They used to work on ore bits. It's how I used my starter ship on my early days. Did hand mining until equiping a ship mounted. The gravity gen was to keep the hand-mined stuff together and not fly off to space. Easier collection too.
Space Engineers - "Open" Changes Everything
- Thread starter Old Duck
- Start date
You're not the first one to say something like this, but I'm confused - gravity generators are kinda "end game" IMO. It's a whole lot easier to find materials for and build a ship-mounted drill than it is to build a gravity generator.
I have implemented the same idea, however, using natural gravity to gather ores in a collector. Look back near the beginning of this thread and you'll see how I positioned a collector in the floor of my mine, allowing me to hand drill to my heart's content while ores just roll downhill into the collector. This offered me flexibility and simplicity that a mounted drill system would not have had (especially since I was also shaping this underground area for future base expansion).
The starter scenario gave me a ship with grav generator when I played the first time. It was a revelation playing with the gravity generator - I wouldn't trade that experience for anything else. Very unique. I designed gravity powered rock accelerators even. (proof of concept in creative)You're not the first one to say something like this, but I'm confused - gravity generators are kinda "end game" IMO. It's a whole lot easier to find materials for and build a ship-mounted drill than it is to build a gravity generator.
I have implemented the same idea, however, using natural gravity to gather ores in a collector. Look back near the beginning of this thread and you'll see how I positioned a collector in the floor of my mine, allowing me to hand drill to my heart's content while ores just roll downhill into the collector. This offered me flexibility and simplicity that a mounted drill system would not have had (especially since I was also shaping this underground area for future base expansion).
That's on my bucket list - playing with scenarios (specifically, building my own).
I'm VERY tempted by the idea of renting my own server, at least for the winter months. As part of this I would like to present some different options to new players, especially since I would opt for a "hard mode" server. I could see playing as a "Dungeon Master" of sorts, not in a micromanagement sort of way (I hate it when admins meddle with players), but rather by providing things to find, explore, interact with, and fight. I'd even try to make some story-driven content / lore. It's the closest thing to writing my own game from scratch, allowing me to share it with others.
You like to start in space, correct? In my experience, as someone who likes to start on planets, gold isn't nearly as easy to find in space as it is on planets, which is why I consider grav generators to be "mid game" myself. Once I've reached the stage where I can travel into space, I've already have access to gold to make grav generators. It's platinum and uranium that I consider to be "end game" resources.You're not the first one to say something like this, but I'm confused - gravity generators are kinda "end game" IMO. It's a whole lot easier to find materials for and build a ship-mounted drill than it is to build a gravity generator.
Yeah I've yet to find gold in space on my CA1 save. But even if I did find gold, I don't see using a gravity generator to harvest ores when I could just use a mounted drill, unless my pod landed on a gold patch to begin with. Even the idea that you need a proper refinery to process gold makes it a mid game item for me. I have my first ship-mounted drill long before I have any refinery. The survival kit and a basic assembler does just fine getting started, I just need to keep them fed.
But if I started on a ship that already had a gravity generator, then I'd use it like Navigare does.
Yeah, I had this idea in minecraft. Like leaving little notes around for the others to discover until they found out about the secret cave which I would fill with lava to unleash on the town. I think such games are fit for role-play.
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I usually dont have much trouble finding a derelict or a pirate cargo ship with gravity generators to salvage. I know where to get at least 2 of them right now on my hardcore save. I just cant use them because all I have is a lifepod and a small tug ship.
With walkable interior? An assembler and refinery? That what we got as starter.
No I started a hardcore save a week or two ago where I spawned with just my suit and have to survive on salvage.
Krass. Sounds like a challenge.
Oh yeah. It's really nerve racking at first and basically comes down to hoping the first mayday or cargo ship you come across has at least an O2 bottle in a storage locker somewhere. Totally worth it though. I highly recommend you try it at least once.
Same thing happened to me. I still hear the bell sound when a satellite spawns, but there's no signal on the HUD. I have no idea what cause it to turn off. I still get strong signals, however. I've only experienced this on CA2 thus far.
I've been working on a new ship in creative mode, a small destroyer. This is a design more akin to The Expanse, utilizing architecture that's practical to implement in Space Engineers. Here are some pictures:
I experimented with different armaments, and I decided to make this a gunboat rather than a missile boat. Bullets are way cheaper than missiles in survival mode, more accurate, and less destructive - a good thing when you want to actually disable and salvage a ship. I've got enough firepower to tear up critical systems, and enough armor to take a good pounding without losing my own key systems. The smaller turrets are dedicated to point defense, to help thin out any incoming missiles. Speaking of missiles, I do have a single battery of fixed rockets,
You'll note that these are protected by a "gun port", which actually works surprisingly well. Enemy turrets seem to target this missile launcher first, so I tend to launch my missiles at long range as I'm making my attack run, then I close the door (which is surprisingly tough) and proceed to orbit the enemy, keeping my topside to them, which allows all 9 large MCs to fire. The top and nose of my destroyer is heavily armored, with a much softer "belly" that I keep away the enemy through good piloting. I've gone against some tough NPCs, and this ship can take a severe beating and keep on ticking.
