Space Engineers
- Thread starter GasBandit
- Start date
What, the explosives hidden on it to keep you from making it slow down weren't enough?
I kind of want a limpet block now... like you fire it at another ship like you'd do a warhead missile, except you can attach a connector or a merge block, making it easier to take over.
You can, but you're libel to rip off the end of your tree when you try to make the connections. Besides, you'd need to attach a merge block to the ship you want to merge with still, which is half the problem.
GasBandit
Staff member
Finished my new frigate, the Bizarre Adventure II.
She's a light raiding craft, final curb weight of 1500 tons. Acceleration of about 3m/s^2, fielding 3 gatling turrets, 3 missile turrets, 3 antipersonnel short range turrets, forward facing rocket launcher, and grinders with collector.
Now if only the lag would stop sucking so bad, so I could get some raiding done!
She's a light raiding craft, final curb weight of 1500 tons. Acceleration of about 3m/s^2, fielding 3 gatling turrets, 3 missile turrets, 3 antipersonnel short range turrets, forward facing rocket launcher, and grinders with collector.
Now if only the lag would stop sucking so bad, so I could get some raiding done!
GasBandit
Staff member
Went raiding today.
Nom nom nom.
Some other faction decided to claim the Elysium Sector beacon for their own, so naturally I had to go check it out and kill them some.
Well, as it turned out, I killed them a few dozen times, but finally one of them managed to lag-warp-teleport inside my ship and ground my medbay down so I couldn't respawn, then attacked me before I realized what happened. Another pirate from a rival faction was there and saw them swarm me after that, though, and killed them and disabled my ship's engines so they couldn't make off with it, out of professional courtesy. But unfortunately, when I got back and started to haul my ship away, he mistook me for them, and destroyed the cockpit. With no cockpit, I couldn't turn the inertial dampeners back on, and my ship just floated out into space again, with me unable to stop it. Because of multiplayer lag.
So I got a grand total of one foray out in the Bizarre Adventure 2.
And then the server crashed.
Why do I play this game multiplayer again?
Nom nom nom.
Some other faction decided to claim the Elysium Sector beacon for their own, so naturally I had to go check it out and kill them some.
Well, as it turned out, I killed them a few dozen times, but finally one of them managed to lag-warp-teleport inside my ship and ground my medbay down so I couldn't respawn, then attacked me before I realized what happened. Another pirate from a rival faction was there and saw them swarm me after that, though, and killed them and disabled my ship's engines so they couldn't make off with it, out of professional courtesy. But unfortunately, when I got back and started to haul my ship away, he mistook me for them, and destroyed the cockpit. With no cockpit, I couldn't turn the inertial dampeners back on, and my ship just floated out into space again, with me unable to stop it. Because of multiplayer lag.
So I got a grand total of one foray out in the Bizarre Adventure 2.
And then the server crashed.
Why do I play this game multiplayer again?
You REALLY need someone riding shotgun with you, if only to fight off raiders and to watch over stuff.
GasBandit
Staff member
I should have put a turret on the inside, too. I did on the first one, but didn't this time. For want of a nail, an empire fell, etc.
Grinders don't make debris unless there is no space in their connected inventories. They don't work like drills, it just goes directly into the inventory.
I think the bigger question is if that's his faction's ships he's grinding down because it has their gravity torpedo setups.
GasBandit
Staff member
That was, indeed, the George Dub I was grinding down in that last pair of pictures (both pictures were of the same ship). We'd decided that the existing design wouldn't really work as we'd hoped, and with the advent of thruster overrides, there really isn't even a need for gravity torpedos any more. So it was agreed to reallocate the resources to other things.
There was a tense moment when a couple of the torps got loose in the torpedo bay, and started floating freely, but I was able to be careful enough to grind them without setting off any explosions.
