Build Durable Rovers: Space Engineers Tutorial, Build, & Test

A comprehensive rover design tutorial, build, and test.
Rover Testing World: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Tutorial Board: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Tutorial Rover: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
3x3 Race Rover: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
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Space Engineers
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:20 Block Tutorial
0:15:55 Designing a Rover
1:06:11Test Drive
1:20:31 Downloads & Outro

[@AnonNopleb]

"I'll be taking this course fairly quickly" *proceeds in witness me speed*

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Haven't heard that saying in so long, gave me a good chuckle.

[@DmytroBogdan]

I don't know why this video doesn't have 10 times more views. It's extremely helpful and super easy to follow. If only you've made a similar video about starter base and different types of ships (mining, repair, transport, combat, capital)

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

They're on the list now. I'm planning to work on more tutorials.

[@Waldherz]

The video doesnt have that many views cuz the majority of the Space Engineers KZbin culture is yelling, screaming, explosions and just looking at ships. And just using overpowered mods.

[@GhostOfSnuffles]

I design my rovers to have an entire block of open space between the bottom of the rover and and critical components, that way no matter how much damage the bottom takes none of it get transferred to anything important. To make up for the slight increase in making it more top heavy i build the bottom out of heavy armor and blast door edges, it makes the bottom virtually indestructible. I'm really bad at driving so i build my rovers to survive taking hits from below and surviving. It's a brute force way of building but it works.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

That's a good idea. Any time you can leave a gap to prevent damage transfer it's usually worth it. If you're enjoying your builds you're doing it right, nothing wrong with that.

[@mikewazowski471]

Dude HOW do you only have 2 thousand subs?! Your content rocks, I've played Space Engineers since it came out and I still learned a ton from your videos, like seriously its a goldmine of info!

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

I'm glad you're enjoying my videos! I haven't made much content, so that probably has something to do with it, but I'm hoping to get more time this coming year.

[@happysnacktime]

​@@ShiftyshadowTVKeep it up man, you make good content. Its engaging to watch your thought process

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

@@happysnacktime Thanks, certainly more to come.

[@TokiSamurai]

Re: the wheel discussion part The max steering angle is related to the max speed so slower rovers can turn faster Also. Whatever angle you are using for your front, if you want to use the back wheel to turn as well, giving it a portion of the front angle and reducing the front angle by the same will give you very smooth steering, and you can still steer if you lose a front wheel Also. For 6+ wheels i like to raise the front and back slightly and make their suspension stronger, so the middle takes some of the force from harder landings before the essential front and back contact. This also greatly helps with climbing rougher terrains

[@liquighost7988]

airshock should be kept off the bouncing often causes the rover to flip over or hit more things if you tune the suspension strength properly then you dont need it and you can always use thrusters or parachutes to make up for big drops

[@zaflowgalactic]

What I learned: Do not let this guy drive my rover.... 😝

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Post a rover on the workshop and I'll drive it all over. ;)

[@TokiSamurai]

This gives me the idea to set up a sensor near the survival kit that turns on the kit whenever no one is nearby. Also the button to turn it off could be a sensor that sits next to a grinder pit so if you jump into the pit it detects you and turns off the survival. The benefit is that it'll collect your components, then when you are gone it'll turn it back on on automatically 🎉

[@user-ul8hj3uq1y]

Generally speaking good advices for novices, though there are some things that I somewhat disagree with. First of all, there are some blocks with special impact resisting properties. Blast doors do have more of it comparing to heavy armour, but suspension blocks, wheels and drills are almost completely indestructible. So in terms of impact protection it is much more effective to use wheels and suspension blocks. Also at high speed impacts a few frontal blocks might glitch through voxels and not get damaged and the game will thing that that's the third or forth layer of blocks that absorbs damage. This is why I like to make a chassis frame out of impact resisting blocks and not put valuable blocks at front. Also heavy armour isn't needed if you use impact resisting blocks at those spots which might get hit if you flip the rover. If you do this properly, then you might lower rover weight, which means higher acceleration and better performance on a rough terrain

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

All good points. It is 100% true; wheel, suspension, and drill blocks are much more effective at damage resistance. I chose not to use those in my rover because I don't particularly like the look of them all over, but I should have included them in the initial tutorial board. That was an oversight. Also, I've never thought about the fast collisions glitching through blocks and causing blocks further inside the rover to take the brunt of the damage. Very good insight.

[@bearsbite95]

This was SO helpful! Thank you very much! All the info I could need about what to add to a rover, as well as an excellent (and easy to follow) build to learn how it all fits together

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Glad it helped, hope you get some nice rovers put together!

[@th232r6]

Been using the DAS script for years, the only way to rover. Makes driving very manageable and even has many cool options.

