Small craft

Small space craft are exclusively available and controlled by the player. They can be between 10 and 30 meters long. In the following text I focus only on their functionality, not their look.

Small crafts have to follow certain rules and restrictions. The player’s view is centered, while the cockpit itself can be off center. Therefore, it’s best if the cockpit is as close to ship’s center as possible - same applies for weapons. Additionally, due to the types of enclosed environments common to mining, each ship requires one or more headlights. Finally, to allow for maneuvering in all directions, engine thrusters should be installed on each side - at least 6 on a ship, but additional ones are common especially on the rear and front.

Player ship class parameters (depends on ship type)

• Max number and positions for weapons
• Max number of devices
• Supports drill?
• Supports harvesting tube?
• Cargo container capacity - number of cargo slots. From 1x1x to 8x8x8 (biggest ships). Dimension of any item is defined in slots – for simplicity.
• Armor type – in percents; if no armor, then value is 0%. Basically it says how much is decreased projectile/explosion power
• Fuel capacity in liters
  • xenon (for electrically powered)
  • helium (for chemical powered)
  • uranium (for nuclear powered)
• Electricity capacity – kWh – kilo watts per hour
• Oxygen capacity – in seconds – how long can player breathe?

Player ship real-time parameters (change during the game play)

• Weight, depends on:
  • Ship type
  • Engine type
  • Armor type
  • Weight of weapons
  • Weight of unexpended ammo, fuel, oxygen
  • Items and ore in cargo container
  • Any other “things” stored in a ship
• Speed – depends on ship type, engine and weight
• Player health, from 0% to 100%
  • Default value is 100%
  • If below 50%, whole screen (including cockpit and HUD) gets dark red tint, gets blurry
  • When player is damaged by projectile/explosion, screen is overplayed by red blood texture for 2-3 seconds
  • Player health is negatively influenced by:
    • Bullets that gets into cockpit
    • Uranium / radioactivity proximity
    • Solar wind
    • Low oxygen
  • Player health is positively influenced by:
    • Med kit / drugs
    • When inside mother ship hangar – automatic healing.
• Armor damage – how much is armor damaged and how effective it is right now. Default is 0% and increases after every projectile/explosion.
• Damage
  • Value from 0% to 100%
  • In future we will implement this through a 3D grid where we will be able to track how much of the ship is damaged in different parts. Also we will be able to detect where the armor is compromised.
• Cargo container content – the following objects can be stored here: ammo boxes, devices, ore, etc. Some items can use more slots.
  • Ammo boxes contain current unexpended number of projectiles.
• Fuel – consumed slightly when the engine is on), increasing proportionally to amount of movement, highest consumption when afterburner is engaged
  • Value is in liters and can be extended by “extra fuel container” in cargo container
  • Fuel has a second parameter – Fuel Tank Damage – from 0% to 100%.This indicates if and how much the fuel storage may be damaged. If compromised, fuel will likely leak. If heavily damaged, the ship will lose fuel rapidly.
    • Damage to fuel storage is random in this MW release as we won’t be able to detect it.
    • If fuel damage is below 20%, any new “damage increase” can randomly lead to ship explosion (only for non-electricity engines)
  • When fuel is 0%, engines are turned off.
  • Moments before you run out of fuel, inertia cancellation should automatically engage so the ship stops before completely losing energy (This helps the player in survival and rescue).
• Electricity – consumed all the time, even when engines are off – because it powers computer, HUD, devices, weapons, etc. Also, electrically powered engines consume a lot of electricity;
  • When 0%, everything that requires electricity powers down.
  • Electricity / battery can be recharged by non-electric ship power plants.
  • Headlights consume electricity. Long-narrow lights should consume more energy than wide-short.
• Oxygen – capacity of remaining oxygen storage, in seconds
  • When zero for more than 30 seconds, player’s health will start decreasing  by 2% every  second
  • Oxygen storage decreases by 1 every second (player consumes the oxygen)
  • Oxygen also has second parameter – Oxygen Tank Damage – from 0% to 100% and this indicates if the oxygen storage tanks have been damaged. As with fuel, it can leak.