FAQs

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Revision as of 00:24, 10 November 2014 by Ketura (talk | contribs) (Added note about constructing on moving ships.)
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A list of Frequently Asked Questions that new players commonly have about the game.

Tools and Equipment

How do I equip tools on my character?

Hit 'G' to pull up the Toolbar Config screen. From there go to the "Character Tools" section on the left-hand side, and then click-and-drag one of the four tools (Hand Drill, Grinder, Welder, or Rifle) to your toolbar.

See also Toolbar, Toolbar Config.

How do I equip weapons/tools on my ship?

Hit 'G' to pull up the Toolbar Config screen. There are three different ways to use weapons and tools on ships, depending on how much control you want over which modules are firing. See the table below for which configuration you'd like to use. Note that any or all of these can be mixed and matched as desired in your Toolbar.

Desired Configuration Tab to Use
All modules of a particular type (e.g. all Grinders or all Gatling Guns) Weapons and Tools
All modules of a particular Block Group Groups
A single particular block All Blocks

Once you've opened the section you want, just click-and-drag your desired block/group/type to the Toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

See also Toolbar, Toolbar Config, Block Group.

How do I use tools/blocks on my Toolbar?

Any item on the toolbar can be selected using the number key corresponding to the slot, e.g. hit '1' for the item in the first slot, '2' for the item in the second, etc. If you are selecting a block, use the left mouse button to place it (and the right mouse button to remove, if in Creative Mode). If you have selected a tool, hold the left mouse button to activate it (and use the right mouse button for alt fire, such as on the Drill).

See also Toolbar.

Mining

Where are all the asteroids?

This is a tricky question that really depends on the map or server you are using. With many servers, there will be Sectors on your overview that point out where asteroids are, usually named Sector A or Sector 1 and so forth. These will be the places to look first for asteroids. If all else fails, ask in Chat!

If on your own single-player map, you will need to check to make sure that asteroids were generated when you created the map. After that, it's simply a matter of flying around until you find one. It may be advised to change your Skybox to something less confusing to aid in asteroid hunting, as the default skybox has hundreds of fake asteroids in the "distance".

Which of all these ores do I actually need?

Uranium is the lifeblood of any build, as nothing will work without power. Iron is a close second in importance (as just about anything requires it to fortify the structure), but you will need significantly more of it. The remaining materials all have their particular use:

Gravel is used for Reactor Components but is otherwise pointless, to the point that it's usually either disposed of or used as the weight for kinetic warheads. Certain concrete Mods fix this waste.

See Raw Materials for a complete table of the use of all materials.

Construction

How do I place blocks?

The answer to this is going to vary depending on whether you are in Creative Mode or Survival Mode.

In Creative, simply select the block you wish to build from your Toolbar and left-click to place it. Once placed, the block is fully built and ready to use. If you want to delete a block without grinding it down, right-click the block. Multiple blocks can be placed by shift-clicking to make a long row, or ctrl+shift clicking to place a plane of blocks.

In Survival, the process is more complicated. The TL;DR is:

See Building for more in-depth instructions.

Help! The ship I've been building is floating away!

First, don't panic. A bad situation like this can only be made worse by bumping into your floating ship even harder, pushing it further and further away. If you are building a small ship, try bumping it at speed with your jetpack in the opposite direction. A lot of rotational speed can be countered this way, giving you time for a more permanent solution. If you don't feel skilled enough to hit it just right, then move on to the advice below.

To stabilize a ship in space, you need three things:

The gyro and the power source should be placed first, as the gyro will help stabilize a little bit just by itself. Make sure the open "face" of the reactor is visible so you can access it. Don't forget to put fuel in the reactor, or the gyro won't do anything! You may find it easier to construct on a spinning/moving ship if you turn your Inertial Dampeners off.

Once the gryo has been placed and powered, start putting on thrusters (a series of Small Thruster will do, regardless of size of the ship). You will need one pointing in each direction, for a total of six: one up, one down, one left, one right, one forward, one back. You will want to place thrusters in the opposite direction of the spin/travel first; if your ship is flying away from your station, place the forward-facing thruster first to slow it down in that direction.

Once all six thrusters with a powered gyro are in place, the ship will not move of its own accord any longer. With this in mind, these components should be among the first that you place on your ship, even if you will be moving their position later. As an alternative preventative measure, make sure your ship is anchored to a Station via the mandatory Landing Gear to ensure it does not move at all during construction.

Conveyors

Why won't my items move automatically between inventories?

For blocks to automatically transfer items between themselves, they need three things:

  • A conveyor network (usually composed of Conveyor Tubes) connecting all the blocks in question
  • A Conveyor Block somewhere in the network
  • Power

If you have all these things, blocks will automatically communicate with one another, requesting input and transferring output. Note that blocks right next to each other are only connected if their yellow conveyor doors line up perfectly. This can be problematic, especially with the Refinery being so hard to place if it's not the first part of your build.

See Conveyor Network for more information.

Why do only some items transfer through Small Conveyors?

Small Conveyors, like the name implies, are used for small ships only, and their reduced size only permits small items--that is, items which have all dimensions smaller than 25 cm (0.25 m). Any dimension larger than this will result in the item not being able to pass through a small conveyor block or tube, and will require a large conveyor tube to fit.

Thus, only the following items will fit through the small conveyor network:

Note that this makes small conveyors only useful for mining ships and ships utilizing the conveyors for Gatling Gun ammo dispensing. All other uses of conveyors (including arming Reloadable Rocket Launcher) will require a large conveyor tube.

See Conveyor Network for more information.

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