[Suggestion] Allow smaller, cosmetic large grid blocks to occupy the same block space
Unless Space Engineers 2 is in the works, this game is direly in need of fundamental updates. The overhaul of the combat system with Warfare update is a great example of this. Keep it going! Here is another low hanging fruit to tackle:
One of the most frustrating things about this game is having to plan out how to lay out decorative items given that you are allowed only one item in a block. You have to constantly make trade offs like do I want a button panel in this airlock, or do I want a light? Usually it ends with either making the entire thing huge or giving up on making it pretty.
What if smaller blocks like armor panels, lights, railings, etc could take up one block space?
Other newer games like Satisfactory usually have variable sized blocks or hard/soft collision boxes.
With this, the implementation could be much simpler: just create the notion of a block occupying a block face, a block corner, or some combination of the two.
Challenges in this:
1. Collisions/Physics: the physics engine is already very good at handling small grid blocks or smaller large grid blocks occupying the same space.
2. Attachment points of these "compound" blocks: take a shortcut: treat a block that has multiple elements inside it as one block, just like the double railing block. The process that determines if a block is attached to a grid can treat this compound block the same way it treats any other block. If that occasionally leads to blocks seemingly attached by air, so be it. No one cares that you can have a double railing block with only one railing attached and the other floating.
3. Airtightness: the airtightness is already based around checking block faces for airtightness
4. UI: most importantly, the UI would not need to be changed at all. The art style of the game very clearly communicates which corners or faces a block takes up (for example, there are no blocks that are somewhere in between the center and the edge). It is very intuitive even without any UI that I should be able to place a corner light above a button panel! Its as if the game was built with this feature in mind?
The bottom line:
At the end of the day, the question to ask is will this be good for the future of the game?
Cons: it will harder to sell cosmetic variants of blocks that mitigate this problem (like passage blocks)
Pros: this will make cosmetic blocks much easier to use and much more valuable to players. It would make it easier to build creative things in the game and keep it engaging for years to come. Speaking for myself, I would be much more willing to pay for cosmetic items if cosmetic blocks were easier to place.
Naysayers will say "its baked into the game engine" or something like that. I'd like to remind everyone that we thought 5 small grid blocks not fitting into a large grid block was an unchangeable part of the game until they fixed the collision models.
I hope this gets noticed, upvote if you agree!
I like this feedback
I never could understand why this isn't able to work in the game, the placement of blocks uses a full block space, but the block itself has its own collision box, if I place an interior light, I cannot then grind said light by looking at the full block, I need to look at the light itself, so why can't the game use that collision box to check for an invalid placement?
It's highly unusual to me.
I'm all for this.
I never could understand why this isn't able to work in the game, the placement of blocks uses a full block space, but the block itself has its own collision box, if I place an interior light, I cannot then grind said light by looking at the full block, I need to look at the light itself, so why can't the game use that collision box to check for an invalid placement?
It's highly unusual to me.
I'm all for this.
This was a feature in Medieval Engineers. There were some blocks that you could put inside of other blocks like stairs and such. It made planning your castles much easier.
The precedent is there for Keen to implement this feature, as they have done so in other games, and I agree that it is much needed.
This was a feature in Medieval Engineers. There were some blocks that you could put inside of other blocks like stairs and such. It made planning your castles much easier.
The precedent is there for Keen to implement this feature, as they have done so in other games, and I agree that it is much needed.
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