Multi-Step Blueprints

FACTS:

- Many people love to build ships manually in survival mode, that is, without using an semi-automated or fully-automated welder-and-projector setup.

- Most if not all Space Engineers players LOVE to build stuff.

- Most if not all Space Engineers players have played with LEGO bricks at some point, and are familiar with the step-by-step building process, using building instructions.

PROBLEM: Building a blueprint manually is not very user-friendly and/or linear at the moment, as the two options you have are either:

1. Having the whole transparent blueprint visible - This is a bit difficult visually as it is often hard to distinguish the tranparent blueprint from blocks that have already been built.

2. Having only the "Buildable" blocks shown option - This is a bit better, but the problem is, sometimes a critical block will be left unfinished yet look finished, and can later be unaccessible.

SUGGESTED SOLUTION:

1. Add an option to help visually identify any incomplete (or even damaged?) blocks. (i.e. Have them flash or glow in a bright color?)

2. Implement (drumroll...) Multi-step blueprints: Much like building a LEGO set, a single blueprint projection would contain many versions of the same blueprint, but at different levels of completion. For example, a first step would be to build the ship's main frame, then later steps to build the ship's inner systems, and finally later steps to complete the ship's outer hull. The player could switch to the next step using the projecter with a simple "blueprint step selector".

Perhaps blueprint creators could identify blueprint sub-steps using a naming convention, such as "MyBlueprint_001", "MyBlueprint_002".

I realize this second suggestion could technically already be possible, simply by creating multiple blueprints and manually loading them into the projector, but it would be hell to share with others. On the other hand, implementing this suggestion would mean that every fan-designed multi-step blueprint becomes the equivalent of a step-by-step fully buildable LEGO set!

BACKGROUND: I've been playing Space Engineers with my wife on a survival server for some time. She really enjoys building stuff, block-by-block, but says she doesn't have the necessary knowledge or creativity to design a good-looking, well-designed ship or vehicle. She lost interest as soon as we started building ours ships and drones using automatic welders. Ship-building is a MAJOR appeal for Space Engineers, and it is one I believe should be further developped.

Regards