IntroductionHave you every played a game and was on a very long quest or was doing something that took a lot of time? Well I have on multiple occasions. Now on the task you were doing did you realize half way through that task you forgot something or ran out of something? Of course your as far from home as possible as well. Guilty again on my part, perhaps I'm just a forgetful person. So what should we do about that? ConceptI have a very simple suggestion that could eliminate this issue. If your familiar with the care package mechanic in Call of Duty (Don't start anything I'm just using the game for reference) then this is very similar, but obviously changed due to the fact they are different games and as such require a different approach. So in Call of Duty if you get a few kills without losing a life you would be rewarded with something that could help you in the battle. In Starbound (If implemented) you would have an entire supply base on your Space Station, and on a home planet. Also it wouldn't only be dropped via air, but rather it would have different tiers in which different vehicles bring you the crate, the highest tier being teleportation. You can put anything you want in a crate at these base(s) and use a marker to ask for the base to send it. Detailed Concept Crates. You open the UI (User interface. Like your inventory, its basically a window like on a desktop) by going to a supply base located on your Space Station or on a home planet if you built one there. You see an empty list, and an "Add crate" button, a "Vehicle" button and a "One use" check box at the top right. In the center at top there is a search field in case you have a lot of crates. When you click add crate you get a little window with slots and a background of a crate on it. How many slots for the crate varies on what tier of supply base you have. Put the items you want in the slots of the crate window. When you pick the items you want you can then save that crate, and name it whatever you like. Such as "Medical Supplies" and its filled with, well medical supplies. This crate will remember what items you put in it Or lets say your going to build something big and you could use a one time crate filled with materials to be delivered later. Simply name it, and check a box on the top right named "One Use" There is now a list of crates and vehicles in alphabetical order, and next to each crate a number which represents how many you can send. Such as "Medical Supplies (1)" so you can send that crate once. Also next to each saved crate is a button next to it which takes the resources from your inventory to make a crate(s) and increase how many you have in stock. You could destroy a crate and get all the materials by pushing an x button next to the crate you want to destroy. If there is more than one in stock it will ask you how many crates you would like to destroy. You get all your resources back when destroying a crate. You remove a crate from the list by clicking it and pushing the delete button, it has the same effect as destroy crate, but removes all the stock of them and returns all resources. (This is taking it a step above and I don't know if this part would be in the game if it does get Implemented) You could also color the crate any color you would like and even go into a paint mode to make symbols such as a medical cross with a white background. This is mostly meant for saved crates as you will see them a lot. Marker Tool The tool used to ask for crates or vehicles from supply bases. When you use it it opens a menu similar to the one mentioned on the crates section, but it doesn't have the add crate, One use box, vehicle, or the destroy crate button. It does have a "quick crate" button though. Its explained under the heading "Radio Up Quick Crate" It also only shows crates or vehicles that have a supply of greater then or equal to 1. You click the crate you want from the list then you click the "Send Crate" button. Now based on what tier you have changes how the crate gets there. Such as the lowest tier has a little jeep that drops the crates above ground which you have to go and get. You cant use the marker tool again for 5 minutes to prevent overuse. I don't know what it should look like suggestions are appreciated. Tiers (Work in progress suggestions appreciated) Tiers are what level your supply base is and changes things from types of crates sent (size) to how they get there. Also if you can bring in vehicles or not Lowest is by truck and drops crates above ground which you have to go retrieve if your below ground. Can only carry 4 slot crates. Time is 2 minutes for a crate. Upgrades include Better wheels (10 seconds less time) Better engine (10 seconds less time) Next is Helicopter. Only above ground and Can carry 6 slot crates and small vehicles. Take 1 minute and 30 seconds to deliver. Upgrades include Better propeller (10 seconds less time) Better engine (10 seconds less time) Phase attachment ( Places a device on every crate it drops so that the crate can fall underground to you. ) Then Orbital drop (Basically like a ship that crashes down from the sky if you played GDI in command and conquer tiberium sun then you might know what it looks like) . Can drop 8 slot crates and vehicles. It takes one minute to deliver Upgrades include Aerodynamics (10 seconds less) Lightweight (10 seconds less) Phase device ( Same as Phase attachment, but its always on it ) Last is teleportation. Can carry 10 slot crates and any vehicle. It takes 30 seconds to deliver Upgrades include Better teleportation?(Idk a specific name Suggestions appreciated) (10 Seconds less) Better teleportation? (Idk a specific name Suggestions appreciated) (10 seconds less) Radio Up Quick Crate Now what if you didn't make a crate for an item and you REAALLLLLY needed that item? Then radio up quick crate is for you. Simply click "quick crate" button on the marker menu. Then a UI (User interface) appears of all items you have in storage and a crate box. (I don't know if the developers could code in an all storage option as it varies because of chests and stuff so if not then it will only show storage from your space ship). Now pick the item(s) you desperately needed. Now you might ask "why use saved crates and one time crates when i can do this?". Well because this service requires a lot of pixels (the currency in the game like cash at least i think it is). It also has a cool down of 1 hour. Well that's it for my suggestion. Let me know what you think and feel free to improve the concept by writing what you think and maybe ill change it if I feel it fits right. (This is my first post so go easy) by Kilajosh Banners Code is HTML: [URL=http://forums.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/supplies-mechanic.3236/][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YcrzX.gif[/IMG][/URL] Thanks to People who simply just like the ideal or give me encouragement. The Makers of Starbound for attempting to make an amazing game. Woodledude for suggesting tiers and pointing out minor flaws in my post. Sarzael for help with a banner.
