Antenna, Laser Antenna and Beacons - Space Engineers Tutorial

[@pauln07]

It would be cool to do a series where voice/text like discord only works over ingame antenna connections. Especially in a multiplayer military situation where relay stations could become vulnerable but important assets for both sides.

[@danielhomant2832]

I've been on a hardcore survival server like that, and I enjoyed greatly setting up signal relays and conducting remote operations. In practical application though, it is more limiting than useful. It needs a healthy player count that is varies and active to make it enjoyable. The other limit is range and PCU. It needs quite a few relay satellites just to go from earth to moon, which makes trying to connect any other planet into the network effectively impossible. To make that work it would need a new mod block that has extremely long ranges. With extremely long range comms, then it works fine even with a smaller player count. Again, as a survival player base rather than just combat oriented one. Edit. Laser antennas have infinite range? Well, that's new and actually makes things viable, heh.

[@seannemo8076]

@@danielhomant2832 As to your edit: Possible, yes. But given the quadratic increase in power consumption, you'll probably need a _lot_ of power to relay between planets. Of course, that gives me a long-term goal in my present game... Maybe I'll actually set foot on something other than the earth-like and the moon!

[@danielhomant2832]

@@seannemo8076 A relay setup could reach other planets, just have to place them before the power demand spikes. But then it runs into PCU limits again. Either way, for it to be practical, mods of some kind are needed.

[@teloak5545]

Regular antennae will work as such using the in game voice function over the max range of the nearby antennae. So a relay network would be required for planet to planet connections... yikes the PCU count and power demands on that setup.

[@pauln07]

@@seannemo8076 I recon the power shouldn't increase when travelling outside of atmosphere. It makes some sense to do it like that

[@saxmo8024]

Some advanced gps tips and tricks: if you loose a grid, and don't have an antenna, beacon, laser antenna set up or a gps marker, you can still get the gps of the grid. Build a contract block, and set up a search contract with all values being blank except the grid name (hopefully you know which grid name your wanting to find. Then accept the contract. It will give you the GPS of that missing grid. Also, you can use the contracts block to set up a GPS that follows your grid: place the contracts block on the grid you want tracked, set up a hauling contract with all values blank except the destination to b the same contract block grid. Then accept the contract and leave the box it gives you somewhere safe. Tada, a gps location you can copy and paste from the gps tab, that stays on your ship no matter where your ship is. And only you can see it.

[@Splitsie]

Dang, those are some clever uses of the contract blocks :)

[@simboulisxbox7939]

A search contract can do the same with it’s radius turned all the way down, as long as you own the grid

[@saxmo8024]

The search contract one is also weaponisable. That is how people make a "tracking device". say you visit a player's ship when they are outside a safe zone and maybe... Offline. All you need is a small grid battery and a magnetic plate. The mag plate attaches the battery to the target grid and tada: you have a grid that follows the targets grid. Then you create a search contract at your home base for that block you left on that grid. It is powered because of the battery, and the search contract gives you their effective GPS. plus it doesn't show up in their info menue because it's not a part of the grid. Also, armor blocks don't show up on a grids inf tab. So you could literally grind off an armor blocks, place the tracker, and place an armor block back in place. And of course repaint it to match the targets color pattern. The target player would not know it's there unless they checked their armor for ownership.

[@saxmo8024]

@@Splitsie as if you didn't know some of these tricks. Lol

[@chakatfirepaw]

Another niche use case for a beacon is if you are playing with a hostile spawn mod that has something like the Hacker Drone from Corruption. Using a beacon rather than an antenna avoids things like it chatting "WHEEEEEEEE! at you as it sets all your gyros to random overrides.

[@nzdobbs]

Thanks Splitsie! Your tutorials are how I found your channel all those years ago, and even now I am still learning from you.

[@OneOfThePauls]

Same - been watching Splitsie "do stuff in Space Engineers" since 2016 and have learned so much that I probably wouldn't have figured out on my own

[@elindis]

Idea for a playthrough goal: you have to set up a satellite system that connects every planet, and then control a grid on the other side of the system. Could be fun, definitely difficult.

