Production chains

[Khaymann]

How complicated should they be? Personally I enjoy a slightly complicated production chain, but for this maybe refining of base materials then needing to construct components then components to final product or maybe advanced components for a complicated machine such as FTL drives? What's everyone's thought on this?

[Allammo]

Empyrion like production chain? It works fine but I miss welding part... Production chain will be limited to nano-assembling cannon placed on players wrist, powered with players body energy (heat, maybe something else). Basically this cannon will be able to dig out raw materials and place anything if costs meet amount materials. Pure and simple... I kind of hate this idea. I'd rather to see complex production chain. I'm not sure if there gonna be any production block for bases/ships and that is also sad.

[Wardion2000]

Empyrion like production chain? It works fine but I miss welding part... Production chain will be limited to nano-assembling cannon placed on players wrist, powered with players body energy (heat, maybe something else). Basically this cannon will be able to dig out raw materials and place anything if costs meet amount materials. Pure and simple... I kind of hate this idea. I'd rather to see complex production chain. I'm not sure if there gonna be any production block for bases/ships and that is also sad.

 

It's a little (read a lot) more complex than this.  What skills you have trained will determine what components you will be able to make in 3D printers and assembler devices which you will also have to construct as well.  The nano-fabricator on your wrist is the most BASIC tool which you can never lose and is the foundation for building all other construction devices.

[Allammo]

It's a little (read a lot) more complex than this. What skills you have trained will determine what components you will be able to make in 3D printers and assembler devices which you will also have to construct as well. The nano-fabricator on your wrist is the most BASIC tool which you can never lose and is the foundation for building all other construction devices.

I hope it's gonna be lot more complex. I've read almost everything at devblog.dualthegame.com and I haven't found anything about any production infrastructure except this nano-fabricator, assembler, whatever... Which can hardly be called 'infrastructure'. Maybe I've missed something?

[Khaymann]

I hope it's gonna be lot more complex. I've read almost everything at devblog.dualthegame.com and I haven't found anything about any production infrastructure except this nano-fabricator, assembler, whatever... Which can hardly be called 'infrastructure'. Maybe I've missed something?

 

No you haven't missed anything was just curious about peoples thoughts. 

[Allammo]

If it comes to my opinion there have to be way to do things on larger scale. It leads to massive, complex infrastructure and tools to feed this infrastructure. Nano-thing can be little drill/refinery/assembler/storage/welder, but it would be nice if there was mesh blocks specialized in one thing, connected would create massive nano-whatever. Unfortunately this affects economic balance and the whole ant hive idea of army workers gathering resources for common, extremely expensive goal. So I doubt there will be any complex infrastructure allowing one player to do job of the many.

[Shynras]

If , to craft a simple table, you need 14 different materials, and it takes 3 hour to build one, it would get boring. So, fairly complex, but not too much, minecraft-like would be ok

[Dargotrox]

I'd like to see it get as complicated as the applied energetics 2, thermal expansion and ender IO mods for FTB/minecraft.  

 

In the end if you have the power, materials, etc., etc. all of which is godly amounts, then you can automate just about anything you want even down to end game content, again you need godly amounts of everything to do so.

[Anaximander]

Set up DPUs and LUA scripts that handle and catalogue inventory in tables, some push/pull commands and a return command for good measure thrown in the mix and you can have a series of screens indicating your production line's stages on your command center and if there's a problem, boom, you know where the line malfunctions for whatever reason (maybe a wrench in the gears? i don't know.)
It's not complicated and it's sane, all it needs is pre-planning your factory's layout. Nothing is not complicated when it comes to coding, it's how you lay the interface and handle interaction that makes it look simple. 

[Quinn23]

I definitely like a more complex system. If everything is just skill-based and arm-cannon, then I have less of a reason to explore (there are other reasons to explore, but this reduces by one) or to find a good location near multiple resources to establish a temporary post. Most of the systems are very similar. Eve's system (before the latest couple of streamlines that did not overly thrill me) is similar to Asheron's Call from 1999. Production and crafting systems are all pretty much the same resource > refinement > production > end product. The only major differences are: 1) scarcity of resource; 2) steps in the chain; and 3) number of components.

 

One of the things I liked about Asheron's was that in the beginning there was some trial and error to find the right formula to create a particular item and there might be more than one, and often, a product of one process became the material for one or more other processes or could be used by itself as a final product.  

[yamamushi]

I too prefer complex.

I rather enjoyed some of the production chain mechanics in Eve Online, especially the emphasis on needing the right skills. 

[DaSchiz]

If you guys have played X3 .. Reuinion or Terra Conflict or AP you'll know what I mean.  I like the complex production lines. Now X3 was clanky with the way it had to be implemented by the game engine but the idea i loved.  You have a certain factory/building whatever that is set to produce a certain item or items.  You choose to connect them however the production line would need to be set by what you are trying to produce.

 

I really loved that because there wasn't a limit to how big or how many "buildings" you could connect.  So of course in DU there would need to be a simple manufacturing start such as a device on your wrists that would refine and produce a limited amount of simple items .... but you can use those items to produce more complex buildings or factories in which the factories' production lines are set by the element running it.  You can then connect these production lines in someway but the idea is limitless and total control on how you want to design it. Different production lines in the same huge building or multiple buildings connect each producing a single or couple items need in the chain.

 

In this vid it shows the docking station where ships docked to load/unload items and resources..  you'll see the connecting tubes which made this "clanky" as I stated so you really had to be conscious of how to place the buildings.  Each of those are an individual complex that has a specialty in the chain.  There was no limit and you could design it however you wanted.  It was the most satisfying production chain mechanic that I ever experienced. In DU which being able to actually build the building instead of a model set design, this would even take this idea or mechanic to another level.

 

[Velenka]

I would also like to see some kind of system which could allow for both simple and complex systems. I think Minecraft mods got it pretty much right (Industrial Craft, Thermal Expansion, Minefactory Reloaded, etc).

 

On the smallest level each component had a simple function, configurable inputs/outputs, the ability to be controlled, and upgrade-able. These components would interface with an inventory system that was capable of all kinds of logistic functions and storage.