It's like Space Engineers instead. In that game, there's three types of engines: atmospheric, ion, and hydrogen. Atmospheric and ion engines run off electricity and only work well in atmospheres and space respectively. Hydrogen runs off hydrogen, naturally. You get can get electricity from solar, uranium, and hydrogen, all of which have advantages and drawbacks... except hydrogen which doesn't really have any decent advantages.
At any rate, the only thing I had time to do yesterday was conduct the engine testing. I used engines with very similar thrust, with the "Jet" Thruster providing 10 kilo-Newtons more thrust IIRC. Here's the results:
Output wise, there isn't much of a difference. "Jet" Thrusters get about the same amount of thrust as normal Thrusters do, but consume considerably more power. They even work in space without losing any power. I did notice one important difference: their mass. "Jet" Thrusters mass less than the normal ones do. Given that they also scale up much more than the normal ones do, if you've got vessels that require thrust in the mega-Newton range, the jet variety would be the way to go, despite the power costs.
Almost identical, IMO. The main difference is that to repair blocks or devices in SE, you need replacement parts. In EGS, you need to have a working multi-tool, which requires a specialized promethium-based (rare element that’s also a power source) power cell.
Edit: for bases and capital ships, there’s also higher tech damage control systems. They require the same power coils which is driving me to search off planet for a good source of the raw element I lack.
Still playing Space Engineer, not much else to say. Gonna try to read Batman White Knight and see how it goes. Kinda disappointed with cape comics but this one been well recommended so it's worth a try.
www.nerfnow.com
At any rate, the body of the ship is about as finished as its ever going to be. Needless to say, what I had pictured in my head looked a lot better. Definitely need to put in the functional components and interior spaces first, and then try to make it look good from the outside.
I always suspected that ED bridges were overlarge due to aesthetics. Given how a minimally scaled bridge looks relative to this small ship, I no longer have any doubts.
Fun fact: this ship is about 8% the “cubed” (as opposed to actual) volume of an Imperial Eagle, but about 3/5 the mass. I am, however, using heavy steel blocks for everything. And, of course, those nacelles are rediculously huge in comparison.
It turns out that you can only have one pentaxid tank per ship. If the shield drains the pentaxid tank, you could find yourself stranded near a planet and it’s moons, unable to perform a warp jump.
The starboard nacelle is relatively empty in an attempt to balance the ship properly.
Dang it, I forgot to see what decorative options I have besides these...
Way too big for what I need. Sure, I can fill it up with cargo containers, but I doubt the thrusters could handle that much mass, given my experiences with my original Flying Brick. And mow for the statistics. These are maneuvering thrusters only. I haven’t added main thrusters and the extra-lift thrusters.
Okay... I’ve somehow got negative forward thrust. I must’ve forgot to replace those thrusters with more powerful ones, like I did the rest.
But you know what? This monstrosity looks fugly as sin. I don’t care if this is a “throw away” game. I can do better than this. I want to do better than this. I’m going to tear this thing apart, and give it a third go. Functional sections first, and then I can plan the exterior. Learning from failure makes perfect!
It took the last three of my scavenged multi-tool power cells, but I salvaged what I’d already built. Thankfully, I do have a small supply of promethium ore to make more cells, thanks to doing a few odd jobs for the Tal in exchange for mining rights. As I finished breaking down the old build, I noticed something weird.
I can work with this. Implementing my new design plan, I started with the human spaces. I used carbon fiber “thin wall” variants to block out the floor plan. Space includes a raised cockpit, 2m x 3m “living area,” a 1m x 2m, airlock, and a one meter wide access corridor connecting the two. The corridor needed to be 3.5 meters long, so that the Warp Drive wouldn’t irradiate anyone.
In the airlock is an armor locker and an O2 station, to support EVA. There’s also a switch, which will operate the boarding ramp and outer airlock door.
Next came the major, non-thruster components of the build. The warp drive weighs as much as the shield generator and pentaxid tank combined.
Next phase, I moved the pentaxid tank from above the shield generator to the outside so it could function as an attachment point for the nacelles. I also separated the fuel tanks, because I had an interesting idea. Next, I inserted the the maneuvering and lift thrusters, so they would be arranged around the ship’s center of mass. Finally, I filled in most of the remaining space with modular cargo containers. When attached to a cargo controller, it equalizes the mass inside them, though they’re relatively “expensive” early in the game.
