Space Engineers

[GasBandit]

Makes me wonder if I should show up as a Repo man and "repossess" things for the APC for a percentage...

If you want I can probably just get you in, now. I feel like I have a higher standing in APC than I did in DCP.

 

[AshburnerX]

If you want I can probably just get you in, now. I feel like I have a higher standing in APC than I did in DCP.

Maybe when things calm down at school for me. After coasting through almost 2 years of classes, I completely bombed a math test worth about 1/6th of my grade and it's kind of got me freaked out.

 

[EduardoRahmsr]

Didn't get to play my dark level tonight because I, on a whim, logged into the server I play multiplayer on just to check on stuff.

I knew it was a bad night when all the medbays except one were not showing up on my spawn list.

Fortunately, I did have that one medbay floating in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a solar panel, or this would have been a much, much, MUCH worse night.

So I spawn in, and start jetpacking toward DPF HQ's coordinates, fearing the worst - that I'd get there and find nothing but empty space. On the way I inquired of the leader of the APC (Anti-Pirate Coalition) if they'd raided a base today, and they said no.

I get there, and to my mixed relief and consternation, the main base structure is still present, but many of the ships are gone. My mobile factory is missing, along with two large drilling rigs (both 49 drills each), the Rubix, and my monsterous grinder ship - which still had all the parts from that capital ship I ground the other day in its hold. The only ships remaining are the small ones - Bob the builder, a couple fighters, and a small sized 5x5 drilling ship.

I check the base's medbay, and sure enough, it's ground down just enough to make it nonfunctional. I manufacture some medical supplies quickly and weld it back up to operational.

I go and get Bob the Builder, intent on repairing the turrets on the base which show obvious signs of disabled-by-grinding, when I see a red name come floating out of the gloom. He doesn't know I'm here, so I whip Bob around, lock the grinders in the "on" position and shred him to ribbons within a moment of him seeing me.

At first he plays innocent and offended ("Why you do dat! I /waved!") and I let him in on the fact that I see his faction leader's name on the parts of our base that they hacked to take control of (funnily enough, they only hacked one cargo bay, which was filled with 1 million kg of gravel. It must have disgusted them to such an extent that they didn't bother hacking any other cargo bays, where all the good stuff was stored. Got lucky there). He drops the pretense.

I don't waste time. Using Bob, I weld several large thrusters and a dozen gyros to the space base (which is 5000 tons, incidentally), fix up the turrets, add a couple more in the blind spots for good measure, start the base to manufacturing more missiles and gatling ammo, then mergeblock together all the remaining small-ships and start moving stuff. I fire off steam messages to Dust and Crow - don't ever get a response from Dust, Crow's got company over he says, and can't log in. So I'm on my own, as is usual these days.

I manage to move the amalgamated small ships 17km deeper into the oort cloud in a sorta-diagonal direction, then suicide, respawn at the space base, and sloooooowly move it out to the same place. I also get a tip from someone else who spotted my huge grinder floating in space - turns out the server crashed while the guys who stole it flew it back to their base, but its dampeners were on so it slowed to a stop with no pilot and sat there waiting. I manage to get to and recover Big Bob - lucky break, all the materials from grinding the G Dub are still in its cargo bay. I take it back to space base and merge it with the base so it can be moved together.

This shit took 4 hours, all told. The biggest loss is the Rubix, which was loaded with ammo but shut down to reduce lag (kicking myself over that one) - it being seized by a new, upstart faction represents a major shift in the server's balance of power. It's one of the most powerful warships on the server, and my faction is now very much diminished without it.

Very exciting read indeed.. There is plenty to gain from you..I really want to understand deep rules so can you help me out?

 

[GasBandit]

So I've finished the frigate, which I've rechristened the Paddy Wagon. It's 2400 tons, has turrets, grinders, a direct fire missile launcher, medbay, all the stuff the Bizarre Adventure II had, with one more addition - an internally mounted antenna (which is a trick in a large scale ship you're trying to keep small) and Remote Control module. This means if it gets away from me again, I can at least re-engage the inertial dampeners so it stops, or even fly it home from one of the passenger seats if the cockpit is destroyed. It's got 50 small cargo bays to store... impounded materials. Yeah.

But, no raiding for me last night, the APC's founder was nervous about our base location, so spent last night loading up the Paddy Wagon with supplies and heading deeper into space to set up a larger, more permanent base. It's now about 70km from anything (which will make for a nice freakin 15 minute commute each direction to the asteroid clusters), so it should be far less likely to be stumbled upon than where were were working previous, which was only out about 25km. As today's patch day, I don't anticipate doing anything of consequence tonight, and tomorrow night I'll either be playing something else with my whipped buddy or playing CAH with halforumites, so looks like this weekend is when the Paddy Wagon will get put through its paces.

