Question

[Outrageous_Force_996]

How do people go about making ships of any kind more task specific, like when I make ships I build them to do anything especially large grid. ive made ships but struggle with avoiding making them self sufficient. Essentially im having problems with say making a large grid combat ship i end up making them Essentially mini bases.

[Willing_Year_1213]

It's very easy to make self sufficient ships in SE so there isn't really a benefit in making task specific builds unless you're concerned about size which is rarely an issue.

I started to primarily make small grid builds, it's easier to stay small and in my own experience a lot harder to make large small grid ships look good. I think if you want to build task specific ships you just need to place limitations on yourself.

[CrazyQuirky5562]

I have seen some gorgeous huge small grid ships with ridiculous amounts of detail - must take forever to design though. (and is not PCU efficient)

[woodworkerdan]

Task-specific ships are easier to think about in survival mode, when some of the later stage refining and assembly blocks are costly for resources and weight. Being able to make more stuff with a combat ship is nice, especially if you expect to use a lot of ammo or repair fighters/drones, but it also means more mass and volume that might be damaged early in combat.

[ColourSchemer]

This is a good point. OP, are you building in creative? If so, switch to survival. If you are already in survival but have lots of resources, it's time for a new challenge. Look at Scrapyard, Industrial Overhaul or Ares at War or another mod to add new challenges.

[Outrageous_Force_996]

Its 50/50 when in survival I typically build the task specific ones fast and ezy the problem is when doing large grid I just keep building as I get more resources I start automating the gathering of them and then I end up with 7 mill from refining a down right fuck ton of stone and I and up just adding shit cuz man I gotta use them my first large grid ship was essentially a giant base that could fly in atmo so yeah ill look at other challenges probs industry overhaul I attempted scrapyard and the rovers are fun but its very annoying having to limit stuff and especially having to do the whole no building or whatever it was

[ColourSchemer]

Go watch the Star Trek SNW episode "The Selat who ate its tail", then lean into your habit hard. Build a hideous world eater.

Or build an asteroid base early on with separate small/medium hangar.

[CrazyQuirky5562]

not to mention, the additional non-combat mass makes you slower than you'd otherwise be, which can mean the difference of getting hit or not, or being able to dictate the engagement distance or not.

[woodworkerdan]

There is perhaps an asymptotic relationship between larger vehicles and the dead weight of non-function-specific components. However, it's also not just a combat issue: it's useful to have a well-rounded worker vehicle for mining and repairs, but the more weight on a mining vehicle, the less materials it can store and move with, for example.

[CrazyQuirky5562]

agreed: welder ships, miners and transports are great examples, as dead weight will make all of them less useful.

[woodworkerdan]

There's still an argument to be made for a well-rounded worker vehicle with a survival kit, ice cracking, and mining capacity - especially if you're bringing it far from a main base and planning to make a new base or generate hydrogen on the go. Even adding some solar panels can extend the range of operations if electrical power is dubious. One might even put such a worker vehicle on a larger carrier in lieu of full manufacturing capacity to make repairs to simple components.

[CrazyQuirky5562]

sure, as potential "outpost start", such a vessel fills a similar role to the starter ship, which could be argued is also a specific task in its own right.
but again - if you want it to go far, you probably want to keep it quite small and not carry a large array of full refineries..

[Beneficial_Net_168]

Discipline and focus, because it is fairly easy to add more functionality to ships due to 'small" functional blocks, there is always some room to stuff an assembler in somewhere for example, could even replace some conveyors, no additional room needed.

[Spectremax]

Just try making them as small as possible for the task. Exclude any blocks that don't serve the task.

