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MrNature72’s comprehensive suggestion thread
To start things off, this chart represents how power should be separated in StarMade
For the most part, this thread focuses on two things: System-Based combat, and AI. However, before we get to that big hunk of meat, I’m going to throw in some of my more modest, and admittedly MUCH more compact, concepts on how to create the setting where the new combat and AI could take place.
PART 0 – CREATING THE UNIVERSE
Materials, Credits, & New Factories
For one, I really do not like the current evolution of a mining-based economy. As of right now, credits are of such abundance that simply “buying” ships is beyond easy. Not to mention people don’t even actually use ores to build things: they use them as the “real” wealth of StarMade, with L5’s being like the new $100 bill.
However, I propose a radical step away from this current style. Instead, make Credits a truly valuable and scarce resource. Give materials a value:utility ratio. Make mining more varied and reliable.
For starters, simplify materials. Right now, they’re pretty much scattered evenly everywhere, and no one really cares WHAT L5 it is, as long as it’s an L5 ore. In this concept, however, types of ore would be extremely important. They are separated into three categories: Ores, Components & Relics. Ores & Components will be discussed here.
The first bit of discussion is Ores: they are the most common and easy to locate, and mine, of all the new materials. On planets, they are generally evenly spread. Rich planets will contain an even amount of L4-L5 ore while dull planets will generally contain even amount of L1. They will still be separated into L1-L5 ores. To simplify it, each one is basically a denser version of the last, worth the equivalent of 10x the previous L. The range of Ores, too, will be greatly simplified, and listed below.
Metallite: Most common ore, the “steel” of the starmade world. Found on nearly every planet, even with planets not “rich” in Metallite. Used in a large majority of recipes. Basically, 1 Metallite = 1 normal hull block.
Radicon: “Energy” style ore, also very common. L5’s located near planet core, weak L1’s located near surface, as such a sense that it grows denser the deeper in the planet. Exception is planets rich in
Radicon: these would have an even number of L4 & L5 ore to be utilized in the mining process of this game. Used in producing engines, beam weapons, jammers, computers, shields, and stealth cloaks. A cross between silicon and uranium.
Plasticum: Semi-rare ore used in the creation of lights, glass, beacons, and other utlititarian aesthetic objects.
Adamantium: “Advanced” version of the Metallite used to produce more advanced objects, primarily advanced hulls.
Stantan: bottom-tier “Value” ore. Not useful in very many recipes, outside of aesthetics, but can be sold for a better price than utility ores.
Gold: mid-tier “Value” ore. Same as Stantan recipe wise. But can be sold for a fairly hefty amount.
Vennirian: top-tier “Value” ore. Same as Stantan recipe wise, but extremely rare, and can be sold for a huge amount at stores.
Now, for the first big change to the Factory. Instead of utilizing the factory mainly to produce L5 ores, like most people do, you would actually use it to produce, get this, blocks (yes I know this is possible now, but I have yet seen someone actually utilize this to produce blocks to be used in craft production and not just for the purpose of being sold). This would range from everything starting at the humble standard hull blocks. However, the existence of value ores would also allow you to take a more traditional path: at the bonus of having a single unit of purchase, Credits, that can be transferred into any block at a shop, you also have to deal with the limits of blocks you can purchase from a shop. Also, buying a ship from shops would cost +25% the price of all the combined ores, to make ore mining a practical and reliable way to build ships. Finally, Value ores would be a good way to store money: While hoarding credits is nice, having a vault of L5 ore locked on your main station would be extremely valuable and secure.
However, with the new weapon update information out, it occurred to me, “why can factions have better/worse tech than others”? So I came up with the Components. These could be found on the surface of all planets, in small amounts, in “crystal” like formations that would reappear over time on surface blocks. This would mean so no-one would be restricted on producing them in small numbers. Larger crystals could be found underground and in caves, and crystals would grow back on planets where they were normally found, making the control and dedicated mining of these planets a reliable, consistent way to get these resources. However, you could generally expect certain types of planets to have large and valuable amounts of certain Materials beneath the surface. Each Material would be used to craft certain things, and would be found on certain planets (to be discussed more in the next section). This would make so possessing planets (or even systems that have a large number of said planets) that had specific kinds of Materials would give factions an advantage.
Jackpowder – “Earth” planets: Jackpowder is the most common form of Material, and is used in the creation of cannons and missiles. Can be reliably found anywhere in slightly larger amounts than the other materials, for the most part.
Hyperion Crystals – “Alien” planets: Hyperion Crystals are rare, but when found, are often found in dense and valuable clusters on Alien planets. Used in the creation of beams and stealth systems. Also used in forcefield blocks.
Hiss – “Ice” planets: Hiss is a strange substance with odd properties, found mainly on the frozen tundras of Ice planets. Used in the creation of pulsars and jamming systems.
Bomdin – “Volcano” planets. Rare, explosive substance, used in Mines and ICBM systems.
However, to make the use of these materials simple, when placed in a storage container on a station, planet, or even a ship, you could set the container to “open to owner”, “open to all”, or “open to faction”. From there, people could actually build ships in a new, specialized block called the “Construction Dock”. It would act like a Shipyard, and could spawn in ships like a shop (but using the available resources instead of credits), or allow people to spawn in saved ships using the station/ships/planets stored resources.
Finally, as a small note, Miner’s (as in Miner AI, to be discussed later in Part 3 would be able to “drop off” resources just by coming within 500m of any block of a station, player-controlled ship, or planet. But that will make more sense later.
Asteroid Fields & Larger Planets/Sectors
Another major issue I currently have is how, frankly, sectors are so damn small, and planets are even smaller. When I land even my basic fighters on a planet, it’s still a pretty recognizable mark on a planet. This is bad. A fighter should be dwarfed by planets, and planets should be massive.
My first proposal: expand sectors, to either 15, 20, 25 or 30 kilometers. In my opinion, 25 is the sweet spot. Right now, sectors are just so ridiculously tiny that there are people who have built ships and stations that can stretch across them and into two other sectors. Once again, this is bad. Especially with the advent of controllable AI fleets, and warp travel, you need larger sectors. This way, once factions begin to spread, instead of controlling thousands of tiny sectors, you have them controlling one or two hundred in large scale operations (which would be manageable considering most of these would be void space in between solar systems.
Another proposition which would be absolutely vital would be increased planet size. Using the assumption of a 25km sector, planets should have a varying size, ranging from the “small” planets at a mere 4 kilometers, your most common planet would be 10 kilometers, and giant planets would be a massive 15 kilometers across. This way, large ships don’t dwarf planets, and when you approach a planet in your once-planetary titan, you can easily be dwarfed just by the weapons now able to be built on such a massive, immobile platform.
To further make planets significantly better, we need to get rid of the “flat bottom, flat top” planets. Now, spherical planets are simply not happening, since that would be a programming nightmare with such massive voxels and the already pretty basic gravity simulation. However, I propose we keep the flat top, keeping it just a little above midway like it is now. However, the bottom of the planet would be rounded, instead of just being flat like the top. With the advent of huge planets (compared to what we have now), and the use of ore, having such massive amount of blocks would be necessary to acquire ore for massive-scale operations. It would also allow for construction on a significantly larger scale. Having 10 kilometers on average to work with would mean having ample space to outfit planets with weapons and power production on scales that would be extremely difficult to reproduce on space-born ships.
The last bit about planets is that the outer shell of the bottom half would consist of a large number of thick, extremely durable blocks with about 60-80% armor. This would force ships to engage to the planets surface, and therefore make it so planetary defenses would be a viable option and couldn’t be subverted by simply attacking from the bottom, leading to awesome planetary sieges and defenses.
Also, moons. Nothing special here. Just small, mini planets that are statically located near planets. 1-3 km across. Just because moons are awesome. Yeah.
Planets would then be used to form solar systems. Solar systems could range from the size of 5x5x5 and with just a half a dozen planets, to 21x21x21 with dozens and dozens of planets. However, it would always have to be a constant amount of odd numbers for the dimension, since there would have to be a very defined center that would contain a star. A star could be a lot of colors (because colors), and generally, it would be a bad idea to get close to it.
The final notion I think should be added in asteroid fields. Asteroid fields could be from any size ranging from one sector to a massive ring of sectors. Asteroid fields would have extremely large amounts of ore in asteroids (able to be mined automatically by miners), and would actually possess “asteroid cores” which could be destroyed to cause the whole think to go cablooey, and would be used by miners to detect asteroids and mine them. Also, asteroid fields would regain cores (albeit extremely slowly), allowing for asteroid fields to be depleted, and then at a later time used again. Asteroid fields will also have less ore:not-ore ratio, and same with materials, but since they can be mined automatically by miners would, for large factions, be practical. Also, singular asteroids would possess certain ores and materials, but the whole asteroid field would have a generally even spread of ores and minerals, making the use of miners to mine fields a generally reliable way to retrieve a steady flow of all ores and minerals.
The “Flat Galaxy”, the Edge of the Galaxy, the Center, and Unique Materials
Right now, the galaxy is a massive sphere. Which is just wrong. So I propose a slightly more appropriate and functional galaxy, an actual galaxy with a center and an edge. It would be so massive that you naturally wouldn’t need it to be so huge, and you would generally occupy the more solar-ly populous middle and closer-to-central regions. For absolute general reference, however, the galaxy would be about 250-500 sectors high (which would be enough room for already tens or nearly a hundred massive 15x15x15 or even 21x21x21 solar systems, which include planets, asteroid fields, and suns), and have a size of about 1000x1000 to 2000x2000 sectors (because keeping things square keeps things simple).
However, this wouldn’t just be so you have a legitimate galaxy: it would allow for extreme expeditions. For one, you would have the “galactic edge”, would have very, very few solar systems (often spread far, far apart), and if you traveled to far you would just start entering void space, which is a very dangerous (albeit possibly fun) place to go (discussed later). The center of the galaxy (about 50x50x50 sectors) would be an outrageously dangerous, wild, and a general meat-grinder of anything that tried to get through it’s unstable rage. Each one however would have benefits, such as Relics, which are discussed below as I describe both the Edge (including Void Space) and the Center.
