Hello Launchers!
Apologies for the lack of recent updates, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes and this has slipped down my list of priorities. Now's a good time to give a little look at something I've been working on: Space Stations.
Space stations are going to be a crucial game mechanic in Launch Window, serving many purposes for your colony including refuelling, defence, habitation, and eventually even orbital ship construction. Currently, I've only implemented refuelling and I must say it's feeling pretty cool, so here's a little more about that, and how you'll design and build space stations.
Space Station Design & Construction
You'll be able to design space stations from an assortment of modules, each with their own abilities and specifications (kind of like the VAB in KSP, but restricted to cells rather than free build). Currently I only have a small selection of parts for testing, but I'm planning more expanded module categories so you'll be free to specialise your stations for whichever purpose you like.
The station blueprint you design will then need to be constructed in-orbit, requiring cargo ships to transport the relevant resources off-world to the station hub. Currently this system is still being worked on, but I can show a quick timelapse of a station being constructed for free with debug tools in space:
Rendezvous
What good is a space station if your fleet doesn't know how to reach it? You don't need to worry about that, because your fleet can.
Ships launching from the body the station also orbits will wait for the perfect moment (the Launch Window if you will) to launch, intercepting the station at the perfect moment to queue at its docking port. If your ship is coming from elsewhere (e.g., the moon), it will adjust its orbit to phase into a rendezvous with the station. This means that once you have your routes set up, you won't have to worry about constantly realigning things to match.
Usage
As mentioned above, stations can currently only be used for refuelling, but that is just the start of their usage. When you set routes, you'll be able to set 'station stops' around any world, specifying the % of fuel the ship must have from the stop. Based on that, they'll either unload fuel onto the station, or take it off and use it to extend their reach. Just make sure you leave enough fuel to land back wherever you came from...
This system is already feeling quite cool, and it's rather satisfying to watch your fleet catch up to the station, dock, and continue on their journey. I can't wait to expand this system to be even richer and deep as all of this comes together.
If you want me to feature anything else in these updates, please feel free to leave me any suggestions :)