Anyone have some nice building techniques?

[KevinTOC]

Hi, I'm not sure to put this in Shipyard, but since it's about ships, I'll post it here

I'm wondering if anyone has some good techniques to building when it comes to functionality & design? I have noticed that building in StarMade is quite similar to minecraft, and I am a pretty experienced builder in minecraft, (I usually begin with bland stuff, and add details later) but does anyone have any tips about building spaceships?

 

[Drybreeze]

Find a unit you want in your universe: ship, drone, station, weapon.

Find a good concept design or combination of ideas you like.

Build the skin.

Build the internal structure to make it functional in the 'real world' such as beams, life support systems, control systems such as bridge or living quarters.

Build other smaller realistic stuff around the larger systems already in place.

Rinse and repeat until every detail is in the most logical place.

Launch and enjoy.

Apply what you've learned to the next unit you build.

Hth.

EDIT > If building for PVP instead of RP then replace everything under 'build the skin' with:

Fill the skin with the most useful balance of systems for the unit's intended purpose, with the most critically important systems (power, weapons, shield chargers) buried as deeply within non critcal systems (shield capacity, jump drive, jump inhibitors, RP stuff) as possible.

Keep the 'launch and enjoy' and 'apply what you've learned' steps.

Use armor at your own discretion.

HTH2

 

[Olxinos]

Sure.
Randomly place and delete blocks until it looks good, then kidnap Atra and force her to add as many broken bug exploits as you can to your ship.

Seriously, I usually start by either the shape or some specific system first.
I usually draw the shape on paper, look at deviantart/google image pictures for inspiration, then start building a rough wireframe to get decent proportions.
If efficiency matters, I also have to decide quite early what will be the mass and power requirements of my ship (which means deciding which passives I'll use, how much thrust I need, how many shields, whether I'll use a jammer...) then I come up with an efficient power system which fits in my shape (if I already decided it) or which isn't too weirdly shaped (I certainly won't build a good looking 5k mass ship around a 800m line).
If I've started with key systems, I'll decide the shape next. If I've started with the shape, I'll go with key systems next (unless I don't really care that much about efficiency).
Once I have done that, it's time to start building systems whose location matter (weapons mostly) and the interior if I want one. Then I add small kewl-looking logic thingies, details, gribbles. And I finish filling the leftover empty spaces with the last systems (usually thrust and shields).

Oh and some other advice :
- start small, especially if you've never built anything in starmade before. When you see the trailer or what other people have done you'll certainly things like RF-57P Tigerlily II , SBS Jupiter,
WS RadiantDawn MK1 , Griffon-Class Light Cruiser ... those things are deceptively big, long and tedious to make. I recommend avoiding anything above ~10000 blocks for your first ship (besides a good looking 50~500 mass fighter is a very good exercise and will get you familiarised with the game and its mechanics), aim for things this size : Fighter Porn
- look at what other people have done, there are a lot of neat ideas out there
- always decide and refine the key "selling points" of your ship before building it. For instance, if you want it to be an awesome looking ship with a unique shape, draw it on paper first, tweak it, and make sure it appeals to you

 

[Madman198237]

This ways all work, or you can start by building the interior first---which is a very good way to build an RP ship or a carrier-type vessel.

For your first build.....build a cargo shuttle with a small salvager attached. It will allow you to get more mined than your crappy hand laser, will give you a foot in the door of building in SM, and will always be useful. If you ever need to move something fast, use that cargo shuttle. As you get better established in the game (Or if you're in creative mode) you could then add a jump drive section somewhere on the existing shuttle, making it even better for the purpose.

 

[splatthecat]

Get a basic role and idea for finished shape.

If RP, build interior space first allowing for some extra space for concealed lighting and animated blocks for more depth. Use system blocks where the fit the overall design as decoration such as thrusters as floors or the tops of jump drive modules. The animated sides of these blocks can add movement to otherwise bland exteriors but use sparingly.

Add in the major systems such as power, shields and thrusters and then coat in your choice of hull or armour.

Job done!

 

[jayman38]

I always like to provide the advice to use the game's lighting system to your advantage and splash light across your hull with hidden (or not-so-hidden) light blocks.
It usually provides a nice, jazzy lighting effect without requiring too many more blocks. Especially jazzy in shadow.
For instance, the blue glow below reflected on the hull is double-nice.

I try to provide good examples, but whenever I see such lighting effects in Community Content, I am so enthralled, that I forget to take note of where I saw it.

 

[KevinTOC]

These are some awesome tips, thanks. However, I have one more question; Is it possible to replace the ship's core to a different spot on the ship?

 

[splatthecat]

These are some awesome tips, thanks. However, I have one more question; Is it possible to replace the ship's core to a different spot on the ship?

The only way to do this is to copy the entire ship and paste it with the core in the new position. It is fiddly and can only be done with small ships unless you have some supercomputer and even then I wouldn't risk it.

I have moved the core on an Isanth type zero and my modified Isanth Type VI that I have shared have moved cores too. About 30x30x30 is about the limit on my five year old laptop!

 

[KevinTOC]

The only way to do this is to copy the entire ship and paste it with the core in the new position. It is fiddly and can only be done with small ships unless you have some supercomputer and even then I wouldn't risk it.

I have moved the core on an Isanth type zero and my modified Isanth Type VI that I have shared have moved cores too. About 30x30x30 is about the limit on my five year old laptop!

Well, how do I then select the entire ship?

 

[Drybreeze]

Using the advanced build mode and mirror axis planes you can create a box of cut blocks on all of the corners of an imaginary box that contains all of your ship and then copy the contents of it. Save the copy as a filename of your choice. Take note of where the core is in relation to these cut mark points.

Create a new core. Do some maths to figure out how far you need to move the core in relation to your cut points and create a new paste point at that new relative position.

Paste at that point.

Trial and error is needed here. .. advanced build mode and especially the cut and paste feature can be confusing and difficult to get the hang of. Start small by trying to cut and paste a few objects like maybe an engine from one size to another of the same ship. Moving a core is currently not the easiest job to do in starmade although it will be in future we're told. Persevere. Being able to use cut and paste and mirror axis planes is very important to making great builds easily.

I have a YouTube video that demos the cut and paste method I use, if it helps you.

 

[Madman198237]

I would recommend figuring out copy/paste for yourself.

My #1 rule for that:
Find the pattern. If you copy from this block, it will then paste from that block. Unless, you know, it doesn't, because reasons. Always remember---you can TURN OFF PASTE MODE after figuring out where it pastes from. So, turn on "Paste" mode, find the block that it is pasting from (as in, if you copied four blocks in a square, does it paste from top-right or bottom-left or bottom-upside-down-what-the-holy-crap?), then place a block that allows you to paste it in EXACTLY the location you want.

This is not sarcastic, this is the best way for you to understand copy/paste. It's too hard and confusing to explain, as the paragraph above demonstrates.