[@christopherambrose7605]

Ironically I watched the old tutorial on this earlier this week! Enjoyed both versions, thanks Splitsie!

[@Splitsie]

Not ideal timing but glad you liked the new one :)

[@KrimsonStorm]

Great video. I used to use Lazer antenna on a MP server so my clan could build bases in certain areas and not broadcast our loot. One thing that we did was at the end of the linear scale for power, we created relay satellites with two lazer antenna and a crapload of solar panels. Thankfully nobody stumbled into the sats. Looking back, one thing you could do is make some explosive prox mines that detonate and kill the lazer antenna if an enemy gets to close, that way they cant find your base by looking at the settings

[@jmatya]

Love splitsie tutorials! Great editing, good length and details, good visualization, good music. Can't wait to explore the endless possibilities of the upcoming Grid AI with you, hope you're planning on going tutorial mode on those

[@Splitsie]

100% been learning all I can do I can get the tutorials out soon after release 🙂

[@mugsy8]

@@Splitsie oh man i hope there is input power % for solar panels so we can turn hinges and rotors on and off. i hate the complications of building gyros on disconnected sub grids in order to do it without a script.

[@SofieBrink]

Yay, a new tutorial. I don’t expect to need it. But its content!🎉

[@teloak5545]

Awe YEAH!!! Look at Steve standing tall and being helpful!! I have tried to use laser antennae in the past, but they always struggled to attain connections. So this demonstration shed some light on what I was probably doing wrong.

[@standstrong]

So happy you're back making these!! Literally the only reason I can function in this game is due to you're old tutorials! Keep it up man!

[@Splitsie]

Thanks, currently working on a design tips video, hopefully get it out in the next week or so :)

[@DemTacs]

With this tutorial, I now want to see a satellite+drone control series. Anything outside of base, you can't do manually or explore only via drone, because you'll die otherwise.

[@Splitsie]

Depending on what comes with the grid AI stuff that Keen's been teasing that could well be on the cards :)

[@violent_shadow]

YES. i would love to watch that series !

[@Chronostra]

Stranded alone on a space station with only broken suits and tools? Yes please!

[@saschadaniels6879]

How do I switch on/off my suits antenna on xbox? Does anybody know? Cannot find it on the keys layout in game.

[@sverhrazum4935]

Yeah, sounds exciting with proper implementation and a plot with tasks. I hope Splitsie will seriously think about making such series

[@jakemiles2500]

I would love to see a remake of all your tutorials, just because so much has changed in space engineers since you made the first tutorials. Love your content Splitsie :)

[@imperialspacemarine1539]

another usecase of the laser antenna: If for some reason (for example a kind of chalange were hud elements like gps are turned of) you cant use gps, Just connect to laser antennas together. theyll become a compass between vehicle and base as the the mobile antenna keeps looking in the direction of the base antenna (as seen in the vid)

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

Welcome back Splitsie! Looking forward to whatever you're cooking up.

[@trindleshadowmane2495]

Thanks for the upload! You mentioning using a beacon as a notification kind of makes me wonder if we're going to be able to use the new Logic Block to set up some kind of alarm system to go off when detecting an antenna or beacon signal. I like to set up little bases on ore nodes to auto drill while I have drones going back and forth so I'm hoping to be able to rig up a control room with status lights for each of the bases to tell me when the drilling has completed or the cargo containers have filled.

[@Splitsie]

I was thinking the exact same thing 🙂

[@mailleweaver]

Yeah, let your base tell you when something needs attention instead of your HUD. HUD markers all over the place can be distracting. And even if you don't mind the visual clutter, you're less likely to notice a new signal if you have a lot of them. A way for grids to recognize signals would make up for that.

[@aelien27]

Like now, watch later

[@mikep2504]

I primarily use laser antennae to connect bases in a hidden manner to avoid reavers. I also like to create a laser antenna connection to a cheap base with a regular antenna with a large radius so i can control drones in my area, and if reavers come, they go for my cheap base far away from my important stuff.