But yeah, the grinder returns the ingredients/components of something constructed with perfect conservation directly into ship inventory. They have inventory doors on their sides, so laterally they're already cargo-networked, I just needed a line of conveyors to connect them vertically, and then a tube going from any one of them to the cargo container. The frigate pictured previously had a collector in the middle of its grinders because if you grind down a cargo container that still has stuff inside it, the stuff pops out and floats there in space. It's faster to hoover it up with a connector usually than to have to stop and go out there and pick it up by hand. You could hack the container and hack/attach a cargo connector, but IMO it just saves time to use a collector with your grinders.
There was a tense moment when a couple of the torps got loose in the torpedo bay, and started floating freely, but I was able to be careful enough to grind them without setting off any explosions.
But yeah, the grinder returns the ingredients/components of something constructed with perfect conservation directly into ship inventory. They have inventory doors on their sides, so laterally they're already cargo-networked, I just needed a line of conveyors to connect them vertically, and then a tube going from any one of them to the cargo container. The frigate pictured previously had a collector in the middle of its grinders because if you grind down a cargo container that still has stuff inside it, the stuff pops out and floats there in space. It's faster to hoover it up with a connector usually than to have to stop and go out there and pick it up by hand. You could hack the container and hack/attach a cargo connector, but IMO it just saves time to use a collector with your grinders.
I think I was actually confusing "drills" with "grinders." Until close inspection of your above photos, I didn't realize there is a difference. I was thinking the same block was used for both, and it was just the terminology/purpose that was differentiating between the two.
I've since discovered the Space Engineers wiki, which is answering many of my questions.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I noticed minecraft patch releases coming less and less frequently since they started doing the Xbox and pocket editions, even though they made the same "doesn't affect pc" promises. They've been promising us a mod API since 2010, too.
The fact of the matter is going console is never a good thing for a PC game. Rather than hire an entire separate port team, I'd have rather they hired just one guy to concentrate on fixing/maintaining netcode for internet multiplayer.
But I can hear Keen's Krusty the Klown sobbing impersonation now. "Microsoft drove a dump truck full of money up to my door! I'm not made of stone!"
GasBandit
Staff member
Keen also has precedent of acting in bad faith to its customer base - their previous game, Miner Wars 2081, is a notorious example of everything that is wrong with the concept of early access. By all accounts, it never got finished, they simply released the source code and said "not doing this any more, no refunds."
If I'd known that before today, I might not have purchased Space Engineers. Now I'm locked into this ride to see where it goes.
If I'd known that before today, I might not have purchased Space Engineers. Now I'm locked into this ride to see where it goes.
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GasBandit
Staff member
So I tried something a little different tonight. I downloaded Seuss' Pitch Black Skybox mod from the steam workshop, and started a new map with 7 large asteroids
This mod does more than it sounds - it not only turns the skybox pitch black, but removes the sun and all ambient light from the level. The only light is that which ships and bases provide.
So naturally it's kind of dark, to put it lightly.
I cannibalized some parts of the standard starter ship to build a spotlight and some "interior" lights on the exterior of the ship to increase its visibility. Since I knew the game starts you more or less pointed at the asteroids, I cautiously accelerated to 10 m/s and started inching my way into the gloom... too worried that to go faster would risk smashing into something before I could react.
It was flying blind. And worse, frequent paranoid stops and starts would chew through my extremely small uranium supply in short order. I decided I would cannibalize more parts to make a small scout vessel to search for an asteroid. My power is a currency, and it would be spent much more slowly pushing around a 5 ton ship than a 155 ton one.
I am forced to cannibalize more structure, the glass in front of my cockpit for silicon, the connector, the gravity generator, a couple thrusters, and though I tried hard to avoid it, my medbay. There was just no way around it. But doing so, I managed to build a simple small scout with a couple spotlights and a battery. I couldn't complete a reactor on it because I had nothing to cannibalize for the gravel to make reactor parts other than my main reactor - which was right out. Main reactor goes down, I can't refine, the lights go out, all kinds of bad things happen.
So I manage to build it up, and connect it to the ship to charge the battery.
I had to grind down the ship's connector and rebuild it behind the scout, then ootch the large ship forward until docking was achieved. Then set the battery to charge.
