Ship design console for grids
I put this in as a comment on another thread and figured it should have its own feedback. The idea here is that we have a 'Ship Design Console' that can be built or found in various outposts and stations. Log into the console and you a) are plugged into oxygen and power so you can stand indefinitely at the console and b) it places your space buddy view into a simulated build environment in creative mode. This would be like you're loading into an empty space (its own environment like you're teleported (virtually not literally) into a blank grid big enough that you can build anything you want in creative mode. At the end, you can exit and are provided with an opportunity to 'save blueprint' and you can also 'load blueprint' and perhaps look at blueprints you pull from the workshop, fly around it, make changes, etc. or work on previously saved ones.
The key here is that the design console can (but can be disabled is desired) provide feedback on what needs to be added to the ship still. 'your design has unbalanced thrust on the port side', 'you have no landing gear', 'your ship is too heavy for the atmospheric thrust currently attached', etc. This could act as a shipbuilding tutorial with things like leak finders for airtight spaces, finding breaks in conveyor networks, etc.
At the end, you have a blueprint you can project and build with as much or little hand-holding as you want/need. You step away from the console (without running out of power and o2) and go about your space engineering.
I like this feedback
Oops, the other thread was here: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/53522-oversimplification
Oops, the other thread was here: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/53522-oversimplification
ive seen a similar idea on a thread about holo projectors.
ive seen a similar idea on a thread about holo projectors.
As mentioned in another thread, the 'standard practive' for SE1 and 2 (so far) has been to stop your survival game, create a new creative mode game and create a blueprint, save it and then go back to the survival game and build it. This feedback eliminates the need to switch, essentially creating a 'simulation' (engineers simulate the heck out of things) which is a mini creative instance you can build your ship and ideally have (optional) tutorial-like suggestions and ideally throw major block details in the corners of the screen like 'which faces of this block are airtight' and any other build-info like info that a user might want (or go look at the SE1 build info mod, it's fantastic).
The ability to load blueprints off the workshop and walk through them and even make changes and export your own version, I'm already really excited about. Yes, you can do it by starting a separate game, to which I say, but you could have it in the same game and cut out a lot of extra steps that break immersion and are likely confusing to new players. "Wait I need to start a different game to do something in this game?'
As mentioned in another thread, the 'standard practive' for SE1 and 2 (so far) has been to stop your survival game, create a new creative mode game and create a blueprint, save it and then go back to the survival game and build it. This feedback eliminates the need to switch, essentially creating a 'simulation' (engineers simulate the heck out of things) which is a mini creative instance you can build your ship and ideally have (optional) tutorial-like suggestions and ideally throw major block details in the corners of the screen like 'which faces of this block are airtight' and any other build-info like info that a user might want (or go look at the SE1 build info mod, it's fantastic).
The ability to load blueprints off the workshop and walk through them and even make changes and export your own version, I'm already really excited about. Yes, you can do it by starting a separate game, to which I say, but you could have it in the same game and cut out a lot of extra steps that break immersion and are likely confusing to new players. "Wait I need to start a different game to do something in this game?'
This idea could actually be developed much further as an in-game ship engineering analysis system / evaluation matrix.
I think the most interesting aspect would be the technical feedback provided about missing components and potential issues with the ship. Instead of simple warning messages, these could be supported with more detailed engineering data.
For example:
"Your ship is heavier than the lifting capacity provided by your current atmospheric thrusters. It is recommended to add at least ... Newtons of additional thrust."
"Your ship's gyroscope capacity appears to be insufficient for its current mass and design. Increasing gyroscope power above ... value is recommended."
"Your ship's current power generation does not meet its overall energy requirements."
"Your ship's maximum power consumption exceeds 90% of your current production capacity. This may cause overload and inefficient operation. Adding additional batteries or reactors is recommended."
In addition, the console could provide much more comprehensive analysis:
"Your ship's maximum acceleration values in forward, backward, left, right, upward, and downward directions:"
"Your ship's pitch, roll, and yaw rotation speeds:"
"Your ship's electricity and hydrogen consumption values:"
"Engine efficiency and power distribution analysis:"
"Mass distribution and center of gravity analysis:"
If aerodynamic systems are added in the future, this console could be used to perform aerodynamic tests. Once water mechanics are introduced, hydrodynamic analysis could also be performed.
