Well, you can hide under your bed the rest of your life - I won't judge. As for myself, I'm enjoying multiplayer.
Space Engineers - "Open" Changes Everything
- Thread starter Old Duck
- Start date
Who said I dont play MP?Well, you can hide under your bed the rest of your life - I won't judge. As for myself, I'm enjoying multiplayer.
I've successfully designed and built an underground rocket silo with a new and improved exploration rocket to go with it. Here are top-down views with the blast doors closed and open. This was my prototype in creative mode, which I created a blueprint from and then built underground on my survival server.
Here I am walking (in stills) from my main living quarters to my rocket via gantry tunnel.
Here's the rocket from the bottom of the silo, looking up, for a sense of scale.
Ready for liftoff! Open the blast doors and retract the supply line.
This new rocket has the equipment needed to mine and process basic materials that I might find in space, along with a way to bring them back.
My rocket has extendable solar panels which I deploy once I'm in space (ie - I bring the materials and weld them on myself, LOL).
This is a purely exploration vehicle - no defenses except running, but it can take a bit of punishment before being destroyed (I've tested weapons on it in creative). Hopefully I'll stay clear of space pirates!
Here I am walking (in stills) from my main living quarters to my rocket via gantry tunnel.
Here's the rocket from the bottom of the silo, looking up, for a sense of scale.
Ready for liftoff! Open the blast doors and retract the supply line.
This new rocket has the equipment needed to mine and process basic materials that I might find in space, along with a way to bring them back.
My rocket has extendable solar panels which I deploy once I'm in space (ie - I bring the materials and weld them on myself, LOL).
This is a purely exploration vehicle - no defenses except running, but it can take a bit of punishment before being destroyed (I've tested weapons on it in creative). Hopefully I'll stay clear of space pirates!
Very nice! 
Like an idiot, I keep getting griefed by the server. I'm still learning the rules, but long story short - I got caught in space during a server reboot, and I didn't have my survival kit turned on, which means after the reboot, I respawned back at my base, with my rocket "up there" somewhere...
Thankfully I am able to "whip up" a replacement rocket relatively easily, thanks to the blueprint and projector system in my silo, but still, it's a pain! I got to write these daily server reboot times down and avoid them (the idea is to be in a cryo pod on reboot to stay safe). I thought I would be safe in the cockpit of my small rocket, but I guess not. This seems like an oversight on Keen's part, but live and learn.
Thankfully I am able to "whip up" a replacement rocket relatively easily, thanks to the blueprint and projector system in my silo, but still, it's a pain! I got to write these daily server reboot times down and avoid them (the idea is to be in a cryo pod on reboot to stay safe). I thought I would be safe in the cockpit of my small rocket, but I guess not. This seems like an oversight on Keen's part, but live and learn.
I made it back to earth in my new rocket! "I'm on my way, I'm on my waaaaay, home sweet home."
The parachute helps conserve fuel, allowing me to land on the ground with ease.
However, once down, moving the rocket into the missile silo is tricky, precision flying, and it burns up a lot of H2 fuel...
So once I parked my rocket, I did some experimentation and made the following modifications.
Those atmospheric thrusters are enough to hover the rocket as I maneuver it into the silo, saving lots of fuel. They are also enough to get the rocket to a decent altitude before having to kick in the main hydrogen thruster, so this will help save fuel on the ascent as well!
The parachute helps conserve fuel, allowing me to land on the ground with ease.
However, once down, moving the rocket into the missile silo is tricky, precision flying, and it burns up a lot of H2 fuel...
So once I parked my rocket, I did some experimentation and made the following modifications.
Those atmospheric thrusters are enough to hover the rocket as I maneuver it into the silo, saving lots of fuel. They are also enough to get the rocket to a decent altitude before having to kick in the main hydrogen thruster, so this will help save fuel on the ascent as well!
A few days ago I had my first PvP encounter on the server. I was in my scout jet, which was not built with combat in mind, and took a beating in my very brief encounter with the enemy. Thankfully I survived and was even able to limp the ship home (my enemy was merciful, I think), but it became clear I need a better ship. So I began prototyping in creative mode.
My favorite looking ship is the one on the left (my "Eagle") in the picture above, followed by the center one (my "Vulture"), with last place going the brick-like "Asp" on the right. Unfortunately the right ship has the best survivability of the three ships.