I also added an ammo controller under my feet.
It was at this stage I decided to give it a brief test flight, primarily so I could install the landing gear. I was wondering why it was acting so sluggish, so I checked the statistics. It turns out the Warp Drive requires a massive amount of computer resources. And more computer resources requires, of course, more flux coils. Two, in particular.
Time to scavenge a wrecked ship for thrusters that can be broken down for parts. Wrecks are frequently guarded by Zirax Drones, and naturally I could salvage the parts I needed.
While I was there, I hauled a massive thruster back to base to be broken down for parts as well. It turned out I was going to need those parts after all. Installing a level one processor wasn’t enough. I needed a level two as well. And for that, I needed small optomic matrices, and to make that, I needed gold. I either needed to raid a heavily fortified Zirax base, or explore the alien ruins in the hope of good fortune...
What is that noise? That hideous, hideous noise???
I think I may have been better off facing the Zirax...
But you know what? This monstrosity looks fugly as sin. I don’t care if this is a “throw away” game. I can do better than this. I want to do better than this. I’m going to tear this thing apart, and give it a third go. Functional sections first, and then I can plan the exterior. Learning from failure makes perfect!
I've been redesigning some of my Krait as I build it block-by-block in survival mode (Space Engineers). I'm actually amazed how GOOD one can make a ship look with the right techniques. I give kudos to Frontier, because the Krait is a nice-looking ship that translates easily into "simple" geometry. It's a nice size, too, because the bigger the ship, the easier it is to make look good with big blocks, yet it is not TOO big for a single pilot like myself to manage.
Something else I've done is take a minimalist approach to my redesign, which makes things cleaner and more fun. I'm specifically talking about the engineering / hangar bay, which makes up the bulk of the volume in my build. Originally I had a refinery, assembler, O2/H2 generator, etc. I have since stripped all those things out. Part of this is for ascetics, but also I want more of a challenge when I go into space. Being able to easily convert ice and ore into fuel and parts is "unrealistic" to me. So now I will need to plan ahead, packing spare parts, extra O2 bottles, etc. If I run into serious trouble, I have my survival kit, so I can build a small refuel station on an ice 'roid if need be or salvage a wreck for spare parts. This is what makes the game fun IMO, much better than "nothing can go wrong" exploration. Dare I say it, exploration will be DANGEROUS for a change
At any rate, I pressed on. I had gold to find, and I wasn't about to let a bunch of scary noises spook me. Nor the lack of environmental lighting deeper into the ruins. Nor the narrow passages, deep shafts, or tight corners. Actually facing the creatures? Thankfully I remembered I had a drone on call, before leaping down that shaft!
I wonder if this “Legendary Plasma Rifle” is the best hand weapon in this game? It really lets you keep the creepy crawlies at a safe distance. At least I can synthesize ammo for it now.
At any rate, I managed to shoot my way through the hordes of giant bugs, and reached the loot at the end. Not only did I find the gold was looking for, but a small amount of neodymium as well. I should still reserve the ingots for until after I finish scavenging some of the wrecks that are scattered about this planet.
Returning home, I deposited my loot, and start fabrication of the T3 (I misspoke earlier, the T2 was already installed) computer bank. While my Advanced Constructor was working on that, I started the aesthetic work, starting with the access corridor.
With that finished, I moved on to the exterior shape of the ship. It’s a pity we can only have one plane of symmetry active at a time. Mirroring the bottom half on the top half of the ship is going to be... interesting.
Fun fact: the open control seat has you dismount to the left.
Fun fact number two: I need to install two T3 computer banks to get everything running smoothly.
Fun fact number three: the actual computer hog was the deflector shield.
I’m going to see if I can use logic to make due with just a tier 2 computer bank. IIRC, I’m not that far over the limit.
I’m not entirely happy with the ramp up to the cockpit being inside the living area. Extending the cockpit forward 1.5 meters might make it look better... assuming I can find the appropriate transition blocks.
At last, the Planet Hopper is done. The top of the ship ended up looking a little different from the bottom of the ship. Part of that was I started tapering the bottom too soon, and the slope blocks started eating into my living space. Most of that was the fact that there isn’t much variety in the window blocks, so I couldn’t do what I’d originally planned. As I write this up, I’ve got an better idea for the cockpit for this type of ship, that I’ll save for my future Alpha 12 game.