The Edge would be a ring about 25-50 sectors deep (making the space inbetween the edge and the center between still relatively massive and providing plenty of space for expansion). The Edge, compared to the Center, is a much more calm place, with the areas of danger extremely localized. However, these areas would be extremely dangerous and have perverse conditions: planets with ancient Alien towers with Planetary Shields (discussed later) that force players to land in small craft and engage with extremely dangerous mutated denizens, or a solar system plagued by swarms of space-faring organic creatures that constantly attack ships in the sector, denying any chance of shield recharge or peace as long as your within the solar system.
The Galactic Center would just be a mess. A mess of bad things that really don't like you. However, because the Galactic Center is rather small compared the edge (since the edge has to go all the way around the galaxy), but on the flipside is much harder to reach. The Galactic Center is surrounded by a wall 2-5 sectors deep of a "ion storm", that constantly damages your ship and has these huge, pulsating waves of energy that you want to avoid at all costs. However, once you got past that, the Galactic Center is a massive array of chaotically thrown around planets, suns, and dangerous beams of energy that want nothing less than you to die. THe Galactic Center also plays role to some fairly nasty mobs that have no qualms in following you out and then proceeding to make you regret life in the fullest.
However, these aren't simply "danger zones" tacked on too force or contain movements. Exploring and mining these regions, while they would need specialty craft and wouldn't be suitable for all but the most well-prepared expeditions, would give way to extremely powerful pieces of equipment, that I call Unique Materials. In the simplest form, Unique Materials would be buffed versions of blocks. One might find an ancient temple in the Galactic Edge with 2,000 Cannon blocks with +5% damage. Or they might find a chunk of 10,000 ancient shield blocks that have +20% shielding. However, there would be some catches to using these blocks.
For one, they couldn't be reproduced in AI fleets. You could still purchase blueprints with those blocks in them, but they would be replaced with their default block. This would prevent people mass-producing these unique materials, and because of their rarity, they would be primarily used in personal crafts.
Finally, there would be relics. Relics would be extremely rare and unique items that would give buffs to craft with a Relic system. They would be randomly generated objects that would give certain buffs to a ship, like +5% damage to main cannons, +10% shielding, +15% turn rate or so on. A ship could only use 2 (or 3, still debating) relics at a time.
New “basic” block types
This is fairly simple. Add in better hulls. Not much to be added here.
Better ground combat
I could write a whole massive section on this, but because I want to get this suggestion out there, I have a simple proposition. I plan to go into deeper detail much later.
1-Add weapons that can be customized for player and AI armies (to be discussed in a leter thread)
2-Deployable AI soldiers (drop pod "weapons" that require credits or certain materials?)
3-Power armor
4-Jetpacks
5-Ship breaching weaponry
WARP TRAVEL
My vision on warp travel is a fairly advanced concept that can be simplified. Long range warp traveled would be facilitated by Warp Nodes, built using literal blocks, in stations. Ships could not have warp nodes.
The size of the node would do a number of things. One, it would increase the power drain per warp shot. Second, it would increase its detection range. Finally, it decides how far it can shoot craft.
To utilize a warp node, you would have to get into range of it (which cant exceed the sector it is in). Then, it would utilize its launch range. You could only launch to another node within the launch range (which would be considerably large).
From there, it would teleport you to the area around the node launched to.
A warp node on a faction controlled node could be selected to not allow enemy ships to warp to it.
This style of FTL would provide controllable travel. It would still facilitate the need to explore. However, it would also add the ability to use distance as a buffer: A faction could organize an expedition fleet, and then go deep into the galaxy and establish a base far away from other people, and utilize a faction warp node.
However, it would be better to also have a network of civilian nodes. But that all depends on the society of the server.
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PART ONE: SYSTEM BASED WARFARE
Right now, warfare is dominated by core drilling. Which is, to be frank, stupid as shit. My massive capitol should not be relying on a single death-star style block no larger than an end table to keep it alive and running. And by all means, it shouldn't just crap itself and die when that one puny little block is destroyed.
I propose changing this by adding, dun dun dun, SYSTEMS. Systems would vary from point to point, but here are the systems I propose.
-Piloting & Autopilot
-Power & Supply
-Thrusters and Engine
-Life Support
-Weapon Control
-Relic
-Shield capacitors
-Scanner systems
-Jamming systems
-Gravity generators
-Repair System
To put it simply, each system would consist of unique blocks. These blocks wouldn't suffer the same 1x1x1 size limit other blocks are restricted too, instead varying. Each size up, from 1x, to 2x, to even 10x and 50x size blocks, would increase health and armor.
PILOTING AND AUTOPILOT
The Autopilot core would be the "core" we place down first. These systems are rather self explanitory. A single Pilot seat, which could range from a 2x1x1 fighter cockpit seat with the pilot laying down, to a massive 25x25x25 room that can take bombs to the face.
Autopilot would allow for just that: let the pilot punch in coordinates and then wander the ship. They require no power.
POWER SUPPLY
The power blocks would function the exact same way now. However, added to the mix would be power breakers: giant humming mechanisms that would allow the power to be transfered to the rest of the ship.
A ship could have any number of different size power breakers, but the idea is simple: once all breakers are broken, power gets cut down 50%. Not 100%, because that would just be a massive pain.They require no power.
THRUSTERS AND ENGINE
Engine cores would function somewhat similar to Power Breakers, with the catch that Engine Cores must be linked to engines. This means you could have one massive core powering multiple thrusters, multiple thrusters to multiple cores, or any mix of the such. However, the destruction of engine cores leads to -50% thrust. They require no power.
LIFE SUPPORT
Fairly simple. While life support is active, supported by Oxygen Emulators and Temperature Control units (same as breakers and engine cores), would be placed all over the ship. However, there is a kicker: they project life support in a set radius. While overall life support is much more compact than other systems, a 5x5x5 block would project over a 100x100x100 radius. This would allow crafty pilots to knock out a ships life support in certain areas. However, the idea is simple: once Oxygen Emulators are shut down, players must rely on personal suits or other objects to survive. Same goes for Temperature Control units. These can also be placed on planets that lack oxygen or are extremely cold/hot.
WEAPON CONTROL
Simply put, expanded weapon systems. Multiple weapons could be controlled from multiple computers, and so on. However, shooting out weapon controllers disables these weapons unless linked to another weapon controller. They require no power.
RELIC
Relic is simple. A single, 1x1x1 block that people can place relics into to buff their ships. Relics do not work on AI controlled ships. Requires power.
SHIELD CAPACITORS
Power breakers for shields. They require no power.
SCANNER SYSTEMS
A scanner system is self explanatory: it allows you to detect jammed/cloaked ships within a radius. The larger the scanner system, the larger your "detector number". Other ships have a set "detection number". If your detector # is bigger than their detection #, you can detect the ship and all systems. If it is between 1/2 and equal, you can detect the ship, but not systems. If it is less than 1/2, you cannot detect the ship. Require power.
JAMMING SYSTEMS
Extremely self explanatory. Jammers would increase your detection # by a set amount. Cloaking systems would increase the # by a huge amount and render your craft invisible, but also drain a hell of a lot more power. Both systems require power.
GRAVITY
Same as it is now, but with the upcoming patch and the ability to target gravity as systems.
REPAIR SYSTEMS
While powered, would slowly repair any broken systems and replace destroyed blocks using stored blocks. The more repair systems, the more it can repair. The larger each system, the faster it repairs. As a catch, it can only repair when activated and drains mad lots of power.
MANNING CHAIRS
Not really a system, but when placed adjacent to a system block, affects all systems of the same type. This would allow crew members to "man" crafts, which, according to the size of the Manning Chair, would give a certain buff. Like +10% damage, or +5% turning speed. However, you cannot stack manning systems: the system takes the buff from the largest manned chair, and thats it.
As a final note, you cant outright "destroy" systems. System blocks become "broken" when shot to pieces, and can only be "destroyed" when there are no adjacent blocks. This means you do have the ability to repair systems, either through the Repair System or the use of the Repair Tool.
FINALLY (srs this time) there would be a small block that provides power to every system. However, there can only be one, and it only provides Life Support, Autopilot, Power Breaker, Thruster and Engines and Shield Capacitors. This allows for small fighter ships to still be used. However, it cannot be placed on ships with any actual systems that it provides.
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PART TWO: AI STUFF AND JUNK
Right now, AI is fairly terrible for something with such massive potential. Currently, you can’t use AI for anything but fairly rudimentary turrets (as in they can only fire by very thin, vague guidelines), and suicide drones that once released will shoot whatever enemy they can find, and then become generally useless unless you manually retrieve and re-dock ever single one.
AI, however, has some of the biggest potential within this game. With the concept of systems, ships with a crew would become more of a mainstay than they are now. This would also support the growth of professional crews: set groups of people who constantly work together in multiple ships. However, while ships with a crew would be favorable, it would also put a strain on faction population. The solution? Completely revolutionizing AI.
AI should be able to fill a much broader variety of roles. Already, the option to switch between AI types exist, ship and turret. However, if you gave people more control over AI, and made AI more multi-purpose, you would change StarMade as we know it.
First things first, you need to expand the capability of AI modules. Instead of just “ship”, and even “turret”, you should have a plethora of options. I’ll go about the options in fair detail.
(Miner AI)
For starters, there should be a “Miner” option, which would be able to be programmed to go to sectors (either single, or clusters), so search for asteroids to mine. Once located, they would slowly circle the asteroid, and periodically mine it. It would be less efficient than a human miner, of course, but having miners that you can basically “fire and forget” would add an entire branch of the economy, especially with the advent of asteroid fields. Factions could vie for control over mineral-rich asteroid fields, and even someone rolling solo or with just a few friends could build a fairly successful mining operation, and sell their resources to factions that need them. “Miners”, however, should be size-limited, so you don’t have fleets of hundreds of capitol sized miners consuming entire asteroid fields in one sweep. A size of, say, 100x100x100 max (or maybe even 50x50x50) would be much more logical, as it would encourage fleets of larger magnitude, and make control of asteroid fields more volatile, as you would need larger defenses to truly “control” a field. Finally, a Miner could be told to return to a selected ship, station, or planet to deposit it’s materials inside of storage crates, and could either be manually sent out again, or told to return automatically until it cant find any more asteroids.