The middle ship is built with heavy armor, but heavy armor is a bit rubbish on small ships, only offering real protection against small arms fire. The amount of weight it adds greatly reduces maneuverability, and being nimble is probably the best way to survive in a small ship. I didn't want a bullet sponge (cough ED cough), but I was hoping for a little more protection than this armor offers, especially for the weight cost.
I had built that heavy ship first, only to see it die very fast under fire (shooting my own ships in creative is great fun). The exposed large thrusters are a great weakness, as just a few stray bullets knock them out. That's when I modified the design to come up with the flying tank on the right. The thrusters are actually underneath the turrets and behind a pair of batteries, so the enemy has to destroy these before taking out my propulsion. I switched to light armor, which is better than nothing, and it also makes this boxy tank much zippier than the heavy Vulture. I can also haul quite a bit of cargo in this ugly box. In fact, that's really my only complaint, that it's ugly.
My "Eagle" is my pride and joy from a design perspective, but I switched out the two large thrusters for six small thrusters, and that ended up being a mistake. My thinking was this would give me redundancy for about the same amount of thrust, but one large thruster is definitely better than three small, and with those three smalls being close together, shots taking out one can easily take out the other two. So while this is my favorite design visually, it's inferior to the ugly Asp.
But I'm not done yet - I'll keep experimenting to see if I can come up with a design that gives me the best of all worlds - toughness, maneuverability, and beauty! Until I come up with this new perfect ship, the ugly Asp is the one I'm flying on the live server. It may be ugly, but it should give my adversaries a challenge.
My favorite looking ship is the one on the left (my "Eagle") in the picture above, followed by the center one (my "Vulture"), with last place going the brick-like "Asp" on the right. Unfortunately the right ship has the best survivability of the three ships.
The middle ship is built with heavy armor, but heavy armor is a bit rubbish on small ships, only offering real protection against small arms fire. The amount of weight it adds greatly reduces maneuverability, and being nimble is probably the best way to survive in a small ship. I didn't want a bullet sponge (cough ED cough), but I was hoping for a little more protection than this armor offers, especially for the weight cost.
I had built that heavy ship first, only to see it die very fast under fire (shooting my own ships in creative is great fun). The exposed large thrusters are a great weakness, as just a few stray bullets knock them out. That's when I modified the design to come up with the flying tank on the right. The thrusters are actually underneath the turrets and behind a pair of batteries, so the enemy has to destroy these before taking out my propulsion. I switched to light armor, which is better than nothing, and it also makes this boxy tank much zippier than the heavy Vulture. I can also haul quite a bit of cargo in this ugly box. In fact, that's really my only complaint, that it's ugly.
My "Eagle" is my pride and joy from a design perspective, but I switched out the two large thrusters for six small thrusters, and that ended up being a mistake. My thinking was this would give me redundancy for about the same amount of thrust, but one large thruster is definitely better than three small, and with those three smalls being close together, shots taking out one can easily take out the other two. So while this is my favorite design visually, it's inferior to the ugly Asp.
But I'm not done yet - I'll keep experimenting to see if I can come up with a design that gives me the best of all worlds - toughness, maneuverability, and beauty! Until I come up with this new perfect ship, the ugly Asp is the one I'm flying on the live server. It may be ugly, but it should give my adversaries a challenge.
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Those are some nice looking ships. Even your "ugly" one looks okay to me. Makes me wish I had enough free time to prototype things in creative more often.
Even your "ugly" one looks okay to me. Makes me wish I had enough free time to prototype things in creative more often. I've gotten pretty good at whipping up ships really quick in creative. Making a basic, small, functional ship is easy (it's the same basic recipe). The hard part is making it look good, especially when it comes to angling armor blocks.Makes me wish I had enough free time to prototype things in creative more often.
I've come up with two new ships - one is a relatively tough and fast bird, but it's heavy and power-hungry:
Because of the weight and the cockpit, this really isn't the best exploration ship. For that purpose, I through both form and defense to the wind, building myself a hippy RV that's really light and has everything I need to "camp out" in the field.
