Storage/cargo

[Andir]

I posted this in another thread but I figured I should make a formal suggestion thread for it. We already have things like docking enhancers/modules and I think we can extend that into storage. Have a Storage Module that works like the Storage now but it can only hold items in (x) slots. You can filter and collect like a normal storage container. Upon linking it to Storage Expansion blocks it will be able to hold more in a stack. On top of that have Storage Enhancement blocks that increase the number of slots available in that Storage module.

This will make Storage a bit less powerful and require ship space/mass to hold items encouraging cargo bays and ship designs around cargo hauling.

I would possibly also like to steal an idea from Space Engineers and allow cargo transfer on docking ports. An interface would allow you to accept certain items from docking blocks as a station/host so people wouldn't just dump crap, but as the docked ship you should be able to select which items to push via an interface on the core. Just link a storage to a docking block and it will be where items are collected. Linking a dock to a storage module will determine where the goods being pulled from. The same would apply on the core of the ship.

Edit: To add to this...

Pirates should have cargo ships as well. Fighters with no cargo would no longer drop hundreds of random items.

When shooting at a cargo component, if destroying it would cause the storage module to shrink below the allotted space, the items would be discharged into space by a percentage of the lost space per second until the cargo space could contain what's left. This would give an effect of having a hole in the hull that the cargo falls out of as the ship travels.

 

[Criss]

TO be completely honest. I would rather have dedicated cargo areas. Areas that we can setup and connect to salvage guns. I don't really like the idea of fitting tons of blocks into a single chest. It nullifies the purpose of my large container ship. I could fill a wall with plex strorage blocks, make my ship incredibly small and call it a freighter. Thats not a freighter. Thats a cheap way of transporting tons of stuff. Plex storage is good for objects like plants, guns, capsules maybe. But as for raw materials, stone and pieces of hull, those blocks shouldn't be compressed into a single cube stacking to incredible values.

I would honestly rather it sit in designated areas on my ship. I can build a rectangular area connected to a salvage gun and when I use the salvager it just places the blocks in that area. Perhaps the ores/crystals can get deposited into ore bins or something. The ship can have its own inventory based on the size of the hold and all the additional inventories can be the plex storages that only accept certain blocks/items. It's complicated but it makes much better use of the space. There is probably many more ways to utilize empty cargo space than my suggestion but that's what I've got for now.

 

[ltmauve]

The schema actually commented on a suggestion similar to this long ago, except rather than just having the enchancers, it was a volume of space that got filled with cargo crate blocks and the number of blocks you put in it was related to how full it was.
And vanhellzing, I will have to respectfully disagree with your opnion about 1:1 placing of storage, since to store building materials for a ship becomes incredibly hard.

As for transferring blocks, I like the idea of having a "transfer port" block that you can hit with a "supply beam" or "drain beam" to remove or place items in attached storages. Hook it up to logic, and you would get automatic cargo transfer.

 

[Commodore Decker]

We need automatic cargo transfer.
I had a similar thread about automatic cargo transfer just after the new factories came out. It gets boring real quick moving cargo by hand.

 

[Megacrafter127]

I had a similar thread about automatic cargo transfer just after the new factories came out. It gets boring real quick moving cargo by hand.

I also had a thread about it both on the old site and the new site .

 

[Commodore Decker]

The schema actually commented on a suggestion similar to this long ago, except rather than just having the enchancers, it was a volume of space that got filled with cargo crate blocks and the number of blocks you put in it was related to how full it was.
And vanhellzing, I will have to respectfully disagree with your opnion about 1:1 placing of storage, since to store building materials for a ship becomes incredibly hard.

As for transferring blocks, I like the idea of having a "transfer port" block that you can hit with a "supply beam" or "drain beam" to remove or place items in attached storages. Hook it up to logic, and you would get automatic cargo transfer.

I don't like the idea of a cargo transport beam with transfer ports. I would prefer to use existing docking ports and connections as follows.

