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Rapid Fleet Prototyping Project

Short story: I needed a collection of ships to make progression and getting oriented on a PvP server a smoother process. This collection of 18 ships (and two variants) bridge the gap from basic miner to mid-sized warship, making getting set up on a server a much less complicated and daunting process.

First, all of these ships are mod-free. Secondly, as the name of the project suggests, these ships are prototypes! While they do function, and they have all been configured appropriately, they have not been refined! There are almost definitely bugs, errors, design flaws, or simply sub-optimal design choices. They should work as intended, but please let me know if you run into any significant issues. The designs which are more popular (and I find myself using the most) will likely be revised and re-released as standalone vessels down the road.

Now, the full story…




I love PvP, especially in a true sandbox game like Space Engineers. The ability to come up with a unique and creative way to solve a complex problem that was created by another player is amazing. Instead of pressing left-click to win in a fight, engagements can take many more forms, and be resolved in a much wider variety of ways.

However, I found that I rarely got to this point when playing on a server. Instead, I’d find myself stuck. Not when it came to building complex war machines, mind you - no, for some reason that was relatively easy. Building a basic miner, however? Well, f*** me. My designs were terrible. They even worked terribly. I’d always give up and join some faction, so I could use their stuff to start building my larger creations.

So, The Rapid Fleet Prototyping Project was born. I gave myself some simple guidelines, and got to work. The rules were pretty straightforward:

1. No spending more time than was necessary for a decent build. No five-hour fighter designs.
   
2. Simple to use. No super-complex weapon systems.
   
3. Functional. No “creative-only” nonsense. They have to have power, and conveyors need to work.
   
4. Each ship had to have a fairly clear purpose: “miner”, “welder”, “basic fighter”, etc. No “this ship does everything!”
   
5. Relatively clean and simple designs for building with welders arrays
   
6. Each ship had to be reasonably pleasing to the eye. (Yes, the Draugr is a box of death, but it kind of has to be for its purpose.)
   
7. Ready-to-use. Hotbars, timers, remotes, and so on all had to be configured.
   
8. The collection had to bridge every reasonable gap in the process of progression from early to mid-game. No other ship designs should be necessary to get a player up to the point of building capital ships.

About 60 hours of work later (and a two year hiatus - sorry guys!), it’s ready for release! A total of 18 ships and two ready-made variants!




Click here to get the full collection!

Exhumer - Basic Miner
Mortician - Basic Utility Vessel
Needle - Mini Repair Drone
Jikininki Model W - Large Welder
Jikininki Model G - Large Grinder
Spirit - Scout Vessel
Vampire - Light Fighter
Sickle - Medium Missile Fighter
Scythe - Heavy Gatling Fighter
Phantom - Stealth Vessel
Scalpel - Mini Combat Drone
Banshee Model G - Gatling Interceptor
Banshee Model M - Missile Interceptor
Skull - Cruiser
Draugr - Destroyer
Phylactery - Mobile Base
Skeleton - Cargo Hauler
Gravedigger - Mining Vessel
Revenant - Battlecruiser
Mausoleum - Fully Equipped Mobile Base

• All ships are PvP server ready. They all have beacons to prevent auto-cleanup scripts, and all broadcasting equipment is set to 200m range and turned off, to prevent accidentally revealing your location.
  
• Nearly all vessels have an EDS (see below).
  
• Most ships have a complete wireless control system, with a remote control that mirrors the main cockpit’s controls.
  
• All ship connectors have had their magnetic strength disabled by default to prevent accidental collisions when docking.
  
• Vessels which make use of Whiplash’s Weapon Salvo Script have weapon safety and unsafety timers, making it easy to lock down and ready your weapons for use. Additionally, all other vessels have easily accessible hotkeys for safetying their weapon systems.

With this project, I’m also introducing a couple of design standards for my projects going forward:

1. First is what I call the EDS, or the Easy Docking System. For more information, check out the EDS google doc.[docs.google.com]
   
2. Second is a set of naming conventions. This is still in the works, but its a detailed and concise set of rules for naming ships, and more importantly, ship components. For more information, check out the Ship Configuration Conventions google doc.[docs.google.com]

Special thanks to Whiplash for his Weapon Salvo Script, which the Banshee Model M, Sickle, and Skull make use of. Go check out his workshop here!