StarMade Development Direction

[Jchung]

Can't wait till AI's come out! Is there more define date on when it is coming out, or just the following months?

 

[Blakpik]

Can planets be way bigger and have a proper atmosphere?

Sure... If you'd prefer a pile of molten metal instead of a computer.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

This could be done by splitting up the texture into two parts:

1. A uniform texture
2. A head/face texture, possibly including customized emblems (like rank marks) to overlay on top of the uniform.

That way, you can have your crew be assigned your uniform texture. Or, potentially share a uniform texture with other faction members for that matter.

randomizing the faces but letting us put our own uniforms on NPCs would be great!

 

[Blakpik]

randomizing the faces but letting us put our own uniforms on NPCs would be great!

If it is possible, it'd be beautiful.

 

[kiraen]

This could be done by splitting up the texture into two parts:

1. A uniform texture
2. A head/face texture, possibly including customized emblems (like rank marks) to overlay on top of the uniform.

That way, you can have your crew be assigned your uniform texture. Or, potentially share a uniform texture with other faction members for that matter.

randomizing the faces but letting us put our own uniforms on NPCs would be great!

If we are going to go this far, can we get 3 texture levels?

1. Basic skin: The actual skin parts. Basically, anything that isn't covered by the other two. Like the face and hands. Call it underwear if you want.
   
2. Uniform: Shirt,pants, shoes. Maybe gloves if you feel like it.
3. Rank and customization: goes on top of the uniform. piping, shoulder pip and the like.

Layer 1 can be set by the player. This would include facial features, eye color, glasses, facial hair, scars. That sort of thing.
Layer 2 is determined by your faction, as set by the Faction lead at the faction block. Depending on how factions turn out there could be multiple possibilities here. One for each division.
Layer 3 is determined by your Faction Rank.

I'm figuring for most NPC Layer 1 would be randomized and layer 3 would be basic enlisted, and depending on where you assign them would determine which division they are in. Will NPCs be able to be promoted? This might have to become it's own thread in Suggestions.

 

[Blakpik]

If we are going to go this far, can we get 3 texture levels?

1. Basic skin: The actual skin parts. Basically, anything that isn't covered by the other two. Like the face and hands. Call it underwear if you want.
   
2. Uniform: Shirt,pants, shoes. Maybe gloves if you feel like it.
3. Rank and customization: goes on top of the uniform. piping, shoulder pip and the like.

Layer 1 can be set by the player. This would include facial features, eye color, glasses, facial hair, scars. That sort of thing.
Layer 2 is determined by your faction, as set by the Faction lead at the faction block. Depending on how factions turn out there could be multiple possibilities here. One for each division.
Layer 3 is determined by your Faction Rank.

I'm figuring for most NPC Layer 1 would be randomized and layer 3 would be basic enlisted, and depending on where you assign them would determine which division they are in. Will NPCs be able to be promoted? This might have to become it's own thread in Suggestions.

Good idea, but it seems like it'd be a nightmare to do for those blokes at Schine. Also, I am going to go out on a limb and say that there would be performance problems for doing that, why? Because there are always performance problems. :P

 

[terra mining corp.]

anyone else having issues transporting npc's purchased from advanced shops to your base,every time I put them on my ship and start to travel they fly out the back, some ties they will show up on there own at my base but I lost a few in hyper space.

 

[StormWing0]

Ctrl key to open the commands list. It's one of the last 2 options once you select the NPC in question. Should keep them from derping overboard.

 

[terra mining corp.]

tried all the Ctl commands(except attack)and does the same,it's kind of funny watching them derp out in hyper space but it get expensive,hmm I wonder how this feels jumping off a ship at hyper speed,i don't think you would survive!lol

 

[nightwalker_007]

Layer 2 is determined by your faction, as set by the Faction lead at the faction block. Depending on how factions turn out there could be multiple possibilities here. One for each division.
Layer 3 is determined by your Faction Rank.

