Thrusters

[gn_leugim]

Right now, they act based upon the distance to the centre of mass of the ship and considering the distance to the rotation axis. Also, surface area is what determined its power, although this is about to change I have read.

 

But there is one other thing that bugs me, apart from the slight move of centre of mass, or distance to the rotation axis, which reduces a bit the effect of the thruster, adding block on top on thrusters have no effect on their efficiency. I can lay down a thruster and cover it with armor block, it will work regardless. Will this change? because is not really realistic :p

[Tchey]

Would be nice to have to think more in the building process, with "walls" blocking thrusters.

 

Right now my thrusters form a "spine" in the middle of my ship.

[Volken]

In Space Engineers they fixed that by introducing thruster damage. Any blocks within a specific range of the thruster exhaust will get damaged and eventually destroyed. In Avorion a much simpler solution would be just extending the build radius of the thruster block so it doesn't allow placing blocks right behind its exhaust.

[gn_leugim]

and what about to expand that to engine blocks too?

[Volken]

I actually mixed up engines and maneuvering thrusters. My above comment was referring to engines not thrusters. I think thrusters should stay as they are mainly because having many thrusters outside of the ship looks really ugly (flames everywhere covering the entire ship).

[gn_leugim]

ugly, but that's how actual ships work.  ;D

[Volken]

The current meta is to put as many thrusters as you can on your ship, that's why if you force players to put them on the outside you'll end up with thruster-covered ships that look ugly. Thats why i think if you force players to put the thrusters on the outside of the ship you should make them more effective too so they take up less room. To balance that out maybe make them more energy hungry so you need more energy generators if you want a more agile ship.

[gn_leugim]

Well I use loads of thrusters, and I don't have anyone stiking out ugly on my ships. I shall post one pic or other of my ships here to show you :)

[Thundercraft]

Right now, they act based upon the distance to the centre of mass of the ship and considering the distance to the rotation axis. Also, surface area is what determined its power, although this is about to change I have read.

 

Have thrusters changed at all since November? Or do they still work exactly like this? You mentioned "this is about to change I have read"...