Survival, Maybe... #52 Getting Up Close and Personal (A Space Engineers Survival Series)

[@verybad559]

Splitsie: *Puts decoys on solar panel tower* Also Splitsie: "I don't want to draw fire to the tower"

[@Splitsie]

Shhh... you're supposed to ignore when I accidentally completely contradict myself :P

[@0623kaboom]

decoys on your ONLY power source .. BAD IDEA ... worse than walking into an enemy base without weapons ... more defence turrets around the ridge line would be lower cost and better use of time ... . enemy passes the few turrets you do have sees decoy shoots misses and toasts your ONLY power source .. nope NOT smart ... extremely BAD idea ... ranks up there with the custer plan of attack ...

[@verybad559]

@@0623kaboom so glad to see someone enjoying this series still!

[@SirTragain]

I too use the Clear Camera Mod. When we have cell phones that can be used as a movie camera & Security Cameras that can read license plates with ease; the "futuristic" game camera should be as clear as glass. Oh wait! They can't even let us have clear windows...

[@Splitsie]

Ah, so true. I'm still a little on the fence due to trying very hard not to add mods, but those ones are just too handy for potential future time lapses and cinematics

[@MuchGusto]

Can someone please send me a link of this mod? I've been trying to find it on Steam, but haven't had success so far. Might be looking with my nose... Help would be greatly appreciated!

[@davfree9732]

What you need is a couple of welders to fast produce bombs and decoys when you drop them on the base. You could call it B-dolph-52

[@Splitsie]

Love the name, if I manage to build a bomber make sure you remind me to use it :D

[@Macabri_2k10]

Keen Turret AI is rubbish, if you want your turrets to be better try the Smart Turrets mod you can configure them what to shoot and when to stop and so on...great mod

[@Duke00x]

I keep telling him to get it and he keeps saying no that it gives him too much of an advantage/it takes too much of the challenge of it.

[@ZeroPointAlpha]

It's not removing the challenge when it's addressing a core flaw of the game's logic. Besides that, he can simply tell it to not target anything smaller than a certain block-count and leave the rest as-is so they're only barely smarter than vanilla turret logic.

[@Splitsie]

As Duke said my initial hesitation was that it would give me another advantage over an already weak AI (as you may have noticed I like fighting with one hand tied behind my back if it'll make for a challenge). However I may look into it soon, I need to have a little bit of time as I want to performance test it first, a lot of the comments on it report significant performance impacts when it's active and I already have a fair number of active turrets in the game so I suspect I may see that. If there is a performance impact that means the recordings become less and less smooth I won't be using it as my perspective will always be that the look and entertainment in the resulting video is the most important thing - e.g. my refusal to use a crosshair because it just doesn't look nice :P

[@Macabri_2k10]

it not an all or nothing mod, you can set select turrets to use the AI or the vanilla AI it basically just adds a few more options in the turrets terminal settings, and the whole AI can be switched on or off to retain vanilla behaviour

[@0623kaboom]

@@Splitsie but half you contact problems are from the lack of a crosshair ... looks are secondary .. function is primary

[@Cyberguy42]

Splitsie If I remember correctly, you need an antenna on the bunker in order for your HUD to show what those turrets are currently targeting. That would allow you to test the theory that they are distracted by the debris.

[@Splitsie]

That's interesting, I never knew that was a thing. I'm guessing you're still right though as I only started seeing the target thingies when the turrets on the base were complete

[@macgabhann1108]

Yea you need an antenna to see what the turrets are targeting

[@remethep]

Spectator cam can move with the ship. I think you have to press shift and MMB while looking at a grid, and the spectator will move in relation to that grid. :)

[@onepersonsomepeoplestumble7067]

Musikij Lonid Kirijenko Molenov you are correct

[@AntoTabey]

That's a nice feature i wasn't aware of ! Thank you

[@Splitsie]

But only at a set speed, you can't accelerate or brake the way I did in the clip :)

[@sillyduck6278]

At some point please travel to space and make a base. I have been taught so much by this series, and living in space/building huge space structures, is pretty much the only part you haven't touched in this series. Have been a solid follower of this amazing channel for a very long time with all my 3 channels. Keep doing what you do!

