I Love mecha and the like, so the idea of a super exoskeleton that could be used would be amazing for things such as loading cargo, combat roles, or simply just to look cool. its unfortunate many game developers seem to forget their existence or implement them in weird roundbaout ways like making them super speedy jet fighter-like things or making them to squishy like titanfall, i miss the old days in games like redfaction guerilla with the mechs busting up buildings and tanks and being heavy set and hulking. obviously the difficulty of making a mech in a game such as starbase is something i understand but thoughts ideas and discussion would be nice. Thank you
Mega Exo skeletons? Viability, Possible uses.
- Thread starter Koi
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2019
- Messages
- 23
IMHO, doesnt really fit the theme of this game. Starbase is about designing and constructing spaceships while considering the logistics of the resources required... having an easy mode siege body to transfer into wouldn't aid the meta of the game... and IMO would devolve it into a more of a FPS with powerups.
Now, if you actually Built one, and used YOLOL to articulate your appendages? Similar to the Mechs that people have designed and put on the workshop for Space Engineers?
THAT would fit the meta! However, I imagine that would be an Extremely difficult undertaking, but would likely earn you some renown.
That said, as CalenLoki pointed out; without gravity, they would probably be next to pointless; and would really just be a spaceship with arms, and likley sacrifice efficiency/viability because of it...
But, earn a TON of Style points, for sure.
Now, if you actually Built one, and used YOLOL to articulate your appendages? Similar to the Mechs that people have designed and put on the workshop for Space Engineers?
THAT would fit the meta! However, I imagine that would be an Extremely difficult undertaking, but would likely earn you some renown.
That said, as CalenLoki pointed out; without gravity, they would probably be next to pointless; and would really just be a spaceship with arms, and likley sacrifice efficiency/viability because of it...
But, earn a TON of Style points, for sure.
IMHO, doesnt really fit the theme of this game. Starbase is about designing and constructing spaceships while considering the logistics of the resources required... having an easy mode siege body to transfer into wouldn't aid the meta of the game... and IMO would devolve it into a more of a FPS with powerups.
Now, if you actually Built one, and used YOLOL to articulate your appendages? Similar to the Mechs that people have designed and put on the workshop for Space Engineers?
THAT would fit the meta! However, I imagine that would be an Extremely difficult undertaking, but would likely earn you some renown.
That said, as CalenLoki pointed out; without gravity, they would probably be next to pointless; and would really just be a spaceship with arms, and likley sacrifice efficiency/viability because of it...
But, earn a TON of Style points, for sure.
Now, if you actually Built one, and used YOLOL to articulate your appendages? Similar to the Mechs that people have designed and put on the workshop for Space Engineers?
THAT would fit the meta! However, I imagine that would be an Extremely difficult undertaking, but would likely earn you some renown.
That said, as CalenLoki pointed out; without gravity, they would probably be next to pointless; and would really just be a spaceship with arms, and likley sacrifice efficiency/viability because of it...
But, earn a TON of Style points, for sure.
Mechs are pure rule of cool design wise.
The ONLY practical functions of a humanoid robot is to interact with environments designed for humans, or to combat rough terrain in the presence of planetary gravity.
In microgravity everything about them is pointless. They'll look cool, but there isn't really any point to them. The existing exos we have are simply surrogates for human bodies so we can use the same economic and risk logic we would for humans in a gameplay sense. Everything we build is built for the same reason. because exos are analogues for weak frail stupid human bodies we are forced to inhabit.
The exos are already inefficient compared to literally just a flying ball with a data port on it. If were were actual digital consciousnesses or fly-by wire operators we'd probably skip the humanoid robots altogether in favor of a thruster ball with a data port and a few manipulator arms. We have humanoid exos specifically because the shape allows us to more easily associate them with ourselves and other players and design ships and stations as we would for humans.
The ONLY practical functions of a humanoid robot is to interact with environments designed for humans, or to combat rough terrain in the presence of planetary gravity.
In microgravity everything about them is pointless. They'll look cool, but there isn't really any point to them. The existing exos we have are simply surrogates for human bodies so we can use the same economic and risk logic we would for humans in a gameplay sense. Everything we build is built for the same reason. because exos are analogues for weak frail stupid human bodies we are forced to inhabit.
The exos are already inefficient compared to literally just a flying ball with a data port on it. If were were actual digital consciousnesses or fly-by wire operators we'd probably skip the humanoid robots altogether in favor of a thruster ball with a data port and a few manipulator arms. We have humanoid exos specifically because the shape allows us to more easily associate them with ourselves and other players and design ships and stations as we would for humans.
I get your train of thought but i dont agree with it since this is a game where entertainment is the main point so making everything super efficient directly hampers that goal. the reason we have humanoid exos is because they look awesome where a ball with thrusters does not look cool. exos being scaled up would be cool and fun to stomp around with regardless of whether its useful or not its fun.
And I thought about this last night when creating tasks for a company and reading about robotic arms earlier, seems like some people are missing the point that mechs could be used for transporting large ship parts or have lasers on them to help with mining, or better yet, be an extra layer of armor for players to use when attacking or defending. Would be happy to work someone to create great mechs for multipurpose and design ships that carry them inside for better transport.
All of these things can be done by spaceships and ground vehicles with less complicated engineering required.
Look, Mechs are cool and people want to stomp around in them and build them. That's awesome, and I support Koi's plans to try and figure out how to build one just because mechs are cool the same way I want to see people building giant functional tamagotchi or mario sculptures or whatever. Creativity is awesome.
Pretending there's any logic to justify them as efficient or useful compared to the alternatives is silly though. They're not. No matter how cool your mech is, a truck or normal spaceship with the same equipment is going to be both more reliable and more efficient at the job. If I've got to meet a deadline for wartime ship replacements or go fight other players I'm certainly not going to waste my time fiddling with a system with three times as many points of failure that's three times as hard to maintain or repair.
I do, however, challenge you to prove me wrong. I'd love to be proven wrong because giant mecha ARE cool. Build one that can do the same job as a truck or spaceship better and I'll happily come back to this thread and declare you supreme intellect.
Look, Mechs are cool and people want to stomp around in them and build them. That's awesome, and I support Koi's plans to try and figure out how to build one just because mechs are cool the same way I want to see people building giant functional tamagotchi or mario sculptures or whatever. Creativity is awesome.
Pretending there's any logic to justify them as efficient or useful compared to the alternatives is silly though. They're not. No matter how cool your mech is, a truck or normal spaceship with the same equipment is going to be both more reliable and more efficient at the job. If I've got to meet a deadline for wartime ship replacements or go fight other players I'm certainly not going to waste my time fiddling with a system with three times as many points of failure that's three times as hard to maintain or repair.
I do, however, challenge you to prove me wrong. I'd love to be proven wrong because giant mecha ARE cool. Build one that can do the same job as a truck or spaceship better and I'll happily come back to this thread and declare you supreme intellect.
Not disagreeing with you on some things, but mechs could be used as a powerful warfare device, if built large enough, with strong materials, can be mobile missile launcher, not that ships can't do the same, but the mechs could also be less of a target if not flying around and staying low to the ground, although they still can be spotted. It all depends on who and how people will make them, hopefully my corporation is able to prove mechs aren't just for looking cool but also being a useful weapon in the battlefield, or a very good tool to use.
A truck can do the same thing with less moving parts, making it more reliable and harder to disable. That's why we have militaries full of trucks and tanks rather than giant mecha in real life and the only use case we're interested in for robots is largely hazardous environment proxies for humans. In Starborne, we're already hazardous environment proxies for humans so other than just wanting a big cool robot there's just not a practical use case.
