Empyrion Galactic Survival vs. Space Engineers - Practical Rockets Edition - Now with more Kerbals!!!

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Three
Session Three
Space Engineers, part two

Having decided to do a bit more work on the Exploration Vehicle, I rather quickly got it back up on a piston, and started questioning why I keep trying to recover the drop pod’s battery. It seems almost inevitable that it’ll be scrapped sooner or later. At least this way, I get a free “beacon” to find it with.

I started out with two batteries on either side at the back of the EV, and then promptly redid the right one, thanks to not noticing, until it was too late, that I had installed the silly thing upside down. What a waste of nickel!


I then removed the old battery and connector, and filled in the huge hole they left. The connector would be moved to the rear of the vehicle, at least temporarily. The Automaton update converts the ejector into a small docking port, which I’ll be using then. As I was working, there was a third meteor shower.


Eventually, the interior was complete… for a given value of complete. I designed the new interior with modularity in mind. There’s room back there for four passenger seats. Up to two medium storage containers can replace two of those seats.

Empty


Revamped with cargo container and passenger seats.

The good thing about all those nearby meteor strikes is that they deposited some useful ores nearby.


By time I finished the turret, it became clear that something was… off. I originally wanted it to draw ammo from internal storage, but that required some large rotors and hinges, which looked comically huge on the EV. I tried using the smaller hinge, but the connector adapter was still too big for the vehicle chassis.


I ended up using the small rotor after all. I originally wanted to maximize the turret's field of fire, but that didn't look right. Since this thing is pretty much cosmetic, I decided to give the turret design one more iteration...



This is the Exploration Vehicle's final design. It won't be worth much of anything in a fight, since the turret can only elevate about 30 degrees and can't depress towards the ground, but then again... I'm playing solo in Space Engineers. Who am I supposed to be fighting??? :D


Tonight, my intention is to build Empyrion Galactic Survival's version of the Exploration Vehicle.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Four
Session One
Empyrion Galactic Survival

One of the more interesting things about EGS are the sheer number of "Squirrel!" moments as I play. The sheer amount of "Little Billy"-ing I did during my build of this game's version of the Exploration Vehicle was incredible, in no small part due to the quest for resources. I consider this a good thing. ;)

The round started off with me mining those nearby resources in Talon territory, now that I was on good terms with them. As it turned out, I got a bit overzealous with the mining, and ended up limping home when my Hoverbike was overloaded. It's cargo hold wasn't even full. :)


After one more trip to mine the iron, I collected my first harvest, and then had to pause to think what to do next. The portable constructor would take a while to turn all that ore into usable metals, so I decided it was time to add some "smarts" to my base until it was time for bed. Just the basics: turn off the constructor and food processor while I'm sleeping to conserve power at night, and some overrides for that behavior.




The next morning I transferred all the processed metals to my base's storage container, and ordered up the critical parts I'd need for my build. While I was waiting for that to be assembled, I took the Hoverbike to investigate the "Font of Knowledge" anomaly I'd learned about from that scientist's camp. Along the way, though, I happened to notice something as I crossed a lake. I stopped the Hoverbike, stepped onto the side panel, and deployed my drone. At last, I had found them!




As it turned out, the Talon considered fishing on their lands to be a terrible thing, but now that I knew what to look for, I could search my own lake for the signs. Since I was in the area, I figured I'd do a quick search the lakebed for anything interesting. By sheer coincidence, I discovered I'd parked right above a nugget of gold. :)

At the Font of Knowledge, I discovered that Eleon had added something new to the game: the ability to play videos! It's hardly new to video games in general, but still it made the encounter I had there just a touch more eerie than a still image would've.




It was getting late by the time I returned to base... and discovered I had run short on the critical resource "Carbon Substrate" early during the assembly process. So I turned in for the night.