Thats a pretty neat idea! I also like how you set up your suggestion to really explain detailedly how it works!
I like the idea, but here's a syntax nitpick I noticed. You made your font smaller, and while I guess you were trying to make it take up less space and therefore not have as much of a "wall of text" feel, the small letters are harder to read, and actually increases the WOT feel. Not only that, one of your colors was a dark red, which is a horrible contrast level on a dark grey background to try and read. Again, I like the idea (maybe have tech levels, so you don't get teleports right off the bat?), I just feel that the way in which it was presented keeps people from appreciating its awesomeness. And another suggestion, while the idea for pre-planning your drops is great, it seems that the main issue you addressed in your intro was unexpected deficiencies. Shouldn't you be able to radio up and have them pack exactly what you need on the spot, so you don't have to plan perfectly?
I like your support and i will fix the text and colors. I am sorry for the inconvenience, it will be addressed. I think your on to something with the radio up whatever supplies you need maybe it will be of a higher tier though, but how should it get those items? Maybe directly from storage, but theirs more than one way of storage such a as random chest. I also think i might add it to drops mechs/vehicles. Again thanks for the suggestions.
Much better, the contrast catches the eye, it's easy to read and... Well, honestly, I can't tell if it's necessarily less intimidating, but I assume it is. And now I can read the whole thing! Now, as for further suggestions, I think you should be able to activate the lower tiers under ground, but they should only be transported to an above-ground location. Between heli and tele, there should be an orbital drop or something of the like.
Good ideal about the orbital drop. I was also thinking that each tier should have tiers such as better engines, wheels, ect for the truck to increase delivery time(which i didnt specify in the post and it will be adjusted ). I also agree that the crates of lower tier should be delivered above ground.
Anyone who wants to go out of their way and make illustrations like the one I made at the top I would very much appreciate it. There are some very talented artists out there ( I am defiantly not one of them) and my post feels a little boring to me still. So i think a couple of images would be a counteract to all the text. Thanks for your time and thank you if you make anything.
Code: [URL=http://forums.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/supplies-mechanic.3236/][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YcrzX.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Considering that we aren't going to be spending much time on a planet, I doubt that there would be any pre-existing vehicles in which to send the supplies. Most of the time you are going to have to rely on teleporting materials, especially when you are underground. By the time you can get teleportation would be pretty late game and you are off with being forced going back to your space station to retrieve your supplies. So, as convenient as this is, you still won't be using this for most of the game.
I would like to apologize for ignoring this post for so long, I kind of forgot about it. As regards to Alpha_Squad's post, Perhaps some of the earlier tier vehicles could have expensive upgrades that allow them to get to you underground. Such as a mining drill on the orbital drop that allows it to phase through the land above. Perhaps for the helicopter we could have a phase device that connects to the crate as it falls, thus allowing it to get to you. I think the truck shouldn't have an upgrade though.
I really love the idea of being able to put together an emergency supply package back at your station, then being able to call in a hot drop of the supplies in case you run out. It'd be very useful, and would allow people playing in groups to ensure they always had enough things like healing gear to go around.