Different environmental conditions could also be selected, with adjustable intensity levels:
This would allow players to test their ships under different scenarios and measure their performance.
This idea could actually be developed much further as an in-game ship engineering analysis system / evaluation matrix.
I think the most interesting aspect would be the technical feedback provided about missing components and potential issues with the ship. Instead of simple warning messages, these could be supported with more detailed engineering data.
For example:
"Your ship is heavier than the lifting capacity provided by your current atmospheric thrusters. It is recommended to add at least ... Newtons of additional thrust."
"Your ship's gyroscope capacity appears to be insufficient for its current mass and design. Increasing gyroscope power above ... value is recommended."
"Your ship's current power generation does not meet its overall energy requirements."
"Your ship's maximum power consumption exceeds 90% of your current production capacity. This may cause overload and inefficient operation. Adding additional batteries or reactors is recommended."
In addition, the console could provide much more comprehensive analysis:
"Your ship's maximum acceleration values in forward, backward, left, right, upward, and downward directions:"
"Your ship's pitch, roll, and yaw rotation speeds:"
"Your ship's electricity and hydrogen consumption values:"
"Engine efficiency and power distribution analysis:"
"Mass distribution and center of gravity analysis:"
If aerodynamic systems are added in the future, this console could be used to perform aerodynamic tests. Once water mechanics are introduced, hydrodynamic analysis could also be performed.
Different environmental conditions could also be selected, with adjustable intensity levels:
This would allow players to test their ships under different scenarios and measure their performance.
Once you get to a certain scale of ship or base design, being able to jump into creative mode (in a simulation console like this) and then save the output as a blueprint is essential. yes, you can exit your current game, design it in a creative instance, and then come back, but this is immersion breaking. being able to simulate it in various environments, with different cargo loads 'simulate this on Kemik with full cargo', etc woudl take it to new levels worthy of SE2.
Once you get to a certain scale of ship or base design, being able to jump into creative mode (in a simulation console like this) and then save the output as a blueprint is essential. yes, you can exit your current game, design it in a creative instance, and then come back, but this is immersion breaking. being able to simulate it in various environments, with different cargo loads 'simulate this on Kemik with full cargo', etc woudl take it to new levels worthy of SE2.
I made a similar suggestion for having a Dedicated Design Mode
The tldr; is:
Designing grids can be much faster and more convenient. Not even creative mode is perfect. You are still limited by a virtual engineer and the same small toolbar.
It is normal that engineers of the future can use computers and CAD systems with dedicated tools to design stuff. I mean, we have augmented reality projections on our HUD, why not simple CAD then?
I made a similar suggestion for having a Dedicated Design Mode
The tldr; is:
Designing grids can be much faster and more convenient. Not even creative mode is perfect. You are still limited by a virtual engineer and the same small toolbar.
It is normal that engineers of the future can use computers and CAD systems with dedicated tools to design stuff. I mean, we have augmented reality projections on our HUD, why not simple CAD then?
Another side use case is being able to use (or even have better) pain tool options, so you build it in the console here, you can paint it in detail how you like and then when you go to build it for real the painting and textures are all done.
To enhance the painting tool, perhaps you have a ship/grid that exists. You can go around with the paint tool and manually change as new textures happen, this might be easy, it might not with embedded blocks or other challenges (lighting or whatever). Or, you can blueprint the grid and load it into the console and fly around the ship (removing blocks temporarily if necessary) and then instead of saving the grid as a new ship blueprint, you can save it as a 'paint scheme'. Now I go to my paint tool and select 'paint all' and boom it switches to the saved paint scheme. Maybe I have a few pre-saved paint schemes built for the grid and I can switch between them easily.
Another side use case is being able to use (or even have better) pain tool options, so you build it in the console here, you can paint it in detail how you like and then when you go to build it for real the painting and textures are all done.
To enhance the painting tool, perhaps you have a ship/grid that exists. You can go around with the paint tool and manually change as new textures happen, this might be easy, it might not with embedded blocks or other challenges (lighting or whatever). Or, you can blueprint the grid and load it into the console and fly around the ship (removing blocks temporarily if necessary) and then instead of saving the grid as a new ship blueprint, you can save it as a 'paint scheme'. Now I go to my paint tool and select 'paint all' and boom it switches to the saved paint scheme. Maybe I have a few pre-saved paint schemes built for the grid and I can switch between them easily.
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