Liquid Systems Nano Yard (LSNY)

[Loadout]

Oh god, drones spamming STOP - there can't possibly be a more annoying strategy (for the enemy :p)
Now that drones don't die immediately from missiles hitting the mothership, I have good reason to start all the updating for the drones too...
Please test a swarm of these STOP- drones against something with heavy turrets, if the effect really did keep the turrets from being able to reach the drones... then that would be sheer awesome. A rack mix of 50% STOP-support and 50% pure damage drones would probably obliterate just about anything if you have half the cost of your target in drones.

My goal for today was actually to do just that. I wanted to create a large armored turret and test it against 5- Kuwaga mk3's and 5- Ju Ga mk3's
Assuming the turret is heavy enough to survive more than 10 seconds of this, I should be able to notice a STOP effect in action. Hopefully all goes well, the Stop effect is more than enough and the turret gets nuked. :D

Also did anyone notice their shield capacity went up by about 4k? It's cause I no longer have to use power capacitors, so more space for shields.

edit: @Thalanor it totally works! Testing shows that after a brief targeting period, where the drones move into position, the enemy super turret is completely incapable of tracking them. As a side note they're not even hitting it directly! The aoe from the rockets stops the turret as well as the ship carrying it.

Also, it appears the Dps of just two of these drones is enough to lay a serious damper on shield regen. While under fire the 3% rule is in effect and with no down time on the lasers it's always in effect. :D


edit2: the latest Kuwaga drone has been updated in the ships community downloads sector.

 

[Loadout]

Update: Our newest updated design is ready for action!

The mE2-01 Cicada (Locust Model E mk7) is an escort class vessel with 6 hercules missile turrets and a bow mounted explosive interceptor missile silo. The new Cicada is based off the older Locust Model E, and takes much of it's inspiration from our drone destroyer as well as it's predecessors.

Spoiler: pics!

Specific Stats:

• Mass(Thrust) : ???(99.6)
• Dimensions(L x W x H) : 41 x 9 x 7
• Power(Regen) : 133320(17537)
• Shields(Regen) : 5149(16)
• Main Weapon : 1x Interceptor Missile Silo with Explosive Warheads. (1:.5:1) 6600 Damage
• Turrets : 6x Dual VTL Hercules Missile Launchers @ 1800 damage/missile. [21600 total alpha]
• Cost: 510498 ea.

Note: I left the missile launcher on the main ship at 1:.5:1 because it works quite well that way. There's no real loss of Dps this way, only a perceived loss due to the recent damage correction. In other words, it shoots quicker than a full 1:1:1, and that extra 8 seconds of reload is quite handy.

Another note: the new numbering system is as follows;
Example above: mE2-01

m- medium armor, some armor plating but nothing advanced, all standard(up to 2 layers), minimal basic.
E- escort class, designed to provide supporting fire to other vessels that need it, they are not specifically designed to be solo rampage ships.
2 - range, 1 = short and in your face, 2 = distance required to be effective/safe
-01 - version, in this case, the first version out. Note the "-", it's not the 2-01 version, it's the -01 version.


I will be editing the main post with this information sometime soon. As well as a host of other new things, like links to ships, naming conventions and some additional fluffyness. Done!

edit: forgot some stats so I added them in. Mass is subject to change as I'm updating the turrets atm.

 

[Loadout]

Wherever there are random thoughts, there is a spark of creativity. It is this spark which allows us here at Liquid Systems Nano-Yards to bring you our latest, craziest, most out of the box drone yet. A new class of drone all together, presenting...

The Dango Drone

Spoiler: [I]Classified[/I]

This pill bug inspired design is the first ever of it's kind. These are classified as Parasite drones. The Dango is not meant to be on it's own for an extended period of time, as these drones have very little in the way of power regen or thrust. Rather they instead focus entirely on outputting as much alpha damage as possible while having as high a shield capacity as possible to boot. This completely experimental design is just that, experimental. Future designs are projected to be smaller nano-size drones and focus more on offense than defense. However turret capability will remain an important feature in these drones.