The next morning, I had started across my lake towards a carbon deposit I knew about. Naturally, I spotted fish sign as I crossed, so it only took a few additional moments to complete the "Diving Fun" quest. Looking back, I would've had better luck, in the long run, just hunting predators in their territory, than running missions for them. Still, there's no reason why you can't kill two birds with one stone, right? :D


Once I got back, I reordered the missing parts, and started construction on my new Exploration Vehicle. It didn't take too long to lay out what I'd already had assembled, which at least gave me a general sense of the vehicle's layout.


Once I'd gotten it functional, I took it out for a spin. It uses the stronger hover-engines, which just provide lift. Thrusters are needed to move and turn the vehicle. Out of curiosity, I decided to leave out the translation thrusters, and it could turn well enough using a combination of front and back thrusters, but would drift laterally, so I ended up installing them anyways. With so much mass currently at the back of the vehicle (a trend that would likely continue since the cargo hold is also back there) it had a tendency to pitch up when left alone.

By the end of the night, I had all the components installed, and had started working on the body of the vehicle. The inside may be a big box, but I'm hoping that the outside won't look a floating shoebox when I'm done. Here's what I've done so far. It's currently unpainted, so it isn't much to look at the moment.


It has an oxygen station and an armor locker, and once I've got the necessary advanced constructor to build them, I'm planning to add a first-aid station and "clone chamber" to it too. It's intended to be a mobile base which I can use to explore the various structures in the game.

Next up, adding some improvements to my base in Space Engineers! But I got a nice solid block of time tonight to play games, so I'm in the mood for a little Elite Dangerous. :)
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Four
Session Two
Space Engineers

During the last episode of Space Engineers, I had finished rebuilding my Exploration Vehicle. Unfortunately, that meant that the infrastructure I'd previously built to charge it needed to be rebuilt as well. But first, I needed to add a point defense system to the base, because those meteors were getting dangerously close to my base.


I eventually had to go to the official wiki to find out what ammo that thing used, since I couldn’t find the information in-game. Which is something EGS does such a good job with, it’s fan-wiki is hopelessly out of date. I probably should’ve just dug a trench and put the entire conveyor run beneath the armor blocks, but I wanted to use the new armored variants. The two types should’ve blended together better IMO.


It took a bit of fiddling using the backup camera, but I eventually got the EV docked… I just realized I’ll be able to have the small connector on the front of my vehicles quite easily, without blocking my view. The new expansion can’t come soon enough!


I also discovered there’s a bit more of an error margin than I thought…

I did some hand mining as I waited for the vehicle to charge, because I decided not to wait to discover silver and gold before I started construction of the assembler and refinery. I may not be able to boost production, but I can at least unlock the rest of the so-called "tech tree" and increase efficiency. Once it was charged, I took it out to the "trifecta" site to start doing some mining. I was tempted to get as close as I could to my original iron mine, but I thought the mountainside might be too much for the EV.


Dawn was approaching before I finally filled the EV with 25 tons of ore.


The drive back was... interesting. I hadn't really noticed that my base was downhill from the trifecta mining site on the drive there, but I very much noticed on the way back. There's probably some settings I need to adjust, but even with the parking brakes on, I had difficulty controlling my downhill speed. There was an easy solution, thankfully: turn the EV so that I wasn't going downhill anymore. Thankfully, the configuration of the EV kept it from tipping over, even when turning somewhat sharply at what are highway speeds. Which I hadn't even considered, but none the less a happy accident. ;)


Eventually, I returned to base, connected to the base, and my basic refinery started refining my ore. I completed the assembler, and started to build the refinery. While waiting on the assembler to do its work, I chased after the inevitable goody drops.


Before I knew it, the refinery was complete. This base may not look like much, but at least it's functional.


I may replace the base assembler with its Industrial counterpart, though. I think they look better IMO. Coming up next, the hunt for silver and gold! Let's see how far I can take this oversized vehicle before I build something more practical for scouting purposes. :D
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
There is a moon base scenario / save in Space Engineers. It has some prefab stuff but the meteors always came faster than I could find ammo (magnesium?) for the guns. Base got wrecked within minutes and I never continued. Was that dialled down?
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Navigare Necesse Est said:
There is a moon base scenario / save in Space Engineers. It has some prefab stuff but the meteors always came faster than I could find ammo (magnesium?) for the guns. Base got wrecked within minutes and I never continued. Was that dialled down?
Click to expand...