Also, for the last few days there's been a player on named "Mothman" who says nothing other than "sssssssSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssss" every few minutes. I'd taken to responding with "pondering what I'm pondering" Pinky quotes (sssssSSSSsssss "I think so, Mothman, but where are we going to find a duck and a hose at this time of night?" ssssssSSSSSSSSssssss "No, Mothman, I don't think Edith Keeler is in the union." ssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSssssss "Well, that's nice, Mothman, but isn't Regis Philbin already married?")

But the crowning moment is when he joined the server's Teamspeak.
One guess what he said when he got there.

Very exciting read indeed.. There is plenty to gain from you..I really want to understand deep rules so can you help me out?

Ok, giving the benefit of the doubt here...

I don't know what you mean by "deep rules," but if you want to learn to play Space Engineers a good place to start is with the video tutorials on my youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/gasbandit

 

[GasBandit]

I feel like I need the ability to link this video in game whenever somebody joins the server saying "I'm pretty new to this game, how do I get steel plates?"



I mean, seriously, you didn't even learn survival mode in single player yet and you jumped into a faction PvP piracy nightmare maelstrom server? Did your parents teach you to swim by chaining you to an anchor and throwing you in a shark tank?

 

[AshburnerX]

Features:
- recreated G-screen layout - it provides easier and faster access to what you need
- moddable categories for G-screen blocks and tools (can be edited in the new BlockCategories.sbc file)
- search textbox in the G-screen to make it easier to find that one block
- added antenna range visualization (under info tab)
- added object creation for player-made scenarios (creative mode only, Shift + F10)
- sensor is now able to detect voxels (asteroids)

Fixes:
- fixed crash in missile launcher shooting
- fixed issue with multiple ships in one spawn group shooting at each other
- fixed crash in modding API caused by ConfigDedicated.Administrators
- fixed sync issues with damage application to blocks
- fixed shifted jetpack animation on characters in multiplayer
- fixed missing welding/grinding/drilling sounds
- fixed player spawning twice in the world after remotely controlling a ship
- fixed custom palette resetting after spawn
- fixed issue when asteroids are not properly update when a lot of explosives go off near them
- fixed ModAPI is no longer working for some namespaces
- fixed cockpit inertia displayed wrong in 1st person
- fixed timers execute one tab only
- fixed collector not collecting 0 speed items
- fixed G-Menu search-box reaction on shortcuts
- fixed ModAPI ConfigDedicated.Administrators causes exception
- fixed crash while starting remote control by sensor

So the two big features this update are being able to see your broadcast radius (which is vital when you are using a drone) and the ability for sensors to detect asteroids. Remember that dark map mod and how we were throwing around ideas for mineral hunting probes? This is a non-issue now. We can probably just make a probe that detects asteroids within a certain radius and then make it slow down and stop when it does now. We could even make it turn on a broadcast beacon to let us know it found something. Hell, we could make it MINE THE ASTEROID now.

 

[GasBandit]

I was just saying last night how much I wished the G screen had a search field.

 

[AshburnerX]

Yep, just built an asteroid searching probe.

Real simple design.

- 3 thrusters. 1 forward, two reverse
- A charged battery or a small reactor
- a beacon
- 3 sensors

Set the reverse thrusters to off. Set the forward sensor to turn on these thrusters when it detects the asteroid within the desired ranged . Set another sensor to turn off the forward engine at the same distance. Set the final sensor to turn the beacon on when you hit that range. After all of that, set the forward thruster to override at it's lowest setting and let it fly. It'll stop pretty quick.

 

[GasBandit]

And you tested this? Seems to me it'd need a gyro at least for stabilization.

 

[PatrThom]

Seems to me it'd need a gyro at least for stabilization.

Seems to me you would want it to have the potential to meander a bit.

--Patrick

 

[AshburnerX]

And you tested this? Seems to me it'd need a gyro at least for stabilization.

Gyro only helps if it hits something. This actually stops before impact.

If you set it to it's lowest speed, it works. However, if it hits a sufficiently high enough speed (because the asteroid is tens of k away), there is nothing short of crumple zones like my old design that can stop it. They really need to let us set a max speed for a thruster, because that essentially eliminate a lot of problems.

If anything, it's worth experimenting with. The REAL problem is that you only have a 50 meter area. That's essentially worthless for detection.

 

[GasBandit]

Gyro only helps if it hits something. This actually stops before impact.

If you set it to it's lowest speed, it works. However, if it hits a sufficiently high enough speed (because the asteroid is tens of k away), there is nothing short of crumple zones like my old design that can stop it. They really need to let us set a max speed for a thruster, because that essentially eliminate a lot of problems.