(Turrets)
Next, we should have ever so greatly improved turret options. Instead of just being “shoot at these guys”, you should be able to select from a much larger array of options. For starters, you should be able to assign turrets to “arrays”, which would be accessible as a whole from the pilots chair. From there, you could change the engagement options of all the turrets in an array. This would make adjusting damage/range/reload/speed much faster and more efficient, and changing the multitude of engagement rules.
As for the engagement rules of turrets, here is what I believe should be added.
List of engagement options:
Shielded / Unshielded / Both
Largest /Smallest /Ships above base mass of (enter number) / Ships below base mass of (enter number) /Any
Shield blocks / Shield system / Power blocks / Power breakers / Piloting system / Autopilot Core / Weapon systems / Weapon blocks (select from weapon blocks) / Life support / Medical systems / Gravity generators / Personnel / Faction system / Jamming system / Stealth system
Closest/Farthest/Between 25% and 75% range (middle zone) / Any range
Use only AI targeting / Prioritize selected target / Prioritize selected target and selected systems
Neutral & Enemy / Enemy
Human / AI (then from AI select: All, Turrets, All Ships, Miners, Small warship, Medium warship, Large warship, and be able to select a priority for each, 1-10)
Focus (fire from the entire array will fire on a single target)/Divide (Select number 1-10, or as many as possible. Turrets will naturally restrain from firing on targets turrets from the same array are already shooting at, unless there are no other targets available)
[Optional, to combat the rise of AI] (Micro, Small, Macro, Medium, Large, Huge, Massive) or role (discussed later in this chapter) (also able to select multiple, so it could target Micro, Small, and Macro ships)
Strict (only fire if the requirements are filled) / Open (prioritize the selected options but fire upon anything if the prioritized targets are not available)
It’s a lot of options, but it would allow for awesome automation, and extreme control. Allow me to give some examples.
Let’s say I was having an issue with fighters. I could have two arrays, one titled “Light Anti-Shield” and the other “Light Sniper Array”. The anti should would have fast-firing, fast rotating turrets designed with primarily shield-stripping weapons. I could, using the array control ability from being in the captains chair, tell the “Light Anti-Shield” to target only shielded ships, and to target the smallest available, and the closest, to ensure accuracy. Then, my “Light Sniper Array”, which would be built to be slower and more powerful, with large, single-shot railguns or cannons designed to knock small fighters out of the air in just one shot (or maybe two for larger fighters). I would give them the command to shoot only unshielded ships, and to also fire at the smallest. However, I would tell them to shoot at any range. This way, while my more numerous anti-shield turrets are constantly ripping away the shields of fighters and keeping them open to block-destroying weapons, my sniper array is working their way along whatever ship is unshielded, using the range selection to make sure the enemy cant confuse them by running away, knocking whatever is dumb enough to get their shields stripped in single, decisive blasts.
Or, lets say we’re going up against a larger ship. Naturally, I would have an array designed to shoot at the largest ship. But then, I also need the ability to focus on ships I deem necessary. I would be able to select an array, in this case my massive, multi-role main cannons (like on a battleship). I would have had “prioritize selected target and selected systems” already placed on the Array, and I would select that ship singularly (since you could add the option of “multi-lock” for arrays, simply selecting multiple targets to apply engagement rules too). From there, I would scan the larger ship, and select weapon systems. My large cannons would then begin wailing on the ship until shields were down, and then focus all fire on weapons system. I would then select my secondary battery, a large missile array, to “prioritize selected target”, but not systems, so they would wail all over the ship.
However, such changes would not make combat overcomplicated. I much prefer the general idea that the game only gets as deep as you dig. Right now, the game is extremely shallow. Adding just the turret options, however, would add a layer in combat that would improve your ability, but not be absolutely vital. New players, or players who prefer to live a simple StarMade life, could set their turrets outside of arrays, and set them once and completely forget about them. And on the other hand, if you had an Admiral of a faction who wanted to be a true terror in combat could constantly micromanage his weapon systems to constantly try and give him an edge. It’s harder, riskier, but the rewards are greater. I always try to make my concepts in such a manner as to make it so people who put more in, get more out, but you don’t remove the fun from any kind of player, casual, hardcore, or extreme.
It’s pretty clear how much you could change combat just by changing the turrets like I’ve stated, but I’m not done yet. Now, we’re going to go back to ship types for AI.
(Automated Warships)
Another core option would be Automated Warships. This is one of the most vital, and admittedly most difficult, concepts to implement. The basic idea is that a faction, or even a powerful single individual, would be able to build, command, and use AI controlled ships as squads, fleets, or even a factions primary army.
The reasoning behind this is simple: with the advent of systems, as I mentioned earlier in this chapter, the population of factions would become, to a degree, more strained, as a fleet of crewed ships would be much more effective than a fleet of more populous, but single-manned ships. Right now, controlling any medium-to-large sized territory is difficult. To compensate for this, you need to give factions the ability to utilize AI ships in their arsenal. As of right now, AI ships are nothing more than normal craft with a Bobby AI module slapped on, and are basically useless after they’re let loose for the first time, making both the use of them as an actual armed force impractical, and carriers nothing more than unreliable, single-shot gun shows.
The final support is pretty simple. With the advent of warp, and the necessity of crewed ships and expanded automated economy the amount of territory a faction can effectively utilize is greatly expanded, however, their ability to protect it, at least by manual, personal means, is greatly diminished. The following AI concept, however, alongside with the creation of Strategic Platforms (which will come right after this section), would make control over territory, invasion of territory, and large-scale conflicts much more interesting. Players, especially large factions (which contain the majority of MP players anyways), would finally be able to utilize the massive, infinite, procedural universe StarMade has to offer.
Firstly, you would need to expand the combat ability from simply “ship”, to multiple types of “ship”. In my concept of this, it would be pretty simple. “micro”, “small”, “macro”, “medium”, “large”, “huge”, and “massive”. Each one would affect the base behavior of all ships. However, they would be predefined, with slightly overlapping ranges. This would provide basic, standardized ship “classes”, which would make ships much easier to define. No longer would we have the issues of someone’s “Titan” being the size of another factions “Cruiser”. The sizes would be as follows (not this is approximated what it should be, end defined size could vary to cope with changes in the sizes of ships built due to the advent of systems, more weapons, combat changes, ect).
Type size definitions and basic maneuvering.
Micro – (debated)
Micro ships attempt very angular attacks on all ships, approaching indirectly and following a fast, curved path, giving the appearance of sweeping strafes. Passes by ships and then turns to pass by again by default. (sweeping strafe)
Small – (debated)
Follows strafing attack patterns of micro ships, and still comes in at an angle. However, follows straight path, allowing for constant fire while attacking while sacrificing some survivability. (direct strafe)
Macro – (debated)
Attacks in a strafe at an angle, just like micro and small. However, once it gets close to the ship, will strafe constantly for 2-4 seconds before continuing the flight pattern, sacrificing more integrity while also being able to do more damage.
Medium – (debated)
Medium craft will get into solid range of the target (about 80% of their maximum range by default) and then strafe to the side to avoid fire.
Large – (debated)
Follows similar rules to Medium but strafes slower, and will slowly move backwards to keep in maximum range.
Huge – (debated)
Tries to stay as immobile as possible, slugging it out from range.
Massive – (debated)
Gets to where it needs to go and sits it’s fat ass down solid.
The primary concept of types is to decide the “stability” of a ship. Right now, even huge ships constantly try to twist and turn, like they’re fighters. With the “type”, for example, micro and small ships would flip and hop like grease on a skillet. Macro ships would retain somewhat more stability, instead focusing on general straight-line approaches and strafe runs instead of screwball entrances. Medium ships would attempt to keep some distance, while instead preferring to stay on one side of an enemy, instead of constantly coming in for strafing runs and turning around. Large and Huge ships would keep their distance, and once in weapon range, would stay much more immobile than the lighter types, letting their turrets do their work. If they have to move, they’d prefer to move straight forward or in reverse, turning as little as possible. Massive ships would simply try to stay as immobile as possible. Get into range, and sit and pound the enemy with as many guns as possible. Another simple categorization is this, micro-to-macro you’ll find in hangars, medium is the bread and butter “main battle tank”, large and huge are the heavy hitters, and massive are the new titans.
To select what type, you would first select “ship”, as you do now, only instead of a “arrow select”, like it is now, where you constantly select one-by-one, it will be in a drop down selection menu, which I believe should be the standard for all selection, to make things quicker. After selecting the ship, and the type, you would then select the “role”. Roles would vary by type, and would decide the absolute basic purpose of the ship. Some types would be able to share roles, while others would be restricted to one or a set number of types. However, to start things off, I’ll list and describe every “role” that would be available, alongside who can use them. Then, beneath it, will be a list of types, and next to them all the roles they could fill. The roles will be presented with their default actions, which would be displayed when you scroll your cursor over them.
ROLES
Fighter: Micro, Small
Basic tier-1 unit. The fighter prioritizes fighter types and bomber types by default. They are used to control the skies in swarms. Clusters in groups of 4 by default when used as singular units.
Heavy Fighter: Macro
Tier-2 unit. Clusters in groups of 2 by default when possible. The heavy fighter is designed to be more advanced and capable than the light fighter, and should be utilized in smaller numbers. More likely to host turrets and other advances systems. Prioritizes fighter types and bomber types.
Bomber: Micro, Small
Basic tier-1 unit. Clusters in groups of 3 by default when used as singular units. Prioritizes Medium to Large craft by default. Attempts direct attacks onto larger ships with all weapons in order to try and cripple them. Will attack systems if possible.