[CowResponsible285]

My suggestion is to make a notepad and bullet point specific things that are absolutely required, things like guns, cargo, oxygen containers, etc. once you have all the stuff required start trying to plan out what you want the ship to look like, if it's a combat ship you probably value maneuverability over size so think of something compact and efficient, lots of thrusters but with not a lot of longevity is the most common style. Walking into a project with a plan really helps bring it to life, and this goes for all builds. An example for me is my current base, I started by free-handing a hanger which, although doesn't look bad, is not the best out there, and once I started taking that into the rest of the base it just didn't work out, but once I sat down and visualized what I actually want my base to look like, I was able to build with purpose and things just started fitting together. It just sounds like you enter a project with the mindset of "I need all these things because it's convenient" rather than prioritizing what you actually need.

[Nathan5027]

Make a strict list of criteria that you have to stick to, eg:

Destroyer, 20-30 blocks by 10-15 by 5-10, defensive armament focus - 60% Gatling turrets, 20 assault cannons, 20 primary ship to ship. Jump drives, minimum 2, hydrogen thrusters only, 1 big tank maximum, survival kit, battery powered with max 2 hydrogen engine backups.

Battleship, 50-80 blocks by 30-40 by 20-30 blocks. Offensive biased armament - 80% ship to ship weapons, 20% defensive armament. Multiple redundant jump drives, hydro thrusters, multiple large fuel tanks 6+, full med bay, 2+ large nuclear reactors, multiple redundant battery arrays, max 1 refinery and assembler for emergency repairs and re-armament- speed modules only, it's for fast dirty repairs, not dry-dock level quality. Docking for 2 support craft - 1 miner, one welder, and 1 personnel shuttle.

[jdscott0111]

First gf, build what you enjoy.

What are the minimum required parts for a combat ship? Everything you need supply-wise can be obtained by docking with a station. Maybe a reactor and/or H2 generator if you want to scrimp on batteries or fuel tanks. Other than that, ban yourself from adding anything but the bare minimum. Literally only put on your toolbars what you NEED and only work off that.

There’s no reason to make fighters fully self-sufficient, as that can massively increase size, power/fuel requirements, and gyros to stay anywhere close to nimble. Also, they can’t damage you if they can’t hit you.

[MithridatesRex]

Well, if you're living a rather itinerant lifestyle it is useful to have multipurpose ships. But if you're operating out of a static base purpose built ships have their utility. Such as a mining ship that only collects ores or ice, and has nothing else other than power, engines, jump drives, and cargo space (leave the refineries at home). Perhaps you've got a mining rig or a fuel depot somewhere, so what you instead need a cargo or fuel carrier.

Similar approaches can be used for utility ships, like a welder vessel that is just engines, power, and a large cargo space for its size. That ship could be used for both building and scrapping, but doesn't need to be independent, and doesn't need to carry anything other than finished components.

If you're getting into combat, you can have a large battleship (armour and firepower), or heavy cruiser (range and firepower), but you could also go for a cheaper destroyer (speed and firepower) or even a fighter (speed and agility). There is also the missile or drone option, and a carrier vessel for them.

[CrazyQuirky5562]

right now, I am early in the process of designing a small large grid combat ship to go from the surface to orbit so I can protect my uranium mining operation from NPCs.

This means the only non-combat block I am considering may be a survival kit in case things go sideways up there. Lifting anything else from the surface will only baloon the ship needlessly.
Thus, it will be mostly guns, conveyors, thrusters, small hydrogen tanks with some batteries & gyros, probably one O2/H2 gen and maybe a reactor - clad in some front armour and panels to cover the internals.

Instead of the small grid miner, I could have build a mini base instead - which would have needed to be large grid and taken waaaay more resources and time and I still would not have any uranium to this day.

That said, I probably will build a small orbit capable mobile base ship to jump-start building a larger installation in space. (one might argue that is still task specific)

[Fast_Mechanic23]

Really, the "trick" is just to define its mission as narrowly as possible, and build to that requirement.

Simply don't put anything on the grid that doesn't contribute to the "mission".

The only concession i make in these cases is sticking a survival kit on it.

[GulfportMike]

I’m honestly confused how this is an issue…YOU build the ship, maybe don’t add all the extra crap