Need Advice

[Ttech]

Thats a cool idea. maybe when I am a lot better at xml I'll try it.
Also, does anyone here use POV ray to render your models?

I don't think many if any use models with povray.

[Macgeoghagen]

I have been fooling around with the idea further up the page about starting out with a brick and then finding more bricks to build your ship as the game progresses. It has grown into a monster. The player would start out with a tiny ship with upgradable parts, each having mass and volume capacity, as well as a certain number of device slots.

cockpit: has one weapon slot, device slots for sensors, etc. initial cockpit has 1 armor slot, larger cockpits may have 2. has mass and volume, with larger cockpits being heavier.

cargo: initially has no device slots. can be upgraded in volume, mass, and number of device slots. has 2 armor slots

core: has device slots for reactor and reactor accessories, has mas and volume, larger reactors need a larger core. has 2 armor slots

weapons wings: stub wings with weapons/launcher hardpoints. better wings have more weapons hardpoints.

thruster: determines maximum speed, helps to determine acceleration and manuverability of ship. has slots for thurst vectoring nozzles, tritrium booster, and other thrust related devices. has 1 armor slot

The major challenge I see as a novice graphics person is making the ship look a little different as different upgrades are added. With the addition of a volume attribute, I may want to hold off on this until I have the skill to write a total conversion.

[RPC]

I think the LEGO ship would be a great test of the overlay system in Trans. There is no reason you can't do most of the stuff you planned. However:

initial cockpit has 1 armor slot, larger cockpits may have 2

.
I you do that, doesn't the player's armor HUD have to change with it? if you've seen the pteravore, maybe add something that absorbs damage instead.

cargo... has 2 armor slots

Same thing as the above.
You can definitely have different ship pieces with different volume, mass, and device slots though.

better wings have more weapons hardpoints.

Like to the side? I am thinking that you could do a configuration="dual" and multiTarget="True" to get more weapons hardpoints.

I think each LEGO piece could have 2 functions: one as their intended use, and the second would be as additional armor plating- as they become outdated, you could use them to armor your ships using an overlay and that's how you could also get LEGO pieces to fly off your ship.

[Ttech]

plus it woudl be something fun to 'build' on .

[Macgeoghagen]

I you do that, doesn't the player's armor HUD have to change with it? if you've seen the pteravore, maybe add something that absorbs damage instead.

A valid point. It may be simpler to make the cocpit section have one armor slot all the time. This will give the ship a 6 section armor HUD.

Another thing that came to mind was that when implementing each module, instead of building brick by brick to the ship, the player builds different ship modules brick by brick, then when a module is finished, it can be installed. This will install the desired upgrade and update the graphics. It would probably have to be done like the tinker's guild station does things. If you have parts A, B, C, D, you can make module X.

[RPC]

If you have parts A, B, C, D, you can make module X.

That's not how I remember how LEGOs worked. I remember a time when you just had a box and made whatever you want from whatever pieces you had.
Although you would have to tell the player which parts make which- like naming them LEGODrive Level 2 Part A?
Or to be really mean, just let the player decide for themselves.

Macgeoghagen, are you still going to do this though?

I think each LEGO piece could have 2 functions: one as their intended use, and the second would be as additional armor plating- as they become outdated, you could use them to armor your ships using an overlay and that's how you could also get LEGO pieces to fly off your ship.

[Macgeoghagen]

If you have parts A, B, C, D, you can make module X.

That's not how I remember how LEGOs worked. I remember a time when you just had a box and made whatever you want from whatever pieces you had.
Although you would have to tell the player which parts make which- like naming them LEGODrive Level 2 Part A?
Or to be really mean, just let the player decide for themselves.

Macgeoghagen, are you still going to do this though?

I think each LEGO piece could have 2 functions: one as their intended use, and the second would be as additional armor plating- as they become outdated, you could use them to armor your ships using an overlay and that's how you could also get LEGO pieces to fly off your ship.

I would like to be able to let the player go all out, but I would rather not have to do facings and properties for every single brick. I would also like to not have to make a lego building editor into transcendence. I do think it would be cool to have a brick building LEGO game- one in which the player builds a spaceship and specifies which parts are engines, armor, control surfaces, guns, etc. Then they go in multiplayer and shoot each others ships into pieces to see who is the best builder and pilot. In transcendence at this point, it would probably be easier on all involved to have modules that fit on to pre-planned points on the ships' core. With naming the parts, I think I should keep it simple, like naming them "dish" "cone" "plate". Then having a "recipe" that specifies the parts you need to have a module made.

I like your armor idea, with using extra parts as armor. I think I might go all out and make a lego HUD that shows the armor as little lego brick walls that get parts taken off as the armor takes damage, and the shield as some transparent green parts that get taken off for shield damage.