Observations regarding construction, settings, & driving

[ViperMan]

Alright, I took PN for a test drive late last night.

Construction:
It's a bit tedious - takes a LOT of keyboard inputs to place a few blocks. I don't like that the block changes it's axis depending on which surface of another block you're pointing at. Blocks also don't remember the position/angle of previously-placed blocks. So as you change from block to block, you have to keep readjusting axis's even when making a single row of blocks (say, transitioning from a square block to a point.) Generator block: PLEASE give this block more mounting positions. The fact that it can only mount to a block on the bottom is NO GOOD for such a critical and LARGE block. Also, I placed two cubes along the bottom, rear edge of the cockpit. I then selected the generator, and pointed at the back of the cockpit, and rotated the block until the bottom of it was facing downwards, against the two cubes. The block highlight was RED and it wouldn't let me place it. When I then pointed at the TOP of the cube blocks and re-rotated the block to the exact same position, it then highlighted green. I'd consider this a bug and will report accordingly. Just thought I'd mention it here as well.
Another problem I encountered was while building my first car. I gave it a pointy nose (because I could,) but apparently the blocks were so heavy that when I place the wheels and removed the jack, the front of the car collapsed to the ground, and no adjustment of the shocks could lift it back up. I had to delete the blocks completely, and in the process the suspension fell off and I couldn't lift the vehicle back up to fix it. I had to simply start over.
Suggestions:
1. It was posted here elsewhere the suggestion that control, shift & alt buttons be used as modifiers while constructing. For example, control+mousewheel could change which axis (blue/red/green,) while mousewheel alone can rotate along that axis. Shift+mousewheel could scroll between block selections (1 through 0) and perhaps alt+mousewheel could scroll between block "families" (ie from a cube block to a slope block to a corner block, etc.)
2. Make block orientation relative to grid, not to surface of block pointing at. This will make large construction projects much less frustrating.
3. Give generators mounting points on each surface "area". A critical block with 16 surface areas cannot only be mountable on 2 of them - it makes "small builds" very, very difficult.

Settings:
I LIKE the tab screen - I like being able to configure the various wheels, pistons, lights, etc, independently. I truly hope to see these options continue to expand and offer more customization. I'd also love to be able to assign hot keys to, say, stiffen the suspension while driving, or swap from a single-axis steering to dual-axis steering on demand. My only suggestion here is to make sure it's clear what the CURRENT setting is. I couldn't tell if I had to click to turn power off, or if power was already off.

Driving:
Needs a LOT of work on the physics. Several others have already mentioned the poor traction of those huge tires. Also, the vehicle slides on the smallest of slopes - you need an e-brake for sure. Also, I put spotlights on the front "bumper" of my car (since it became night almost immediately after starting the map) and they would light up when the car was sitting still. The moment I started driving in any direction, the lights would turn off. This was on both manual and automatic settings for the lights. Also, I couldn't personally tell any difference between the speed settings on the wheels, but perhaps the suggestion I saw elsewhere to add more generators would help.

I also had some flickering on the screen as I was moving in the car - I have yet to test whether it was my graphics settings or not, so I won't report further until I can do more testing. The environment though was pretty nice, for what little bit I got to see in the daylight.

[Jaycephus]

I'll add one observation:
Having a jack that is 'E' configurable on height, and defaults to 1-block high would help with changing existing vehicles. It's nearly impossible to change suspension on a vehicle after it is off the build-jack.

[fura]

Good thing is, I figured a way to change suspensions without them starting to glich badly. Bad thing is, that the game crashed so badly shortly after it, that I had to use the reset button. Altough I'm 95% sure that wasn't related to the suspensions

So what I did is:
1. Build a platform - mine was 4 big block wide
2. Remove some rows from the middle
3. Place a jack on the bottom of the vehicle
4. Start putting blocks on the jack until it connects to the ground
5. Dig a small hole in the ground next to where the jack+blocks should connect to the ground to be able to place blocks
6. Once connected to the ground, remove the platform
7. Rearrange the wheels
8. Remove jack and connecting blocks
9. Hop in again and off you go

This method works for me. I hope it makes sense.

[Merced]

While we're on the topic of block orientation: The default rotation of wheels when placing them on the suspension has the steering arrows facing up instead of forward. Was a bit irritating when I first tried and didn't have a clue. Not a big one but I suggest to change the default orientation of wheels so that they face forward instead of upwards when steering (or backward, that would just be a cosmetic thing as you can turn the steering direction then.

[solo]

While we're on the subject, It would be nice if we had some kind of "line tool" where you specify one start point and an end point and it will fill blocks in between them. It's pretty tedious building walls XD

[fura]

That was a feature of the editor, so I'd guess they plan to add it to the game later. At least I hope so

[solo]

That was a feature of the editor, so I'd guess they plan to add it to the game later. At least I hope so

oh god was there? I didn't play around much with the editor cause I'm not as creative with building as some of the other nomads but I prefer building and messing around when it's in game and where you can "mess up" I guess? I don't know I'm just weird that way lol. Thanks for letting me know about that, I'm looking forward to seeing them implement it at some point

[Wazbat]

Oh the dimming lights is due to the power draw of the wheels. If you have 2 generators (1 for wheels, 1 for lights etc) it should stop it. I personally think either they should dim less, or there be more indication that the lights are dimming because of it (flickering, buildvision warning, etc)

[Jaycephus]

Alright, I took PN for a test drive late last night.

