Space Engineers - "Open" Changes Everything
- Thread starter Old Duck
- Start date
Thanks for the heads up. I still got hours to go before I can even think about logging in, so maybe the problem will be fixed by then. If not, I have my drone miner prototype to work on.
Well... I can sum up this evening's entertainment as this:
Did it get shot down or did it have technical issues?
I recently returned to earth myself. As luck would have it, as soon as I built a mighty starship armed to the teeth, I now find myself with very few enemies to fight since Kusto left. It seems the big server crash caused a number of the regulars to move on, leaving me kinda bored with my new, pretty, useless ship... So I skydived down to my little RV and went on a trip to visit some of the newer players just starting their bases on earth. I'm tempted to retrofit my exploration starship with some vertical atmospheric thrusters so I can have a bigger "home" while I'm on earth, but for now my pop-up camper will do. Fearing that someone might find my starship in low orbit and try to steal it again, I set the hyperdrive to a secret deep-space rally point, activated the jump sequence, and then separated myself from the ship (I stood up), allowing the ship to jump to this safe location without me in it. Hopefully everything went okay! I'll definitely need to use the "teleport" feature to get back to my ship now.
Here's a picture of my latest campsite:
Attachments
Most likely the latter, given that I literally walked the route it was supposed to take, ad I saw no trace of it.
The tests the night before went well... though I must admit they started out rather bumpy:
but when I went to try it live, I realized I didn’t have a hydrogen bottle, and the brief moment it took to get my in my Dragonfly, it vanished...
The grid is still in my inventory, so it must be somewhere...
I’m just glad I thoght of recording the event.
Someone told me last night that you can create your own contracts terminal, and from that issue a "recovery" contract for missing grids that you yourself (or anyone else who logs into your terminal) can accept. This will give you a general location for where that grid is. I'm still learning things!
Great... now the next nine hours are going to feel like forever, before I have an opportunity to solve this mystery...
The good news is that last night I lucked out in getting an open slot on my second try (I typically check every ten minutes.)
The bad news is that by the time I had an opportunity to play at all, I only had an hour available to me, so I didn’t have much time left to accomplish anything. First thing I did was check my info panel, and much to my disappointment, my drone was no longer in my inventory. There was an unknown small on my screen, so I built a contracts block, and gave myself a mission to check it out.
Turned out to be the hinge grid attached to my silver mine. I made sure to label it, so I won’t accidentally delete it in the future.
I then decided I’ve played around with my new toys long enough, and started assembling my Starbird Space Surveyor. I was originally going to attempt to “3D print it,” using a small grid welder attached via connector to my base, but thankfully I had time to test run my idea in creative, so I ended up doing it by hand instead. Once I get my space station up and running, it’ll be time to industrialize ship production.
How I was going to accomplish this feat was at the front of my mind when I want to bed last night. I wasn’t looking forward to it, thanks to needing several trips to haul the parts necessary to start assembly in situ. If the mass of the components weren’t a problem, then their volume would be. When I got up this morning (a bit early), there was one thought in my mind:
Once I found an ideal location, I could convert the Starbird’s Cryo-Chamber into a Survival Kit, and build the necessary parts there. The Starbird should even had sufficient lift capacity to carry 12 tons of refined metals into “orbit”. I even had abasic layout in mind!
Operation Damocles was a go!
I look forward to seeing how far I can get on this tonight. The main stumbling block is going to be finding a good location to set up shop. Unlike single player, setting up my space station right above my base is is not a good idea. So it may be a while before construction can begin.
The bad news is that by the time I had an opportunity to play at all, I only had an hour available to me, so I didn’t have much time left to accomplish anything. First thing I did was check my info panel, and much to my disappointment, my drone was no longer in my inventory. There was an unknown small on my screen, so I built a contracts block, and gave myself a mission to check it out.
Turned out to be the hinge grid attached to my silver mine. I made sure to label it, so I won’t accidentally delete it in the future.
I then decided I’ve played around with my new toys long enough, and started assembling my Starbird Space Surveyor. I was originally going to attempt to “3D print it,” using a small grid welder attached via connector to my base, but thankfully I had time to test run my idea in creative, so I ended up doing it by hand instead. Once I get my space station up and running, it’ll be time to industrialize ship production.