I also had to basically cannibalize everything but the cockpit, the connector, the gyros, thrusters cargo bay, assembler and refinery, but I made sure to build a beacon in the big ship before I left, so that I could find it again - the lights don't reach forever in the inky gloom.
Thus prepared, I tentatively groped my way out into the darkness.
It took quite a while of yo-yo-ing out and back, out and back, around and around, every minute fraying my nerves a little more, but suddenly rock loomed up in front of me, and mineral blips appeared to my ore detector. I was surprised how close it was to the mothership, actually.. only 1.5km away. I must have traveled quite a distance before I got the idea to build the small ship for scouting.
Stopping only enough to chisel off a little gravel to make reactor components, I leave the scout ship there, floodlight pointed at the rock to serve as a visual aid at which for me to pilot the refinery ship - it only then occurring to me of course that I probably could have stuck an antenna on the scout ship too, ah well. I jetpack back to the big ship, and start piloting it toward a distant tiny smudge of light in the darkness.
I nearly hit another, smaller asteroid on the way. Ooops. But I manage to miss it, and continue and finally rendezvous with the scout ship at the main asteroid.
I re-dock the scout ship to charge up the battery some more, and while that happens, I also modify it into a basic drill ship.
My first order of business was to find some uranium to restock my rapidly depleting energy stores - I was down to half a kilo.
I find a uranium vein relatively nearby, and drill out what I can from near the surface with the rudimentary drill ship. I also get some iron, nickel, gold, and of course, rock for my trouble.
Digging in the dark can make a sane man crazy.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any silver in the asteroid yet, which will be important for rebuilding my medbay and another reactor, to start a base. I might have to mount an expedition to an adjacent asteroid, if I can find it. At least I've got a supply of uranium now. Once I find some silver, I can start on a base and get it lit up and beaconed, finish cannibalizing the starter ship for parts, and begin building up. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a rudimentary attack craft before too long, and I can take what I need from the occasional passing merchant ship - though, I'll probably have to leave the armed ones alone for quite some time.
All in all, this mod makes single player much more incredibly challenging, interesting, creepy and engaging. Light becomes an essential resource - you're fighting to keep the lights on as much as you are to keep your suit energized. Beacons/antennas become critical. A very good way to breathe some life back into single player while waiting for them to (hopefully soon) fix multiplayer netcode.
This mod does more than it sounds - it not only turns the skybox pitch black, but removes the sun and all ambient light from the level. The only light is that which ships and bases provide.
So naturally it's kind of dark, to put it lightly.
I cannibalized some parts of the standard starter ship to build a spotlight and some "interior" lights on the exterior of the ship to increase its visibility. Since I knew the game starts you more or less pointed at the asteroids, I cautiously accelerated to 10 m/s and started inching my way into the gloom... too worried that to go faster would risk smashing into something before I could react.
It was flying blind. And worse, frequent paranoid stops and starts would chew through my extremely small uranium supply in short order. I decided I would cannibalize more parts to make a small scout vessel to search for an asteroid. My power is a currency, and it would be spent much more slowly pushing around a 5 ton ship than a 155 ton one.
I am forced to cannibalize more structure, the glass in front of my cockpit for silicon, the connector, the gravity generator, a couple thrusters, and though I tried hard to avoid it, my medbay. There was just no way around it. But doing so, I managed to build a simple small scout with a couple spotlights and a battery. I couldn't complete a reactor on it because I had nothing to cannibalize for the gravel to make reactor parts other than my main reactor - which was right out. Main reactor goes down, I can't refine, the lights go out, all kinds of bad things happen.
So I manage to build it up, and connect it to the ship to charge the battery.
I had to grind down the ship's connector and rebuild it behind the scout, then ootch the large ship forward until docking was achieved. Then set the battery to charge.
I also had to basically cannibalize everything but the cockpit, the connector, the gyros, thrusters cargo bay, assembler and refinery, but I made sure to build a beacon in the big ship before I left, so that I could find it again - the lights don't reach forever in the inky gloom.
