How much time do you need to build ships below 100m?

[JinM]

I just began to build a salvager, and mother it takes ages to build this 100m long ship.

I am seriously considering only to build small ships for the majority of the game. I mean detailing even some thrusters takes me one hour. And for the front I wanted to have some drills and designing those took me like 3 hours! And laying out the systems and the whole design took like 1 hour as well. Am I impatient? Or do I have the wrong building style? I mean I like my stuff pretty but it really takes all the fun if it takes ages to have a at least decent looking ship.

(yes I use building tools like 100m build helper, copy and mirror)

Spoiler

 

[nightrune]

I've got a 300m station I've been putting in quite a few hours for a few months. It takes a pretty long time. Just be patient.

 

[Pacific_Jim]

I find it gets quicker the more I build, but I'm a pretty slow builder myself so I can definitely empathize here.

 

[Groovrider]

I've been working on my industrial flagship since august and the exterior and systems are only JUST finished. Persevere.

 

[Madman198237]

As Groov said, persevere. It takes a long time to build these things---with myself and another person working on it, we took probably 3 weeks to finish the basis of a crappy 250m-long ship. My 65 x 75 x 12 or so Longsword took four days (At several hours spent per day).

 

[Panpiper]

To just slap together something functional for mining that has sufficient shielding and some missile/missile to clear pirates, no turrets, built from scratch is maybe two or three hours. It won't look like anything anyone else would want to fly, but it will be serviceable. To pretty that up might involve some time thinking before ever touching a block and then however much extra time your OCD allows for making it pretty. If wanting to build functional turrets and more elaborate weapon systems, one can easily spend tens of additional hours tweaking things.

It gets worse if you want to build bigger than that, and especially if you obsess over things like RP space and exterior greebling. The last ship I built was around 250K mass (Battleship class) and took over 100 hours, 'not' including the time I spent on the turrets. Getting the turrets perfect probably took another 100 hours. It was for the longest time however, the most badass ship on the server and served me well for clearing many systems of their pesky planets. The effort was worth the while for me at least.

To all those who have seen this picture several times, I apologize. But like I said above, it was a LOT of work and the result was something even a year later now, I am still pleased with.

 

[JinM]

Guys the thread caption says: below 100m. And the first sentence says 100m long ships. Pls dont drive to mega projects. Everyone knows how mega projects handle: Big time, big plan, used once a month in multiplayer if you are lucky. Its nothing I strife for. Maybe others, and they can do so. But please talk about this mega-stuff in a different topic.

I want to talk about stuff you can do within 20 hours of gameplay. And so I came up with the idea of how long it takes to even create a 100m long ship. Because you roughly need 10 hours for a ship this size. And 20 hours is the normal time I messure game time in, because thats some average size for a classical fps shooter, or some rts game. After this time I want to have some decent experience, some big story revelation, some exciting stuff to happen. Just saying what I am used to from the old games I've played. =)

And so I was wondering: Hey does everyone take this long even for normal projects? I mean I could build faster, but the outcome are not ships I would use again or want to play with often. I just feel so slow building, and wonder if everyone needs this long for detailed ships in this size.

 

[Groovrider]

I get what you're saying but realize that under 100m to me means under 100 x 100 x 100. That's potentially a good amount of volume to fill, be effective and not look like a brick. My latest that fits that class has taken a loooooong time to do, inside and out. It all depends on hoe deep you want to go: solo coffin style or full RP with toilets. It takes as long as it takes but the more you do the faster it goes.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I'll bite...

100 meters is the standard size for the majority of my ships. The time it takes me to build a ship depends on how RP, PVE, PVP and/or "pretty" I want to make it and how strongly my builder's OCD kicks in. While I can't say how long it should take you to build a 100m long ship, I can give you an estimate based on some of my builds. Please note; I did not count the hours. I measured in the estimated number of days from start to finish; usually uninterrupted. As such; they could range from quick 2 hour projects like my starting miner, or an ongoing upgrade process like my pathfinder or Challenger. As always, your mileage may vary.


Volcov Industrial craft: 3-4 days (RP/fleet submission build)


Cyclone prototype: 2 days (hull only; no systems)


Pathfinder evolution: estimated 9-12 days total... (2-3 days for the original prototype and 2-3 days per refit.)


"Federation-Class" scout ship: Less than a day


"ASC Atlantis" prototype stealth frigate: 1-2 days


"ASC Discovery" medium utility craft: 3-4 days


"ASC Challenger" Assault ship: 6-8 days (+2 for the cannon on the bottom)

I hope this helps you.

