I've been playing this game for a while, one thing I noticed was the level of modding going on. really love how the developers for making that process even easier on us. seriously thanks for the mod folder support. I'm really eager to get in on this. I've seen a lot of custom race mods out there. with many of these race mods, they also come with their own custom race starships. not all of them do, but many do, and many more note in their descriptions that one is coming soon. this had me really thinking, what about a mod that makes that whole process, a little easier to do. as it currently is all races in the game have their own unique ships and that is just fine. the race mods can simply add files to implement this without much more effort. I was thinking about a mod which not only lets you have unique ships, but also a unique way of making these ships even better. I was thinking about a mod similar to this one, http://community.playstarbound.com/...d-character-creation-mod-now-even-easier.218/ but rather than managing custom races, it would do the same for custom starships. As it is according to this http://starbounder.org/Ships After completing milestones in the main quest line players will unlock the ability to Upgrade their ship's size. OK, so how does this work? I haven't yet attempted to do this as of yet, so, I was rather curious as to how exactly this works. Does the ship stay the same, and parts just add on top of it, or does the entire ship gets changed just by opening the upgrade item and upgrading it. OK, well scroll to the bottom of the page and we get a look at the one ship that we have seen thus far, the human ships upgrades are given in an animated Giff at the bottom. So this means that they intend to make all ships upgradable right? OK, so how will this upgrading even work? just UN-box the upgrades and poof magically the ship gets larger? well, this also had me thinking, what about a quest line specifically tailor made to actually go through this upgrade process? it would require a bit of work to get the concept in depth. but I already had the plan for this involving the following. Human Mothership This is a large-scale ship which is currently in game as textures but has not fully been implemented. The ship contains a bridge, factory, hangar, creature laboratory, docking room, engine room, bar, sickbay and a viewing deck. This Mothership is already in the game, so it could be made as a hub location where this quest to upgrade could be tied into. But I had an idea where there was one generic space station (possibly even something as large as a planet in size) rather than a movable ship in which you had to find and get to. To use the upgrade module item, (which you would acquire when you complete this milestones in the main quest line) with which, you would need in order to make the upgrades. You would need to take this item to the station and use it in a special crafting station which would then unbox the upgrade and apply it to your ship. but this would perhaps need a custom interface in which to also do this from. So this is where the really epic work needs to start. not just making the interface, but also all the new assets that will be involved with each ship as well. the ships themselves are going to get really large, and with them their file sizes are likewise getting larger. so this is where things really start complicating. as it is each race has their ship files included into their race directory. not a huge issue, but this means we will have to include the upgrades into these files. and this means unique assets for each of these files as well. right now easy to do as all we can have now, is the starter ships anyway, at least that's all I've seen. I don't know whether the upgrades are already in. haven't ever gotten one yet. So what I had in mind was not only the modular concept of these upgrades.but I wanted to have it decided upon how these upgrades were added on, but also where and how they were placed onto the ships as well. Such as it is the items inside are vaguely arrangeable. you can remove the door and the back wall panels. but the built in hardware are the items left unchanged. I was planning to have upgrades allow you to move these using that special interface, but I also wanted to make these upgrades add in some other items as well. such as a medical station which would handle character re-spawns. this may need to be added into the basic starter ship as well. But, I was also thinking this station would also double as a ship bed. if you slept in it you would heal just as any other bed. technically this would make the start a little easier because you would have a bed in the beginning without having to build a house. I don't like the current concept of planting myself to a permanent home on my marooning planets surface. i want to make this game feel more like it should with me only doing what i need to get off the planet. and that is easier if i can do that in my ship and have the room to place all I needed to LIVE on said ship! not on the fucking planet I'm supposed to just be stranded on. so anyway that is my whole concept in a nutshell, I know really epic right! well I know that will take a lot of work to pull off, but if someone like me and maybe with the help of others, figures it out, maybe we can make some even better non racially attached ships in addition with this new ship system.