This should always be a player's choice regardless of what faction they are in. Someone should be able to choose to use their Han Solo "uniform" even if their faction chooses to use Mork's.

 

[Blakpik]

This should always be a player's choice regardless of what faction they are in. Someone should be able to choose to use their Han Solo "uniform" even if their faction chooses to use Mork's.

Let's be honest here though, if you are Han Solo, you are probably either not in a faction, or in a pirate faction, and I doubt that a pirate faction will have a uniform. My greater concern is how such uniform layers will work with female characters.

 

[SkyHawk024]

most factions i've seen dont usually even have a uniform code, either way im sticking with mandalorian stuff so im my own faction in one package.

 

[Xacktar]

This sounds awesome! Can't wait to see all of it in action.

 

[Fynnarius]

Can planets be way bigger and have a proper atmosphere?

Only if you want to kill your computer^^

 

[Ithirahad]

Only if you want to kill your computer^^

They can be way bigger with optimization. Schema mentioned that LoD for planets is coming soon, which should cut down on the rendering lag. However the physics load does all kinds of terrible things to servers (and that will not change due to LoD being implemented) so Schema will need to use some clever tricks to fix that as well. What they are, I have no idea, but hopefully he can come up with something. :p

 

[Fynnarius]

So, would hiring a NPC make it possible to put them in a squad that you're in charge of, like a small/medium fighter you're piloting with 2 to 3 wingmen? And would it be possible to have 1 of them join you when you patrol an abandoned ship/station/planet base while the other 2 patrol the sector around the ship/station/planet base?

That would be awesome!^^
But I dont think "Schine" will update the AI soon, at least I haven´t heard or read anything in that direction (so far).
But anyway, the cargo update sounds also super-exciting^^

 

[Ithirahad]

Fixing AI will come along with the fleet control features, which require the basic crew stations mechanics to be working first. It is on the horizon, though.

 

[Fynnarius]

They can be way bigger with optimization. Schema mentioned that LoD for planets is coming soon, which should cut down on the rendering lag. However the physics load does all kinds of terrible things to servers (and that will not change due to LoD being implemented) so Schema will need to use some clever tricks to fix that as well. What they are, I have no idea, but hopefully he can come up with something. :p

Huh, I didn´t know that. But it makes sense...
In that regard, bigger planets sounds like a very nice idea. Then I just have to think about what I'll do with all that space^^
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Fixing AI will come along with the fleet control features, which require the basic crew stations mechanics to be working first. It is on the horizon, though.

Again, thanks for that clarification

 

[NeonSturm]

Oh, forgot to mention. How exactly will we define rooms using the Quarter system? I vaguely remember a VERY old concept involving boxdims, but this would not be very adaptable and I get the sense that the idea has changed since then.

It'll be through ship management, it won't be block based. We discussed it and block based was just making it more complex then it needed to be, just for the sake of keeping with everything being block based. So instead we're going for a simpler menu screen system approach unlike anything we've seen in the game before. We recently mocked up the screen for setting up quarters, and have to say, it looks sweet!

It could be walking-surface based. Every accessible surface with space tall enough to hold a character.

Each passage connects to two (or more if an elevator) rooms, has a time-cost for each transition (can have sub-passages like for example a binary tree) and the room/quarter is everything left or right of this passage which is accessible.
The important thing is how to detect passages.

Bless this developement team.
Everything in that OP is everything I've ever wanted for starmade.

I would also want logic input that isn't so big that you have to look onto the ceiling or floor to control it.
A way to add paint (maybe with small slabs) to the wall (and other things that make space requirements for details less).
And most importantly I don't want that the community content we create is unpaid advertisement for a game that might not be free-to-play in the future.

calculating internal areas especially during battles is quite process intensive, so we'd need to find a simple less performance-heavy way to do it before really saying yes or no on it. Food we could look at adding in during the overhaul of astronauts etc but it just matters if the rest of the community is keen for it or not.

