2020-12-22 Bug Fixes

[Phoenix]

First I wanted to say thanks for letting us build stuff with so much creativity. The designer can be rather time consuming, but really it is a really powerful tool. The designer has probably kept me coming back more than any other thing. Currently I am working on a small spaceship which resembles the venerable A-10. Hopefully you can give it a test flight sometime.  

If you have some time I would like to share several ideas largely related to the designer... Perhaps something will spark your interest 

1. Allow players to build/modify megastructures - Add a new design limit category 

Currently the design limits are mostly where they need to be I think. However I have experimented with designs such as planetary artificial ringworlds and O'neill Cylinders. I would be great if there was was a new category which would allow users to build massive structures which would add some flavor to the galaxy. If these creations are a drain on system resources then perhaps it could be mitigated by requiring approval by yourself or someone like Dean before they were submitted in game. It would be great if the best creations could be found (with great rarity) throughout the galaxies in a similar fashion to Ringworlds today.

To go along with this some additional mechanics would be appreciated to support megastructures
-Populations on stations/mega structures: similar to cities which rise and fall based on perhaps more limited factors (just time? As it can be assumed they are built with the correct amenities)
-Workshop space: Allow for the construction of different goods based on the raw materials available in the system (other cities and mining stations feeding it via the airport system) 
-Designate Deployment location: Some way to designate a location or planetary orbit for the megastructure to be assembled this is to avoid the tractor-beam movement issues. 

This was my attempt to make a 5800m artificial ring. The yellow box is of course the maximum design limit. 



My workaround is 25 ships which can be parked near each other and would resemble a single structure. 



I also tried to make a planetoid ring with a building, but that seems to exceed the build limit for buildings.

This is an early version of my O'Neill Cylinder. This design is currently possible, but the volume limitations make a large scale cylinder difficult. The change I will suggest here is to allow for meshes to exist outside of the main hull so that large objects can be build which don't have massive volume. 



I think there is something going on with the volume calculations of the angled solar reflectors. When those are removed the massive cylinder is nowhere near the volume limit. 



Anyway it would just be cool to be able to build stuff like this in the end game once a player is established and perhaps finding a large habitat like this could jumpstart a player a bit.

2. Modify the maximum build height to allow for the construction of 'Orbital Elevators': Currently the maximum building limit does not allow for true orbit to surface elevators. I think this can be fixed with a simple new category or expanding the maximum height limit upward. Currently you can build a pseudo orbital elevator, but it would be cool to have the functionality of a space station with a ground to surface elevator.

 

Although the design is pretty tall, it is still well within the atmosphere on habitable worlds



3. Rouge Planets: It would be great if we could locate rouge planets drifting through space without stars. Perhaps there would be something interesting to be found on them? Eludium or Luminite maybe. I think it would be reasonable to be able to detect these planets with spacecraft sensors only.

It would be cool to make hidden bases on these planets I think.

4. Solar System Designer: It would be great to able to design your own home system for Roleplay purposes especially in singleplayer. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to make something like this, but I have always wanted to be able to design a solar system with two habitable Earth like worlds and perhaps other parameters which fits in with a player's own internal lore. Furthermore and I think you could possibly (I don't want to put too fine a point on this) earn some additional review if you sold the solar system designer for singleplayer as DLC for 5 dollars or so. I think most folks would be willing to pay for it. Furthermore there would be no risk of player advantage as they would not be interacting with others.

If you want to get really crazy, perhaps a solar system designer could be implemented with multiplayer if players had a certain number of points to allocate to different aspects in order to keep it balanced. 

  

Anyway I hope I didn't waste your time. I just wanted to share my interest in your game. Thanks again.