StarMade University - Data Collection and Revision

[klawxx]

IMPORTANT: We will use this thread as a staging ground for content gathering and revision for the "StarMade University", which is on a new and clean thread: https://starmadedock.net/threads/starmade-university-official-thread.31238/

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Hello there, folks.

I have noticed that there's a shortage of up-to-date StarMade tutorials and that not everyone like videos, so I thought about making a thread where I could share all what I already knew about the game, in a newbie friendly way. If I find out that people are enjoying the Idea I will try to expand it and keep it up to date.

I'm not a native speaker, so please let me know if something here doesn't make any sense of is simply wrong.

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StarMade University - Index ​

(1.01) Starship Fundamentals
+ The Ship Core PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Power Reactor PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Engines (Thrusters) PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Basic Shielding PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Hull Design (Ship Exterior) PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Ergonomics (Ship Interior) PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED

(2.01) Starship Engineering Branch
+ Advanced Build Mode (Part 1 - Brush Size & Symmetry) PUBLISHED - IMAGES ADDED
+ Advanced Build Mode (Part 2)
+ Advanced Build Mode (Part 3)
+ Advanced Build Mode (Part 4)
+ The Chamber System
+ Thruster Calibration
+ Copying, Paste and Repositioning
+ Increasing productivity with Templates

(3.01) Starship Military Branch
+ Armor Plates
+ Advanced Shields
+ Weapons Systems - Cannons
+ Weapons Systems - Missiles
+ Weapons Systems - Beams
+ Advanced Weapons Systems - Turrets

(4.01) Starship Science Branch
+ Rail and Logic Components
+ USD (Universal Serial Dock)
+ Blast Door
+ Sliding Door
+ Spinning Radar
+ Moving Piston
+ Hangar Door
+ Docking Arm
+ Alarm (Red Alert) System

Contributors:
Here is a list of the people that provided important contributions to this page. Make sure you check their beautiful work at the Community Content section of the dock!

• klawxx
• nulitor
• Sachys
• Dr. Whammy
• MacThule

Important: the underscored words you find throughout the University posts contains links to relevant information other websites, like the official game Wiki or to the unofficial Wiki-Fandom website. I'm not responsible for that content!

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(DRAFT) Information that will be used further ahead (DRAFT)

"the best armors are chaff swarm(a lot of tiny or medium ships to distract) and volume and you are unlikely to start having low shp if you are using volume capsule spam." by nulitor (this concept is new to me klawxx ).

"If armor was cheaper more people would consider using it but it is super expensive per hit point." by nulitor

"Point defense is a good defense against missile but it lags the game as much as having extra mid size drones(by mid size I mean something like 200 to 4000) because of collision physics and the fact you need at least two ships per turret(meaning stupidly high amounts of collision checking)." by nulitor

"Reactors: Also, if you want to use chambers, don't build your reactor in perfect multiples of 10 blocks. Instead, use multiples of 10 minus 1. example; 999 blocks instead of 1000 or 49999 blocks instead of 50000. Your chamber size will increase dramatically as your reactor size approaches a certain threshold (multiple of 10) but will not increase if you remain one block under that threshold." by Dr. Whammy

 

[nulitor]

The starmade optionals:
+ Hull Plating (Exterior Design): you can do exterior design without wasting tons of money on that heavy block.
+ Armor Plates: the best armors are chaff swarm(a lot of tiny or medium ships to distract) and volume and you are unlikely to start having low shp if you are using volume capsule spam.
If armor was cheaper more people would consider using it but it is super expensive per hit point.
Point defense is a good defense against missile but it lags the game as much as having extra mid size drones(by mid size I mean something like 200 to 4000) because of collision physics and the fact you need at least two ships per turret(meaning stupidly high amounts of collision checking).

 

[Sachys]

I think you'd be better compartmentalising each distinct entry on your list into a different post and linking it. Even without "Starship Fundamentals - The Ship Core" onwards, its a fairly long OP, and would be of more use if players can jump to what they need via hyperlink.