[@Splitsie]

I'm hoping it's not too long before I can go to space, my plan has always been to deal with the planetary pirates and then make my way to space. Once I get there I'm going to have a few extra mods in place to make space dangerous and possibly make it necessary to head back to the planet for safety :)

[@sillyduck6278]

Great! Thank you so much for answering my comment

[@y.decimal]

This entire time I was thinking two things: 1. Just give it a thruster in each direction so you don’t have to deal with the thing drifting 2. Turn the damn crosshair on, makes it so much easier to aim

[@Splitsie]

NEVER! ;P I really hate the crosshair on my videos it just bugs me when I record something that's supposed to be cinematic and beautiful only to realise afterwards that I left the crosshair on so I leave it off always :) A future version of the missile got quite a few upgrades and has had some better success (the upgrades included lateral thrusters as I really hadn't appreciated how hard it is to control something with only a forward thruster) :P

[@y.decimal]

Well you’re kinda right, the crosshair can be pretty ugly, but in that case you could add some visual guidance to the missile itself maybe. For example if you put blocks around the camera to limit it’s field of view so it’s easier to make out where the exact middle is. Actually you don’t even need to place them, you could make sort of a holographic visual missile guidance thing using a projector instead. That would actually be pretty cool if it worked. Guess I’ll wait so see what your upgraded missile looks like though, if you can aim it without guidance then that’s fine as well lol

[@BoroMonokli]

@@Splitsie lcd crosshairs!

[@MistahBryan]

@26:01, next "Bomb" Small Cargo Containers with Stone and Gravel. They're both cheap and having both in the Cargo Container allows for TWO chances to hit

[@Splitsie]

Sadly those sorts of bombs no longer work, keen made it so rocks, ores and components no longer damage grids :(

[@sockshandle]

@@Splitsie well the heavy cargo container would cause damage [if I'm correct cargos in a container increase total mass of said container

[@charlieodom9107]

Just hover above the base and drop armor blocks like you do in front of your base when you place them wrong! They do some real damage when dropped from 160 meters above my lower level in my base bore hole! I've lost several upgrade slots and assemblers from only bare armor blocks cut off from above.

[@Duke00x]

You should add some intertur turrets to the solar towers and the arms the panels are on. They can act as close in defence for the towers when drones get close to hem.

[@Splitsie]

They'd certainly add some useful hurt for those times that the enemy gets a little bit too close and with their short range shouldn't need rearming too often. I might well add a couple about the place :)

[@BarryTGash]

Great episode as usual! Considering the spread on gatlings I'd suggest extending the decoy blocks out further on the solar array to mitigate stray shot damage on those outer panels.

[@Splitsie]

That's very true, if I can think of way to make it look ok I should definitely do that. But at least I've no also got the decoys from the sandbags in the area to keep even more fire away from the panels :)

[@Andrew.A.]

13:45 RE: Landing gear on Chickenhawk Timer block on Chickenhawk with ~3-5 second delay to unlock landing gear; take control of Rudolph in the meantime.

[@Splitsie]

That is a very good idea, I like it :)

[@Terminator484]

You should've made a GPS mark before flying off, so you know right where to be to drop on-target.

[@Splitsie]

You are absolutely right! I wish I'd thought of that at the time :(

[@AndrielChaoti]

The most reliable way to weld by hand on a projection seems to be that you should make sure that your welder isn't pointing at *any other possible blocks*, at all... It's actually kind of annoying, but that's why the backing up thing you are doing works :) (That's why the gyro welded, too when you were trying to prove a point, there were not any blocks behind it :P)

[@Splitsie]

That's a good point :)

[@samueldiehl5506]

Been watching this series since the beginning and absolutely love it! Only problem--not enough episodes! more more more!

[@Splitsie]

Thanks :) I'm hopeful that I'll get a bit of a reprieve from the drones soon as I'd really like to get back to making progress on the base :P

[@Zenas521]

Two things 1) Your targeting skill is good. Maybe a redesign of your missile to include a sensor to handle detonation would be good. 2) You forgot about the grinding pit. You need a grinding pit to clean up the scrap that keeps confusing your turrets.

[@Splitsie]

I didn't forget about the pit, I've got to clear out a spot in the hangar for it which will likely take some time to do and I wanted revenge :P

[@Nethan2000]

You worry unnecessarily. Even if you had the landing gear on the Chicken Hawk and disconnected, the missile would still hover in the air for you to take control of. I'm not sure where you're planning to put that one thruster. If you don't have them in all directions, you're still going to need to compensate for inertia by rotating your whole missile and you'll never do that accurately. I also advise you to test warheads in creative. Drop down one that is unarmored, do the same with an armored warhead and compare the resulting crater. You'll see that the latter completely failed to detonate.

