Tips and tricks for NOOBS setting up a game?

[MrGrey1]

Hey All,
I'm a couple of months into this game and loving it. I run my own home server and think I've pretty much got the hang of the basics. I'm here to petition the community for any tips and tricks a relative noob to the game might have overlooked in regards to setting up a new map and making it as alive and interesting as possible.

1. What do you do when you start a new map?
   
2. Do people add custom factions? If so are there any custom factions I can copy/pasta or things I should know when creating my own?
   
3. Do you add more pirate vessels or blueprints for anything in particular? Do you have a goto list of favourite pirate vessels? (I'm really over shooting up Isanths but as I don't really know what constitutes a 'good' pirate so I've avoided the monumental task of sifting through the Dock.)
   
4. Do you modify any other defaults? (I've already increased sector size, travel speed & jump distances to my liking.)
5. I'm also interested in what people do with the Catalog - Admin options. AI spawn groups? Are these worth customizing and if so how's the best way to approach it?
6. Anything else you think might be useful information in regards to setup and configuration?

Cheers for any input.
G

 

[Paullus]

Hi MrGrey1! If i ever start a new map for survival, I sell everything except power, thrust, and salvage systems, then with all my remaining money, buy salvage systems. I haven't really added new factions yet, and I mostly only add pirates of my own creation. I set the build size to around 200 in the settings configuration file.

 

[Wolflaynce]

Hey there MrGrey1. My 2 credits worth is to experiment with the Advanced mode, specifically with Build Helper. I've been using the Circle one with varying X-axis numbers, along with the 1st rotation to 90 (makes it horizontal). Here's a sample of what I've been doing recently.



Don't forget to set the Symmetry Build Planes. It makes it easier to make the ring and anything else, like a cube. You do have to set them to a specific location. I usually use the very center (vertically) of the station in the screen shot.

Hope that helps (and made sense)! Along with the excellent tips from Paullus above, you should be fine.

 

[Edymnion]

First thing I do on a new (survival) map is to buy all of the components I need to establish a planetside base immediately.

No ship parts, I'm buying up factories, reactors, enhancers, parts to build a defense turret, undeathinator, etc. Then I shoot out looking for a good system. Thats kinda borked these days since you need scanners, but I haven't really started a new survival map since that went into place...

Find a system with a good planet, good asteroid rings, etc, and set up shop. Build my survival base, build my defense turret for when the pirates find me, and start doing my mine/manufacture/sell routine until I have the cash for a station, then start in on the station.

 

[Batavium]

What do you do when you start a new map?

I change a lot of settings since some of the default ones can be harmful to the continuous long term operation of a server.

Look here.

Do people add custom factions? If so are there any custom factions I can copy/pasta or things I should know when creating my own?

Depending on how powerful your server is. It might be a smart idea to not have any NPC factions at all and just use the in game Pirates and Trade guild fitted with your own ships. The Traders, Outcast and Scavengers NPC Factions were added to StarMade but currently do not add much value game play wise. They can however add a lot of strain on a servers CPU.

Do you add more pirate vessels or blueprints for anything in particular? Do you have a goto list of favourite pirate vessels? (I'm really over shooting up Isanths but as I don't really know what constitutes a 'good' pirate so I've avoided the monumental task of sifting through the Dock.)

O yes adding your own or stuff from the dock is great fun and can really make a server stand out. Good Pirates are Pirates your server population interacts with for fun and for the spoils. If people avoid them because they are scared of them then they are to strong. If people ignore them because they offer little reward or are push overs then they are to weak. Balance is key! They also should not bring a server down to it's knees when they show up! Try to use ships that do not make use of lots of turrets.

The default Stations in the game can be changed with your own or builds from the dock. But only when you create the map! Once the map loads for the first time the whole map gets seeded with the station blueprints you added. After that you can not make any more changes! This goes for Pirates, Derelict and Trade Guild Stations. Use Stations that are useful to players. Things like Warp Gates, Ship Yards, Factories and some nice little Derelict starter stations for new players to use as a base.

Example: The Trident Deep-space Outpost is a great starter station to use as a Derelict on any StarMade map. So people do not settle the server crashing Planets.

If you add your own Trade Guild Stations then make sure the Shop Block has a lot of Cargo Modules added to it. To prevent items bleeding out into space.

I'm also interested in what people do with the Catalog - Admin options. AI spawn groups? Are these worth customizing and if so how's the best way to approach it?

Read this and this.

Good Luck!

 

[Edymnion]

Oh yeah, as for modifying the game settings, I always up the build area.

The default area of 10x is just WAY too small to be of any use at all to me. I usually up it to 100 for general use, and there are times (like when I'm building large shipyards) that I crank it up to 250 or even 500 so that I can copy/paste entire arms at once.