Space Engineers: Tips for building better looking ships (tutorial)(ft. Ship builders)
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
- Hey everyone! this was a fun video to make, I hope its useful and you enjoyed it :) If you enjoyed please like and subscribe.
Thank to to the creators who helped make this video possible!
Reaver: steamcommunity.com/id/Reaver_...
Lt. Starbound: steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...
YoshiWoof22: steamcommunity.com/id/YoshiWo...
Aragath: steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...
Here is a list of all the vessels used in this video:
Wyvern by Reaver: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Polaris by Reaver: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Vengeance by Lt. Starbound: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Providence by Lt. Starbound: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Star - Hammer By Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Brevis MK IV by Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Verona Augmento by Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Javelin by Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Lobster by Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Brevis Mk III by Lunar Kolony: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Flare by Yoshiwoof22: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Torch by Yoshiwoof22: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Spark by Yoshiwoof22: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Salvador by Aragath: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Pilgrims Curiosity by Aragath: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Frozen Lake by krimwand: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Kaiman by Jonathan: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Dragons heresy by Ph.d Composer: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
If you wish to help me out you can visit my patron page: / lunarkolony
Space Engineers: Tips for building better looking ships (tutorial)(ft. Ship builders)
tags:
space, engineers, tutorial, ship, building, tips, lunar, kolony, SE, reaver, yoshiwoof22, aragath, lt starbound, creations. - Ігри
Excellent tips! I was sceptical looking at the length of the video but you covered everything I knew and structure it perfectly. Also these tips can be applied to other building games, from Minecraft, Empyrion to Avorion and Interstellar rift.
Thank you ! I tried to condense it down and make the video as easy to watch as I could, and yeah u can apply it in other games too :)
I'm linking this to friends who build everything in one colour! :)
It can be an uphill battle to get them to try adding an accent colour....
damn, this is the first time i've seen those games mentioned all together and i'm surprised that you even mentioned Empyrion
@@Your_local_Intercom this type of games provoke creativity and imagination so I think they all belong to one category
The way I build is first and foremost, I ask myself, "What do I want it to do?"
If you can answer that, and prioritize the things you want it to do, building it becomes way more coherent/focused.
A ship's purpose will answer all sorts of questions you'd be asking yourself if you didn't decide in advance what it should do.
Examples:
- Warships: You want heavy armor, lots of well-placed guns, an internal bridge, recessed thrusters, and perhaps welders to repair armor.
- Cargo ship: At least one large cargo container, minimal armor (armor is mass that could have been cargo), Lots of downward, forward, and
rearward H2 thrusters so it can lift massive amounts of cargo off planets, plenty of connectors and maybe some collectors, a bridge with
good ground visibility, plenty of cameras to aid in docking procedures, and a couple of token guns.
- Jump/scout ships: Several jump drives, at LEAST two batteries per jump drive, a large reactor, all light armor - lots of half-blocks, minimal
living space to help reduce mass, and as few guns as you can get away with, as a jumper is typically not for combat.
- Utility/mining ships - Drills and/or welders+grinders, ample cargo, ample thrust to move said cargo, perhaps some refineries or assemblers,
plenty of well placed connectors and cameras for easy docking, an ore detector, and a shape that will lend itself to either drilling or constructing.
- Carriers: Ample hanger bays, powerful thrusters, a large reactor to aid in recharging docked ships, plenty of H2 tanks and O2/H2 generators
to aid in refueling docked ships, a bridge and camera system that lends to good visibility to aid in coordinating docking procedures, plenty of
cargo and assemblers to aid in repairing docked ships, perhaps a 3D printer rig to print support ships/drones, and a few token guns or
missile launchers (remember, carriers are typically defended by escort ships to make up for their low maneuverability and firepower).
- Colony/survival ships: Some combination of all of the above! They should also be interplanetary, have jump capability, and are typically
gonna be self-sustaining on many fronts. They will also typically have a couple of small grid vehicles/drones filling various support roles.
That's not an exhaustive list, nor is it absolute, but it is a good list of some of the types of ships you may wish to build. Just remember, a "well rounded" ship may be decent at a bit of everything, but it's like Mario in Super Smash Bros.; nothing special. It's far better, IMHO, to specialize. Pick one or two of the most prevalent things you want your ship to be able to do, and make it really good at those one or two things. If you need it to do other things, you can add those things with diminished capability if you MUST have them, but you're better off teaming up with someone who specializes in those other things. That's what a fleet is all about, different specializations working together, using their strengths to make up for the others' weaknesses.
Avoid making "do-all" ships, because they will never do-all, but rather just end up big, slow, and good at very little.