Not a clue. I actually had to enable meteors just to have them as a threat, so… 🤷‍♀️
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Five
Session One
Empyrion Galactic Survival, part one

Full disclosure: the first day of this round, I was so engrossed in tweaking certain aspects of my Exploration Vehicle's purely cosmetic design, that I forgot to take screenshots of my progress! Not to mention gather my crops! Oops. 🤭


This is both EGS's greatest strength, and its greatest curse, in my opinion. While Space Engineers has closed the gap somewhat when it comes to block selection, it still has relatively few blocks when it comes to variety. Those blocks also come pre-greebled, and you can't detail the individual facets of a block. I soon reach a level of "good enough" when designing vehicles and buildings.

EGS, on the other hand, can have me hyper focus on one minor detail a purely aesthetic aspect of a ship's design. Such as the look of the "hoverpods," or what color I should paint it. It wasn't until I went to bed to get better lighting in the game that I considered its general look "done."


The top hatch, FYI, is so that I can deploy my drone, without exposing myself to dangerous conditions. I also made sure that the Exploration Vehicle was airtight, so I can deploy it (eventually) on hostile worlds.

Since the overall shape was finished, and I'd chosen its primary color, I started doing the detail work of the ship.


I had just started working on the interior of the vehicle, when real life decided it needed to interrupt me.


By the time I could return to the game, the evening was almost over, and I remembered I wanted to explore that dig site. So I called what I had done on the interior "good enough" and drove the EV over to the digsite.

Sometimes interruptions are a good thing. ;)


Here's the current exterior. I'm not happy with the lack of detailing on the ends of the "hoverpods," but that particular block has always been tricky to get right in the past.


It was a relatively short trip to the dig site, with the shredder at the front of the vehicle kindly cutting down trees and bushes that got in my way. I still had a bit of time left before bed, so I took a quick look around.



When I got up this morning, I realized that I'd forgotten two important things in my rush to get on site: a tent so I could sleep away the rest of the night (and serve as a respawn point in case I died,) and a portable constructor to turn the trees I'd cut down along the way into fuel while I was out exploring. Thankfully, my suit's survival constructor could produce both, so I just had to find some carbon deposits (which are ubiquitous) and then wait for their slow construction... which I could do while I ate breakfast.

With those in place, and fuel processing (something else I had forgotten in my rush to get on site), I had just enough time to upload the screenshots before rushing out the door to hit the fitness club in the morning. It was a short workout, which is something I try not to make a habit of. ;)

I cannot wait for all this snow to melt, so I can start combining my workouts with my commute to work again!!! Still, it's better than the alternative, in the long term. All this snow this year will help replenish our local aquafers, after what has been effectively 20 years of mild drought.


Some fun facts: thanks to the difference in avatar scaling between the two games, the EV in EGS is about the size of a large SUV. You know the type: the one that requires four parking spots, because it’s too wide and too long to fit into one spot! The one in SE is about 50% bigger. EGS’s avatar is on the petite side, even compared to the average real-life woman. SE’s is huge, even compared to the average real-life man. But thanks to its size, the SE EV has yet to kick my avatar outside the vehicle when getting out of the driver seat, or on the roof.

YET.

Coming up next, part two of my EGS round: exploring the dig sight. And then in Space Engineers, taking out my wheeled Exploration Vehicle (if only EGS had wheeled vehicle physics!) in search of silver and gold.
 
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Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Five
Session Two
Empyrion Galactic Survival, part two

The interesting thing about EGS's drone system is that it can be used to scout ahead. I rarely remember to do this, but this time I remembered, so I was able to send my drone throughout the entire structure. It tripped traps, identified potential threats, and pretty much ensured that things would go smoothly. For example, I was able to find this alien container, which held a badly needed drill.


