Any tips on how to build space stations or asteroid bases?

[Lonnehart]

I've been finding the experience of building a planet base to be... kinda daunting. I figure a space/asteroid station would be more so. So I'd like advice on how to build them like...

How should I organize my build? Which facilities are important to a functioning personal base? Should I use my faction module right away or build a defensible position for its location first?

Yep. I'm still totally new to this game despite having it for about a week...

 

[aRottenKomquat]

The most important thing to do is get your faction module placed on your station, claim the system so you get mining bonuses, and mark the station as your homebase so it's invulnerable. After that I usually focus on incremental improvements between power generation, cargo storage, and factory storage/enhancers. Beyond that it's entirely up to you.

 

[Lonnehart]

I see. I keep forgetting about how the faction module renders your homebase invulnerable. I'll have to be careful when building though. I can be very disorganized (or was it "scatterbrained")... When I built things in Minecraft the result was often messy and sprawling...

 

[aRottenKomquat]

Same here. Any grand vision I have at the start of a new station build is totally thrown out-the-window by the time I've placed more than a few dozen blocks.

 

[Dannage]

Ahh, but those are where you cut your teeth...

Build the bit you need when you start to need it. So first, your faction module, then a cargo box to dump all your mining ores into. Then build a capsule refinery and have it 'auto pull' from the cargo box.

Then build another cargo box, have that auto pull all the capsules, alloyed metal mesh and crystal composite from the capsule refinery

Then build a basic factory, link it to the second cargo box. Make a standard factory and do the same, then build an advanced factory.

Now you have all you need to build anything you need. From there, it's enhances and a LOT of cargo space!

Post progress here, and we'll chivvy you along!

 

[Lonnehart]

Well, went ahead and established the beginnings of a starbase. I kinda wish the pick up docking block had more range to it though. I was also thinking of creating similar to the extending walkways of an airport for very large ships to dock to provided they have a doorway which supports it (on the side of the ship near the front similar to my mining barge in the shot.

Anyways, how's it look so far?

Spoiler

 

[Malacodor]

I kinda wish the pick up docking block had more range to it though.

Placing a camera close to the docker should make aiming for the pickup point easier.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I've been finding the experience of building a planet base to be... kinda daunting. I figure a space/asteroid station would be more so. So I'd like advice on how to build them like...

How should I organize my build? Which facilities are important to a functioning personal base? Should I use my faction module right away or build a defensible position for its location first?

Yep. I'm still totally new to this game despite having it for about a week...

For a space station:

- Make a faction, use a faction block to apply homebase protection to your station then claim the system for your faction so you get the mining boost.
- Add a plex undeathinator in case you get killed so you don't respawn half way across the galaxy away from your new base.
- You're going to need an efficient power generation system; Lines, crosses , diagonal lines and/or arcs will give you the best efficiency.
- Add plenty of factory components to get your industry up. Note; requires the aforementioned power.
- Add long range missile turrets to kill any NPC pirates that show up. Salvage their wreckage.
- Add more defenses, industry, shipyards and aesthetics as needed..

Planets, on the other hand, tend to be pretty simple if you can learn to deal with the gravity. Here's a few tips specifically for planets
- Add a stop effect system to your ship so it can "hover" on a planet.
- Use "salvager towers" to "terraform" your planet's surface and make it flat. This gathers minerals and clears out building space.


- "Orbital platforms" are a good way to build small-medium ships near a planet. Note; gravity will not pull your ship as you approach a platform but it will pull it if you fly over top of the platform. Use docking systems to create a transition between gravity and orbital space. If you do it right, you can have a decent sized fleet orbiting the planet via docks.


Most important of all...

Have fun! Make the base an expression of your creativity. After all, you home base is invincible; why not take the time to make it a masterpiece you can be proud of?

 

[Panpiper]

If you are playing on a PvP server, build an enclosure right away, a large room using any blocks you have available. These can easily be otherwise almost useless blocks you got while mining for shards. Those random mineral blocks will be every bit as invulnerable on your homebase as anything else. Put a plex door on that enclosure, add a few lights, maybe even a lot if you've got them. Put your build block. faction block, factories, storage containers, etc., and most especially your undeathenator inside that enclosure. I don't know how many times I've seen someone be killed over and over and over again, because their griefer was hovering over their unenclosed undeathenator, where they would respawn only to be killed again.

Once you have more materials and a better idea of what you are doing, you can take down that temporary enclosure and replace it with something much nicer and more elaborate.

 

[StarWars1981]

For a space station:

- Make a faction, use a faction block to apply homebase protection to your station then claim the system for your faction so you get the mining boost.
- add a plex undeathinator in case you get killed so you don't respawn half way across the galaxy away from your new base.
- You're going to need an efficient power generation system; Lines, crosses , diagonal lines and/or arcs will give you the best efficiency.
- Add plenty of factory components to get your industry up. Note; required the aforementioned power.
- Add long range missile turrets to kill any NPC pirates that show up. salvage their wreckage.
- add more defense industry shipyards and aesthetics as needed..