If anything, it's worth experimenting with. The REAL problem is that you only have a 50 meter area. That's essentially worthless for detection.

I'd suggest a slight alteration then... a gyro, a heavy armor "lance" to be a bumper on the front, and an RC module - not for actual RC, but so the sensor can stop the probe by toggling on the RCM's inertial dampeners.[DOUBLEPOST=1411678955,1411678834][/DOUBLEPOST]

Seems to me you would want it to have the potential to meander a bit.

--Patrick

The problem is, since this design only has forward and rear thrusters, any change in attitude makes the probe de facto unstoppable under its own power, and any bump/nudge/etc will not only cause the probe to start rotating but continue to rotate at that rate forever.

Most guys I know who manufacture torpedoes still put gyros on them.

 

[AshburnerX]

I'd suggest a slight alteration then... a gyro, a heavy armor "lance" to be a bumper on the front, and an RC module - not for actual RC, but so the sensor can stop the probe by toggling on the RCM's inertial dampeners.

Wait, so you have to have a control unit to get inertial dampeners? Mine was already stopping on a dime without one. It seems redundant.

 

[GasBandit]

Wait, so you have to have a control unit to get inertial dampeners? Mine was already stopping on a dime without one. It seems redundant.

Interesting. I thought you did, but I guess you only need it to toggle them on or off, and I suppose they're on by default.

 

[AshburnerX]

After extensive testing, I have my final results on mineral finding probes. There are only two ways to be 100% sure that your probe will stop within appropriate range of a discovered asteroid as long as you depend on override rockets.

- Build a crumple claw to cushion impact and catch on the asteroid while the engine is still going full blast. This is primitive and requires you hit the asteroid, which is difficult enough, and there is always a small chance it won't catch and will instead fly off.

- Use sensors to shut off engines. You also need to add enough engines to stabilize the entire thing after impact and one extra to power it. This is fine if you have enough parts lying around to build them, but it just feels like it violates the spirit of probe design.

But then I realized something VERY important: there WAS a way to launch this thing AND have it go at a steady, manageable rate... Remote Control. Here is the final probe design.

All you need to build this:

- x2 thrusters
- x1 small reactor (Though you could modify it for battery use) + Uranium
- x2 sensors
- x1 camera
- x1 beacon
- x1 gyroscope
- x1 antenna
- x1 remote control
- x2 angled light armor
- x1 light armor block

Program order:

- Turn off the beacon.
- Set both sensors to 50m in all directions except backward and to only detect asteroids.
- The front sensor should be set to turn on the beacon (first block) and turn it off (second block)
- The rear sensor should be set to Remote Control - Inertial Dampener (On/Off) (First Block)
- Access the probe remotely
- Switch to Camera
- Add Remote Control - Inertial Dampener (On/Off) to your toolbar
- Aim your probe
- Switch off Remote Control - Inertial Dampener (On/Off)
- Accelerate to a manageable speed before releasing control

Because the inertial dampeners are off, it will keep going at that speed until it ether hits something that isn't an asteroid or it detects one... and as long as you keep it at a manageable speed, it will have plenty of time to slow down and stop. This works 100% of the time as long as you don't gun it during the acceleration phase. It's still only a 50m tube of detection but that's all we get right now.

 

[GasBandit]

Man, if sensors didn't fuck up dedicated servers, I'd slightly modify the programming in that probe and use it to find and flag enemy bases.

 

[PatrThom]

Huh? What's this about sensors?
What is it, just too many server CPU cycles stolen by the sensor while it's sensing?

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

Huh? What's this about sensors?
What is it, just too many server CPU cycles stolen by the sensor while it's sensing?

--Patrick

General bugs. Using a sensor on a dedicated server causes the server to crash.

 

[AshburnerX]

Man, if sensors didn't fuck up dedicated servers, I'd slightly modify the programming in that probe and use it to find and flag enemy bases.

That could work, but you'd never know if the issue is it flew next to an enemy ship or an enemy station. It would also get gunned down by auto turrets too, I think.

 

[GasBandit]

That could work, but you'd never know if the issue is it flew next to an enemy ship or an enemy station. It would also get gunned down by auto turrets too, I think.

Well, right now there's another bug/feature that has it so grids with all parts set to "nobody" ownership and not occupied by a player are not considered a target by any turret.

And I'm not too worried whether it's a station or a ship it finds - if it finds a ship stationary enough to set it off, chances are there's a station near enough.

 

[AshburnerX]

Well, right now there's another bug/feature that has it so grids with all parts set to "nobody" ownership and not occupied by a player are not considered a target by any turret.