How I was going to accomplish this feat was at the front of my mind when I want to bed last night. I wasn’t looking forward to it, thanks to needing several trips to haul the parts necessary to start assembly in situ. If the mass of the components weren’t a problem, then their volume would be. When I got up this morning (a bit early), there was one thought in my mind:
Once I found an ideal location, I could convert the Starbird’s Cryo-Chamber into a Survival Kit, and build the necessary parts there. The Starbird should even had sufficient lift capacity to carry 12 tons of refined metals into “orbit”. I even had abasic layout in mind!
Operation Damocles was a go!
I look forward to seeing how far I can get on this tonight. The main stumbling block is going to be finding a good location to set up shop. Unlike single player, setting up my space station right above my base is is not a good idea. So it may be a while before construction can begin.
Open play offers new challenges, but it also offers opportunities, like players helping players. So for example, if you need help hauling supplies into orbit, I'd be happy to drop down in my bigger exploration ship and let you load it up. I've utilized the help of other players a few times now, and it's been very handy and fun gameplay as well.
In other news, the server has been surprisingly empty during the times I check in. A lot of the regulars haven't been around for about a week or so. Not sure what that's about. I've been considering my future role in the game now that agitators like "Harry" are gone. I have this gunship eating up lots of PCU, yet I've got nobody to shoot at. This wouldn't be an issue if we had more PCU, since then I could have a fleet of ships, but....
I pretty much play games like this because I really enjoy the early phase of the game: when resources are limited, technology is primitive, risks need to be taken to advance, and failure is always an option. Devising a cunning plan that pushes the edge of my capabilities, and then executing it, is where the fun is at for me. You helping me out is kind of like skipping over the best part.
It’s also why I decided to give multi-player a go. Not just for the different challenges MP brings, but because the reason for starting over next time won’t be because I’d gotten bored, but because another player sent me back to the beginning... though maybe not all the way back, if I play my cards right.
It’s also why I decided to give multi-player a go. Not just for the different challenges MP brings, but because the reason for starting over next time won’t be because I’d gotten bored, but because another player sent me back to the beginning... though maybe not all the way back, if I play my cards right.
Speaking of starting over....
I'm strongly considering moving to a new server. Once again Keen's server is a mess today, and I'm done wasting my time with them. I found a very fast, stable, and friendly server with extra perks like NPC encounters, scripts, a "no griefing" rule, 10x the PCU per player, and a very active and nice server admin. Basically it's consensual PvP only via faction wars. On the other hand, it's a 1-1-1-1 server, meaning it's extra challenging, something that sounds right up your ally.
I don't know if you'd be interested in following me over or not, where you're playing a lone wolf CMDR (I totally get it), but if you have problems logging in to Keen or dealing with lag, you might want to check out 147.135.94.60:27015. It's "Star System / Space Engineers" Server.
Let me know if you're going to move or not. I have no problem starting over, especially if the base rules are more realistic.
In the mean time, I'll flexing my newfound knowledge of how the game works. Testing things in a survival environment, especially online, can produce very different results vs creative.
The "more realistic" is what's giving me pause, because I'm already feeling the "pain" of a limited carrying capacity. I'll play around a bit and see how I like it. I do like the increased PCU, the existence of NPCs, no limits on things like welders IIRC, etc. The most important thing is stability and a healthy / friendly player base.
BTW, I would still likely log into Keen once a week to keep my "stuff", just in case conditions there improve. I'm pretty much built everything I can with the PCU I have, so it's not a big deal using the new server for building and the old for just goofing off.
UPDATE - I confess that this "hard mode" is also kinda addictive. I decided to try starting in space, and since on this server we can keep our spawn ships, it's more about fixing up my current ship than building something totally different. It kinda has a NMS feel to it.
Last edited:
Well... last night was an adventure.
The TLDR version:
The longer version...
The TLDR version:
The longer version...