Stats:

• Mass(Thrust): 84.8(17.9)
• power(regen) : 111525.9(4688.4)
• shields(regen):19950.0(253)
• weapon 1 :explosive interceptor missile 2700 damage
• weapon 2 : ion interceptor missile 2700 damage
• cost: 202199 ea.

The above stats are wildly subject to change, as I narrow down this new type of drone's requirements. My expectation is that I will have a new kind of drone which is capable of self propulsion and some autonomy in case a vessel is destroyed. Normally a turret with a dead main ship is unable to really perform well, if at all. My goal is to reduce that inability to function without a primary ship. Essentially creating a turret-drone.

Spoiler: Aphid Parasite Drone

Front view

View of the ridged back

The Underbelly with systems exposed

Aphid attached to a basic docking area on a Cicada

The new Aphid Parasite Drone is our latest nano-drone. It features turret capabilities as well as a potent interceptor missile. While we considered heat-seeking FAF missiles, the potential for collateral damage was too great. Admittedly however, watching this little drone spit out 20 missiles every few seconds was highly entertaining and the R&D team got a kick out of it until a stray missile blew up their favorite grill. At which point we immediately switched back to interceptor missiles.

The Aphid is still in the experimental phases and will be tested shortly at our pirates & japeries thunderdome. PJs for short.

 

[Loadout]

So i'm making a new drone, no name yet not even a code name for the moment. It's based off the pistol shrimp, which stuns it's foes with it's crazy claw and then finishes them off. It is still very much a work in progress however once complete i'll be sure to post this asymmetrical drone up for all to play with.

Some pics of me getting the basic frame down before I start on the asymmetry part (mainly the claws). I was testing 1:0:1 missile-beam-explosives for a bit but I'll most likely switch that out for something entirely different.

Once I've hammered out the form for the primary 'claw' I'll reposition everything internally and used the second 'claw' as an armored housing for maybe some low energy cost missiles like the ones pictured above.

 

[Loadout]

In the wake of today's update I will once again be re-re-balancing my ships it seems. This isn't terribly bad though, it will free up a lot of space in my ships once again. However some designs will no longer be "current" the Ju Ga mk3 however will revert to being the Ju Ga mk2 as the only change was just adding more blocks, since I don't need the extra blocks, they will probably just be removed.... actually more dps never hurts so I think i'll redo the setup to include more primary/effects to counter the increased slave blocks. Hopefully more dps won't hurt anything....hopefully.

Be on the lookout for once again updated designs in my heavy drone department. Also, News!

The good: I have nearly completed my design for my latest drone, the 'claws' were pretty tough to nail down as Asymmetry isn't my strong suit. But they look cool as hell so far.

The not so good: My pics of the 'claws' disappeared when my server updated it's windows last night... sigh. Auto-backup wasn't fast enough to catch them so they got lost. Oh well. Everything else is still there though!

The wtf: re-rebalancing is going to take a bit, I've got TONS of course work due tonight I haven't even started yet. It'll be at least a couple hours before I can even start the redos. If I get to them today at all =( sorry guys you'll have to wait a bit for these simple changes.

 

[Loadout]

Update: The Kuwaga mk3.2 is now ready to roll off the assembly lines. Honestly a few weird things happened with this latest update and I have done my absolute best to work around them in hopes that for whatever reason they will be fixed in the next round of updates. That said, the new update attempts to keep both shielding and DPS at their best and manages to do so quite admirably, only increasing cost by <200 credits.

Kabuto will be updated next after I do some more ground work on my latest drone which also needs some notably heavy re-configuring in the wake of this mess. I imagine it won't be terribly different either...

The same basically goes for the Ju Ga which is probably going to be a straight up revert back to the mk2. Then again, increased DPS is always good for drones and the loss of shielding on it hasn't noticeably reduced survivability. Which is basically about 0.2% anyways so yeah more damage may be the better route.

Spoiler: Sneak peek at new Drone

Edit: The new drone is coming along nicely, although I can pretty much guarantee the colors will change dramatically it's what I had on hand. So I just went with it... The main cannon currently only does 3.8k damage and I'm hoping to up that to about 5-6k if possible. Maybe more, dunno yet. The secondary weapon I haven't the foggiest about though, could be missiles, beams, another cannon(not likely got the Ju Ga already doing that)... or it could be something entirely wacky like a turret, or a split between two additional smaller support weapons, such as an Ion/Pull combo I've been mucking about with.

