Suggestion: Muster points

I've been thinking about Daves, Dave behavior and Dave on Dave combat.   I think many of the difficulties of free-roaming VIs could be solved with a new block that I have been thinking of as a "muster point"

Captains orders. My hopes and ideas for LUA

There's not much documentation yet about the lua interface for interacting with VIs... so this is just wild speculation while I wait for a meeting to start.  Regardless of the syntax of the language used, Schema will need to program a library of routines and condition flags for the gamers to use...  so let's think about this. Maybe we'll come up with a cool idea or three and maybe they will find their way onto the right screens.

In keeping with the spirit of the voxel sandbox, I'd like the programming to be a fairly low-level thing.  Simple like a cube or half-cube is simple.  I'd wager there are a lot of programmers playing star-made, and we can make and share subroutines to make the process simpler for the rest.  Let me ask enough questions about my environment and I can write a routine to approach and plot a nice circular orbit around a planet.  Then I could share my routine like I share my ships.  Now anyone can incorporate my routines to navigate and orbit by having their dave interface with the navigation station and invoking the following to travel to sector 5,7,9 and orbit the planet there at a distance of 600M.

ship.orbit(600,5,7,9)

Catastrophic Success

I've been experimenting with weapons tuning.

Taking a page from the guys at Mushroom Fleet, I had created my own ballistics gel  It was 100 blocks deep.  Plenty for the sorts of test I've been doing.  So I started playing with cluster formations.  I had been very pleased when I switched from monolithic uber-guns, to horizontal stacks of clusters (5x5x3).  The shots didn't line up exactly following each other like I'd hoped, but without any significant increase in power draw, I had seriously increased my cutting  power against hull.

Mirandoids

The basic Miranda hull is incredibly versatile.  If we ever build spacecraft that (for the comfort of planet-surface dweller psychology) employ artificial gravity perpendicular to the primary direction of travel, I hope we recall the design of the Miranda.

I have already published the base Miranda class and a TOS version..  My current project is bashing the core ship into several of the cool variants for which I was able to find material. The ones that are done are just waiting for SM Beta in order to catch any SMEnt format changes

My Beta Wish-list

It looks like Star-Made will soon be in beta!   That got me thinking about the features and goodies I'd like to see added to the game during the beta-phase of development.


Rubber:  Black, 50 HPs, Neither gives nor receives impact damage.

Docking gasket: Based on the model of the plex-door.  Intangible and invisible by default.  Activates when in contact with another entity, becoming visible.  Remains intangible except to player avatars.  Allows Players to pass smoothly between docked structures without falling through the gap.

Variable Block Mass: Heavier reinforced hull, and mass scaled to the space occupied by each block. A Tet of regular hull has no business being as massive as a full block of reinforced hull.

A Darker Shade of DVI

My old and venerable video card (GeForce-8800GT) has been installed in that great motherboard in the sky where IRQs never conflict and power always flows at a precisely regulated +5 and +12VDC.  It processed many pixels, and rendered uncounted polygons in its time... a life well lived.  On this video card I played the original Half-life.  And this was the first card on which I was able to crank every option in "Unreal Tournament" and still play at full smooth frame-rates.   But, alas, Eve Online was too much for its old processor.   8800GT was survived by dozens of sparkly little pixels all over my now-speckly displays, who suddenly had no idea what to do with themselves.

(a moment of silence)

8800GT was succeeded yesterday by it's grand-child 660GTX. Upon powering up for the first time... Um... Wow... Really?... Holy fishsticks that's pretty! (Sounds of distracted clicking)

Yes.. right.. um..  Based on my new frame-rates and video capabilities, large projects like the Galaxy that were lagging me to death have become more possible.  I'll see about getting back to them soon...ish.

I do still have that whole family and job addiction thing.

Miranda Class: Ticonderoga Variant

The Ticonderoga is a sub-class of the Miranda.    She boasts two additional outboard AMC arrays, but sacrifices  the "rollbar" and its torpedo (missile) arrays.

Miranda Class: Apache Variant

The Apache is a sub-class of the Miranda.   While the Standard Miranda might be slightly starved for energy, the Apache does not suffer from that malady.  She boasts 4 warp nacelles, increasing her speed and her energy output.  She also has two additional outboard AMC arrays

MMP: Outpost

This is not a ship, but a utility module or "Modular Mission Plate" for the Miranda, Ticonderoga, Soyuz, and other variants on the same basic hull.

The Outpost is a prefabricated building, suitable for dropping on planets for quick colonization

MMP: Blank Plate

This is not a ship, but a utility module or "Modular Mission Plate" for the Miranda, Ticonderoga, Soyuz, and other variants on the same basic hull.

This is just a blanking plate to protect the MMP Docking port when not in use.  It does provide additional shielding.

MMP: Utility Carrier

This is not a ship, but a utility module or "Modular Mission Plate" for the Miranda, Ticonderoga, Soyuz, and other variants on the same basic hull.

