Hale

I'm starting the game up again after having my save corrupted a few months ago, so look forward to some new iterations of the Cyclops II, compatible with the new thrusters! ;D

Oh cool, thank you! Suggestion withdrawn. ... although, this useful functionality is not documented anywhere. It's in the tutorial.

I think this is good, but I think that there should be a base salary, that's based upon ship size/ship cost. The cost of salary for crew members can be added on.

Spotlight blocks would be neat. Useful, too, for when you're flying around in dark areas and want to see salvaging wrecks. Almost like headlights for your ship. OH. EDIT. There NEEDS to be a drop down list of every block currently on your ship, categorized by type. A menu of sorts with sub folders inside that you could navigate through to see all the blocks. You could select a block like that and maybe change it to a different materiel or type easily. Also just a list of how many blocks of different types you have. I actually don't know how many generators are in my ship anymore. x.x

I agree wholeheartedly with all of these, especially the fighter one. I actually have a fighter-esque ship I made, properly scaled and all. It's great for automated mining and can actually have a tiny amount of shielding for extra survivability. Here it is: http://filebin.ca/3AlaxU5IGOGv/Betsy2.xml

In my playthough I originally made one of my ships for storage, and I named it storage. But then I discovered that even though it didn't have any engines or any sort of tech, it needed tons of crew members! I think it would be nice if you could designate what kind of thing you want to build from the drone founding menu. So when you go to create a new ship there would be two buttons, one for "ship", and one for some other name that would mean that you're creating something that isn't going anywhere and doesn't have any engines or weapons, so it needed less upkeep, and therefore less crew members, and therefore you need less money to keep it! I'm not incredibly keen on needing to have a huge ship just to be able to tote around all the stolen things I've gotten over time, so I'd like to be able to create a storage hub of sorts, that would just sit around and do nothing except store things.

So the upgrades we have now are great and all, and are very useful, but I keep thinking about what the capacity for more -physical- versions of those upgrades would be. Or perhaps even the capacity to make the standard ship functions we take for granted not come immediately. What I mean is this: You build your first ship, like you normally would, but instead of it having scanner and radar and all this tech, all you can do is fly it around, see the HP and such. In order to detect allies or enemies or asteroids and what they have in them, you would need to build a radar antenna. You'd have specific parts you needed, such as the scanner core and then the actual antenna itself, and you could add booster pieces to up the range, as well as being able to add your standard upgrade computer chips, that would then take effect and add upon the stats your physical scanner has. I've taken a screenshot of a mockup I've made. The blue could be the scanner core, the very base block. The pink-ish block, the next one up, could be a booster core, that increases the range. The yellow section above the light blocks could be the antenna base or some sort of sector core, though you might just integrate it with the orange piece above it, which is the antenna. Without a scanner core you wouldn't be able to scan at all, without a booster core you wouldn't be able to scan for things of interest in other sectors, without the sector core you wouldn't be able to scan for anything within your own sector, and without the antenna you wouldn't be able to do anything at all. The upgrades you put in the ship gui could be made for the programming of the antenna. Just a neat idea, I think. It would greatly increase the immersion of the game.

Accidental quote.

