Space Duck... err Space Dock

[Vyor]

It's more of gameplay than economy.

No, that's economy...

 

[Ithirahad]

Problems with economy really shouldn't be in this suggestion thread... this idea of yours wouldn't fix it...

Having to build power generation doesn't necessarily help the economy that much, but it certainly makes sense that you can't just magically appoof gigantic starships... I suppose that the timegating does help the economy a bit too, but that's secondary. The price of spacedock enhancers (And power gen) is probably the main economy variable with this.

 

[Vyor]

Having to build power generation doesn't necessarily help the economy that much, but it certainly makes sense that you can't just magically appoof gigantic starships... I suppose that the timegating does help the economy a bit too, but that's secondary. The price of spacedock enhancers (And power gen) is probably the main economy variable with this.

No, the poofing of ships. That is a problem with economy(being able to afford that should be a way to balance it in and of itself).

 

[Ithirahad]

No, the poofing of ships. That is a problem with economy(being able to afford that should be a way to balance it in and of itself).

*facepalm* I just said... with spacedocks, economy is somewhat secondary. Primarily, it looks a lot better to have a ship built at a station than poofed out of nowhere. It would also give enemy raids on well-defended starbases a good target, if the spacedock equipment is as expensive as it should be.

 

[LordVe]

Going with the general Idea, A SpaceDock Is required to create Huge Ships, I would like to put forth the Idea of Energy->Blocks.

Situation Time:

I am in a long drawn out war with another faction. They have effectively blockaded me from getting to the shops and planets. My Station has a SpaceDock with the required, whatever they maybe, blocks to make a ship to break the blockade. My station has most of the materials to make the ship, but I don't have some of the vital blocks. Normally that would mean that I am screwed, but since my station has a large supply of Energy and A great Reactor, I tell my SpaceDock to fabricate the missing blocks. Now, this is a Slower Process than just placing Blocks, and a LOT more energy intensive, E=MC^2, but after it is done, I run the Blockade and make it to a shop and stock up.

And Yes, it would be Possible to build a Ship with Just Energy. The possibility of building a Titian from just energy would be remote since the Generators we have right now are rather weak and could never be able to produce Power fast enough and in great enough quantities to make it worth it.

 

[ltmauve]

I'm iffy on the economic balence of generating blocks out of thin air, but that's a topic for another thread. For the moment, let's just say that the shipyard can't do E=MC2.

 

[Ithirahad]

Going with the general Idea, A SpaceDock Is required to create Huge Ships, I would like to put forth the Idea of Energy->Blocks.

Situation Time:

I am in a long drawn out war with another faction. They have effectively blockaded me from getting to the shops and planets. My Station has a SpaceDock with the required, whatever they maybe, blocks to make a ship to break the blockade. My station has most of the materials to make the ship, but I don't have some of the vital blocks. Normally that would mean that I am screwed, but since my station has a large supply of Energy and A great Reactor, I tell my SpaceDock to fabricate the missing blocks. Now, this is a Slower Process than just placing Blocks, and a LOT more energy intensive, E=MC^2, but after it is done, I run the Blockade and make it to a shop and stock up.

And Yes, it would be Possible to build a Ship with Just Energy. The possibility of building a Titian from just energy would be remote since the Generators we have right now are rather weak and could never be able to produce Power fast enough and in great enough quantities to make it worth it.

I disagree unless energy starts to require fuel... and fuel is the last thing I want in the game. Have it take credits and/or (depending on server settings, one or both) materials.

 

[Vyor]

*facepalm* I just said... with spacedocks, economy is somewhat secondary. Primarily, it looks a lot better to have a ship built at a station than poofed out of nowhere. It would also give enemy raids on well-defended starbases a good target, if the spacedock equipment is as expensive as it should be.

Lets say I design a very large ship... will I have to make a new, bigger, station?

 

[Ithirahad]

Lets say I design a very large ship... will I have to make a new, bigger, station?

You'll have to build another dock, or expand your current one. (Personally, I'd do the former normally) There's no limit on how many you can fit on one entity, besides of course sector borders.

 

[LordVe]

I can't understand the difference between using Credits and using Energy to create a block. Well, except that getting credits takes next to no time, while energy does.

To elaborate on my idea, when I say energy intensive, I really do mean intensive. Think about 4m energy per block, so not a trifling amount.

Just to be clear, I am one of those who prefers a closed economy, there is one shop on my server, the Trade Guild Doesn't resupply it, Blueprints require the blocks, etc... So, I dislike blocks and Items coming from nothing, really I do. Using Energy as the balance point is the best way I can come up with to keep Poof ships from invading my server while still allowing people to actually be able to make the blueprints they find or make.

