I don't think I've ever had this many progress stages, got my pc struggling quite a bit. You can find the ship on the workshop here: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
I tend to start with skeleton made of all the big things ship needs, refineries, jump drives, hydrogen tanks, main reactors, etc. Then add circulatory system of conveyors, storage and auxilary power generation. Then cut the shape into decks. And finaly armor around it and guns. This gives that interesting organic, mon calmari design style and it makes ship much tougher and easier to repair from inside.
I do something similar! But I tend to bunch up my functional blocks too tightly together b/c I don't have a sense yet for reflexively allowing 2, 3, or more blocks in between for the eventual partition walls, armor firewalls/bulkheads, passages, etc. I just started trying out a "humans/users first" approach by laying down an approximate floor plan for how I would moving around the ship as a crewman or player. e.g. actually straight hallways instead of some convoluted rat maze winding around the reactor or whatever b/c I only allowed a 3x3x3 space for it instead of 7x7x7 for armor and passages. :P I try to plan ahead a bit with the conveyor ports on larger functional blocks, b/c each block also indirectly acts as a cheap substitute or dual purpose replacement for 2-6 conveyor blocks, saving me net 20-120 PCU. If I'm going to have the functional blocks anyway, might as well make them provide a discount on conveyors.
@@dakaodo Exactly, from over 100h of suffering trying to make my basecrawler somewhat accesible and able to make basic repairs I learned that any functional block you place needs acces point for engineers. And I can not build ship with pre defined shape like one on the video, I just keep adding things i need, redundant systems, redundancies to these redundant systems, aditional armor etc. And in the end it never looks like what I started with anyway.
@@dakaodo I always try starting with piping and necessary systems however end up with a brick that’s one shape:( any tips or tricks you can give to help? I also find inspiration the hardest thing like idk what I want to build so I just end up making an all round ship every time
I tend to start with a bridge and the pathing to the CIC first. CIC I always put at the center of my ship and contains my backup systems and full controls. I then tend to build outward with piping in order to make sense of it, then composit armor everything. Also on ships too small for a CIC I tend to but my primary and secondary power (Reactor, Hydrogen Tank) built into the composit armor and make a strong keel of the vessel based off of it.
I tend to build the nicest sections first. Those parts will be the eyecatchers of the ship. Something such as the cargo module on the front, the engine bank on the back, or the bridge up top. Those parts are the hardest to change later so I add them in first. Then I continue building and attaching all parts to one another.
i love your creative process, because mines the exact opposite. i tend to design from the inside out because my brain has trouble cramming the mechanicals and interior into an existing hull shape. so it's really cool to see the opposite of my style laid out in detail like this
I design sorta the same way as you. I kinda went one further before my PC died a couple years back. I made an armoured bridge/reactor and storage space. Added some crew space and the rest of the ship was essentially a skeleton with armour plates mounted over it. Lightweight, but just as protected as a regular ship. Put decoy blocks on the extremities of the ship and you’ve got something fairly robust
Both approaches work, I find the consideration that tends to drive that choice for me is what has priority, interior design or external aesthetic? Whatever I design first is going to be the best, and I love a good interior, so I usually design from the inside out.