Heavy Bomber: Macro
Tier-2 unit. Prioritizes Medium to Massive craft by default. Clusters in groups of 2 like craft. Attempts direct attacks onto larger ships with all weapons in order to try and cripple them. Will attack systems if possible.
Light Scout: Micro, Small, Macro
Tier-2 unit. Attempts to avoid all offensive craft by default. Primary purpose is to scout sectors and provide vision for faction commanders.
Heavy Scout: Medium, Large
Tier-3 unit. Attempts to avoid all offensive craft by default. Primary purpose is to scout sectors and act as detector craft with scanners to reveal cloaked and jammed ships and allow for AI craft to attack enemy craft systems.
Light Cruiser: Medium
Tier-3 unit. Prioritizes targets at range. General purpose long range craft designed to provide supporting fire outside of the enemy crafts range.
Heavy Cruiser: Large
Tier-4 unit. Prioritizes targets at range. General purpose long range craft designed to provide supporting fire outside of the enemy crafts range. Equipped with more armor and firepower than the Light Cruiser.
Warship: Medium, Large, Huge
Tier-3 (medium) / Tier-4 unit (large, huge). Primary assault craft. Has default option in RTS menu to switch between prioritizing multiple micro-small-macro craft, or prioritizing singular medium-large-massive craft. Most common unit.
Battleship: Large, Huge, Massive
Tier-5 (large, huge) / Tier-6 unit (massive). Advanced assault craft. By default has 2 separate array slots for turrets, allowing for rapid multi-use without having to change with orders. 1st array automatically set to handle medium-large-massive craft. 2nd array automatically set to handle micro-small-macro craft.
Capitol Ship: Massive
Tier-7 unit. Top tier assault craft. By default has 3 separate arrays slots for turrets, with the 1st array set to handle large-massive craft, the 2nd array set to handle medium-large craft, and the 3rd array set to handle micro-small-macro craft. Generally also equipped with scanning equipment. A mobile fortress.
Carrier: Large to Massive
Tier-7 unit. Automatically givent the ability to deploy and recall ships placed in it, and the ability to repair / rebuild these ships when in range of an allied shipyard or equipped with storage containers holding blocks.
STRATEGIC PLATFORMS
This, in every-way-whatsoever, would be an absolute game changer. The overall idea can be put into one paragraph: give Faction officers, or even singular players, the ability to control AI on a larger scale. By utilizing a Strategic Platform block (also turning the ship into a “Strategic Platform”, which cannon be controlled by an AI block), you can control AI in a set range according to the power setting on the block. It would drain power while active. Also, the range would be doubled naturally on Stations and Planets, causing the creation of “control nodes”.
The range would be pretty forgiving however. And with the extension of sectors to being 10km, lets say a basic SP would be able to cover about 100 sectors deep. However, that is not a difficult to balance issue. The true ability of Strategic Platforms is the full use of AI as proper fleets, carriers actually work, and stations/planets to become legitimate places of production and resource.
The primary purpose of the SP is to allow a player to control AI ships. This can be utilized on any level, but they all follow the same general hierarchy. Ships are organized into Models. Models are organized into Fleets. And Fleets make up the AI Navy of a faction/individual. So, in order to understand how the SP works, we have to start from the bottom: The Model.
An AI model is fairly simple in retrospect but absolutely vital to utilizing AI effectively. Models are AI craft built specifically for use in larger fleets. In order to build a “Model”, you would have to build a ship that contains all of the following parts:
-Functional weapons system (except for Miners)
-Functional autopilot system
-Functional power system w/ power breakers
-At least 1 thruster block
-Modern Bobby AI module & AI redundancy system(s)
However, an AI ship can operate without the following
-Life support
-Piloting system
-System control centers
-Mining system (except for Miners, of course, in which case this is flipped with weapons)
AI models can be outfitted with the following systems if you please, however, and they will count as abilities (to be discussed later)
-Stealth/Jammer systems
-Detection systems
And finally, a model can NOT operate with the following system.
-Strategic Platform system
The Model, once constructed, will be given a name (to be given at the Bobby AI model within the craft) to fit the model, and, naturally, will be automatically given a Weight Class (according to mass) and allow the user to select a Role for the ship. Once all this is complete, you would begin the next step: Uploading the Model
Uploading a Model requires bringing it to a Station or Planet with a functioning Fleetworks Center. A Fleetworks Center is fairly simple, and consists of nothing more than a special version of the docking block called the “Fleetwork Construction Block”, with it’s own special kind of extenders. Uploading a model is a fairly simple task. Step 1, would be to fly into the docking range of the Fleetworks Center, and then docking the ship (utilizing the previously discussed improved docking). To do this, the Fleetworks Center cannot be producing any ship (discussed later). Docking any craft that fits the requirements of an AI fleet ship (and has been given a name) will automatically be uploaded to the “blueprints” of the Fleetworks Center, and then torn apart instantly, all of the resources going to a connected resource bin (discussed later, just bear with me).
Blueprints would be shared among all Fleetwork Centers connected to the same stations and/or planet, but would not be shared among separate stations/planets. Fleetworks Centers can also NOT be located on mobile ships, under any circumstances. Carriers will be explained later.
After your model has been uploaded, from there you can access it through the accessing that Fleetworks Center(s) in the Strategic Platform HUD, clicking on the station or planet, and then picking that model from the list to be built into a fleet. The idea is pretty simple: when you select a model to be built, it will be built in the smallest possible Fleetworks Center on that planet/station. Multiple Fleetworks Centers would mean more than one ship could be produced at once, but larger ones would allow for larger ships to be uploaded and constructed.
However, you don’t just pump ships out and watch them wreck havoc. That would cause a lot of lost ships and lag. Instead, we advance to the second piece of the puzzle: The Fleet.
You would set up fleets in the SP menu. To set up a fleet, you would click on any station or planet. Then, all ships available to that planet/station would come up in a list. You would select up to 10 different models, and how many ships of each model you wanted in the fleet. From there, production would begin.
This would lead to more organized construction, and general stability. While yes, it would be logical to give a Titan a fleet consisting of just it, it wouldn’t make sense to have every fighter have to be selected by hand. Instead, you operate them by fleets of 10-20, supported by other craft, just as an example. It also allows for much simpler controls: instead of massive, convoluting orders, you simply order fleets to go to sectors.
To clear things up, we’re now going to approach the main SP HUD, and how you would operate it, as demonstrated in the picture below
As you can see, there are a number of simple orders you can give to fleets: tell them to go to sectors for example, using an option near the chat box. However, on the right, you see a set of 8 prominent commands. These are divided into two areas, “Stances” and “Formations”. Formation commands dictate how the ships stay clustered while out of combat, while stances dictate how they behave. They are simple to describe.
Formations
Shell: a massive sphere with the weakest ships on the outside and the strongest on the inside.
Reverse shell: a massive sphere with the strongest on the outside and the weakest on the inside
Delta: a triangular formation with the weakest in a spear in the front and the strongest in the back. Faces the direction of the Sector they move to. If given without movement, will form in simplest direction possible (as little movement as possible).
Reverse delta: a triangular formation with the weakest in the back and the strongest in front. Faces the direction of the Sector they move to. If given without movement, will form in simplest direction possible (as little movement as possible).
Stances
Aggressive: will pursue any attacking fleet, whether moving or defending.
Loose defensive: will pursue any enemy fleet within 2-3 sectors of the sector assigned to the fleet. Will return to assigned sector once enemy leaves range or is destroyed.
Strict defensive: will adjust to fire upon enemies but will not leave assigned sector.
Patrol mode: when patrol mode is selected, you enter a list of up to 20 sectors. The fleet will then constantly move between sectors, spending 5 minutes (can be changed to 20 minutes to 0, constant movement) in each sector. Constant cycle. Will pursue attacking fleets obeying Loose Defensive orders, before returning to Patrol mode.
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You also may notice on the list the referencing of “abilities”. Abilities are pretty simple: they let you manually activate certain traits of AI ships. Abilities are automatically granted if a ship is capable. They are as follows
-Jamming (on/off)
-Stealth (on/off)
-Detection & Scanning systems (on/off)
-Assault craft (deploy/recall) [assault craft explained in greater detail later]
All in all, I believe this provides a solid base for the SP to work with. You could add more commands, but the given ones cover the basics. The final issue, however, is graphics. The Sector select screen would appear like a multi-level chessboard, with the simple up-down arrows bringing you up and down sectors, and the WASD moving you along the galaxy (would heavily utilize the “flat galaxy” I also proposed earlier). Once you selected a sector, it would zoom in. Everything but planets, suns, and asteroids, however, would not be rendered in 3D. For one, the resolution would be decreased for what IS rendered. Every other unit would be represented in 2D by the following chart, with their height in the sector proportionate to their height from the “base” of the “chess board” sector.
From here, you would operate on the fleet level. However, on the faction level, you can set permission lists for people, such as letting them control all fleets, letting them control specific fleets, or allowing them to give other people the permission to do so (originally only faction leader can).
CARRIERS:
Strategic Platforms could, on the flipside, be set as a "carrier" block to player controlled ships. Any Carrier block instantly controlls ships marked in "Carrier docks", which function precisely the same as docking units but instead are locked to the ship they are originally set with, and can repair / rebuild these ships with stored materials on the ship. The Carrier block, when used, would give the ability to deploy or recall these craft.
Deploying the crafts would take 5 seconds, at which all contained craft would "warp" out from the ship in a radius of 2km max around the ship. From there, they would attack targets marked by the pilot or whoever is in the carrier system controller by clicking on ships with the "Carrier" weapon selected.
Recalling ships would take 10 seconds. When recall was activated, ships would be disabled, and after 10 seconds would "warp" back to their respective carrier docks.
Finally, you could select to repair/rebuild ships, using carrier docks as kind of selectors. It would then commence to automatically repair or rebuild ships using stored materials.
Ships aboard an AI carrier suffer from the AI debuff. AI ships aboard player controlled carriers do not.