It is not more processor intensive as collision checks if done right.

If a block gets damaged, it is exposed to the vacuum of space. And all room-blocks which it touches (max 6) have added a leak-area.​

It is the meta-data which I worry about.

It's already possible:
Step 1: Send Youtube video link in chat, the video being a hypnotic pattern.
Step 2: Watch as the player obeys you flawlessly, giving up his life because in this permanent trance he will never stop helping you.
Step 3: Rule over every server with your mental-zombie hypnotized army of slaves.
No, don't really do that. Pls.

It would be imbalanced as hell. A crew member with infinite moral, energy (as peoples can switch out) and loyalty.
You would get bananed for cheating at least.

Well Key targets for the NPCs on a ship would be the Command Chair, the Ship Core, the Faction Block, Computers. The only things on a station I can think of for key targets are the Faction Block and the Build Blocks.

It could also target crew members.
Especially with piercing rounds which pierce 50%-shields but don't do much damage to ship blocks (self-sealing ones and redundant computer hardware) if that is a thing that's possible one time.

Imagine you have a dozen systems for redundancy but only 1 captain or 1 turret gunner.

With the advent of replication and transporter technology eating is no longer necessary. As long as you have access to energy, "Food" can be replicated and beamed into your stomach automatically. In fact you don't need to use the bathroom anymore either. Human waste can just be beamed out of your colon and back into the food replicators.

Some day you might be able to reverse the energy-consuming processes in a body and create Borg-regeneration-chambers.

If any station-specific block systems are made available on ships, it would only be on capital ships and there would be pros and cons to each being on them.

Like it. If hyperspace, cargo and repair equipment for combat ships/drones would take the majority of space, stop+combat drones and escorts would be a more efficient way to defend your valuable core ship than fighting with itself.

Haven't played Space Engineers so I can't comment on their system, but I think we'd want to limit how much we rely on weight, as even at the moment balancing thrust mechanics is tough.

Side-thought: Ships need to withstand the inertia drag during turns as well as during acceleration. If it is shield which lets you fight efficiently, stations could be far more efficient without logical issue.If cargo weight and ship weight require a certain amount of hull-blocks to compensate for stability, you get a whole new area of balancing.

More balancing areas is good, because it gives you the option to add more custom up/down-sides.
As long as they don't have many cross-interactions with each other, it remains easy to balance

The way you describe this makes me wonder- I feel like all players, then, should have their own personal faction. Then, rather than joining a faction, your own personal faction, or holdings, is then aligned with the faction you join.

That would ruin all faction-related tools such as sharing a faction-wide message, etc.

At the other hand it would stop players from creating a giant MEGA-corporation that assimilates many potential other factions on a server - finally creating a monotone environment with just one MEGA-corporation ruling the galaxy.

I think public API, which allow create community plugins and mods to extend server will boost growing community. See bukkit/forge/minecraft. There are many and many experienced people who can help and extend this amazing game. Without API they must only wait... I hope that API is not only promise similar like Mojang, which promise API many years...

An API is the first step to steal your working power. :p

Wrong you non-Trekkie heretic! The door to the left on the bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) leads straight to a bathroom! It's in the deck plans!

It is confusing that there exist so many versions of a ship called Enterprise. Also it isn't shown in most episodes, why do you expect us to know that detail?

I thought one door leads to the captains quarters and the other to a meeting room.

It really depends, ships built for crew in the first place won't change size at all but yes no lone fool in gaming I've run into will accept anything less than max potential unless they can't get it for some reasons.

Some peoples might enjoy a mobile base or carrier-capital from which to do operations with more specialized ships.
Some ships designs can be build for coherence with other faction designs. Optimisation is only good for things like Flagships, drones and ships that more than 1 person uses.

Optimisation generally things that are special or mass-produced - At least once you can decently control and retreat (into hangar bays) whole drone fleets.