[@Splitsie]

That's a very smart approach for dealing with the challenges of reavers :)

[@arismilonas]

Finally a new SE video! It's great to see that you revisit the old tutorials didn't know that we can have relays! Time to build some satellites! I would love to see some 'tips and tricks videos' of things you have learned over the years or maybe some new cleaver ways of using existing blocks in order to build cool stuff.

[@Splitsie]

I've been mulling over a few formats to do some of those sorts of things in, if you see any shorts they may well be me testing that out as an approach for it :)

[@BannorPhil]

This was very interesting - and explained things not covered in the earlier tutorials. Thanks!

[@matthewgillies7509]

It should be noted that Safe Zones create line of sight problems for the laser antennas, and this disruption has a massive range. Simply put, a laser antenna on a ship can connect to another laser antenna of a base, within the safe zone, but outside of it the safe zone blocks it. Simply extending the base antenna outside the safe zone with a piston, or having it otherwise peek outside the safe zone is not enough. It needs to be hundreds of metres away from the field, beyond the maximum operational range of that safe zone. The reasons for this aren't clear to me, but this is a continuing problem on public servers, and possibly in private games as well.

[@Splitsie]

Oh that's good to know, I've done so little with safe zones after discovering that all the things I want to do cause the game to crash 🤣

[@matthewgillies7509]

@@Splitsie the server play keeps me on my toes, to be sure. This is because I operate several large public outposts, and I seem to have started a trend, as right now there are no fewer than five public trading stations run by other players on Keen server CA#2. They vary from space stations with funny gravity, to hollowed out asteroids, to Moon cities.

[@AODsan]

Thank you Splitsie, for this easy to understand tutorial. Learned something new today!

[@marinaramonk8641]

I once used these to send a little drone mini factory equipped with a projector alongside a pair of utility drones to completely mine-process-and build and entire base on a planet I never set foot on. Another note for those that might not know, laser antennas do not work to go through an atmosphere, they work inside it just not from space and back (at least on Xbox unless something has changed since then)

[@tinchopf]

I remember when you created the relay towers in survival impossible to connect to the asteroid iron catapult mining base. You mentioned something about the laser antennas at the moment

[@Splitsie]

Yeah, unfortunately for si the components required meant that laser antennas weren't an option for me - because the superconductor components required gold

[@patrickmichel9604]

i really appreciate your calm and easy to understand toturials. cheers

[@barrylopes]

I started playing Space Engineers after watching Splitsie's videos, your earlier tutorials were very useful and I have copied many designs in terms of welder and drill ships. 😅

[@Gottaculat]

Something that might not have been clear in the video is that laser antennas can establish links to bases at extreme range (like between planets), but if you add a regular antenna to the remote base, the laser antenna at the remote base on the same grid as the remote antenna will let you link to other antennas within range of the remote base antenna. Okay, that's still confusing... 1. Build laser antenna on home base. 2. Build laser antenna at outpost. 3. Build regular antenna at outpost on same grid. 3.a. Regular antenna at outpost can communicate with other regular antennas in range of outpost. 4. Establish link between home base laser antenna and outpost laser antenna. 4.a. Home base can now access/control any grids in the outpost's regular antenna network. 4.a. Make sure outpost has a remote control block. This will act like a cockpit, as if you were actually there (lets you use toolbar rather than just control panel). 5. Make sure regular antennas on static and mobile grids near outpost are also broadcasting far enough to reach outpost regular antenna. 5.a. Make sure grids in range of outpost regular antenna have remote control block if you want cockpit controls on grids in range of outpost. 5.b. Make sure grids in range of outpost regular antenna are transmitting their regular antennas far enough to reach the outpost. If, say, a drone is broadcasting 500m, and a regular antenna is broadcasting 5 Km, you can access the drone terminal out to 5 Km, but you can only remote control the drone within 500m, because the drone must be able to transmit back to the outpost to be remote controlled. Since the outpost's regular antenna is on the same grid as the laser antenna, establishing a link with the outpost laser antenna via home base laser antenna is effectively acting as if you're in a control seat at the outpost, despite being hundreds or even thousands of Km apart. I know, this can still seem a bit confusing, but once it clicks in your head, it makes a ton of sense. As long as all grids in the network can both send and receive signals to at least one other grid in the chain of signals (the network), they can be controlled if equipped with a remote control, and of course, have adequate power.

