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Transporting constructs


Shynras

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We know that will be possible to transport constructs (not sure if for release or in an expansion), but the question is, will it be a viable (useful) activity? I'll list some "features" that I'd like to be in the game, and how I'd make them possible. 

 

1 - Is it worth to transport a construct with a hovercraft, from point A to point B, over a planet? Why would you do that? 

 

-Inside the planet atmosphere, a construct should consume a lot of power to fly. The hovercraft could save a good amount of fuel. 

-With an hovercraft you're harder to be seen, it could be safer. Maybe it's harder for scanners to detect you.

-There'll be 2 sets of thrusters, for atmosphere and for space flight. So at least the space ones, would need to be carried by something else to move on a planet. 

 

2 - Will we need to transport a construct geared with "space thruster" outside the planet atmosphere with another construct geared for atmosphere flight?

 

-Probably we will. It all depends on "It is more or less convenient to do that or to carry 2 sets of thrusters, for both flights?

 

3 - Will be useful to carry a construct on your ship and transport it to another planet? Isn't just better to flight the construct you want to move directly? Is the amount of fuel consumed and risk worth it?

 

- This is hard to answer, my guess is that probably isn't worth to transport a single large construct, but it may be for a small one. In case you need to transport multiple construct, then it would obviously be worth, at least to save time.

- Regarding the motivations, you'd transport it to sell it on another planet with more trades, or for fighting purposes.

 

4 - Will be worth to have a system inside your base capable to move and store constructs? Like with sliders, rotors, .... when available. 

 

- First of all, why would you need to store it? Because you need space. The thing is that 1 tile is probably going to be enough to just land them randomly, and in case we're talking about a huge organizations owning hundreds of constructs, well, it is probably going to have quite some tiles linked together to sovle the problem. Wouldn't be cool to make it convenient to a certain degree? How? Right know the only thing that comes to my mind, is to let the player decide the size of the protection bubble (with a min/max limit). In that case, if you  decide to store ships and constructs, you would consume less space, so the protection bubble would be smaller, so you'd consume less energy (if energy consumption for protection bubbles are a thing). 

 

 

 

 

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#2 JC has said there will be different flight mechanics for in atmosphere and out of atmosphere.  He hinted at ships specializing in one or the other and having a planet flyer (for lack of better wording) docked on the space transporter.

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#1 If you are transporting a construct, have someone taxi you to it and fly/ride it yourself, no need for something big (unless its a ground base, in which case you can't move it)

 

#2 I think you can (read: should) have a hybrid setup, but you won't beat ships that are air/space only in speed/load

 

#3 Only useful if you want to move an atmospheric ship from planet to planet, in which case you could ask to rent space on a carrier headed that way that has enough hangar space (if you are in a larger org, they would have a carrier anyway)

 

#4 This is something that I could see, but how it would work is still a question. It would probably have too many moving parts, so just a simple landing pad/hangar bay would be fine. In the case of an underground base, a hidden access point to a massive cave would be the solution (moving parts = lag)

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Your questions have pretty much been answered, so I won't really answer anything but I'll add a thought I had while reading. Something else to consider regarding transporting different craft to different locations, rather than just using the same craft everywhere, is that you may not always want to take your best stuff everywhere. If you're scouting an asteroid field where there might be pirates, or you're scouting out an enemy base on a moon, you don't want to take your best stuff with you; you want to have some minor disposable craft to use when there is a risk of attack.

 

Additionally, ground craft can be great for surveying. If you are simply exploring a passive desert world, being close to the ground and easily able to hop out and back in, as well as travel slowly (distance is not the goal), is certainly desirable. You could closely survey several areas of a planet, then transport the ground craft to another world and do it all over again.

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We need ships that ship ships. 


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Or, the more sane thing to do, have a franchise open in a space port, on people who have your organisation wide blueprint and make the construct on site. The construct that's sold belongs to the Org you are part of, hence the org makes profit, hence you get a salary.

Easy.

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Mostly I don't see a reason to transport a construct.  There are a few exceptions.

 

First for why I think it'll be rare...

 

If someone buys a ship off the market... that shouldn't appear in the world as a ship... it should be a schematic and enough materials to build it packed in a box.  Said box can easily be transported in numerous cargo type vessels.  If someone buys a ship from a person face to face... well they're there so why would they need anyone else to transport anything?

 

Now for the exceptions... 

 

Towing...  Say you're out of fuel somewhere...  Though anyone who went out to tow you could probably just sell you some fuel...  But still... maybe you just bought a new ship from someone and want to tow your old ship back with you...  Why you don't just disassemble it and put the mats and schematic in cargo... is maybe it would overflow your cargo space...

 

Interstellar travel...  If interstellar travel requires very large engines to generate the warp/jump point/wormhole/whatever... so only large ships can travel at any reasonable speed... then a ferry service would be a natural consequence.

 

Military carriers... Large ship holding many small fighter type craft to go out and do battle.

 

 

For the above exceptions... all you need is... a trackor beam type thing... could all so be harpoon and cable style...  And some way for ships to be locked in place in or on or near a larger ship...  Both I think could be achieved with the same system.  What system?

 

So voxel constructs don't have to have voxels all connected to each other.  All they have to be is inside the range of the core unit...  So what if there was a way to temporarily add sets of voxels with their own core units (ships) to the voxels registered with the main core unit...  Basically making it a part of the ship as far as the game is concerned.  Then you can just remove it from the ship later based on what's registered in each subcore unit...

 

This technical solution could be made to look just like a tractor beam or clamps... there could be special interactive "landing bay interfaces" to access the function that you'd need to land your ship close to... thus creating orderly cargo areas...

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why transport "parts" and not just their materials and make the parts on your destination? Much less hassle.

Its possible to see this happen if the destination lacks the required industry.

 

Maybe in some cases it wouldnt make sense to set up complete industries on a planet/location. If you are only there for resources why waste money on building factories to produce ships?

 

Ultimately it comes down to economics, its not easy to predict the perfect all round solution.

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Its possible to see this happen if the destination lacks the required industry.

 

Maybe in some cases it wouldnt make sense to set up complete industries on a planet/location. If you are only there for resources why waste money on building factories to produce ships?

 

Ultimately it comes down to economics, its not easy to predict the perfect all round solution.

Could be a thing. Although, I expect the ship delivery to happen the same way it happens when you buy a car from anothe state / country.

 

You either :

 

1) Go there and drive it back home yourself

 

2) Buy the car from a franchise and wait for it to be delivered there (in our case, my suggestion)

 

3) Pay someone to drive it to you. I know some rich people who bring expensive cars that way around the area I live. 

 

 

There are many ways for it go down, there's no such thing as "the righ way" really. I though would prefer a franchise that builds the ship right then and there really. It would be like watchin a Chef cooking in front of you.

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There are many ways for it go down, there's no such thing as "the righ way" really. I though would prefer a franchise that builds the ship right then and there really. It would be like watchin a Chef cooking in front of you.

Yes I agree, it will be a case by case situation. Whatever happens, transporting goods will always carry a certain risk. And thats a good thing. Simple economics will regulate transport.

 

I'm kinda hoping to see cargo ships transporting military assets. Secretly building up an army to make a surprise attack. From industry elements to resources to tanks and personel.

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