BTW, the reason all these earth ships are green is for camoflage - it makes it really hard to see these from the air, and since these are parked more than not (server is always running), this really does help. Eventually I plan to build a larger hangar bay like I have for my space rocket - it will be wider but not as deep.Then I can paint my jet a better color
I encountered my first major player base, something that looks like the Hydra base from Avengers: Age of Ultron (it's even in the snowy mountains). It is HEAVILY defended, completely obliterating my little explorer RV. So I came back in my SR-71, landed a distance away, and softened up some of the defenses from the ground using my space legs, a nice hiding spot, and my handy sniper rifle. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, so when I took the jet in to test the defense, I took a bit of a beating.
The good news is this new jet can take a bit of a beating and still keep flying. Notice that one of my cargo containers was destroyed, along with a vertical thruster and various armor plates. But because the armor also forms an exoskeleton of sorts, my plane stayed together and in the air!
This base will require special ops infiltration - it's too well defended to take on in a direct air assault. See, there IS a purpose to "space legs" after all!
The good news is this new jet can take a bit of a beating and still keep flying. Notice that one of my cargo containers was destroyed, along with a vertical thruster and various armor plates. But because the armor also forms an exoskeleton of sorts, my plane stayed together and in the air!
This base will require special ops infiltration - it's too well defended to take on in a direct air assault. See, there IS a purpose to "space legs" after all!
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I gave up on SE years ago because Keen seemed to have dropped the ball on optimising the game and a lot of other stuff to do with their tech back in that day. I had created quite an extensive universe there.
It looks like it's a completely different game now. Perhaps it's time to take another look...........
The last update was a major optimization update, which really makes a difference on the server. That said, it isn't perfect. I've lost multiple ships and rovers thanks to a "fall through the earth" bug, which seems to be related to the server, as it never happens to me in single player. Yesterday I was hit with a huge lag spike right as I was coming in for a landing, which resulted in a crash instead. All these things are related to gravity, so I should have these problems when I get into space. I'm also learning how to work around these things to hopefully avoid any more ship launch (like do not fly through canyons at 100m/s when the server is full during peak internet hours).
The server environment also has some interesting challenges when it comes to logging off, the game continues without you. It's taken me awhile to understand how to properly use cryo-pods and medical stations to preserve my life and inventory while offline, especially since I only have a base and small ships at the moment. I've started to build "campsites" in different locations around the planet, so I can go out on long multi-session exploration trips without dying when I'm logged out. I wish small ship cockpits would sustain me like a cryo-pod, not sure why Keen makes things so difficult in this regard. In fact, it encourages me to stay logged in AFK if I'm waiting for something like a battery to recharge, which is probably NOT what Keen prefers.
I've met some potential trading partners in the game. "Met" in that I've talked to them in the system chat. I've got one fellow in particular interested in giving me uranium, which I can't get on earth. Meanwhile I have access to lots of gold, which I guess is rare out in space. But getting up into space is no trivial matter, so I couldn't drop what I was doing to meet this trader yesterday while he was playing.
Do not fear, my friends, because I had an epiphany! I'm going to build a drop box on an asteroid in orbit over the planet, where players can exchange uranium and platinum for gold or other resources at their convenience. Then I'll go up and empty / resupply the box at my convenience. Thankfully the game makes sharing GPS coordinates easy, so I can share the location with those select few I trust. This should also greatly reduce the likelihood of being ganked, though I suppose someone could easily steal from my box since it'll be based on the honor system.
Player-to-player trading = BIG SMILE
Do not fear, my friends, because I had an epiphany! I'm going to build a drop box on an asteroid in orbit over the planet, where players can exchange uranium and platinum for gold or other resources at their convenience. Then I'll go up and empty / resupply the box at my convenience. Thankfully the game makes sharing GPS coordinates easy, so I can share the location with those select few I trust. This should also greatly reduce the likelihood of being ganked, though I suppose someone could easily steal from my box since it'll be based on the honor system.
Player-to-player trading = BIG SMILE
A Tale Of Two Servers - "Multiplayer is the best of modes, multiplayer is the worst of modes."
While I'm loving my new online life in a shared, always "on" galaxy, there are a bunch of caveats that keep biting me in the butt. The respawn mechanic is one such caveat that keeps biting me. I've lost a number of ships thanks to parking out on the other side of the planet or out in space, logging out, only to log back in later back at my base with my ship far, far away... It appears I need both a survival kit and a cryo-chamber to keep myself "tethered" to my ship, which isn't a big deal on a big ship or base, but small ships are a different story. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.
