Before I build too big and wreck myself...

[Deleted member 433088]

I've been playing a bit and getting the hang of the game's systems, and after building my first non-naked, functional, slightly pretty mining ship I decided to tackle the the task of slowly building a massive HQ station for my faction. However, I have a few worries with respect to the game's mechanics, which I haven't been able to answer through the wiki or using the search function, so here I am.

Basically, I know the game works by chunks of different sizes: blocks, chunks, sectors, systems, galaxies. I have also found that leaving your ship when close to a sector boundary leads to teletrolling ships that get away when you want to re-enter them.

In short, what I want to know is if my BigAss McHuge Eight Wonder in Space is going to break, or break my game, if it gets too large or cross into the neighboring sector.

 

[PizzaPress]

I haven't attempted so myself, but I've heard a few times that there will at least be some performance issues with stations going into another sector.

 

[karkinosz]

If you aren't increasing default sector sizes then you want to make sure the base is built in the dead centre of a sector.
To do follow the below
1.Fly into sector you wish to build the base in.
2. Press (I think) C to align yourself to galactic north.
3. Manuevre yourself so that you while facing galactic north have the sector diamond for the next sector over in your sights.
4. Now keeping that diamond in front of you move forward/backward till you are almost equidistant to all 6 sector diamonds around you.

Yes the game lags if you build stations across sectors. Most people avoid this by having huge sectors, for example mine are 20km across. I've heard of people with 100km sectors, so as long as you are willing to adjust max speed and jumpdrive/warpgate distance increasing max sector size could work.

 

[Deleted member 433088]

I haven't attempted so myself, but I've heard a few times that there will at least be some performance issues with stations going into another sector.

If you aren't increasing default sector sizes then you want to make sure the base is built in the dead centre of a sector.
To do follow the below
1.Fly into sector you wish to build the base in.
2. Press (I think) C to align yourself to galactic north.
3. Manuevre yourself so that you while facing galactic north have the sector diamond for the next sector over in your sights.
4. Now keeping that diamond in front of you move forward/backward till you are almost equidistant to all 6 sector diamonds around you.

Yes the game lags if you build stations across sectors. Most people avoid this by having huge sectors, for example mine are 20km across. I've heard of people with 100km sectors, so as long as you are willing to adjust max speed and jumpdrive/warpgate distance increasing max sector size could work.

Thanks for the data, that's good to know... though I was kinda afraid of the answer. I did align myself and find the center of the sector as precisely as possible before (and it is in fact 'C' by default) but since I checked and sectors are 2k a side...

While we're at it, what are the pros and cons of bigger sectors, besides avoiding multi-sector-entity-induced lag?
* Sure, it will take more time to travel, but I already found regular travel at 75 km/h in regular sectors slow so I always fit my ships with jump drives (I actually think of this as a feature... build good or get bored ;D). Speaking of which, why do you recommend I adjust jump drives and warp gates? Don't they let you travel a max number of sectors instead of a max distance? Unless I'm mistaken, changing sector size shouldn't affect them.
* Do more asteroids spawn in bigger sectors? (That'd be lovely)
* The config file says scaling down an existing universe might cause issues, but what about scaling up? Or should I just start a new "world" and admin-import my stuff, just in case?

 

[Mered4]

Thanks for the data, that's good to know... though I was kinda afraid of the answer. I did align myself and find the center of the sector as precisely as possible before (and it is in fact 'C' by default) but since I checked and sectors are 2k a side...

While we're at it, what are the pros and cons of bigger sectors, besides avoiding multi-sector-entity-induced lag?
* Sure, it will take more time to travel, but I already found regular travel at 75 km/h in regular sectors slow so I always fit my ships with jump drives (I actually think of this as a feature... build good or get bored ;D). Speaking of which, why do you recommend I adjust jump drives and warp gates? Don't they let you travel a max number of sectors instead of a max distance? Unless I'm mistaken, changing sector size shouldn't affect them.
* Do more asteroids spawn in bigger sectors? (That'd be lovely)
* The config file says scaling down an existing universe might cause issues, but what about scaling up? Or should I just start a new "world" and admin-import my stuff, just in case?

Increasing sector size has tons of benefits besides just allowing larger stations - it also makes gameplay with larger vessels possible without crashing servers. The only downside I can see is increased travel time via sublight engines, but we have jumpdrives. Use them.

Another note - JDrives and Stargates do not rely on sector size, their limitations are based on the number of sectors between you and your destination.

 

[Deleted member 433088]

Thanks a lot. I made a new "world" and changed my sector size from 2k to 5k with nice results. I didn't notice any reduction in performance, and space doesn't feel as cramped anymore, but I'll have to up the max speed a bit because those NPCs take ages to get around.
Asteroids don't seem to spawn any differently than before, but I've already learned RNGesus is a wacko so I'm not gonna jump to concussions.

 

[karkinosz]

Increasing sector size has no performance loss at all really, in fact the larger sectors are the less you cross sector bounderies and have to load in more sectors, the loading in part is where performance suffers. Sadly larger sectors doesn't mean more asteroids.

 

[Lukwan]

Correct me if I'm wrong...

I think a station will drift towards the middle of a sector until it reaches it ...then it stops.
I have heard people on my server say they spawned a station (in a sector with a planet) then later found it in the center of the planet.

I believe you should avoid spawning stations across the boarder of sectors or in sectors that have a planet in them.

Karkinosz nailed the procedure for finding the center of your sector.