Thoughts? comments? questions regarding said secondary weapon(s)? Post em here and I will reply.

 

[Loadout]

We at Liquid Systems have come to a certain understanding with our clientele. You want more BANG~ for your buck, we get that, however some things simply must be sacrificed in order to acheive the quantity of Boom shaka-laka that has been requested of us. With that in mind we are please to provide our latest innovation, sans the costly hamster wheel reactor, at a bargain price with exceptional damage in it's class range.

Spoiler

This new drone features two distinct weapons we have never before unveiled. The first, mounted in the larger claw on the right side is a massive Cannon-Pulse-Punch weapon with a very respectable 6k alpha damage. The second is a Beam-Beam-EMP cutting laser which melts through enemy energy pools at a rather alarming pace of 20k+ every 15 seconds. With a healthy number of these drones present (40+) you will never* have to worry about your enemy attempting to launch doom missiles or mega lasers in your direction.

Disclaimer: by never we mean not very often and probably not at all in the case of smaller vessels. Larger vessels will shake off much of this damage and be fairly ok, in this case you should provide support and/or tuck your head between your legs and kiss your rear goodbye.

Specific Stats;

• Mass(Thrust) : 56.7(49.2)
• Power(Regen): 81968.7(5972.3)
• Shields(Regen): 4856(38)
• Dimensions: 17 x 7 x 11 (Standard H1)
• Primary Weapon Groups : 1x Cannon-Pulse-Punch(1:1:1) 6480 damage every 15 seconds
• Secondary Weapon Groups: 1x Beam-Beam-Emp (1:1:1) ~22500* [energy] damage every 15 seconds
• Cost: 143224 ea.

*Approximate number, it is very difficult to gauge the full damage on emp weapons because energy is ALWAYS regenerating, even when there are no reactor blocks. 22500 is pretty darn close and the math works out from the listed damage. It should be noted however that this estimate appears low, on testing the actual numbers seem closer to ~26000. Further testing on my part will help narrow down what all is going on here. For now just know that it's a boat load of energy damage.

Edit: Finally got around to that Color swap I was mentioning. As this is the first ship in a whole new aquatic themed fleet I chose some unda-dah-sea cullahs mahn. Also it has a name now!

The Undine

Spoiler: Undine pics!

Overall I'm quite pleased with how the blue hull looks when lit by the rod lights. It looks deep, dark, and very oceanic. Stats have been updated as well because I found some empty spots that needed moar shields.

Update: I'm experimenting with different weapons on the undine. Findings indicate a change is on the horizon. most likely sooner rather than later as well.

 

[Loadout]

I'd like to say sorry for not updating my files lately. we unfortunately have no internet connection right now dur to service provider issues... which means pics and uploads are impossible atm.

anyways, the undine has two variants now. the first is code named the Crusher.

this variety comes with multiple small herc missiles for extensive area damage. in order to better use these it also sports an ion rapid missile launcher which by itself can overcome a 12k shield regen!

the second variety is code named the Lancer. it features the old punch cannon combo but changes the emp laser to explosive. why explosive? cause piercing and punch do nothing to lasers. I've been testing every which way but they just boost damage with no extra effects. seeing as how explosive nearly quadruples the effective area of the laser, its a no brainer atm.

I'll try to get pics uploaded via phone - imgur but it'll probably take forever.

update: pics are being stubborn. may take longer than expected.

the Lancer variant of the undine is going to be split off and made into a new drone altogether. it'll be something rather unique if the design in my head works out. I'll keep you all posted on the progress. it should hopefully be finished by tonight around midnight EST.

 

[Loadout]

So after much fiddling with the Undine chassis and a fair bit of liquor on the wife's part, I managed to come up with a new Drone based on the Lancer version. It still needs a name but it's oddly enough the single cheapest heavy drone I've made yet, all while keeping a fair amount of dps. I blame the lack of effect modules on the primary weapon, they're not cheap by any means...