 

[StarWars1981]

100m isn't that big. Nor is it that small. Small could be anything UP TO 300m, if it's skinny and long.
It takes HOURS to build ANYTHING decent. Get used to it, persevere, and you'll have good ships. Just keep at it. Find an idea and stick with it. Change it as necessary as you go, but hey, if you stick with it, you'll get a ship.

Yeah, I'm estimating upwards of 50 hours of work on that dang Vengeance missile cruiser I built with a friend. 50k mass on the hull alone (incomplete hull - don't remember full size now it's "done"); took forever to get it right. It still doesn't look great, but it's something I can fly and say Yes, It's Mine, and I Made It Myself - and be proud that I'm flying it.

 

[Tamren Shade]

For me, being a slow builder with a very high OCD factor, I would spend at least a few days and closer to a month to build a good looking 100M long ship.

The 2.2K mass light patrol craft I build for the fleet contest which is pretty much a roomy heavy fighter took me 10 days, and the 5K mass torpedo corvette I built for the same reason took me two weeks.

If I'm just building an ugly mining sled to start out, something with the bare minimums and no detailing, maybe 1-3 hours to get all the systems installed and balanced.

And I have noticed that I'm getting faster as I complete more ships. What I can build now in a week, would probably have taken me months when I first started out. You get ideas you like, ideas you don't, and then evolve from there. Most of the speed builders in the Youtube videos I've seen have hundreds of ships and have thousands of hours in game.

 

[Sen OTS Tier]

For my fighters I made, that admittedly are more form than function, the longest dimension is 41m, and that took a few hours. My salvager from about a year ago that was about 60m and lacked a whole lot of detailing took me maybe 5 hours of building and testing. My frigate that is maybe 102m long (and 7000ish mass) took about 18 hours as a rough estimate. Of course, a lot of it was making it look good with a full interior and landing gear. If you simplified the design to necessities, it would take only a fraction of that time.

In short, it takes me a while. For some, their style and process means they can take maybe 5 hours for a 100m ship, especially the ones who have been playing for years. A person you could look at for some tips is EFSFRaiben. He does twitch almost every weekday night, and he's more than happy to answer questions from the audience.

 

[Lukwan]

In the 100 meter range I would spend two or three days. Most of the work would be done in one day, but I spend a lot of time ruminating and editing the basic build so that it has some style.

General advice on building:

-"Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us...time is a pony ride." David Byrne -the Talking Heads.
-I prefer to say that 'it took a lot fun to make that build' (not time).
-Deadlines usually make me stress out so I don't impose them on myself.
-I play games for different reasons but the main one is to have fun. I find building fun in and of itself. I do not build to have a more powerful ship, I build because it gives me pleasure. This paradigm is helpful to remain focused on what is rewarding in playing a game.
-Yes, I want to impress to people but mostly I have to satisfy myself.

 

[Edymnion]

Depends.

I can throw together a 100m salvager and have it functional in 10-15 minutes.

Or it could take me 2 weeks.

It depends on if I'm trying to make it pretty or not.

 

[Gasboy]

I'll bite...

100 meters is the standard size for the majority of my ships. The time it takes me to build a ship depends on how RP, PVE, PVP and/or "pretty" I want to make it and how strongly my builder's OCD kicks in. While I can't say how long it should take you to build a 100m long ship, I can give you an estimate based on some of my builds. Please note; I did not count the hours. I measured in the estimated number of days from start to finish; usually uninterrupted. As such; they could range from quick 2 hour projects like my starting miner, or an ongoing upgrade process like my pathfinder or Challenger. As always, your mileage may vary.

View attachment 32323
Volcov Industrial craft: 3-4 days (RP/fleet submission build)

View attachment 32324
Cyclone prototype: 2 days (hull only; no systems)

View attachment 32331 View attachment 32325View attachment 32332 View attachment 32330
Pathfinder evolution: estimated 9-12 days total... (2-3 days for the original prototype and 2-3 days per refit.)

View attachment 32326
"Federation-Class" scout ship: Less than a day

View attachment 32328
"ASC Atlantis" prototype stealth frigate: 1-2 days

View attachment 32327
"ASC Discovery" medium utility craft: 3-4 days

View attachment 32329
"ASC Challenger" Assault ship: 6-8 days (+2 for the cannon on the bottom)

I hope this helps you.

This is about the same for me, and my ships have no where near the complexity and fanciness as his do. His ships are also wider than mine by at least 200%.

Once I have an idea in mind, I just go to it. The ships is basically done in a day, 8-ish hours of solid building if I am not distracted. Testing it and improving bits here and there takes another day or two, perhaps.