Not to say that things went perfectly. The main threat were the "Infected," and the design of the room, while providing nice ledges for me to retreat to, also gave them plenty of cover. By the time I'd killed the last one, my armor was pretty much shredded, and I'd used over half of the bandages I'd brought with me.


The night was half gone by the time I exited the complex.


As I was driving back to base, it suddenly dawned on me that I can't guarantee that there'll be a large assembler just waiting for me to salvage it this time. So when I got home, I ordered one constructed, and then realized that I'd have to cut a hole in the roof to install it.


This, of course, necessitated a redesign of my home's roof.


Since I had a large assembler, I figured it was time to put a first-aide kit into my Exploration Vehicle. I was going to install a clone chamber as well, but that would necessitate removing one of the passenger seats. The tent should be more than sufficient in most cases... I hope!


As I waited for the various components to assemble, I also did some rework on the EV's back end. I wasn't happy with the "shark fins," especially since it made maneuvering around tight corners more difficult, so I removed them and tidied up the back a bit. This necessitated moving the turret up slightly, which meant that the ammo it carried was lost. :( Thankfully, with the new drill, it'll be fairly trivial to replace. :)






Tonight, I will hopefully be able to find some silver and gold, so I can move on to the next phase of this game: moving into space!
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Five
Session Three
Space Engineers, part one

One of the first things I did once I loaded my game was adjust the friction of my Exploration Vehicle's tires to 70%. This seems to have solved many of the issues I had while travelling downhill under a heavy load... at least I hope so. Haven't actually tested it under maximum load yet.

I was just about to roll out, into the sunset, when a goody pod dropped nearby. Figuring that was as good a direction as any, I decided to chase them, while exploring this valley.


My EV seems to be doing a lot better job than my old Ladybug when it comes to traversing difficult terrain. It isn't perfect, but I have managed to get it across surfaces that would've stopped my Ladybug dead in its tracks. I did, however, get tired of the limited field of view…



My words a few posts up turned out to be prophetic. When I arrived at yet another goody pod, and I left my seat, I found myself on the roof of the vehicle, rather than in its cabin. :)


The further I explored, the more it became obvious that there really wasn't a way out of this end of the valley via a ground vehicle. My EV may be able to cross rougher terrain, but it won't be able to handle mountainous terrain. Near the "upper" end of the valley, I did stumble upon more silver. Gold, however, remained elusive.


I was on my way to explore the "lower" end of the valley, when I realized my window to play this game last night was closing fast, and I decided I wanted to at least get some silver processing before I had to quit. I turned around, and started heading for the silver deposit closest to my base. Along the way, yet another meteor shower bombarded my base. One got close enough to my base that I could see the point defense turret firing.


After mining a couple of loads of ore, about ten tons worth, I headed back to base.


First thing I did was order up some improved tools, and then quit the game.


Next up in Space Engineers... I think I'm going to need a flyer if I want to find gold more easily, especially if the “lower” end of the valley is a closed as believe it to be. Which means I'm going be starting a new build.

I will not build another Dragonfly...
I will not build another Dragonfly...
I will not build another Dragonfly...

… you know what? This game, I wanted to do something different. Maybe it’s time to scale things up a bit…

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsFc2gguEg
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Darkfyre99 said:
Practical Rockets
Round Five
Session Two
Empyrion Galactic Survival, part two