At last, it was time to go to space. I grabbed the seven tons of refined metals that would be assembled into the start of my space station, and lifted off. The atmospheric thrusters proved to be insufficient to lift off, so I added a bit of thrust override to my hydrogen launch thrusters. Soon, something weird happened.
I started losing rotational control of my vehicle. If I'd been playing Kerbal Space Program, I'd blame it on a net thrust vector that wasn't aligned with the vehicle's center of mass. If I'd been playing EGS, I would've thought the same. But this was Space Engineers, where thruster placement doesn't matter... at least it's never mattered before. The ship had been perfectly level, so that shouldn't be happening. Every test I'd performed on this ship had worked as expected.
This time, it was different.
Eventually, I decided the launch was unrecoverable, and popped the chute... and discovered that I hadn't loaded it with canvas.
Unfortunately, I waited too long to bail out, and smashed into the ground before I could activate my jetpack. Fortunately, I only crashed a kilometer from base.
I tested the ship in creative, and it worked as expected until I added my cargo... and left it in my inventory. When I added the cargo into my ship's inventory, I everything worked as expected. It was only when I left it in my inventory, in an effort to save mass, and thus hydrogen, that this happened.
Way to exploit the character inventory system, me! I lost over two hydrogen tanks worth of fuel, destroyed part of my ship, and I didn't even get into space.
I started losing rotational control of my vehicle. If I'd been playing Kerbal Space Program, I'd blame it on a net thrust vector that wasn't aligned with the vehicle's center of mass. If I'd been playing EGS, I would've thought the same. But this was Space Engineers, where thruster placement doesn't matter... at least it's never mattered before. The ship had been perfectly level, so that shouldn't be happening. Every test I'd performed on this ship had worked as expected.
This time, it was different.
Eventually, I decided the launch was unrecoverable, and popped the chute... and discovered that I hadn't loaded it with canvas.
Unfortunately, I waited too long to bail out, and smashed into the ground before I could activate my jetpack. Fortunately, I only crashed a kilometer from base.
I tested the ship in creative, and it worked as expected until I added my cargo... and left it in my inventory. When I added the cargo into my ship's inventory, I everything worked as expected. It was only when I left it in my inventory, in an effort to save mass, and thus hydrogen, that this happened.
Way to exploit the character inventory system, me! I lost over two hydrogen tanks worth of fuel, destroyed part of my ship, and I didn't even get into space.
SECOND LIFE
Tired of Keen's buggy, restrictive servers (Keen is the new Frontier it seems), I went looking for a private server to join. I found one with limited character inventory and factory speeds. I wasn't sure if I'd like these limitations or not, but I confess that I'm finding the extra challenge to be kinda addictive. I decided to do the "Lost In Space" start, where like Tony Stark after Infinity War, I'm stranded way out in the middle of nowhere with a very basic ship and supplies. I'm many thousands of km from any planet, so I will literally be "lost" for weeks to come.
Drilling by hand is very slow because my backpack fills up incredibly quickly. This made attaching a drill to my ship a top priority.
Building this drill by hand was no trivial feat with this "hard mode" inventory system, but I finally have it so life should be a bit easier going forward. The next thing I need is to add cargo storage, but that requires cobalt, so I've got to build an ore detector and go hunting. Thankfully I found lots of iron right off in a cluster of asteroids, so I should be able to slowly start construction on a proper ship and maybe even a starter space station.
This "hard mode" survival version of the game does change the feel of things. Salvage is much more useful right now, so I'm chasing every lost satellite that passes through this backwater, like Tom Hanks in Castaway. With refineries and assemblers being much slower than I'm used to, salvaging premade components is actually more compelling than just mining (something I didn't find to be the case in the default 3-1-3-3 setting). I will probably add a grinder to my ship once I reach the shipping lanes and can find some proper wrecks to salvage.
This new server also provides 10x the PCU and no limits on key components like drills and welders, so I'll be able to be more creative and free in my designs. It also has scripting, which I prefer to write myself for things like monitoring power utilization and inventories. It also opens the door for some more advanced automation down the line (for example, turning off my power-hungry refinery when the sun shifts and the solar panels can't keep up with the loads).