Imagine how cool that would make the UNSC ships people are making. MAC cannons. Yessssss. I think that those weapons could turn out really unique. Instead of it being one single piece that you just plunk down, you would have to build them. For instance: The first block you put down is a loading/firing mechanism. But that just sends the round down the barrel, which you need to build yourself. So you put down the base mechanism and try it out. You fire it, it uses up a small amount of whichever material you set it to use, or perhaps special crafted rounds, and... The shell kinda just goes floating off at 5 m/s. There's no power for it. So you build a barrel. Super long, just fits around the 3/3/5 shell that emerges from the mechanism. Fire. Nothing. See, a gun that big would be practically impossible to fire using gunpowder. Really the only practical way to fire one would be magnets, or electricity, or something like that. If you're using a simple material, likely magnets. So you take the barrel down and build it back up, but with a series of four round accelerator plates built in. Not very big ones. Fire! Well this time it goes 100 m/s. That's better. You test it out on something and it doesn't do much damage, maybe 50 or so, and it goes flying off somewhere else. So you take the barrel down again and this time you build it back up with a -lot- of accelerator plates. This time it goes 800 m/s, and destroys the little bandit ship you fired it at. The only problem is that you don't have enough power to effectively use it. The instant you click it starts to charge up, with the charge time taking longer the more accelerator plates you use. After it fires the massive amount of power it charged up to has to cool down, and for that entire time your little dinky ship was running on fumes. It also takes more power total the more plates you use. This means that you aren't just going to be running out and making yourself a massive cannon the instant you start the game, it will take time. You'll need a big generator to take the power load you put through it if you want a big gun. Essentially if you want to have a big spinal cannon you need to plan your ship accordingly. Make sure you have the space for a big generator, make sure you have a spot to put the barrel, however long and however big you want for it to be. The longer it is in terms of the width/length ratio, the more accurate it will be. So if you want a round that's only 1x1x3 flying out, it wouldn't have to be as long because the opening is smaller. There would be other requirements, too. You'd need to make sure you had enough materials to fire it, which wouldn't really be all too much. 10-1000 of one type, depending on the shell size, and the density you want. The higher the density, the higher the damage, at the expense of shell speed. If you want to be firing an incredibly dense round, you'd need a lot more power accordingly, because you'd need a lot more plates for it to be effective. This means that typically the bigger the ship, the better the cannon. You could be firing a shell 6x6x10 and literally just smash little ships to pieces with it. As you might be able to tell I like the idea. There are a lot of cool facets about it and it might only be useful in pve combat, where the player-to-target lag isn't a big deal, and the shell will be more guaranteed to hit. Just imagine the capacity the game would have for ambush combat if shields were reworked to include the need to turn them on, the need for them to charge up after you turn them on, actually having to scan your surroundings in areas closer to the core due to there being higher densities of ships that had spinal mount cannons... Coming into sectors that didn't like you would be really scary! You'd have to have your shield on at all times which would drain your power, or leave as soon as possible, or try and kill everything before they kill you.

1. It's not only legendary variants that highlight items, I believe, and when object detectors say they'll highlight objects they always do, for me. The statement on whether they will or not is located in the item description. There aren't always things to find in every hidden mass sector or every energy signature sector. Sometimes the hidden mass sectors are just asteroid fields with no hidden objects or claimable asteroids. 2. Also yes, that would be nice. There would need to be a size filter, though, so that little tiny pieces don't get highlighted, just the big stuff. 3. You can sorta do that now by making notes on sectors and when you need to come back to sectors you look for the note icon in the bottom right hand corner of the sector square. What you're suggesting would be nice, and if you refer to this thread you'll see that map features are a much-wanted thing, and koonschi likes those sorts of ideas. Devs will probably do something about it soon. :)

After reading all of this I do agree with morbo somewhat. Shields are very easy to use to the point that all you really -need- to do is -build- one and you've got a lot better chance of surviving. Having more facets to shields would make the game more exciting, but my only question is how they would be implemented into NPC play while still being dynamic and exciting.

Well, since you asked, here it is. Cyclops IIH (H is for Hale!) Images As you can see, it's pretty prickly with all the guns it has on it! My next few changes are going to be cosmetic ones, likely smoothing out edges around the engines and such. The main improvements with this one are two new gun emplacement for .5 cannons. One low on the front and the one on the far right. I've also changed the engines back to titanium because I like the thrust effect color more. It's only a sacrifice of .7 m/s/s for all engines combined, I believe. Download: http://filebin.ca/3C7jjtX77GeH/CyclopsII33.xml

Very nice, Ertil! I like the lengthening of the 1/4's, it looks nice. I might do that myself, in a later update. However, for now my personal ship (which is the ship I've done every extensive modification to up until this point, from the prototype stage to current) has gotten many more weapons emplacements, and in total I can effectively and neatly hold about 16-ish weapons, including about five .5 sized weapons. If it's sitting still and you fire them all at once, the ship sloooowly accelerates backwards. cx

That would make everything perfect in the world. @-@

There's also the typo for distress beacons. Instead of "Unknown" it's "Unkown"

