Ship Size limits?
- Thread starter ablaze1989
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Ville clarified that it's actually 94216 parts, the previous information was erroneus. That was large enough to cause performance issues; they're probably going to have to cap ship sizes to values that are reasonable performance-wise at some point, but for now they're just going to work on scaling up the practical limit by optimizing the engine.
These ships are pretty small if you look at what is represented by most of Sci-Fi out there. The biggest ship shown above at 115m is smaller than the Corellian Corvette (150m) from the opening scene in Star Wars which fits inside the Imperial Star Destroyer Hangar.
But believe me this is not a bad thing, especially if we are expected to wire, pipe and bolt everything down. As it is, I think major ship damage will take a long tedious effort to repair manually, smaller ships like fighters will be hard to hit, easier to repair and yet wreck havoc for bigger ships that are not adequately defended. Players will need to design ships with this in mind, the larger ships will likely be very complex and weaponry, cargo space and power will have to be carefully balanced. No Star Destroyers or USS Enterprises in this game. Ships designed with pointless rooms full of conference tables, kitchens and bunk beds seems very unlikely. Whatever space not occupied by corridors and ship systems will be used for cargo (hauling extra ammo, spare parts and additional resources). All things considered, a combination of smaller ships would be preferable. Even for large factions, I expect armadas of medium sized ships rather than huge titans because they are less of a target, can move independently of one another and are much less complex to repair and maintain.
Huge ships, unless you have a literal empire supporting you are just not practical outside of maybe the intimidation factor but I think it would end up being more of an enticing target. Most players will probably end up in fighters, simply because they are single pilot, simple up-keep, disposable and can put out some decent damage (simply put, more fun for those with short attention spans). Large ships will need a dedicated crew to keep operating at peak efficiency which will probably get boring for the crew between activities. Fights will be costly for the bigger ships as they'll have a lot more that can be broken, not to mention the risk of losing much more should they fall.
But believe me this is not a bad thing, especially if we are expected to wire, pipe and bolt everything down. As it is, I think major ship damage will take a long tedious effort to repair manually, smaller ships like fighters will be hard to hit, easier to repair and yet wreck havoc for bigger ships that are not adequately defended. Players will need to design ships with this in mind, the larger ships will likely be very complex and weaponry, cargo space and power will have to be carefully balanced. No Star Destroyers or USS Enterprises in this game. Ships designed with pointless rooms full of conference tables, kitchens and bunk beds seems very unlikely. Whatever space not occupied by corridors and ship systems will be used for cargo (hauling extra ammo, spare parts and additional resources). All things considered, a combination of smaller ships would be preferable. Even for large factions, I expect armadas of medium sized ships rather than huge titans because they are less of a target, can move independently of one another and are much less complex to repair and maintain.
Huge ships, unless you have a literal empire supporting you are just not practical outside of maybe the intimidation factor but I think it would end up being more of an enticing target. Most players will probably end up in fighters, simply because they are single pilot, simple up-keep, disposable and can put out some decent damage (simply put, more fun for those with short attention spans). Large ships will need a dedicated crew to keep operating at peak efficiency which will probably get boring for the crew between activities. Fights will be costly for the bigger ships as they'll have a lot more that can be broken, not to mention the risk of losing much more should they fall.
While I seriously doubt it will be possible, a Spacehulk'esque ship would make an awesome objective for a battle. I imaging if something like that were to be made though, it would have to be a station. I think either the ship size would be too much for the system, or the low structural stability would mean the ship would fall apart if you attempted to move it. More imagining it as a battle site than an actual ship that a faction would want to build and maintain.
I would also love to see a faction create a carrier as a form of mobile base, rather than a station. But again, might not be possible, and would definitely not be practical. Fuel consumption would likely be prohibitively high, speed and maneuverability so low that it would just be a 'mobile' target.
But would be totally awesome!
I do think factions will try to create cap ships as their flagships, for the novelty if nothing else.
I would also love to see a faction create a carrier as a form of mobile base, rather than a station. But again, might not be possible, and would definitely not be practical. Fuel consumption would likely be prohibitively high, speed and maneuverability so low that it would just be a 'mobile' target.
But would be totally awesome!
I do think factions will try to create cap ships as their flagships, for the novelty if nothing else.
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I was hoping to design a corvette sized warship, but if a corvette is the upper soft limit, then what is there we could realisticly build on our own? Would we be looking at one man PT boats with a few machineguns attached? Edit: I suppose I could try and make a submarine chaser like the Kronshtadt.