I'm not abandoning the old server completely, but I do think my efforts will be spent on this new server. Keen is clueless when it comes to running their "official" servers, but the people behind this server are passionate and know what they are doing. Performance is terrific and the settings are much more compelling. This is my "second life" in Space Engineers Online!
Tired of Keen's buggy, restrictive servers (Keen is the new Frontier it seems), I went looking for a private server to join. I found one with limited character inventory and factory speeds. I wasn't sure if I'd like these limitations or not, but I confess that I'm finding the extra challenge to be kinda addictive. I decided to do the "Lost In Space" start, where like Tony Stark after Infinity War, I'm stranded way out in the middle of nowhere with a very basic ship and supplies. I'm many thousands of km from any planet, so I will literally be "lost" for weeks to come.
Drilling by hand is very slow because my backpack fills up incredibly quickly. This made attaching a drill to my ship a top priority.
Building this drill by hand was no trivial feat with this "hard mode" inventory system, but I finally have it so life should be a bit easier going forward. The next thing I need is to add cargo storage, but that requires cobalt, so I've got to build an ore detector and go hunting. Thankfully I found lots of iron right off in a cluster of asteroids, so I should be able to slowly start construction on a proper ship and maybe even a starter space station.
This "hard mode" survival version of the game does change the feel of things. Salvage is much more useful right now, so I'm chasing every lost satellite that passes through this backwater, like Tom Hanks in Castaway. With refineries and assemblers being much slower than I'm used to, salvaging premade components is actually more compelling than just mining (something I didn't find to be the case in the default 3-1-3-3 setting). I will probably add a grinder to my ship once I reach the shipping lanes and can find some proper wrecks to salvage.
This new server also provides 10x the PCU and no limits on key components like drills and welders, so I'll be able to be more creative and free in my designs. It also has scripting, which I prefer to write myself for things like monitoring power utilization and inventories. It also opens the door for some more advanced automation down the line (for example, turning off my power-hungry refinery when the sun shifts and the solar panels can't keep up with the loads).
I'm not abandoning the old server completely, but I do think my efforts will be spent on this new server. Keen is clueless when it comes to running their "official" servers, but the people behind this server are passionate and know what they are doing. Performance is terrific and the settings are much more compelling. This is my "second life" in Space Engineers Online!
Since @Old Duck found such a marvelous server, I decided to follow him.
Again, I chose the Alien Planet start. Of all the starts I've tried, including space, it's the one I like the most. It's the perfect combination of restrictions, limitations, and freedom to the capricious of RNG. Not finding a source of ice for life support can really ruin a start.
I initially started in the mountains, but I felt that being surrounded by ice made things a little too easy. I may not need it to provide me with oxygen, but obtaining a supply of it is part of the "Quest towards Space" that is my main motivation in this game. So I decided to respawn, which dropped me in a nice little desert environment. It's nice, open, and flat.
I didn't have to worry about my starting pod despawning while offline, so I was free to take things at my own pace. Naturally, real life conspired to provide me as a peaceful morning, free of distractions. It was fun to actually lose myself completely in playing a game for a change. I decided to adapt the starting platform design for the orbital base from the Keen server game, and adopt it as my start. It makes a nice little starting platform. This is about as far as I got yesterday morning. The absolutely vital battery block was about 30% completed when I took this picture. It needed a lot of nickel, and I'd just made two trips to my nearby mine (a hole in the ground) with as much nickel as I could carry before logging out. Ores take a long time to process, so I let my equipment do their thing.
By the time I logged in again this afternoon, the nickel was just about processed, and the remaining power cells were almost completed. Once I got them installed, it was time to turn to converting what was left of the escape capsule into a flying machine. I definitely wanted to chase the odd supply drop, mostly for their parts, plus I'd found sources of gold, silicon, and ice. The latter two may have been accessible by a ground vehicle, but I had to traverse rough terrain to get to the former. The use of a newly acquired projector block made recreating my Dragonfly a breeze. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to finish it.
I'd also discovered that I'd been dropped 500 meters away from a cluster of iron, nickel, and cobalt, which is in easy driving range of my base.