I think there's one fun exception to not building do-all ships, and that's if you don't need it to do all the things at the same time, especially if you'll have access back to your base or a shipyard in between tasks. It's fun to design and build different modules for one main core ship, imo!
A carrier / mothership can also do a good job of this as a mobile base, but the initial investment to build one is huge so by the time you have enough resources you'll probably have a main base and several specialized ships. (All of this is from perspective of playing survival).
A point regarding laying down a frame versus building around core systems: The bigger the ship, the more important the frame is. If you're building a relatively small mining or utility ship, substance over style should be the main concern. You can still make the ship look good, but there's nothing wrong with building a freighter around a skeleton of cargo containers. However, large ships, particularly military vessels, often benefit from having a clearly defined frame to build around. Passageways and vital systems can be built onto the frame and then the ship built from there.
A very good video with great tips.
having inspiration is what helps me the most. if I start from scratch I always end up with ugly and blocky builds. I like to take an existing build, dissect it, see what makes it's design work, and then modify it to the point of being almost unrecognized but still familiar. Sometimes it's by copying a picture or by cutting apart someone else's ship.
I focus a lot on interior work and functional design, and I hear the same complaints from ship builders all over about designing interior spaces. A tip for this is to imagine the space being used and the painpoints that might be derived from having things a certain way; such as:
- When placing a medbay, put it near locations where accidents may be more frequent, or near an external airlock, so moving patients is simple.
- Have recreation or downtime areas near living areas and away from higher traffic or work areas.
- Always make room for bulkheads in the case of depressurization, make sure crew can survive on the ship or navigate if a breach is located. (Much in line with Yoshi's tip on thinking about redundant systems, think about redundant passage)
- In case of disaster, have a quick escape plan for highly populated rooms, such as a traditionally locked escape hatch off of the bridge.
- Keep pilot visibility in mind for a bridge/cockpit. It is easier to pilot a large ship when a bridge is located in a tower or towards the rear of the ship.
- Find and stay consistent with replacements for DLC blocks. You don't have to buy a DLC to imagine a passageway as a bed; ship builders have been designing vanilla ships this way for years. But if you have the DLCs, use them! They are a great way to breathe life into your interior spaces.
- Place stair blocks vertically, set your gravity to lower than regular planet gravity. Steep stairs are much more comfortable to climb in low-g and you don't need your gravity at full strength to walk around the ship. Ascending 5 meters per 2.5x2.5 meter footprint is a great way to fit multiple floors in your ship.
- When you have a new idea, think about how you can incorporate it into existing designs before starting a new ship from scratch.
- Use the workshop, tinker with people's designs, but always give credit where it is due. Tell people about your inspirations and discuss what you love about other people's ships. Imitation is not a sincere form of flattery, flattery is.
I've had this game for 6 years and I've only made one good looking ship. *And I lost the blueprint*
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Oof
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I find my best technique for building is to start from the middle and work my way outwards. I’ll start with the actual corridors and rooms, pressurise it, then build a frame around that and armour when necessary.
I have a military mindset when I’m building, so I like the idea of everything being standardised. I have a set of corridor and room designs I will use and put together in different configurations
How do you determine where to place your internal components? I usually do good at making the interior look nice, but struggle with layout and knowing *where* to put stuff
@@valleyforgeproductions I generally stick my engineering decks near the back of the ship with the thrusters. The CIC always gets placed at the center, period, in military ships, as far as I'm concerned.
Armories and air locks are put near each other, as shipboard Marines would gear up before diving out the airlock into the void
If the gunnery deck isn't thrown in with or in front of the CIC, I generally put that in the front section of the ship, with habitation directly below it. Habitation is everything from crew rooms to the galley
If the type of ship requires it, drone/fighter bays replace gun decks
@@valleyforgeproductions Pretty much what Corvus said. Most of your engineering spaces should be in the rear third of the ship, CIC and crew quarters/accommodations in the center and most of your weapon systems up front. However don't follow this last bit too rigidly or you'll end up with blind spots your ship's weapons can't reach.
The last thing that is worth mentioning only applies if you use a specific mod but it is significant enough to be worth mentioning. If you use the 2cm beam system mod and plan to build laser gun turrets into your ships you will need to leave space underneath where they will be going for a room to house the laser generators and beam guides, it's not place and go like the D.E.W. mod.
Me : *continues to apply greeble to flying rectangle
I think one of the best tips I could give to someone is that they should embrace the edges in their builds instead of always trying to round things out, I had a huge problem with this at the beginning and built horrible blob looking grids, but ever since I started thinking differently about that I started making pretty neat-looking grids, and am currently in the process of redesigning my entire lineup of ships and buildings
I think a good tip is to not fear making an "ugly" ship if the ship's intended role is industrial.