The interesting thing about EGS's drone system is that it can be used to scout ahead. I rarely remember to do this, but this time I remembered, so I was able to send my drone throughout the entire structure. It tripped traps, identified potential threats, and pretty much ensured that things would go smoothly. For example, I was able to find this alien container, which held a badly needed drill.
...
Click to expand...
You know, that was my first thought occuring to me when you guys talked about automata in the other thread for SE. Drones for drilling, drone for camera surveillance - that kind of thing.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Navigare Necesse Est said:
Jesu Christo, I have seen cliffs in SE but this is - it looks almost a vertical cliff face.
Click to expand...
Yep. Near as I can tell, I’m pretty much boxed in by cliffs and mountainous terrain on all sides in this valley. My store does its annual inventory tomorrow, so I’m scheduled six days this week. :(. I had to stuff my usual “weekend” tasks into one day, rather than spread it over two, so I didn’t have much gaming time to do more than make a crude large grid wheeled vehicle in creative, as a “proof of concept” test. If I don’t find gold in this valley, my theme for this playthough is going to make things… interesting when it comes to atmospheric flight. ;)
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Darkfyre99 said:
Yep. Near as I can tell, I’m pretty much boxed in by cliffs and mountainous terrain on all sides in this valley. My store does its annual inventory tomorrow, so I’m scheduled six days this week. :(. I had to stuff my usual “weekend” tasks into one day, rather than spread it over two, so I didn’t have much gaming time to do more than make a crude large grid wheeled vehicle in creative, as a “proof of concept” test. If I don’t find gold in this valley, my theme for this playthough is going to make things… interesting when it comes to atmospheric flight. ;)
Click to expand...
One of the SE starts is platform at an asteroid. I had fun excavating a base. A bit tedious but a chunky hangar and viewing platform is basically all you need. Imagine the contrast: plain minimalistic base structure, then you step on view platform and look on a lucious landscape.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Five
Session Four
Space Engineers, part Two

Finally got a chance to play last night, so I started by framing out my future large grid surveyor. It's basically an ore detector, a cockpit, a battery, and wheels, with some steel blocks connecting them. I'd also add a windmill to it, so it could recharge without connecting it to a base, but as I would later discover, this wouldn’t work out. :(


I built the battery first, followed by the windmill, so that it could charge a bit while the vehicle was being built. My assembler was struggling to keep up with my welding, so I chased goody drops whenever they appeared.


As I used by backpack thrusters to fly up the mountain, I naturally find gold! Which, given my self-imposed rules for this playthrough, may be a little difficult to acquire.


The goody pod itself turned out to be precariously perched on a rocky outcropping on a sheer cliff. As soon as I removed the “treasure” within, it shifted and started fumbling downwards. I’d gotten the “good stuff,” so I gave up after a bit. This gave me a great view of the largely unexplored lower valley.


Eventually, I ran out of iron. So I drove out to the “trifecta” mine to dig out some more. Thankfully, the 70% traction setting proved to be sufficient under load.


As I was waiting for my ore to process enough iron to supply my assembler, I chased yet another goody pod up the mountain.


This gave me another look at the lower end of the valley.


I was getting ever closer to finishing assembly, when another meteor shower showed up.


Finally, the last bit of welding was done, so I cut the vehicle from the base. As soon as I did that, the wind turbine stopped operating. :(


I removed the windmill, and ordered up a solar panel, which I installed on top of the vehicle. Batteries are only at 25%, unfortunately, so I may have to recharge them before taking it out for a test drive.


Next up, visiting the supply depot in Empyrion Galactic Survival!

After that, I take this monstrosity out for a spin!
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Darkfyre99 said:
Looks like it. Make sense, though. Windmills are the best source of energy in atmosphere, bar none, so restricting their use to static grids makes them a little less powerful.
Click to expand...
I've dabbled with rotor blocks and blades a bit in From the Depths. First thing I picture is an airship with windmills.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Darkfyre99 said:
Looks like it. Make sense, though. Windmills are the best source of energy in atmosphere, bar none, so restricting their use to static grids makes them a little less powerful.
Click to expand...
You can put a windmill on a large rover and convert the rover into a station to activate the windmill, and then convert it back to a vehicle to move as you need to. I can't remember if this can be done via the menu or if you have to use merge blocks to connect the rover to the ground, but I have done it before.

