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Computer Core / Programming UI


coldend

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I would like to see a few things in relation to the logic circuits of the drone...

  1. Firstly, I would like the logic circuits NOT to be physically represented as blocks on the drone. Complex logic and interesting solutions should not be penalized by weight and design concerns, such as "how do I position this 'AND' gate so it doesn't blow up and render my whole drone useless when it first encounters the enemy". That's not fun. It feels like making the logic be a physical block is a hold over from games like Minecraft or Terraria, when automation and logic was a fun little afterthought rather than an integral part of the game.
     
  2. The drone build UI should have a "programming" or "logic" UI, similar to that of the "Weapon Workshop" , with the end result being a powered 'computer core' block. The more complex the logic stored in that computer core, the heavier and or more power hungry that part would become... but it would be important for this to be a single block in the overall structure of your drone.

This idea has the following benefits...

  1. avoids the issues caused by a single critical part of a logic circuit being destroyed, because it was inconveniently located due to arbitrary space concerns.
  2. Introduces an interesting new part customization UI.
  3. Adds a new level of power management to the game.
  4. Allows players to design complex program templates, and name them modular enough to be re-used. (re-designing a navigation array from scratch with each drone is pretty tedious)

Suggestion made as of Version 0.5.10 Steam Early Access

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I think your issue #1 is actually a feature.  The vulnerability of logic to damage is something the devs seem to appreciate; it requires both protection of your logic, and well-designed logic, if it's to be resilient to minor damage.

For #4, I like the idea of a clipboard with savable templates.  No matter what you implement, you'll need a way to copy and paste it, and that would also let you copy and paste mechanical assemblies and sub-drones, and . . . anything, really.

The idea I like most for something like this is a little processor sub-unit that can keep a number of logic blocks in a reduced space.  You still have the engineering challenge of logic whacking out if one gets destroyed, as you can't cram your whole logic structure into it, but it would reduce the space that logic occupied, and also reduce part count, would be my hope.  The goal here would be to reward smart builds instead of brute-force builds in modes like Sumo.

I would have to know more about what your weapon-workshop-eqsue logic setup looked like before I could really decide if it's an alternative I'd like.  Currently the game's architecture is designed around providing very simple building blocks that can create very complex behavior, but can also be understood by someone unfamiliar with programming.  I like that architecture a lot, and I don't think I'd like any solution that's too programmatic, like a previously-suggested scripting block, that would allow a skilled programmer to dominate any amount of time and effort by someone who couldn't code.

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A container that can hold a few logic gates and uses less space than the gats would if placed directly is a good idea.

That would be a step from 'discrete logic' to 'integrated logic parts'.

Let's give the core some space for logic and if there is need for more just add a logic-container or place gates the traditional way.

#4 would be a nice way to copy useful logic to other drones, like a macro.

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For #4 I'd rather have a more universal clipboard for copy/paste with the ability to save the clipboard as a template.  You could still copy a logic module and its contents, but there's more than just logic I'd like to copy to other drones, like sub-drones and some mechanical assemblies. (Like the factory assembly that can manufacture and discard ore containers.)

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On 1/7/2019 at 8:38 AM, Lurkily said:

I would have to know more about what your weapon-workshop-eqsue logic setup looked like before I could really decide if it's an alternative I'd like.  Currently the game's architecture is designed around providing very simple building blocks that can create very complex behavior, but can also be understood by someone unfamiliar with programming.  I like that architecture a lot, and I don't think I'd like any solution that's too programmatic, like a previously-suggested scripting block, that would allow a skilled programmer to dominate any amount of time and effort by someone who couldn't code.

I suggest the separate UI, because I too like the mechanics behind building the logic structures. Ideally, those mechanics would remain exactly the same... only instead of placing those blocks physically on the drone itself, they would fit virtually withing a single 'computer core' block, that is then placed on the drone.

Today, I have been creating a single "control satellite" with all my logic blocks on it, and couple thrusters off of a factory. I spawn it and then kick it way off out of harm's way, so it's not physically near any of my main drones. If need be, I can respawn it. Seems like a tedious extra step though, when the logic circuits don't need to all exist physically in the first place.

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A lot of people do the satellite thing.  I do something similar with the drone brain itself, so my entire drone's active part is disposable.  Be aware that logic may get localized in the future, requiring wireless connectors for this kind of construction.

I understand the separate UI; I just wondered it you meant to have some kind of network such as the weapon editor had, branching out in some way; I see that's not the case.

I have to say I'm actually in favor of logic being targetable - it presents an engineering challenge to protect your logic, and a gameplay challenge if it's damaged, trying to control a ship with a damaged control structure, making logic design challenging and influential on both sides of the gameplay.  However, I'm also in favor of logic not being so bulky, and also reducing the part count it consumes so that players are less punished in game modes like Sumo for building smart.

 

I currently like to suggest something like 1x4 and 2x3 processor modules - things that don't perfectly fit into our current array of square pieces - that hold 6 and 9 logic units a piece, which can lose the logic modules they contain as they take damage.  It would triple the density of logic pieces and their part-count efficiency, but also permit logic damage if your engineering doesn't protect your processors.

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