Also don't fear breaking up symmetry with asymmetrical features. In fact, some of the most iconic sci-fi ships have a basic symmetry that is then broken by asymmetry, and are "ugly." Case in point, the Millennium Falcon. Remember what Luke thought the first time Han showed it to him? "What a hunk of junk!" Yet it's instantly recognizable and iconic.
I rarely post my ships to the workshop, but one of my favorite ships I've built, in fact, I love it so much it's now the only ship I want in online survival games, is my "Fortune's Gambit" series. Only the Mk. V and the Mk. VI are available (I'm personally on the Mk. IIX, and haven't gotten around to uploading the Mk. VII yet). The Fortune's Gambit platform was designed to be a hyper-active jump ship perfect for role playing as a smuggler and/or prospector. It was also built ultra light, as it's not meant to be a battleship, but was also built with expansion in mind. The Mk. VI can do 16,000 Km jumps when dry. The Mk. IIX (still experimental) can do a whopping 24,000 Km jump at dry weight. The platform is also instantly recognizable by other players, and has become pretty popular among my friends. If anyone is interested, you can find it on the Workshop.
I appreciated this video, as it has good suggestions. I'm always looking to pick up new little tips and tricks to make better ships. :)
Very useful tips and well put together.
thank you! :)
interesting tip sticking to 3 shapes, imma try doing that
Great video. Thanks for pointing me to it! I'm off to creative to concept up my brand new ship. Thanks for all the time you take to put your videos together man. It is appreciated!
No worries!
This is great, if you can wrangle up "Major Jon" or "Dermakrat", they can help showcase subgrids and their application.
This last update also makes subgrid laden ships stable in gravity too.
My greatest problem is that i hate to leave any vulnerability when im building a ship, and bcs of that my ships are always too boxy.
Very clear and concise. The video flowed smoothly from one point to another, so fantastic work!
glad you enjoyed :)
I've always aspired to become a well known ship builder because I know what I pain it can be to design ships for a server and if I can help with that I'd love to. (Also because I would love to see my ships in use by others as I'm not a pvp guy)
This video helped a lot, thank you!
Amazing video. I learned these tips when i was building my ships. It works for me and it will work for you
Thank you :)
Great tips! I've often struggled with ship building but I think these will help out quite a bit with my next attempted builds :D
Me at 2AM loading up a world and wishing I could build, then realising that there are links to tutorials in the base game.
The editing is on a whole another dimension
Amazing work! I am currently working on a very large project in space engineers, and this video will be a great help.
As someone who builds from the inside out i focus almost entirely on function over form. This usually means all of my ships start off working exceptionally well but looking equally ugly.
However, when i find designs i like i will often carry them over to the next playthrough and every time i rebuild one for a new game i always try to make one improvement even if it's as simple as adjusting the lighting. Over time those small changes can completely change a ship into something really nice.
One of the most important things you can do in survival is to take a break from using projectors and welding ships and instead weld up your main ship by hand; getting your hands dirty so to speak. More often then not when you have to do it by hand and from memory you'll start to notice things that can be improved and carried forward into the next ship iteration.
There's some ships i've used for years rebuilding them dozens of times over thousands of hours of various playthroughs before i got them to a point i considered them finished. Atleast for me sheer persistence was the key to building the better looking ship.
finally found another quality Space Engineers youtuber ur dope man
Damn, thanks that means alot! :)
As a new player at the game this was very helpful thank you
My current ship is very long and essentially is being built to have plenty of hydrogen and bulk storage so it’s a support carrier with its big hangar and industrial section
Good work, man. Keep it going.
Thank you :)
I love your video, very organized!
Thank you :)
Improving on existing designs is a thing i love to do. I always end up returning to vanilla or other players' designs and changing them.
I recently started using a lot of silver & gold textures for half-exposed and technical looking blocks. They don't really register as a color, and are great as "neutrals" to break up large mono colored surfaces.
Also, using complimentary colors is fine if one of them is very desaturated and the other one is bright and saturated.
My tip is to not be afraid to re-do or start over on a project.
Sometimes I make a basic hull but then realize it either doesn't look the way I want it or it's too Small/Large for what I need it to do so I often remake the entire thing.. Which often causes it to look substantially better because I now had an idea of what I was going for after laying the initial stages.
I also will rip out entire portions of the ship and remake it if I feel like the ship itself is coming along but this one section isn't. I often remake bridges (Observation decks for me since my bridges are often interior) multiple times over till I find something that works just right.
thank you for your time and tips
Omg this helped so much thanks
This video was quite helpful, thanks :)
Great stuff!