Thus prepared, I tentatively groped my way out into the darkness.
It took quite a while of yo-yo-ing out and back, out and back, around and around, every minute fraying my nerves a little more, but suddenly rock loomed up in front of me, and mineral blips appeared to my ore detector. I was surprised how close it was to the mothership, actually.. only 1.5km away. I must have traveled quite a distance before I got the idea to build the small ship for scouting.
Stopping only enough to chisel off a little gravel to make reactor components, I leave the scout ship there, floodlight pointed at the rock to serve as a visual aid at which for me to pilot the refinery ship - it only then occurring to me of course that I probably could have stuck an antenna on the scout ship too, ah well. I jetpack back to the big ship, and start piloting it toward a distant tiny smudge of light in the darkness.
I nearly hit another, smaller asteroid on the way. Ooops. But I manage to miss it, and continue and finally rendezvous with the scout ship at the main asteroid.
I re-dock the scout ship to charge up the battery some more, and while that happens, I also modify it into a basic drill ship.
My first order of business was to find some uranium to restock my rapidly depleting energy stores - I was down to half a kilo.
I find a uranium vein relatively nearby, and drill out what I can from near the surface with the rudimentary drill ship. I also get some iron, nickel, gold, and of course, rock for my trouble.
Digging in the dark can make a sane man crazy.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any silver in the asteroid yet, which will be important for rebuilding my medbay and another reactor, to start a base. I might have to mount an expedition to an adjacent asteroid, if I can find it. At least I've got a supply of uranium now. Once I find some silver, I can start on a base and get it lit up and beaconed, finish cannibalizing the starter ship for parts, and begin building up. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a rudimentary attack craft before too long, and I can take what I need from the occasional passing merchant ship - though, I'll probably have to leave the armed ones alone for quite some time.
All in all, this mod makes single player much more incredibly challenging, interesting, creepy and engaging. Light becomes an essential resource - you're fighting to keep the lights on as much as you are to keep your suit energized. Beacons/antennas become critical. A very good way to breathe some life back into single player while waiting for them to (hopefully soon) fix multiplayer netcode.
Okay... this is pretty fucking cool. You basically changed the game from outer space exploration to deep sea survival. Seriously... just change your thrusters into props and you'd be digging for rare earth metals at the bottom of the ocean.
We REALLY need to set up a small server for this.
In a stunning announcement today BT Industries has stated they will provide the first two cruisers of the Jovian Federation's defense fleet at no cost in return for continued contracts to BTI. When asked what prompted such a bold move, Chairman and CEO Fnord Bjornson had this to say, "In these dark times BTI supports the Jovian Government's buildup of a self-defense force. With the aggression of the Earth Union Armada against the Sovereign Mars State and it's ally the Belt Colonies, we can not be sure when this cold war will turn hot."
When asked about his stance on the silence of the Saturian Kingdom Mr. Bjornson would only state, "The Kingdoms have as much right to defense as we do, being on the edge of the frontier I am sure they will ally with the Confederacy if the the war turns hot. After all, if the Jovian system falls they are next in the gunsights of Earth imperialism."
Stock Photo: Two BT Industries "Europa" class cruisers.
When asked about his stance on the silence of the Saturian Kingdom Mr. Bjornson would only state, "The Kingdoms have as much right to defense as we do, being on the edge of the frontier I am sure they will ally with the Confederacy if the the war turns hot. After all, if the Jovian system falls they are next in the gunsights of Earth imperialism."
Stock Photo: Two BT Industries "Europa" class cruisers.
Gas'es new mod had me thinking... so here's this thing I threw together.
I made a tiny Nuclear sub! Well... not TINY, but small compared to some of the other builds in this thread.
Here's the production phase. Lower left is a test to see if I could do a certain something....
Forward interior. You can see the hanger bay for the mini-sub, as well as the entrance to the torpedo room.
Rear bottom view. I have two refineries acting as large engines for the props... also as refineries, because why not?