Some people will have various fundamentals already from watching youtube vids / mucking about in SP mode, so the ability to jump to something of specific use would be... of more use.

I'll also chip in if I feel anything isnt touched upon.

 

[klawxx]

I think you'd be better compartmentalising each distinct entry on your list into a different post and linking it. Even without "Starship Fundamentals - The Ship Core" onwards, its a fairly long OP, and would be of more use if players can jump to what they need via hyperlink.

Some people will have various fundamentals already from watching youtube vids / mucking about in SP mode, so the ability to jump to something of specific use would be... of more use.

I'll also chip in if I feel anything isnt touched upon.

yes! I will break into sections (I was planning to do so from the begining), as soon as i discover how to stop this irritating feature of auto concatening posts...

 

[Sachys]

yes! I will break into sections (I was planning to do so from the begining), as soon as i discover how to stop this irritating feature of auto concatening posts...

just make all your posts offline, copyr/paste and upload individually without replying to anybody.
you can do any replaies about 10 minutes later.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Nice.

Some additional things to note...

Reactors:
Reactors will output 100% of their max regen as long as your stabilization remains above 25%. Fall below 25% and you will see massive losses in efficiency. The reactor also takes more damage (when shot) if its stabilization is lower than 100%

Also, if you want to use chambers, don't build your reactor in perfect multiples of 10 blocks. Instead, use multiples of 10 minus 1. example; 999 blocks instead of 1000 or 49999 blocks instead of 50000. Your chamber size will increase dramatically as your reactor size approaches a certain threshold (multiple of 10) but will not increase if you remain one block under that threshold.

Shields integrity: While Schema said integrity was going away, Shield integrity is still a concern. Be sure to place your shield blocks in such a way that the shield blocks are touching other shield blocks on as many sides as possible. Failure to do so will result in your ship continuously taking damage when shot. When the shields fail, their blocks will begin to explode; turning your ship into a flying bomb. Suitable shapes for shields include cubes and rectangular prisms with some thickness to them. Massive "blobs" of shields in an irregular shape often work but are inefficient. Long lines or flat planes will cause low integrity, failure and explosions when shot.

Feel free to add this info to the "course material" if you find it useful.

 

[MacThule]

Another useful tip is to start build the ship interior, particularly the Bridge, first.

This is excellent advice, particularly under new systems. I actually saved (and then lost now need to restock) a bunch of bridge templates that made nice jump-off points for starting ships of various sizes because it's the first thing you always need.

The way it's written, it may be helpful to add that for reactors 100% stabilization is often overkill. 25% gets you full power, and personally I typically use multiple groups of stabs calculated so that as long as I still have half of them I stay above 25% power. This means my stabilization rate is actually usually around 50-75% rather than 100%. If people think they need 100% stabilization it might be a bit of an impediment to streamlined shipbuilding.

Thruster section is very good. Well written.

Your only concern must be to place the Shield Recharger block group roughly at the center of the ship, so you have enough coverage.

Maybe change 'center' to just 'deep inside your ship' for protection so that it doesn't sound like there's a geometric issue with centering the shield generator group?

Also, on that note, it might be worth mentioning somewhere that putting armored bulkheads around the vital systems can increase a ship's durability (i.e. at very least wrap your key systems in 1x AA so you can take a shot to the bow).

Let me know if you want a proofread at some point - I noticed a few typos.

Overall awesome advice and well written!
[doublepost=1549509140,1549508830][/doublepost]

you are unlikely to start having low shp if you are using volume capsule spam

This is true.
Just want to start there. It's very practical advice. For the moment.

Pretty sure that capsule spam isn't intended though, so... it's likely that if that becomes common practice (and advising noobs to do this will increase it) Schine will eventually kill it somehow, then making any such advice as part of a general newbie guide obsolete. I think that that sort of tip should be kept to another kind of build guide, for players who are more pro-active about exploiting current, temporary meta dynamics in the present version of the game. A pro-tip, rather than part of a guide for new players, if you will, so new players don't base their entire strategy on something that isn't likely to be there forever.

