Let me begin by saying that I have massive respect for the whole team at Schine and Schema who have poured hours and days into this game to bring it to it's current state, and I appreciate all their efforts. Without them I wouldn't be able to make further suggestions.
I believe that Starmade still lacks something as a game. Players are able to build stunningly large starships, massive dreadnoughts and space stations, but the game still lacks an element of scale. Fundamentally, these massive ships and stations are not much different from their smaller cousins: while they require more blocks, all of those blocks function the exact same way they would on a tiny scout ship a tenth of the mass. There are no challenges to building a large ship that don't exist when building a small ship. There is no qualitative difference between large ships and small ships.
In the future, I would like to see this change. In an ideal game, building a dreadnought shouldn't be hard simply because the numbers are big (because then it's really not that hard at all, at least in the current game.) Rather, it should be difficult because there are more things to think about when building a dreadnought that don't even come up when building a smaller ship. For example, the four major systems that exist currently (thrust, weapons, shields, and power) are probably good for all but the smallest ships. However, as the mass of a constructed ship increases, new systems become available or necessary to the player. Either by size requirements or mass modifiers, these new systems would not be logically placed on a ship smaller than a particular size (though with soft capping, a player may still choose to do this.) One thing that must be taken into account is that these new systems, because they would be ship-size dependent, would have to be designed and implemented at the same time. Otherwise, the hierarchy of ships that was intended could break down due to spotty implementation.
This would then create real differences between the largest ships and smaller ships, introduce new construction challenges and ideas, while also not simply dumping new or complex systems on a new player who simply wants to build their first starship.
An extended example of how system availability could look with my idea:
The thing is all of these things would have to be designed at the same time--you can't just thrown in System 4 without first getting system 3 and having an idea where system 4 would stop being a huge deal (that is, when system 5 starts being a problem.)
I believe that Starmade still lacks something as a game. Players are able to build stunningly large starships, massive dreadnoughts and space stations, but the game still lacks an element of scale. Fundamentally, these massive ships and stations are not much different from their smaller cousins: while they require more blocks, all of those blocks function the exact same way they would on a tiny scout ship a tenth of the mass. There are no challenges to building a large ship that don't exist when building a small ship. There is no qualitative difference between large ships and small ships.
In the future, I would like to see this change. In an ideal game, building a dreadnought shouldn't be hard simply because the numbers are big (because then it's really not that hard at all, at least in the current game.) Rather, it should be difficult because there are more things to think about when building a dreadnought that don't even come up when building a smaller ship. For example, the four major systems that exist currently (thrust, weapons, shields, and power) are probably good for all but the smallest ships. However, as the mass of a constructed ship increases, new systems become available or necessary to the player. Either by size requirements or mass modifiers, these new systems would not be logically placed on a ship smaller than a particular size (though with soft capping, a player may still choose to do this.) One thing that must be taken into account is that these new systems, because they would be ship-size dependent, would have to be designed and implemented at the same time. Otherwise, the hierarchy of ships that was intended could break down due to spotty implementation.
This would then create real differences between the largest ships and smaller ships, introduce new construction challenges and ideas, while also not simply dumping new or complex systems on a new player who simply wants to build their first starship.
An extended example of how system availability could look with my idea:
- For fighters and other low-mass ships, all you need (and can practically carry) are Systems 1 and 2.
- However, as soon as you start carrying enough mass to be an independent ship, you need System 3.
- And if you want to be a capital ship, you have to manage system 4. And then even larger ships have system 5. Finally, all battleships and dreadnaughts require system 6.
The thing is all of these things would have to be designed at the same time--you can't just thrown in System 4 without first getting system 3 and having an idea where system 4 would stop being a huge deal (that is, when system 5 starts being a problem.)