Love how you chose the funniest ABBA song
It's catchy haha
bro, 1k views in a day is fucking insane
not to mention how far the production quality has come in such a short amount of time
good to see ur efforts properly paying off :D
U like this so I see this again and keep up the good work
Fantastic video!
thanks bud, cheers for comin on!
PAD
Thank you! soooo helpful! I keep failing because of design.
Good video. I have have been playing Space Engineers for nearly 7 years, argagath is the only one I have heard of, but then again I get on work shop for mods not blueprints.
my favorite drone which i made is suicide drone you will stick to it warheads and you will just crash to another ship and its cheap to make most expensive are the warheads also its fun to use
1:52 Looks so real
I have found a liking to building round ring ships. Tends to balance out well for gravity drives.
my Minecraft building skills will finally come in handy in another game.
Great vid! I'm going to put this in our server's discord, very useful.
thank you :)!
Very nice video!!!
thank you! :)
Building atm warhammer 40k shaped ship with industrial theme, nice tips here.
Subbed and liked!
1:00 just imagine you’re ship built like a genetal
I like all these tips, its pretty interesting that some of the tips they share are the same.
I probably wont follow all of them tho, i rarely have less than 5 colors unless im building a prototype
1:04
Real Engineers: the skeleton of my next Spacecruiser!
Me: penis funny
Hope you make one of these on rovers. It would be pretty helpfull
There _was_ a tutorial for rovers if I remember
@@boris8515 with creators?
a tip that i can give is not to round off much either, when you make everything look smooth, and connect, transition up, in the end the ship MIGHT not look as good, as if you for example used a non fitting corner, or just cmpletely ignored it and made it square. this ofcourse also depends on the shape of the ship, again.
I typically use more than 4 colors, but 3 are the main ones and the fourth I use sparingly to make certain features stand out
yeah definitely dont *stick* to 3 but its a good guideline in general :)
My main method is placing the systemps first, and I prefer this because it optimizes the ship building
lunar : How to build a better ship.
Me: You were the chosen one, It was sad that you wold help the brick ships, and not destroy them.
I couldn’t build but this helped a lot 👌🏻🤌🏻
Personally, I call large amounts of engines in groups "Thruster Beds"
Late but this helps a lot
Nice video! Will you continue ship analysis?
Of course! :)
My main fighter has 3 external colours simply because 2 was not good enough for its size without looking awkward.
Now it looks like the American flag with guns and space flight
👌 one of the best videos to do to get views
My tip would be, don't make it a penis.
I know what you're thinking, "Oh, it won't look like one, I have a different design in mind."
Heed my warning or forever live in Hubris, *it will*
You forgot the important of ship weight along with what important components a ship needs. Didn’t realize you would focus mainly on asthetics
Well the title says better LOOKING ships, so I suggest u give that a read.
I always struggle with space on the inside of my ship I have thin walk ways on massive ships
Yellow nd purple are complimentary colors. Theyre directly opposite on the color wheel.
wait, you guys build frames?
Um, lighting? It goes along with paint as different light on curtain blocks can make or break a ship.
This is also a good point!
However I had to choose carefully because I can't include all the points or the video will get too long, and this doesn't have a great of an effect as the other 3.
I'm going to try and build stuff from treasure planet
My worst offence is "overgreebling" then when I'm done and step back for a full view I have something that looks way too jumbled. Less is definatley more, but too little looks plain and boring, the right balance is the trick to the most successful designs imo
@Lunar Kolony in your link description you have made a small mistake and it’s the link for Aragaph bring you to Lt Starbound home page.
less is more?! how unbeliveable should have done that then building all of my ships
HAHAHA, not intentional my friend lol
tip 1: get empyrion because it's a lot better, especially for ship/base building
no more tips needed
then why are you watching this?
Is there a mod to place a group of components without a projector? So i dont have to place each one several times?
as my pcs broken atm, any good workshop builds for heavy haulers?
my problem ist that my ships always seem to be very "slow" and sluggish. I put so many thrusters on it and then i see your ships with almost no thrusters. what is the secret?
Do u build with heavy with
Armour?
@@LunarKolony only light armor
@@tobimanx7026 hydrogen thrusters are alot more powerful than ion thrusters
@@LunarKolony yes i only use hydrogen
@@tobimanx7026 and then the guy also had no clue
Purple and yellow look good tho
N o
@@LunarKolony :(
My problem is all my ships tend to be too rounded, almost alien look but in a ugly way.
Try to break up the shape a bit, add some nacels or fins
I think i keep forgetting to use greeble for my ships lol
But don't sacrifice function for form. Been many times I've seen the flying brick devastate the good looking warship.