Being one of those people who made comments about firing angles, I'll avoid that this time! :P Three steps really jumped out at me -- when you chose to place thrusters, when you simply mentioned "carving out" the inside, and when you conveyored the whole thing. The latter two are often some of my biggest headaches, so I have a huge amount of respect for what you did. I use a color coding approach as well, though not a carving out method like you do. But when it comes to creating that internal hull space, my big challenge is keeping my frame of reference as I move between the inside and outside. So I have to separately color code every block that's "internal" and can be safely deleted without venting the ship. It occurred to me during your first silhouette layer that I could do this easily right away at that stage where I can see both inside and outside each layer at the same time. Conveyors and thrusters are related, and for me heavily tied to my overall PCU self-restraint. Super large or complex ships are cool, but as you mentioned, we like them to be functional too. For me, that means minimizing PCU within the specs or constraints of the dimensions or features I've already chosen to commit to. Having the Build Info mod running always keeps me mindful of the mass, thrust, and power requirements for each block. I'm sure you know this as well, but I try to be mindful of the 1 large H2 thruster : ~5 small H2 thrusters ratio. And 1:6 for atmo, etc. So when I catch myself slapping on a string of 5-10 small thrusters just b/c it's easier to fit them into certain spaces, I go back and make a 2nd pass to rationalize and streamline every group of 4-6 small thrusters into single large thrusters. It does require design/silhouette compromises sometimes, but the difference is 125 PCU for 5 thrusters+conveyors versus 20 PCU for 1 thruster+conveyor. Multiplied by say 20 such instances on a large ship, that's 2500 PCU versus 400 PCU. The savings can go towards more armor or functional blocks elsewhere, or simply a less CPU-demanding ship for almost the same overall visual style I was going for. TLDR I take PCU into account at the stage where I plan out thrusters. Your approach of putting thrusters (and turrets, key functional blocks, etc) first, then conveyoring them would actually help me a lot to make my ships less... jumbly. I tend to squeeze all my functional blocks together too tightly, making it hard for me to lay out floor plans, passages, etc. later. Really cool to see your detailed thought process, b/c it made me have to think about the good/bad ways I approach my ships! Anything larger than 1000 blocks has been a mess for me until now. :D
I really really love how you blended the landing gear legs into fins, I’ve always struggled with blending them into the shape and not making them stand out, very well done
I've played a great deal of Space Engineers with friends, but every time I played all we did was screw around on the planet. not once have I even gotten to build a ship that goes into space, and seeing how detailed you make yours just baffles me! It looks amazing!
This particular ship is the inspiration for my new weapon core cruiser design, it looks very similar in a stripped down way, I'm using tiered engines, the UNC weapons pack, the MA weapons pack, and not a few other mods, the wings you like so much are gone to improve the broadside firing arc's, the nose and tail were reshaped and the interior redone. I also mounted both shield mods into the ship. I applaud you sir! And that tan and greenish gray version looked dang good to me.
Excellent video as always Major! I really appreciate your attention to detail and overall looks without compromising functionality. The effort you put in, not just into the build itself, but explaining your thought process and build iterations really shows. Thanks for being a creative inspiration to SE players like me.
I have been struggling to come up with a design process for a good shape for a while, your explanation is such a good way to go about designing an esthetically pleasing ship
Found this ship in game, and have been modifying it ever since. I LOVE this boat. Super glad to have found a build video showing the iterations and thought process behind everything!
This is AMAZING!!! A real "Legos" vibe. I really look forward to more of these "layer by layer" builds. Big ships are cool and all, but showing the iterative process for just about anything is extremely helpful for me to fill in the gaps between "hey I have an idea" and "great, now how do I get there?!" haha. Subscribed and liked. LOVE IT!!!!
Jon mate, you are, for me, one of the masters in this game. Your planets are in a whole different level, and your ships are so simple, yet so complex, and ultimately amazing. I love your content on the workshop, and your content here on yt is just as amazing On a different note, have you ever considered starting up a discord server? I think many people would like that
In stormworks I build a basic outside vessel with lots of space, decorate it, and then add the internals. Sometimes I build the best engine systems and stuff I can then i build what I’m making around that.
I love your approach, you are a great source of inspiration. I desperately try to build a big(ish) ship, a mobile base, but I am never satisfied, and always end up tossing it aside, unfinished, to try something new. I like the way you start with the outside and then carve it like a pumpkin to build the interior. I shall do to that.
A year later and im trying to build this ship off blueprint in survival. And the materials are insane lol. But it is going to be a wonderful addition to our fleet. Thanks for making this plan available.
Pay not mind to the ones that criticize your designs for any reason just keep doing what you do and all the rest of us will enjoy your work. Im 100% fan of your work!
This gave me some good ideas. My ships though need to be like 3 times the size to incorporate my player-made missiles. Trying to design a ship around anti-ship missiles the size of SLBM's is not easy.