Spoiler: Pics!

The nose...

The sides...

The "tail"

A nice 3rd person shot of the ship.

So I was thinking something squid-ish for the name as it's sort of a star-treky-squid hybrid. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I mean it looks freaking spectacular! Especially when the lasers and rockets are firing together. I had originally placed the same size cannon-pulse-punch combo as my other drone, however I quickly came to realize doing so made the lasers on the side much smaller and far less effective. In the end I balanced the two out and gave the lasers the explosives, it covers more area than the rockets do and offers more damage potential. I may further refine these weapon selections down the road but for now I'm pleased as punch it works at all!

 

[Loadout]

I've been updating some of my older designs lately. so far I have managed to reduce the cost of the Dune from about 10 mil to roughly 2 mil. No loss in shields, some thrust is lost but there's been a massive weapons swap mainly. also it can now carry 8 heavy drones or the standard 16 flea drones.

whenever my home internet connection stabilizes I will be updating the resources on the community content pages. Plenty of things need said updates, and most are slowly getting them. No internet though is kind of backlogging them all.

a new carrier is also under development right now. it's based off the Dune but much larger. it should hold about 32 heavy drones, possibly more. definitely some multiple of 4.

spoiler : the design is going to be vertical.

 

[Loadout]

news: Soo it's been a while and not much has been jotted down here. I can assure you all my latest projects are well under way and coming along slowly but surely.

current projects include;

-updates to the ju ga(?), cicada, and locust.

-community content updates for kuwaga mk4, kabuto mk4, dune mk2

-serious updates to the entire flea line of drones need to be undertaken.

-MAC (Modular Assault Carrier) prototype needs to be finished and released.

-updates to the undine line of drones should also be considered but they should be mostly up to date as is.

As for what im placing the most priority on, that would be the MAC followed by the community content updates which I will hopefully get around to later tonight.

 

[Loadout]

With our latest technological blunders strategic points, in mind we at LSNY have developed our latest and greatest adaptation yet!

We are proud to present the Liquid Systems Design-wright (LSD) Little MAC... this is no simple upgrade to our existing Dune design. This bad boy features enhanced cockpit features, a sauna, an in-house outhouse, and most importantly two modular assault platforms. These platforms are interchangeable with potential future designs allowing a ship to perform multiple roles with only a few small changes.

Spoiler

a redesigned tail section!

 

[Loadout]

So it has been quite a while hasn't it? Yup, and new years bring new toys! Which means I've finally figured out how I'm going to build the next largest ship in my fleet. The Savannah.

Spoiler: The Savannah

A Frontal shot...

Skoom-pedos!

These are basically enlarged skoom drones that carry a small compliment of nano-drones. They won't hurt much but they will scatter like mad and confuse turrets for a bit. Optionally these skoom-pedoes can be replaced with one of several mission specific modules. Either long range mini-missiles or a larger anti-capital Rifle turret for extra dps.

So many details, so few pics to show em all...
Top:

Front "Grill":

Engines:

And of course what would a large scale ship be without our own logo...

.. a work in progress of course.

 

[Loadout]

After some experimenting and preparing for the inevitable rail launchers we at Liquid Systems Designs have decided to revisit our original Drone size. The nano-Drone, a simple and cheap drone fitting in at the default dock size of 7 x 7 x 7. So it was after weeks (actually real world months I've been trying to get just this particular shape down), that we came up with...

~ The Rumble Bee ~

Spoiler: Pics

Head showing easily accessible faction block.

Rear view showing the engines..

Side view of the "stinger"

This tiny drone packs a wallop with a 2k damage lock on missile, conveniently colored yellow. It is mostly power stable, each salvo only costing 2% of it's power (after regen, while moving). Also packing in a ~1k shield to buffer damage from stray sources, such as collisions, etc. Future plans include possibly trading in some of it's shielding for extra damage and/or power.

Having learned the whole, effects aren't so great at tiny sizes, thing we decided to opt out of effect modules on all future small scale projects, including this one. As such, it does not use effects as that would add increased cost for minimal return at this size. That being said, a project has been added to the already extensive que listed below...