[@niclasbjerregaardmadsen1751]

I have played space engineers for many years now, and never knew that antennas worked as relays, and neither did i know how laser antennas work Great tutorial, keep up the great work. I've been tagging along since Survival Maybe

[@erizamanu6122]

More splitsie knowledge!

[@Isai1a]

I got 800+ hours on SE and still don't know how laser antenna's work. Now I do, THX!

[@violent_shadow]

you said @7:15 it could be handy if something happend then this happens. then if the inventory is full turn on a beacon.... then do this i love to see a tutorial about this. Also, would be nice if you could update the Info LCD Mod tutorial i find this mod intresting and quite fun but very difficult to use, how to show damaged blocks in a display, inventory level ( full - empty ) the main page on steam is 5 + years out of date i love to use this with welder ships, to display what i have in my inventory, so i know if i am out of plates. Lastly i have been watching your Assertive Acquisitions series. and i have learned something so important and fun - you used the command Special Hidden on a cargo container. That is so, SOO useful and i am using it constantly now, auto refill attack ships, auto fill welder ships........ Thank you so much for this one. i find this so useful, might be worth it to make a short tutorial about it? ( + isy's inventory manager )

[@christiankomodo]

I love the physical examples. Great video!

[@Dragonorder18]

I actually didn't know the Suit could be used as a Relay too. That's so interesting!

[@riseofphoenix4639]

This was really helpful, thank you

[@Splitsie]

Glad it was helpful :)

[@anthonyohara2599]

I was just having troubles with laser antenna two days ago, well timed!!! 3k hours on SE and I never tried them

[@aviatorengineer3491]

It took me a long while to figure out the laser antenna. It's my favorite solution for public servers now, though, because I'm super paranoid about privacy. I didn't know that the player's suit antenna actually works as a relay! That's quite cool.

[@ivanheffner2587]

Nice tutorial on “frickin’ lasers”, Splitsie. You know what you need to revisit: Parachutes. I mean, it’s not exactly going to redeem your reputation from Engineer Core, but you can at least put the record straight.

[@theepicslayer7sss101]

Laser antennas are great for secret bases, you can remote to things but not output a visible signal. (also a stealth ship just floating about far from people but still connected.)

[@invictus127]

I learned a lot of this stuff on my own from dealing with Reavers and trying to have separate bases in communication with each other. Very glad to know that laser antenna actually will reconnect with a mobile grid if the mobile grid breaks connection and then re-aligns though. I was afraid to try and use it with a mobile command ship for fear that I might break connection and just be locked out of communication with my base(s)

[@chriskelso723]

That antenna relay is something I've been wondering about. I've just never taken the time or had the to learn it. But now that you have done the heavy lifting for me, I may have to force a use for it. In the name of science, of course. Lol Edit: Thank you very much for the informative video. :D

[@Splitsie]

lol You're welcome Chris :)

[@mandyspence1599]

That was a lovely little tutorial, thank you, please keep these coming! You did a tutorial set about not making brick-ships, could you do another using some of the newer blocks and maybe something about making good looking bases/stations as well, because I always struggle with making something look nice and useful and not a brick! Also could you do a weapons tutorial, both block and character weapons, sometimes its hard to know which ones work best for certain tasks.

[@horman1973]

Another great tutorial by splitsie! Love it! Just an idea for another tutorial - I read about the possibility of building a sun tracking solar farm by using the custom turret control. I hope you enjoyed you days off and have gained your strengh back again! Great to have you back!

[@execute214]

I never knew this kind of programming existed in the game. Great video!