Unlike my other ships, the bridge of this ship is buried deep inside the destroyer, relying on cameras instead of windows for viewing the world.
Only the bare essentials in this ship, no luxuries! I also kept things simpler by not attempting to connect everything via conduit. For example, the forward section houses my torpedo launcher (I'm a Navy guy) and regenerative hull system. It has its own cargo bays for holding ammo and repair components. I opted not to connect this to the main conveyor system in order to have a more open and ascetically pleasing bridge, which means manual loading, but that's fine, it gives me something to do with these "space legs".
This ships is bare-bones in many ways - no FTL, no built-in repair projector, only one H2 tank, limited maneuvering thrusters, etc. It's definitely not a perfect ship, but I'm okay with this. I actually prefer having a selection of imperfect ships than trying to build the one "Superman" ship. And at under 7K PCU, it's a bit of a disposable ship, something I won't be afraid to take into battle against NPC and PvP foes alike.
I'm not sure when I'll start building this on a live server. There's really not a lot of PvP happening on CA1 and 2, so I may save this for a PvE server should I ever find one I like.
I experimented with different armaments, and I decided to make this a gunboat rather than a missile boat. Bullets are way cheaper than missiles in survival mode, more accurate, and less destructive - a good thing when you want to actually disable and salvage a ship. I've got enough firepower to tear up critical systems, and enough armor to take a good pounding without losing my own key systems. The smaller turrets are dedicated to point defense, to help thin out any incoming missiles. Speaking of missiles, I do have a single battery of fixed rockets,
You'll note that these are protected by a "gun port", which actually works surprisingly well. Enemy turrets seem to target this missile launcher first, so I tend to launch my missiles at long range as I'm making my attack run, then I close the door (which is surprisingly tough) and proceed to orbit the enemy, keeping my topside to them, which allows all 9 large MCs to fire. The top and nose of my destroyer is heavily armored, with a much softer "belly" that I keep away the enemy through good piloting. I've gone against some tough NPCs, and this ship can take a severe beating and keep on ticking.
Unlike my other ships, the bridge of this ship is buried deep inside the destroyer, relying on cameras instead of windows for viewing the world.
Only the bare essentials in this ship, no luxuries! I also kept things simpler by not attempting to connect everything via conduit. For example, the forward section houses my torpedo launcher (I'm a Navy guy) and regenerative hull system. It has its own cargo bays for holding ammo and repair components. I opted not to connect this to the main conveyor system in order to have a more open and ascetically pleasing bridge, which means manual loading, but that's fine, it gives me something to do with these "space legs".
This ships is bare-bones in many ways - no FTL, no built-in repair projector, only one H2 tank, limited maneuvering thrusters, etc. It's definitely not a perfect ship, but I'm okay with this. I actually prefer having a selection of imperfect ships than trying to build the one "Superman" ship. And at under 7K PCU, it's a bit of a disposable ship, something I won't be afraid to take into battle against NPC and PvP foes alike.
I'm not sure when I'll start building this on a live server. There's really not a lot of PvP happening on CA1 and 2, so I may save this for a PvE server should I ever find one I like.
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Irony is that server performance was getting better lately, I think thanks to "Harry" wiping out large inefficient grids. Someone on last night must have been doing something inefficient. These things include:
- Conveyor Loops - if you use a bunch of six-sided conveyor junctions all connected to each other in a way that provides a dozen possible paths for material / fuel flow, this drags down the server as it tries to compute all the possible ways items can transverse these conveyors. I actively avoid loops when possible (kinda reminds me of ground loops in electronics).
- Sorter Loops - similar but different, a misconfigured sorter loop will keep materials in a constant flow, again bogging down the server.
- Planet-eating Drill Systems - I've heard rumor of somebody building an 80 drill mining operation, which of course will bog down the server as it eats giant holes in planets and asteroids. This is why I shed no tears for people losing their 80K PCU bases build by exploiting alts. I can get all the material I need using just two drills and a gyro override (no subgrids needed). Speaking of subgrids...
- Unstable Subgrids - People don't understand how demanding a poorly implemented subgrid can hurt performance. Anything that wobbles or bangs and clangs is a bad design. I find building subgrids similar to computer programming, where there are techniques to greatly improve efficiency by reducing subgrid dependency. Subgrids are cool in theory, as you can do all sorts of fun things like foldable wings and vectoring thrust, but they come at a cost, so if it's possible to do the same thing with less or no subgrids, then that's the best practice on a server.