----------------------------
Que of future and current projects; for those interested...

• Design Bee shaped Drone
• Finish new Hangar Design (Almost there) Done 2/18/15
• Add Hangars to QB Carrier
• Round out the shape of the new Carrier
  
• Design and implement new Gatling Stingers on QB Carrier
• Make sure internal hallways and rooms are nicely done
• Add system blocks and begin weapons testing
• Remake smaller drones to make use of newly learned information regarding drone design

For those wondering what the QB carrier is, it's short for "Queen Bee" Carrier and will house about 200 Rumble Bee Drones. In addition to this it will be combat capable with anti-capital turrets and a main weapon system.

 

[Loadout]

So... after working on the hangars I decided to give up on making them hexagon shaped. Honestly, it was just too much of a pain in the ass to make an odd symmetry hexagon that was actually symmetrical. As weird as that may sound try it out sometime, they just don't look right.

Anywho, I went with a standard rectangle for the hangars cause it was easier and less time consuming. In the process I lost about 40 drones worth of space but ended up at a solid 160 drone count.

I may return to attempt the hexagon later, but probably not on this particular ship. It'll most likely be a hive-station... which kinda sounds like it'd be a totally awesome thing to build. :D

Spoiler: Hangar Pics!

Front view...

Viewing showing the front, lengthwise...

Floor shapes showing systems beneath the hangar...

Future door leading to the Queen Bee's insides...

Back view showing the glass wall...

and what are these you ask?

..oh you mean these? they're cooling conduits housing the launchers.:D

they're built into the glass wall btw.

So after the hangar was finished I went ahead and started to built the primary weapons that the Queen Bee would be using. It took a while to decide what combo I wanted to roll with. Eventually range won out over everything else purely because this is a carrier ship first and foremost. *Pause to catch breath* So knowing that I went with Interceptor Class Missile Launchers (missile - beam).

Spoiler: Have a looksy ;)

Technically... the "front"

Sort of the back-end as it were. This will be connected to cables running into the main body of the ship.

 

[Loadout]

Spoiler: Evolution is happening...

 

[Loadout]

Spoiler: Metamorphosis continues. Completion drawing closer..

:D

 

[Loadout]

Greetings and Salutations Warlords, Degenerates, and valued Customers alike!

The latest update to starmade has effectively improved the combat value of our entire lineup of drones immensely! Thanks to a now doubled shield capacity even our lightest shields are now easily approaching 2k. In addition to this wonder of technical improvisation, our hull armor plating has been further improved as well. All in all an amazing update which will serve to lengthen the lifespan of drones and ships alike.

Aside from that, I took the time to rework the Savannah carrier. It was never really finished and it just didn't sit right with me. So here is the new sort of-kinda-finished still waiting on mass system blocks to be filled...

Savannah

Spoiler: Lots of Pics!

Front "Nose" shot

Underbelly, forward "Grill" section

Forward Viewing Bay or "Bridge" as it'll probably be filled eventually.

Forward shot showing some of the running lights..

Finally finished my logo :p

Top down shot showing the filligree on the forward section.

Under lighting on the spine.

Rear running lights..

Rear shot showing the open hangar tubes. 6 x 5 = 30 drones.

The lights are all on a timer, hopefully I can make a gif later showing them off. It's a simple timer but adds a bit of extra detail to the ship that I'm quite fond of.

 

[Spartan-089]

Love your contributions to the continued evolution of drone warfare in Starmade. The Savanah looks especially impressive. Any ETA for release?

 

[Loadout]

Love your contributions to the continued evolution of drone warfare in Starmade. The Savanah looks especially impressive. Any ETA for release?

Thanks!

Hopefully it'll be released sometime today, the 5th, as I'm trying to stuff every nook and cranny with shielding right now. There also happens to be a nasty bug i'm encountering, where I can't open the weapons menu. The systems will be linked but don't expect to be able to assign them until this bug gets fixed. The drones should be unaffected as they're all bobby controlled. A few more hours of stuffing shields in and it should be ready for download. I'll update with a link whenever that happens.

Savannah Lighting Gif...