Space Engineers: general improvement suggestions.

Suggestions for the improvement of Space Engineers, regarding the latest Facebook post asking for said suggestions. I love Space Engineers, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to improve it. Here are my thoughts on what's needed:

- More weapons. The recent Warfare updates were a welcome addition, and are definitely a good start! However, engaging in more balanced and challenging combat is still only possible with some of the better weapons mods out there, and even then there are some issues inherent to the mods that take away from the gameplay. Adding a little more variety will make for more fun and more challenges. I suggest the addition of: guided torpedoes/missiles (perhaps with different types of warheads available), point defense lasers, laser cannons, and particle beam weapons. I also suggest that the effective engagement range of all weapons be greatly extended (particularly the ranges of the torpedoes/missiles, railguns, and laser cannons, but also the others to a lesser degree). This will not not only make combat more realistic (as engagement ranges in space would realistically be in the thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers), but it would also make space combat more challenging in terms of both tactics and overall strategy, and force players to more carefully consider their builds and loadouts.

- More armor. Having more options when it comes to armor would enable players to make more balanced builds, especially if more weapon types are added. Ceramic armor, ablative armor, composite armor, and whipple shields are a few that come to mind. If different weapons are more or less effective against particular types of armor, that would add another layer of depth and difficulty to combat, and requiring different resources for different armor types would require more exploration in survival.

- Heat radiators. Realistically, space has no atmosphere, so ships can't get rid of waste heat through atmospheric conduction. It has to be radiated away via infrared radiation. Having the option of toggling heat buildup on or off would add a challenging layer of survival to the game, and would also make for more challenging combat; if an opponent destroys your heat radiators, your only two options are to stop fighting and surrender, or melt your own ship into slag as you continue to generate heat. With that in mind, it would be nice to enable the radiators to retract into armored blocks for protection during combat.

- Heat sinks. Similar to heat radiators, only they store the heat inside the ship when it's too dangerous to extend the radiators. They would ideally only hold a certain quantity of waste heat before they begin to melt and cause damage to blocks around them.

- More propulsion. Having nuclear propulsion options would be incredible! Even just one fission rocket type and one fusion rocket type for large and small grids would make for some interesting resource and build considerations. It would also be nice to have hydrogen-powered RCS (reaction control system) thrusters where full size thrusters are unwanted, unsightly, or unnecessary.

- More power. If fusion rockets were to be added, fusion reactors would be a nice addition too.

- A map. Not having a detailed and interactive map makes much of the exploration and development survival elements of the game frustrating and unnecessarily time consuming, and it makes system-wide combat very difficult to keep track of in multiplayer, in terms of both allies and opponents, as well as fixed locations.

- More survival elements. In addition to the waste heat consideration described above, adding some more survival elements would be fun. Why not make it a requirement for Space Engineers to eat and drink periodically? Add some food production and water generation blocks, and there you go! Easy element. Or perhaps radiation exposure could be a factor in survival? The possibilities are there.

- NPCs. They wouldn't even have to be voiced by an actor! Just write some interesting text-based dialogue options to interact with. It would be nice to be able to visit an outpost somewhere and have a conversation with a daring space pirate or an intrepid asteroid miner.

- More things to fight. Creatures more challenging than wolves and bugs would be a welcome addition to survival mode.

- More single player mission content. With the addition of NPCs and extra opponents, this would be even easier! Even simple faction missions leading up to some sort of epic conclusion would add a lot to the game.

- More decorative blocks. Adding a feeling of realism or hominess to ships, stations, and outposts would make survival mode all the more engaging, and would enable more intricate builds in creative mode.