Ship builder | Shape/Material/Block type selections from hideable lists

[Ravic]

Hey guys,

 

I'm sorry if my suggestion is there somewhere, but I couldn't find it with some simple searches so just to be sure, I post it here. :)

 

Could it be possible to remake builder in a way to use a 3-step-selection mode for shapes, materials and block tpyes?

... and get rid of the "building inventory" all together, as it is very hard to use effectively now, in my opinion. :)

 

Here is how I imagine it would work:

 

1) First you select one from list of shapes

2) Then you select one from a list of materials

3) Then if you want you can select the special block type

 

All 3 should have a default at first, like: 1) Cube, 2) Iron 3) Windowed hull

 

The first would be the most commonly used one, because when you build a ship, you usually use one material but many different shapes.

 

This could save a lot of space for the UI, because if you have chosen your material and block type, you can close those parts (minimize it or something) then you have more space on your screen to build with only the shapes list opened.

 

My goal here is that be able to easily swap between shapes on a simple UI that doesn't cover much on the screen. So it should be something with 1-2 rows on the top or bottom of the screen with a thin and wide "hide" button under each row or something.

 

- The shape list should show the shapes with that green, semi-transparent method you use in the builder now with the edges highlighted.

- To choose the material a simple, color-coded list with the names is enough I think.

- After choosing a material the special blocks should be colored to match the choosen material, as you already have these in the building inventory.

 

Now the most important part: Weapons

 

I imagine it as a simple, color-coded list with their names that can be filtered and sorted:

Color-coding is always by Rarity.

 

Filters are:

- Material

- Rarity

- Type

- Civil or Armed type

 

Sorting are:

- Damage (dps)

- Damage (single hit)

- Efficiency (salvager/miner)

- Range

- Rarity

 

When you hover over anything in a list with your mouse, you can see the tooltip of that block/weapon to further examine what will it do when you equip it.

 

On another note I would make the "stat list" part in the builder hideable as well, so when you are building something that you wanna make to look cool, not just be useful, then you would have more screen space.

 

I know these are not the main focus for you guys, I just wanted to share these, maybe you can get some ideas out of it so you can make the game better. :)

 

Thank you for reading,

-Ravic.

[Spacefaring_Guy]

The current system results in a lot of repetition - a set of parts for each material type - and you get an unwieldy interface as a result.  It also mandates a divorce between function and shape.

 

What I would like to see is three rows - material, function, and shape.  If you select a lower-tier material that doesn't support a particular block type, that block type would be greyed out in the second row.  And of course you'd expect any material you don't actually have to be greyed out as well.  And by separating function and shape you'd have the option of, say, a slope or corner hyperspace core.  Because why not?

 

And while we're at it... I'd love to see a couple of new shapes - cylinder and sphere, and also 1/4 cylinders and 1/8th spheres for edging.  And (really stretching the interface here...) hollow vs. solid if there is a way to separately adjust the wall thickness vs. the overall dimensions.

 

And that's just standard blocks.

 

A related change for turrets would be awesome - select turret type with one row, material on the second, a filter for special attributes on the third, and then a few filter sliders on the fourth for DPS, range, and energy drain.  Unlike building blocks that merely require material resources, turrets are their own block, so this would still have to result in a collection of available turrets.

 

And really, rather than have the turrets in the middle of the block menu, they should be split off onto their own build menu (though the two should be conveniently linked with a selector at the top so you can toggle between them instead of having to manage yet another floating window).

 

My 2 cents, anyway.