Basic questions from an aspiring StarMade N00B

[Cybertec]

Hello Gentle-beings, Manifestations, and other Things,

Long time lurker, and not an often poster here with a few questions for you, the teeming builders.

1. What is better for building medium to extra-large ships: SMeidt or the Star made editor?

2. Are Salvaging ships totally a waste now? Or is it just a temporary issue?

And now for a basic statement of thanks and best wishes to Schema and crew for continuing to make this game!

 

[DukeofRealms]

I can't answer question 1 or 2.

But I can say thanks.

 

[MrFURB]

I don't have the first-hand experience to answer your first question, but with the addition of copy/paste and variable max advanced build mode sizes Starmade's advanced build mode has come a long way towards matching schematics editors in use.

To answer your second question... I think it's the wrong question. Salvagers will be rapidly going from useful to useless as the universe generation, factory/crafting, and salvaging mechanics themselves change and update to be closer to their final form. Their usefulness also depends on server settings as well, as some servers will have vastly different economies from others.
It's always good to have a salvage craft available, though you might not see it's use 100% of the time.

 

[TwoNiner]

1, SMEdit, I find it extremely helpful when you have a 3d model you want to use in the game. Not to mention that if you run the model through binvox before hand, tye results are damn near perfect. After you have your model ready to import it also gives you the feature to paint it with different 'brush' sizes, not to mention it allows you to fill your entire model with a certain block *ahem* shields, which you could later replace with other systems in game using the advance build mode's filter. SMEdit takes what would require days to Finnish and does it in a few minutes.

2,large scale mining vessels are still better then build blocks.

 

[Commodore]

It depends what you're trying to do. I used smedit to make this from a model file: (not a screenshot)

It ended up full of holes though, and took quite a bit of work to fix up and fill up (even though I used the fill function of smedit for some parts). I would have had a lot of trouble getting the shape right manually.

A ship that shape has a LOT of hull, and little space for functional blocks and the core is very exposed. Not quite the terror machine it was in Babylon 5.

Edit: Realized I hadn't answered the questions:

1- SMedit is good for importing model files, and then filling the funny contours with blocks. It is also good for adding wedges (if the function works properly now). If you aren't importing a ship, smedit isn't much use. (unless you build your ship the wrong color and need to paint it)

2- When removing 8000 blocks every click using 10x10x10 and 3 symmetry planes means you are limited by the game not being able to keep up. A gigantic salvage ship also means you are limited by the same thing. I guess how fast you can salvage depends on your CPU in singleplayer and your internet connection/server's CPU in multiplayer.

 

[MossyStone48]

1. StarMade's built in editor is bar-none the best way to work on a larger ship. It's more feature complete at the moment. Tho SMEdit can do things the advanced build mode doesn't do it has trouble loading larger, more detailed ships with a lot of block types.
2. Salvagers are far from dead. You just need an EVIL large battery and a really well designed reactor. I have a 16x16 staggered waffle of 16piece salvage cannons. That's 512 cannons made of 16 salvage blocks each. A total of 8192 salvage blocks. It cleans up an entire pirate base in 8 minutes.

 

[Cybertec]

Thanks for the feedback!
I'll keep plugging away and practicing. So many ideas, so little talent. Lol. :-D