There could be a few new settings for the map that I think could be useful. 1: Map toggling, between several different versions. There could be the standard navigation version, like there is now, but there could also be a different version devoted entirely to faction workings. Reputations, enemies... This separate map wouldn't have warpgate paths or civilization sector markings, but instead would give you the option to hover your mouse over the discovered faction territory areas, highlighting it, displaying who owns the area, who they hate and who they like, as well as how strong they are. At least for how much you've discovered so far. The map as it is now is very good, but a map in a game like this has the capability to be a very powerful tool for making your way up the food chain. 2: Note toggling. So there would be several different kinds of maps you could switch between, and what the "note toggling" allows for is to have a sort-of overlay for each map that you could switch on or off. The overlay, when on, would allow for drawing on the map, creating text, and in-general note-taking. It would be useful for writing down trade routes, plans for the future, so on and so forth. 3: Additional customization. This would allow for you to create your own coordinate points, like the game generates for you. For instance if you wanted to make the location where you set up a station to stand out more, rather than just being the standard purple/blue point, you could change the color and perhaps the size of it, allowing for you to see it more clearly when zoomed out on the map. You could also create your own lines between points, sort-of like how the warpgate paths look now. Edit: On another note, I think it would make sense that if you find a faction's HQ, you can dock with it and there would be an option to get all of the faction's locations. Not to put them on your map, but to upload them to the missions tab as a coordinate list, along with all of the names. You would still have to go to them for them to show up on your map, but at least you now know where they all are.

Thanks for the comments all. I might do a second lore post about the Cyclops I at some point, though it won't be anywhere near as long, due to the Cyclops I not having as many variants.

Part Two... The ADVANCED SHIPS. Cyclops IIC: Cystern's beginning to the end. An amazing ship plagued by lack of production, and a failed marketing plan. Cyclops IID: The warship of middle-class people. The IID is one of the rarest Cyclops series ships available, after the IIE. Cyclops IIE: Cystern's last gasp. Not many technical improvements over the IID, but improved visibility, usability, and extra flashiness make this ship a legend among explorers beside the IIA, and is the second rarest, after the IIA. The Cyclops IIE was the last bastion for Cystern, and after the IIE the company... More-or-less fizzled out, with no excitement. Cystern, once small, then big, then small again, was dead. But the Cyclops isn't. Here are some assorted ship lineup photos, for some more comparisons between models. Thanks for reading through all of this, if you did. I hope you liked it, I sure liked making it. I've always imagined these big stories to vehicles and things and I'm a car enthusiast for the same reason. Every car has a story. It's always worth knowing, worth sharing and keeping alive, and the same goes for ships. Even if they're just fake stories. Anyway, if you'd like to use one of these for a ship to use in general I'd really recommend the IIE. It's got a lot of capable space inside, and come to think of it, I've used a LOT of space in these ships for crew quarters, when I didn't really need to. That's a lot of potential cargo space, or generator space, or battery storage space. Go ahead and snatch one up and fiddle with it a bit in creative, then use what you make in a normal galaxy! If you've got any questions, feel free to ask! Downloads: Cyclops IIA: http://filebin.ca/3BF0zXkoWPFK/ship0.xml Cyclops IIB: http://filebin.ca/3BF1EWun209B/ship1.xml Cyclops IIC: http://filebin.ca/3BF1RxHw1lur/ship2.xml Cyclops IID: http://filebin.ca/3BF1dC9uuOqY/ship3.xml Cyclops IIE: http://filebin.ca/3BF1mYstyX9u/ship4.xml Enjoy!

(PSA: YOU CAN RIGHT CLICK ON THE IMAGES AND OPEN THEM IN A NEW TAB IF IT'S INCONVENIENT TO SCROLL BACK AND FORTH ALL THE TIME) Edit: Spoilers, for better ease of reading and navigation. It's the fuuuuuuuture! (Skip to the next if you only want the downloads, the download links should be there.) The Cyclops II is a ship of a time long past, whose shape, while not beautiful, has matured to the point that the respect it once got is gone. Not because of it falling out of favor, no, but because of the pure fact that nearly everyone who used one has been gone for generations. The Cyclops II is--or was--a ship in the hayday of the first forays of our ancestors to outer space. No, not the first ship TO space, but one of the first ships produced in numbers, intended for consumption by those who couldn't afford to have one custom-ordered. The Cyclops II is a relic of a bygone era, a wistful remnant of what once was--and could still be--a galaxy of wonder, awe, and exploration. But the Cyclops has never been truly -dead-. Of the millions that were produced to scale the insurmountable vastness of outer space together, a few still live. Pieced together from the remnants of their fallen comrades they soldier on, lonely in their antiquity, but driven by those who appreciate the history, and know they deserve to be kept alive. For what they've done. For who they've stood by, so loyally, for centuries. The Cyclops II was the second model of three to come from Cystern industries, originally a company started for making boats and tractors and farm supplies, and was by far the most successful model. The ship's predecessor, the Cyclops I, was to the earliest explorers of space as the horse was to the American frontiersman of the 19th century. It was vastly superior to whatever simple craft they first passed through the atmosphere in. But it was still nothing compared to the Cyclops II. The Cyclops II, by comparison, would be the vast network of steel beasts, the rails laid and the engines powered, that would overtake the nation as it started to form its own economy and its own style--its own image. The Cyclops II was humanity's workhorse for hundreds of years, passed down from father to son, friend to friend. They survived because they were well made, and over time they developed spirit. A story, attached to each and every one. History, a timeline of humanity's leaps and bounds into space. It is your job to keep them alive, keep the story and the life and the history around, for at least a little longer. I have taken the liberty of borrowing some of the more well-known models of Cyclops here for you all, in a little showcase. There are six major updates, consisting of: 1: Cyclops Prototype (no download link--there's only one!) One left today, and one produced. 2: Cyclops IIA Somewhere near a hundred left today, estimated, out of an estimated two million produced. 3: Cyclops IIB About two to four thousand left today, estimated, out of an estimated 1.5 million produced. 4: Cyclops IIC About three thousand left today, estimated. 5: Cyclops IID About five hundred left today, estimated, out of just over 100,000 produced. 6: Cyclops IIE About two hundred left today, estimated, out of just 20,000 produced. With each model showcase there will be some info on them, numbers of production, new features and other interesting info. Enjoy. Cyclops lineup: From left to right: Cyclops Prototype, Cyclops IIA, IIB, IIC, IID, IIE Cyclops Prototype. The predecessor to hundreds of years of history, and innumerable accomplishments. Cyclops IIA: The stalwart explorer, even after being made for the average man just outside of Earth's orbit. Hardy and longlasting. Cyclops IIB: The beginning of the REAL evolution of the Cyclops series. Part Two continued on next post!