You're building and thinking process are interesting and it allows to create awesome ships with heavy armor at key places. For me it's hard to start with a complex shape as the base. I usually start with a simple base that looks like a line and try to cram as many components and functioning parts as I can and build armor up around it.
your design method is always very interesting to me because it is so different from how I build. I typically go bow to stern or stern to bow, starting with functional bits like thrusters and conveyor network, wrapping the armor around it.
I really enjoyed watching your process. I generally build from the outside inward, starting with a frame - I think I'm going to redo a few ships I have using your method! I too do not like the landing gear, so I usually build my own like you.. :) Thanks again.
I would love to have a build session in SE with ya, watching your videos always making come back to the game and try again.. Congrats on the whole process
Loved the video @Major John! Can't wait for the next video man! The Development of the X-4000 is Amazing man! Do you plan on having any other Ships to go along with it in Fleet Battles like Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, Light and Heavy Cruisers, Battleships or even Carriers? Also, Have SE themselves seen this on their "Devs Lost in Space" Series on their RU-vid channel? Or Other Space Engineers Content Creators like Stratus Gaming or Captain Jack?
An interesting process. How do you paint the ship afterwards. I can never get at the parts that are at certain corners. Are you using some kind of design editor? or there some kind of options to make space grey?
If it's not visible from either the exterior or interior, it doesn't need paint, and in fact a contrasting color for those can be good to highlight damaged areas. If it's visible from either the exterior or the interior, if it comes down to it, destroy whatever block is preventing you from painting it, then replace the block.
i wonder because you paint all these stages - i find that pretty helpfull - do you use a mod for that or is it just hard work in removing and add the blocks wich you cant sometimes select? - by the way realy beautifull ship :D
For big ships like this I often use the color replacer blocks mod to test out different color patterns steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2110682720
@@MajorJon Thank you so much :-). Unfortunatly im not so talented in building hole ships my self - some parts works pritty good other like the hull, im struggle a lot - but you videos are realy helpfull to learn and also give some inspiration. But maybe sooner or later i hope i get it how to build propper ships.
@@Alexander.K250 Im with you Alexander K. im also not very good at building. I usually find a ship i like on the workshop and alter it to what i want or need. My best build talent is small grid rovers and mining ships.
You inspired me to buy this game And try and build ships This shit is one the sexiest ships I've seen Keep it big bro I hope to see this other variants too🙏🔥
Redesigning Xoc's Xebon Cruiser as part of the competition. For very large ships, it seems that designing the hull seems to make the most sense first. Honestly, this one is so big that I have no worries about where things are. It's like building a city inside of a stadium.
Love it that you are implementing all your knowledge.. And I am one of those that studied your old design and stole lots of ideas BUT the game have disappointed me so horribly that I gave up SE after 7000h in favor of games like a Avorion. You can make stunning stuff in there. Compired to SE is like mini game but I don't need to be robed via dlcs in order to have all the missing blocks that should be in..
I really want to know how you replaced so much light armour with heavy armour, was it manually or do you have some kind of mod that let you delete chunks of light armour only so you could replace it.
My biggest ship yet, is the Arclight, a leviathan class Heavy Battlecruiser, 51k blocks more PCU then the written out number of pi, and can basically do everything except land on a planet
Major Jon, hello, im have som questions. First, how you change from light to heavy armor? Second, how you colour your ships? you doing that 2 things by hand or use something?
do you fallow any guides for specifying your ship type and what that type of ship needs? and how do u decide the light and heavy armor placement? im having quite some trouble with that
Check GetBrock’d on RU-vid. He has a playlist dedicated to ship types and usage, specifically geared to be used in his survival PvP server. That’s not to say you have to join it, far from it, but he provides ship classes, types, and usage, with numbers, no vague “battleships are big, destroyers are small, blah blah etc” with him.
I’m new to the game and many players talk about “clank” and how big complex ships seems to bug the physics and destroy the ship. Do you deal with this on your ships? How do you build them stable?
clang is primarily a problem with vessels that have a lot of moving parts - pistons, rotos, stuff like that. a single, solid ship without any of those should not run into any issues with our god, clang
Can you compile a mod that has all of these compiled into one dlc? It be cool to work on the ship from different points to see what others can give. :)