To start things off, this chart represents how power should be separated in StarMade
For the most part, this thread focuses on two things: System-Based combat, and AI. However, before we get to that big hunk of meat, I’m going to throw in some of my more modest, and admittedly MUCH more compact, concepts on how to create the setting where the new combat and AI could take place.
PART 0 – CREATING THE UNIVERSE
Materials, Credits, & New Factories
For one, I really do not like the current evolution of a mining-based economy. As of right now, credits are of such abundance that simply “buying” ships is beyond easy. Not to mention people don’t even actually use ores to build things: they use them as the “real” wealth of StarMade, with L5’s being like the new $100 bill.
However, I propose a radical step away from this current style. Instead, make Credits a truly valuable and scarce resource. Give materials a value:utility ratio. Make mining more varied and reliable.
For starters, simplify materials. Right now, they’re pretty much scattered evenly everywhere, and no one really cares WHAT L5 it is, as long as it’s an L5 ore. In this concept, however, types of ore would be extremely important. They are separated into three categories: Ores, Components & Relics. Ores & Components will be discussed here.
The first bit of discussion is Ores: they are the most common and easy to locate, and mine, of all the new materials. On planets, they are generally evenly spread. Rich planets will contain an even amount of L4-L5 ore while dull planets will generally contain even amount of L1. They will still be separated into L1-L5 ores. To simplify it, each one is basically a denser version of the last, worth the equivalent of 10x the previous L. The range of Ores, too, will be greatly simplified, and listed below.
Metallite: Most common ore, the “steel” of the starmade world. Found on nearly every planet, even with planets not “rich” in Metallite. Used in a large majority of recipes. Basically, 1 Metallite = 1 normal hull block.
Radicon: “Energy” style ore, also very common. L5’s located near planet core, weak L1’s located near surface, as such a sense that it grows denser the deeper in the planet. Exception is planets rich in
Radicon: these would have an even number of L4 & L5 ore to be utilized in the mining process of this game. Used in producing engines, beam weapons, jammers, computers, shields, and stealth cloaks. A cross between silicon and uranium.
Plasticum: Semi-rare ore used in the creation of lights, glass, beacons, and other utlititarian aesthetic objects.
Adamantium: “Advanced” version of the Metallite used to produce more advanced objects, primarily advanced hulls.
Stantan: bottom-tier “Value” ore. Not useful in very many recipes, outside of aesthetics, but can be sold for a better price than utility ores.
Gold: mid-tier “Value” ore. Same as Stantan recipe wise. But can be sold for a fairly hefty amount.
Vennirian: top-tier “Value” ore. Same as Stantan recipe wise, but extremely rare, and can be sold for a huge amount at stores.
Now, for the first big change to the Factory. Instead of utilizing the factory mainly to produce L5 ores, like most people do, you would actually use it to produce, get this, blocks (yes I know this is possible now, but I have yet seen someone actually utilize this to produce blocks to be used in craft production and not just for the purpose of being sold). This would range from everything starting at the humble standard hull blocks. However, the existence of value ores would also allow you to take a more traditional path: at the bonus of having a single unit of purchase, Credits, that can be transferred into any block at a shop, you also have to deal with the limits of blocks you can purchase from a shop. Also, buying a ship from shops would cost +25% the price of all the combined ores, to make ore mining a practical and reliable way to build ships. Finally, Value ores would be a good way to store money: While hoarding credits is nice, having a vault of L5 ore locked on your main station would be extremely valuable and secure.
However, with the new weapon update information out, it occurred to me, “why can factions have better/worse tech than others”? So I came up with the Components. These could be found on the surface of all planets, in small amounts, in “crystal” like formations that would reappear over time on surface blocks. This would mean so no-one would be restricted on producing them in small numbers. Larger crystals could be found underground and in caves, and crystals would grow back on planets where they were normally found, making the control and dedicated mining of these planets a reliable, consistent way to get these resources. However, you could generally expect certain types of planets to have large and valuable amounts of certain Materials beneath the surface. Each Material would be used to craft certain things, and would be found on certain planets (to be discussed more in the next section). This would make so possessing planets (or even systems that have a large number of said planets) that had specific kinds of Materials would give factions an advantage.
Jackpowder – “Earth” planets: Jackpowder is the most common form of Material, and is used in the creation of cannons and missiles. Can be reliably found anywhere in slightly larger amounts than the other materials, for the most part.
Hyperion Crystals – “Alien” planets: Hyperion Crystals are rare, but when found, are often found in dense and valuable clusters on Alien planets. Used in the creation of beams and stealth systems. Also used in forcefield blocks.
Hiss – “Ice” planets: Hiss is a strange substance with odd properties, found mainly on the frozen tundras of Ice planets. Used in the creation of pulsars and jamming systems.
Bomdin – “Volcano” planets. Rare, explosive substance, used in Mines and ICBM systems.
However, to make the use of these materials simple, when placed in a storage container on a station, planet, or even a ship, you could set the container to “open to owner”, “open to all”, or “open to faction”. From there, people could actually build ships in a new, specialized block called the “Construction Dock”. It would act like a Shipyard, and could spawn in ships like a shop (but using the available resources instead of credits), or allow people to spawn in saved ships using the station/ships/planets stored resources.
Finally, as a small note, Miner’s (as in Miner AI, to be discussed later in Part 3 would be able to “drop off” resources just by coming within 500m of any block of a station, player-controlled ship, or planet. But that will make more sense later.
Asteroid Fields & Larger Planets/Sectors
Another major issue I currently have is how, frankly, sectors are so damn small, and planets are even smaller. When I land even my basic fighters on a planet, it’s still a pretty recognizable mark on a planet. This is bad. A fighter should be dwarfed by planets, and planets should be massive.
My first proposal: expand sectors, to either 15, 20, 25 or 30 kilometers. In my opinion, 25 is the sweet spot. Right now, sectors are just so ridiculously tiny that there are people who have built ships and stations that can stretch across them and into two other sectors. Once again, this is bad. Especially with the advent of controllable AI fleets, and warp travel, you need larger sectors. This way, once factions begin to spread, instead of controlling thousands of tiny sectors, you have them controlling one or two hundred in large scale operations (which would be manageable considering most of these would be void space in between solar systems.
Another proposition which would be absolutely vital would be increased planet size. Using the assumption of a 25km sector, planets should have a varying size, ranging from the “small” planets at a mere 4 kilometers, your most common planet would be 10 kilometers, and giant planets would be a massive 15 kilometers across. This way, large ships don’t dwarf planets, and when you approach a planet in your once-planetary titan, you can easily be dwarfed just by the weapons now able to be built on such a massive, immobile platform.
To further make planets significantly better, we need to get rid of the “flat bottom, flat top” planets. Now, spherical planets are simply not happening, since that would be a programming nightmare with such massive voxels and the already pretty basic gravity simulation. However, I propose we keep the flat top, keeping it just a little above midway like it is now. However, the bottom of the planet would be rounded, instead of just being flat like the top. With the advent of huge planets (compared to what we have now), and the use of ore, having such massive amount of blocks would be necessary to acquire ore for massive-scale operations. It would also allow for construction on a significantly larger scale. Having 10 kilometers on average to work with would mean having ample space to outfit planets with weapons and power production on scales that would be extremely difficult to reproduce on space-born ships.
The last bit about planets is that the outer shell of the bottom half would consist of a large number of thick, extremely durable blocks with about 60-80% armor. This would force ships to engage to the planets surface, and therefore make it so planetary defenses would be a viable option and couldn’t be subverted by simply attacking from the bottom, leading to awesome planetary sieges and defenses.
Also, moons. Nothing special here. Just small, mini planets that are statically located near planets. 1-3 km across. Just because moons are awesome. Yeah.
Planets would then be used to form solar systems. Solar systems could range from the size of 5x5x5 and with just a half a dozen planets, to 21x21x21 with dozens and dozens of planets. However, it would always have to be a constant amount of odd numbers for the dimension, since there would have to be a very defined center that would contain a star. A star could be a lot of colors (because colors), and generally, it would be a bad idea to get close to it.
The final notion I think should be added in asteroid fields. Asteroid fields could be from any size ranging from one sector to a massive ring of sectors. Asteroid fields would have extremely large amounts of ore in asteroids (able to be mined automatically by miners), and would actually possess “asteroid cores” which could be destroyed to cause the whole think to go cablooey, and would be used by miners to detect asteroids and mine them. Also, asteroid fields would regain cores (albeit extremely slowly), allowing for asteroid fields to be depleted, and then at a later time used again. Asteroid fields will also have less ore:not-ore ratio, and same with materials, but since they can be mined automatically by miners would, for large factions, be practical. Also, singular asteroids would possess certain ores and materials, but the whole asteroid field would have a generally even spread of ores and minerals, making the use of miners to mine fields a generally reliable way to retrieve a steady flow of all ores and minerals.
The “Flat Galaxy”, the Edge of the Galaxy, the Center, and Unique Materials
Right now, the galaxy is a massive sphere. Which is just wrong. So I propose a slightly more appropriate and functional galaxy, an actual galaxy with a center and an edge. It would be so massive that you naturally wouldn’t need it to be so huge, and you would generally occupy the more solar-ly populous middle and closer-to-central regions. For absolute general reference, however, the galaxy would be about 250-500 sectors high (which would be enough room for already tens or nearly a hundred massive 15x15x15 or even 21x21x21 solar systems, which include planets, asteroid fields, and suns), and have a size of about 1000x1000 to 2000x2000 sectors (because keeping things square keeps things simple).
However, this wouldn’t just be so you have a legitimate galaxy: it would allow for extreme expeditions. For one, you would have the “galactic edge”, would have very, very few solar systems (often spread far, far apart), and if you traveled to far you would just start entering void space, which is a very dangerous (albeit possibly fun) place to go (discussed later). The center of the galaxy (about 50x50x50 sectors) would be an outrageously dangerous, wild, and a general meat-grinder of anything that tried to get through it’s unstable rage. Each one however would have benefits, such as Relics, which are discussed below as I describe both the Edge (including Void Space) and the Center.