[@Splitsie]

Since the missile has thrust in only two directions if the grid is disconnected physics should start to effect the grid, I know there are some situations where you have to force an update to the grid for those physics interactions to kick in, but I'm willing to bet there's a fair chance of doing that when flying another vehicle right next to it :P You definitely get less from the warheads when they're in armor, but I'm really only trying to take out the antenna so I don't need much damage and I'm working on the assumption that I'll take some front end hits leaving me with the warhead exposed more often than not, if I have the warhead exposed those hits are just going to end in an airburst failure so there's no perfect answer to this one (except one of those massive cluster bomb setups ;)

[@Voidwielder]

Given how close you were with the Rudolfs, I think a proximity detonator would work well. A sensor set to halfish the warhead's blast radius and either a shortened countdown or immediate detonation(if possible) would, theoretically, allow even near misses to do damage. I dunno how expensive sensors are though...

[@Cyberguy42]

That would probably work better with large grid warheads. Last I checked, small grid warheads have a blast radius of just a few meters.

[@Splitsie]

I agree, it would work better for a large warhead, but if I'm going to miss having at least some impact would be a benefit. I like the idea :)

[@Voidwielder]

Reading on the wiki: SWH has a 5meter blast radius to LWH's 15-20 meter. So unless Rudolph is 10 small blocks wide, there should still be some space to catch with in a passing shot. Though a 5~9 large block blast isn't very big for even a direct hit...

[@Macabri_2k10]

second player not seeing grids in host world is a multiplayer world issue you would need to force the grid to update in a way and sometimes a part of it will pop up. I saw Capt. Shack and Texfire having this issue last stream, they ended up rebuilding the grid because only certain parts of the grid showed up at the time when they began grinding parts off

[@Splitsie]

I'd seen it happen with the base and with the drilling guides where Reggie wouldn't see any updates, hadn't seen it with an entire grid before. Good to know it's not just me, I may end up copy/pasting the entire base next time so Reggie can see it. Thanks for letting me know, I rarely get as much time to watch Shack as I would like

[@nullblasterthevoidmaker1750]

A dedicated bomber craft would help. I suggest making it fast. In and out. Call it the Night Fury, and give it a screeching sound block. "NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!"

[@Splitsie]

I do love how to train your dragon... ;)

[@baalrog]

you can align to gravity by turning on autopilot for a few seconds. Override gyros with no values to lock orientation, then you can line up your bombs. Projecting a ground down wheel offset from the camera makes a good reticle.

[@Splitsie]

Ooh, I like your reticle idea, especially as I really hate having the in game cross hair on :P

[@zebrin]

Honestly, the sandbags work pretty well for such a simple design.

[@Splitsie]

I've always been proud of how they turned out, it's nice when simplicity pays off :)

[@Viper-s6f]

Hey Splitsie, For your hydrogen problem you could use Taleden's Inventory Manager or TIM instead. It allows you to say how many of each item you want in a cargo container, but also allows you to just have all of a type in a container. So for instance you would set it up like this: [Tim Item:Priority:Amount] Your o2/h2 generator would be named: [TIM Ice:P1:1000 HydrogenBottle:P2] I put the ice part there just so it always has Ice as I feel it helps it work better Your Cargo Container would be named: cc[TIM Component:P1 HydrogenBottle:P1:2] Then you would just make more than 2 spare bottles, place your used ones in the cargo container where TIM would then move them out to the o2/h2 generator as the limit of 2 would have been exceeding in the cargo container at that point. Then you take out the full ones that are always in there, and TIM will move full bottles back into the cargo container as it has a quota of 2 bottles. I use this method and it works perfectly

[@Splitsie]

That's a fairly neat solution and very well explained :)

[@JVelez1971]

You could set the "Bottles" tag on your O2 Generator, So they will go to the Generator and be refilled and stored there, then just add the "CC" tag to the O2/H2 Generator and your container, so you have both on the screen at the same time.

[@Splitsie]

That's probably the simplest solution, nice idea :)

[@kevingriffith6011]

I admit, when the landing gear got damaged on Rudolph, a very small part of me was expecting you to just ram the antenna with the Chicken Hawk, missile still attached... which would have been dramatic and hilarious, but rebuilding ships is a hassle.

[@Splitsie]

I was tempted, very tempted :P

[@soulewh]

You can put a landing gear on the main drone and then put a timing block that would release or turn off the landing gear after say 20 seconds. That would allow you to then switch over to the missile drone and take control

[@Splitsie]

That is a very good point, when I build the next one I'm going to give it a go :)

[@jaymiddleton772]

A bomber would be great! Payload of 20-30 bombs and some decoys and timer blocks or even a programmable to drop them sequentially with a single button press. Run it back to base, switch on an onboard projector and land on a weld bay to replace the bombs ready for another run!