One thing I’ve learned with this play through is to include exterior access points to equipment bays. It makes changes and upgrades so much easier.
The airlock. It’s the size of a small closet, but it does it’s job. I added circuit logic so both doors can’t be opened at the same time, which is superfluous, given that doors have atmospheric shields when the ship has power.
The living quarters. Bed, small kitchenette/desk, and the control seat. Not pictured: the attachments for waste disposal system. . It’s a pity that there are no small ship furniture decorative options, like there are with doors.
And of course the inevitable stats:
Maximum dimensions: 10m x 11m x 4m
Mass: 27.4 tonnes
Imperial Eagle: 34.7m x 31.2m x 7.1m
Mass*: 115 tonnes
*With B-rated components for maximum durability
Naturally, I took the ship out for a spin to the nearby planets. I needed to find good supplies of neodymium and gold. I quickly discovered that the ship wasn’t airtight, despite my best efforts. I also discovered I hadn’t switched to my EVA suit, despite putting it in the airlock armor locker, and was quickly freezing to death on top of suffocating. I then learned that it was possible to glitch out of my cockpit when I get out of the control seat while the ship was in motion.
Thankfully, the ship soon came to a stop about half a kilometer away. I got myself situated, and prepared to jump to a new world.
The planet Opis and its moon. A frozen wasteland, with deposits of sathium, neodymium, but no gold.
Also, there are Zirax on that planet, with some large, overpowered drones. I discovered the hard way that the shields won’t absorb all incoming damage. Given that I was taking plasma fire, and had a lightweight hull, I same out pretty good. It did consume a rather generous proportion of my pentaxid reserves.
Note the cracks in the canopy.
I also saw a Polaris capital ship in the distance. Soon afterwards, I was attacked by cold-adapted proto-avians. Good thing too. In my haste to test the ship out, I forgot to pack food.
While on the planet, I picked up some Sathium and a generous helping of Neodymium (in Zirax territory, naturally), but left some room in case I found gold somewhere. I checked out Opis' moon (nothing), then jumped out to the next planet, Rheila. It had rings, supposedly with gold. I flew through the rings on my way down to the surface, and when I left, but didn't notice any obvious surface deposits, and small ship sensors don't currently work out in space. Alpha 12 will allow small ship sensors to work in space, though. No gold on the surface, though.
Visited Rheila's moon too, before I jumped back to my to base Traess, without the gold I'd hoped to find. I salvaged another wreck on the surface of the planet, and then, after one too many Zirax raids, I finally decided to return the favor. I attacked the nearby Power Station.
I used Flying Brick for the attack, because it has a smaller profile and is more nimble. Knocked out the patrol drones from above, destroyed their single gun turret, and expended the rest of my ship's ammo on the patrols outside. After that, I stormed the base with a suit of heavy armor and the legendary plasma rifle I'd found while scavenging among wrecked ships. Took enough damage to use four bandages, but in the end, the base was mine!
Naturally, I looted everything valuable from place afterwards, leaving it dead in the night. I'll come back later to salvage the rest of it, when I have the appropriate equipment.
The biggest prize I found was a pair of force field barriers. They were nice find, because they could be broken down for the parts I needed to build the other half of a T2 Repair Bay I'd found in a wreck. I was looking forward to not having to manually repair the base after a Zirax attack. Turns out that it doesn't work to repair bases. It's to repair small craft, and maybe also repair capital ships. I hope.
Next project on my agenda: Build a hovercraft I'm going to call the "Salvage Noelle," an overpowered hovercraft specifically designed to salvage larger structures, and return them safely to base to be used for other projects. Assuming I have have enough to make the functional components, of course.
Alright, I couldn't leave the ship looking like the way I left it. Darn you, attention to detail and pride! Spent tonight's session redoing the cockpit and living quarters, so that they look better.
Behold! The Planet Hopper Mark II? III? maybe IV? Yes. Mark IV!
Now with a good looking cockpit canopy, with the added bonus of being air tight! The living quarters no longer seem quite as cramped, either.
Still wouldn't want to get out of the chair and move around while in space, though.
You can tell it's airtight, because I don't have my helmet on, and I'm not freezing to death.
Oh, and the little "O2" icon is lit in the lower left corner.
