power. No, I want mirror blocks around a smelting core that uses (game lore wise) reflected rays to heat asteroid ore and refine that stuff. This would process ore and minerals independent of any power blocks but totally dependent of the size of the mirrors and proximity to a star.

I see massive factories hugging stars on the edge of the danger zone.

I see attempts at ringing a star or... a dyson sphere...

 

[Snk]

Naaaaa. I don't see the point. -1

 

[Megacrafter127]

I see attempts at ringing a star or... a dyson sphere...

I see lag.

I see massive factories hugging stars on the edge of the danger zone.

As stations are currently unaffected by star damage IIRC, one could build such a factory within the danger zone.

 

[Mariux]

I want to harness the power of the sun, but not for weaksauce power. No, I want mirror blocks around a smelting core that uses (game lore wise) reflected rays to heat asteroid ore and refine that stuff. This would process ore and minerals independent of any power blocks but totally dependent of the size of the mirrors and proximity to a star.

I see massive factories hugging stars on the edge of the danger zone.

I see attempts at ringing a star or... a dyson sphere...

IDK.... I think we should simply have solar panels that produce energy dependant on the distance to the sun... That way, dyson spheres would be viable and less complicated. And when it's complcated, as Megacrafter127 said, it's likely to get laggy.

 

[Groovrider]

I was more or less thinking of scale. Currently I skip along with my various factories producing the things I need. But the bigger my ships get, the more mass quantities I need and I wanted something that could smelt larger quantities faster. Just an idea as I could not figure out what use solar panels could be as we have power generation already.

 

[Snk]

Too me, it seems like variety for the sake of variety. What does it contribute to gameplay?

 

[jayman38]

I disagree with the OP. This suggestion seems too specialized, with nothing that can be "reused" other than as decoration.

At this point, I think such a structure will need to be "role-played".

We need more shiny surfaces for decoration, including angled surfaces. Not surfaces with mirrors, but rather surfaces that show a glare from light sources, to simulate reflective, possibly metallic surfaces. Hull does alright with reflective glare at a deep angle, but I don't think it goes far enough with the glare.

And then just make more factory blocks with enhancers, maybe hidden away...