[@peterolssen9537]

this was very useful as always. just started playing with a friend and we both went through all you tutorials along the way as we played. Now I understand why sometimes gps works and sometimes it doesnt😅

[@Splitsie]

Glad it helped :)

[@Eisen_Jaeger]

I had not realized laser antenna would attempt to reconnect while moving. Steve is looking a bit Scavvy, keep an eye on him.

[@Splitsie]

He's sneaky fella

[@cobaltblue1975]

Thank you for that. This demystified antennas in a very easy to understand way. I was actually toying with the idea of an interplanetary communication network. This basically made how to build it very clear. Now that I have this understanding, one thing I have my fingers crossed for is the new event controller blocks having antenna connections as an event. With "antenna connected" and "antenna disconnected" events the things that could be done remotely would be interesting to say the least.

[@Splitsie]

Glad to help :)

[@armastat]

Great tutorial. Love that you do this for people

[@Toanasatre]

Hi Splitsie. One thing you forgot to mention regarding the Laser Antenna is that it's also only visible for you and your faction, if you set one up / are in one and set the antenna to share.

[@redsmallhat]

A renewable energy renewed tutorial in honor of Capac! (This can talk about variation of power of wind turbines on weather and so do solar, comparing space and how to setup a rotation simple math for them to work nicely if not even a remote control setup?)

[@JG-hi6by]

Dang Man I’ve been trying to figure out how to use this thing for a long time. Thank you so much.! (the laser antenna)

[@Conqueror933]

yay a splitsie tutorial! about something I already know! Gonna watch in excitement anyway! :D

[@metazare]

Laser antenna are also good if you are using remote drones on an unfriendly multiplayer server to get tasks done. You won't be broadcasting your presence to anyone nearby. You just need to be mindful to not maneuver in a way that you'd break the connection.

[@askjeroen]

Thnx for the tutorial. One question, if you play with Reavers or any other enemy. Does the laser antenna 'attract' the same way as an beacon or normal antenna do?

[@Splitsie]

Nope, the laser antenna is safe to use 🙂

[@DC2022]

since it's a focused beam, there is no broadcast so no issue with those pesky reavers and their fracking habit to ram your dear ships and bases (and you as well 🤕 )

[@stevenscott2136]

Wow, you're still doing these! I was watching your 5-year-old ones yesterday. I just got this game, and now I'm thinking "Uh oh, the tutorials alone take FIVE YEARS!" 😲

[@Splitsie]

Lol 😂 This is an update to one of the old tutorials that had become a bit outdated (the starter survival ones are still good), but even after all this time there are still some topics I'd like to cover that I haven't yet 🙂

[@Jenachy]

One thing laser antennae are very useful for is long-distance relay functions, as the laser antenna does not broadcast a marker of its own. As such, you can make smaller bubbles (say 5km) of radio signal with the regular antennae for controlling rovers, managing outposts etc., but do so from say 100km without publicly broadcasting in a 100km radius.

[@Splitsie]

Yup :)

[@samuraidriver4x4]

I have tried setting up relay networks a couple of times with the laser antenna but couldn't figure it out. This tutorial really helps with that might do another attempted at visiting every planet with remote access only in the near future.

[@EikeSky]

I know you've covered it before, but a deep dive into the turret controller: what's the minimum you need, what's the most insane you get get (not just by guns, but most complex mechanism using a turret controller).

[@DariusT32]

These tutorials are excellent. Keep making them!

[@chacelow2438]

Wasnt mentioned in the video but another great thing about Laser Antennas is they don't show up for other players /grids. So you can use them for more "covert" operations.

[@otisgk]

Thanks Splitsie, very educational as usual.

[@Voltikz95]

Yet another really informative video, but I have two questions 1. When you was showing the lasers and you lose connection, what was keeping you connected at that point? 2. Could you, there be a way to keep a bunch of little relay stations either in space or on the ground so you could keep constant connection? Similar to how we have satellites in orbit irl?