I do like Empyrion too, especially the building aspect.
Development it's chucking along nicely, so i'm looking forward to Alpha 12, so are a few of my mates.
I sort of like that they haven't officially released it yet, even though perhaps they could have, considering the amount of content and polish the game already has.
While there have been periods (earlier on) where i felt not much updating seemed to happen, there are also periods of frantic content updates and patches.
I never had any worries that this game won't be continued to be developed and eventually completed.
Space Engineers shall have the praise of probably being the Landmark title in this particular sub genre, but sadly i struggled with it personally and got a refund.
But if you like SE, there is every chance you'll enjoy Empyrion as well.
I keep meaning to ask - does this game have proper orbital mechanics? Heck, ANY heliocentric orbital proximity would be nice. I'm not a fan of static planets, revolving suns that SE, NMS, and so many other games have. I understand why they do (voxels), but seeing videos with what looks like a proper map of a solar system for EGS makes me wonder if perhaps they pulled off something a bit more realistic.
I guess I should just be happy that worlds are round and not flat like Minecraft, but I want more.
I keep meaning to ask - does this game have proper orbital mechanics? Heck, ANY heliocentric orbital proximity would be nice. I'm not a fan of static planets, revolving suns that SE, NMS, and so many other games have. I understand why they do (voxels), but seeing videos with what looks like a proper map of a solar system for EGS makes me wonder if perhaps they pulled off something a bit more realistic.
I guess I should just be happy that worlds are round and not flat like Minecraft, but I want more.
Depends upon what you mean by "proper" orbital mechanics. On the one hand, EGS definitely fakes its day/night cycle, and I see no evidence yet that planets have seasons, despite evidence of axial tilt. On the other hand, I've got plenty of evidence that objects, POIs, and other things, including any moons, aren't in static in the "orbital space" above a planet. That being said, your ship still flies in straight lines to get to its destinations, as opposed to proper orbital mechanics like Kerbal Space Program.
On the other other hand, here's a comparison of the solar-system map, when I first went into space, and this morning.
Given that both maps are taken from the same "point of view", it looks like they've moved along their orbits a little bit, but their relative distances remain the same. Too soon to tell on that front, I guess.
The headline feature of Salvage Noelle is to be the "tool turret," and naturally its the one thing I don't have the components to make at this time. As a result, my last couple of sessions have been me raiding nearby Zirax bases, and looting anything rare or high-tech that I can find there. I've got plenty of flux coils now, but the last high-tech component, or the materials to make it, have eluded me.
On a more positive note, I found a pair of night vision goggles. That's going to make night time operations a little easier.
Depends upon what you mean by "proper" orbital mechanics. On the one hand, EGS definitely fakes its day/night cycle, and I see no evidence yet that planets have seasons, despite evidence of axial tilt. On the other hand, I've got plenty of evidence that objects, POIs, and other things, including any moons, aren't in static in the "orbital space" above a planet. That being said, your ship still flies in straight lines to get to its destinations, as opposed to proper orbital mechanics like Kerbal Space Program.
I'm just looking for something simple where the sun is the center of the system and planets revolve around it. In SE, everything is stationary, with the sun moving in the sky like Apollo's chariot. This is what bugs me. There is no moon rise or set, for example. In my main save, I crashed on the other side of the planet (when we start in an escape pod), and now I have to move my base to the opposite side if I want easy access to the moon. Ideally the moon would slowly revolve around the "earth" and I could plan my moon landings for when it is overhead. Heck, the way it currently is, I can build a space elevator connecting the earth and moon, something that somebody actually did IIRC.
That's really all I need. I'm fine not having KSP orbital mechanics. I can live without axis tilt and seasons. I'd even be okay if planets didn't revolve around the sun, but just rotated instead. That would provide enough of an "illusion" of a real solar system to check my immersion box.
You're lucky that I enjoy testing this kind of thing, you ancient mallard you. Of course, the Zirax attacked my base while I was setting up the test, so I had to rush back and defend it.
Moonrise confirmed.
You'll notice that I'm in night vision mode. This particular moon is rather dark, so it's hard to see in visible light. Probably explains why I hadn't noticed this before. I think its even the appropriate phase for this time of night. I think I'm going to have to stop calling EGS' day/night cycle "fake."
Squeezed in another session today, one that involved looting, pillaging, and finally some long awaited building.