 

[klawxx]

The starmade optionals:
+ Hull Plating (Exterior Design): you can do exterior design without wasting tons of money on that heavy block.
+ Armor Plates: the best armors are chaff swarm(a lot of tiny or medium ships to distract) and volume and you are unlikely to start having low shp if you are using volume capsule spam.
If armor was cheaper more people would consider using it but it is super expensive per hit point.
Point defense is a good defense against missile but it lags the game as much as having extra mid size drones(by mid size I mean something like 200 to 4000) because of collision physics and the fact you need at least two ships per turret(meaning stupidly high amounts of collision checking).

Thanks for those tips. Some these topics will be saved for use on the Advanced/Military courses.

just make all your posts offline, copyr/paste and upload individually without replying to anybody.
you can do any replaies about 10 minutes later.

Yea, it seems I will need to do this... It will take some time tho.

Nice.

Some additional things to note...

Reactors:
Reactors will output 100% of their max regen as long as your stabilization remains above 25%. Fall below 25% and you will see massive losses in efficiency. The reactor also takes more damage (when shot) if its stabilization is lower than 100%

Also, if you want to use chambers, don't build your reactor in perfect multiples of 10 blocks. Instead, use multiples of 10 minus 1. example; 999 blocks instead of 1000 or 49999 blocks instead of 50000. Your chamber size will increase dramatically as your reactor size approaches a certain threshold (multiple of 10) but will not increase if you remain one block under that threshold.

Shields integrity: While Schema said integrity was going away, Shield integrity is still a concern. Be sure to place your shield blocks in such a way that the shield blocks are touching other shield blocks on as many sides as possible. Failure to do so will result in your ship continuously taking damage when shot. When the shields fail, their blocks will begin to explode; turning your ship into a flying bomb. Suitable shapes for shields include cubes and rectangular prisms with some thickness to them. Massive "blobs" of shields in an irregular shape often work but are inefficient. Long lines or flat planes will cause low integrity, failure and explosions when shot.

Feel free to add this info to the "course material" if you find it useful.

Thanks I will add this info I as work on the topics revisions.

This is excellent advice, particularly under new systems. I actually saved (and then lost now need to restock) a bunch of bridge templates that made nice jump-off points for starting ships of various sizes because it's the first thing you always need.

The way it's written, it may be helpful to add that for reactors 100% stabilization is often overkill. 25% gets you full power, and personally I typically use multiple groups of stabs calculated so that as long as I still have half of them I stay above 25% power. This means my stabilization rate is actually usually around 50-75% rather than 100%. If people think they need 100% stabilization it might be a bit of an impediment to streamlined shipbuilding.

Thruster section is very good. Well written.



Maybe change 'center' to just 'deep inside your ship' for protection so that it doesn't sound like there's a geometric issue with centering the shield generator group?

Also, on that note, it might be worth mentioning somewhere that putting armored bulkheads around the vital systems can increase a ship's durability (i.e. at very least wrap your key systems in 1x AA so you can take a shot to the bow).

Let me know if you want a proofread at some point - I noticed a few typos.

Overall awesome advice and well written!
[doublepost=1549509140,1549508830][/doublepost]

This is true.
Just want to start there. It's very practical advice. For the moment.

Pretty sure that capsule spam isn't intended though, so... it's likely that if that becomes common practice (and advising noobs to do this will increase it) Schine will eventually kill it somehow, then making any such advice as part of a general newbie guide obsolete. I think that that sort of tip should be kept to another kind of build guide, for players who are more pro-active about exploiting current, temporary meta dynamics in the present version of the game. A pro-tip, rather than part of a guide for new players, if you will, so new players don't base their entire strategy on something that isn't likely to be there forever.

Thanks! I could surely use some help. I will get the overall shape and the basic content out, then I will reach you out for revision If you're available.

Thanks for taking your time to help, guys. I will sure give the deserved credits to everyone on the OP, as I edit the content.
[doublepost=1549547129][/doublepost]

This is excellent advice, particularly under new systems. I actually saved (and then lost now need to restock) a bunch of bridge templates that made nice jump-off points for starting ships of various sizes because it's the first thing you always need.