Construction:
It's a bit tedious - takes a LOT of keyboard inputs to place a few blocks. I don't like that the block changes it's axis depending on which surface of another block you're pointing at. Blocks also don't remember the position/angle of previously-placed blocks. So as you change from block to block, you have to keep readjusting axis's even when making a single row of blocks (say, transitioning from a square block to a point.) Generator block: PLEASE give this block more mounting positions. The fact that it can only mount to a block on the bottom is NO GOOD for such a critical and LARGE block. Also, I placed two cubes along the bottom, rear edge of the cockpit. I then selected the generator, and pointed at the back of the cockpit, and rotated the block until the bottom of it was facing downwards, against the two cubes. The block highlight was RED and it wouldn't let me place it. When I then pointed at the TOP of the cube blocks and re-rotated the block to the exact same position, it then highlighted green. I'd consider this a bug and will report accordingly. Just thought I'd mention it here as well.
Another problem I encountered was while building my first car. I gave it a pointy nose (because I could,) but apparently the blocks were so heavy that when I place the wheels and removed the jack, the front of the car collapsed to the ground, and no adjustment of the shocks could lift it back up. I had to delete the blocks completely, and in the process the suspension fell off and I couldn't lift the vehicle back up to fix it. I had to simply start over.
Suggestions:
1. It was posted here elsewhere the suggestion that control, shift & alt buttons be used as modifiers while constructing. For example, control+mousewheel could change which axis (blue/red/green,) while mousewheel alone can rotate along that axis. Shift+mousewheel could scroll between block selections (1 through 0) and perhaps alt+mousewheel could scroll between block "families" (ie from a cube block to a slope block to a corner block, etc.)
2. Make block orientation relative to grid, not to surface of block pointing at. This will make large construction projects much less frustrating.
3. Give generators mounting points on each surface "area". A critical block with 16 surface areas cannot only be mountable on 2 of them - it makes "small builds" very, very difficult.

Things that would help building tediousness:

1. Block Orientation: get rid of X-short-cut and just mouse-wheel spin through all orientations freely. (12 unique) The axis bar might still show to indicate what axis you will rotate around next for the 'forward' direction, but it's not absolutely necessary.
1b. Optional: Filter out non-legal orientations depending on what surface you are pointing at to reduce total orientations.
2. Block-selection from library: After bringing up library with 'B', one click could place this block on the manipulator and close the library pop-up. The manipulator would become a 'slot' in it's own right, meaning picking from library puts that block on the manipulator for placement. Dragging to the quick-bar puts the block on the quick-bar, and on the manipulator, and leaves the library browser open for another pick.
2b. Block-selection from quick-bar: Clicking a slot puts its block on the manipulator, which is now really a unique slot, itself.
2c. Block-picking from the build: Middle-mouse-clicking (or some short-cut) on a block that has already been placed somewhere puts that block on the manipulator slot for quick re-picking of a block you have already placed without digging back into the library. (similar technique for color-picking off the model as well, when painting is added)
3. Templates/blueprints/macros:
3a. Blueprints would allow saving of a build to a file, shareable to some degree, and able to be called up and placed freely in Creative Mode, or if you have the required blocks in Survival Mode. Some systems let you 'fill' the blueprint with blocks, so it is a container, but that eases knowing you have all the blocks for that blueprint set aside to make that assembly.
3b. Templates would be similar or the same as blueprints, but it is useful to have a categorization system for templates, and they would need to be place-able as an assembly onto another assembly, like placing turret-tower assemblies all along the walls of your base. Blueprints needn't permit that if templates exist for that purpose, but these two things could be made as one thing that provides all this functionality.
3c. Macros (or pre-builts) are maybe a limited, built-in way to accomplish the new "pre-built" idea that was mentioned in the last report. The user would be able to assemble some limited number or volume of blocks of their choosing, and this mini-assembly with automatically-rendered thumbnail would then show up in the block-library for selection as if it were a built-in block. Examples would be a 3x3x1 floor, a 9x9x1 floor, a 9x1x1 'beam', a 6x1x6 door-frame with door included, a 6x4x6 hall-way segment made of various blocks, and so on, limited only by what you can imagine and what you would find useful.
4. Placement variation for large blocks, pre-builts, and templates: this is a problem that already exists with larger blocks, but will only get worse with more pre-builts or blueprint templates to be pasted in. A large item defaults to placing at one of the corners, and rotates around that placement-point when changing orientation. Large items then require you to have structure in place to properly place that large block, meaning you have to build some scaffolding structure that is then deleted later. A short-cut key that moves the placement-point to one of the other four corners of that side of the block, like just cycle through switching to the desired corner on the selected face.
5. An undo that would back up at least one step after accidentally deleting something.
6. Mirror
6a. Choose any or all x, y, z planes. (e.g., full xyz mirror permits making a full sphere with 1/8 the work)
6b. Choose arbitrary block as center of mirroring. Do some mirror work from one point, then change the mirror point
6c. Choose to mirror off center or edge of selected block.
7. Block Library Navigation: As the library gets bigger, especially if it has many, many more blocks added with the pre-built ideas of the devs, or this list, and with possibly incorporating the users templates and blueprints into that Library interface, a way to quickly scroll through pages, and then blocks on each page with the mouse-wheel to speed block select.

