It's a hot topic recently. Between those who want ship design to be long and thus creating sense of accomplishment, and those who prefer to do it fast and efficiently.
I won't hide that I belong to the other group, but I'll try to come up with idea that at least address some other valid concerns.
I'll start with blueprint system:
1. Blueprints are physical items persistent in the game world. In a form of memory cards. There is no way to export them out of game or back.
2. They consist information of placements of all the parts. Can be either displayed as holograph (for manual building) or be read by Yolol (for automation).
3. They can be created only at Designer Hangar (DH). That is to prevent (easy) reverse - engineering or stealing designs.
4. Ship blueprint is centred
5. There are several version of BC (blueprint cards):
a. Master copy: allow opening blueprint in DH, thus modifying it and copying.
b. Permanent copy: allow projecting/reading it as many times as you like.
c. Limited copy: allow filling projected blocks/reading lines limited amount of times. I.e. ship with 1000 parts and 1500 limit can be build, then repair up to 500 parts.
d. Preview copy: can be loaded into DH without the ability to modify or copy it. But you can look at it and fly around or smash/shoot it inside BH. Can't be used for building.
And designer hangar:
1. It's a physical building in the game world, station only.
2. Inside DH you have access to streamlined design tools, like symetry mode, copy/paste/cut/delete, free moving of big segments, clear all, ect. That are unavailable elsewhere.
3. You are limited by how you build your designer parts:
a. Main hangar (black) limits how big you can build, and what you can test. i.e. for speed testing it needs to be quite long. You can also build things inside it, for testing obstacles
b. Storage room (grey) limits what parts you can use. i.e. you can't design railgun battery if you don't have enough of them in the storage. Those parts are never actually used up, it's just to prevent experimenting with something you don't have access to yet. All the tools and asteroids you want to use need to be there as well. Placement is important, as that's how it appears once you log into designer.
c. Yolol rack (brown) works similar to storage room, just for yolol cards. All the code you write inside the designer is also written on the cards outside.
d. Login point is terminal where you go to enter the designer. It's also place where your simulated body appears on the other side while your physical body stay unprotected.. You can build more of them for multiplayer sessions.
e. Blueprint rack (red) allows you to save/load blueprints. As with yolol cards, each corresponds to one inside the designer. Here you can also take those cards out to trade/move/steal them.
4. Whole design session is permanent. If you log out, it stays in the designer.
5. Normal laws of the game apply inside the designer. So you can test if it works, if it's big enough.
6. Designer walls are transparent. So unless you build walls around, you can look through it. Maybe option for turning it off (for yourself), for better performance inside big crowded stations.
7. If any segment got damaged, whole session get cleared.
8. DH inside initial (permanent/absolute) safezone would be severely limited, to force people to do high-end development in the dangerous wild space.
a. all DHs would be placed on common plots, where everyone can see what you're designing
b. small size limit 10x10x30m.
c. pre-set, low part limit (only few basic guns, thrusters, ect.)
d. you pay fee for using them, proportional to how many are occupied (to prevent people from occupying all of them)
The idea is meant to address those issues:
-sucking players out of the main world
-letting people spoil their game by testing tools they don't acquired in game yet
-stealing designs by capturing physical ships
-transporting or storing designs without exposing them to risk of being stolen.
-forcing people to waste their time by repeating the same things over and over (grind to get resources/repair after tests; dismantle abandoned projects, ect.)
And it helps players save time on tedious activities:
-streamlining automation of universal shipyards (you need to program it to read blueprint files, not to place each and every piece)
-helps repairing ship if BC remains on board.
-let people test ships before buying them (preview copy).
-make design process fast and efficient, so designers can spend more time actually using their creations in game world.
-allow testing ships without wasting resources (time).
I'm open for constructive criticism.
I won't hide that I belong to the other group, but I'll try to come up with idea that at least address some other valid concerns.
I'll start with blueprint system:
1. Blueprints are physical items persistent in the game world. In a form of memory cards. There is no way to export them out of game or back.
2. They consist information of placements of all the parts. Can be either displayed as holograph (for manual building) or be read by Yolol (for automation).
3. They can be created only at Designer Hangar (DH). That is to prevent (easy) reverse - engineering or stealing designs.
4. Ship blueprint is centred
5. There are several version of BC (blueprint cards):
a. Master copy: allow opening blueprint in DH, thus modifying it and copying.
b. Permanent copy: allow projecting/reading it as many times as you like.
c. Limited copy: allow filling projected blocks/reading lines limited amount of times. I.e. ship with 1000 parts and 1500 limit can be build, then repair up to 500 parts.
d. Preview copy: can be loaded into DH without the ability to modify or copy it. But you can look at it and fly around or smash/shoot it inside BH. Can't be used for building.
And designer hangar:
1. It's a physical building in the game world, station only.
2. Inside DH you have access to streamlined design tools, like symetry mode, copy/paste/cut/delete, free moving of big segments, clear all, ect. That are unavailable elsewhere.
3. You are limited by how you build your designer parts:
a. Main hangar (black) limits how big you can build, and what you can test. i.e. for speed testing it needs to be quite long. You can also build things inside it, for testing obstacles
b. Storage room (grey) limits what parts you can use. i.e. you can't design railgun battery if you don't have enough of them in the storage. Those parts are never actually used up, it's just to prevent experimenting with something you don't have access to yet. All the tools and asteroids you want to use need to be there as well. Placement is important, as that's how it appears once you log into designer.
c. Yolol rack (brown) works similar to storage room, just for yolol cards. All the code you write inside the designer is also written on the cards outside.
d. Login point is terminal where you go to enter the designer. It's also place where your simulated body appears on the other side while your physical body stay unprotected.. You can build more of them for multiplayer sessions.
e. Blueprint rack (red) allows you to save/load blueprints. As with yolol cards, each corresponds to one inside the designer. Here you can also take those cards out to trade/move/steal them.
4. Whole design session is permanent. If you log out, it stays in the designer.
5. Normal laws of the game apply inside the designer. So you can test if it works, if it's big enough.
6. Designer walls are transparent. So unless you build walls around, you can look through it. Maybe option for turning it off (for yourself), for better performance inside big crowded stations.
7. If any segment got damaged, whole session get cleared.
8. DH inside initial (permanent/absolute) safezone would be severely limited, to force people to do high-end development in the dangerous wild space.
a. all DHs would be placed on common plots, where everyone can see what you're designing
b. small size limit 10x10x30m.
c. pre-set, low part limit (only few basic guns, thrusters, ect.)
d. you pay fee for using them, proportional to how many are occupied (to prevent people from occupying all of them)
The idea is meant to address those issues:
-sucking players out of the main world
-letting people spoil their game by testing tools they don't acquired in game yet
-stealing designs by capturing physical ships
-transporting or storing designs without exposing them to risk of being stolen.
-forcing people to waste their time by repeating the same things over and over (grind to get resources/repair after tests; dismantle abandoned projects, ect.)
And it helps players save time on tedious activities:
-streamlining automation of universal shipyards (you need to program it to read blueprint files, not to place each and every piece)
-helps repairing ship if BC remains on board.
-let people test ships before buying them (preview copy).
-make design process fast and efficient, so designers can spend more time actually using their creations in game world.
-allow testing ships without wasting resources (time).
I'm open for constructive criticism.
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