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# I write this "low effort guide" because I have seen many bigger projects being given up in Starmade after around 2 months. Just do yourself a favour and take my advices seriously: Before you go big, finish some smaller projects that take not more than one month. It allawys makes me sad when people have to abandon projects due to some basic faults.
I have seen quite some wip projects floating around that never got finished, and barely reached the 50% waypoint.
Prominent ones are Micromade and this one big shipyard with the many many lights in it that were docked and could be turned on and off via remote logic.
Straight to the point: If you guys didn't do at least two smaller projects in Starmade before, just start with small projects and archieve your big project idea until you know that you will do it. Small projects are usually finished after 1 week or need up to one or two months.
Yes a big goal can be very motivating, but around 90% of people that start with a huge project first do never finish it. And do you think you are the guy belonging to the 10% that are outstandingly good in self organization?
It's also very usefull to ask for help - if you have a long term project that takes you more than two months, you could invest like one hour to make a clear project presentation for people that should help you. So they know what you want for a buildstyle and what small projects they can add to your build. If your project takes longer than 3 months you can allready take it into your planning and brainstorming scetchup on how to add helpers, and where people can help you.
It's not enough if you say "you can build the cellar of my station", or just show the project showcase page and expect people to be interested into helping you! A good example is to advertise for help in a seperate helper request part of your showcase page, that has all neccessary information in one glance for people that check out your showcase:
Most important advice: Never let anyone talk you down in your dreams. If some dude comes around and wants to give you some "usefull" advice to not do such big project at all - ignore him. Big projects take time. Writting project ideas in a brainstorming book and testing the game first is part of doing your long term projects. You don't give up on a project if you keep working on the finer details and planning, and start with small learning projects first.
Good learning projects are small projects that require each a part of the neccessary knowledge for that big project you dream of. For example micromade could have made some smaller server first that only has some small modifications running, and these modifactions are testing ones each realising one core gamemechanic of the server, for example spawning npc ships or resupplying trade stations...
I hope this advices help some players here, and that I see less project pages being abandoned in the future.
TL;DR: If you plan on doing a big project, make sure that you finished at least two small projects and one medium project first, and that you allready know that your big project is in fact possible (instead of creating a server and recognising after 3 months that Starmade doesn't support modding as you need it for your project, or building a titan and after 3 months your realise that you simply can't farm all the ressources on a survival server and can't require your faction leader that he frees all ressources just for your own demands).
I have seen quite some wip projects floating around that never got finished, and barely reached the 50% waypoint.
Prominent ones are Micromade and this one big shipyard with the many many lights in it that were docked and could be turned on and off via remote logic.
Straight to the point: If you guys didn't do at least two smaller projects in Starmade before, just start with small projects and archieve your big project idea until you know that you will do it. Small projects are usually finished after 1 week or need up to one or two months.
Yes a big goal can be very motivating, but around 90% of people that start with a huge project first do never finish it. And do you think you are the guy belonging to the 10% that are outstandingly good in self organization?
It's also very usefull to ask for help - if you have a long term project that takes you more than two months, you could invest like one hour to make a clear project presentation for people that should help you. So they know what you want for a buildstyle and what small projects they can add to your build. If your project takes longer than 3 months you can allready take it into your planning and brainstorming scetchup on how to add helpers, and where people can help you.
It's not enough if you say "you can build the cellar of my station", or just show the project showcase page and expect people to be interested into helping you! A good example is to advertise for help in a seperate helper request part of your showcase page, that has all neccessary information in one glance for people that check out your showcase:
- I really would appreciate helpers for my project: The bottom decks of my station are for maintenance and power machines, like O2 generators. (what parts of the bigger project are open for help).
- The floor layout is allready planned, and I want a reactor of at least 50m diameter in a 100m big room, supported by energy beams that keep the reactor afloat. (you must give clear guidelines on A style, and B what you envision as scetchup - be it in words or a self drawn floor plan).
- You could place the floors, or you could design some props that are in the reactor room and the floors, or you design the interiour of some of the smaller rooms. (Give your helpers many small and some bigger parts to choose from).
- If you can show me some pictures of your recent builds I also would be very glad to let you design the whole area, but I am very happy even if you only want to design me one or two hallways. (Never give big responsibilities to people that don't prove their capabilities - some dude with 3 months experience in Starmade might only waste your time - its better to let such guys only do a small part first and if the work is good give him bigger parts - this benefits booth sides: you get finished parts and can plan precisely, your helper feel aknowledged and your gratefullness because they are able to deliver without failing any promisses they cant keep (often to a lack of knowledge about big projects).
Most important advice: Never let anyone talk you down in your dreams. If some dude comes around and wants to give you some "usefull" advice to not do such big project at all - ignore him. Big projects take time. Writting project ideas in a brainstorming book and testing the game first is part of doing your long term projects. You don't give up on a project if you keep working on the finer details and planning, and start with small learning projects first.
Good learning projects are small projects that require each a part of the neccessary knowledge for that big project you dream of. For example micromade could have made some smaller server first that only has some small modifications running, and these modifactions are testing ones each realising one core gamemechanic of the server, for example spawning npc ships or resupplying trade stations...
I hope this advices help some players here, and that I see less project pages being abandoned in the future.
TL;DR: If you plan on doing a big project, make sure that you finished at least two small projects and one medium project first, and that you allready know that your big project is in fact possible (instead of creating a server and recognising after 3 months that Starmade doesn't support modding as you need it for your project, or building a titan and after 3 months your realise that you simply can't farm all the ressources on a survival server and can't require your faction leader that he frees all ressources just for your own demands).
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