Ship Configuration

[Demerzel]

I would like to be able to yank out half my weapons and replace them with cargo bays, or officer quarters, or crew quarters, etc etc... will we be able to shuffle around our ship configuration at some point? I would love to be able to strip down and rebuild some of these ships to fit each of my captain's playstyles better.

[Demerzel]

Also if this is a thing already, please tell me how, because the UI seems to hint this should be possible, but I can't figure out to actually reconfigure my ship.

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by Demerzel:

I would like to be able to yank out half my weapons and replace them with cargo bays, or officer quarters, or crew quarters, etc etc... will we be able to shuffle around our ship configuration at some point? I would love to be able to strip down and rebuild some of these ships to fit each of my character's playstyles better.

You can replace as many components as you want but you can only do it one at a time at the moment. We are working on a designer workflow that would let you do more juggling, since mass is such a limiting factor if you have to it one-by-one.

The entire starport upgrade / new ship / dry dock UI stack is on our hot list for UI rebuild. We had hoped it would have been rebuilt by now, but other priorities muscled in.

[stretch]

You can swap size for size components. At the bottom of the upgrade page select 'clear' then the new category of component you want.

[Aranador]

I kind of wish for a interface that looks like a ships shilouette with the modules arranged on it, and you can change them there, as opposed to the big ol' list down the side we currently get.

Still - right now you can reconfigure your ships within the constraint of mass and module size to your heart's content - until you go broke that is.

Hmm - a planning phase, then a commit and pay step would be nice.

[Trese Brothers]

I think we're all seeing the same thing in our heads :D

[FireShark]

I actually just figured out that you can swap say, a weapon, for a fuel tank. The ship upgrade UI is so confusing haha.

However, happy that I can start making some real upgrades now.

[Demerzel]

Perfect, exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Yes, the UI is a bit counter-intuitive at the moment, glad to hear UI improvements are on the to-do list.

[They Live]

Originally posted by onionbro:

I actually just figured out that you can swap say, a weapon, for a fuel tank. The ship upgrade UI is so confusing haha.

However, happy that I can start making some real upgrades now.

yeah it's a bit confusing true but i'm confident Trese will improve that

[stretch]

I can kinda see how it got where it is now. I would say it is not user friendly and I think most of us (including me) had to have it shown to them so it's quite well hidden.

It is in essence quite good though. Being able to swap out weapons for ship upgrades is not something most games would let you do. Like if you were a trader in many rpg games would they let you drop your sword and shield and carry two extra bags ? I think not. So it's really flexible and caters to almost any playstyle. Just clunky to use and kinda obscure.

Being able to easily compare what you are swapping out with the new module would be really good.

[charles_martins]

Everything is hidden and the UI is pretty darn bad for lots of stuffs...
But this thing's been out for less than a week. At least it seems someone's using EA the right way for once.

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Come to think of it... Remember the old sim games? Some of them used to just put all the commands on the left or bottom side of screen, you click one of them, and they balloon up into their own sub commands.

There are a few of them already right now, but maybe we can add ALL the various sub screens as one command each? And then left click goes to screen, and right click balloons up the sub commands?

Seems like there are spaces to spare at the bottom anyhow. Plus if you ever reverse port back to Android/iOS, tab users could get at it easier as well (Phone users might have problems though.)

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Also, the general ship state screen. Use that background there, and add in gear slots for an equipment screen. Can be tetris like or not, as both have their fans... Or do a simple ugly RE equipment-box thing with pics on top left, stats on top right when clicked, and every installed things underneath in boxes?

(Or that other Void-something-something-game has a pretty decent equipment screen too... And a pretty decent if a little different game as well.)

[SullyTheUnusual]

Just bought a new ship, and I noticed that it has the default components. Is there any way to move the components from my old ship to the new one? Just blew most of my money on a new ship, and it will be pretty disappointing if I have to buy all new components for it as well.

[stretch]

Originally posted by SullyTheUnusual:

Just bought a new ship, and I noticed that it has the default components. Is there any way to move the components from my old ship to the new one? Just blew most of my money on a new ship, and it will be pretty disappointing if I have to buy all new components for it as well.

Nope. Those are toast.

You can however sell that ship and recover a considerable amount of cash. They have really good trade in value.

[Trese Brothers]

Your old ship is still available for use as well, unless you sold it.

Sorry, at the moment you can't buy and upgrade -- you have to buy and THEN upgrade. We're working on making that all one glorious step.

We will fix the UI :D Or you can feed me to the xeno.

[SullyTheUnusual]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

Your old ship is still available for use as well, unless you sold it.

Sorry, at the moment you can't buy and upgrade -- you have to buy and THEN upgrade. We're working on making that all one glorious step.

We will fix the UI :D Or you can feed me to the xeno.

Ok, I just sold my old ship for much more than the hull with basic components was worth, so I'm assuming the sale price includes upgrades? Thanks for all your hard work on this game, I love it! No zeno fodder. ;)

[Seschwa]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

I think we're all seeing the same thing in our heads :D

Really admired the way the first game laid out ship upgrades :) I hope you do go the route hinted at in thread. Please don't get rid of the set hardpoints! EX It may be a bit of an immersion breaker to be able to ditch all your lasers and have that somehow free up enough space for another cargo boy. Although.. the ship designer was a really neato feature.. perhaps there's a way to implement something similar? Perhaps certain shipyards are able to custom-build a ship for the player.. I should have participated in the kickstarter stage instead of sitting back waiting for the "it's ready!" email. I realize I have these ideas that are perhaps.. a boatload of PITA to implement.