Optimum Large Ships (Design)

[OsoMoore]

I've been playing on and off since the Kickstarter Beta, and I haven't seen very many of the advanced ships I'm sure other players are building.  So here are a few of mine (coolest one at the end).

The basic ship goes forward and spins.  You add a few simple things like shields, ore, magnets, and a few weapons.  Maybe some logic to toggle those things on and off.  I assume most people end up building some ships like this when they first start playing.

 

Next I built more complex ships, but they were basically the same design.  More engines, more weapons, but still a single large structure that rotates, shoots, and carries stuff.

 

When I first started building a few releases back, I moved from there on to even larger ships with more weapons and energy. I made some small buddy drones that worked poorly. But the problem I had was that increased firepower and speed results in heavy and hard to maneuver monsters.  I couldn't dig through planets quickly because I was so massive and required such a wide path.

The big change for me happened when I began building snake ships.  These are segmented and carry energy and engines on every section.  I use fixed-direction digging lasers, so on most planets I can blast through terrain at full speed.  It steers quickly as well.  And I can unload a huge amount of damage, thanks to weapons on every body segment.  I use this ship for every mission except bio barrels and harvesting.

Are there some other designs for agile bots with high damage capabilities? I'd love to see more of what other people dream up (besides their devastating sumo bots).

[Markus]

Lovely drone construction and explanation. Thank you for sharing ❤️ Would love to see others share their thoughts and drones as well. We now have Steam Workshop where you can share drones, but discussing them here is probably easier  

["Star"]

Well I don't have any fast Snake/Worm Drones, Atleast they don't seem to be that fast. But I do have Planetary Eclipse which pretty much brings the end of the world wherever it goes.

And it is quite large given how that's not the finished version. I've had larger and alot stronger Snake/Worm Drones but they have all been in the Demo so they cannot be used in the Closed Alpha. Currently the largest I had was this:

                      "Vertex Enigma"

But sadly I lost it before I could save it and make it straight, It was around 8000 parts. Then later on I started making Ouroboros which is the large drone with decorations that you have probably seen before. Ouroboros,

It originally started as a small-ish Snake/Worm drone made to dig out large planets in a short amount of time. But then while making it I decided that it should have decorations and such nobody else had ever made. So making the decorations began. And my first idea was to use drills for decoration, But that was too unstable to use as decorations. And then I had an amazing idea, What if I used weapons as decoration? I began experiementing with using weapons as decorations and came up with this style.

By using Beams, snipers and flamethrowers as decorations I invented a completely new way to decorate large drones. It was stable too since all weapons are actually just 1 block and had quite a little amount of mass compared to other options. I expanded the decoration to everything in Ouroboros and so was Ouroboros born, It was quite small at the time but it was beautiful.

Later on I made Ouroboros longer by copying the middle section and just pasting it until it was long enough. I decided to make it as close to 5000 as possible so then It became 5551 parts. This is the drone you have probably seen before in the Kickstarter, Steam Page, Twitter and such with this gif.

This was my ticket to getting Closed Alpha, Making something really large, powerful and beautiful at the same time, And as my 4th drone?! This was truly something nobody had done before. After couple weeks I sent that it already got featured in the Twitter, Kickstarter and later on in the Steam Page. Jokingly I said that the drone got featured in the Twitter so is that technically winning a Gif Competition. To my surprise I actually got a key for the Closed Alpha. So I started making more Snake/Worm drones. This time with even more ridiculous weapons. But after trying to come up with stuff, I didn't get any inspiration to make something that could surpass Ouroboros' beauty and intimidation. After couple months when the Closed Alpha just became version 0.5.1 I finally got the strength and inspiration to make something again.

I started working on Planetary Eclipse, I wasn't planning on making something as wide as Ouroboros this time, but something stronger. As I was making weapons for the new drone I was thinking of any ideas for decorations and such, This time I was aiming for something more mechanical and futuric looking instead of something aztec inspired. I was making it for around 4 days before I finished the front and the middle section. It wasn't as beautiful and large but it was alot stronger, laggier and destructive.

It was decorated with leds alot more than Ouroboros and had alot stronger weapons than Ouroboros. But it wasn't that intimidating at first, I added more spikes into it's head and body and also added lasers around everything. It was starting to feel complete. But it didn't feel right, It didn't feel that large. I started adding more sections but everytime I did it just didn't feel right. As if it was missing something, It was missing the weapon decorations. But I didn't know how to decorate it after I already built it. I decided that I wouldn't decorate it with weapons, Saying that didn't feel right at all. That is the thing I am known for, And I am not doing it? I decided that I wouldn't make this as the new Ouroboros, But instead have this as a showcase of what is to come. While Planetary Eclipse isn't yet complete, Neither is the story. Planning on something insanely large, Something that shouldn't even be possible to make. But I haven't started this yet, And I won't start it until Planetary Eclipse is finished. Currently Planetary Eclipse is just a head and a body, There is no end of the body yet.

While this is the current version of Planetary Eclipse, There will be more to come.

 

[Markus]

Lovely @"Star"! Thank you for sharing your story and awesome drone. We really appreciate your support and help ❤️ Keep 'em coming  

[OsoMoore]

Thanks Star for the great story and pictures.  I think I saw one of yours in the steam workshop.  What is that weapon that is exploding everywhere in the 2nd to last gif?

["Star"]

@OsoMoore It's a Rocket Launcher with Cluster Bullets, Homing and Minigun upgrades.