Plane Design and Upgrades

[kalin]

Just some ideas I've playing around with, mostly based on the current upgrade and gun system on SR (and a little of Marcus L's suggestion).

I like having places I can install different things, but I also want to carry them around in my hold in case I need them later.

• Chance to scavenge trade goods and parts from downed pirates.
  
• Some trade goods are used for crafting plane parts.
  
• Uninstalled parts may be carried in hold (takes up cargo space).
  
• Engines and external parts must be installed and upgraded symmetrically.
  
• Crafting requires a machine shop, mechanic, and blueprints.
  
• Hangers come with machine shops; you can also install one in your plane (takes a lot of space).
  
• A chassis may only be crafted in a hanger.
  
• Blueprints may be bought or reverse engineered from the part (destroys the original).
  
• Blueprints are cheaper than the part, but sold in fewer places.
  
• Crafting can also be used to upgrade parts (can't reverse engineer upgrades).
  
• Some upgrades will change the part's mount type (extended barrel makes guns larger, so does large ammo feed).
  
• Ammo crates allow reloading during combat if you have a gunner (should only be needed for hardest combats).
  
• Medium parts may be mounted on medium or large mount points, small parts may be mounted on any size.
  
• Servicing replaces fuel, ammo, and armor used.
  
• You can have as much armor as your plane can lift.
  
• Can't repair armor, just buy new armor when needed.
  
• You can set a default value for armor so your queue automatically replaces it. (Only needed if we have in-flight combat.)
  
• If we don't have in-flight combats, then missiles are a possibility.
  
• Silhouette = pixels in plane's sprite = Health without armor.
  
• The plane tab will include a Hanger Simulator that acts like HotMod/Mechanic (only shows parts/upgrades you've seen)
  

Part types: (need 1 chassis, 1+ fuel tanks, 1+ engines)
Chassis (specifies lift, drag, cargo space, mount points)
Engine
Fuel Tank
Gun
Other

Supplies:
Armor
Fuel
Ammo

Mount types:
Small Internal Gun
Small Internal Engine
Medium Internal Gun
Medium Internal Engine
Large Internal Gun
Large Internal Engine
Small External
Medium External
Large External
Unmounted (internal fuel tank, crew cabin, machine shop, ammo crate)


Sample planes with mount points:
Puddlejumper: 1 SIE, 1 SIG, 2 SX
Dart: 1 LIE, 1 LIG, 2 SX
Destroyer: 4 MIE, 4 SIG, 3 MIG, 4 MX
Skywhale: 2 SIG, 3 MIG, 2 LIE, 4 LX, 4 SX

I realize this is probably more complicated than anyone wants.

[tildepilcrow]

I definitely support being able to build your own parts for your plane. I'm wondering if there should be some system to account for screwing up while building it? Perhaps each blueprint comes with a difficulty rating. By building more parts from scratch, there is some sort of "DIY mastery" level that increases for your character (or mechanic crewmember), so parts with higher difficulty ratings will have a higher chance of coming out the way they're supposed to, opposed to something that looks like modern art. Just a thought.