Cargo Improvements

[alterintel]

So I've been working on updating my Serenity firefly light transport class for the new cargo update. I filled cargo space all the way up with full cargo crates. It's mass shot up from 500 to 8000. So heavy that it had a hard time reaching 2.5 m/s.

My point is that the limiting factor for cargo isn't going to be the space required, but the amount of pure thrust just to get it moving.

Now granted, my Serenity only has a thrust of 1000, so take what I'm saying here with a grain of salt.

Food for thought

 

[MacThule]

So there's no point in dedicated freighters since most ships can just contain a 20^3 cargo space and that meets all requirements?

You know i'd really like to know what schine wants starmade to be, because they seem to just dilly back and forth between huge space sim and 3D deviantart

I'm leaning towards "interactive digital art" personally. I think they're exploring what it can be.

 

[Raisinbat]

I'm leaning towards "interactive digital art" personally. I think they're exploring what it can be.

That would be neat if it didn't mean removing everything that offers a challenge in shipbuilding

 

[Dr. Whammy]

That sounds promising, guess i will give it a try this weekend. Do you know if only one Storage can be assigned to "personal cargo"?
It would be interesting to know because my setup consists of 4 Salvage-Turrets.

Currently only one container can be personal cargo. That would be the prime limiting factor for a setup with multiple salvage turrets. On the other hand, I've been salvaging with a compact, efficient logic 45x20 system docked to a basic rail and situating my placement block on the storage on the main ship so I can quickly access the two. Only you can decide which method is better for you.

So there's no point in dedicated freighters since most ships can just contain a 20^3 cargo space and that meets all requirements?

Sure there is. I was just 'evicted' from my planet because the server admin said planets cause too much lag. I had to abuse the cargo capacity grace period by 4000% in order to leave with all my stuff. A freighter would have made the process a lot smoother. The same situation can apply to a change of sector due to wars, logistics or territorial expansion. Also, as was mentioned before, you need thrust to move your gear; often at the expense of space used for combat systems. We also have no way of knowing how Schine will re-balance this feature. It's better to be prepared for when they 'break' something than get caught off guard by leaking all of your 1,000,000+ shield modules.

 

[Jaaskinal]

Do you also drive a very large pickup truck?
;-)

Personally I think that storage is another (positive) factor in discouraging players from spawning mega-ships in their first 3 days on a server. I ran into someone complaining about lag problems with 6 million cargo blocks yesterday... I really have no sympathy. This is *EXACTLY* why cargo is a long-needed upgrade. Part of the whole hyper-mega-inflation problem (players striving maxing credits and vying for largest ship all within the first few days) is the absurdity that we were flitting around with the contents of entire star systems (take a second and think about reality just for half a second at this point - the gross mass of an entire star system minus the star itself) in our pockets and using that as a "starting point" for all constructions, trade, combat, etc.

It doesn't actually discourage us much at all. Cargo is relatively cheap, and most of that pile (I'd say 75% or higher) is planet blocks that we can just ditch if we need more space.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

and most of that pile (I'd say 75% or higher) is planet blocks that we can just ditch if we need more space.

Nope. It's capsules; especially asteroid mineral capsules. Remember; one block of say; lukrah yields 30 capsules in a refinery so your storage requirements jump by literally 3000% per block refined for asteroid minerals. I can salvage a whole planet plate and not come anywhere near the storage limit on a small 50 meter long mining ship.

Mine the same mass worth of asteroids and put that in a refinery... well, Let's just say I now have a 'warehouse' template saved specifically to store my capsules.

 

[Jaaskinal]

Nope. It's capsules; especially asteroid mineral capsules. Remember; one block of say; lukrah yields 30 capsules in a refinery so you're storage requirements jump by literally 3000% per block refined for asteroid minerals. I can salvage a whole planet plate and not come anywhere near the storage limit on a small 50 meter long mining ship.

Mine the same mass worth of asteroids and put that in a refinery... well, Let's just say I now have a 'warehouse' template saved specifically to store my capsules.

We only do planet mining, on the server we are in, you get ~10x as many rocks as you do capsules. 5x capsules per raw means ~5x rocks as refined mats, but we've been making ships and other resources.

Then again a lot of that might also be metal mesh xD

 

[Dr. Whammy]

We only do planet mining, on the server we are in, you get ~10x as many rocks as you do capsules. 5x capsules per raw means ~5x rocks as refined mats, but we've been making ships and other resources.

