Lurkily

I want that relative altimeter, but use the distance sensor instead, and separate it into sections. A 0-50% distance output, a 51-100% output, and a setting for the length of both, with a tolerance. Also, we want distance sensors with an angle. I know you've heard it before, but I'mma keep sayin' it. As for the variable height . . . why not just permit values over 300? Also, it would be nice if the altimeter's description had the altitude of various landmarks, like the highest and lowest parts of the Nimbatus/hopper.

What about input-controllable distance? That sounds fun.

Shape charges are brutal. Slowmo guys did a video of a shape charge in super slow motion; the blast was accurate enough to fire from a gun. Went through a safe door from a foot away, left a hole the size of a dime, and punched through a water barrel several feet further on. You could almost shoot it like a gun if you weren't blowing your hands off. I am all for concussion charges, by the by - force, but no direct damage - as well as an array of TNT upgrades. TNT, shields, fuel, a lot of systems need upgrades. Ideally, really, I would have wanted every block to have a construction system like weapons; but right now weapons are a different thing than every other block, so I'm not sure it's possible.

This would basically be a primary source of energy for your weapons; they'd use this block first. Once depleted, it would be inactive until fully charged. (Just like reloading the clip of a gun.) Weapons would be debuffed if they use normal energy sources; less damage, less range, less of every variable stat; say deplete the total after upgrades of each stat by a straight 40% across the board. Then, you have the benefits of using a SPECIFIC magazine. You can have a magazine for fire ammo and cryo ammo and bio ammo. They would basically be an energy block with a specific keypress to activate and deactivate them, and an output for when they're ready for use, or shut down after depletion to recharge. I suggest an on/off control because a new player can add them to a drone, and they'll just WORK, starting out ON. A more advanced player can use damage types and logic to activate damage types at need, and deactivate them when they deplete or when the need has passed. Logic can help autonomous drones only try to use ammo types when they have awareness that a magazine is active.

Someone recently had an idea about switching weapontypes, and I postulated a magazine block that would recharge like energy, and act as the primary energy source for weapons only, enhancing the effect of any weapon drawing on that charge; and which would be inactive after depletion until FULLY charged. This sounds like something useful. Let's ditch fixed weapons as an option - as a downgrade, they should have a benefit as well, right? Instead, lets have 1x1 tower weapons, and 2x1 fixed weapons, as well as a magazine block that can provide an assist to your damage output. This might help make your weaponry feel more like a complete system, and less like a tacked-on module that's nothing special. I'm gonna go make a magazine suggestion in drone parts. Look for that soon.

Ahhhh, I thought it must be a minecraft game mechanic or something. Understood.

No, don't count children of a printed factory in the parent factory's build time. Only count it as part of the printed factory's build time. I don't think all factories need to start with empty meters, but PRINTED factories probably should. New factories are manufactured for a mission and can come prepared to print, but brand-new factories aren't that way.

I tried to create a sub-drone which would have a bunch of ore canisters on it. Thus I could build it, mine, send it on its way. If zero (output from logic on the main part) was not pushed, T would be pushed. T pairs with every sensor and thruster to provide logic that demands it only tries to fly home while disconnected. The problem is, after experimentation, it still receives the 'zero' signal from the core drone when disconnected. It also receives manual keypresses; I can push 'T', and thrusters will activate.

Not really. A factory making a single big fuel cell (The big-storage one, without recharge) that outputs when it's empty. That output triggers a detach, a logic part that delays one second, then rebuilds the tank. Huh. It would only ever have to rebuild the one part.

I think planets are pretty well marked and labelled, and in a small enough area. I think the improved visuals would be worth the very occasional confusion, assuming they aren't too taxing to implement.

I have no idea what an excavation brush is, but I will happily take a damage type that's basically kinetic, but ineffective versus ore. Ideally, though, especially with the possibility of terrain status effects in the future, I'd like to be able to potentially use those status effects to help excavate ore.

Let them know that Lurkily said it needed to be done. It won't make anything happen, and they'll look at you like you're an idiot, but I just want to know that this absurdity made its way into real life.

I don't think it's difficult; more that super-rigid creations aren't really as interesting or challenging. It's probably much easier for a dev to implement, as they can just throw a ton of physics calculations out the window.

Electric is tricky. It should have unique behavior; arcing to seek out enemies, and chaining between enemies in groups, maintaining a chain from a charged enemy if they get charged enough to be electrified, etc. That kind of behavior should belong to a new weapon; it's mechanically unique enough that it exceeds the boundaries of what damage types do. Then again, I would have said that about plasma and setting adjacent enemies on fire, too. So maybe damage types exceeding the boundaries of mere status effects is on the table. What about both? An 'electric' damage type that can charge an enemy, who will then spit arcs to adjacent enemies? And those enemies will gain a charge from that, as well. Then, also an 'arc' weapon that discharges an arc which can be any damage type, including electric? If they get too close to the ground, the arc should zap the terrain instead, and diminish their charge - they're being grounded. Maybe this could be used as the one and only snake countermeasure - zap it until it's driven away to ground itself.

I have mixed feelings about this. What if I want faster bullets, but don't want more impact force or damage? A lot of the downgrades present are for tailoring weapons to very specific roles, and multiple effects might hinder that. I do feel like some of the strongest upgrades might benefit from having drawbacks as well, (though I still maintain that any upgrade you pay for should always be an overall improvement,) but I'm not sure if I like the idea of having a mixed bag in every upgrade.

