Jump to content

Ability to build on a moving ship? technicaly feasible or not?


Jeronimo

Recommended Posts

I like the idea of needing to have a shipyard to build ships but I think it would suck for new players. Perhaps an extension to your idea is that different sized ships require progressively larger shipyards.

 

For a small one man fighter, you can build with just your hands but you are limited to low tier elements. You then have access to different tiered and different sized ship yards that allow you to build in bigger volumes and more advanced features.

 

Stations would be different you can build them anywhere but you cant move them and the only restriction is being out of combat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea of needing to have a shipyard to build ships but I think it would suck for new players. Perhaps an extension to your idea is that different sized ships require progressively larger shipyards.

 

For a small one man fighter, you can build with just your hands but you are limited to low tier elements. You then have access to different tiered and different sized ship yards that allow you to build in bigger volumes and more advanced features.

 

Stations would be different you can build them anywhere but you cant move them and the only restriction is being out of combat

 

i dislike having the space stations to be different than ships. An easy solution would be to have a construction module that requires the ship to be still and having no weapons/thrusters/defenses online to be able to build a space station. It would work like an anchor, and once it's done it would release the station. such module would be exponentially expensive the higher tier the components get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea of needing to have a shipyard to build ships but I think it would suck for new players. Perhaps an extension to your idea is that different sized ships require progressively larger shipyards.

 

For a small one man fighter, you can build with just your hands but you are limited to low tier elements. You then have access to different tiered and different sized ship yards that allow you to build in bigger volumes and more advanced features.

 

Stations would be different you can build them anywhere but you cant move them and the only restriction is being out of combat

 

100% agree. Newbros should at least be able to build 1-man fighters to get into space for the first time. But I think anything larger should absolutely require a space station with shipyards, because that opens up an entire dynamic of gameplay. Then you can have people renting out shipyards to other people, which will promote building massive space stations, especially around the most popular worlds. It also encourages wars between factions where each side is targeting the others shipyards. Plus, if you require shipyards to build big ships, then there's an incentive to go after other people's shipyards so you can corner the market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

100% agree. Newbros should at least be able to build 1-man fighters to get into space for the first time. But I think anything larger should absolutely require a space station with shipyards, because that opens up an entire dynamic of gameplay. Then you can have people renting out shipyards to other people, which will promote building massive space stations, especially around the most popular worlds. It also encourages wars between factions where each side is targeting the others shipyards. Plus, if you require shipyards to build big ships, then there's an incentive to go after other people's shipyards so you can corner the market.

 

i dont see another way to achieve this reasonably without having a tier system where only tier 0 modules (meshes) can be placed by hand, and then need an anchor module from the tier or over the components you want to place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i dont see another way to achieve this reasonably without having a tier system where only tier 0 modules (meshes) can be placed by hand, and then need an anchor module from the tier or over the components you want to place.

 

You could limit personal manipulation to the size of the object, which would have the benefit of having a reasonable gameplay justification, and being "realistic". Should a guy in a space suit be able to maneuver and install the reactors for a battleship by hand? I don't think so. No, I'd limit the size of things that can be built personally to a certain size category of moduals, which isn't exactly the same as a tier system. Then we ignore the awkwardness of having tiered ships where "only tier 2 ships can use tier 2 blocks" etc.

 

By adding size categories you don't restrict the building freedom, you just change efficiency. Say a size 1 reactor takes up 1 block and produces 10 power, and anyone can carry one around and place them wherever on a ship. However, a size 2 reactor only takes 4 blocks and produces 25 power, but it requires a small shipyard to install on a ship. So you could, theoretically, build a battleship with all size 1 reactors, it would just take much more space and time and it wouldn't be as resource efficient as if you used a small shipyard and size 2 reactors.

 

That way you can build whatever you want, it's just not going to be as good without special equipment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could limit personal manipulation to the size of the object, which would have the benefit of having a reasonable gameplay justification, and being "realistic". Should a guy in a space suit be able to maneuver and install the reactors for a battleship by hand? I don't think so. No, I'd limit the size of things that can be built personally to a certain size category of moduals, which isn't exactly the same as a tier system. Then we ignore the awkwardness of having tiered ships where "only tier 2 ships can use tier 2 blocks" etc.