The Edge would be a ring about 25-50 sectors deep (making the space inbetween the edge and the center between still relatively massive and providing plenty of space for expansion). The Edge, compared to the Center, is a much more calm place, with the areas of danger extremely localized. However, these areas would be extremely dangerous and have perverse conditions: planets with ancient Alien towers with Planetary Shields (discussed later) that force players to land in small craft and engage with extremely dangerous mutated denizens, or a solar system plagued by swarms of space-faring organic creatures that constantly attack ships in the sector, denying any chance of shield recharge or peace as long as your within the solar system.
The Galactic Center would just be a mess. A mess of bad things that really don't like you. However, because the Galactic Center is rather small compared the edge (since the edge has to go all the way around the galaxy), but on the flipside is much harder to reach. The Galactic Center is surrounded by a wall 2-5 sectors deep of a "ion storm", that constantly damages your ship and has these huge, pulsating waves of energy that you want to avoid at all costs. However, once you got past that, the Galactic Center is a massive array of chaotically thrown around planets, suns, and dangerous beams of energy that want nothing less than you to die. THe Galactic Center also plays role to some fairly nasty mobs that have no qualms in following you out and then proceeding to make you regret life in the fullest.
However, these aren't simply "danger zones" tacked on too force or contain movements. Exploring and mining these regions, while they would need specialty craft and wouldn't be suitable for all but the most well-prepared expeditions, would give way to extremely powerful pieces of equipment, that I call Unique Materials. In the simplest form, Unique Materials would be buffed versions of blocks. One might find an ancient temple in the Galactic Edge with 2,000 Cannon blocks with +5% damage. Or they might find a chunk of 10,000 ancient shield blocks that have +20% shielding. However, there would be some catches to using these blocks.
For one, they couldn't be reproduced in AI fleets. You could still purchase blueprints with those blocks in them, but they would be replaced with their default block. This would prevent people mass-producing these unique materials, and because of their rarity, they would be primarily used in personal crafts.
Finally, there would be relics. Relics would be extremely rare and unique items that would give buffs to craft with a Relic system. They would be randomly generated objects that would give certain buffs to a ship, like +5% damage to main cannons, +10% shielding, +15% turn rate or so on. A ship could only use 2 (or 3, still debating) relics at a time.
New “basic” block types
This is fairly simple. Add in better hulls. Not much to be added here.
Better ground combat
I could write a whole massive section on this, but because I want to get this suggestion out there, I have a simple proposition. I plan to go into deeper detail much later.
1-Add weapons that can be customized for player and AI armies (to be discussed in a leter thread)
2-Deployable AI soldiers (drop pod "weapons" that require credits or certain materials?)
3-Power armor
4-Jetpacks
5-Ship breaching weaponry
WARP TRAVEL
My vision on warp travel is a fairly advanced concept that can be simplified. Long range warp traveled would be facilitated by Warp Nodes, built using literal blocks, in stations. Ships could not have warp nodes.
The size of the node would do a number of things. One, it would increase the power drain per warp shot. Second, it would increase its detection range. Finally, it decides how far it can shoot craft.
To utilize a warp node, you would have to get into range of it (which cant exceed the sector it is in). Then, it would utilize its launch range. You could only launch to another node within the launch range (which would be considerably large).
From there, it would teleport you to the area around the node launched to.
A warp node on a faction controlled node could be selected to not allow enemy ships to warp to it.
This style of FTL would provide controllable travel. It would still facilitate the need to explore. However, it would also add the ability to use distance as a buffer: A faction could organize an expedition fleet, and then go deep into the galaxy and establish a base far away from other people, and utilize a faction warp node.
However, it would be better to also have a network of civilian nodes. But that all depends on the society of the server.
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PART ONE: SYSTEM BASED WARFARE
Right now, warfare is dominated by core drilling. Which is, to be frank, stupid as shit. My massive capitol should not be relying on a single death-star style block no larger than an end table to keep it alive and running. And by all means, it shouldn't just crap itself and die when that one puny little block is destroyed.
I propose changing this by adding, dun dun dun, SYSTEMS. Systems would vary from point to point, but here are the systems I propose.
-Piloting & Autopilot
-Power & Supply
-Thrusters and Engine
-Life Support
-Weapon Control
-Relic
-Shield capacitors
-Scanner systems
-Jamming systems
-Gravity generators
-Repair System
To put it simply, each system would consist of unique blocks. These blocks wouldn't suffer the same 1x1x1 size limit other blocks are restricted too, instead varying. Each size up, from 1x, to 2x, to even 10x and 50x size blocks, would increase health and armor.
PILOTING AND AUTOPILOT
The Autopilot core would be the "core" we place down first. These systems are rather self explanitory. A single Pilot seat, which could range from a 2x1x1 fighter cockpit seat with the pilot laying down, to a massive 25x25x25 room that can take bombs to the face.
Autopilot would allow for just that: let the pilot punch in coordinates and then wander the ship. They require no power.
POWER SUPPLY
The power blocks would function the exact same way now. However, added to the mix would be power breakers: giant humming mechanisms that would allow the power to be transfered to the rest of the ship.
A ship could have any number of different size power breakers, but the idea is simple: once all breakers are broken, power gets cut down 50%. Not 100%, because that would just be a massive pain.They require no power.
THRUSTERS AND ENGINE
Engine cores would function somewhat similar to Power Breakers, with the catch that Engine Cores must be linked to engines. This means you could have one massive core powering multiple thrusters, multiple thrusters to multiple cores, or any mix of the such. However, the destruction of engine cores leads to -50% thrust. They require no power.
LIFE SUPPORT
Fairly simple. While life support is active, supported by Oxygen Emulators and Temperature Control units (same as breakers and engine cores), would be placed all over the ship. However, there is a kicker: they project life support in a set radius. While overall life support is much more compact than other systems, a 5x5x5 block would project over a 100x100x100 radius. This would allow crafty pilots to knock out a ships life support in certain areas. However, the idea is simple: once Oxygen Emulators are shut down, players must rely on personal suits or other objects to survive. Same goes for Temperature Control units. These can also be placed on planets that lack oxygen or are extremely cold/hot.
WEAPON CONTROL
Simply put, expanded weapon systems. Multiple weapons could be controlled from multiple computers, and so on. However, shooting out weapon controllers disables these weapons unless linked to another weapon controller. They require no power.
RELIC
Relic is simple. A single, 1x1x1 block that people can place relics into to buff their ships. Relics do not work on AI controlled ships. Requires power.
SHIELD CAPACITORS
Power breakers for shields. They require no power.
SCANNER SYSTEMS
A scanner system is self explanatory: it allows you to detect jammed/cloaked ships within a radius. The larger the scanner system, the larger your "detector number". Other ships have a set "detection number". If your detector # is bigger than their detection #, you can detect the ship and all systems. If it is between 1/2 and equal, you can detect the ship, but not systems. If it is less than 1/2, you cannot detect the ship. Require power.
JAMMING SYSTEMS
Extremely self explanatory. Jammers would increase your detection # by a set amount. Cloaking systems would increase the # by a huge amount and render your craft invisible, but also drain a hell of a lot more power. Both systems require power.
GRAVITY
Same as it is now, but with the upcoming patch and the ability to target gravity as systems.
REPAIR SYSTEMS
While powered, would slowly repair any broken systems and replace destroyed blocks using stored blocks. The more repair systems, the more it can repair. The larger each system, the faster it repairs. As a catch, it can only repair when activated and drains mad lots of power.
MANNING CHAIRS
Not really a system, but when placed adjacent to a system block, affects all systems of the same type. This would allow crew members to "man" crafts, which, according to the size of the Manning Chair, would give a certain buff. Like +10% damage, or +5% turning speed. However, you cannot stack manning systems: the system takes the buff from the largest manned chair, and thats it.
As a final note, you cant outright "destroy" systems. System blocks become "broken" when shot to pieces, and can only be "destroyed" when there are no adjacent blocks. This means you do have the ability to repair systems, either through the Repair System or the use of the Repair Tool.
FINALLY (srs this time) there would be a small block that provides power to every system. However, there can only be one, and it only provides Life Support, Autopilot, Power Breaker, Thruster and Engines and Shield Capacitors. This allows for small fighter ships to still be used. However, it cannot be placed on ships with any actual systems that it provides.
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PART TWO: AI STUFF AND JUNK
Right now, AI is fairly terrible for something with such massive potential. Currently, you can’t use AI for anything but fairly rudimentary turrets (as in they can only fire by very thin, vague guidelines), and suicide drones that once released will shoot whatever enemy they can find, and then become generally useless unless you manually retrieve and re-dock ever single one.
AI, however, has some of the biggest potential within this game. With the concept of systems, ships with a crew would become more of a mainstay than they are now. This would also support the growth of professional crews: set groups of people who constantly work together in multiple ships. However, while ships with a crew would be favorable, it would also put a strain on faction population. The solution? Completely revolutionizing AI.
AI should be able to fill a much broader variety of roles. Already, the option to switch between AI types exist, ship and turret. However, if you gave people more control over AI, and made AI more multi-purpose, you would change StarMade as we know it.
First things first, you need to expand the capability of AI modules. Instead of just “ship”, and even “turret”, you should have a plethora of options. I’ll go about the options in fair detail.
(Miner AI)
For starters, there should be a “Miner” option, which would be able to be programmed to go to sectors (either single, or clusters), so search for asteroids to mine. Once located, they would slowly circle the asteroid, and periodically mine it. It would be less efficient than a human miner, of course, but having miners that you can basically “fire and forget” would add an entire branch of the economy, especially with the advent of asteroid fields. Factions could vie for control over mineral-rich asteroid fields, and even someone rolling solo or with just a few friends could build a fairly successful mining operation, and sell their resources to factions that need them. “Miners”, however, should be size-limited, so you don’t have fleets of hundreds of capitol sized miners consuming entire asteroid fields in one sweep. A size of, say, 100x100x100 max (or maybe even 50x50x50) would be much more logical, as it would encourage fleets of larger magnitude, and make control of asteroid fields more volatile, as you would need larger defenses to truly “control” a field. Finally, a Miner could be told to return to a selected ship, station, or planet to deposit it’s materials inside of storage crates, and could either be manually sent out again, or told to return automatically until it cant find any more asteroids.