[@Martingray7875]

I've made survival rovers that you can survive with for weeks at a time

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

I just recently made a small grid rover for long term survival. Will probably be my next showcase video.

[@Martingray7875]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Can't wait to see it

[@bsmuggs]

Thank you for sharing all your knowledge on designing a stable vehicle. You have a very calm voice like watching Mr Rogers of rover building lol

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Hahahahaha, thanks!

[@MorbinNecrim86]

This vid is great, good tips for rover building and explaining fixing issuesvi always have with my rovers, plus testing in a really cool circuit.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Glad you found it helpful. If you ever want to drive around the track I posted the world on the workshop (link is in the description).

[@FatMiddleAgedMan]

My man, this is an incredible video - very well put together, great information and super easy to follow! Excellent work, keep it up! :)

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Thanks a ton, I'm glad you enjoyed it and happy to help others out. The whole tutorial world was many hours in the making but it's been worth every second. I highly recommend loading it up and having a go at the track yourself. I've already had many hours of entertainment there myself.

[@johnfink9020]

Can also invert the atmos on the rover and when youre hauling ass across the plains and hit a questionable hill, just turn those bad boys on and hit your ascend button and viola! Insta-stick to terrain.

[@Steve00036]

Awesome Rover Tutorial video, I really enjoyed it

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed and hope it helps. :D

[@dhruel]

Any moon is a good argument for hovering rovers. Hit a hill and then you're off into the air. A gentle hovering fall will very much prevent your rover from bottoming out and exploding upon landing. Or you can abuse thrusters as speed/jump boosters. Even boosters can help with gentle landings, if you aim them right when combined with a gyroscope.

[@orioncob5640]

I have a 5x5x15 that hasn’t broken a block because it’s taller due to the wheels! Thanks!

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Nice! Those are good dimensions.

[@sergiosperspective]

Slightly late... but your rover's inertial dampners do not take into account the weight of your wheels as theyre subgrids. Thats why your rover wasnt hovering. Notice it wasnt falling, but sinking slowly, thats because the inertial dampners were trying to keep it still with just enough force to hold your rover body still, but the wheels just add that bit of extra weight to pull you down. Great vid though, very helpful.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

You are correct, that is what's happening. Cutting and pasting the grid, or restarting the world/server sometimes fixes it for wheels. Other types of subgrids seem to always cause problems.

[@sergiosperspective]

@@ShiftyshadowTV I didnt know there was a fix for wheels... Will give it a try next time, subgrids are the bane of my existence, playing on console

[@conuk35]

First time to your channel - Excellent video with some great detail - played for years but didnt know some of your tips. Siubscribed 👍

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Thanks :) glad you learned something.

[@Knight3rrant]

Grear content, video, commentary, and super helpful!

[@kiranpeddineni1850]

i would love to see that flip in 3rd person view.. , LOL , but overall builds looks pretty much solid , with minor changes you can take that for a race..

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yeah, I've driven around in servers with friends and a few of these. Fun to go see someone go flying and do a backflip while you're cruising through the dunes. We've also raced them up and down mountains on earth-like, not bad.

[@shivurr9714]

the flight capability is good, but most of all you can just set your thrusters to have a minimal force to counter weight too, they have been a life saver on certain modded High-G planets, and a headache saver for earthlikes more awkward terrains

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Certainly. Even just a few forwards facing thrusters can be a real help on tricky hills.

[@kmr_tl4509]

49:37 You're falling because dampeners don't calculate the effect of subgrids yet, and the 4 wheels are subgrids. I think they fixed this bug before, but they broke it again.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Ahhh, it felt like that but last I remembered they had fixed it. Good to know.

[@AnonNopleb]

@@ShiftyshadowTV The "fix" they did is quite weird, it sometimes works, then it doesn't. Maybe toggling the inertia dampeners is required upon world loading.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

​@@AnonNopleb Yeah, toggling inertial dampeners sometimes fixes it. Sometimes hopping in and out of the cockpit does the trick. I don't have the issue much in survival so it might have to do with a freshly pasted grid as well.

[@AnonNopleb]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Yeah, maybe it needs kind of a grid mass update like adding or removing a block...

[@HeLzWright]

I used some artificial gravity blocks to lower the center of mass once before.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Not a bad idea of you can handle more weight.

[@petrus4]

I learned a lot from this, thank you. I've reinstalled SE after a long absence, so I have had to start again. I will definitely remember this video when I build my first rover, though.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Welcome back! Hope it helps, rovers are a lot of fun, especially on Pertam. :)

[@petrus4]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Thanks. I finally got finished working on it. I remembered what you said about gyros. I have eight wheels rather than six, and a gyro for each wheel. It might seem excessive, and the vehicle is a bit slow because it's so heavy, but it's also incredibly smooth and stable. I also adopted your blast door idea and covered my undercarriage with them, as well as giving myself a front and back bumper and roof trim. Again, I probably got a bit carried away, but I think it looks nice.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

@@petrus4 Sounds like a nice, tanky vehicle. :)

[@v0id683]

Its also wise to have the layer of armor which the suspensions are attached to be fully blast doors with no heavy or light armor exposed so there is minimal damage transfer from collissions and the suspensions themselves dont transfer damage to the other blocks so you can take advantage of that

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

That is a great idea.

