Vega Strike Forums

What are people's thoughts on different types of cargo having different style containers?

The current system of "everything floats in the same shaped box" doesn't really make sense to me. A freight container holding atmospheric gases shouldn't be the same as one containing a load of books.

I say it's a go!
Also there could be different pictures for the same type of cargo. Different models of crates to choose from.

gonzo wrote:Also there could be different pictures for the same type of cargo. Different models of crates to choose from.

Do you mean so that (for example) Reactor I has a different icon to Reactor II and Reactor III? If so, SVN seems to be showing more images with each revision, so that's already getting done (some of it's only recolours, such as the image for gases, but that works well anyway. Other stuff, such as shield generators and lasers are getting shiny new icons for each different product).

I'm not sure it would be possible to pick your own crate style because of the way it's coded (there's a specific cargo crate model specified for each item. I don't think you could put 2 different models in the box, and let the player choose which they want).

A good example of shipped goods would be container freight you find at any port. All solid goods use the same type of container that is a fixed size. Granted liquid and gas dont use these containers but with some modifications they could.

So now the problem is different. As far as I am aware the game is only setup to handle one type of ejected cargo model. I could be wrong though... but if there can only be one size cargo container then we will either have to change the code up a little os give the user a choice and let them place whatever cargo model they want into the data tree.

pheonixstorm wrote:A good example of shipped goods would be container freight you find at any port. All solid goods use the same type of container that is a fixed size. Granted liquid and gas dont use these containers but with some modifications they could.

So now the problem is different. As far as I am aware the game is only setup to handle one type of ejected cargo model. I could be wrong though... but if there can only be one size cargo container then we will either have to change the code up a little os give the user a choice and let them place whatever cargo model they want into the data tree.

Yes, most containers at ports are the same size, but they're also loaded on similarly sized ships (and they all load from the top, most VS ships have cargo doors of varying sizes and shapes). VS has ships ranging from single-seater fighters to mile-long battleships. Standardisation in size just wouldn't work in space, it'd be ridiculous to fill a cargo hold the size of a football pitch with tiny 1-meter by 1-meter cubes, and equally ridiculous to try to cram a container with a 27,000 liter capacity into the hold of a Robin. Ignoring the cargo for a moment, you'd need differently sized boxes for differently sized ships.


Regarding implementation, we've currently got "generic_cargo" in units.csv (row 213), which applies to everything. Could we not make entries (and folders, models...) for, for example, "gas_cargo", "liquid_cargo", "small_cargo (gems etc)", and "absolutely_massive_cargo (factories and the like)", and then point the specific cargo types to the correct type of box?

It seems the most logical way to do it, if VS actually lets you point to the cargo box you want (currently generic_cargo across the board), and it's not hardcoded somewhere that everything has to use the same entry.

DaveAshton wrote:for example, "gas_cargo", "liquid_cargo", "small_cargo (gems etc)", and "absolutely_massive_cargo (factories and the like)", and then point the specific cargo types to the correct type of box?

This would make the most sense though we would only need perhaps 3 types. One for small cargo (palletized cargo moved by freight trucks), cylinder (gas/liquid), and container sized for the really big stuff. This though makes me think of what you would package things such as steel i-beams or large logs in. I have no idea how they get shipped around in for some real world examples other than seeing them on the interstate on flatbed trailers.

Thinking on it a bit more... a factory shouldnt even fit into some of the smaller cargo ships so the cargo hold (if large enough) would be the container with palletized goods loaded into it as you would see loaded onto a truck while the larger cargo haulers would load the larger containers.

Which leads me to a final thought... as with real world comparisons wouldn't we also need specialized LNG stye ships that would handle large loads of volatile liquids and gases?

pheonixstorm wrote:

DaveAshton wrote:Which leads me to a final thought... as with real world comparisons wouldn't we also need specialized LNG stye ships that would handle large loads of volatile liquids and gases?

Shape-wise, the Ox seems to be the ideal ship for that. We just need a way to either make the cylinders destructable, or detachable when the main chassis of the Ox is destroyed.

and that is more a question for klauss i think.