Planets, on the other hand, tend to be pretty simple if you can learn to deal with the gravity. Here's a few tips specifically for planets
- Add a stop effect system to your ship so it can "hover" on a planet.
- Use "salvager towers" to "terraform" your planet's surface and make it flat. This gathers minerals and clears out building space.
View attachment 34060View attachment 34061

- "Orbital platforms" are a good way to build small-medium ships near a planet. Note; gravity will not pull your ship as you approach a platform but it will pull it if you fly over top of the platform. Use docking systems to create a transition between gravity and orbital space. If you do it right, you can have a decent sized fleet orbiting the planet via docks.
View attachment 34067 View attachment 34065 View attachment 34064 View attachment 34063 View attachment 34062

Most important of all...

Have fun! Make the base an expression of your creativity. After all, you home base is invincible; why not take the time to make it a masterpiece you can be proud of?
View attachment 34069View attachment 34068

Because, Dr. Whammy, with all your maniacal experiments, the server cries when you do that!

 

[Lonnehart]

Is there any way to move your faction block without losing your claim to the system? Let's say... once I've built a much better place for it (such as the station hub where all the power reactors and capacitors will be located)?

At least I have factories and storage down (though that's all temporary 'til I can build a dedicated storage depot).

Spoiler

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Is there any way to move your faction block without losing your claim to the system? Let's say... once I've built a much better place for it (such as the station hub where all the power reactors and capacitors will be located)?

At least I have factories and storage down (though that's all temporary 'til I can build a dedicated storage depot).

Spoiler

You can remove your faction block at any time and place it elsewhere without penalty. You will however, need to reclaim the system and set the base as faction home once again. Failure to do these things will cause you to waste resources by mining without a bonus and can lead to a very nasty surprise if another player finds your base.

 

[MacThule]

Don't build an asteroid base in Multiplayer mode... someone will come along and mine it.

It is a daunting process, especially the first few attempts. I strongly recommend you go to the Community Content section here, download 2-3 stations that look good, put those .sment files into your Starmade blueprint folder, launch the game and open Tools to launch the Catalog Manager, import those stations you downloaded, start a single player game, spawn them in using admin spawn, stick a build block on them, and dissect the crap out of them. Do some research and reverse-engineering. It will give you ideas and help you understand some legit options for station construction.

It's likely that the first few you download will be only decorative and won't have much in terms of functioning systems on board, so be prepared to repeat this process a few times until you've found a few with systems.

 

[Lonnehart]

Went out exploring and found a derelict station that appears to be a medical facility. I would love to create a station such as this.

And I'm kinda happy that there's no virus infected zombies inside...


-edit- I'd use spoilers, but Photobucket seems to be down for now...

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Cute fighter.

 

[Gasboy]

What I do at the start is immediately place a build block on top of the station block. I stick a faction block on top of that, and top it off with an undeathinator.

I'll build a small-ish room around that, to keep people out and to prevent people from seeing what's happening inside.

Then I just build outwards from there.

For stuff that can just be grouped up in large amounts, I'll build cylinders of them, hanging off the sides or bottom of my station. Power, shielding, cargo capacity, mass enhancers, factory enhancers... stuff that can be packaged up nice and neat. Leaves more room for the inside of the station.

That long center core is full of power, and what you cannot see are the other utilities underneath the large circular habitat. The brown cylinder is the scanner module, and it can be docked anywhere there's a free docking point on the station.

 

[Edymnion]

Problem with the derelict stations you find is that they are decayed. Any block you put down on them also becomes decayed, so you can never take anything off of them without it turning into scrap.

However, you can abuse them.

To make the station usable, you have to pay credits to repair it. The cost to repair it is the cost of buying every single block on it. That can be very expensive.

However, if you salvage all but one or two blocks from the station, the cost for repairing it will be the cost of just one or two blocks, and that is a HELL of a lot cheaper than the million credits to start a whole new one from scratch.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Problem with the derelict stations you find is that they are decayed. Any block you put down on them also becomes decayed, so you can never take anything off of them without it turning into scrap.

However, you can abuse them.

To make the station usable, you have to pay credits to repair it. The cost to repair it is the cost of buying every single block on it. That can be very expensive.

However, if you salvage all but one or two blocks from the station, the cost for repairing it will be the cost of just one or two blocks, and that is a HELL of a lot cheaper than the million credits to start a whole new one from scratch.

I've done that before but I think Schine has recently (within the last 6 months) reduced the cost of a new station to 50,000 credits.

Also, am I the only one who thinks it was a lousy idea to make pirate stations automatically decay after you neutralize them?

 

[Edymnion]

I've done that before but I think Schine hase recently (within the last 6 months) reduced the cost of a new station to 50,000 credits.

Nope, its still a million as of the last time I built a station a month or two ago. However the price is something that can be set on a server by server basis, so its entirely possible your server simply decided to help the newbs out.

Also, am I the only one who thinks it was a lousy idea to make pirate stations automatically decay after you neutralize them?

Not really, no. Its absurdly easy to cut out a pirate station's faction block with minimal damage to the rest of the station, making them nothing more than giant floating pinatas otherwise.

 

[Malacodor]

Nope, its still a million as of the last time I built a station a month or two ago. However the price is something that can be set on a server by server basis, so its entirely possible your server simply decided to help the newbs out.

Your server.cfg seems to be outdated. For me a new station costs 50 000 and my server.cfg is less than a month old.