[WIP] LordChicken's Space Engineer's Star Trek Quest

[kjc733]

Space Engineers has just gone on sale on Steam and I'm really tempted, but I notice there are a number of packs available. Would you suggest that any of the addons are "needed" or is the base good enough.

 

[LordChicken]

The base game is pretty playable. All the DLCs do is add additional blocks (most are just decorative, but there are some with redundant features to base blocks like the SciFi Thrusters) and armor skins to paint your ship. The developers are using DLCs to support "continued development" but you don't really need them to play the game. I have all of them because I have a problem, and I recommend getting them if you want to play with all the bits.

But just to reiterate having them is not necessary to play the game. $13.99 USD is not a bad price on Steam if you want to get it to try it out.

 

[LordChicken]

I haven't provided this update to our community here yet. I was laid off last April due to COVID cuts a whole ten days before my twin girls were born. I was finally able to find a job (literally after hundreds of positions applied to) in February of this year and I met my boss for the first time last week. I umm... yup.

I have been making slow progress but with the amount of work the twins require and just trying to keep the house in a useable state I find myself not too interested in working on this project, and I am sure everyone can relate to that here.

When I do work on this I have been trying to sort out some of the incomplete rooms, and where to add missing equipment to the ship. I also have started to put together a requirements document because I know a few 3D artists from college and I want to see what they would charge to help me finish the art assets. The first one I've been talking to I think doesn't understand what I'm requesting and at the moment he's thinking this is going to be months of work and wants to charge 300-500 USD per model and that way outside of what I was thinking of spending for assistance. The reason I think he doesn't understand what I'm looking for is he keeps bringing up texturing and other tasks that I don't need. I just need some models made.

I have also been exploring the possibility of buying some of the Blender addons for hard surface modeling. Granted all of them are for Blender 2.8+ and I'm still using 2.79 so I'd have to learn 2.8 since it's a rewrite of nearly all the things and it feels foreign every time I load it. I might go this route because I think it might be a better use of my financial resources. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to make them.

I plan to write a singular script for ship operations, I've already thought of the name, TAC OS, or the Total Application Control Operating System. I haven't started this one yet because I'm trying to finish all of the things I've already started, but I have been documenting what I want this thing to do.


Since I don't want to leave this post without some kind of photo update, here's the self-illumination I'm working on. Constitution primary top.

 

[Terra_Inc]

I haven't provided this update to our community here yet. I was laid off last April due to COVID cuts a whole ten days before my twin girls were born. I was finally able to find a job (literally after hundreds of positions applied to) in February of this year and I met my boss for the first time last week. I umm... yup.

I have been making slow progress but with the amount of work the twins require and just trying to keep the house in a useable state I find myself not too interested in working on this project, and I am sure everyone can relate to that here.

Sorry to hear about losing your job, best of luck with the new one. Real life should always come first, your family is more important than online stuff. I think everyone here understands that.

 

[LordChicken]

There has been some slow movement at the shipyard lately. Nothing photo-worthy, but some small progress.

 

[Hellkite]

Progress is progress Colonel none the less

 

[LordChicken]

Been working on this some more recently. Currently trying to get the Magnatomic Flux Intakes just right.





Still not satisfied with the materials, so just messing around with it.



I also did some static combat testing, just letting the game AI have at it. This is the first test:







This is the second test:




Damage Control, Ship "A"

Damage Control, Ship "B"


The weapons I'm using for testing are from this weapons pack, I am still planning on making my own. https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2530716039

After the results of these tests, I decided to add a citadel armor scheme to try and help protect the vital parts of the ship. Ignore the red bits, I'm reworking the warp core.



And I also added a transporter room, though I am not in love with this mod, and also want to make my own.

 

[LordChicken]

I am currently working on finishing any and everything that is exterior. It's mostly easy to do, but at least I am getting something done.


I need to readjust the lights I made here so there isn't quite so much shadow.





I am not sure why the letters here look so weird in "United Federation of Planets" but I'm going to try remaking them and seeing if is some kind of parent scaling issue.

I've also been reworking the exterior shape a little bit. trying to add a little more detail and accuracy where possible.

 

[Hellkite]

Impressive to say the lest Colonel Sanders

@LordChicken

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
That is quite the job you've been doing!
Also that battle, of some posts ago, looked much fun although those Connies were very beaten-up .

 

[LordChicken]

Hello:
That is quite the job you've been doing!
Also that battle, of some posts ago, looked much fun although those Connies were very beaten-up .

Thank you. I don't have any other ships that are as complete as the Consitution and I wanted to test it against itself to see how well it would last against a theoretically identical in capabilities ship... however, the one that is the most damaged in the images (large sections missing), I forgot to turn on the torpedoes before assigning that ship to the hostile NPC faction... but I still got what I was looking for in terms of results. There will be more testing in the future.

Impressive to say the lest Colonel Sanders

@LordChicken

Thank you, @Hellkite

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:

Thank you. I don't have any other ships that are as complete as the Consitution and I wanted to test it against itself to see how well it would last against a theoretically identical in capabilities ship... however, the one that is the most damaged in the images (large sections missing), I forgot to turn on the torpedoes before assigning that ship to the hostile NPC faction... but I still got what I was looking for in terms of results. There will be more testing in the future.

Thank you, @Hellkite

I see what you mean! And I stilll think it had to be much fun .
Keep it up!

 

[LordChicken]

I've been redesigning my warp core set because the ones I originally made, tho technically at the correct scale felt too small in the game. As soon as they added these pipe conveyor bits to the game I knew I should remake my warp core set to work with those pipe bits because that would mean fewer bits I would have to make and manage to get the largest flexibility out of the set.

Here is where I am with the redesign. It's about two and a half times larger than the original Dilithium Crystal Chamber part I created. I'm not sure about these purple bits I added on the top, vaguely modeled after a high-performance fuel injector.

The original part for reference (astronaut for scale):


New version (astronaut for scale):


Here is a picture without the purple bits (astronaut for scale):


Any feedback is welcomed.

Edit: I should also note that I'm moving away from a "Star Trek" aesthetic where possible and moving to a generic 80's SciFi aesthetic where possible to keep the parts reusable in other projects.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
The warp core looks outstanding. As for the purple bits, I can see why you are hesitant, as the model looks good with and without, but considering what you are going for, I'd say keep them, as they give the idea of been useful for checking the core or something.