So we can make automated factories by pre-made plates and stuff, correct? How difficult would it be to make automated factories for this? Would it even be practical to build an entire ship. So what purpose does the spray-painting type tool (I forgot the name) have in creating an entire ship. Will it be similar to an holographic blueprint that can be filled in by the spray tool? I just feel the manufacturing side of the game hasn't been explained to the fullest extent.
Yes, current proof of concept factory builds by assembling the parts to the correct place and then bolting them. Building tool version (the spray gun) is still under design.
Entire ship building would require a lot of factory design and also ship designed for the purpose (ie. modular ship). We have made some tests on our own, but we are still far from the entire ship. However, at least frame and plating could be fully automated. The benefit(s) of having fully or partially automated ship factory are immense, so I can imagine at least large factions will build at least module factories.
I don't feel like the main question was answered in any depth, only that "we can make it really deep, if we want", so basically, we could havea simple Ore>Smelting>(Alloying)>Forming chain, simple, easy, and kinda... basic... or a complex heating/refining loop before and after the smelting and alloying steps where small inclusions of other materials as well as variations in heating change the final product in ways that bear out dozens to thousands of hours of marketing and testing every minute combination based on the various known and assumed strengths and weaknesses based on the inclusions and refining processes used or even the timing between smelting/refining/heating/forming steps. You could even complicate it further to differentiate between simple form-casting and multi-stage shaping processes which take more time and process control to get right but yields a higher quality product if you need something like superior tensile strength for beams or abrasion/impact resistance for armor.
Yes, we haven't yet designed the metallurgy fully, so there's only the potential for now. However, as Starbase is all about (complex) simulation, we will explore the deep end of this also, namely mixing freely materials for example. Time and energy are also components in the mix.
And as not everyone want to run a yolol-controlled forge we will definitely provide easy ways to do one simple mix, which results in a good all-around end result. It's also possible that we start with the simple mechanics and extend to the full metallurgy later, as the simulation behind it supports it anyway.