(Turrets)
Next, we should have ever so greatly improved turret options. Instead of just being “shoot at these guys”, you should be able to select from a much larger array of options. For starters, you should be able to assign turrets to “arrays”, which would be accessible as a whole from the pilots chair. From there, you could change the engagement options of all the turrets in an array. This would make adjusting damage/range/reload/speed much faster and more efficient, and changing the multitude of engagement rules.
As for the engagement rules of turrets, here is what I believe should be added.
List of engagement options:
Shielded / Unshielded / Both
Largest /Smallest /Ships above base mass of (enter number) / Ships below base mass of (enter number) /Any
Shield blocks / Shield system / Power blocks / Power breakers / Piloting system / Autopilot Core / Weapon systems / Weapon blocks (select from weapon blocks) / Life support / Medical systems / Gravity generators / Personnel / Faction system / Jamming system / Stealth system
Closest/Farthest/Between 25% and 75% range (middle zone) / Any range
Use only AI targeting / Prioritize selected target / Prioritize selected target and selected systems
Neutral & Enemy / Enemy
Human / AI (then from AI select: All, Turrets, All Ships, Miners, Small warship, Medium warship, Large warship, and be able to select a priority for each, 1-10)
Focus (fire from the entire array will fire on a single target)/Divide (Select number 1-10, or as many as possible. Turrets will naturally restrain from firing on targets turrets from the same array are already shooting at, unless there are no other targets available)
[Optional, to combat the rise of AI] (Micro, Small, Macro, Medium, Large, Huge, Massive) or role (discussed later in this chapter) (also able to select multiple, so it could target Micro, Small, and Macro ships)
Strict (only fire if the requirements are filled) / Open (prioritize the selected options but fire upon anything if the prioritized targets are not available)
It’s a lot of options, but it would allow for awesome automation, and extreme control. Allow me to give some examples.
Let’s say I was having an issue with fighters. I could have two arrays, one titled “Light Anti-Shield” and the other “Light Sniper Array”. The anti should would have fast-firing, fast rotating turrets designed with primarily shield-stripping weapons. I could, using the array control ability from being in the captains chair, tell the “Light Anti-Shield” to target only shielded ships, and to target the smallest available, and the closest, to ensure accuracy. Then, my “Light Sniper Array”, which would be built to be slower and more powerful, with large, single-shot railguns or cannons designed to knock small fighters out of the air in just one shot (or maybe two for larger fighters). I would give them the command to shoot only unshielded ships, and to also fire at the smallest. However, I would tell them to shoot at any range. This way, while my more numerous anti-shield turrets are constantly ripping away the shields of fighters and keeping them open to block-destroying weapons, my sniper array is working their way along whatever ship is unshielded, using the range selection to make sure the enemy cant confuse them by running away, knocking whatever is dumb enough to get their shields stripped in single, decisive blasts.
Or, lets say we’re going up against a larger ship. Naturally, I would have an array designed to shoot at the largest ship. But then, I also need the ability to focus on ships I deem necessary. I would be able to select an array, in this case my massive, multi-role main cannons (like on a battleship). I would have had “prioritize selected target and selected systems” already placed on the Array, and I would select that ship singularly (since you could add the option of “multi-lock” for arrays, simply selecting multiple targets to apply engagement rules too). From there, I would scan the larger ship, and select weapon systems. My large cannons would then begin wailing on the ship until shields were down, and then focus all fire on weapons system. I would then select my secondary battery, a large missile array, to “prioritize selected target”, but not systems, so they would wail all over the ship.
However, such changes would not make combat overcomplicated. I much prefer the general idea that the game only gets as deep as you dig. Right now, the game is extremely shallow. Adding just the turret options, however, would add a layer in combat that would improve your ability, but not be absolutely vital. New players, or players who prefer to live a simple StarMade life, could set their turrets outside of arrays, and set them once and completely forget about them. And on the other hand, if you had an Admiral of a faction who wanted to be a true terror in combat could constantly micromanage his weapon systems to constantly try and give him an edge. It’s harder, riskier, but the rewards are greater. I always try to make my concepts in such a manner as to make it so people who put more in, get more out, but you don’t remove the fun from any kind of player, casual, hardcore, or extreme.
It’s pretty clear how much you could change combat just by changing the turrets like I’ve stated, but I’m not done yet. Now, we’re going to go back to ship types for AI.
(Automated Warships)
Another core option would be Automated Warships. This is one of the most vital, and admittedly most difficult, concepts to implement. The basic idea is that a faction, or even a powerful single individual, would be able to build, command, and use AI controlled ships as squads, fleets, or even a factions primary army.
The reasoning behind this is simple: with the advent of systems, as I mentioned earlier in this chapter, the population of factions would become, to a degree, more strained, as a fleet of crewed ships would be much more effective than a fleet of more populous, but single-manned ships. Right now, controlling any medium-to-large sized territory is difficult. To compensate for this, you need to give factions the ability to utilize AI ships in their arsenal. As of right now, AI ships are nothing more than normal craft with a Bobby AI module slapped on, and are basically useless after they’re let loose for the first time, making both the use of them as an actual armed force impractical, and carriers nothing more than unreliable, single-shot gun shows.
The final support is pretty simple. With the advent of warp, and the necessity of crewed ships and expanded automated economy the amount of territory a faction can effectively utilize is greatly expanded, however, their ability to protect it, at least by manual, personal means, is greatly diminished. The following AI concept, however, alongside with the creation of Strategic Platforms (which will come right after this section), would make control over territory, invasion of territory, and large-scale conflicts much more interesting. Players, especially large factions (which contain the majority of MP players anyways), would finally be able to utilize the massive, infinite, procedural universe StarMade has to offer.
Firstly, you would need to expand the combat ability from simply “ship”, to multiple types of “ship”. In my concept of this, it would be pretty simple. “micro”, “small”, “macro”, “medium”, “large”, “huge”, and “massive”. Each one would affect the base behavior of all ships. However, they would be predefined, with slightly overlapping ranges. This would provide basic, standardized ship “classes”, which would make ships much easier to define. No longer would we have the issues of someone’s “Titan” being the size of another factions “Cruiser”. The sizes would be as follows (not this is approximated what it should be, end defined size could vary to cope with changes in the sizes of ships built due to the advent of systems, more weapons, combat changes, ect).
Type size definitions and basic maneuvering.
Micro – (debated)
Micro ships attempt very angular attacks on all ships, approaching indirectly and following a fast, curved path, giving the appearance of sweeping strafes. Passes by ships and then turns to pass by again by default. (sweeping strafe)
Small – (debated)
Follows strafing attack patterns of micro ships, and still comes in at an angle. However, follows straight path, allowing for constant fire while attacking while sacrificing some survivability. (direct strafe)
Macro – (debated)
Attacks in a strafe at an angle, just like micro and small. However, once it gets close to the ship, will strafe constantly for 2-4 seconds before continuing the flight pattern, sacrificing more integrity while also being able to do more damage.
Medium – (debated)
Medium craft will get into solid range of the target (about 80% of their maximum range by default) and then strafe to the side to avoid fire.
Large – (debated)
Follows similar rules to Medium but strafes slower, and will slowly move backwards to keep in maximum range.
Huge – (debated)
Tries to stay as immobile as possible, slugging it out from range.
Massive – (debated)
Gets to where it needs to go and sits it’s fat ass down solid.
The primary concept of types is to decide the “stability” of a ship. Right now, even huge ships constantly try to twist and turn, like they’re fighters. With the “type”, for example, micro and small ships would flip and hop like grease on a skillet. Macro ships would retain somewhat more stability, instead focusing on general straight-line approaches and strafe runs instead of screwball entrances. Medium ships would attempt to keep some distance, while instead preferring to stay on one side of an enemy, instead of constantly coming in for strafing runs and turning around. Large and Huge ships would keep their distance, and once in weapon range, would stay much more immobile than the lighter types, letting their turrets do their work. If they have to move, they’d prefer to move straight forward or in reverse, turning as little as possible. Massive ships would simply try to stay as immobile as possible. Get into range, and sit and pound the enemy with as many guns as possible. Another simple categorization is this, micro-to-macro you’ll find in hangars, medium is the bread and butter “main battle tank”, large and huge are the heavy hitters, and massive are the new titans.
To select what type, you would first select “ship”, as you do now, only instead of a “arrow select”, like it is now, where you constantly select one-by-one, it will be in a drop down selection menu, which I believe should be the standard for all selection, to make things quicker. After selecting the ship, and the type, you would then select the “role”. Roles would vary by type, and would decide the absolute basic purpose of the ship. Some types would be able to share roles, while others would be restricted to one or a set number of types. However, to start things off, I’ll list and describe every “role” that would be available, alongside who can use them. Then, beneath it, will be a list of types, and next to them all the roles they could fill. The roles will be presented with their default actions, which would be displayed when you scroll your cursor over them.
ROLES
Fighter: Micro, Small
Basic tier-1 unit. The fighter prioritizes fighter types and bomber types by default. They are used to control the skies in swarms. Clusters in groups of 4 by default when used as singular units.
Heavy Fighter: Macro
Tier-2 unit. Clusters in groups of 2 by default when possible. The heavy fighter is designed to be more advanced and capable than the light fighter, and should be utilized in smaller numbers. More likely to host turrets and other advances systems. Prioritizes fighter types and bomber types.
Bomber: Micro, Small
Basic tier-1 unit. Clusters in groups of 3 by default when used as singular units. Prioritizes Medium to Large craft by default. Attempts direct attacks onto larger ships with all weapons in order to try and cripple them. Will attack systems if possible.
