Trigger Warning: Ship Interior Thread

Arioch

Arioch
I was having a mooch around my Cobra Mk3 today while in a hangar, switching between the virtual flatscreen and full VR camera suite, when I found that I could glitch the camera inside the hull (previously this would involve movement limitations of real life, climbing on chairs, bumping into walls etc.) and have a good float around. Nothing really surprising - there does seem to be space enough to get around the internals - but one thing I've not noticed before is the hatchway on the starboard side of the SRV bay. I can't think of how many times I've boarded with the SRV while using VR (so from 2017 onwards), and apparently I've not looked over my right shoulder enough to ever go "cor, there's a door" 😅
SRVhatch.jpg

It's even got a dinky two step ladder.

Yes, yes, I know we're never getting the expansion, devs never did a promise-pinky-swear in the old videos - but I think it's still interesting to have glimpse at what we could've won.

Here's the short video I took of an interior fly-through:
Source: https://youtu.be/yl6Utt-p3ow
 

Ceres_O7

Ceres_O7
My question for ship interiors would be, what would you prefer?

Every ship having a static, custom interior based around the design of the ship, so every ship has a unique interior layout? Ships would be very distinct and the interior layout would be a big consideration on which ship to buy. Downside of this would be that your internal modules would kinda just be.. handwaved away since they wouldn't actually physically exist on the inside.

Or a modular interior based on your internal slots? So eg if you had a cargo ship, all your ship's rooms would be cargo bays, and a shield generator module would add a shield generator room, etc. Ships would be less distinct in terms of visual identity but far more customisable for players, and interior layout would become an outfitting consideration.

Personally I would like to see the latter, with maybe each module slot given its own room based on its size, and each module having permutations of its room that scale to fit the size. With the only "unique" rooms being like, the exit airlock, the cockpit and a living space.
 
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Kira Goto

Kira Goto
Ceres_O7 said:
With the only "unique" rooms being like, the exit airlock, the cockpit and a living space.
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One could also consider the cargo hatch spot as one, unless it literally is just a manual "scoop" with no grabber arm behind it (but I would like to think there is because how else does the stuff get into cargo racks or onboard material storage).

... but people would probably have little reason to go down there, anyway.
 

Ceres_O7

Ceres_O7
I somewhat agree, though it would require some specific meddling with the interiors to make sure your cargo racks always line up to your cargo scoop - I'd be happy with them just abstracting the cargo scoop to keep the customisable interiors.

I think with some smart maths, some adjustment to certain ship dimensions, frontier could come up with some ship layouts that reflect the optional internals of the ship. Since core internals are always present, you could easily collapse a number of them into single rooms (distributor, power plant, sensors, life support could all be like, built into the walls of a single core room to save space).

They could make the tiny module sizes like size 1 into things like wall attachments - does a detailed surface scanner need a whole room? Could we even fit that on a sidewinder? It could just be a terminal on the wall in the hallway etc.

And obviously this forum is renowned for snark so just to head that off, yes I know ship interiors are incredibly unlikely, yes I know they are a controversial topic that people love to come in and say "but what gameplay would it even add", this is just fun chatting about the idea.
 
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Ceres_O7

Ceres_O7
If it is true that they're working on Base Building right now, that would involve tech for modular and connecting interior spaces able to be placed without reloading an instance, something which is notably not in the game right now. Even the Odyssey settlements are made up of ~30 pre-made layouts, fleet carrier interiors aren't modular either - the only tech they built for that was placing a solid door to block off inaccessible rooms. Changing it requires a re-instance. The game doesn't have any instances of interiors that weren't hand-made by a developer and loaded into the game.

Tech to allow rooms to be placed alongside one another and accessed by players in real time in virtually infinite combinations is a staple of base building and it could likely be extended to modular ship interiors as well.
 

Cosmo

Cosmo
Arioch said:
one thing I've not noticed before is the hatchway on the starboard side of the SRV bay. I can't think of how many times I've boarded with the SRV while using VR (so from 2017 onwards), and apparently I've not looked over my right shoulder enough to ever go "cor, there's a door" 😅
View attachment 397269
It's even got a dinky two step ladder.
Click to expand...

If this is new then it shows that they are working on ship interiors. Maybe it's still early days though.

Arioch said:
Yes, yes, I know we're never getting the expansion, devs never did a promise-pinky-swear in the old videos - but I think it's still interesting to have glimpse at what we could've won.
Click to expand...

The devs didn't say that it wasn't coming. Many developers and Braben said in YouTube videos that they're looking forward to ship interiors. On 8 June 2021, Arthur Tolmie said on LaveRadio: "I can relay the message as best I can. If players are saying ship interiors are an absolute must, obviously we'll assess it, but at the moment it's a case of where do we put our resources, and at the moment it's not ship interiors."

So I believe we'll get this highly requested feature in the future.
 

Releaux

Releaux
My personal opinion is that there is an almost zero chance that FDev will ever implement ship interiors, though that would be my #1 request if asked. That said, if they ever DID implement the feature, I would forgive the recent devaluation of my Arx and again be willing to purchase Arx for cosmetics.

I’m pretty sure my wallet is safe, though.
 

DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
On the one hand: I would like to walk around inside my ships.
On the other hand: the tiny bit of foyer that we got with Odessy is terrible.
 

Rakk Jackham

R
Releaux said:
My personal opinion is that there is an almost zero chance that FDev will ever implement ship interiors, though that would be my #1 request if asked. That said, if they ever DID implement the feature, I would forgive the recent devaluation of my Arx and again be willing to purchase Arx for cosmetics.

