In survival I built one of my HVs in the factory that I designed to be brought in as a tier 3 then upgraded to a tier 4 when resources allow. And right now I am upgrading the armor from steel to combat steel, but unless I check every single block with a multi tool there is no visual way of seeing what I've converted and what needs to still be upgraded. In the past when you upgraded a block the texture would change, which was a nice indicator. So now I'm upgrading a few blocks and painting the block differently, with the plan of repainting the HV back to normal when done. I'm guessing there is no real way of easily seeing what the blocks are made of, other than using the multi tool? But hoping I'm wrong. I suppose I could do the math(s) and find out how many resources I need, spawn in the upgraded HV, then throw the resource out. But that seems cheap somehow. I remember when the change first took effect (the texture not changing when upgraded), I suggested having an option in the "N" menu, that would work something like the structural integrity feature but have different colors for block types, but that suggestion gained zero traction lol.
Hey, sorry I don't know about your original issue, but I do think your idea to use the "N" debug tool to identify the different block types is actually a good idea.
A way to identify the different block types of any blueprint is with the console. The N menu is rather used to revert block placements (in Creative only) or copy-paste-delete block parts to each other, or to show airtight blocks. In the console you can enter: prefabinfo [Blueprint Name] -full to get the info about the blocks and their names, also those which are forbidden in your BP. If your blueprint name has more than 1 word, use its name in single quotations, like MyBlueprint > 1 word, enter as is 'MyBlueprint 123' > 2 words separated with space, use single quotations. You can remove blocks with this command (usually you remove forbidden blocks to spawn a blueprint in Survival later): replaceblocks [ID] [block name] empty You must get the ID with the di command by pointing on the object. You can also replace block types, not the blocks themselves but only their type (e.g. hardened steel > armored steel etc.) with this command: replaceblocks <entityid> <source blockname> <target blockname> <optional: index name> The exact info for the target blocknames must be retrieved by placing a test block, enter di command, point to the test block and read the info of this block which also contains the exact block name. Essentially, you don't have to upgrade blocks on your vehicle manually, you can do all within the console in a couple of seconds, and you always have all block type info. But that's obviously a choice to make, some players don't like using the console and prefer doing all 'live'. I wouldn't use the console for only upgrading the front part of my CV, or blocks around turrets or such ones likely to be targeted by enemies, I would use my multitool; but to change my entire CV to armored steel, I would take and 'trash' the necessary materials and then use the console. I hope this helps,
Sorry guys maybe I'm not in my best day and I'm seeing everything dark but... did you really feel that upgraded block are useful in Empyrion and that there is a point in upgrading blocks? I'll explain myself: talking about the base well the upgraded blocks will not save you at the beginning when the drone rockets will attack and of course when you put some tower in base you won't have for sure any more troubles. In space even the first pirate CV you eventually find can destroy with just two missiles even xeno blocks and for this reason you'll need shields which luckily are very effective but of course this will not encourage players to upgrade blocks. So... what's the point in upgrading the blocks? Just asking here not meaning anything: maybe I'm losing something and instead it seems you've found a reason for which that's important. Thank you.
It will depend how you are playing, if you think to manage flying away from any combat then most likely you won't need upgraded blocks in your ships, also for your base, to deal with drones and troop ships it's enough to have some defense points well-placed to get rid of them, but otherwise in space combat or in situations with tougher enemies you need upgraded blocks if you don't want to let your vehicles be shredded into pieces... Upgraded blocks will require much more hitpoints to get destroyed. It's true that for the time your shields are protecting you, any blocks will not suffer any damage, but shields do deplete quite fast if you take multiple hits, once the shield bar reaches 0 you can then see the difference of Normal Steel blocks and Armored or Combat Steel, and you highly wished you had the latter one for reduced overall damage. But try it out yourself, one of the stock CVs is the Ascalon, a T1-T2 CV essentially made of paper (mostly Carbon Composite) but having a quite large room for upgrades. Place a shield in it, place some defensive turrets and see how far you can get with it, I would say: If you do any combat you will suffer heavy damage ending your journey very soon
I agree with you about the carbon composite which is basically as strong as paper My point is not anyway that the upgraded blocks are not useful at all but that the game balancing doesn't give them the proper value. In the upgrading chain I would have put more steps maybe even unlocking those in the research chain and not just give it for granted. Furthermore I'd prefer some balancing into the close systems: some low level enemy CVs just to help you appreciating and feeling the need of upgrades. Maybe it was a matter of v1.6 but finding in the first system a pirate CV already fully upgraded is a little bit too much because it will force you to use shields and lots of turrets and after that yeah you can upgrade blocks but probably if you in a battle are losing the whole T2 shields maybe you're doing something wrong (considering that they'll regenerate themselves) so we'll fall back to my point: asking you too much at the beginning annihilates, later, the need of blocks upgrade.
I agree with you that the 'Difficulty Curve' in this game is quite fast or abrupt when it comes to enemy encounters in space. From the v.1.2 and later which I've been playing, I can never afford not to have shields, even with combat steel when facing any enemy with a turret, but I'm using a combat SV where 30% of all its front side can be destroyed (combat steel), that helps a lot and is forgiving, you just need a lot of repairs afterwards. Problems will arise when your shields are down to 20%, from that point on, the hitpoints from enemy fire are cumulative to take your shields down + damage to blocks as for the hitpoint value, meaning e.g. if a hitpoint is 2000 and it takes 500 to get your shields down, then the remaining 1500 will damage your blocks. And it's HERE where better blocks make a huge difference, but all in all you are right: the transition is very abrupt: Shields active = no damage at all; Shieds almost down = Big trouble for you if you dont' go away to reload them - with whatever blocks.