Rear view top. I built a fairly elaborate scaffold system (with cosmetic supports) that leads to the medbay.
It finishes by going around to the piloting console.
Torpedo room interior. I used small ships to make the torpedoes out of an engine, a landing gear, a power generator, a beacon and a warhead. Firing order is turn off thrusters, max override, turn off landing gear, turn on thrusters. They fly out of the standard opening door block for added fun. As for the beacon, that's actually an idea I had for Gas. Since beacons make light, why not add them to torpedoes to act as tracers in that dark environment of his? Would give you some idea of where they went when fired. In fact...
Why not just launch a few probes? This simply probe can last for HOURS, is cheap to build, and will survive impact if you keep the speed low. Better, the flat surface on the front mean the probe will try to right itself. Maybe add some spot lights to see what you hit.
And yes, that CAN fit through the door.
I made a tiny Nuclear sub! Well... not TINY, but small compared to some of the other builds in this thread.
Here's the production phase. Lower left is a test to see if I could do a certain something....
Forward interior. You can see the hanger bay for the mini-sub, as well as the entrance to the torpedo room.
Rear bottom view. I have two refineries acting as large engines for the props... also as refineries, because why not?
Rear view top. I built a fairly elaborate scaffold system (with cosmetic supports) that leads to the medbay.
It finishes by going around to the piloting console.
Torpedo room interior. I used small ships to make the torpedoes out of an engine, a landing gear, a power generator, a beacon and a warhead. Firing order is turn off thrusters, max override, turn off landing gear, turn on thrusters. They fly out of the standard opening door block for added fun. As for the beacon, that's actually an idea I had for Gas. Since beacons make light, why not add them to torpedoes to act as tracers in that dark environment of his? Would give you some idea of where they went when fired. In fact...
Why not just launch a few probes? This simply probe can last for HOURS, is cheap to build, and will survive impact if you keep the speed low. Better, the flat surface on the front mean the probe will try to right itself. Maybe add some spot lights to see what you hit.
And yes, that CAN fit through the door.
GasBandit
Staff member
I may end up using probes, though I doubt they'll be shot through doors 
don't forget in survival mode, batteries are completely drained when first created, so I'll have to link them up to the mothership via connector to charge them up before sending them out. I'll probably have to use a small ship (the drill ship) with a landing gear to "aim" the probe, at which point I might as well just use the drillship to give it a push and then release, no thruster needed.[DOUBLEPOST=1407937883,1407937746][/DOUBLEPOST]
don't forget in survival mode, batteries are completely drained when first created, so I'll have to link them up to the mothership via connector to charge them up before sending them out. I'll probably have to use a small ship (the drill ship) with a landing gear to "aim" the probe, at which point I might as well just use the drillship to give it a push and then release, no thruster needed.[DOUBLEPOST=1407937883,1407937746][/DOUBLEPOST]
Sleek design. My only critique is.. no heavy armor?In a stunning announcement today BT Industries has stated they will provide the first two cruisers of the Jovian Federation's defense fleet at no cost in return for continued contracts to BTI. When asked what prompted such a bold move, Chairman and CEO Fnord Bjornson had this to say, "In these dark times BTI supports the Jovian Government's buildup of a self-defense force. With the aggression of the Earth Union Armada against the Sovereign Mars State and it's ally the Belt Colonies, we can not be sure when this cold war will turn hot."
When asked about his stance on the silence of the Saturian Kingdom Mr. Bjornson would only state, "The Kingdoms have as much right to defense as we do, being on the edge of the frontier I am sure they will ally with the Confederacy if the the war turns hot. After all, if the Jovian system falls they are next in the gunsights of Earth imperialism."
Stock Photo: Two BT Industries "Europa" class cruisers.
GasBandit
Staff member
It makes it more interesting because, at least in single player, there really isn't any "exploration." pretty much what you can see from your starting area is all there is to the level. So once you're established on your asteroid and ready to expand out... there's nowhere to go.
This forces "exploration" back into it and cranks the difficulty up to 10.
