idle dock
I absolutely adore the idea of airships and I would love for them to be added to the game. However, they come with some balancing issues. I intend to offer some suggestions to balance airships, and engage in discussions about them.
I will include a TL;DR at the end of each segment for those who don't want to read all this.
Customization
Players would like to customize their airships. I believe airships should come as bare plates that the players can build upon in a large space around the baseplate in every direction. Players would also be able to choose where the helm seat is placed upon the airship. However, I don't believe having blueprints affect the speed/weight of the ship is a good idea, as it would discourage detailed builds. A new dock blueprint/placeable could also nearby airships to move to and align with the dock automatically when the pilot chooses to do so/a button is pressed.
TL;DR you could build on the airships, and they could automatically dock at your base.
Transportation/Hauling
Obviously, people would want to be able to haul resources with their airships. However, they should not be as efficient as cars. A loose suggestion from me would be to make a airships item-anchor area the same as the Sellner Explorers. It would also be nice to be able to customize where the storage area of the airship is located, but if that's not possible, just making it on top of the baseplate would be good.
A new type of hanging rope elevator would also be a great addition to place upon airships and around player's bases!
For balancing purposes, airships should go just a little slower than trailer-less Sellner's. I believe a top speed around 40-60 studs per second is fair in comparison to the Sellner's 81 studs per second.
TL;DR you could carry a Sellner's worth of storage on an airship and it would be a bit slower than a Sellner.
Fuel
Hoofer is considering adding a fuel system to help balance airships. I think this could be a very fun and expansive part of the game! Oil could be found uncommonly around all desert-climate areas. It could be refined and forged into barrels of gas. Fuel would also be sold at most store locations, further locations having cheaper prices. I believe players should also be able to store fuel in mass in tanks. Barrels of gas would turn into a fluid that is not seen by the players when it is deposited into a tank. Would just be an "amount of fluid in tank" number to the player. Interactable hoses/faucets/pipes would allow the flow of liquids from one tank to another. Hoses would auto connect to nearby tanks pipes on airships/other tanks upon interaction. This transfer would be optimal for tank-to-airship transfer instead of having to bring barrels onto the airship. This would also allow players to construct fuel stations and even automatically sell gas to other players using the donator. Devs could also make new machines for processing fuel if they deem necessary.
TL;DR you could harvest oil, refine it to gas barrels or buy them, store it in tanks, and transfer it with hoses and pipes.
Any other ideas or arguments are welcomed!
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