An average day in Starmade

[Matt_Bradock]

So... I decided to do some stuff in the game today.

First, I finally managed to make the storage pull work on my drone miner carrier. BUT I still had the issues of 2-3 drones getting stuck in the bay. Alright, no problem, spent an hour making each bay longer and wider by 1 block each direction, rewired the rails, that solved the issue. So, I wanted to go do some drone mining. The drones released alright, but refused to mine. I relogged, cleared client cache, they still refused to do anything.

OK, at this point I was at the "Meh, Starmade doing Starmade things" phase, so I wanted to send them to an unloaded sector and then order them to mine it. They flew off to another direction and got stuck in "Moving" state but in fact didn't move.

Fine. I grabbed a jumpshuttle, caught up to them put them to idle, docked to the carrier, recalled the drones, and decided to jump to the target manually then leave them to unload and start mining.
Except the jump drive didn't work.
I resisted the urge to swear and started flying there manually, it wasn't far. Except a wave of pirates spawned right on top of me after 2 sectors... Brierie server has buffed, power 2.0 pirates. FUUUUUUUU...
my ship had almost no offensive capabilities other then 4 pity cannon turrets, but it was fast and heavily shielded. I managed to run back to base. Except I crashed when it tried to render. So, I restarted the client, logged on, pirates were gone, jump drive was working, I jumped to the sector, released the drones, and Behold! They started mining even without being unloaded!

I was happy as a clam at high tide, so I undocked my jumpshuttle and jumped back to HQ to leave them to their business. Except I crashed again trying to render the base. I launched the game again, docked to my HB, and suddenly noticed that the base forgot that its reactor had stabillisers, PLUS the bug where every weapon output consumes as much power as the biggest one, also showed up. Power consumption, at 8000% of normal, on a by-default power stable station.
That was the moment I said "F*** this s***, I'm out" and ragequit the game.

And that's an average day in Starmade, right now.

So, what's your "average" day in Starmade?

 

[Mr. Morague]

ic i lúte

 

[Nosajimiki]

So being well aware of all the bugs... I figured it would be safe to make bases and rails/logic stuff since those mostly unchanged, and since warheads are basically the most reliable weapon system in the game right now, I decided the best use of my time would be to make a jousting arena where ppl could PvP using the most reliable weapon system left in the game.

So I make this nice pretty jousting arena:


and I make some hover mechs for the competition.


Now, notice those 3 warhead lances on the wall? So, with new gravity, I can make hover tanks, but can't logic it to turn off between rounds. Trying to manually dock a warhead lance to your mech in gravity inside of a hanger is very bad btw... so I thought I'd be clever and use a rail based auto mounter.

All I needed to do is rail them up to mount to the mech, but turns out shoot-out and catch is very broken right now. They would catch, and then sort of act like they were not sure if they exited or not anymore. They would not move, I could not undock them, entity hopping wasn't working on them anything. When I relogged, the lance was embedded hilt deep in the mech and doing what warheads do...

Can't say my day was as rough as yours, but getting this far in what you think is the one aspect of the game that should still work only to be proven wrong is pretty disheartening.

 

[Reilly Reese]

An average day is it just sitting on my taskbar taking up space.

 

[OmegaGame]

So... I decided to do some stuff in the game today.

First, I finally managed to make the storage pull work on my drone miner carrier. BUT I still had the issues of 2-3 drones getting stuck in the bay. Alright, no problem, spent an hour making each bay longer and wider by 1 block each direction, rewired the rails, that solved the issue. So, I wanted to go do some drone mining. The drones released alright, but refused to mine. I relogged, cleared client cache, they still refused to do anything.

OK, at this point I was at the "Meh, Starmade doing Starmade things" phase, so I wanted to send them to an unloaded sector and then order them to mine it. They flew off to another direction and got stuck in "Moving" state but in fact didn't move.

Fine. I grabbed a jumpshuttle, caught up to them put them to idle, docked to the carrier, recalled the drones, and decided to jump to the target manually then leave them to unload and start mining.
Except the jump drive didn't work.
I resisted the urge to swear and started flying there manually, it wasn't far. Except a wave of pirates spawned right on top of me after 2 sectors... Brierie server has buffed, power 2.0 pirates. FUUUUUUUU...
my ship had almost no offensive capabilities other then 4 pity cannon turrets, but it was fast and heavily shielded. I managed to run back to base. Except I crashed when it tried to render. So, I restarted the client, logged on, pirates were gone, jump drive was working, I jumped to the sector, released the drones, and Behold! They started mining even without being unloaded!

