Ship designer with analysis needed (Outside the normal game)
An option needed in the main menu is for a ship designer function. (No need to start a game just to design a ship)
It should load a flat plane in creative (like an open field) with no need for planets, asteroids, etc.
The designer should let the player build their ship and show all of the stats like weight (empty and full), cargo capacity, lift and acceleration in each direction, power use (at full engines), how long power will last, etc.
It should be able to show conveyor paths and highlight if it isn't connected correctly (such as a c or t junction facing the wrong way, HY thruster not connected, etc.)
You can then have an option to fill it with different densities of cargo and test fly it in different areas 1g atmo, 1.2g atmo, .25g no atmo, 0g no atmo, etc.
You could test out your attack and defenses against set enemies - a station, drone, medium ship, and large ship where it can revert your ship back to new after the test.
I like this feedback
It would be useful for such a project sandbox environment to also allow manipulations of existing ship plans.
In addition to the shifts and rotations that the in-game projector can also do, the projection sandbox environment should allow for example mirroring of the model (IMHO a non-trivial problem), seamlessly splitting/cutting the model/plan and splitting it into separate sections/grids, saving a separated section as a separate model, copying and pasting a section from another model, combining sections into a single model/grid.
It would be useful for such a project sandbox environment to also allow manipulations of existing ship plans.
In addition to the shifts and rotations that the in-game projector can also do, the projection sandbox environment should allow for example mirroring of the model (IMHO a non-trivial problem), seamlessly splitting/cutting the model/plan and splitting it into separate sections/grids, saving a separated section as a separate model, copying and pasting a section from another model, combining sections into a single model/grid.
I don't know if it would need to be a different mode instead of a scenario. It might be best presented as a different mode, I guess?
I don't know if it would need to be a different mode instead of a scenario. It might be best presented as a different mode, I guess?
IMHO this mode is not a "scenario", it should be a special environment, something like a blueprint editor
In this special mode it should/could be possible for example to "unify" or somehow "regenerate" the orientation of building blocks, change the spatial orientation of the whole drawing (a common problem in SE).
IMHO this mode is not a "scenario", it should be a special environment, something like a blueprint editor
In this special mode it should/could be possible for example to "unify" or somehow "regenerate" the orientation of building blocks, change the spatial orientation of the whole drawing (a common problem in SE).
On further thought, having a 'design' mode attached to a projector or a 'design terminal' in survival mode might be fun.
On further thought, having a 'design' mode attached to a projector or a 'design terminal' in survival mode might be fun.
This could be an in-game mode, but in general I like this idea. I would add the ability to look through the layers of a ship (in any axis) like a 3d printer slicer so that deep internal problems can be diagnosed.
This could be an in-game mode, but in general I like this idea. I would add the ability to look through the layers of a ship (in any axis) like a 3d printer slicer so that deep internal problems can be diagnosed.
The game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts had a great Design Mode which let you design a vehicle in your garage. This makes a lot of sense for creating blueprints because it allows for easy assembly and testing of designs.
The game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts had a great Design Mode which let you design a vehicle in your garage. This makes a lot of sense for creating blueprints because it allows for easy assembly and testing of designs.
I think that even if Keen just gave us a design review interface that lets us scope out our designs, look for blocks, see damaged blocks, slice designs in layers for analysis of design etc. that would be wonderful!
I think that even if Keen just gave us a design review interface that lets us scope out our designs, look for blocks, see damaged blocks, slice designs in layers for analysis of design etc. that would be wonderful!
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