The other very interesting aspect of living on a server is that my stuff exists and continues to run regardless whether or not I'm logged in. I've used this to my advantage, queuing up large production and refinery quotas before logging off, for example, to later log in with all that work done. Since it will be a long time before I have a frame shift drive, I'll need to cover vast distances in sublight, which can take many hours. So I'm experimenting with auto-brakes, using timer blocks to bring my spaceship to a stop after a period of time elapses, regardless if I'm logged in or not.
To perform these experiments, I build an actual functioning lab table in my little lab room. I'm using a small block subgrid because it's way easier to work with small timers for running tests. I need to make sure these timers will work regardless if I'm online or not. So far, so good! The table is kinda ugly, however, but I can make it fancier later.
TLDR - I built a functional lab where I'm performing real in-game server-based experiments!
While I'm loving my new online life in a shared, always "on" galaxy, there are a bunch of caveats that keep biting me in the butt. The respawn mechanic is one such caveat that keeps biting me. I've lost a number of ships thanks to parking out on the other side of the planet or out in space, logging out, only to log back in later back at my base with my ship far, far away... It appears I need both a survival kit and a cryo-chamber to keep myself "tethered" to my ship, which isn't a big deal on a big ship or base, but small ships are a different story. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.
The other very interesting aspect of living on a server is that my stuff exists and continues to run regardless whether or not I'm logged in. I've used this to my advantage, queuing up large production and refinery quotas before logging off, for example, to later log in with all that work done. Since it will be a long time before I have a frame shift drive, I'll need to cover vast distances in sublight, which can take many hours. So I'm experimenting with auto-brakes, using timer blocks to bring my spaceship to a stop after a period of time elapses, regardless if I'm logged in or not.
To perform these experiments, I build an actual functioning lab table in my little lab room. I'm using a small block subgrid because it's way easier to work with small timers for running tests. I need to make sure these timers will work regardless if I'm online or not. So far, so good! The table is kinda ugly, however, but I can make it fancier later.
TLDR - I built a functional lab where I'm performing real in-game server-based experiments!
I wish some other game allowed that...... no names.Player-to-player trading = BIG SMILE
I've been exploring my home planet, finding lots of interesting things. What I like about player assets is that everything I find has a story behind it. For example, here is an abandoned fort and capital ship. It seems all the "good stuff" was stripped away, either by the owner or looters. I went ahead and helped myself to some salvage as well, but I'll leave the main footprint of the fort intact as a memorial to the engineer who built it.
Here is a massive capital ship that somebody is building out on a frozen lake. I've not seen any activity around this ship, so I don't know if its abandoned or not, but I don't currently have the heart to cut up such a masterpiece, so I'll leave it for now.
What's this? I dunno, but it was a fun little find. I'm sure there is a story behind it. I'll probably salvage it for metal if I come across it again. Picking up "trash" in the game is actually beneficial, since it removes unnecessary assets from the server. I do make sure things like bases are truly abandoned before salvaging them, however. I would hate for someone to come along and "salvage" my base!
Here's an actual active starter "base", with a player sleeping inside his cryochamber! If I were a griefer, I could destroy the base and kill the player (forcing him to respawn in random escape pod drop), but that's not how I play. I want other players to enjoy the game and add to this wonderful shared world, so discouraging them like this would be counter-productive. Oh, and I actually got an idea from this player, as I never considered orienting my windmills this way. They seem to be spinning at full speed, so I might adapt this for my own base!
Not all player influences are structures. Here is a series of craters that are not natural, nor are they the result of drilling. No, this was either a crash site of a very large ship, or the result of bombardment. I didn't find any remains, so all I have is the mystery of "What happened here?" But that's the cool thing, something DID happen here at one point, and that's history that I can still see remnants of today!
And finally, one of my own contributions to this world. I've discovered the best way to survive logging off the server for more than a few minutes, while out exploring, is to build a "campsite" with its own cryopod. I also attach a connector so I can "plug in" my ship while offline to let it recharge. Here is my first remote campsite in a scenic area far from my main base. I plan to sprinkle these across the planet as I explore, eventually having a network of campsites for future trips.