And I'm not too worried whether it's a station or a ship it finds - if it finds a ship stationary enough to set it off, chances are there's a station near enough.

You'd have to give up ownership of the probe before it exited sensor range then, but after you accelerated, because you have to own the probe to fly it remotely. Tricky, but doable.

 

[PatrThom]

You'd have to give up ownership of the probe before it exited sensor range then, but after you accelerated, because you have to own the probe to fly it remotely. Tricky, but doable.

If you would tether your probe, set it free.
If it finds something, hunt it down and kill it.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

 

[PatrThom]

Well at least you answered something I was wondering, which was whether or not you could successfully fire missiles out your ass while at speed and in lag.

--Patrick

 

[AshburnerX]

Well, right now there's another bug/feature that has it so grids with all parts set to "nobody" ownership and not occupied by a player are not considered a target by any turret.

And I'm not too worried whether it's a station or a ship it finds - if it finds a ship stationary enough to set it off, chances are there's a station near enough.

I tried this out: as long as the bug is in, it'll work. But once they fix it, it won't because any base worth raiding is going to have gatling turrets that would shred it a thousand meters, long before it detects anything.

They need to make it so that having an antenna on the same grid as a sensor can boost it's range or something. 50m is only good for base trickery.

 

[AshburnerX]

So yeah... drill probes? Not worth it.

 

[GasBandit]

Nobody wants to fight my paddy wagon. 2 attempts at filming today, and all I get is empty space when I go patrolling. Maybe next time I'll leave my antenna on low range and see if I can sneak up on somebody instead of broadcasting my presence to the whole server.

 

[PatrThom]

Nobody wants to fight my paddy wagon. 2 attempts at filming today, and all I get is empty space when I go patrolling. Maybe next time I'll leave my antenna on low range and see if I can sneak up on somebody instead of broadcasting my presence to the whole server.

NOBODY WILL PLAY WITH ME

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

I'm not THAT heavily armed. I've only got... 7 turrets... and a rocket launcher... and double-thick hull... and..

Ok, I guess I see the point.

 

[GasBandit]

Got an idea, an itch, and built me a new heavy fighter - I present, the Ghetto Bird.

Weighing in at 130 tons, she sports twin gatling turrets and an 8g gravity drive. Suitable for high speed combat where acceleration is key.

 

[AshburnerX]

I quite literally built something close to that in survival to practice taking down ships. It's perfect if you are okay with losing a ship to get a bigger one.

 

[AshburnerX]

So I finally tried stealing a ship.

Worked pretty well. Business ships don't have a ton of ammo and only carry guns on the top, making them easy to steal. Just flew my armored ship up, flew into the breech, and ground the controls down until I could turn on the inertial. Once it stopped, I turned off the power and that was that. Hacked the rest.

 

[GasBandit]

Business shipments is good eatin. It's a little more challenging though when you figure in server latency, heh... Grind grind grind "whups it's over here" "whups it's over there" "Whups I'm embedded in the wall and dying"[DOUBLEPOST=1412222598,1412222559][/DOUBLEPOST]I just got some good footage of a dogfight between me (in the Ghetto Bird) and some local pirate's mobile base. Editing it together, will try to post it before I go to bed.

 

[AshburnerX]

Business shipments is good eatin. It's a little more challenging though when you figure in server latency, heh... Grind grind grind "whups it's over here" "whups it's over there" "Whups I'm embedded in the wall and dying"[DOUBLEPOST=1412222598,1412222559][/DOUBLEPOST]I just got some good footage of a dogfight between me (in the Ghetto Bird) and some local pirate's mobile base. Editing it together, will try to post it before I go to bed.

I learned some lessons while doing it:

- Never go for the engines. It's movement is pure momentum, so you HAVE to hack the main console to get it to stop.
- Don't even build your ship to grind it down. Just make a fast, inexpensive ship with some armor and soak up the attacks. One it's out of bullets, ditch the ship. Probably only works on personal and business craft.
- NPC craft are not well designed... they need time to accelerate and plenty more to stop.

 

[GasBandit]

I learned some lessons while doing it:

- Never go for the engines. It's movement is pure momentum, so you HAVE to hack the main console to get it to stop.
- Don't even build your ship to grind it down. Just make a fast, inexpensive ship with some armor and soak up the attacks. One it's out of bullets, ditch the ship. Probably only works on personal and business craft.
- NPC craft are not well designed... they need time to accelerate and plenty more to stop.

Remember this post on the first page of this thread? That was me taking down my first business shipment. Heh. Having done it yourself now, you can probably appreciate even more some of what I went through [DOUBLEPOST=1412227206,1412227121][/DOUBLEPOST]wait, no, that was a private sail. Ah well. Similar thing.