I'm not convinced another thread was needed for the questions to be asked but I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere.
Adding interiors purely for the sake of "feeling" isn't worth the huge developer effort required to deliver it, in my opinion. That said, I don't buy the general nay say response that it'd be a huge logistical task to make all interiors work with module choices being so wide for many ships. I think that depends on what game play is desired from the ship interiors. And I think it's important they get introduced with enough game play to warrant the development time.
If all you want is a seamless passage from sitting down to stepping out (or getting into the srv) then you can do that and "fence off" module space entirely with doors that cannot be opened or interacted with. But, as I said, not enough payout for the work. Also means you still need to plan future game play and ensure the layouts make sense for that future game play. Far too risky.
So, they need game play reasons to do this. And, to be blunt, some suggestions I've read are just bad ideas. Like "you have to run about and fix random damage in flight". That's not good game play. That's annoying. But you can expand on it a bit and make it valid with some thought. Allow repairs to modules on foot as opposed to needing an AMFU module? Check, that sounds good. But enough? Not yet, no.
There are, to my mind, only a limited number of game play reasons to access our ships on foot. Most of those are aggressive ones. In fact, you could probably justify ship interiors as a paid expansion if all you did was introduce a number of aggression mechanics to the game. So, ship boarding and fps combat.
Piracy is the most obvious one but not the only one. Piracy would be the act of taking down your target's shields then engaging a breach limpet (takes time to work depending on size/quality) then getting close enough to tether. At that point, engines are disabled on both ships and you then get up and run to the air lock. You board the ship through the tether and the game play cycle begins.
Ship interiors would have access points to various modules. One obvious one might be cargo. If the pirate gets to the module and hacks it (takes time depending on hacking tool) the entire cargo is released and transfered to their ship. Defending players can try to kill the pirate. Pirates can kill the defending commander (actually, destroy their suit which triggers the emergency self destruct sequence so the player can get picked up by an emergency pod and taken to the nearest medical facility etc). If target is killed, pirate has the self destruct timer to steal as much cargo as they can then get out and disengage tether. If the pirate is killed, the pirate ship releases the tether and blows up.
The defending player can alternatively sneak around the pirate and hack their tether... If they manage that... Pirate ship self destructs. Pirate is ejected and captured by authorities, sent to a prison location etc.
The pirate can alternatively hack the cockpit and self destruct.
In all cases, extra crew (npcs or players) can help in the fight.
That's one scenario. Bounty Hunters can do the same to board pirate ships. This would allow them to hack the ship and "take the target alive", where the contract requires it (or it's the preferred option) for huge pay outs compared to ship destruction.
In combat zones, you can board capital ships to disable them.
Board shipwrecks in uss. Or crash sites on planets. Engage with the ship to take any cargo. Or get attacked by pirates (it's a trap).
As pirates, you might get boarded by authorities npcs. Defend your ship.
I'd say that would all be enough to warrant interiors but you could also add diplomatic reasons to agree to a non invasive boarding (a module all ships get allows you to tether with agreement from both sides). Get mission tip offs from npcs, get missions in space, agree to take illicit cargo for a price, trade, smuggle, get a bounty target, get orders for a CZ from a friendly capital ship (missions) set traps and so on.
With this new feature, you can add new modules (I'd suggest new interior modules, not the existing ones) like defense turrets, locked blast doors, trip mines and so on.
Later on, new game play can be added. Steal documents missions. Rescue prisoners. Missions to plant bombs on docked ships. Deactivate those bombs. Sabotage a target's ship (so stuff fails later on). Maybe even take a contract to defend an npc ship as a crew member.
Lots of potential. But this is really the level of cool required to make it worthwhile.
![[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/234/234580.jpg?1612617334){kind=avatar}