That's true, but personally I prefer to fly in a decent looking ship even if I sacrifice firepower
@@LunarKolony That's true too. I suppose the trick is finding the right balance.
@@Valykry definitely, i believe i mentioned in my miner ship vid that you can always build a great workin ship like a brick covered in guns etc because SE doesnt have aerodynamics or hull integrity, but personally i just like to build things that look decent
What do you mean with "stick to 3 shapes"?
AAAAA how do you do good greeble?
Consider speaking to starbound or reaver, both are great at it
Is no one going to mention what we all saw at 1:05? 🤣
I’m gonna be honest i’m not sure what greeble is. I guess its just me too cause everyone else seems to understand. I think I do, but nothing was visually obvious. Not sure what to do.
It's literally just random bodywork without purpose, just to break up the hull a bit, perfect example is the edges around star destroyers. Hope this helped.
@@LunarKolony Wish more people responded like you. Thanks man this did help!
Gree-blee
Anyone got a tactic to avoid your ships looking like a certain… body part? I like adding little engine pods to the side of my ships but it ends up not looking too well
The cock and balls space ship design is very efficient and effective, but if you want to avoid it try slopes, and triangle shapes on ur frame. Even add the nacels in the middle !
Could you clarify what "angle spam" is?
Lots of unnecessary angles like slopes everywhere
It will look very messy and unplanned
Ever seen an MFI ship?
@@lt.starbound9048 Lmao
What is the ship on the front page?
??
The blue one? Lkf starhammer
I heard the community is notorious for wiener-ships, the frame says it all 1:05
*exposed
"3 key points in shit building"
Thought he said shit
wtf is greeble
Lmao @3:45 yellow and purple are great combination since they are on the opposite end of the color wheel making them complementary colors. Just google yellow and purple, go to images and you will be in awe how wrong you were.
If you are interested in color theory, check out paletton com its very easy to use and generate great colors combinations.
Bright purple and bright yellow don't mix. End of
lulw salty
@@TheRed4123 ok
The way I build is first and foremost, I ask myself, "What do I want it to do?"
If you can answer that, and prioritize the things you want it to do, building it becomes way more coherent/focused.
A ship's purpose will answer all sorts of questions you'd be asking yourself if you didn't decide in advance what it should do.
Examples:
- Warships: You want heavy armor, lots of well-placed guns, an internal bridge, recessed thrusters, and perhaps welders to repair armor.
- Cargo ship: At least one large cargo container, minimal armor (armor is mass that could have been cargo), Lots of downward, forward, and rearward H2 thrusters so it can lift massive amounts of cargo off planets, plenty of connectors and maybe some collectors, a bridge with good ground visibility, plenty of cameras to aid in docking procedures, and a couple of token guns.
- Jump/scout ships: Several jump drives, at LEAST two batteries per jump drive, a large reactor, all light armor - lots of half-blocks, minimal living space to help reduce mass, and as few guns as you can get away with, as a jumper is typically not for combat.
- Utility/mining ships - Drills and/or welders+grinders, ample cargo, ample thrust to move said cargo, perhaps some refineries or assemblers, plenty of well placed connectors and cameras for easy docking, an ore detector, and a shape that will lend itself to either drilling or constructing.
- Carriers: Ample hanger bays, powerful thrusters, a large reactor to aid in recharging docked ships, plenty of H2 tanks and O2/H2 generators to aid in refueling docked ships, a bridge and camera system that lends to good visibility to aid in coordinating docking procedures, plenty of cargo and assemblers to aid in repairing docked ships, perhaps a 3D printer rig to print support ships/drones, and a few token guns or missile launchers (remember, carriers are typically defended by escort ships to make up for their low maneuverability and firepower).
- Colony/survival ships: Some combination of all of the above! They should also be interplanetary, have jump capability, and are typically gonna be self-sustaining on many fronts. They will also typically have a couple of small grid vehicles/drones filling various support roles.
That's not an exhaustive list, nor is it absolute, but it is a good list of some of the types of ships you may wish to build. Just remember, a "well rounded" ship may be decent at a bit of everything, but it's like Mario in Super Smash Bros.; nothing special. It's far better, IMHO, to specialize. Pick one or two of the most prevalent things you want your ship to be able to do, and make it really good at those one or two things. If you need it to do other things, you can add those things with diminished capability if you MUST have them, but you're better off teaming up with someone who specializes in those other things. That's what a fleet is all about, different specializations working together, using their strengths to make up for the others' weaknesses.
Avoid making "do-all" ships, because they will never do-all, but rather just end up big, slow, and good at very little.