Facilities

Suicide Junkie · #1 December 17th, 2001, 09:40 AM

From a tangential comment in Artists, Shipset designers, and other creative types, please read
This looked like it could use a thread of its own

quote:
By Baron Munchausen:
I'd like to know why there is so much race/shipset creating and hardly any new components or facilities. There are all sorts of images we could use.
A decent 'armored bulkhead' image is the first component that comes to mind for me. An internal reinforcement, as used in several popular mods, should look different than an external armor plate. Organic and crystalline armor flavors should be included in the project. Also, just larger/heavier looking Versions of the existing armor for 'capital ship' Versions of armor. Missiles with funky looking warheads for various special weapon types are another obvious component that no one seems to have made. Plague armed missiles anyone? Or neutron bomb tipped missiles? Any number of new styles in beam weapons are possible. There is a very clear sameness about the weapons in the default set. There are many other ways to depict a beam weapon.

Quite a few of the facilities images are re-used even in the default configuration of the game. Where are the new images? Surely the people who enjoy making all these ship sets so much can make some facilities? We could use 'specialty' faciltities to go with the racial techs, for example. Shiny, multi-faceted buildings for crystalline techs... Textured, multi-lobed and rounded buildings for organic techs... and just lots more distinctively different 'ordinary' buildings to relieve the re-usage of the default set.

Does someone have to offer money to get these made, too?

One of the neat things about the facility part of your comment is that it will be extremely easy to implement. Make an exact duplicate of any facility (changing only the picture), place it right after the original in facilities.txt, and require the racial trait. Show only latest and upgrades will both jump to the cool racial buildings. I suppose you could alter the cost to build of the the buildings too, with Organic buildings using organics instead of minerals.

EDIT: fixed quote

[ 18 December 2001: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]