Block Upgrade System
TL;DR - Upgrade blocks thru menu, so new upgrades are cheap to implement since no 3D modeling needs to be done - just text, maybe an image, and some code to tell what the upgrade does. Moddable as well!
A general Upgrade System for blocks would be great. So you can upgrade any block, not just the ones with slots built in. Not needing slots built in, or block modules modeled, makes this cheap to implement.
I propose Upgrade Menu:
- Access a per-block "upgrade tree"
- Pay increasingly rare/valuable resources to upgrade the block (need to weld the block to apply the upgrade)
- Remove upgrade from a block, to apply it to another block. This should not be a free operation.
The Upgrade Menu would be accessed either using welder tool, or alternatively, through the ships menu (every block in block list would have a "Upgrades" button?)
When building, one should be able to access the upgrade menu to build upgraded holograms, where the upgrade cost is added on top of the regular build cost. So you can easily lets say build all your engines upgraded/specialized without having to upgrade them individually. Just select engine, press button to open upgrade menu, choose upgrade type, place all the engines, build them, done.
If you have an existing ship with like a THOUSAND thrusters and want to upgrade them all, go to ship menu, select all the thrusters, click "upgrade menu", set upgrade, start welding.
I do like having physical upgrades where possible though, like the upgrade modules of SE1. But lacking those, an upgrade menu would be a cheap way of multiplying possibilities - no need to model new blocks, no need to change existing blocks to add upgrade slots.
In the end, there should be three upgrade systems:
- Upgrades as blocks (like in SE1) - expensive to implement so only in a few critical places
- Upgrades as modules (like the battery modules) - not so expensive but still cant have slots on EVERY block
- Upgrades as nonphysical selections in a menu (what I suggest) - cheap to extend to every block
This system can also be made easily moddable, since again, no changes to blocks themselves are needed.
I like this feedback
The upgrades themselves should be either expensive tier upgrades (pure improvements), like Thrust 1, Thrust 2, Thrust 3.
But I would love to have Sidegrades, like exchanging efficiency for thrust, which would be cheaper than the pure upgrades.
Upgrade menu can also offer cosmetics for cheap or even free! Like thrust effect color or length, stuff like that.
For moving upgrades, either remove them into a special component that carries all the upgrades that were on a block (that can be reapplied to equivalent blocks). Or use the new Block Wrapper system to move the entire block along with its upgrades, somehow. But this is all secondary to getting the upgrades working.
What is valuable in the end, is:
Players could seek either.
The upgrades themselves should be either expensive tier upgrades (pure improvements), like Thrust 1, Thrust 2, Thrust 3.
But I would love to have Sidegrades, like exchanging efficiency for thrust, which would be cheaper than the pure upgrades.
Upgrade menu can also offer cosmetics for cheap or even free! Like thrust effect color or length, stuff like that.
For moving upgrades, either remove them into a special component that carries all the upgrades that were on a block (that can be reapplied to equivalent blocks). Or use the new Block Wrapper system to move the entire block along with its upgrades, somehow. But this is all secondary to getting the upgrades working.
What is valuable in the end, is:
Players could seek either.
If you look at a lot of the production blocks in SE2, a lot of them have symbols for power and such. Those may possibly be placeholders for modules you can put in them like the batteries we have now. It would be nice to have a thruster control module that you could put similar modules in that could reduce fuel cost for reduced acceleration and thrust, increase fuel cost for greater acceleration and maximum thrust, or even just change the color of the plume.
If you look at a lot of the production blocks in SE2, a lot of them have symbols for power and such. Those may possibly be placeholders for modules you can put in them like the batteries we have now. It would be nice to have a thruster control module that you could put similar modules in that could reduce fuel cost for reduced acceleration and thrust, increase fuel cost for greater acceleration and maximum thrust, or even just change the color of the plume.
Replies have been locked on this page!