The other option which I've used with great success is to whip up a quick charging station - all you need is a simple tower, a windmill, and a connector. Then you can plug in whatever mobile ship / rover you have "on the go". It takes very little effort to throw up a windmill tower. I used to do this all the time on the live server after traveling for awhile, basically making "campsites" to safely log off without losing power, back before I had unlocked reactor tech.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Practical Rockets
Round Six
Session One
Empyrion Galactic Survival, Parts One and Two

Today’s update will be a bit more sparse than normal. Yesterday while I was away from home was rather hectic, so I'm combining both updates. The first day started off with exploring the ruined Supply Depot near my base. I’d go into further detail, but I want to avoid spoilers here.


It took the better part of a day to explore. I was probably over cautious, but some EGS levels can be brutal. Eventually, I finished salvaging everything I could find from there, and returned home.


The next day, I decided to extract the remaining ore found on this tiny world.


The Exploration Vehicle did its job, allowing me to deploy my drone through the top hatch, so I didn't have to expose myself to danger while my attention was elsewhere.


As luck would have it, it looks like my Exploration Vehicle isn't as airtight as I'd thought, because when I was near the south pole, I came very close to getting killed by hypothermia. Fortunately, I thought to bring some food with me in the fridge, otherwise I would've starved to death while recovering from exposure. In the future, I'll probably make a more traditional hovercraft with the standard enclosed cockpit. ;)

As I got close to another iron deposit, I reminded of a new event that had happened, but never saw a sign of: an approaching meteor warning. It had landed on the other side of the planet, which probably explains why it was so uneventful.


The iron filled up my EV's hold, so I decided to return after exploring the last black patch


From there, I headed towards the Carbon Meteorite. Along the way, I saw a patch of fog, which I decided to investigate.



Unfortunately, the fog vanished as I approached.

At the Carbon Meteorite, I got out my hand miner, and started hand mining.


After a while, it became obvious that it wasn't being depleted at all. By the time I returned, there was still plenty of sunlight left in the in-game day, and still had a bit of time in real life to play games, so I decided it was time to tackle the last POI, the "Tech Ruins." I knew there were some armed cyborgs there, because I'd been chased away by them before I'd gotten well equipped.


I had been feeling pretty confident about my chances. I was armed, armored, and aware of the threat. I had cover, and had scouted as best I could with my drone's limited range. And I had forgotten that this was hard difficulty, and the AI was a bit smarter than it used to be...


I didn't want to lose my equipment, nor does playing this as an Iron Man game particularly appealing to me at this moment, thanks to now knowing everything about this starting world, so I returned to my hoverbike, and managed to lure the cyborgs away from my "backpack" far enough to retrieve my stuff.

I returned to base, and added a machine gun to the front of my Hoverbike. When I returned, the odds were in my favor... particularly because the pair were widely separated this time.


I got some goodies from the ruins, not to mention some valuable experience. This tiny world has now been fully explored, so it's time to decide which of the Moons of Crown to explore next, and how to get there. Besides the Temperate Moon I’m on, there's the Icy Moon, the Desert Moon, and the Swampy Moon. Each of them have rare resources deposits, which I'll need for more advanced technology, so I'll want to visit them all.

And the other question is how to get there. I've found what appears to be a teleportation system connecting the moons, so I can approach each one like a new start plus. On the other hand, I haven't yet built a spaceship in this game, or even an atmospheric flyer, so there is that. Decisions... decisions... Your thoughts are welcome. :)

Next up, though, is Space Engineers. Time to explore the lower valley in this oversized monstrosity I'd built. ;)
 

Fizzatron

Fizzatron
I have just come across this thread and I'm not done reading it yet, but it's good to see Empyrion getting some attention, it seems to be quite overlooked, at least to the degree that I'm aware of. I've been following some of the newer updates and I think I'll be giving that another shot at some point, it's probably my second favorite game of this sort next to Elite.

I also have Space Engineers and while I think it's good, I wasn't as thrilled by it, especially when there was no actual liquid water being represented in the game, it was a bit of a turn off. However, that's not to say it's no good and I hope to return to that one as well at some point. I just feel like Empyrion got the balance right when it comes to recipes etc., even with its dwarf planets and janky distance scaling.
 
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