I was happy as a clam at high tide, so I undocked my jumpshuttle and jumped back to HQ to leave them to their business. Except I crashed again trying to render the base. I launched the game again, docked to my HB, and suddenly noticed that the base forgot that its reactor had stabillisers, PLUS the bug where every weapon output consumes as much power as the biggest one, also showed up. Power consumption, at 8000% of normal, on a by-default power stable station.
That was the moment I said "F*** this s***, I'm out" and ragequit the game.

And that's an average day in Starmade, right now.

So, what's your "average" day in Starmade?

Sorry about the brierie 2.0 pirates man.. But i was sick of dealing with the constant risk of invincible cores following me around and humping my leg all day with the old pirates.

My average day in Starmade anymore consist of logging onto the docks in the futile hope that an update or patch is released that might alleviate the disaster that is the game now... After those hopes are effectively bashed. I then proceed to login to breirie to read everyone's complaints about the game for about a half hour until i finally remember that i cannot really do much of anything in the game currently that won't leave me deeply disappointed, so hop on empyrion to work on my orbital station and daydream of the good ol' days when SM was fun, working well enough and the community was cheerful for the future.

 

[The Judge]

The average day I regret ever purchasing the game, I could've just ridden up to this point without purchasing the full game. I didn't pay $15 for a game where I have to wait for another update (which will probably be another couple months) for it to be remotely playable.

 

[Matt_Bradock]

Sorry about the brierie 2.0 pirates man.. But i was sick of dealing with the constant risk of invincible cores following me around and humping my leg all day with the old pirates.

No worries, I actually like Brierie's pirates. They were doing their jobs, lol, showing up at the perfect opportunity to f*** my undergunned s*** up.

 

[Skwidz]

I'll often spend my time fleeting random cores I find and sending them to a far away sector in a far away galaxy.

 

[Nosajimiki]

Oh yeah, rando pirates also killed one of my joust mechs

 

[OfficialCoding]

Average day is struggling to detail my ships with black standard. Then running into invisible isanths. Then taking damage to my shielded engine decor.

 

[JinM]

My average day for the last week was making a station with an automatic factory. When I finish it, I can spam corvettes and other ships, without having to meticulously shop or set recipes into factories again.

Simmultaneously I work on a faction concept that helps newcommers, and lets people build together on a big station. I have the idea that the more experienced players try to make logic stuff like minigames or cargo setups for the newer players. And many other ideas. But I need to strip all those buzzing ideas and make a good core concept first.

After I finish this, I plan on make some corvettes with systems that still work in pvp: Beam-Cannon and Cannon-Cannon. Maybe Missile-Cannon. I also plan on making some minigames or some outpost stations that combine a little story and lore. Maybe a storage station. I will see.

Or I take the finished station blueprint, and will found headquarters on the biggest servers besides Brierie. Freaks and LvD for sure.

 

[Nosajimiki]

Just be careful with outpost stations. They are very vulnerable to attacks; so, consider carefully how much resources you put into them, who you share their locations with, and how likely they are to be accidentally discovered. Most outpost stations should be build either deep in the void or in highly un-populated sections of the galaxy at least 2 systems away from any claimed systems (especially your own.). Also, make sure you don't have to fly through any enemy territory to get to them since they will be alerted of your presence and may use fleet lines to track you down.

Good uses for outposts include:

• Emergence caches of resources: If someone exploit robs your HB, or blockades you such that you can't get back into your HB, this gives you something to fall back on. Never share cache locations with your faction or put them in outposts that you have a reason to regularly visit. Never put too much wealth into one of them since there is always the small chance that they will be discovered.
• Emergency refineries: An alternative to an emergency cache. These are mainly good for early game. An emergency refinery can be placed on or in an asteroid so that there is no map marker for it. That makes them safer to put simi-close to your HB. Generally these consist of a small unfactioned factory/refinery, an undeathinator, and a filled mining ship BP in the storage. These can be used as a place to quickly build a blockade breaker if your HB is sieged when you do not yet have voided warships or caches to fallback on.
• Shipyards: Since these break so often, it's best not to include them in you HB. Keep them cheap since frequent visits to them make them easier to hunt down and destroy.