MMP: Dual Turret

Mounted on a Miranda

This is not a ship, but a utility module or "Modular Mission Plate" for the Miranda, Ticonderoga, Soyuz, and other variants on the same basic hull.

MMP: Longboat

The Longboat is a planetary exploration and supply vessel, designed to be carried between star systems by a larger vessel.  It is neatly scaled for hull transportation on ships designed for the purpose such as the Miranda, Soyuz, or Ticonderoga.

MMP: Combat Carrier

This is not a ship, but a utility module or "Modular Mission Plate" for the Miranda, Ticonderoga, Soyuz, and other variants on the same basic hull.

TMP Miranda, New Version

For those who have been following my efforts, I have never been more pleased or proud of one of my ships than I am of the new Miranda.  The new blocks smooth the hull beautifully.  The interior is much more developed.  I've learned new tricks and added new features.   This ship will set the standard for my future efforts.

Note!  This was created under StarMade pre-release 0.107.  I have no idea how it will behave under older versions.

How to Voxelate Vectors Like a Boss... Part 1

First, what the frimp is a voxel?  
voxel: n. (in computer-based modeling or graphic simulation) each of an array of elements of volume that constitute a notional three-dimensional space, esp. each of an array of discrete elements into which a representation of a three-dimensional object is divided.

In other words, a voxel is a volumetric pixel.  In the context of games like StarMade or MineCraft, voxels are the cubic blocks that we place that compose the structures we build in game

Some folks have figured out that it's possible to convert vector based 3d models into voxels that can then be imported into games like StarMade.

How does it work?
The voxelator program reads the 3d model and projects the model into a 3d grid.  Then it looks at each block in the volumetric grid.  If a certain threshhold of the volume of the block is filled, the block is turned "on", or "filled" with a voxel.  When the whole volume of the blocks is read and analyzed, the resulting voxel file is written to disk, and readied for import into the game of your choice.

So that's it?  Instant Ship?!?!
Not so much.  A voxel import is not a ship, just a shape.  It's imprecise.  it's asymmetrical.  It has a LOT of extra blocks (and mass).  Yes, you CAN slap some power, engines and weapons on it, but it's like dropping a volkswagon into a beat-up fiberglass outline of a Rolls Royce. 


Well, what IS it good for then?
Voxel imports are great for getting the general design and proportions of a ship with a really complex structure.  Struts and spars and 3d compound curves are really tricky to figure out.  A voxel import can provide a sort of stencil where you can more easily figure out where the key structures are located and roughly what the surface looks like.

Miranda Module: Super Turret

This is an accessory module for the TOS_Miranda.

Note!:  This was exported under Dev version 0.105  I have no idea how it will behave under earlier versions.


My first Miranda-compatible module is the sort of cannon that would normally be mounted on a star-base. The turret incorporates 10 AMC arrays, each with a standard damage load of 136.2.

Both turret and base are independently powered and shielded with minimal thrusters.  If they knock your turret off, it will keep shooting at them.

TOS Miranda Version 5

The existence of an "original series" version of the Miranda class is NOT cannon to the star-trek universe, and is a matter of some debate among the Trek geeks. It is not my intent to express an opinion, just to build a fun and pretty ship.  My previous build of this ship was based more closely on the Reliant from the Wrath of Khan.  This version is a lot closer to the TOS styling and vision of Matt Jeffries.

Whatever Happened to the Galaxy?

I'm not really doing anything right now with the Galaxy Class.  I'm deliberately taking a break from it while the dust settles with the new game dynamics, new blocks, new weapons systems, etc... It's way too big a project to rework every time the game changes.

So here it sits, waiting for me to get back to it.

Refacing Miranda

So here I go with my first major effort with StarMade version 0.1.

I'm starting out by reworking my TOS Miranda.  She has essentially the same primary hull as the rest of the fleet, so she'll let me know what I'm in for.

TOS Miranda: Partially Reworked

The new Pent and Tet blocks provide a noticeably smoother and more modeled structure.  At a distance, the improvement isn't overwhelming.  Up close it makes a world of difference.  Check out the images of the lower dome below.  The effect would be even smoother and prettier, but the beveled edge of the pent gets shadowed when there are blocks on either side, even if they don't obscure that face at all.  This makes for a rather jagged look with the row of shadowed triangles marring what should be a smooth face.

StarMade 0.1 : Pents and Tets and Mysterious Bars

The new version of StarMade is out, for testing at least.

Blocks:

I'm really digging the new blocks.  As I've been working a lot with the StarTrek franchise ships, I make a LOT of discus-shaped saucer sections.  The broad curved contours have forced me into some unfortunate concessions where my hulls take on sort of a terraced look wherever the contour isn't directly between two cardinal directions.   I'm really enjoying how I can now smooth those terraces.   The down-side, at the moment at least, is that the lighting is inconsistent across surfaces.  I can make a double row of pents and tets such that structurally, I have created a single smooth surface... But the pents will reflect full-light while the tets seem to be in shadow.   I'm certain this is a temporary problem, and the most insignificant of gripes next to the STUNNING change-log of this release.