 

By adding size categories you don't restrict the building freedom, you just change efficiency. Say a size 1 reactor takes up 1 block and produces 10 power, and anyone can carry one around and place them wherever on a ship. However, a size 2 reactor only takes 4 blocks and produces 25 power, but it requires a small shipyard to install on a ship. So you could, theoretically, build a battleship with all size 1 reactors, it would just take much more space and time and it wouldn't be as resource efficient as if you used a small shipyard and size 2 reactors.

 

That way you can build whatever you want, it's just not going to be as good without special equipment.

 

i believe you should be able to make a 200 km long wood plank without needing a shipyard...

What in reality would stop you from building anything in space? nothing. because size doesn't matter in space (it matters on the planets surface tho even if some whales tell you otherwise). 

but it seems you meant in module size, this could add up with my idea of scale as a stat (that can be changed by the producer) and would be quite intuitive, but you will never be able to make that 2km laser from the death star with that system, unless the size grows in the Fibonacci sequence, or exponentially.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you're entirely correct about size and space. Even though nothing has weight in space, big things inherently have mass, so it takes a great deal of energy to start something moving, and then even more energy to make it stop. So a single person in a space suit would not (and should not) be able to build the 100 ton reactor for a huge space ship.

 

But yes, a 200 km plank is doable because the pieces of that plank would be individually light. My point was not about overall size, but about the size of the pieces you used to make that very large space station or ship. Using massive components should require massive machinery, for gameplay as well as realism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you're entirely correct about size and space. Even though nothing has weight in space, big things inherently have mass, so it takes a great deal of energy to start something moving, and then even more energy to make it stop. So a single person in a space suit would not (and should not) be able to build the 100 ton reactor for a huge space ship.

 

But yes, a 200 km plank is doable because the pieces of that plank would be individually light. My point was not about overall size, but about the size of the pieces you used to make that very large space station or ship. Using massive components should require massive machinery, for gameplay as well as realism.

 

yes, ok, well i agree, but how would you carry those then? use non physical transfer with a object transfer spacedock? a teleporter you have to have? maybe that is better than restricting the building, the trnsport being restricted would make a lot more sense: you would have different tiers of cargo bay that can hold different volumes, and then you can use a teleporter that can itself move a maximum mass in newton at a maximum range (both stats independently modifiable depending on research/material/template used.) and then when you build you need a ship with the component in transporter range.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea how you would manage inventory space or move massive objects, but at some point you will probably have to use a typical "magic inventory" system like in every other game. 

 

I mostly favor the idea of shipyards on space stations because it's one way to encourage the massive space stations the Devs was to see so badly. I don't blame them, it would be really cool to see something like that built. It would also be interesting gameplay. Either way, I have never really liked that crafting in games "just happens" in some imaginary space in a couple of seconds. There's no sense of achievement in that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea how you would manage inventory space or move massive objects, but at some point you will probably have to use a typical "magic inventory" system like in every other game.

 

I mostly favor the idea of shipyards on space stations because it's one way to encourage the massive space stations the Devs was to see so badly. I don't blame them, it would be really cool to see something like that built. It would also be interesting gameplay. Either way, I have never really liked that crafting in games "just happens" in some imaginary space in a couple of seconds. There's no sense of achievement in that.

Maybe building a chassis around the area you want to be able to buld a ship in would result in that, like the star trek ones.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little sideways from the point, but do you have to be in space around objects for your scripts to work on them?  I can understand requiring ships or drones to be in proximity of you or a fixed control point, like a hanger bay for defense reasons, but will that be the case for defense platforms and stations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little sideways from the point, but do you have to be in space around objects for your scripts to work on them?  I can understand requiring ships or drones to be in proximity of you or a fixed control point, like a hanger bay for defense reasons, but will that be the case for defense platforms and stations?

 

I believe the Devs said your scripts will only work when online and nearby, but obviously that's not final.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a recent interview, jc talked about the possibility to explore for a long period of time, with a ship, like in startrek. He said that during this period, people will be able to do various stuff, like managing trades or build. So you can build while moving, at least shouldnt be a technical issue, ofc we dont know when this will be added. Regarding balancing, i don't think is a problem, you can just disable building while in combat and maybe keep it disabled for a certain period of time after that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little sideways from the point, but do you have to be in space around objects for your scripts to work on them?  I can understand requiring ships or drones to be in proximity of you or a fixed control point, like a hanger bay for defense reasons, but will that be the case for defense platforms and stations?

probably there'll be a difference between custom scripts and default ones. I guess there'll be some default ai that would make defensive turrets and similar elements work, even when you are offline

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...