Aurenian Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 From the info we have so far it looks like we'll have a set of skill trees that determine tech level and a set of basic pre determined elements to combine into ships and stations. Maybe there will be ways to get higher tech elements of the same type through research? I remember someone saying something about levels of weapons in an interview but there isn't much to go on yet. Personally I'm in favour of making the crafting system more sophisticated so that specialisations arise naturally among the player base instead of through arbitrary skill allocation. This strikes me as the sort of game where progression through player skill would be a better fit. To that end I propose that the pre built functional elements be smaller components with set properties instead of full parts. So for instance instead of just throwing on a single engine block that takes up a large amount of space you would build an engine out of smaller parts stuck together that function as an engine. To build a basic engine that works you'd only need a handful of parts. Say an ignition block, propulsion unit, stabilizer, vector cone and control unit. But you could add more parts to increase it's performance in different ways, with the better ones made of rarer elements. Each component would add weight and energy/fuel requirements. Some might also need a certain amount of space around them to function correctly(eg heat sinks) or have interference with other more sensitive parts. After you'd built the guts of the engine you would then use standard voxel tools to give it a casing and incorporate it into the ship. And this would be the case with every part that creates function. A cockpit would be a pilots seat(with control surface), computer, life support monitor, oxygen tank, heating element, hinged canopy etc. Extra parts could be holographic projector, rangefinder etc.Some common parts would be found in multiple devices (like power cells) whereas others would be specialised to certain devices (matter transmitter coils). Each part would have multiple connection points so that they can be configured in various ways. The game would have a master list of devices and when the minimum number of parts are connected together via their ports for a particular device it would treat them as that thing when powered up. Or alternately you might include a way for the player to tell the computer which device they are building (perhaps by including a control chip in every device) Technologies that the devs want to be harder to master (like FTL) could have a significantly larger number of more sensitive parts. And they could not include a standard template if they wanted to make it take real research. The end result of this is that as well as ships and stations players could also become experts at creating ship parts and the complexity of the interactions would create genuine expertise in the player base. When your organisation's engineer tells you the reactor can't take it anymore it's because she designed it. When the ship takes damage, you would replace the destroyed components in a device to get it functioning again. At launch the developers would have a no frills version of each device blueprinted up for each player to start off with so they don't have to become an expert just to begin building. The players who are interested in that side of things would experiment with all kinds of configurations. Later on people would buy device plans off the market if they want to build their own ship without starting from scratch. You could create the coolest looking hyperdrive on the market. Or the cheapest. or the most powerful. And you could create your brand for advertising. The other benefit of this system is that you don't need weapon tiers or constant injections of tech from the devs. Make up a list of weapon and defence types that are interesting, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Break them into bits that make sense, with lower tech weapons like projectiles requiring less exotic materials for their components. Then let the players experiment with what you give them. I guarantee you a Blastcorp Annihilator Cannon is way cooler than a tech three plasma cannon. Just my thoughts. nietoperek, bramborakov, Atmosph3rik and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripper Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 I like the idea. From my understanding, we're limited to 25cm (10 inch) voxels. This limitation would make some of our creations massive. It would be VERY interesting to have a skill tree that would allow smaller builds. The higher your skill, the smaller the component. This could open up some interesting scenarios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atmosph3rik Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 From my understanding, we're limited to 25cm (10 inch) voxels. This limitation would make some of our creations massive. I think he is talking about snapping together smaller mesh elements into one larger functioning element. So voxels wouldn't need to be involved. I think this is a great idea. It would allow for a bit more personalization from ship to ship, in terms of performance and appearance. Antioch and Kiklix 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_1 Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 I personally love this idea. Adding in more complexity into a system is a great plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantcmecoming Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 So will this material be based off what we found on different worlds or will this be materials we have to buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dygz_Briarthorn Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 It's horizontal progression rather than steep vertical progression. From the gameplay video, it appears that we will have a variety of options for control panels even in a solo ship. I expect we'll be discovering a variety of types modules to mix and match for various systems, but not quite at the mini-component level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nietoperek Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 But you can do it on "virtual" way - without actual voxels to use, only tiles. For example, to create cockpit, you will need 4 elements: seat, controlls, HUD and cover. Given few types of each one - and by types I mean different stats - you can create series of same looking parts, but with different characteristics. And it can be done without making new game models for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antioch Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 If this gets implemented, the game is going to turn out more complex and would play a big role of the game's economy system. It sounds awesome. I can't wait to see more ideas like this. Kiklix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoger Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 a skill tree that would allow smaller builds I think part of the idea was to get rid of skill trees for something more interesting, like aquiring real skills from actually doing something and having to think about it, and getting better from practice instead of the progress of a timer bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nietoperek Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 and getting better from practice instead You mean grind. We all say big NO to Korean-MMO-style grind Anaximander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 You mean grind. We all say big NO to Korean-MMO-style grind Indeed. Let it be a multiple branching skill tree, give depth to specialisation, let grinding for the people who want to build large battleships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoger Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 You think learning to build better and better space ships by experimenting with cool, functional components as described by the thread starter, and performing test flights with the finished prototypes, is "grind"? Really? I mean: Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nietoperek Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 If you put it in that way it is ok. But "acquiring skills by doing" = grind in most cases. Maybe I miss word "real", but better be safe safe, than sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurenian Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 Yeah I don't mean build the same item 1000 times until your smithing skill unlocks. I'm talking about real ship building and experimentation which makes you, the player, more skilled. The whole point of building things for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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