Space Engineers, Update 01.041

On Thursday (well... last Thursday, I'm very late) Space Engineers had another update and, contrary to every single update previously, I actually have mixed feelings about it.

Update 01.041 made it possible to control parts via the tool bar, as well as weapons through rotors. Controlling parts with the toolbar, I'm all for, it will allow faster docking via connectors, quickly turning auto lock for the landing gears on, and even deciding which gravity weapon you want to fire.

Weapons being controlled through rotors is the less beneficial part of the update. I have made large, player-operated turrets to mount onto large ships and stations and this is where the difficulty is. Say you are manning a... a heavy destroyer, and you and your crew are escorting a large trading or convoy ship. You have three of these, each manned by one player:



They are in standard position (all facing forward) when you are attacked by space pirates (something I want the developers to add). Only the front of these turrets is currently manned, and the person controlling it aims and fires at the hostiles...

DISASTER...

the fire command zips through the rotor the turret is mounted on, into every launcher on ship and turret alike. The other turrets, still facing directly forward, blast a big hole into whatever is in front of them (their friend's turret). The carnage doesn't stop at that, doing any or all, depending on what is fitted, of the following:

Broadside rocket launchers, these just so happen to be pointing straight at the convoy you are supposed to protect.

Retracted forward launchers, causing an unintended self destruct in only one section of the destroyer.

Uhh... Oops

Smaller secondary turrets, that say are admiring the design of the cargo ship when the signal zips through and horrifies the gunner by creating big gaping holes in the beautiful convoy vessel.

After such a mishap the pirates will have a huge advantage, as both the morale of the crew, and the structure of the ships will be severely compromised.

It seems that the only way to counter this is to spam landing gears on the bottom of the turret, which in turn has to be an entirely new ship. This has lots of problems. Firstly, moving the ship will probably cause severe vibrations, sparks from only one player's perspective, and overall discomfort. The second problem (or complete pain) is maneuvering the turret into the platform, just a small slip might damage something. Next up is volume, to cover up the landing gears you will need to create a "lip" and/or depression where it is to be placed, this could impede space in maybe the engine room of the ship. Last but certainly not least up is survival compatibility. All of those landing gears will empty your entire component stash to build. Ooh! and don't forget that when you try to accelerate in your prized battleship, the turret stuck on the top (or wherever) will make it try to pitch up more than you will want.

Devs, if you are seeing this I have two ideas for you that should be able to fix this and still allow control through rotors and pistons:

Idea 1 (Preferable): Add a new setting to rotors and pistons that will allow weapon control through it.

Idea 2: If Idea 1 is not an option then create a new setting for each cockpit that is called something like "weapon control on this grid only" when it is on (or off, your choice) the cockpit only controls weapons on that grid.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you found it useful.