New update. To reproduce the steps that -started- the bug, do the following. 1. Download the ship attached to the post. 2. Create it in a galaxy. 3. Buy at least 1 fighter for its hangar, located underneath, facing downwards. 4. Buy crew for the fighter(s) you bought. 5. Deploy the fighter(s) as defenders. 6. If they did not deploy as they should normally (they have not for me), attempt to leave the ship in a drone. 7. If it is happening for you, the game should freeze and begin eating all of your memory, making the game unplayable. Noises will begin to repeat in a rapid fashion, and nothing else will happen until you shut the game down. 8. Repeat the steps again until the game starts displaying the same qualities as explained for the drone crash upon loading into the world. It happened twice for me before I could no longer enter the world at all. Here is the ship: http://filebin.ca/3BBO5sxsR2WO/autosave57.xml I will continue trying to find out what the problem is in more detail on my own. Some more quirks so far: Upon entering the galaxy after reproducing the bug once, it will not let me deselect from a fighter. Normally you can middle click in the middle of nowhere and it will deselect from any ship, and I can look at other ships around me by cycling through with the G button, but if I middle click in the middle of nowhere it defaults to the fighter, even if I'm in a different ship. It seems that if the bug happens once, even though you can still play the game, you're screwed. Trying to exit into a drone the second time around freezes the game just the same. I'm doing all of this in a new world, as well, so it's not something induced by some world changes. It's a fresh start. Maybe it's just the positioning of the bay makes the fighter deploy in an odd way?

Alright, it's done. Thanks for the help.

It is, but changed to text format. I've actually discovered that it isn't just that sector that's causing the issue, I think. The only issue is that even if I delete those two, the problem still happens... I have to delete the whole sectors folder for it to stop. Doing more tests now. I could zip the sectors and send it, if need be.

So I found out that it has something to do with the sector data. Made a test world exactly like the world that was messed up, deleted the sector I was present in and it allowed the game to start. Is there any way I can edit sector data? 455_28.txt

New bug, though. My game instantly starts to use up all of my processing power upon loading in, and it doesn't get past the loading screen. What happens is it hits the "loading" portion, makes the noise as though I'm in-game, but instead of seeing the ship the loading screen flickers and comes back on again. The game starts to eat up enormous processing power and never loads in, and I either wait for it to not respond or I close it out via task manager. What led up to the incident: I had a fighter hangar in one of my ships with the entrance blocked. I would try to deploy the fighters after editing it so that it was supposedly no longer blocked and the fighter would deploy but not come out of the ship, meaning that I couldn't use my turrets, they would just spin around uselessly or do a forward lock if I selected another ship or station. I would try and go into my drone and that would freeze the game. I did that twice, and after those two times this bug started. Same PC stats. I should note that that bug only happens with that world and that world alone, all the others are fine. Log is attached. clientlog_Thu_Feb_02_20-35-41_2017.txt