[@Splitsie]

That would very likely eliminate the problem, probably wouldn't get much loot, but would get a big explosion... decisions, decisions ;)

[@jaymiddleton772]

The thing about enemy bases is - there's always another one. So you can blow one to hell, and if you're so inclined, take the next one apart surgically for max lootz :D

[@rsbohn]

Maybe some decoys up by the bunker? Can't wait to see the pirate base get crushed.

[@Splitsie]

I think the bunker upgrade has to include a decoy or two, but at least I've got the ones on those sandbags in addition to the solar tower ones now :)

[@titogilbert2]

you should build a dedicated flying forklift for moving your sandbags... the duckling looks a little unwieldy carrying them and a few times you were maxing out on power, flying in the dark, heading for a cliff...

[@Splitsie]

Yeah, I'm hoping the ship I build for collecting scrap can also fill the transfer role, hopefully with a better lighting setup too :)

[@TheCrunchyThing]

You should have a mechanism that releases a cluster of loose decoys like chaff from Rudolph so it doesnt get shot as much for example just have them on the ends of some small grid landing gears

[@Splitsie]

The trouble with that sort of setup is that it requires manual welding each time as you wouldn't be able to project it. I can't remember when, but I do build a missile with detachable decoys at some point though :)

[@PB8man]

In the last video, I suggested that you make the o2h2 gen as the bottles container. Maybe make the cargo AND the o2h2 gen as bottle Containers, that way it might juggle them back and forth?

[@Splitsie]

I don't know how Isy's script handles that, I think it would just leave them in whichever one they got to first, or move them to the one with highest priority - unlike the vanilla sorters which would move them around endlessly like that :P

[@PB8man]

Splitsie ehh. It was worth a try.

[@Zenarisu]

oohh i have an idea lets put small rotors big heads and put big warheads onto them

[@Splitsie]

I probably should have done that if I really wanted to blow up some stuff :)

[@The_Forge_Master]

If you were so apprehensive about adding mods to this series, here might have been an idea since all of the enemy drones are aircraft: find a script that would have stopped the turrets from shooting if the enemy craft was below a certain point in the turret’s arc of fire. That way the salvage can stay on the ground and not bother the turrets.

[@Splitsie]

That's a really interesting idea, I wonder if programmable blocks can read the angle of a turret and limit it that way because if they can such a script would be quite handy in a number of scenarios :)

[@DavidR575]

I see you're building a bomber now! May I suggest using a welder next to a merge block with a projector. With the right components loaded up, that's quite a few bombs. Then you can do proper bombing runs on the pirate base. You can even fit a mergeblock-projector on either side of the welder and have one drop bombs and the other drop decoys! Its the setup I have on my old bomber design. Or you could switch the merge blocks to the front of the ship and make it a dive-bomber to give your bombs some speed.

[@Splitsie]

I think I might have to do something like that in the future, just because dive bombing sounds like a lot of fun :)

[@enricoscanta7047]

You need to add a sensor to detonate the warheads near the impact, otherwise the explosion will be 2-3 times smaller than what it should be. I built my version of the missile, and after many attempt, i found that you need to have at least 9 small blocks (of sensor field length) in front of the missile. My version is 11 blocks long +1 on the back occupied from the sensor which is set to 10m, and it detonate perfectly on the impact.

[@Splitsie]

Nice, thanks for the tips I'll make sure I add a sensor for the next one :)

[@nonplayercharacter6478]

Thanks for the projector tip, I had that problem when I was building the Butterball for my own mountain redoubt. A lot of internal blocks didn't place, so I tried to retro fit the components. Yea, that went like you'd expect. Picture a rat chewed hole in the mountain with an abomination of a vehicle parked in front. In other words, a typical southern household. ;)

[@Splitsie]

Lol, I'm glad there's still little things I can show that are helpful all these episodes in :)

[@nonplayercharacter6478]

Good, now if you could just show me where my base is, that'd be great. I left on a mining expedition with my hand drill (the abomination is a derelict per southern statute), and I can't find it. *Real men don't use GPS markers. ;) *They starve to death in the wilderness after their suit power runs out and mutter platitudes like "Real men don't use GPS"

[@Splitsie]

LOL! I think you just described my dad perfectly :P I'd be lying if I said I didn't do that a little myself...

[@clintonsavage4018]

I've fallen a little behind on your videos, but here's an idea for your wreckage collection. Get a ship that can pick up the wreckage. Build a small disposal factory with the bottom lined with grinders, pick it up, drop it in, connect it to the base, profit.