Bad uses for outposts include:

• Personal bases: Faction members with private outposts that they do everything out of are very easy to hunt down if you have a spy: People in your faction can see where you are at all times which is the #1 bane of outposts.
• Battle stations: Large battle stations never last long. Even really big, well designed ones die quickly because once someone recons it, it is easy to determine how much force it will take to kill it.
• Space Ports: Bases used as places to dock ships away from home base are actually easier to recon and destroy than just leaving your ships in space. There are a few simi-exploitative ways to give these HB protection, but in lue of that, they are a bad idea.
• Dedicated refineries: refineries that your regularly visit are likely to be discovered and destroyed.
• Claim Stations: All it takes to claim a system for mining is a faction block on a planet. Building or purchasing full stations is a big waste of resources since claims are very often found and destroyed. If there are no planets, a "base" made of just a faction block is fine.
• Jumpgate stations: Jumpgate lines make these very easy to discover. In general, jumpgates are best for HB to HB travel.

 

[kulbolen]

Sorry about the brierie 2.0 pirates man.. But i was sick of dealing with the constant risk of invincible cores following me around and humping my leg all day with the old pirates.

My average day in Starmade anymore consist of logging onto the docks in the futile hope that an update or patch is released that might alleviate the disaster that is the game now... After those hopes are effectively bashed. I then proceed to login to breirie to read everyone's complaints about the game for about a half hour until i finally remember that i cannot really do much of anything in the game currently that won't leave me deeply disappointed, so hop on empyrion to work on my orbital station and daydream of the good ol' days when SM was fun, working well enough and the community was cheerful for the future.

this is almost exactly what i do lol

 

[JinM]

Just be careful with outpost stations. They are very vulnerable to attacks; so, consider carefully how much resources you put into them, who you share their locations with, and how likely they are to be accidentally discovered. Most outpost stations should be build either deep in the void or in highly un-populated sections of the galaxy at least 2 systems away from any claimed systems (especially your own.). Also, make sure you don't have to fly through any enemy territory to get to them since they will be alerted of your presence and may use fleet lines to track you down.

Good uses for outposts include:

• Emergence caches of resources: If someone exploit robs your HB, or blockades you such that you can't get back into your HB, this gives you something to fall back on. Never share cache locations with your faction or put them in outposts that you have a reason to regularly visit. Never put too much wealth into one of them since there is always the small chance that they will be discovered.
• Emergency refineries: An alternative to an emergency cache. These are mainly good for early game. An emergency refinery can be placed on or in an asteroid so that there is no map marker for it. That makes them safer to put simi-close to your HB. Generally these consist of a small unfactioned factory/refinery, an undeathinator, and a filled mining ship BP in the storage. These can be used as a place to quickly build a blockade breaker if your HB is sieged when you do not yet have voided warships or caches to fallback on.
• Shipyards: Since these break so often, it's best not to include them in you HB. Keep them cheap since frequent visits to them make them easier to hunt down and destroy.

Bad uses for outposts include:

• Personal bases: Faction members with private outposts that they do everything out of are very easy to hunt down if you have a spy: People in your faction can see where you are at all times which is the #1 bane of outposts.
• Battle stations: Large battle stations never last long. Even really big, well designed ones die quickly because once someone recons it, it is easy to determine how much force it will take to kill it.
• Space Ports: Bases used as places to dock ships away from home base are actually easier to recon and destroy than just leaving your ships in space. There are a few simi-exploitative ways to give these HB protection, but in lue of that, they are a bad idea.
• Dedicated refineries: refineries that your regularly visit are likely to be discovered and destroyed.
• Claim Stations: All it takes to claim a system for mining is a faction block on a planet. Building or purchasing full stations is a big waste of resources since claims are very often found and destroyed. If there are no planets, a "base" made of just a faction block is fine.
• Jumpgate stations: Jumpgate lines make these very easy to discover. In general, jumpgates are best for HB to HB travel.

Thanks for your friendly advice. I totally agree with all your points.