[@Splitsie]

If you wanted to use laser antennas for a constellation like that you'd need a dedicated pair for every single link. It should be possible but it would be prohibitively complex I would think. Nothin was maintaining connection at the time I disconnected, the antennas(e?) were looking at each other trying to re-establish connection. Once it was possible they reconnected. I was driving the vehicle directly as I found that perspective gave a much clearer view of the obstructions than attempting to control it remotely

[@Voltikz95]

@Splitsie ohh right, that makes sense. I thought you were still sitting on the base, lol. Thanks for the reply 😊

[@ZorgKirill]

Thanks for interesting video. Playing SE since 2013, never used laser antennas, i can't imagine a good use for them on multiplayer servers. In my opinion they can only make harm, when a hostile player finds one of bases and will see the direction of this antenna, to go to find another base there.

[@WarGiver]

I have done a couple play through where I setup an antenna highway between default solar system earth and Mars. My God is it messy on the Hud.

[@Splitsie]

lol So true :D

[@WarGiver]

@@Splitsie I keep asking for a way to control the Antenna signals on the HUD so we can filter them (Almost like GPS) but people just keep saying to use Laser Antennas, not going to give the same functionality. Personally I wish we had the ability to set an antenna be set to a certain "Frequency" and we would have controls on the hud to toggle friendly frequencies display. But I guess nobody else wants that as it never seems to get attention.

[@maxrander0101]

Splitsie the limit of them is based on what the world can handle in relation to amount of grids in it so my discords one for example is about 200 but it does cause issues when newer things with Antennas are added within the same overlap area or adding to the liked area

[@allbriardup6451]

Brilliant video, thank you! I was using some of them right without knowing lol

[@captain61games49]

That know receives function is so helpful.

[@michaelyoung7261]

I don’t even play space engineers. Why am I here watching the tutorials?!!?

[@Teedeedubbelu]

Yhea professor Splitsie is back! now a question, Splitsie have you seen the game Hardspace: Shipbreaker? i think its a game you could have fun with to do for a few relaxed single player streams.

[@player-0f_gam3s]

Can you make a new beginners tutorial with a beginner base rover and ship in it that would be great!?

[@jeremievigliaturo1317]

Question on the laser ant. can you get a connection to keep with two grids that are moving with out the use of a static grid? for example you and a mate are flying two separate fighters using laser ant to keep track of each other in a covert style. Another way i have thought about this is lets say you are mining, you have some fighter protection. you want to stay covert so others dont wonder into your ant range to ambush you. you also want to keep a small profile so perhaps you have your mates hiding/ scouting adjacent asteroids. In this way you can have a HUD reference to your allies with out giving up your location bubble.

[@MountainDewBots]

Question regarding the laser radars, does the power consumption apply to both parties? Like if the base is attempting connecting with a satellite 4km away in orbit, because the base is the one that established connection would it take the brunt of the power consumption? or do both the base and the satellite have to provide equal amounts of energy? I assume the latter but it doesn't hurt to ask and confirm. I bring this up because I am having difficulties getting two laser radars to connect in a MP server. The base is on a moon surface, protected by the Defense Shield mod, 8km away from the nearest safe zone, attempting to connect to a satellite that is floating 4km in orbit. They both have clear line of sight with no visible obstructions but both continuously state they are searching for each other at target GPS coordinates. I have tried moving the bases laser radar outside of the defensive shield, moving it to a ship owned and built by me so both the satellite and the base radar is owned by me and still no progress. Since the satellite is basically a battery with some solar panels, radars, cameras, gyros, antenna, could the power draw from attempting to connect at 4km away be causing the satellite radar to basically be stuck in a limbo as its unable to draw enough power to establish a connection?

[@vaevictis6990]

Thank you! Learned so much about SE from you. I do have a question though; why or how is it that in space, when I try to set up relays, I lose contact outside 12 km or so? And yes, I've ensured all have power, have ownership, and have range. Haven't seen any answers of redit or anywhere that aren't "have you turned them on ?" Yes I have. Is it an SE glitch?