Example:
Crew increasing weapon damage? Nope, thats either going to be ramping up the power curve, or its going to be ignored. Crew on a weapon system allowing it to be fired as if another player were in that computer, giving you an effect more like a fixed turret? Now thats useful and something we can already do either by having friends or by switching between cameras/arrays manually. It would just be easier with a crew.

Crew making a salvage beam more efficient? Not really much point when its easier to just build a bigger array. Crew that would automatically sort your stuff for you, or even man salvage turrets? Now that would be more useful.

There could be servers where one or the other is more efficient for all sizes, featuring a special set of construction rules (role-play vs newbie servers for example).

Elsewhere,

• drones might be the best thing possible,
• ships up to 1mil power regen good if you don't want to lose anything
  
• and ships above that only good as carriers or (less efficient) super-assaults where anything smaller would outright die.

Hah, no. Knowing what we know about small ships vs large ships, you probably wouldn't even need half the mass of the big ship in small ships.

Big ships are going to be reserved to station assault (as they can hold their own against huge station guns for longer) and for command roles in the future.

I love how these changes will mainly do two things for SM. First off it will shift from you being a one man crew to being a captain. Secondly it will make sure nobody ever calls this game minecraft in space again.

Agree.

And they can't be overtaken by a mutiny.
And their efficiency won't drop drastically if crew gets killed (because no crew).
And they won't have a running cost (hiring crew will cost credits).
And you won't have the added distraction of managing crew.

There's probably other reasons I didn't think of.

Or big should would be far better with crews than small ships.

• drones : no crew, but bobby.
• Fighters + Gunships : a single player.
• Small Frigates : 1-2 crew members for the most important systems.
• Cruisers, carriers and above : more crew members.

It could be sort of a tech-progression or simply a matter of wether you enjoy drones or big ships - all dependent on the server settings and whether it is role-play or newbie-friendly.
I think it will add more depth whatever comes.

Loading multiple camera perspectives at once is extremely resource intensive.

I would be happy with 2.
The first could only load what a short-sighted man could see (=1-3 nearest entities) while the other is active to save a decent amount of resources.

Can planets be way bigger and have a proper atmosphere?

If you only render the surface and near blocks it might be possible. But SM isn't optimized this way (loading only surfaces)

If atmosphere would just add drag and a lower max speed limit, I don't see why not.

If we are going to go this far, can we get 3 texture levels?

1. Basic skin: The actual skin parts. Basically, anything that isn't covered by the other two. Like the face and hands. Call it underwear if you want.
   
2. Uniform: Shirt,pants, shoes. Maybe gloves if you feel like it.
3. Rank and customization: goes on top of the uniform. piping, shoulder pip and the like.

Layer 1 can be set by the player. This would include facial features, eye color, glasses, facial hair, scars. That sort of thing.
Layer 2 is determined by your faction, as set by the Faction lead at the faction block. Depending on how factions turn out there could be multiple possibilities here. One for each division.
Layer 3 is determined by your Faction Rank.

I'm figuring for most NPC Layer 1 would be randomized and layer 3 would be basic enlisted, and depending on where you assign them would determine which division they are in. Will NPCs be able to be promoted? This might have to become it's own thread in Suggestions.

I would like if NPCs have not just 1 possible skin, but a choice of them.

1. Working dress
2. Special meetings dresses
3. Free time dress
   
4. Naked or Underwear if you like
5. Private party dresses

I don't see why it would be resource-intensive if they are generated on demand and you see a underwear-Dave until they are loaded. *pun intended*

 

[nightrune]

This could be done by splitting up the texture into two parts:

1. A uniform texture
2. A head/face texture, possibly including customized emblems (like rank marks) to overlay on top of the uniform.

That way, you can have your crew be assigned your uniform texture. Or, potentially share a uniform texture with other faction members for that matter.

Yes this would be awesome, for a ship but I would take a faction.