 

[Ithirahad]

I can't understand the difference between using Credits and using Energy to create a block. Well, except that getting credits takes next to no time, while energy does.

To elaborate on my idea, when I say energy intensive, I really do mean intensive. Think about 4m energy per block, so not a trifling amount.

Just to be clear, I am one of those who prefers a closed economy, there is one shop on my server, the Trade Guild Doesn't resupply it, Blueprints require the blocks, etc... So, I dislike blocks and Items coming from nothing, really I do. Using Energy as the balance point is the best way I can come up with to keep Poof ships from invading my server while still allowing people to actually be able to make the blueprints they find or make.

The difference is that, regardless of timescales, it takes no effort whatsoever to get energy. You have to obtain credits somehow, even if it can be cheaty/illegitimate/easy as heck. As far as energy, you just have to amass huge amounts of energy blocks and place them, then, boom, infinite energy. You yourself said that you wanted a closed economy, but energy-to-blocks is an infinite opening in the system, even if it's slow...

 

[Vyor]

You'll have to build another dock, or expand your current one. (Personally, I'd do the former normally) There's no limit on how many you can fit on one entity, besides of course sector borders.

Ok, would the dock be a closed system, as in will it have walls? If so then it would take a massive amount of time and effort including what you put forth to make the original ship. If no, then how would you expand it?

 

[Ithirahad]

Ok, would the dock be a closed system, as in will it have walls? If so then it would take a massive amount of time and effort including what you put forth to make the original ship. If no, then how would you expand it?

I don't mean closed system like that... What I mean is, energy appears out of nowhere, for free, so the economy doesn't remain a closed system... Free stuff constantly (even if a bit slowly) materializes, so you don't have to ever buy anything, which eventually results in a chain reaction.

Suppose you were to build a massive energy array, then use it to set your shipyard to work building, say, a massive block of gray hardened hull. You could then harvest this hull and sell it at a shop, and get credits, even though you didn't use up anything in the game, whether credits or physical materials, to get the hull - it just appeared.

(Rinse and repeat, and eventually there's so much hull that nobody can sell hull any more. :p)

 

[Vyor]

I don't mean closed system like that... What I mean is, energy appears out of nowhere, for free, so the economy doesn't remain a closed system... Free stuff constantly (even if a bit slowly) materializes, so you don't have to ever buy anything, which eventually results in a chain reaction.

No, not what I mean

I was referring to the idea in and of itself. If the dock is closed then I don't like the suggestion, if not... then it needs tweaking, but I could see the use.



This thing needs more smilies :p

 

[Ithirahad]

No, not what I mean

I was referring to the idea in and of itself. If the dock is closed then I don't like the suggestion, if not... then it needs tweaking, but I could see the use.

...The building-dock uses enhancers, like our current docking (and turret docking) but based on mass, rather than boxdims, if that answers your question.

 

[Vyor]

...The building-dock uses enhancers, like our current docking (and turret docking) but based on mass, rather than boxdims, if that answers your question.

Yes, yes it does...


I can definitely see the use of this. hmm.... How would the ship build? Would it build the ship inside the box? If so, then what about decorative spikes?

 

[Ithirahad]

Yes, yes it does...


I can definitely see the use of this. hmm.... How would the ship build? Would it build the ship inside the box? If so, then what about decorative spikes?

It would just build from the bottom up by layer, I guess... And decorative spikes are fine as long as they don't cause the ship to exceed the mass limit or clip into any decorative bits on the station or anything, otherwise the ship will stop bulding unless the blockage is removed or more enhancer blocks are linked to the system (depending on the issue).

 

[Vyor]

It would just build from the bottom up by layer, I guess... And decorative spikes are fine as long as they don't cause the ship to exceed the mass limit or clip into any decorative bits on the station or anything, otherwise the ship will stop bulding unless the blockage is removed or more enhancer blocks are linked to the system (depending on the issue).

What if it gets shot at while being built? Or if some troll flies a core into the ship that is being built?

 

[Ithirahad]

What if it gets shot at while being built? Or if some troll flies a core into the ship that is being built?

If it's just a core or something that lands in it, it'll get warped out. If it gets shot, it halts building for a while. If you shoot the ship enough, it overloads the shipyard's structural integrity distribution transmitters and the shipyard is completely disabled until someone comes along and fixes it.

 

[Vyor]

If it's just a core or something that lands in it, it'll get warped out. If it gets shot, it halts building for a while. If you shoot the ship enough, it overloads the shipyard's structural integrity distribution transmitters and the shipyard is completely disabled until someone comes along and fixes it.

What if one of the enhancers gets shot off, causing the ship to no longer be valid?