[@LeeSpork]

One thing that wasn't really mentioned is that if an antenna has broadcasting turned off, it consumes a lot less power, but can still receive signals. This is most useful with programmable blocks, as programmable blocks can send and receive signals through antenna networks.

[@Rodvard]

Thank you so much for clearly explaining this!!

[@FunkyBaconArts]

Creating a long line of short range antennas to connect two distant bases without making a huge sensor bubble for everyone to see unless they move close to the line of signals. Or using laser antennas ofc.

[@JescoLincke]

Nice visual demonstration of what you need to know about data/remote connections! Any experience on how reliable the reconnect is with the laser antenna if you've been moving around a bit while disconnected? Do they still track each other (well, the mobile one sure does as its target is stationary)? Especially in a scenario with a long range drone where you'd need two laser antennae to cover both hemispheres, how does the handover work - do two laser antennae on the same grid communicate with each other regarding the position of their counterparts?

[@mailleweaver]

You can see in the video that the station antenna stopped moving when there were obstructions, but once it was possible to re-establish connection it whipped around to face the rover. It seems like there is a bit of magic behind the curtain to help them track each other's positions even when the connection is not active. I do wonder if two mobile antennae could do the same, though, since only the stationary antenna stopped tracking. Was the mobile antenna able to continue tracking because the target was stationary or because of the magic? Even though I've played this game for years, I've never done anything with laser antennae.

[@halfcirclehranch6877]

As far as how far you can go with linking one antenna to the next, I once set up a grid of communication satellites that enabled communication between Earth, the moon, Mars, and Europa, as well as my asteroid base between Earth and Mars. So yeah, there's pretty much no limit but what your system can handle.

[@KevinNguyen1]

So I tried putting laser antennas from a planet to a station 1,500 km away, but I encountered two issues. First, I encountered an issue where the laser antenna would not connect if they were over 500km away. I am going to assume this is a bug as there were no asteroids blocking the laser and the terminal UI suggests that there is no hard limit. I had to make relay stations 500km apart. Second, I encountered another issue where I had to be like 1km above the surface of the Earthlike planet in order to connect to a relay station in space.

[@MannyXVIII]

I just realized, laser connections would make the most sense between relay stations And you control your remotes through antennas from there. Yeah, they may find your relay station and take it out, but that wouldn't give them your precise location. An observant foe, might still deduce the vector from the laser antenna though.

[@GhostOfSnuffles]

Laser antennas have been a little bugged in survival. I found the best way to get them to work properly is to get the GPS coordinates for the stationary and paste it to the laser antenna of the grid you intend to move (i.e. your ship/rover), if you attempt to paste the coordinates of both into one another or the moving grid into the static one it tends to freeze and stay stuck in the "searching" setting. You can sometimes get it to work by saving then reloading your game but it's still kind annoying when it should work but it doesn't.

[@Dinkleberg96]

Thanks Splitsie! On my own save im playing only with remote controlled rovers controlled by laser antenas and beacons (normal antenas set to 10m-20m max only to relay the signal between laser antenas), no base GPS coords. Witch forces me to build sattelites and huge towers, planning in advance on how to launch those sattelites only with cameras and be careful to not screw up (and lose signal or power) else ill lose its location rip sattelite. That idea came from one of ur tutorials. Maybe just mayyyybe this could inspire you with some cool ideas for S.I.

[@SolearGnG]

Thanks, it's interesting to listen through all this , antennas were always a question mark for me. Some notes though - It's probably just server setting, but beacons can absolutely have a play on bases too. Server cleanup is solved on the server I am so any "static grid" name or anything without an beacon or antenna is deleted every 2 hours. You don't need it to find your base, you need it so the system cleanup won't delete it. -is the suit antenna used only to communicate or also to find your body? or the body signal is separate from the suit antenna state?