Not 100% sure how to balance this. It would mean never needing to design with specific damage types in mind; just switch ammo types. You'd never have to look at your loadout to make sure you brought enough ice to a lava planet, for example. What about a 'magazine' part that provides specialized ammo to child weapons? Give it an energy amount; it would be the primary energy source for any child weapon, and as long as its energy holds out, they fire specialized ammunition. But once dead, they can't be used until they fully recharge, and it would be slower than battery recharge.

Agreed on this, directional tracking of nearest hostile enemy, hostile hive, nearest ore have all been on my wishlist since the closed alpha. Updooted. Actually, what about working this into a specialized turret mount? Basically a hinge with directional-sensor style target tracking? I wouldn't require more than left, right, and tolerance. (If your tracking is within tolerance, then you just fire, and who cares if you're in range. If you need more discretion, tack on sensors.) Man, I would love a hinge with a built-in directional sensor. That sensor is just too much of a beast to put on a hinge and have it work well.

I always liked the idea of 'chassis' pieces that were large and awkward, and would, if connected, fuse together at the start of the mission for you to anchor things to, with a drawback that any damage dealt to them would propagate to parts near the damage site as well. (Effectively increasing the total damage received.) It introduces a way to create rigidity; but it also creates a build challenge, in that you have to build your ship around a part that is a bit awkward, and never compact, and if exposed to damage, can propagate damage to large swaths of your ship. God forbid you ever let it catch fire.

I would second blocks that would pass power/fuel/inputs/outputs on to nearby parts when they got close enough.

Also, as a printer prints, do not print parts that are attached to the factories it prints.

The thing is; they don't necessarily become BETTER. They become more targeted. It's been my philosophy in game design to always make a paid upgrade an actual improvement - that you get something when you spend. Right now, to make a terrain-eating sprayer as I described, you actually make a better terrain-eater with digging, ROF, and other upgrades; the set of downgrades I described are mostly a behavioral preference, but with the exception of gravity's (limited) benefit, don't really enhance function. Have you ever played Fallout/Fallout2? (3&4 change the mechanics of what I'm about to describe slightly.) They had traits and perks. Traits were chosen at the start of a game; you only had two, but they were given away free. They had benefits and drawbacks. They weren't BETTER, but used to tailor the game to your style. It could make it easier for you to play, but it might be possible to play more effectively without that trait, or a different trait. Perks, on the other hand, were undeniably better. You were better. Faster. Stronger. Sneakier. They cost you progression, you got one every couple of levels you gained, and outside some perks gained via quests, you couldn't get more any other way; they were valuable and powerful. That's where I see upgrades and downgrades right now. Downgrades can focus a weapon to task and suit it to a particular thing, but they aren't the same thing, and shouldn't require the same sacrifice, as upgrades.

You bet on it. Right now I'm working on autonomous ore retrieval, and a factory set that can spawn a weapon section, then at need, discard it and manufacture a different weapon. I've got banks of mining lasers, a set of long range blasters, and grenade launchers for carpet bombing, right now. Only difficulty is you spawn with all three already built, and the overlap causes issues.

Let's face it; the core of Nimbatus isn't fancy guns and stuff. Those help, but they're the tools that the system uses, not the system - they're not a core mechanic. Nimbatus shines in sensors and logic, in creations that intelligently respond to the user's needs, or even act autonomously. Drones need logic, and they need awareness of their surroundings to enable the kinds of things it's best at. I have found a number of limitations, and want to list the things I think are absolutely crucial in enabling truly creative, intelligent, and responsive drones. Named blocks as targets for directional sensors. Like tags, this would allow you to give a block a name, and use that name for other sensors. A directional sensor would have a 'named part' option, where it would point to the drone part you indicate. GPS sensor. Operating similarly to a directional sensor, this would allow a user to designate a position by how many degrees around the planet it is; 0 or 360 would be the start point, and 180 would be the opposite side of the planet. This would allow you to make satellites that would travel to a specific station, or drones that could detect when they are close to the hopper, and alter their behavior without having to rely on object detection. Distance sensor. I think we need to be able to keep station a distance from an object. I have a number of ideas that require drones to find their own way. Weaponry sub-ships that fly to me, magnet on, and then when I'm done, release themselves and fly home. Subships that act as armor, hovering around me and intercepting enemies and enemy fire, and so on. To keep station like this, they need a sense of distance. Not just 'is something there, is it not,' but an actual awareness. The altimeter already does this with a planet core. I would suggest renaming it a distance sensor, and using altitude as only one of the possible settings for it. Other landmarks I'd like are drone core, hopper, planet core (altitude) and as with the directional sensor, named part.

Also, if you have wobbliness, try putting a magnet in it to help it cohere.

10 TYPES of people. Baked Beans, in short, this is a table of all the possible combinations of inputs, an the possible outputs. For example, look at the first. A and B. With two inputs, there are four possible states; A is true, B is false. B is true, A is false. Both are true. Both are false. By placing an output in the F column, you can assign specific outputs. So this gives you a number of logic blocks in one place; if can replace if gates, AND gates, OR gates, and a number of other gates. It can even act as a number of blocks at once. Say you want to shoot if A is true, unless B is true. (Fire mining lasers unless you detect ore, assuming we can do that eventually.) You could sat this up to produce a firing output if A (detect terrain) is true, B (Detect ore) is false, and a mining output if B or both A and B are true. Creating a series of logic blocks to do this can be slightly more challenging. ]By using a table of possible output combinations instead of logical tests, you can have very complex behavior laid out in a single table, rather than having to take notes about how separate blocks interact.