When next I had a chance to log in, I finished the Dragonfly... and almost dropped it on its back when I released the legacy landing gear. Thankfully, I'd already set up some trusses and pistons ahead of time push it in the right direction, rather than after the fact in order to roll it over the right way, damaging two engines and the gyro, thus wasting valuable nickel and iron in the process.
...
I am getting way to good at this sort of thing.
...
Anyhoo, once the Dragonfly was done, I was able to fly over to my 13th century mine, and use my 21st century mining tools to get more nickel, iron, and I'd dug my way to the nearby cobalt deposit as well, so I mined some of that ore as well.
By the time I'd logged out for the night, I had delivered several Dragonfly loads of Iron Ore to my base, and ordered up the parts I needed to build oxygen tank, so I could detach that air vent stuck to the side of my survival kit. I may have declared it Pizza Hut Saturday, decided not to go the health club today, and put off getting my car's oil change (quit nagging, you're still at 20% oil life)... but the basic infrastructure was in place.
Totally. Worth. It.
...
I really should've used that iron to transform my Dragonfly into it's mining configuration.
...
I got up early this morning, brain full of ideas on how to build the things I need to build things, including the realization that I should've built the parts for a miner instead. Eager to rectify that situation, I declared a Subway day for lunch at work, grabbed a couple of slices of desert bread, a glass of milk, and proceeded to rectify the situation as much as possible. I only needed one trip to the mine to get enough iron level up my little D-Fly.
And not a single crash, lag spike, or server reset.
...
Oh, and I accidentially used what little ice I had remaining to add 1.5% more oxygen to the tank when I built it. At least I know where to get more.
I really can't wait until I get home this afternoon. I've got an idea for a 3D vehicle printer I want to prototype, a refinery to build, more vehicles to prototype, ores to extract and refine... so much stuff to do, so little time.
Again, I chose the Alien Planet start. Of all the starts I've tried, including space, it's the one I like the most. It's the perfect combination of restrictions, limitations, and freedom to the capricious of RNG. Not finding a source of ice for life support can really ruin a start.
I initially started in the mountains, but I felt that being surrounded by ice made things a little too easy. I may not need it to provide me with oxygen, but obtaining a supply of it is part of the "Quest towards Space" that is my main motivation in this game. So I decided to respawn, which dropped me in a nice little desert environment. It's nice, open, and flat.
I didn't have to worry about my starting pod despawning while offline, so I was free to take things at my own pace. Naturally, real life conspired to provide me as a peaceful morning, free of distractions. It was fun to actually lose myself completely in playing a game for a change.
I decided to adapt the starting platform design for the orbital base from the Keen server game, and adopt it as my start. It makes a nice little starting platform. This is about as far as I got yesterday morning. The absolutely vital battery block was about 30% completed when I took this picture. It needed a lot of nickel, and I'd just made two trips to my nearby mine (a hole in the ground) with as much nickel as I could carry before logging out. Ores take a long time to process, so I let my equipment do their thing.By the time I logged in again this afternoon, the nickel was just about processed, and the remaining power cells were almost completed. Once I got them installed, it was time to turn to converting what was left of the escape capsule into a flying machine. I definitely wanted to chase the odd supply drop, mostly for their parts, plus I'd found sources of gold, silicon, and ice. The latter two may have been accessible by a ground vehicle, but I had to traverse rough terrain to get to the former. The use of a newly acquired projector block made recreating my Dragonfly a breeze.
Sadly, I didn't have enough time to finish it. I'd also discovered that I'd been dropped 500 meters away from a cluster of iron, nickel, and cobalt, which is in easy driving range of my base.
When next I had a chance to log in, I finished the Dragonfly... and almost dropped it on its back when I released the legacy landing gear. Thankfully, I'd already set up some trusses and pistons ahead of time push it in the right direction, rather than after the fact in order to roll it over the right way, damaging two engines and the gyro, thus wasting valuable nickel and iron in the process.
...
I am getting way to good at this sort of thing.
...