[@Splitsie]

That's 100% a custom (modded) server setting and the death marker is more like a unique temporary GPS and is separate to broadcasting - it's more like an unknown signal

[@TheMegamaster44]

Unknown signals and respawn pods generate a special gps signal attached to their grid and assigned to their specific player

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

Cool stuff! Some day I will try playing the game, eventually.

[@BNETT21]

Laser antenna RC only run where you have to launch a rocket into space to establish satellites for proper ground coverage. It would be your very own satcom system that actually has a function.

[@astronomicalgamer205]

i have never used laser Antenna. let's find out if i have been missing something

[@duncananderson1434]

Your next tutorial should be on power systems. Pros and cons, when one is better than the other [ie no wind in space (no duh) but why solar might be better than hydrogen power.] , on say a mining ship which is better running on batteries or using hydrogen? , etc. Which then can lead into programs and scripts that either are always use (solar tracking if you have a solar farm), inventory manager, power toggling hydrogen engines based on battery charge, etc

[@trolly4233]

Imagine a series or server called “Vassals” that is basically centered around doing everything with drones. You can only have 1 player-present ship, every other ship you have must be a drone or remote controlled. Only exception is when you are building new ships/drones

[@Dth091]

Laser antennas could be good for connecting your outposts and turret platforms up to the main base without a broadcast alerting anything too.. assertive, perhaps? :P Great video as usual, nice rover too.

[@AndrewTFenn]

Something not mentioned in the video is that a lot of servers use torch with something called a concealment plugin. This plugin freezes grids that are more than 5km away from the player thus making antenna networks completely useless. You should check if antennas are useful on your server before trying to build out a network.

[@Splitsie]

Oh yeah, the concealment plugin breaks all sorts of long distance stuff, from laser antennas to NPCs. It's a pity as it does help performance

[@noaharaldsson703]

More laser antenna tutorials. Yes!

[@marcelscott6358]

Is it just my bad memory or maybe a mod but I thought beacons can also be used to jump drive to, same as GPS location.

[@alexandermuller7142]

one small addition to the use of antenna (relays) for those who want to use remote miners - asteroids do not spawn for those remotes.. sadly they only spawn if you are physically there.

[@CT-1035]

I would love a series where all ground borne craft can only be controlled via laser/antenna, except the starting pod, of corse

[@xorvious]

This convinced me to give laser antenna another try. Does assert notice antennas broadcasting? I would like to see a deep dive into block collision, what you can make a piston or block scrape by and (probably) not klang out.

[@Splitsie]

Assert doesn't react to antenna at all, so you can use them with abandon. For reavers the laser antenna should be safe though 🙂

[@Alimer_1]

Its been such a long time since I used a laser antenna that I didn't know they have infinite range now. I want to use them now :D

[@magnagazoo4863]

Active antenna movement base on signal location would be so immersive. A slight mod of the turret controller would do it I suspect. Hummmmm maybe none... But to seem real it would need to see outside of weapons range by a lot. And also provide a display. (yea I know some mods have tried this). Dish ant plus ant control block plus LCD... equals sensor array.

[@armastat]

One thing you didn't mention is why you may not want an antenna. I think that is a basic mechanic we all should know. Attracting hostile NPCs. I have played 100;s of hours but am not 100% on how it works myself, but my understanding is that your suit antenna will attract NPCs and their fire. Even when hidden, and that they will lose track of you if u turn it off as long as they can no longer see you directly? I assume the same is with antennas? by shutting them off you can stop attracting NPCs from far away? Especially turn off to avoid Player enemies. And finally that the laser antennas do not attract NPCs and their broadcasts cannot be seen by anyone but you are the grids they connect. What I would also like an answer to is - does the relay function work for people outside you faction? or NPCs, especially players. do they also get the relay benefit or can they only see transmitters when they are in their actual broadcast range?

[@thegovernor184]

Enjoyed your SE videos, have you thought about doing any with some Sci Fi shows inspiring it? Such as BSG, where you have to defend a fleet while searching for home or ST Voyager finding your way home while keeping your crew alive. Both of these would have to limit how much you change your base ship.

[@TheMorbose]

hmm, laser scout drones.