It’s been two weeks since we unveiled the new ship editor, and it’s still improving every day. We’ve been changing a whole bunch of data structures to facilitate how it works, switching from a custom text format to a JSON based format for templates. We’ve got mirrored tile placement, tile painting (only tiles like Hull Plating will be paintable), mounts and components. We’re getting rid of thrusters as a unique component type and merging them with engines. Mounts - Specifically “Component Mounts” are something completely new. They have two major considerations, type, and size. Type will determine what kind of component (weapon, engine, bridge, etc) can be placed in the mount. Size is a qualifier that will also affect what component can be placed. Cheap, low powered engines might be “small” (or even “micro”) and perfect for a ship like the Venture, while the bigger cruisers (like a Trailblazer) might need “large” or “gigantic” engines to move their mass, and in relation their mounts will need to support those sizes. Additionally you’ll be much more free to mix and match tile types. You’ll be able to swap out incrementally from Tritanium to Magnesite to Bonivium or even replace some tiles with Rock (or more exotic materials) if you really want. We’re really aiming to open up creativity and choice for construction. The same rules apply as before, tiles must share an edge (so no diagonals) in order to be considered joined. We’ve got some other stuff in the works but they’re not quite ready to be talked about. We’re still discussing it, but we’re leaning towards releasing the ship editor as a standalone test, to allow players to try it out sooner and give feedback. We should know in the next two weeks.