(I'm replying to you in my thread so not to derail yours, as this is more of a "Space Engineers in Open" topic)
Based on my info tab, “Harry” still hasn’t made good his threat against my base. Also based on my info tab, my half-finished Cobra III uses over a quarter of my available PCU. Between that and my old base, my plans of leaving it as a POI just vanished in a puff of smoke.
Speaking of which, that’s another reason for me to recycle my old base. It shouldn’t be loaded at the moment, but that Cobra still isn’t supported by landing gear, but by its connector and some large blocks. So a return to my old base is definitely in order…
CONFESSION TIME - I'm growing bored on CA's servers. A large part of this is the limitations placed on these servers, along with the ever-changing community and lack of PvE. So with the exception of the occasional check-in on CA2, I'm taking a break from the official servers and focusing on tailoring an optimum SE experience for myself. I'll do the preliminary experiments offline, but there's a growing likelihood that I'll lease a server, and if I do, you're all invited! It will have some mods, but nothing too carried away. Here's what I'm looking at so far:
- Realistic Inventory Size (at least for the character)
- Nerfed Jetpack Mod - still works in space (though slower), not so much in normal gravity. This means scaffolding will be required on most planets.
- Increased Ship Speeds Mod - probably will go for 200 m/s for large ships, maybe 400 m/s for small ships. This may change based on server limitations.
- Wings Mod - allows players to build small grid wings that provide lift on atmospheric worlds.
- PvE Enabled - I'm not sure yet if I'm going with the vanilla encounters or using a mod, or if I'll build my own PvE fleet that behaves logically (a limited number of ships following actual trade routes, for example). I need to do a lot of experimenting with this.
- First Person View - I'm seriously thinking of turning off 3rd person view for the extra challenge / realism.
- No Progression Required - I'm a veteran engineer, I don't need to relearn how to build things for the 100th time.
- Realistic Paint Gun Mod - a way better tool for painting ships, also adds realism since you need to synthesize paint. It still just paints the entire block, so blueprints remain vanilla friendly. That said, I may experiment with the per-side paint mod.
- Sparse Asteroids - Space is big, after all. I don't want to make the game impossibly hard, so I'll experiment with this to find the right balance.
- New Skybox Mod - Not sure which one yet, but anything is better than the vanilla skybox.
- Scripts Enabled - I definitely want my scripts! That said, if I make the server public, I'll keep an eye on possible abuses of this.
- Lots of PCU for Everyone!
- Daily Needs Mod - This is the "you must eat and drink and rest" mod. It definitely adds a challenge, I'm just not sure how much I want to be bothered by this in my spaceship game. I'll play with it and see. If I do this, it will be the simplified version. I also have mixed feelings about straying too far from vanilla when it comes to designing and building ships.. We'll see!
- Wolves and Spiders - This would compliment the need for food, but I hate the infinite waves of wolves that default vanilla provides, so I need to find a mod that greatly reduces the frequency of these "waves". If no such mod exists, then I'll likely skip wolves but keep the spiders to make Alien World truly terrifying.
- Realistic Water Mod - I really love the idea of realistic water, at least on earth, but I've not used this mod so I'm not sure how it works or how radically it changes the game. I will at least play with it and see how it goes.
My $1.95…
First, you deserve a ton of likes for tackling this. Everything on your primary list are things I like to have in my single-player games. If you go this route, needless to say I’ll be there! As for the stuff you’re iffy on:
I really like this mod. If there’s one glaring flaw, it is that obtaining a supply of water is a do or die situation. Once you’ve got it, you’re set for the rest of the game, it even simulates recycling “grey water.” Although it does make preserving your initial supply of ice even more important, which synergies with the limited jetpack mod.
Almost.
Edit: I wonder if “Harry” caught the fact that I’d mentioned dismantling my “pretty but laggy” base this morning. I managed to recycle the entire thing, so now I have about 50 tons of refined iron to play around with. Still debating on if I want to continue on the surface, or move straight into space….
First, you deserve a ton of likes for tackling this. Everything on your primary list are things I like to have in my single-player games. If you go this route, needless to say I’ll be there! As for the stuff you’re iffy on:
I really like this mod. If there’s one glaring flaw, it is that obtaining a supply of water is a do or die situation. Once you’ve got it, you’re set for the rest of the game, it even simulates recycling “grey water.” Although it does make preserving your initial supply of ice even more important, which synergies with the limited jetpack mod.
I’ve tried both, and I’m not a fan of either. They both pretty much kill a starting engineer. Of course, it’s YOUR server, so if you want the Alien Planet to be a PvE challenge, go for it. Depending on settings, I’m almost tempted to do the “suit only” spawn.
Almost.
No opinion on this, because I’ve never played it. I am curious, though.
Edit: I wonder if “Harry” caught the fact that I’d mentioned dismantling my “pretty but laggy” base this morning. I managed to recycle the entire thing, so now I have about 50 tons of refined iron to play around with. Still debating on if I want to continue on the surface, or move straight into space….
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