Store Page
Space Engineers
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews

Space Engineers

Store Page
Space Engineers >  Workshop > Spaceman Spiff's Workshop
Not enough ratings
Pathfinder Utility Vehicle
Description Discussions0 Comments4 Change Notes
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Type: Blueprint
Tags: ship, small_grid
File Size
Posted
1.440 MB
12 Oct, 2020 @ 10:14pm
1 Change Note ( view )
Required DLC
This item requires all of the following DLC
Space Engineers - Decorative Pack
Created by
Spaceman Spiff
Offline
See all 27 collections created by Spaceman Spiff and other people (some may be hidden)
445 Unique Visitors
212 Current Subscribers
6 Current Favorites
You need DLC to use this item.

Subscribe to download
Pathfinder Utility Vehicle

In 2 collections by Spaceman Spiff
Mining Ships and Vehicles
80 items
Utility Vehicles
65 items
Description
Pathfinder Utility Vehicle is a small-grid, heavy-lift, all-purpose crafty designed for high-gravity planets such as Omicron with its 1.9g gravitational acceleration. This design is mod-less and uses no rotors or pistons, so building from a blueprint in survival mode is straightforward. Pathfinder Utility Vehicle has one large cargo container, and is capable of both planetary flight using its atmospheric thrusters and space flight using its ion thrusters without the use of its hydrogen thrusters, so its versatility and flight time is greatly enhanced. Two gatling guns provide a modicum of offensive protection.

Pathfinder Utility Vehicle serves well for early survival play when wanting to establish an offworld mining and refining station; its heavy-lift capability will allow the player to carry a significant quantity of starter materials to space to set up the processing station.

NOTE: Although ion thrusters and small reactors are used in this design, it can be built without the thruster components and/or reactors (finishing the thrusters and/or reactors later) and still be flown successfully to space for setting up an off-world mining and refining facility or, optionally, grabbing an enemy ship and stripping its thruster components and reactors for your own use.

Ship's Statistics
- blocks: 368
- PCUs: 5,974
- L × W × H: 13½m × 5½m × 4½m
- maximum gross mass: 180,000 kg (as-tested in survival mode with 1-1-1 REALISTIC settings on Earthlike planet)
- empty mass: 75,427 kg

Cargo Capacity
- large cargo containers: 1
- connectors: 1

Power
- large batteries: 4
- small reactors: 4 (not required for full operation)

Miscellaneous Components
- O2/H2 generators: 2
- industrial cockpit: 1
- hydrogen tanks: 2
- antenna: 1
- gyroscopes: 7
- gatling guns: 2

Ctrl-1 Controls
1 - drills
2 - gatling guns
3 - landing gear; on/off
4 - landing gear; switch lock
5 - camera; docking view
6 - connector; docking switch lock
7 - atmospheric thrusters
8 - ion thrusters
9 - hydrogen thrusters; main

Ctrl-2 Controls
1 - landing gear; switch lock
2 - connector; docking switch lock
3 - atmospheric thrusters
4 - ion thrusters
5 - hydrogen thrusters; main
6 - hydrogen thrusters; UP boost A
7 - hydrogen thrusters; UP boost B
8 - large hydrogen thruster; UP 1
9 - large hydrogen thruster; UP 2

Ctrl-3 Controls
1 - drills
2 - spotlights; on/off
3 - landing gear; on/off
4 - landing gear; switch lock
5 - connector; docking switch lock
6 - marker lights; on/off
7 - antenna; on/off
8 - ore detector; on/off
9 - batteries; recharge on/off

NOTES FOR BUILDING WITH A PROJECTOR IN SURVIVAL MODE
The projector's default settings align with a bottom conveyor block near the ship's front; set the vertical alignment to -1 to properly align the projector below the block's surface (see the last picture).
4 Comments
< >
Spaceman Spiff  [author] 29 Apr, 2023 @ 8:23pm 
Oh, sure, it certainly can be done, but as you said it'll be utilitarian. But, hey, if it works, then it works.

I learned long ago, however, that the vast majority of people playing SE want eye candy. A ship or rover or base doesn't have to do anything except look pretty. Lots of greebles and odd shapes...something that has a pleasing look. That's what's popular and will always be popular. I have a large, small-grid mining ship (Deep Reach Miner mk3) that has been grabbed by a lot of people, but most of my designs are generally ignored. Not pretty enough. But that's OK. I build for me and, very occasionally when asked by someone else, something for them where they have specific wants and needs.

Feel free to modify any design I've posted to meet your own needs.
Spaceman Spiff  [author] 29 Apr, 2023 @ 4:19pm 
You're absolutely right about how and when to choose a large-grid ship over a small-grid ship. As a final thought, it's hard to design a large-grid mining ship that will fit through a 4-block-high airtight hangar door opening; this is when small-grid ships excel.
Spaceman Spiff  [author] 29 Apr, 2023 @ 6:40am 
I just kicked out Pathfinder III as a replacement for Pathfinder II; Pathfinder II replaced one of the two hydrogen tanks with another large cargo container because I found one was more than adequate for the ship to do its thing. This version, however, works well on high-g planets, although I just tested Pathfinder III and was able to load both large cargo containers, the connector, and the cockpit with 298 tons of cobalt *ingots* and fly to space.
Spaceman Spiff  [author] 29 Apr, 2023 @ 6:40am 
For a long time I was exclusively a big-grid ship builder, seeing small-grid ships as a waste of time. But I discovered that small-grid drills have the same AOE (area of effectiveness) as large-grid drills, so a mining ship is able to mine a tunnel (mine, not clear) when the ship can easily pass inside and that sold me on the usefulness of small-grid ships, especially mining ships. The big benefit to small-grid ships: low-cost (fewer parts). The big negative to small-grid ships: high PCU use. If you want a lot of capacity with low PCU, go large-grid every time.