I’m pretty sure my wallet is safe, though.
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Well the ships clearly aren’t designed with an interior… or really anything in mind. The shape of the ships is meant to convey their purpose and has no real function.

But I still have to ask… why? Like, what would you do inside your ship. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important that the player not BE the ship. I just don’t understand what walking around inside a ship would accomplish besides making you mad at the inconsistency in ship designs.

These are the people who design all buildings with only one door after all lol, I guess there are no fire codes in the UK-version of space
 

Cosmo

Cosmo
Rakk Jackham said:
Well the ships clearly aren’t designed with an interior… or really anything in mind. The shape of the ships is meant to convey their purpose and has no real function.
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The developers said the ships have been designed with interiors in mind. They probably thought about the hypothetical placement of the modules internally. The Type-9 has an elevator shaft.

Rakk Jackham said:
But I still have to ask… why? Like, what would you do inside your ship. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important that the player not BE the ship. I just don’t understand what walking around inside a ship would accomplish besides making you mad at the inconsistency in ship designs.
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ObsidianAnt made a video about potential gameplay with ship interiors.



A lot of player said they would return to ED if ship interiors are implemented.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Rakk Jackham said:
Well the ships clearly aren’t designed with an interior… or really anything in mind. The shape of the ships is meant to convey their purpose and has no real function.
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My attempts at building ED ships in Space Engineers indicates otherwise.

Rakk Jackham said:
But I still have to ask… why? Like, what would you do inside your ship. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important that the player not BE the ship. I just don’t understand what walking around inside a ship would accomplish besides making you mad at the inconsistency in ship designs.
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Personally, I have no interest in my own ships’ interiors beyond idle curiosity. If Starfield is any indication, I’ll be wishing for a “skip to the end of the boarding ramp” button rather quickly,

It’s other people’s ships’ interiors I’m interested in. I like the idea of searching a derelict wreck for survivors or salvage, sabotaging a landed ship, or any of the other ideas I’ve seen floating around when it comes to ship interiors.

Rakk Jackham said:
These are the people who design all buildings with only one door after all lol, I guess there are no fire codes in the UK-version of space
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???

Many settlement buildings I’ve seen have at least two. And given that the Elite Universe is supposed to be a dystopian cyberpunk-ish vision of the future, I’m kind of surprised at how few of the settlements aren’t filled with blatant OSHA violations.
 

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
Rakk Jackham said:
I guess there are no fire codes in the UK-version of space
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No need for them, if a fire starts the atmosphere is purged.
Everyone on foot has a spacesuit on, at least until Earth-like worlds with a breathable atmosphere at around Earth normal pressure is in the game...
Then they can have a single door and windows that open in their buildings. (Like I have in my home (in the UK and completely within fire regulations, thanks))
 

Kira Goto

Kira Goto
Darkfyre99 said:
Many settlement buildings I’ve seen have at least two
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I have seen a grand total of two Odyssey settlements with (only) buildings that have only a single door. Both are military complexes. And one of those layouts only has one building with said single door, which I only remember because of doing AX reactivations in Thargoid territory where getting in without Revenants spotting you was rather annoying and required some precise timing. Plus a lot of patience for the patrol paths to align.

At least it didn't have a Banshee when those were added. I began to quickly remember the second layout where the buildings all only have one door (and are not interconnected) because of it. That thing makes getting in sneaky a lot harder, bordering on impossibility to the point where it is much simpler to just blast the problem right out of the way.

Darkfyre99 said:
Personally, I have no interest in my own ships’ interiors beyond idle curiosity. If Starfield is any indication, I’ll be wishing for a “skip to the end of the boarding ramp” button rather quickly,

It’s other people’s ships’ interiors I’m interested in. I like the idea of searching a derelict wreck for survivors or salvage, sabotaging a landed ship, or any of the other ideas I’ve seen floating around when it comes to ship interiors.
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A. Frontier could just keep the button to skip to the ship's exit/outside, it already exists anyway.

B. Derelict ships, stations, megaships... I'd be all over that. Figure you'd get that extra layer of atmosphere that makes you check if there isn't something left lurking the hallways while you're listening to the logs of the crew's demise (Dedicant, anybody?).
 

Hank

H
DNA-Decay said:
On the one hand: I would like to walk around inside my ships.
On the other hand: the tiny bit of foyer that we got with Odessy is terrible.
Click to expand...
I would like for FDev to focus on Finishing the bridge (or cockpit). Simply let us get up out of the Captain's Chair and walk to the back of the bridge where the airlock/teleporter is located. It would also be nice to tell one of my hired NPC Crew to ... "Jump in the SLF and escort me for a while until I tell you otherwise." "Yes Sir" and they walk to that airlock door and disappear. ... give commands to my crew or copilots with NPC 3D interaction instead of a 2D menu screen. It would be the greatest space ever if they ever married the commander to the ship to Odyssey. imho
 

aRJay

aRJay
Hank said:
I would like for FDev to focus on Finishing the bridge (or cockpit). Simply let us get up out of the Captain's Chair and walk to the back of the bridge where the airlock/teleporter is located. It would also be nice to tell one of my hired NPC Crew to ... "Jump in the SLF and escort me for a while until I tell you otherwise." "Yes Sir" and they walk to that airlock door and disappear. * ... give commands to my crew or copilots with NPC 3D interaction instead of a 2D menu screen. It would be the greatest space ever if they ever married the commander to the ship to Odyssey. imho
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* and they turn to their console and switch on the VR rig.
 
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