also, and that is a secondary concern

optical rotor: a large rotor that can let lasers go through it (think advanced rotors, but with a lenz instead of a conveyor), just to help streamline turret design and make the large/small laser turrets a bit more practical

Thank you for good idea and good opinions.

1. Beam splitter: is in progress.
2. Lighting optimization: I will reflect that opinion in the next update.
3. Optical rotor: I will add that idea in future update plan.

very nice, also figured out the splitter would be very usefull for turrets with more than one output, considering the fact that on your dual turret example you had to use a very beefy 2 part generator instead of using a single one to power it

I think if a splitter type block is going to be made you could make a variety of them rather than one where all sides are controlled (i think it would be chaotic and a bit fiddly if that is the only splitter block. If there are others to go with it then it could work well in some situations where pre-set splitters don't). I suggest a two way splitter which sends two beams opposite in direction, another that sends two beams that are perpendicular to each other and one that splits in four directions in a cross shape and maybe a T shaped splitter as well for good measure. Unless you want to make every combination of directions possible, which would be a fair few. I would also probably add a block that you can turn on and off to allow the laser/ion to go through it or not and maybe even have the ability to choose the percentage of the total strength to filter through it to allow for lower power applications of laser and ion beams (could be used to lengthen the time it takes to deplete capacitors, or the strength slider could be added to the capacitor block itself as to not waste beam energy if that is the only way you could do it). Another suggestion is to give some splitter blocks a slider in the options menu so you can tell how much power goes through which side (this will probably only work with a 2-way splitters though). You could also make the capacitors into batteries instead where the user can tell it to fire even when its not fully charged, although the idea of full charge to fire is kinda cool as well. whether or not the batteries are implemented an additional idea for the capacitors could be to be able to tell them not to fire when they are fully charged (on/off maybe) so that you can keep them charged for whenever you need them. Sorry if all this is a bit much at once or if you can't understand something, I love coming up with ideas but can come across as confusing sometimes :)

My thoughts WRT splitters is that they should function just like the splitters in MA laser mod, having 3 output faces with a common plane. By attaching combiners facing back into the splitter, unwanted outputs can be blanked off, and by feeding a horizontal splitter into another, rotated 90 degrees, beams can be split in multiple planes.

Another thought is that of a switch block, acting like a combiner, but with 2 outputs, set at 90 degrees from one another, with beam diverted to one when in the "power on" state, and to the other when in the "power off" state.

Additionally I'd like to see some non- 90 degree combiners, that are shaped like the vanilla angle blocks, designed to output at an angle of 45, 30 and 22.5 degrees angle to the grid, to allow the construction of efficient power loops and conduits without relying on rotors. Corner outputs, that emit beam at an angle to the grid in all 3 axes would be cool, but honestly are a bit too niche.

Personally, I would like laser and ion generators be able to send a "tracer" beam, that is 0 damage, purely to illuminate beam paths, when set to an output power of 1%

Finally, I'd love to see some beam-to-power blocks at some later point. I posted my suggestions in the general comments, but as this seems to be the place for suggestions, I will reiterate here:
- A 1x1 laser collector*, turns beam input into power for it's grid, at <100% efficiency
- A more efficient ion collector*, that gains efficiency at the expense of mass.
* Turrets should be able to lock on to these blocks, like laser antennas connecting
- A fusion reactor, with a series of laser inputs, IMHO, 16 of them, requiring a minimum threshold energy of 16 times the maximum laser throughput to ignite and begin consuming hydrogen, at which point it will consume hydrogen enough to generate a ton of power. Personally, I think such a reactor should be optimised to generate just enough continuous power to sustain it's feeding beams, but with clever use of laser capacitors and battery storage, can become much more efficient, only requiring a full power pulse every few seconds.
- Maybe a larger, even more powerful version for the ion beams, perhaps with fewer inputs, and perhaps using something rarer as fuel?

@Gryphorim, its better if it can be a single block with customizable exits that can change dynamicaly, instead of a lot of fixed blocks, even if that can be made. simply because the goal is to remove rotors, and each time you change the orientation of the laser, you lose power. if you are forced to make a bulky system to concentrate back all the unwanted exits you would lose more power than if you had simply split the beam directly.

for example, the most common use for a splitter is to create or break a loop for an ION beam. right now you gotta use a rotor, which is impractical as hek. if you used fixed position lasers, you can't do that without a rotor, if you use a block that constantly split, you cannot close the loop to charge, and if you just have a pass/not pass block, you cannot unlock your beam any other way than parallel to the beam/s loop

Laser Splitter block

because lots of server dont want rotors and pistons, it would be cool if you can fire the laser from a capacitor with a trigger

and maybe a kosmetic laser option too, so you have all the cool stuff but without the damage but you can change the witdh directly

Originally posted by overwerk:

@Gryphorim, its better if it can be a single block with customizable exits that can change dynamicaly,

@Overwerk, while I don't disagree, I have my concerns over a block with dynamic beam positioning as it might, in more complex systems, lag servers as each block is sending positioning data. If they are a collection of fixed blocks, the coding per block could be much simpler and overall be less resource hungry. Though I'd be happy to be proven wrong. Though I think switching blocks and splitter blocks should still be separate, even if splitters could be configurable and even if combiners could have adjustable beam output angle.

Though I think you misunderstand my intent with the switching block idea. It isn't so much pass/not-pass, as it is switching between pass-through and pass-at-side. So it can pass-at-side into a loop, then when beam is fully charged, toggle to pass-through, releasing the beam into firing pathway.

Some thoughts on angled output combiner: Perhaps 3 sides sharing a common vertex are the input faces, and act as surfaces the block can snap to the grid. Remaining 3 faces are comprised of a convex spherical lens for laser system, and a angled coil with concave face for ion. This block can then have it's output offset by sliders or discrete increments for x and y axis in menu.

Thoughts on turret systems: personally I'd like to see a 3x3x3 or 3x3x5 domed laser turret with a 360 by 90 degree arc and a flush mount 3x3x1 or 3x5x1 laser turret with limited arc to +- 45 in both x and y or perhaps +-60 in x axis (in line with 5 block long side, if this option is chosen). In early testing, I was all for an Ion turret, but I'm less sure now that I've done more testing on the power of these and laser beams. Both systems are utterly devastating, with the Ion being nigh unstoppable. Perhaps that weapon should not get a turret, as it is just so strong. Players could still make rotor turrets, in which case the raw firepower is a reward for their ingenuity. If these do get a turret, I stand by my previous requests that it be akin to the flush mount laser, with a limited arc and at least a 7x7 footprint. Also, worth noting is that Ion beams needn't have a physical turret, as a solid-state beam steering coil could magnetically redirect the beam.

SUGGESTION: Neutron Reactor.

It occurred to me as I was building the mechanical splitter for my early Mk 1 Phased Cannon Array, that these beams of raw energy zapping around would look amazing in my engine room.

I'm thinking a reactor block that can be fed uranium that can act like a laser, and a receiver block that can convert a fat beam of energy into electrical power.