Heavy Bomber: Macro
Tier-2 unit. Prioritizes Medium to Massive craft by default. Clusters in groups of 2 like craft. Attempts direct attacks onto larger ships with all weapons in order to try and cripple them. Will attack systems if possible.
Light Scout: Micro, Small, Macro
Tier-2 unit. Attempts to avoid all offensive craft by default. Primary purpose is to scout sectors and provide vision for faction commanders.
Heavy Scout: Medium, Large
Tier-3 unit. Attempts to avoid all offensive craft by default. Primary purpose is to scout sectors and act as detector craft with scanners to reveal cloaked and jammed ships and allow for AI craft to attack enemy craft systems.
Light Cruiser: Medium
Tier-3 unit. Prioritizes targets at range. General purpose long range craft designed to provide supporting fire outside of the enemy crafts range.
Heavy Cruiser: Large
Tier-4 unit. Prioritizes targets at range. General purpose long range craft designed to provide supporting fire outside of the enemy crafts range. Equipped with more armor and firepower than the Light Cruiser.
Warship: Medium, Large, Huge
Tier-3 (medium) / Tier-4 unit (large, huge). Primary assault craft. Has default option in RTS menu to switch between prioritizing multiple micro-small-macro craft, or prioritizing singular medium-large-massive craft. Most common unit.
Battleship: Large, Huge, Massive
Tier-5 (large, huge) / Tier-6 unit (massive). Advanced assault craft. By default has 2 separate array slots for turrets, allowing for rapid multi-use without having to change with orders. 1st array automatically set to handle medium-large-massive craft. 2nd array automatically set to handle micro-small-macro craft.
Capitol Ship: Massive
Tier-7 unit. Top tier assault craft. By default has 3 separate arrays slots for turrets, with the 1st array set to handle large-massive craft, the 2nd array set to handle medium-large craft, and the 3rd array set to handle micro-small-macro craft. Generally also equipped with scanning equipment. A mobile fortress.
Carrier: Large to Massive
Tier-7 unit. Automatically givent the ability to deploy and recall ships placed in it, and the ability to repair / rebuild these ships when in range of an allied shipyard or equipped with storage containers holding blocks.
STRATEGIC PLATFORMS
This, in every-way-whatsoever, would be an absolute game changer. The overall idea can be put into one paragraph: give Faction officers, or even singular players, the ability to control AI on a larger scale. By utilizing a Strategic Platform block (also turning the ship into a “Strategic Platform”, which cannon be controlled by an AI block), you can control AI in a set range according to the power setting on the block. It would drain power while active. Also, the range would be doubled naturally on Stations and Planets, causing the creation of “control nodes”.
The range would be pretty forgiving however. And with the extension of sectors to being 10km, lets say a basic SP would be able to cover about 100 sectors deep. However, that is not a difficult to balance issue. The true ability of Strategic Platforms is the full use of AI as proper fleets, carriers actually work, and stations/planets to become legitimate places of production and resource.
The primary purpose of the SP is to allow a player to control AI ships. This can be utilized on any level, but they all follow the same general hierarchy. Ships are organized into Models. Models are organized into Fleets. And Fleets make up the AI Navy of a faction/individual. So, in order to understand how the SP works, we have to start from the bottom: The Model.
An AI model is fairly simple in retrospect but absolutely vital to utilizing AI effectively. Models are AI craft built specifically for use in larger fleets. In order to build a “Model”, you would have to build a ship that contains all of the following parts:
-Functional weapons system (except for Miners)
-Functional autopilot system
-Functional power system w/ power breakers
-At least 1 thruster block
-Modern Bobby AI module & AI redundancy system(s)
However, an AI ship can operate without the following
-Life support
-Piloting system
-System control centers
-Mining system (except for Miners, of course, in which case this is flipped with weapons)
AI models can be outfitted with the following systems if you please, however, and they will count as abilities (to be discussed later)
-Stealth/Jammer systems
-Detection systems
And finally, a model can NOT operate with the following system.
-Strategic Platform system
The Model, once constructed, will be given a name (to be given at the Bobby AI model within the craft) to fit the model, and, naturally, will be automatically given a Weight Class (according to mass) and allow the user to select a Role for the ship. Once all this is complete, you would begin the next step: Uploading the Model
Uploading a Model requires bringing it to a Station or Planet with a functioning Fleetworks Center. A Fleetworks Center is fairly simple, and consists of nothing more than a special version of the docking block called the “Fleetwork Construction Block”, with it’s own special kind of extenders. Uploading a model is a fairly simple task. Step 1, would be to fly into the docking range of the Fleetworks Center, and then docking the ship (utilizing the previously discussed improved docking). To do this, the Fleetworks Center cannot be producing any ship (discussed later). Docking any craft that fits the requirements of an AI fleet ship (and has been given a name) will automatically be uploaded to the “blueprints” of the Fleetworks Center, and then torn apart instantly, all of the resources going to a connected resource bin (discussed later, just bear with me).
Blueprints would be shared among all Fleetwork Centers connected to the same stations and/or planet, but would not be shared among separate stations/planets. Fleetworks Centers can also NOT be located on mobile ships, under any circumstances. Carriers will be explained later.
After your model has been uploaded, from there you can access it through the accessing that Fleetworks Center(s) in the Strategic Platform HUD, clicking on the station or planet, and then picking that model from the list to be built into a fleet. The idea is pretty simple: when you select a model to be built, it will be built in the smallest possible Fleetworks Center on that planet/station. Multiple Fleetworks Centers would mean more than one ship could be produced at once, but larger ones would allow for larger ships to be uploaded and constructed.
However, you don’t just pump ships out and watch them wreck havoc. That would cause a lot of lost ships and lag. Instead, we advance to the second piece of the puzzle: The Fleet.
You would set up fleets in the SP menu. To set up a fleet, you would click on any station or planet. Then, all ships available to that planet/station would come up in a list. You would select up to 10 different models, and how many ships of each model you wanted in the fleet. From there, production would begin.
This would lead to more organized construction, and general stability. While yes, it would be logical to give a Titan a fleet consisting of just it, it wouldn’t make sense to have every fighter have to be selected by hand. Instead, you operate them by fleets of 10-20, supported by other craft, just as an example. It also allows for much simpler controls: instead of massive, convoluting orders, you simply order fleets to go to sectors.
To clear things up, we’re now going to approach the main SP HUD, and how you would operate it, as demonstrated in the picture below
As you can see, there are a number of simple orders you can give to fleets: tell them to go to sectors for example, using an option near the chat box. However, on the right, you see a set of 8 prominent commands. These are divided into two areas, “Stances” and “Formations”. Formation commands dictate how the ships stay clustered while out of combat, while stances dictate how they behave. They are simple to describe.
Formations
Shell: a massive sphere with the weakest ships on the outside and the strongest on the inside.
Reverse shell: a massive sphere with the strongest on the outside and the weakest on the inside
Delta: a triangular formation with the weakest in a spear in the front and the strongest in the back. Faces the direction of the Sector they move to. If given without movement, will form in simplest direction possible (as little movement as possible).
Reverse delta: a triangular formation with the weakest in the back and the strongest in front. Faces the direction of the Sector they move to. If given without movement, will form in simplest direction possible (as little movement as possible).
Stances
Aggressive: will pursue any attacking fleet, whether moving or defending.
Loose defensive: will pursue any enemy fleet within 2-3 sectors of the sector assigned to the fleet. Will return to assigned sector once enemy leaves range or is destroyed.
Strict defensive: will adjust to fire upon enemies but will not leave assigned sector.
Patrol mode: when patrol mode is selected, you enter a list of up to 20 sectors. The fleet will then constantly move between sectors, spending 5 minutes (can be changed to 20 minutes to 0, constant movement) in each sector. Constant cycle. Will pursue attacking fleets obeying Loose Defensive orders, before returning to Patrol mode.
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You also may notice on the list the referencing of “abilities”. Abilities are pretty simple: they let you manually activate certain traits of AI ships. Abilities are automatically granted if a ship is capable. They are as follows
-Jamming (on/off)
-Stealth (on/off)
-Detection & Scanning systems (on/off)
-Assault craft (deploy/recall) [assault craft explained in greater detail later]
All in all, I believe this provides a solid base for the SP to work with. You could add more commands, but the given ones cover the basics. The final issue, however, is graphics. The Sector select screen would appear like a multi-level chessboard, with the simple up-down arrows bringing you up and down sectors, and the WASD moving you along the galaxy (would heavily utilize the “flat galaxy” I also proposed earlier). Once you selected a sector, it would zoom in. Everything but planets, suns, and asteroids, however, would not be rendered in 3D. For one, the resolution would be decreased for what IS rendered. Every other unit would be represented in 2D by the following chart, with their height in the sector proportionate to their height from the “base” of the “chess board” sector.
From here, you would operate on the fleet level. However, on the faction level, you can set permission lists for people, such as letting them control all fleets, letting them control specific fleets, or allowing them to give other people the permission to do so (originally only faction leader can).
CARRIERS:
Strategic Platforms could, on the flipside, be set as a "carrier" block to player controlled ships. Any Carrier block instantly controlls ships marked in "Carrier docks", which function precisely the same as docking units but instead are locked to the ship they are originally set with, and can repair / rebuild these ships with stored materials on the ship. The Carrier block, when used, would give the ability to deploy or recall these craft.
Deploying the crafts would take 5 seconds, at which all contained craft would "warp" out from the ship in a radius of 2km max around the ship. From there, they would attack targets marked by the pilot or whoever is in the carrier system controller by clicking on ships with the "Carrier" weapon selected.
Recalling ships would take 10 seconds. When recall was activated, ships would be disabled, and after 10 seconds would "warp" back to their respective carrier docks.
Finally, you could select to repair/rebuild ships, using carrier docks as kind of selectors. It would then commence to automatically repair or rebuild ships using stored materials.
Ships aboard an AI carrier suffer from the AI debuff. AI ships aboard player controlled carriers do not.
