Tactical Sensors & Red Alerts

[Gordelox]

After reading through some planned features I got to thinking about the auto-pilot idea. Auto-pilot would give you the ability to go about your business on your ship without necessarily keeping an eye out for your surroundings.

This is where the Tactical Sensors & Red Alert Blocks come into play (the name is up for changing lol)

For example, a person could have a tactical sensor computer on their ship with red alert blocks placed throughout the ship. The computer then, when it identifies hostile targets within scanning range (basically at the same range they would show up in the navigation menu) sends a signal to the red alert blocks, which in turn flash brightly and create an alarm-like noise.

That is the basic premise for my proposal. A way for you to be alerted to nearby hostiles in case you haven't been staring at your navigational menu. Now for the "maybe" part of the proposal.



-Maybe the more adjacent sensors you have the further out hostiles are detected.

-Maybe the sensors could be filtered like the current navigation menu to alert you to various other points of interest. (although not with the same color/noise to the red alert block)

-Maybe the sensors could be a block on their own, without the alarm counterpart as a separate block, with a fixed range and no grouping bonus, then you could simply place these throughout your ship like lights and when they sense danger, they flash.

-Maybe the alarm blocks could serve a dual purpose as white lights (or even optional color filter built in) that change color when the alert is sounded.



In my most humble opinion something like this needs to be implemented, not only does it seem completely necessary for something like auto-pilot to actually work and not get you killed, but the role playing possibilities are endless.



This game means alot to me, and I hope my ideas are considered. Thank you for your time.



PS

(Waaaaay off topic but I didn't want to start a new post)

Imagine if inventories were much smaller forcing you to store more things in chests on your crafts. Do you think this would make trade and salvage runs more risky and therefor rewarding?

 

[FlyingDebris]

Me GUSTA

 

[-PR-Sandbag]

+1

 

[Gordelox]

Good to know people like my idea, I haven\'t seen an idea like this anywhere else, and the thing that I think is so great about it, is that it won\'t affect balance what-so-ever and in my opinion is an absolutely plausible feature.

 

[Connor01592]

Definetly something that would be able to be used.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

We really need this! The closest I knew when my ship was being attacked was when I could see the blue \'pulse\' of the sheilds! Roll on Beta...

 

[Yarp]

I like this alarm idea. Shifting a few of the functions that are currently built into the ship core to their own blocks could be good for even further ship customization and, ultimately, ship role variety. Sensors could be their own block, gaining range with each additional sensor block (with radar jamming having the inverse effect on the range of being sensed). This would make for a cat and mouse intelligence-gathering/diffusing race for who has more: sensors or radar jammers (maybe the sensor blocks could be named radar blocks to keep that theme). Every strategy should be given a counter-strategy to make team play dynamic. If the extreme strategies mean amassing one type of block to the detriment of others, opportunity cost comes into play. Making it so a sensor ship can then automatically relay (upload) their radar info to nearby faction-allied ships would be nifty. (\"Protect me, I\'m the fleet\'s eyes and ears!\")

The whole StarMade experience is so quiet, so laconic (understandable, being in alpha). When more sound does come, an intercom/loudspeaker block that could allow customization of notifications might be neat: letting you decide when/if your ship\'s lovely computer voice will tell you that the cloak/shields/radar jamming are at 30%... or 20% or letting you know that your missiles are once again ready or that the other shiphand just took the Zodiak out of dock and left the sector, leaving you and your massive cruiser to a grim fate.

Space itself may be silent, but any ship losing a space battle should be loud and chaotic. \"Intercom is down\" could have ingame implications You might not even get forewarning that something even worse is about to happen. Even if your faction mates are on ventrilo with you, you might all still be deaf to the more pressing needs of your vessel because of battle damage.

A linking block might be a nice idea, too. Linking any two functions to work together: Say, a docking block and a door could be linked so that every time your fighter is undocked the hangerbay door opens. Then as soon as you return and lock in, shing! Sealed up drum-tight again automatically. Also, inverse linking: Perhaps set so every time the shields fail, the cloak tries to engage.

 

[Gordelox]

I like those Ideas, some of them might be a little more complex to implement. I was thinking too, slightly off topic and more along the ideas for things we can fantasize about but probably wont get. How about a scanner for detecting ores within a certain radius, so at a glance you could see if a particular plannet is worthwhile to mine.

 

[EpicFailLord123]

Planet scanners? in 3 months of playing starmade i have never mined an ore above L2 on a planet or asteroid.

 

[Gordelox]

I had hesitated to add that second idea about planet scanning, might me neat, but definatly not the focus of this post. If people could keep it to feedback on the original idea that would help Tactical Sensors become a reality.

 

[Krahazik]

Would also be usefull for larger ships running with crews. IE, more than 1 player abord the ship.