The way it's written, it may be helpful to add that for reactors 100% stabilization is often overkill. 25% gets you full power, and personally I typically use multiple groups of stabs calculated so that as long as I still have half of them I stay above 25% power. This means my stabilization rate is actually usually around 50-75% rather than 100%. If people think they need 100% stabilization it might be a bit of an impediment to streamlined shipbuilding.

Thruster section is very good. Well written.



Maybe change 'center' to just 'deep inside your ship' for protection so that it doesn't sound like there's a geometric issue with centering the shield generator group?

Also, on that note, it might be worth mentioning somewhere that putting armored bulkheads around the vital systems can increase a ship's durability (i.e. at very least wrap your key systems in 1x AA so you can take a shot to the bow).

Let me know if you want a proofread at some point - I noticed a few typos.

Overall awesome advice and well written!
[doublepost=1549509140,1549508830][/doublepost]

This is true.
Just want to start there. It's very practical advice. For the moment.

Pretty sure that capsule spam isn't intended though, so... it's likely that if that becomes common practice (and advising noobs to do this will increase it) Schine will eventually kill it somehow, then making any such advice as part of a general newbie guide obsolete. I think that that sort of tip should be kept to another kind of build guide, for players who are more pro-active about exploiting current, temporary meta dynamics in the present version of the game. A pro-tip, rather than part of a guide for new players, if you will, so new players don't base their entire strategy on something that isn't likely to be there forever.

I was thinking about this and I'm not sure if stuff like that should be added. Maybe in an advanced PvP tactics section of sorts deep further ahead.... I will come back to this later.

 

[Forsyth]

klawxx, I personally am a semi-noob at StarMade (took a break a little while back, came back just after power and weapons overhaul), but I think I'm comfortable enough in this new version that I could offer some advice (although I'll probably miss a couple points here and there). Are there any sections that need to worked on (I'm bad with rails, so I'll be learning from that)

Things like weapons and turrets I can probably help with if you would like

 

[Dr. Whammy]

There are a lot of threads offering 'suggestions' lately; basically, asking Schine to change things. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of available information (all in one place) on what already exists in the game; post power 2.0.

With Schine remaining largely silent and the Wiki somewhat outdated, it's very encouraging to see someone adding a resource that is this constructive to the game-play experience. So far, everything on your list is something that I've done using multiple methods. As you add more content, I'll continue to attempt to contribute to your finished product.

 

[klawxx]

Hello, guys!

I've decided to add some Images to the University thread in order to make it a little more colorful and interesting.

• https://starmadedock.net/threads/starmade-university-official-thread.31238/#post-376003

Cheers.

 

[klawxx]

klawxx, I personally am a semi-noob at StarMade (took a break a little while back, came back just after power and weapons overhaul), but I think I'm comfortable enough in this new version that I could offer some advice (although I'll probably miss a couple points here and there). Are there any sections that need to worked on (I'm bad with rails, so I'll be learning from that)

Things like weapons and turrets I can probably help with if you would like

Hey, thanks for volunteering =) . Taking into consideration what you said, Maybe you could help us listing and explaining the different weapon combinations. What you think?

 

[aceface]

Hey, thanks for volunteering =) . Taking into consideration what you said, Maybe you could help us listing and explaining the different weapon combinations. What you think?

I feel like it should be left like it is now, its very useful in creating reserved posts. If it becomes too big of a problem (personally I dont care at all about double posts) then re enable

 

[Forsyth]

Hey, thanks for volunteering =) . Taking into consideration what you said, Maybe you could help us listing and explaining the different weapon combinations. What you think?

Sounds great. Do you want me to group the information based on the master weapon (Beam, cannon, missile) And talk about the base stats and how the different combinations affect the stats?

 

[klawxx]

Sounds great. Do you want me to group the information based on the master weapon (Beam, cannon, missile) And talk about the base stats and how the different combinations affect the stats?

Yea. that sounds good. you can add in replies here and I will format the text then add it to the Official thread once I reach the military branch section over there. I will also add you to the contribution section.