Seriously, I had to scout for that asteroid for a looooooong freakin time. All the while the consequences of failure looming over my head. Going slow meant the mothership would have that much longer to use up its uranium... going fast meant risking smashing into an asteroid before I could see it and dying with no medbay.
This forces "exploration" back into it and cranks the difficulty up to 10.
Seriously, I had to scout for that asteroid for a looooooong freakin time. All the while the consequences of failure looming over my head. Going slow meant the mothership would have that much longer to use up its uranium... going fast meant risking smashing into an asteroid before I could see it and dying with no medbay.
There are heavy armor bulkheads internally as well as heavy armor structural beams. The whole thing is compartmentalized and uses a double hull with deadspace between layers.
Ship can take a ridiculous ammount of punishment and remain combat effective.
All stock parts.
GasBandit
Staff member
We might have to have a little creative mode fight club and put 'er to the test.
Lol you would probably win. I dont like "super duper god ships" so I intentionally engineer in weaknesses.
The Europa may be a tank but turns like a bus. Coming in judt under five million kilos she accelerates like a brick. She is ment to be the C3 of a fleet and work in tandem with Io class aegis frigates and Tunguska class nuclear bombers.
Y'all do know how to build nukes in Space Engineers right?
The Europa may be a tank but turns like a bus. Coming in judt under five million kilos she accelerates like a brick. She is ment to be the C3 of a fleet and work in tandem with Io class aegis frigates and Tunguska class nuclear bombers.
Y'all do know how to build nukes in Space Engineers right?
GasBandit
Staff member
Cargo bays full of multiple stacks of explosives components, ground down to 1-2%. When they break open and scatter, then set off the explosion. I saw a
But anyway, I have more, lighter ships - Really I only have designed the one capital ship (and as I haven't spent time redesigning it, it still has issues with blowing itself up if I let it do sustained missile bombardments), but most of my designs are for fast attack/raiding frigates with only 4-6 turrets. You know... Pirate stuff. Mostly in the 1.5-2.5 million kg range.
GasBandit
Staff member
The thing about the VRAGE engine is that, while explosions can set off other explosions, the force is merely additive, not multiplicative. Comes a point where 500 explosives at one point don't do more damage than 50. However, 100 explosives spread over a wider area do massive damage.
And the "cargo container a hair's breadth from destruction" trick is also great for rockbombs. Just put all your excess mined stone into 3 stacks in a cargo container and...
FLASH*****
In a stunning turn of events the JFDF-007 "Ranger" came under fire from an unknown aggressor. Due to quick thinking and valor by the crew and Captain Eltus Mashine, the ship sustain non casualties and was able to fend off the opponent. While no official statements have been released some are already speculating that the cold war between the Jovian Federation and Earth Union has just turned hot.
Photo: An unknown worker greets the JFDF-007 "Ranger" at Callisto Anchorage as she docks for repairs.
In a stunning turn of events the JFDF-007 "Ranger" came under fire from an unknown aggressor. Due to quick thinking and valor by the crew and Captain Eltus Mashine, the ship sustain non casualties and was able to fend off the opponent. While no official statements have been released some are already speculating that the cold war between the Jovian Federation and Earth Union has just turned hot.
Photo: An unknown worker greets the JFDF-007 "Ranger" at Callisto Anchorage as she docks for repairs.
It's not so much a rockbomb as it is an "abuse the system mechanics" bomb.
I don't doubt its efficacy, but I wouldn't want to rely on it in the face of possible patches.
--Patrick
I don't see how they could feasibly fix this one without causing all sorts of other problems.
- If they make the rocks smaller, you suddenly have small, dense, fast moving objects eating your ship instead of a big one.
- If they make smaller, less dense rocks then you could hit a point where releasing this just crashes the server instead of crashing a ship.
- If they rig it to delete all the small particles on impact, you suddenly have a great way to grief another player by launching their shit as a missile or launching a missile into their shit.
What we really need is a use for all the fucking stone and gravel we get. Like maybe we could use it to make rock camouflage or something.