Anyhoo, once the Dragonfly was done, I was able to fly over to my 13th century mine, and use my 21st century mining tools to get more nickel, iron, and I'd dug my way to the nearby cobalt deposit as well, so I mined some of that ore as well.
By the time I'd logged out for the night, I had delivered several Dragonfly loads of Iron Ore to my base, and ordered up the parts I needed to build oxygen tank, so I could detach that air vent stuck to the side of my survival kit. I may have declared it Pizza Hut Saturday, decided not to go the health club today, and put off getting my car's oil change (quit nagging, you're still at 20% oil life)... but the basic infrastructure was in place.
Totally. Worth. It.
...
I really should've used that iron to transform my Dragonfly into it's mining configuration.
...
I got up early this morning, brain full of ideas on how to build the things I need to build things, including the realization that I should've built the parts for a miner instead. Eager to rectify that situation, I declared a Subway day for lunch at work, grabbed a couple of slices of desert bread, a glass of milk, and proceeded to rectify the situation as much as possible. I only needed one trip to the mine to get enough iron level up my little D-Fly.
And not a single crash, lag spike, or server reset.
...
Oh, and I accidentially used what little ice I had remaining to add 1.5% more oxygen to the tank when I built it.
At least I know where to get more. I really can't wait until I get home this afternoon. I've got an idea for a 3D vehicle printer I want to prototype, a refinery to build, more vehicles to prototype, ores to extract and refine... so much stuff to do, so little time.
I finally have a rudimentary Starbase on the new server. It's good to research things in Space Engineers, because there are some counterintuitive mechanics at play that can affect efficient designs. For example, a basic refinery is actually faster than a large full-scale refinery. Now a full-scale refinery can be made faster using speed modules, but if one wants fast refining at low power and material requirements, it's actually more efficient to have multiple small basic refineries than one large refinery with speed modules. That said, I still need a large refinery to process the special ores like uranium, gold, etc. My current Starbase has four basic refineries working in parallel and a large refinery that focuses on heavy ores. This is needed because this server is set to "hard mode" when it comes to refinery efficiency and speed, so it takes a long time to refine ores, so the more refineries, the better.
The other new experience I'm encountering is the need for aggressive power management. This is the first time I've started in space, and this means solar power for everything until I eventually build a nuclear reactor. Solar is not that efficient, and I'm really pushing my power limits on multiple fronts. I enjoy a challenge, mind you, but it's definitely taking some getting used to.
In other news, karma bit me in the butt this morning. An NPC freighter passed close by, and being Jack Sparrow stuck on his little island in the middle of the ocean, I though I might commandeer that freighter for my own use. Had I pulled it off, I would have had a wealth of salvage from which to build my own ship, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and instead of gaining a ship, I gained a new enemy (sorry @Darkfyre99, this means you did too) and lost my only rifle. I was so close! I guess I'll just stick to mining and manufacturing for now.
The other new experience I'm encountering is the need for aggressive power management. This is the first time I've started in space, and this means solar power for everything until I eventually build a nuclear reactor. Solar is not that efficient, and I'm really pushing my power limits on multiple fronts. I enjoy a challenge, mind you, but it's definitely taking some getting used to.
In other news, karma bit me in the butt this morning. An NPC freighter passed close by, and being Jack Sparrow stuck on his little island in the middle of the ocean, I though I might commandeer that freighter for my own use. Had I pulled it off, I would have had a wealth of salvage from which to build my own ship, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and instead of gaining a ship, I gained a new enemy (sorry @Darkfyre99, this means you did too) and lost my only rifle. I was so close! I guess I'll just stick to mining and manufacturing for now.
Eh... what's life without a little adventure? Given I haven't seen a single NPC yet, I'll be fine for a while.In other news, karma bit me in the butt this morning. An NPC freighter passed close by, and being Jack Sparrow stuck on his little island in the middle of the ocean, I though I might commandeer that freighter for my own use. Had I pulled it off, I would have had a wealth of salvage from which to build my own ship, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and instead of gaining a ship, I gained a new enemy (sorry @Darkfyre99, this means you did too) and lost my only rifle. I was so close! I guess I'll just stick to mining and manufacturing for now.