Greetings
I have some ideas that in my humble opinion might improve the game somewhat. Some of these ideas have undoubtedly been posted before/ might be possible in some way already that is unknown to me/ might not be necessary or balanced/or might even be already planned, but i do hope that some of them are useful.
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Harvesting materials:
To my knowledge planets currently do not have any strategical value other than slowly being carved up for resources. While carving up planets for resources can be very soothing, at some point the soothing effect will turn into boredom. A solution would be the addition of a "Mining" block that would very slowly generate resources found on the planet/asteroid at the cost of (lots of) energy. Increasing the size of the block would increase income and power consumed. Ownership would be determined by placement of a faction module, which can be destroyed and replaced without destroying the facility. Developed planets will be worth fighting over.
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Cargo:
The current plexstorage functions well enough as a chest, but for large scale space mining operations it is unsuitable. A solution would be a "cargo" block that automatically stores items that you salvage with a salvage beam or pick up while flying your ship.
The addition of a "cargo-unloader/loader" block, which is able to link to a docking station and spacestation storage could greatly increase unloading times.
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Matter:
Matter would be a new mechanic/resource used to streamline ship construction and repair. Matter can be aqquired by tossing items in an "Atomic Disassembler" block, which would only be placeable on space stations and requires massive amounts of energy to sustain. Matter can then then be used for various purposes. The first would be in a "compiler" block, which is able to solidify matter into blocks at the cost of energy. Second would be the construction of ships. Thirdly it could be used as "Ammo" for a revised astrotech repairbeam, one which can actually restore missing blocks. (As i feel the current version is quite limited in its utility.) Matter could be saved in tanks.
Shipbuilding:
I am a big fan of the "save your ship and buy it at the shop" mechanic. This makes quite a bit of sense for smallish ships. However i feel that it is quite ludicrous that one can simply fly up to a (neutral) shop and instantly purchase a shiny new titan-class for relatively little. I feel that a constructor block that would have to be fed resources (or matter) and energy so it could build your ship for you (according to the catalog blueprint) makes more sense. (If the planned feature "shipyards" consists of this, feel free to disregard this part of the post.)
Ship modules:
Finally some ideas for new modules that might add some flavor/diversity to the building of a ship.
1. Shield-overcharger: While i do agree with the "shieldregen should be reduced, capacity should be increased" position, having a block which you could activate to boost your shieldregen for a time would be nice. The downside of this block would be its long cd (correlated to ship mass, bigger is slower) and massive energy consumption. Smaller ships, with humble regen could use it to top off their shields while out of combat. It also allows you to shout: ("Reroute all power to the shields!!!") when pressing the hotkey.
2. Mainframe: Like a core, you cannot control the ship while you are in it, but you can bind other subsystems to it. This allows a second player to control more than one weaponsystem. Orientation of this block determines the direction the pilot sees in. Binding plexdoors to it would allow remote opening and closing of doors/windows without relying on a docking beam.
3. Anti-matter reactor: Far more powerful than the current generator, but requires matter (fuel) to operate.
4. Bindable energy storage: An energy tank, replenished by the ship generator, which only provides power to the module its bound to. This allows you to sustain basic functions for a little while when energygeneration on the ship is insufficient.
These were my thoughts, i hope they were useful.
I have some ideas that in my humble opinion might improve the game somewhat. Some of these ideas have undoubtedly been posted before/ might be possible in some way already that is unknown to me/ might not be necessary or balanced/or might even be already planned, but i do hope that some of them are useful.
--------------------------------------
Harvesting materials:
To my knowledge planets currently do not have any strategical value other than slowly being carved up for resources. While carving up planets for resources can be very soothing, at some point the soothing effect will turn into boredom. A solution would be the addition of a "Mining" block that would very slowly generate resources found on the planet/asteroid at the cost of (lots of) energy. Increasing the size of the block would increase income and power consumed. Ownership would be determined by placement of a faction module, which can be destroyed and replaced without destroying the facility. Developed planets will be worth fighting over.
-----------------------------------
Cargo:
The current plexstorage functions well enough as a chest, but for large scale space mining operations it is unsuitable. A solution would be a "cargo" block that automatically stores items that you salvage with a salvage beam or pick up while flying your ship.
The addition of a "cargo-unloader/loader" block, which is able to link to a docking station and spacestation storage could greatly increase unloading times.
------------------------------------------------------------
Matter:
Matter would be a new mechanic/resource used to streamline ship construction and repair. Matter can be aqquired by tossing items in an "Atomic Disassembler" block, which would only be placeable on space stations and requires massive amounts of energy to sustain. Matter can then then be used for various purposes. The first would be in a "compiler" block, which is able to solidify matter into blocks at the cost of energy. Second would be the construction of ships. Thirdly it could be used as "Ammo" for a revised astrotech repairbeam, one which can actually restore missing blocks. (As i feel the current version is quite limited in its utility.) Matter could be saved in tanks.
Shipbuilding:
I am a big fan of the "save your ship and buy it at the shop" mechanic. This makes quite a bit of sense for smallish ships. However i feel that it is quite ludicrous that one can simply fly up to a (neutral) shop and instantly purchase a shiny new titan-class for relatively little. I feel that a constructor block that would have to be fed resources (or matter) and energy so it could build your ship for you (according to the catalog blueprint) makes more sense. (If the planned feature "shipyards" consists of this, feel free to disregard this part of the post.)
Ship modules:
Finally some ideas for new modules that might add some flavor/diversity to the building of a ship.
1. Shield-overcharger: While i do agree with the "shieldregen should be reduced, capacity should be increased" position, having a block which you could activate to boost your shieldregen for a time would be nice. The downside of this block would be its long cd (correlated to ship mass, bigger is slower) and massive energy consumption. Smaller ships, with humble regen could use it to top off their shields while out of combat. It also allows you to shout: ("Reroute all power to the shields!!!") when pressing the hotkey.
2. Mainframe: Like a core, you cannot control the ship while you are in it, but you can bind other subsystems to it. This allows a second player to control more than one weaponsystem. Orientation of this block determines the direction the pilot sees in. Binding plexdoors to it would allow remote opening and closing of doors/windows without relying on a docking beam.
3. Anti-matter reactor: Far more powerful than the current generator, but requires matter (fuel) to operate.
4. Bindable energy storage: An energy tank, replenished by the ship generator, which only provides power to the module its bound to. This allows you to sustain basic functions for a little while when energygeneration on the ship is insufficient.
These were my thoughts, i hope they were useful.