Ahh The Curse of Infinite Resources

[StormWing0]

Trying to build a small starter craft in single player so I can upload it to the server I'm on but I can't keep it small enough. XD Anyone have some ideas for creating a small starter craft? Was trying to have 3 different weapons, a salvaging array and 2 jump drives on it but so far can't keep the crazy thing small enough.

 

[Gasboy]

It used to be that you would get cannons and salvagers when you started off. Maybe limit yourself to that for the starter ship? :P

 

[Nauvran]

It all depends on how small you are thinking.
You could try to limit yourself to a specific number of blocks or size.
So yeah, try and start with a frame, mark out the "core" room, the front and the engines.
Or as I said set a limited amount of blocks that you can use.
You could try and give yourself X amount of grey hull and then build with that until you get a good rough shape then work off that and add details and finish it up.

Spoiler: Example on small ships (not really starter ships)

Yes I like to show off my work whenever I have the chance, otherwise people will never notice it.

 

[Aynslei]

Give your self 100k of each capsule, use that and only that to make the starter ship.

Actually use a factory system to craft what you need so you can tell the approximate work needed to remake the craft.

 

[kiraen]

When you say starter ship, I think the first ship you build in a world. But your wishlist sounds like something you would build when you have money and/or resources.
Frankly I wouldn't bother with a blueprint, I'd use an organic technique and let the ship grow as I get more blocks. Jump drive is to expensive Weapons are pointless as you would likely not survive a fight anyway.
Remember, you can sell your starter blocks and buy different stuff.
And I wouldn't worry about making it look good. It's a starter ship, you won't have it long and you're going to recycle it anyway.

 

[Edymnion]

I gotta agree, that many weapons and salvage and multiple jump drives is not a starter ship in my book.

For me a starter ship is pretty much just bare power lines and salvage arrays. Mine don't even have weapons because I use those blocks to set up a defense turret for my base.

 

[HolyCookie]

Trying to build a small starter craft in single player so I can upload it to the server I'm on but I can't keep it small enough. XD Anyone have some ideas for creating a small starter craft? Was trying to have 3 different weapons, a salvaging array and 2 jump drives on it but so far can't keep the crazy thing small enough.

note that a backup jumpdrive became useless since some update.
the jumpdrive resets once damaged, imagine jumping into a sun, get all the time damaged, it's a real death trap.
when fighting, you can't escape either, better go for a real fast one to avoid encounter with people.

 

[StormWing0]

hmm interesting, Didn't notice that spare drives reset, I know uncharged ones reset though. Might be a bug might not be. Mainly my use for spare drives is to make it so I don't have to charge them as often. Also spare drives are handy for jumping out if about to get pulverized.

 

[Panpiper]

To me a starter ship is exactly that, a ship that can be built with native starting resources, the few stacks of blocks the game starts you with and what you can buy with that meager $20,000 credits. That crucial beginning is the crux and the bane of many a newbie. Making it pretty is self defeating, doing that will cost far too much of those very few resources and will significantly hamper the first hour or two of play. Indeed if the player meets a pirate in such a 'pretty' starter ship, he is very likely to lose everything and be literally unable to restart without help.

What I do instead is to build a ship that is NOT pretty, but is entirely functional. It does a few things as well as can be done with those starting resources. It has a salvage array that can mine crystals in asteroids with reasonable speed. It has a jump drive to get to those asteroids and to get out of danger. And finally for real security in what is for a starting player, a potentially very dangerous universe, it has the ability to permacloak.

I have uploaded my version of just such a ship here.

 

[StormWing0]

Well the ship I've been working on has been getting smaller each design pass. Any Ideas? Figured I'd go for a sweeper array of salvagers at the back end. Jump drives are easy to place given the setup of the ship, place thrusters down than jump drives behind them. In any event it is getting to the size I want anyways. Need to cut it down a good chunk more before it is cheep enough though.