I have come to realize that to properly explore space, I'm going to need a large grid ship. I've been working in creative mode to build the perfect explorer, and I think I've come pretty close. The hard part was "sculpting" the hull so it doesn't look like a flying box, but at the same time I want to keep the overall design small, simple, and functional. Here is what I came up with:
There are two internal sections. The aft section includes cargo, the necessary cryo pod and survival kit, life support, and auxiliary control stations. The front section is a very spacious and open bridge from which to enjoy the views as I slowly transit space at sub-light. To free up space, things like the hydrogen tanks are external nacelles, O2 tanks are the "struts" that join those nacelles to the ship, and other components like timer blocks, batteries, etc. are integrated into the hull itself. Here are some images:
I've done extensive testing in creative mode, and this ship is surprisingly fast, maneuverable, and tough. It's no warship, but it can survive a skirmish. It's also light enough to land on a 1G world using the vertical thrusters.
So now to build this in survival mode. This would be easy in solo mode, but in "open" multiplayer mode, construction presents a challenge. You see, my base is mostly underground and hard to see from the air. If I were to build this monster near my main base, I could invite attack not only on this ship, but my home. Here is an image of the ship parked on a frozen lake. Notice the red circle - that's me standing on the ship, so "small" ship is relative in this case.
My current plan is to find an out-of-the-way location to build a rudimentary "shipyard" of sorts. It's going to take days if not weeks to build and fuel this ship, so I'm preparing myself for the possibility it will be discovered and destroyed, but if my shipyard is far enough from my home base and simple enough (just the essentials) to build this ship, then I won't have that much to lose. Once I get this ship up into space, it should be safe, because space is BIG and I'll be in "normal space" the entire time.
There are two internal sections. The aft section includes cargo, the necessary cryo pod and survival kit, life support, and auxiliary control stations. The front section is a very spacious and open bridge from which to enjoy the views as I slowly transit space at sub-light. To free up space, things like the hydrogen tanks are external nacelles, O2 tanks are the "struts" that join those nacelles to the ship, and other components like timer blocks, batteries, etc. are integrated into the hull itself. Here are some images:
I've done extensive testing in creative mode, and this ship is surprisingly fast, maneuverable, and tough. It's no warship, but it can survive a skirmish. It's also light enough to land on a 1G world using the vertical thrusters.
So now to build this in survival mode. This would be easy in solo mode, but in "open" multiplayer mode, construction presents a challenge. You see, my base is mostly underground and hard to see from the air. If I were to build this monster near my main base, I could invite attack not only on this ship, but my home. Here is an image of the ship parked on a frozen lake. Notice the red circle - that's me standing on the ship, so "small" ship is relative in this case.
My current plan is to find an out-of-the-way location to build a rudimentary "shipyard" of sorts. It's going to take days if not weeks to build and fuel this ship, so I'm preparing myself for the possibility it will be discovered and destroyed, but if my shipyard is far enough from my home base and simple enough (just the essentials) to build this ship, then I won't have that much to lose. Once I get this ship up into space, it should be safe, because space is BIG and I'll be in "normal space" the entire time.
I've started my first asteroid outpost, and I think this may be where I end up building my exploration ship. It's a whole new feel compared to building down on earth, kinda like a new game play in a different environment. I've had to make multiple trips in my small-grid rocket to bring supplies from my base up to the staging area, but after this next trip I should have everything necessary to make this base self-sufficient: power, a basic factory, and basic life support. Then I can start mining the local asteroids and start building a rudimentary shipyard!
On a different note, everyone is welcome to comment on this thread, even if it kinda reads like a "dear diary" thread. I'd love to get more Elite Dangerous fans hooked on Space Engineers, perhaps even on the server I'm playing
On a different note, everyone is welcome to comment on this thread, even if it kinda reads like a "dear diary" thread. I'd love to get more Elite Dangerous fans hooked on Space Engineers, perhaps even on the server I'm playing
On a different note, everyone is welcome to comment on this thread, even if it kinda reads like a "dear diary" thread. I'd love to get more Elite Dangerous fans hooked on Space Engineers, perhaps even on the server I'm playing
There’s actually one thing I was kind of curious about:
I’m kind of curious why you decided that a heavily defended player’s base was a challenge to assault, as opposed to a “No Trespassing” sign.
I actually have "No Trespassing" signs (though they are friendlier than that). This base had offensive defenses, meaning that the turrets were programmed to target neutrals, thus shooting me down for just flying overhead. That's what put the base on my enemy list. I'm not complaining, mind you, because I do like a challenge, but I don't go shooting up every base I find just for the fun of it, only those that shoot at me first.