However I would use alt-accounts anyway to protect such outpost stations with homebase protection.

And those homebase protected stations then would serve as extended rp-projects. Like an abandoned ship 1 sector away from my original homebase.

 

[therimmer96]

Is starmade not just logging in, floating around your current project for a few minutes, before logging out and regretting 4-5 years of your life?

 

[Calhoun]

Thanks for your friendly advice. I totally agree with all your points.

However I would use alt-accounts anyway to protect such outpost stations with homebase protection.

And those homebase protected stations then would serve as extended rp-projects. Like an abandoned ship 1 sector away from my original homebase.

yeah hi that would be classed as exploiting and most servers would ban you for that

 

[JinM]

yeah hi that would be classed as exploiting and most servers would ban you for that

And do they ban infiltrators that use alt-accounts as well? People who grief other peoples station by resetting homebase protection?

Btw. I didn't know that some servers have a problem with additional stations as long as they are not obviously giving an strategic benefit (like making a hb very close to the enemy, or "walling" yourself in by placing many turret-heavy hb all around your homebase). Which servers are against alt-account usage? Now don't come me with "dont use exploits" rule. I want to know which admins are against alt-accounts explicitly. Because if they are not against alt-accounts infiltrators then they are also not against other common-sense stuff that can come from those accounts.

 

[Az14el]

abusing alts to have more than one invincible station is generally viewed as unsportsmanly yes lol
i mean obviously so because if one special person is doing other people will have a precedent and suddenly admins have to intervene in community conflicts due to invincible infrastructure. Doesn't matter if person #1 was just being RP about it, its a social game.

 

[Aesthetics]

And do they ban infiltrators that use alt-accounts as well?

No, they do not. That is not exploiting in-game mechanics - it is basic intelligence-gathering, something I thought was both common knowledge and common practice.

People who grief other peoples station by resetting homebase protection?

That is basic sabotage. An infiltrator will "lower the shields" of an enemy homebase on the inside allowing a fleet to destroy it, and thus, the faction as a whole - such is the nature of war. This is not an abuse of in-game mechanics, thus, not exploiting. As a faction leader you are responsible for any infiltrators you allow into your faction - counter-intelligence is imperative to the survival of a faction as much as espionage is. I've done it and had to deal with it, so will you as your faction continues to grow.

Btw. I didn't know that some servers have a problem with additional stations as long as they are not obviously giving an strategic benefit (like making a hb very close to the enemy, or "walling" yourself in by placing many turret-heavy hb all around your homebase).

Provided those stations aren't invincible like yours are, they won't have a problem with this. As you say, these stations you'e described provide a strategic or tactical advantage (assuming one's faction is large enough to maintain more than one station, and that the server configuration doesn't punish you for expanding).

Which servers are against alt-account usage? Now don't come me with "dont use exploits" rule. I want to know which admins are against alt-accounts explicitly. Because if they are not against alt-accounts infiltrators then they are also not against other common-sense stuff that can come from those accounts.

You'll likely have to ask the server admins yourself, I am not well-versed in which admins have what qualms. I estimate that they aren't against alternative account usage provided that these alternate accounts don't provide unlawful, abusive advantages to a faction (i.e. Faction Point generators, multiple homebases registered to numerous, associated factions (which Calhoun is likely right in assuming that most server admins would ban or at least give you a stern talking-to for doing so)).

 

[Matt_Bradock]

And do they ban infiltrators that use alt-accounts as well? People who grief other peoples station by resetting homebase protection?

Btw. I didn't know that some servers have a problem with additional stations as long as they are not obviously giving an strategic benefit (like making a hb very close to the enemy, or "walling" yourself in by placing many turret-heavy hb all around your homebase). Which servers are against alt-account usage? Now don't come me with "dont use exploits" rule. I want to know which admins are against alt-accounts explicitly. Because if they are not against alt-accounts infiltrators then they are also not against other common-sense stuff that can come from those accounts.

Most servers I played on have specified using alts to set up multiple homebases with or without system claims, as a bannable offense. Almost all of them. About 50% of them also considered using alts to sabotage a serious offense.
To avoid the latter is why I use faction permission modules on my homebase to give people access to the elevators, doors, docks, storage and factories while keeping a strict rank system to make sure I get to know them better before they get homebase edit permission.