Speaking of which, looking at the picture with the Lictor and Centurio, they all have their turrets haphazardly slapped onto the outside instead of worked into the hull or worked into an armored gunhouse to protect against incoming fire.
Speaking of which, looking at the picture with the Lictor and Centurio, they all have their turrets haphazardly slapped onto the outside instead of worked into the hull or worked into an armored gunhouse to protect against incoming fire.
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I"m sure a single player could build/own a big ship, the question is if you ever take it out of the station for risk of it being destroyed, stolen or something in between. Personally, I'll likely stay small and cheap unless I group with a crew otherwise you're likely building that big ship for the pirates.
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You're right, I doubt I'll really end up owning such a ship. Nevertheless the most joy I get out of games like these is trying to constantly design better ships.
Something smaller would be better, but I still want to build something that I could take into a fleet wide battle and not look like a hopelessly lost civilian.
Something smaller would be better, but I still want to build something that I could take into a fleet wide battle and not look like a hopelessly lost civilian.
Also keep in mind that's the performance limit using only small/ship pieces. I've had at least one dev mention that station parts work perfectly fine as parts for ships, it's only a station core that's immobile and locks down the rest of the bits. So, I'm operating under the assumption that we can plan for upscaled hulls using this method, maybe even 'vette carriers.
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I'm hopeful that eventually we can operate semi-large ships, Eventually, but I understand the necessity for limitations. Im not too worried, because most of my personal design ideals are 1-3 man sized. I assume a giant ship would be much more feasible as a faction/company flagship, and therefore have handfuls of robots contributing to the assembly/repair/maintenance/fuel costs.
But, Burnside's confirmation that station pieces will work on ships is definitely good news, although I wonder how that will affect the "structural integrity" mechanic.
I assume the only way we'd ever see super large custom mothership is if they implement larger ship parts, so that its less "parts" altogether to calculate. I'm imagining similar to Space Engineers, how they have "large grid" and "small grid". I could be mistaken, but I think engine limitations are the exact reason SE has large/small grid distinctions.
But, Burnside's confirmation that station pieces will work on ships is definitely good news, although I wonder how that will affect the "structural integrity" mechanic.
I assume the only way we'd ever see super large custom mothership is if they implement larger ship parts, so that its less "parts" altogether to calculate. I'm imagining similar to Space Engineers, how they have "large grid" and "small grid". I could be mistaken, but I think engine limitations are the exact reason SE has large/small grid distinctions.
In all Honesty I can see carrier strike groups be a thing if we can find a way to optimize ship production. Although the "larger ships" would not be as large as we would want it to be we can luckily refer to ship classifications as defined by the role and capabilities of a ship and not the size of it. In this case a carrier would not necessarily have to be a ship a kilometer in length, but it can be a mothership that carries maybe up to 10 fighters to just outside of the render distance deploy them and pull back a bit further as to not be discovered and shredded. The design doesn't have to be large or even completely covered in armour plates since it won't fullfill any active fronline combat roll and in any case it should always be accompanied by a contingent of ships consisting of gunboats and convettes.
In this case the largest ships that would go into active combat would be destroyers and perhaps a cruiser protected by gunboats or corvettes can be present to coordinate the battle from the rear lines.
A battleship or a dreadnaught would be the pride of the navy if a faction has the resources to spare for such an ineffecient addition but outside of the previously described cruiser role would not see any actual frontline combat.
The sizes of the ships of the different classes will be developed and will depend on what the faction desires and the resources it can spend per ship of the class.
The main firepower though will at least in the early stages lie with Fighters due to a lack of resources. But this is just my take on it and I'm just hoping that despite the bugginess of the current version of the game ,that we can still play it well enough as to gather a lot of information on what does work and what doesn't work before the 1.0 version comes and we can start over again.
In this case the largest ships that would go into active combat would be destroyers and perhaps a cruiser protected by gunboats or corvettes can be present to coordinate the battle from the rear lines.
A battleship or a dreadnaught would be the pride of the navy if a faction has the resources to spare for such an ineffecient addition but outside of the previously described cruiser role would not see any actual frontline combat.
The sizes of the ships of the different classes will be developed and will depend on what the faction desires and the resources it can spend per ship of the class.
The main firepower though will at least in the early stages lie with Fighters due to a lack of resources. But this is just my take on it and I'm just hoping that despite the bugginess of the current version of the game ,that we can still play it well enough as to gather a lot of information on what does work and what doesn't work before the 1.0 version comes and we can start over again.