Lock Assembly

[Starglider]

Apologies in advance if this has already been suggested; I did a search but did not find any such suggestion.

In the VAB, how about the ability to "lock" and "unlock" assemblies of parts that have been built. Control-clicking (or whatever) a part would toggle a lock on it and all other parts between it and the command pod. A normal click on a locked assembly would be equivalent to clicking the command pod (enabling movement of the ship) instead of removing the part from the assembly.

[UbioZur]

If you want to lock an assembly just to be able to move it completely without having to select the root part, you can do it by shift clicking the assembly.

What have been already suggested is to lock a sub assembly to avoid moving it on big ships, and in that case ctrl+Z does put it back where it was.

[Captain Sierra]

If you want to lock an assembly just to be able to move it completely without having to select the root part, you can do it by shift clicking the assembly.

What have been already suggested is to lock a sub assembly to avoid moving it on big ships, and in that case ctrl+Z does put it back where it was.

This is some ways of doing it now. The OP is suggesting that in the future, you could create locked subassemblies within active craft in the editors. Rather than just working with the assembly without the rest of the craft, you can import a subassembly, lock it, and then do the same for a few more, After that, you can work with massive modular craft and lifters with relative ease as they behave as a single part in the editor until it is unlocked, which could be done by grabbing it, using the lock key again (alt + G would be good) and then reattach it. Now, its however many parts it really is.

[Technical Ben]

Having some ships as "historical" or "built" could work as well. Recovered ships would be limited to their current design only, with additions. Just as the ships in orbit can be docked, but cannot be modified. This way you could have a reusable ship similar to the space shuttle that can have minour additions, but for a full change would require the dollars of cost for a total rebuild?

[KrazyKrl]

Having locked assemblies would be neat. You could recover an assembly from somewhere, and use it as an entire assembly. They could automagically appear in the sub-assembly library. And have something like "Total cost (SalvagedQuantity)" i.e.

"DockyII"  [Cost: K$3,000] [1 Salvageable(K$1,750)]

And, of course, using salvaged assemblies would have an additional bonus savings. There would need to be some type of cost-bonus applied to each part interface. So if you salvage a BACC booster with nosecone, chute, and blown decoupler manifold; it would be a bit cheaper then salvaging each part individually.

Salvaged assembly as-a-whole cost mechanics is an inevitable addition that adding reusable parts would need to have added to the game.

Edited September 14, 2013 by KrazyKrl
WYSIWYG Editor is still broken in FF24, It ate my carrage returns!