Ok with the teasers of space being improved, it makes the option for space combat more and more of something that would fit. So here is a suggestion allow FTL like space combat, where the player can direct weapons to hit an enemy ship while having their crew (if any) repair their own ship) with this comes some other suggestions like different ship classes for the players and different weapons and tools for your ship. bellow are three idea types, ship ideas, tool/weapon ideas, and S.A.I.L ideas. BASE SHIP IDEA info: players would start with a protectorate ship in the stile of their race these ships would have the highest teir up and the most tool slots but the least weapon slots. along with the protectorate ship the players could do things like buy exploration, or war ships. protectorate ship info: lightly armed but equiped with several planet effecting items and scanning systems. tool slots: 2 per tier weapon slots: 0.5 per tier note: is the players base ship and the only one that can upgrade through all tiers. mining frigate info: a ship equiped with built in mining lazers but has minimal defenses. tool slots: 7 weapon slots: 1 teir: t3 only. special: obital mining, while player is on a planet will mine the area around it for fuel and ores. (translates to, if asteroid field in solar system will mine ores from it) Colony ship info: a ship with 20 built in colony deeds and rooms. (has bathrooms, a kitchen and more), has the ability to drop its colony onto a planet creating a dome city biome on the planet. teir: 5 tool slots: 2 weapon slots: 6 WAR FRIGATE info: designed for space combat, has the highest weapon slots per teir, upgrades like protectorate ship but has a low tool count. tool slots: 0.5 per tier weapon slots.5 per tier. minigog drone ship info: has no weapon slots but a large amount of tool slots, uses drones to defend its self. when player beams down to planet will beam down several drones as well to protect the landing area.(they will not leave the landing area) tier: 4 tool slots:12 weapon slots: 0 TOOLS AND WEAPONS now for why I have tool and weapon slots on teh above ideas, tools and weapons would be slot equip items like a pet collar for the most part they are basic items with weapons being used in space combat or for defending the area around your ship while in space areas like an astroid field or maybe a "pirate" space station (would be nice). TOOLS surface scanner pixel cost: 5k function: allows placement of a scanning screen on ship(added to ship storage[several items will use this]) scans the surface showing landing zone and points of interest (points of interest are just dots, green means village, yellow unknown, and red dungeon) limit: one can not use with other scanners deep scanner pixel cost: 10k function: scans the planet showing all caves and underground points of interest, does not scan the surface.(like surface scanner uses scanning screen for info) limit: one can not use with other scanners drone bay repair pixel cost: 10k function: places a drone bay on the exterior of the ship allowing it to be repaired in combat. limit: none solar panel pixel cost: 1k function: generates one fuel per minute. limit: none terriformer pixel cost: NA requires ancient info. function: allows you to change a planets main biome from orbit, drains fuel. limit: one (only one exists in the game) explorer pod bay pixel cost: 50k function: allows the player to deploy a small pod from the area near its slot, this pod allows for easier exploration in space has a mining tool an a light. limit: none (cause co-op is a thing) mech bay pixel cost: 50k function: allows players to drop from their ship onto a planet via a mech, cause why not. limit: none special: if have more then one with crew following you they will use the other ones. shield generator pixel cost: 200k function: places a shield around the ship, mostly cosmetic, but in combat blocks 50% of all damage. limit: one personal shield generator pixel cost: 250k function: gives the player a x*0.5 health shield (x being player health) when off ship. shield takes damage before player. limit: 4 (each one added adds 0.5 to equation. so 3 is x*1.5) Colony alert system pixel cost: 1k function: shows system in x radius that have space stations or high tech colonies. limit: one. WEAPONS laser turret cost: 1k info: fires lasers at enemy ships and creatures limit: none missile turret cost: 5k info: fires lock on missiles at enemy ships and creatures limit: none and more, seriously their are weapons, just go through a space sim weapon list. S.A.I.L systems info: each ship gets one S.A.I.L slot, by default you get the basic one that doesn't do much seriously the base s.a.i.l is near useless. but for pixels or special quests you can get ones with special functions. bellow are some ideas. A.V.A.I.N (idea base http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/a-v-i-a-n.2407/) cost: 5k pixels special: snarker, plus gives highlights for crops and colony based items. bonuses: s.a.i.l varient keeps track of food on ship snarks alot, and gives detailed logs on how foods can be used (recipy lists) W.I.Z.A.R.D cost: 5k pixels special: glitch based staff info bonuses: crew members use staffs, will from orbit place healing staff zones around player when wounded requires player to be above ground. H.O.R.S.E cost: 5k pixels special: novakid created, used to keep information for more then 5 minutes though still ADH... squirl bonuses: reverse engineering. items placed in the ships main storage can be duplicated, for half their pixel value. (can't duplicate anything with a blue or purple rarity) C.R.Y.S.T.A.L cost:10k pixels design: avian based, comes in two types blue for star gazers and red for grounded (they are different in dialog but have same bonuses) bonus: crystal charge packs, doesn't use fuel from moons instead regenerates fuel at 10 per minute(can be augmented by solar panels).
Hilariously, I had an idea related to FTL too, then came here to write about it. So I wanted to reply to your thread first to support the FTL mechanic, but still create another thread about it cause I had other things to say than what you said .