By the way, there's no rush, so take your time as you see fit.

 

[Forsyth]

Ok

 

[Crimson-Artist]

+Rail Logic:
It is possible dramatically increase the speed of normal rail movement by using Shootout Rails. Normally shootout rails will send a ship flying off of one of the rail lines ends. To prevent this just obstruct both ends of the rail by placing a block on top of the last rail block. an alternative is to cause some sort of blockage that prevents the Rail Docker from leaving the rail line entirely. Next just connect the last rail (The one that the Rail docker should be on top off while at the end of the line) to a rail switcher to change the rail back to a normal rail.

As a safety precaution, I advise that the two rail blocks at the end of the line which have another block on top of them face a neutral direction. for example, If the rail line is a simple back and forth line then the two rail blocks at the end should face sideways. This is to prevent the occasional undocking of the docked entity during sector loads/unloads while the shootout rail is active. for example:

 

[Crimson-Artist]

+Rail Logic:
It is possible dramatically increase the speed of normal rail movement by using Shootout Rails. Normally shootout rails will send a ship flying off of one of the rail lines ends. To prevent this just obstruct both ends of the rail by placing a block on top of the last rail block. an alternative is to cause some sort of blockage that prevents the Rail Docker from leaving the rail line entirely. Next just connect the last rail (The one that the Rail docker should be on top off while at the end of the line) to a rail switcher to change the rail back to a normal rail.

As a safety precaution, I advise that the two rail blocks at the end of the line which have another block on top of them face a neutral direction. for example, If the rail line is a simple back and forth line then the two rail blocks at the end should face sideways. This is to prevent the occasional undocking of the docked entity during sector loads/unloads while the shootout rail is active. for example:View attachment 53019

Several Addendum
Shootout rail lifts are only effective as Up and down (relative to gravity direction)movement options. They do not work well for horizontal movement. at least in a easy and intuitive sense.

Pickup Rails and Shootout rails can be swapped out for Rail Rotators. Can also used with the shootout rail method I outline above to dramatically increase the speed that which a docked entity spins. This however only works when the rotator is facing certin directions. From my tests they work for all directions except for Left and Right.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

+Rail Logic:
It is possible dramatically increase the speed of normal rail movement by using Shootout Rails. Normally shootout rails will send a ship flying off of one of the rail lines ends. To prevent this just obstruct both ends of the rail by placing a block on top of the last rail block. an alternative is to cause some sort of blockage that prevents the Rail Docker from leaving the rail line entirely. Next just connect the last rail (The one that the Rail docker should be on top off while at the end of the line) to a rail switcher to change the rail back to a normal rail.

As a safety precaution, I advise that the two rail blocks at the end of the line which have another block on top of them face a neutral direction. for example, If the rail line is a simple back and forth line then the two rail blocks at the end should face sideways. This is to prevent the occasional undocking of the docked entity during sector loads/unloads while the shootout rail is active. for example:View attachment 53019

...and you solved my final rail problem. Thanks!!!

 

[JinM]

Regarding your latest entry: I am one of the hull first builders, that only roughly outlines the interiours requirements. I strongly recommend to rephrase that part. Building half of the interiours first is only one approach, and not the best one. The best one is that, that fits the individual players style. The way you write it hinders people that have other creative approaches to building their ship. I suggest you say "there are several ways to build a ship, building interiours first is one, many people just outline what they want and then they build the hull first". Some people ignore interiours completely when they build the ship.

I just think you should try to compell to all playstyles Starmade offers. And I really think that building interiours first is a bad way to build a ship. Never have built even one ship like that. Allways have built exteriours first. Just thinking that alot of players can get discouraged if they build that way. The only requirement to build a thought out ship is to roughly outline and know, if you want to have certain interiour elements in your ship (good examples is to decide beforehand if you want a hangar or even more, size of bridge). If you want for example a certain cockpit its mandatory to know how big you want it.

But only IF you want certain interiour elements, building interiour first is a good approach. And even then outlining them can be enough. Building interiour first if you want your ship for example because of alot of turrets is a really bad approach then. Be a little more distinct imo.