[@AnonNopleb]

You might try out the planet "Trelan" by "Major Jon" on the workshop (also part of the amazing "Alkurah Star System" map by the same mod author). The driving experience there is certainly memorable. I learnt a lot of that advise you gave out of necessity there.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

I think I've seen that one, looks great to drive on. I'll have to check it out.

[@nightflyer40]

Great vid!

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Thanks, glad you liked it and good luck with your rovers.

[@mirrorgarrett]

Omg the orientation matters on a gyro I had no idea

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yeah, it's an obscure one. Only matters of you're planning to use override controls. For most things you can slap them on however.

[@imhollywood1015]

I like this channel!

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it. :D

[@gelobledo]

I kept building rivers to look like trucks. The i realized that wheels are nearly indestructible so now i try to put them fruther foward and back instead of trying to make bumpers

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

That's definitely the way to go.

[@raylastname5864]

you are incorrect about wheels being on the side they are labeled for. the wheels will automatically turn in the correct direction for their location on the vehicle. to show this you can use the same side wheels all around a rover and it will turn just like if you had used the wheels like you are saying. also as someone who worked in the tire industry the tread pattern on the offroad wheels is backwards for the side they are labeled for.

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yup, I noticed recently that you don't have to put the wheel suspensions on the correct side. Not sure if/when that changed, but I recall my wheels turning incorrectly when I built rovers years ago and fixing the suspensions was how I fixed it then. Interesting that the tread pattern is backwards, I might have to put my suspensions on "backwards" from now on.

[@raylastname5864]

@@ShiftyshadowTV also as a veteran i can tell you for military vehicles always put left side on. the military does directional tread patterns like that so if someone sees your tracks in the dirt they don't know what way you went.

[@Legend-26gaming]

Very good video. I am wondering though. How do you get dampeners on a rover

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Wait, you normally don't get dampeners on a rover? Maybe it has to do with the thrusters I put on it.

[@Legend-26gaming]

@@ShiftyshadowTV yea maybe. I didn’t put thrusters on mine and I added a drill on the front. That might be why idk

[@jakubwieckowski5610]

Hi. I will place the atmospheric or hydrogen engines down to press the vehicle to the ground for increased traction. especially as I move on the moon. sorry for english (google translate)

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yes, that is a good idea. Downward thrust helps in low gravity environments for sure. No need to apologize, I appreciate feedback in any form.

[@PeterBoddy]

Is that survival kit a mod?

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Nope, that's a vanilla small grid survival kit.

[@TheDorac1]

1:11:05 xD

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting the crunch, but I forgot to tweak my suspension before jumping it. XD

[@Martingray7875]

gyros are best placed as close to center of mass as possible and 2 is optimal for your rover

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Yup, place close to center of mass because they are high mass blocks themselves AND they will be more efficient/effective there. In addition, I always prioritize putting them wherever I think they will be least likely to break (conveniently this is usually near/below your center of mass), and I build extras. That way when I do crash hard I always have enough to flip myself back over.

[@Martingray7875]

Parachute placement DOES matter

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

Not sure if the video was clear. Orientation of the block itself doesn't matter (they can be upside down), as long as you hook it up to a conveyor. Location on your vehicle does matter (you want them above your center of mass and balanced around it).

[@Martingray7875]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Yea I thought it meant that you could place them anywhere on the vehicle. But you are right......actual orientation doesn't matter.

[@Martingray7875]

You forgot the spare tire

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

I've also never lost a tire off a vehicle, other things always break first. I figure you can put the parts for a tire in the inventory, less likely to lose them that way. I didn't go over stuff you might want to bring with, which may have been an oversight.

[@Martingray7875]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Well it's just my preference. Personally I tend to lose tires more often because I go really fast through rough terrain and I keep the power and strength both at 100%. Usually it's ok but once in a while I hit a big bump or rock and boom goes my tire

[@Martingray7875]

@@ShiftyshadowTV Also just as an aesthetic it looks better and more realistic to have a spare on the rover

[@ShiftyshadowTV]

@@Martingray7875 True, it does look good depending on the design. It also keeps you from forgetting the parts.

[@Martingray7875]

@@ShiftyshadowTV I do like your rover design though. Personally I don't use many armor blocks on mine but I build my stuff for pure functionality....ships included