Then again a lot of that might also be metal mesh xD

Is that a config setting? Obviously you'll get rocks as well as ore/crystals but you're right about the multiple capsules generated from raw resources. Maybe I'm just underestimating the sheer volume of your mining operation; in which case the average amount of rock/dirt would eventually cause you to take a storage hit if you kept at it long enough.

I'm kinda economical in the sense that I target planets with specific soil types so I can mine minerals while passively collecting blocks for large planetary environments on my stations.

 

[Jaaskinal]

Is that a config setting? Obviously you'll get rocks as well as ore/crystals but you're right about the multiple capsules generated from raw resources. Maybe I'm just underestimating the sheer volume of your mining operation; in which case the average amount of rock/dirt would eventually cause you to take a storage hit if you kept at it long enough.

I'm kinda economical in the sense that I target planets with specific soil types so I can mine minerals while passively collecting blocks for large planetary environments on my stations.

IIRC we've mined out ~25 systems each with an average of about four planets each. Literally a hundred planets. Then again it's SS, so they're fairly small (r90).

 

[Dr. Whammy]

What's an SS?

I feel really silly asking that when my faction is called United Star Axis.

 

[Lecic]

What's an SS?

I feel really silly asking that when my faction is called United Star Axis.

Shattered Skies, a large server.

 

[Terror48]

The storage values are in the BlockBehaviorConfig.xml, have the server admin add the cargo entry into the CustomBlockBehaviorConfig and your all set with any value you want change including personal storage.
Change the file ext to txt so it could upload

 

[Awdred]

I see why my first suggestion is debatable. I'll have to see if I just get used tomet or it becomes a problem.

 

[Blaza612]

I agree with the fact that the amount that cargo blocks can hold needs to be toned down (But will be completely balanced with a coming update, due to individual volume settings for each block), players are only complaining about not having enough cargo is because they have literally too much stuff. :p

 

[Nickizzy]

I think a great idea to formulate storage volume would be to make one asteroid(complete) take 2-4 storages, then capsuling would decrease the volume by half(take out the impurities), and crafting blocks would double(or some multible) mass. That way you wouldn't have to constantly autopull from capsule refineries, and computers, weapons, and other system blocks would have better weights, other than just 0.1

 

[Joe Tuber]

I disagree with the people saying decrease storage capacity. Instead, increase the volume of armor and perhaps some modules.

 

[Nickizzy]

Decerase the volume of capsules while your at it. They take up so much mass! I have like 30,000 blocks of chazbiz or whatever it's called in a chest with 300 cargo enhancers added thats absolutely full. If I turned even 1,000 of that to capsules they would take up the same space. I just leave things as ores these days to save space. Shesh.

 

[Katorone]

I disagree with the people saying decrease storage capacity. Instead, increase the volume of armor and perhaps some modules.

That's actually on the todo list.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

To the people saying we need more space; The initial release was quite generous but as you know, it's not going to stay this way.. We are now being held to the logic that if you want to haul all your crap around with you, that you will need space to put in as well as thrust to actually move it. As this feature is refined, it WILL break your setup if you aren't paying attention.

Always remember; in StarMade, enough is never enough. Meaning; none of you would ever settle for enough power, thrust, shields, recharge, etc. No. You'd upgrade that sucker until it was bursting with upgrades in case you run into something (or someone) really nasty. Likewise, if think you have enough cargo space, you need more.

Something I find helpful when building a new design: Always operate under the assumption that your design isn't strong/fast/good enough (even though it probably is) and that the shine team is is about to completely break your setup (even though they're really not). You'll pull your hair out if you don't.

 

[Jarraff]

I should mention a couple things just while this thread is active....
• While volume is just the mass number at the moment, we'll be adjusting the values up and down. SO a really small item like say, paint, will have the number go lower. For something like rock, because it's planet terrain and big and bulky, the number probably will go up. It'll make storing the small stuff easier and the big cumbersome stuff harder. So mining ships will probably need more space while on your shipyards you won't need as much. It was just easier to port the mass numbers over for now.
• The above volume tweaks will result obviously in us changing the values for capacity, whether up or down, we'll see and obviously threads like this help us to that end, but just so you're aware, volume numbers will be a lot more dynamic.
• The actual block data is stored in the storage block still. This saved us time as a number of mechanics for storage are already in there. It does mean though that connecting two storage blocks to the same cargo in an attempt for both to access all the contents wouldn't work, as the storage block itself is where that data is stored.

Would there be a way to link a another storage block to the main cargo storage block so the satellite access points don't connect directly to the cargo blocks but access the data in the storage block?

My biggest fear is deleting my main storage by accident.