Transfer to station from ship:
PlexStorage --(Link)--> Ship Core

On Station:
Docking port ship connected to ---> PlexStorage on station

I would also like to see an access terminal for storage like the ME system from the minecraft mod applied enerigistics.

 

[Lecic]

I agree with @Vanhelzing's freighting idea, but I think 1:1 for storage space is a bit unreasonable. 5:1 or 10:1 (5/10 blocks take up 1 block of storage) would be more reasonable. Freighters still need SOME non-cargo space.

Also, I think that plexstorages should still be able to carry normal blocks, but plexstorage should be

• Expensive to manufacture
• Have fewer slots
• Have a lower stack size than what players can carry, once limited stacks are implemented.

This way, small cargo skids to transport materials across ships and around bases are still viable, but large amounts of plexstorage is not feasible for a large cargo ship.

 

[Criss]

I agree with @Vanhelzing's freighting idea, but I think 1:1 for storage space is a bit unreasonable. 5:1 or 10:1 (5/10 blocks take up 1 block of storage) would be more reasonable. Freighters still need SOME non-cargo space.

Also, I think that plexstorages should still be able to carry normal blocks, but plexstorage should be

• Expensive to manufacture
• Have fewer slots
• Have a lower stack size than what players can carry, once limited stacks are implemented.

This way, small cargo skids to transport materials across ships and around bases are still viable, but large amounts of plexstorage is not feasible for a large cargo ship.

Basically the cargo area would carry more square to square than a plex storage. Maybe the cargo area has to have a certain volume as well so that it cant be so easily used on smaller freighters. 125 cubic meters of space, which is a 5x5x5 area is the minimum size for the cargo area and it can be expanded upon or just stacked next to itself.

 

[Andir]

TO be completely honest. I would rather have dedicated cargo areas. Areas that we can setup and connect to salvage guns. I don't really like the idea of fitting tons of blocks into a single chest. It nullifies the purpose of my large container ship. I could fill a wall with plex strorage blocks, make my ship incredibly small and call it a freighter. Thats not a freighter. Thats a cheap way of transporting tons of stuff. Plex storage is good for objects like plants, guns, capsules maybe. But as for raw materials, stone and pieces of hull, those blocks shouldn't be compressed into a single cube stacking to incredible values.

I would honestly rather it sit in designated areas on my ship. I can build a rectangular area connected to a salvage gun and when I use the salvager it just places the blocks in that area. Perhaps the ores/crystals can get deposited into ore bins or something. The ship can have its own inventory based on the size of the hold and all the additional inventories can be the plex storages that only accept certain blocks/items. It's complicated but it makes much better use of the space. There is probably many more ways to utilize empty cargo space than my suggestion but that's what I've got for now.

My idea would be somewhat the same thing. You have the controller that can hold a tiny amount and you create a cargo area with the enhancers/expanders. The cargo would be "held" in the enhancers in a way, but the storage module let's you connect things to it like the salvage computer. Think of the storage module as a cargo controller and the enhancers/expanders as the cargo area. The more enhancers you have, the more types of cargo you can access with the storage module. Add on a bunch of expanders and you can carry more. Think of them like tiny cargo cells.
in a 10x10x30 block of them and you could haul amount of items. If you lose some of those cells, the items are dropped in space.

Did I not explain it well enough? I think we are on the same page.

 

[ltmauve]

the enhancers/expanders as the cargo area

If you don't have cargo, why would you have a big cargo crate in your bay? The idea was similar to docking areas with how the cargo area was defined, and then you have a seperate block that shows up when you put cargo in. It has its own mass, and you can tell if a freighter is running with no cargo or full cargo by their speed. If destroyed, the cargo stack loses some of its contents.

I'm thinking a new property is defined for each block type, the stack volume. This determines how much space an item of a given type takes up. Then have a "volume" for both normal plexstorages, player inventory, and the new cargo stack, defined elsewhere.

