5 New player questions

[Quinn134]

I just discovered Starmade by accident and I think it's the game I've been looking for. I'm a big fan of Alpha games and always like to try them. I understand the concept and various gameplay mechanics however I do have a few questions:

1. Is the map infinite? (If I head for a star/planet will I eventually get there or will planets, etc, spawn on the way)

1a. Will new enemies keep spawning as I explore?

1b. What is the state of A.I enemies/ stations/ ships?

2. Once on the ground (i.e. planet surface) do I stop floating around, can I walk normally? Or is there a way to turn off the floating? For example could I walk around the inside of my ship (if I build an inside)?

2a. Can I explore/ walk around/inside stations?

3. Can I explore the inside of asteroids and planets (once I make a hole)?

3a. Can/how do I land my ship on a planet/ big asteroid?

4. Is there a 3rd person perspective?

5. Does it matter how I layout my ship or is it just aesthetics? For example:

*Can I put a hull block (or any block) in front of a laser but it still fires (through that block)

*Do thrusters have to go at the back

*Does the cockpit need to be at the front



Thankyou for your help.

 

[Feace Shlorfk]

1. no, the map isn\'t infinite, it\'s just massive.

1a. yes, pirates will continuosly spawn.

2. yes, there is gravity on planets, and you can place a gravity block inside ships that you can activate to be in the ship\'s gravity.

2a. yes you can explore stations, and you can walk with the aforementioned gravity block.

3. yes

3a. you kinda just fall onto it.

4. yes, you press and hold shift, and scroll out.

5. i don\'t know about the lasers, but you can put the thrusters anywhere you want, and the cockpit block can go anywhere you want to see out of.

 

[Quinn134]

Thanks for your response. I just don\'t want to surround all my components (thrusters/ laser etc.) in a Hull and then they don\'t work properly or the lasers don’t fire through the hull. Do I need special equipment to land on a planet and are there tools for mining an asteroid by hand?

 

[Morhe]

Lasers (and any other weapon/beam types) will ignore your own ship for collision detection, so you can have them covered in hull if you like and they will still fire without damaging your ship.

Thrusters have the same effect if they\'re on the front of your ship as they do on the back of your ship, whether they\'re covered or not.

The only thing required to land on a planet is having enough thrust to take off again. If you don\'t have enough thrust, you can just \"drive\" off of the edge of the planet and you\'ll \"fall\" out of the gravity well and into space, assuming you don\'t get stuck in a canyon or pit.

You can mine asteroids by hand the same way you remove items from your ship, but it is generally much faster to use salvage lasers once you get a big enough array.

 

[Aizria]

To answer the one unanswered bit of your first post, yes, cannons can fire just fine from behind any number of other blocks on a ship, in my experience, and in fact, my recently-completed frigate\'s cannons each have a plex light and a block of glass over their outputs for decorative purposes.

As to landing on a planet, no, you do not need any special equipment per-sé in order to do so, but keep in mind that if you land a ship on a planet, it will need a minimum thrust:mass ratio of 1.5 (iirc) in order to be able to later free itself from the planet\'s gravity.

Finally, no, there are currently no tools for hand-mining, only for mining from a ship, as in the case of salvage cannons.

Edit: Ninja\'d... .-.

 

[z1967]

1.The \"map\" is infinite. if you travel towards the sun you will evantually get there. I put map in paranthese because universe is a better term

1a. Yes the pirates will countinue to spawn. make sure to always have a weapons system onboard

2. yes, on a planet you will start to walk normally. you can alos put a gravity unit inside your ships so you can move around easier.

2a. Yes, you can explore stations. they often have some valuable loot and pieces too.

3. yes, the inside of planets and asteroids can be explored but there is rarely anything there... except the ores in the asteroids and planets rocks of course

3a to land a ship on a planet get about 100m from the surface. you will then start rapidly accelerating forward. this is normal. asteroids can just be pulled up to normally.

4. technically, no. but you can use shift and scroll back with the mouse wheel to move into a 3rd person perspective.

5. I would recommend making your ship look kind of nice, but a floating cube is just as deadly as a star destroyer.

-yes hulls can be in front of lasers

-no thrusters do not have to go at the back

-the cockpit can only face forward but can be put where ever you want.

hope this helps. pm me if you need more help

 

[DracoNB]

Planets have gravity, nothing else does unless you place a \"Gravity\" block on them and activate it. This will activate a local gravity based on the orientation of the core / station block on the object.

Blocks don\'t care where you place them, but they do care how they are placed and if they are linked (next to eachother) or separate. For instance, the more AMCs you place together, the higher base damage, range, recharge, and speed each shot has.

To make 3rd person, place a cockpit near the top of your ship, then hold LEFT shift and use the scroll wheel to zoom in / out. You can hold RIGHT shift to look around your ship instead of just straight forward.