Suggestions for Freedom within the Designer

[AfricanWarrior]

Placement: Nodes v Centerline.

I've found that the use of nodes to dictate where certain parts of the ship's structure should attach to the ship (superstructure, funnels, barbettes etc) is one of the most restrictive systems when it comes to giving a player the freedom to design their ship. Even now with the addition of Nelson-like points for the normal Yamato hull I find it hard to squeeze in a few turrets.

The use of a centerline snapping point with some restriction on the ends will give the player more options when it comes to barbette and superstructure placement allowing for more crafty designs.

Barbettes

Barbettes can also be given a revamp. My idea is having them separated into two categories; Main Barbettes and Secondary Barbettes. These barbettes will be able to fit any turret in the given gun categories, morphing to fit the size of the given gun mount. Secondary barbettes should also be able to mounted on the ship's sides if possible allowing for more extensive secondary mounts.

Plus the limits on barbettes should be removed so that one can freely replicate designs like the New York-class.

An Argument for Modularity

I have read previous posts regarding the topic of modular ship hulls and difficulties with the AI and some players new to the naval scene, but it can be implemented alongside the default hull presets as an "advanced option". The hull presets can be a the main method of building ships in the game but modularity can be a sort of option hidden away in the settings menu or the like. if this does get implemented, there are a few key features I'd like to see in it;

• Separation of sections into fore, midships and aft.
• Various options for flush-decked ships and low quarter-decked ships, as well as an option for a "deck of casemates" for flush-decked ships
• An overall width control and separate length controls for the three ship sections or a length control for only the midships section.

Other Suggestions

Though they aren't numerous, I found a lot of good ideas at disc's thread;

Though here are a few;

• Separate turret models and gun quality: Turret models should be grouped according to their specific nations whilst gun quality should be a drop-down menu in the main gun category. Thus a Mark-5 British gun is a different model from a Mark-5 German gun.

(I'll add more in the coming days)

Edited December 20, 2019 by AfricanWarrior
Adding Information

[Ruan]

Good points. I'd also like to put in a bit for the modular hull sections. Currently ships appear very same-y with little variation and while I believe allowing structure and barbettes to be placed anywhere on the length of the hull will increase variation. The problem remains that ship design will eventually settle on the most efficient layout for X hull. I'd argue that building a ship is designing the hull as it dictates much of what a ship can do.

[Hangar18]

after looking at the finer points of ship building, I hate snap points more than ever. I really want this change.

[visCera]

I completely agree. I feel terribly restricted in the placement of objects based on the node system. I can't even replicate proven historical designs because of the nodes. A center-line with some sensible restrictions for the bow/stern would be way more satisfying to the builder and help make good on the ship designs being customizable. Right now, it feels like we get the choice of better/worse equipment on a generic hull.

[Cptbarney]

i would love this, it would allow for more interesting designs in general and allow people to give their own flavour to things plus identies and maybe even recreate those very odd ships that had appeared at times in history.

plus i just want more bloody customization lol, not even in terms of making historical ships but also making my own unique ships or take one existing stuff.

hopefully this arrives at some point before steam release (would make a big positive impact if it did).