[Wojtek]

Things that would help building tediousness:

1. Block Orientation: get rid of X-short-cut and just mouse-wheel spin through all orientations freely. (12 unique) The axis bar might still show to indicate what axis you will rotate around next for the 'forward' direction, but it's not absolutely necessary.

This would be so confusing. Right now I can quickly position block and axis is very helpful when rotating. My biggest gripe so far is that axis is always relative to the surface you're currently placing on instead of staying relative to the whole construction surfaces.

[Maslostroj (Daniel)]

Thanks for these observations. There are things that can be implemented and things that can't be. Understanding the gripes is the best starting position on improving them. Keep 'em coming!

[Jaycephus]

This would be so confusing. Right now I can quickly position block and axis is very helpful when rotating. My biggest gripe so far is that axis is always relative to the surface you're currently placing on instead of staying relative to the whole construction surfaces.

I disagree 50% here. It's actually surprisingly-confusing now, as it is, but also has the added factor of having to click X multiple times.

Example: I aim at a face, see the axis displayed and hit X to switch, roll the mouse wheel to find the correct orientation, and then click to place the block. Then I want to place on that block next. Now the face I am placing on is a different orientation than before, and the axis has to be changed. I need to hit X again, maybe more than once to get to the desired axis, which is often not really perfectly apparent. I'd like to know how many times people have had to hit X more than three or four times in some situations because it wasn't apparent which orientation was the one they needed. Throw in blocks that are bigger than 1x1x1, and the problem is multiplied. Once the correct orientation is found, you can click to place that block. Moving to a new place will often require you to switch again. So all too often, I'm having to hit X as the face I am placing on changes orientation in the process of adding blocks. I can't say, but it feels like I'm averaging an X-click per block placed, but that would really depend on whether the design has a huge flat space, or if it is very complex and contains lots of different types of blocks mixed together, and I'm adding blocks here and there as I go along. The latter case is definitely more common for me.

The alternative is to simply roll through all legal orientations for block orientation on the given face. Planet Nomads is unique in that physics is active during build, so you can't place an unconnected block without it falling away. So the illegal orientations could be filtered out. I've played a lot of block-build games, and variations on this scheme are commonly used.

Robocraft basically only allows orientations that are rotated about the axis that is normal to the face you are pointing at, which is limiting but easy to understand and visualize what you will get, but also requires building a temporary 'scaffold-block' or two to get a block placed in the desired orientation. So, Planet Nomads is better in that one less-common case. But except for the occasional need to build out a scaffold block or two, Robocraft building is much, much faster than Planet Nomads, which also requires scaffolding to be built due to non-legal orientations and due to larger than 1x1x1 blocks. Over all, I'd say Robocraft is definitely faster and less tedious than Planet Nomads, even with that technique required. (And not just because Robocraft doesn't have active physics, or that because it has mirroring to reduce the work.)

StarMade works with a similar roll through the full range of all unique orientations. It's main problem is that this roll is accessed by Control-Mouse-wheel-rolling (mouse-wheel rolling slides through the quick-bar slots), and is shown with only a tiny, hard-to-see, preview-window, off to the side, which, infuriatingly, is rendered with the actual colors and shadowing that it would have in the main window (meaning dark blocks are really hard to see, and shadows falling across a block make it hard to read. The preview is literally smaller than the slot icon in Planet Nomads. But when you can see it clearly, it is fast to find the right orientation. StarMade doesn't use in-place physics, and any block-type may be connected to any other, even if there is zero physical contact. So it doesn't alter the block orientation based on the face you are pointing at. The effect is that it is very fast to build with. It's up to you to make it look good and correct, and your ship won't fall apart even if it has some apparent air-gaps, unless the entire ship is cut in two with damage (maybe not even then?).

I do agree that there is something very non-intuitive about the axis selected to show at any given moment. It's not strictly based on the face orientation or on your previous selection. There seems to be a function for sliding from one face to another, which if you understand how it works, might actually help you place blocks faster without using X, but I'm not sure about that yet.

In any case, my point here is that even if it is very clear what you're going to get, if you have to click X twice, and roll the part before placing the block, and then do that again for the very next placement, over and over, that is the definition of tedious. Planet Nomads is not yet the least-tedious block-builder that I've used, and I would say that the axis selection as currently designed is making it worse for me, not better. If there is a different way to handle the axis orientation, (fixed versus relative-to-face), then my opinion might change, after using it some. Or if there is actually a trick to sliding from one face to another, and that isn't just a bug, then maybe I will like it better after learning to use it (due to less X-clicks).