Something I haven't seen since the HV/SV docking became a thing is a hybrid ship. I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, and one of the capabilities of the Voyager and Enterprise was that the saucer section could separate from the necelles. The concept and challenge I'd like to see explored is this done with SV/HV. A vessel that is one unit combined but has the ability to seamlessly separate and operate independently. To be clear, I'm not suggesting just a hangar bay in an SV that can carry an HV. I'm talking about two different ships that when combined LOOK and FUNCTION as one --in this case an SV. There are many potential advantages to this. https://66.media.tumblr.com/bff0c9d1182ab9c8efd0cd39f8a8d746/tumblr_omj201TaPV1rzu2xzo1_640.jpg Here is a picture of what I'm referring to. The two sections when together made one ship, but could separate and function by themselves.
The first part is easy. Anyone can make a HV and SV that when docked together look like they belong there. The second part, functioning as one, is impossible currently. Of course that depends on that you mean by function as one.... None of the HV's weapons or tools will work while it's docked to the SV, nor will it's shields, and nor will it's thrusters. So the only thing the HV is while docked is dead weight and possibly some storage and constructors, both of which could be on the SV as well. I've seen some nice vessels that were constructed to look like one when docked together though.
I care more about the seamless integration, also you forget the clone chamber is then essentially part of your SV, and that still has functionality as well as the medical bay for healing. Also constructors and cargo are still accessible, so it isn't just dead weight. If you are purely focused on utility, then yes i guess you can consider it somewhat dead weight, but I, along with many others, also care about creative aspect of the game.
Do shields not work when something is docked? I haven't tested this, but I figured if the power was left on the shields would still work.
Normally only the Vessel on which another one is docked has working shields while those of the Docked Vessel get in some sort of stand by Mode like its mounted Weapons or Tool-Turrets.
I didn't forget, I just didn't list every single thing. I specifically mentioned these already. I didn't mention other things, like clone chambers and armor locker etc etc, because I already made my point. My point was that they won't "function as one" for the reasons I mentioned. It was more about making sure you know that things like thrusters and weapons won't work, since that is the main thing that pops to mind when thinking of "function as one". It was about getting more details from you. What kind of things do you expect each vessel to have? Do they need to dock in such a way that you can walk through a door and go from one vessel to the other? What are the size restrictions you want them to be built under? CPU level? Mass and Volume turned on or off? Etc? Etc? What are you looking for specifically from this challenge, other than 2 vessels that dock together? The more details and direction you provide the better the submissions can be.
More on topic than my last comment... I've been working on some things like this. I like the idea of a drop-pod that an SV can carry and "eject" people to the target. The new docking options made this possible. I made a few VERY ugly creations first, and I've recently made two un-polished sorts. One is the Danube class shuttle with the warp sled. While the warp sled isn't technically part of the pilot shuttle, I still connected the two so I'd have more space to put things. The container section in the middle is an HV. The idea is to drop the HV near a POI, then take in the SV for arial support while your friends have a local respawn point. My first version was too large for a shuttle, and my second version made the HV too small. It still has some work to do. My other creation was the Pelican drop ship from Halo. It's carried troops and/or vehicles in the game, so I'm trying to re-create it in Empyrion as well. The Pelican also has an HV extension with more seats and the health options, but I haven't found a satisfactory way to dock those and keep it air-tight. This module had the same idea. Drop it near a POI and leave it for your friends.
On the note of SV HV integration..... https://empyriononline.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-empyrion-today.2826/page-987#post-382399 I also made a SV/HV Duo..... Interior pics available on request
Have a look at the Fogal range of Hagal: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197974377013/myworkshopfiles/?appid=383120&p=1
My two paired SV/HV combos: My progression (early/mid -> late game) dropship/assault SV + miner / explorer / light assault HV End game heavy dropship / assault SV (high G capable) + its companion heavy assault HV: While both pairs of SV+HV are design to link together, they are also designed for independent use. All seemed like a great idea until the harsh realities set in: - Cant dock them to a CV as a pair - have to fart around unlinking, docking each etc - Cant do hot drops of the HV in co-op (because team mate cant be sat in it and the shields remain dead while docked, so no hot LZ drops either - boring) So basically the whole concept just seems like a temporarily interesting novelty, but ultimately so badly crippled as to be near pointless and more trouble than it is worth except very early game before you have a CV. Someone discovered a way to hot drop the HV (unpiloted) by changing ownership of the SV. Of course that got patched because of PvP whining, but the one day it worked almost made this useful again (at least for solo play).
I think the only useful would be to park a CV in orbit of, say, a high gravity planet and drop a spawn point HV out of range of POI you are hitting or in other safe spot without having to bring CV into planetary gravity. Of course, this means the SV and HV have to fit together so that you can undock from SV and smack right into the CV while in space (docking port on top and bottom with enough space for your HV to hover up and down to dock). it's alot of work for deploying and recovery when you can just build your CV to handle high gravity or just bring multiple SVs and respawn at CV in orbit.
Well - the motivations at the time were also that high G planets seem to be lava planets, which have particularly unpleasant terrain for large CVs to land flat enough for easy access in/out for an HV, unless the CV is very small. Or you find a landing site with horrible terrain for an HV between site and target. Kind of thought sod it, leave the CV in orbit and make my SV carry everything down (and back up after) - in A11 15k SU / 350t or so high-G lift was a lot (1.3Kt in 1G). Not so much in A12. Anyway - they arnt tied together and TBH now are hardly ever docked together any more and instead both have their own independent roles as heavy assault vehicles. Also vast quantities of promethium seem so easy to acquire in A12 that I no longer care about the fuel burn of a heavy size class 10 carrier/cruiser CV in high-G. As for building for high - its HV and SV that need some effort. Easy to pile on enough thrust to a CV for the job. They were children of their times - a time when SVs could carry a hell of a lot of stuff if they had enough thrust, noiw seems the opposite - dont need so much thrust, but need massive space instead.
