Fighters, Microships, etc.

[Draxiss]

Several suggestions for fighters and other 'microships':

 

First, I can't help but notice that fighters look kind of like crap up-close. The texture size doesn't scale with the model, and while that works on some ships, it doesn't work super well on small vessels like fighters. It'd be really nice if, when your vessel gets below a certain threshold, the vessel's texture scaled with the size of the vessel. While seeing the texture size change when scaling a ship can be a handy tool for determining how large or small it is, maybe instead use an actual measuring system, such as providing a sample distance? You could even just list the ship's dimensions in the corner. On really big vessels, I'm still okay with the size of the texture remaining constant to give a sense of enoromity.

 

As discussed in the the roadmap for Avorion([url}https://avorion.gamepedia.com/Roadmap#Planned_Content[/url]), fighters are getting a dodge mechanic. Will this apply to players as well? It'd actually be pretty neat if players leveled up their ability to function as pilots (and other roles) as a compnent of the Alliance update. What about for vessels that are not fighters, but are particularly small, fast, and/or maneuverable? I'd love to see a player-built vessel, not meant to be mass-produced like fighters, with these kinds of capabilities (I really like playing microvessels). It'd be kind of cool to build a microship with dodging capabilities, provided it's got a pilot OR player controlling it.

 

Also mentioned in the roadmap was the possibility of AI Crew. I hope this means that a ship has the ability to spawn in remote-controlled fighters for AI Modules that include pilots. It'd certainly feel more space-y to have remote, unmanned drones in addition to regular pilots.