As I was breaking down the nearest Zirax base, I discovered a hidden "alien storage" container, which always contains rare items. It had gold and neodymium, but no zascosium, or something that could be broken down for zascosium... at least so I thought at the time. I needed zascosium to make power coils, as well as to alloy with neodymium, both of which I needed for the tool turret.
After three trips, it was time for another Zirax attack. They came bearing gifts, which I gratefully accepted.
Powercoils! Two of them. I needed just one more, and the second could be broken down for the zascosium. Another two coils, and I could build my tool turret!
It was at this point I decided to see what else required zascosium in one form or another, so I could keep an eye out for it as I looted Zirax bases. As I was looking at the advanced constructor's list of devices for which I had "insufficient resources," I had an "Wait... didn't I just find one of those things?" moment. I'd recently found a second Tech-2 Repair Bay, which could be broken down for power coils, zascosium, as well as zascosium alloys. I was going to save it for my eventual capital ship, but I needed that stuff NOW. So I tossed it into my recycler, and broke it down for parts.
Anticipating my future Tool Turret, I set about designing the Salvage Noelle. Naturally, I started with its chassis. The nice thing about hover vehicles, is that you don't have to heavily armor the bottom. Hover engines, maneuvering thrusters, generator, sensors, fuel tank, ammo bay, and cargo could all be installed along the bottom. I also included some support for the hovercraft's turrets. Once they were in place, I would remove them. The six hover engines should be able to lift over 400 tons of cargo.
Next, I installed the cockpit and all four turrets: three miniguns and the tool turret at the back. I popped a little fuel in the tank, and tested out the drive and maneuvering systems. Unfortunately, I didn't test the turrets at this time. Otherwise, I would've noticed a major flaw in its design.
Unjustly satisfied with my tests, I added the armor, painted it, detailed it, and then paused to take a selfie. Behold, the Salvage Noelle, Mk One.
It is at this point I realized I should test the weapons systems, and discovered a major flaw in my design: the turrets are only capable of about 60 degrees of "elevation", and very little declination! Their current placement meant I had some serious gaps in their firing arcs! So I ripped out the turrets, and set about correcting the flaws I'd found.
After I fought off another Zirax attack, of course. I'd forgotten to enable the base defenses this time, so the Flying Brick took a bit of unnecessary damage. Thankfully, the first repair bay I found was able to fix it right up, especially after I'd discovered I can put resources in it in advance.
Eventually, though, the modifications were complete. Behold! The Salvage Noelle, Mark Two!
Normally, only one of the turrets on the top of the ship can be deployed at any time.
Like a Shield Generator... assuming I can find the parts.
Once complete, I set out to test it... without loading the ammo first. So I turned around, loaded the ammo, and set out once again! And encountered a bug that crashed the game. Thankfully, I'd thought to back up the game not long before, so I didn't lose much progress. It's still in Alpha, after all, so I suppose encountering another fatal bug had to happen sooner or later.
Ever since I discovered that the moon does rise, I’ve been distracted by what’s in the night sky. Not a good idea when there are nocternal predators about. The moon is definitely waxing, as it rises later and later in the night. It’s a pity the background stars don’t rotate as well.
I get distracted by what’s in the night sky IRL as well, especially since Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are visible in the southern sky when I get up for work. Last week, the sky was so clear, and my better eye night adjusted, that I forgot what I was supposed to be doing at that time... namely pay attention to a dark road while I bicycled to work. I’m lucky I got away with just a skinned elbow.
I’m hoping I can get a good feel for it’s orbital period.
I also made some improvements to the Salvage Noelle. First, I installed a wood harvester on the front, so I can cut down any trees that come between me and the two Zirax installations I’m tearing apart for parts. The second is add more thrusters to the rear of the Hovertank, which I can activate when carrying a heavy load. I discovered the hard way that just because it can lift 400 tons, doesn’t mean it can move that much quickly, especially uphill.
On a positive note, the tool turret really rips through a structure I own, and it can do so at a considerable range. It took only two trips to remove the top half of a former Zirax power station. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any other hidden goodies in the process.
Took another picture of the system map. Still not sure if I’m seeing actual movement or not. The realistic scale the system map operates at may be incompatible with the compressed spacetime scale of planetary and orbital maps.
Too soon to tell on that front, I guess.