Spoiler: Detail time, with numbers.

So for the example the volumes of the containers are:
1,000,000 per cargo box and
5,000,000 player inventory
2,000,000 NPC inventory
800,000 per plexstorage
Let's give a few block examples:
Computer: 10,000 : 100 per cargo box.
Weapon Module: 500 : 2,000 per cargo box.
Power reactor: 200 : 5,000 per cargo box
Ore/shard: 70 : 14285 per cargo box
Capsule: 3: 333,333 per cargo box
Mesh/Circuit: 3 : 333,333 per cargo box

 

[Mr. V]

I really like the idea of being able to transfer cargo through docking .

They've recently implemented some new linking features with storage containers that are pretty cool (having salvage cannons automatically transfer to storage, allowing factory blocks to automatically pull from storage, and some logic features). It seems like they could pretty easily add a feature of simply linking one or more storage containers to a docking or turret port (for a salvage turret on your ship) to automatically vacuum the cargo off a docked entity.

... could also make for some interesting ways of theft in multiplayer unless they make a way to prevent a ship from automatically offloading cargo when docked

 

[Commodore Decker]

I really like the idea of being able to transfer cargo through docking .

They've recently implemented some new linking features with storage containers that are pretty cool (having salvage cannons automatically transfer to storage, allowing factory blocks to automatically pull from storage, and some logic features). It seems like they could pretty easily add a feature of simply linking one or more storage containers to a docking or turret port (for a salvage turret on your ship) to automatically vacuum the cargo off a docked entity.

... could also make for some interesting ways of theft in multiplayer unless they make a way to prevent a ship from automatically offloading cargo when docked

The direction of arrows say which one is the primary selection(Orange Box Selection). The arrows point toward the connected blocks(purple).
Ascii Diagram for vacuuming to primary:
(Docked)Storage --> Core
(Main Ship)Docking Port --> Storage

Ascii Diagram for sending to docked:
(Main Ship)Storage --> Docking Module
(Docked) Core --> Storage

Instead of the ship core, it could be a dedicated transport controller block. Like the storage controller block suggested above.

 

[ltmauve]

I think the devs want to keep the core out of the connection/logic system until they find a very good use for it. I'm not sure they would approve of using the core for cargo, and locking it down right away. Besides, having the transfer system means that you have complete control over the entire system. You don't have to worry about accidently shoving your cargo you were going to sell back into your station's hopper. The beams are the most versatile option, since they don't require docking by either ship. Getting cargo on or off your ship from a dock is simple provided you have the transfer port and beam in the right places, and you know how to use logic.

 

[Andir]

I think the devs want to keep the core out of the connection/logic system until they find a very good use for it. I'm not sure they would approve of using the core for cargo, and locking it down right away. Besides, having the transfer system means that you have complete control over the entire system. You don't have to worry about accidently shoving your cargo you were going to sell back into your station's hopper. The beams are the most versatile option, since they don't require docking by either ship. Getting cargo on or off your ship from a dock is simple provided you have the transfer port and beam in the right places, and you know how to use logic.

I would love to get the core out of the docking business too.

 

[Megacrafter127]

I think the devs want to keep the core out of the connection/logic system until they find a very good use for it. I'm not sure they would approve of using the core for cargo, and locking it down right away. Besides, having the transfer system means that you have complete control over the entire system. You don't have to worry about accidently shoving your cargo you were going to sell back into your station's hopper. The beams are the most versatile option, since they don't require docking by either ship. Getting cargo on or off your ship from a dock is simple provided you have the transfer port and beam in the right places, and you know how to use logic.

Every weapon visible in the weapons menu is linked to the core. Why not enable that for logic blocks too?

 

[Aman11]

I think it would be cool to have someway of having a display showing you what you have in a container or if cargo holds are added in then you can make it show you what is in there
P.s. I got this idea from space engineers

 

[lilheartless]

Aman is trying to max out his necromancy level