[@Splitsie]

I'm planning an indoor grinding pit in the space between the elevator shaft and the welder parking area in the base, at the moment I'm hoping I can make it look like a giant dumpster and put an LCD with oscar the grouch somewhere nearby ;)

[@clintonsavage4018]

Splitsie sounds great but isnt thay going to be difficult trying to attach to and carry in wreckage without bumping into everything?

[@Splitsie]

Maybe, but the hangar is pretty large and most of the pieces fairly small so I'm hoping it'll be ok :)

[@gilgwaththefae]

You could build a totally disposable drone, heavily armored, and jam packed with explosives. Fly over to the pirate base and literally land on it or under it or whatever and then hit the detonate button.

[@Splitsie]

Might be pricey to build enough armor (and then enough thrusters to lift the armor) to get past that rocket turret though...

[@charleslee1858]

You should have left a GPS marker where you dropped those warheads. Then you'd always know where you dropped if they miss or you just need more than a single drop.

[@peters2928]

Movie trailer narrator: "When Rudolf Attacks"

[@Splitsie]

Lol :D

[@nikolajderburner7150]

"Here you see a feral reindeer hunting"

[@gryphon3241]

while it is more expensive, if you're gonna do proper small grid missile you need manuevering thrusters. if you dont use manuevering thrusters you basically have to run straight at it (in which case you're an easy target for the guns) or you risk over shooting every time you make any minor adjustment to your course

[@Splitsie]

Even though I was fairly close to the target I think you're absolutely right, with all the cost of missing, a more expensive but more accurate missile is probably best :)

[@Terminator484]

If you put blast door "feet" (skids) under the sandbag corners, it will prevent Klang from striking due to voxel collisions.

[@Splitsie]

I'm thinking version 2 should have something like that, and a landing gear to allow for placement on steeper slopes :)

[@Terminator484]

Landing gear on voxel terrain can be a bit risky. If Klang thinks the gear is inside the voxel, it vaporizes or explodes, sometimes with significant force -- the large landing gear is annoyingly prone to this in 1.186. Wheels can do the same thing. However, in all my experience in the game (over 3k hours to date), blast-door edge blocks just don't interact with voxels the same way. I've been using them as landing skids on aircraft for years, with enormous success. The skids also absorb a HUGE amount of impact damage if you land too hard, saving the rest of the craft from what would be a catastrophic hit. Landing gear and wheels are much better-behaved when locked to a large grid. Landing pads are ship-savers. I've built a half-dozen recreations of your sandbags, experimenting with several design variations, and pitting them against the pirate drones -- they've served extremely well, so kudos for the sandbag idea! I'll have to share my refined versions on the workshop. One of my experiments did have a landing gear to clamp to the terrain: Klang blew it to bits the next time I loaded the save... but all the skid designs have escaped Klang totally unscathed. I also have my own compact little interceptor drone, very similar to your new Chicken Hawk, with more thrust & twice the firepower -- could be a good candidate for the Chicken Hark mark 3. ;-)

[@Splitsie]

Did you try using a single armor block embedded in the terrain to lock onto with the landing gear? I was expecting horrible things if I locked straight to the terrain but thought this might be a workaround for allowing some cliffside placement Make sure you share the designs when you're happy with them, I always like seeing where people have taken my ideas :)

[@Terminator484]

Station blocks as anchors work fine, yes. But with blast door edge blocks as skids, I haven't found much need to resort to that unless I really need to use landing gears. I've started uploading my designs again, and all the new sandbags are on the workshop. Give me a watch @ steamcommunity.com/id/tagira/myworkshopfiles/?appid=244850

[@david-ul3ch]

if it was myself doing this i would have built a large ship bomber that printed bombs / decoys above them. but another idea would be to set up a large ship warhead attached to a connector then attach to the chicken hawk mk2 to do bombing runs with a printer at home making them after you take one for deployment. could even way point above there base and auto deploy bombs / take out drones. plus the idea of a quick equipment re-fit on hand for the re-printable drone would be awesome to see set up. excellent content keep up the good work ;]

[@Splitsie]

Large grid warheads would certainly have more kick, though it might ruin my chances of getting the good loot that's in the base... decisions, decisions :P At the moment I'm hoping I can just take out the roof with the antenna so the drones won't spawn, then I can build a ground vehicle and move in and take on the whole base :)

[@MarcWeavers]

Shift + Middle Mouse makes spectator cam speed match the grid you are aimed at :) you should be able to get reggie seeing more if you increase the sync distance setting beyond the enemy base drone spawning antenna range, you might need to edit the sandbox.sbc file, this should make distant things sync for MP characters :)

[@Splitsie]

But that only works until the thing changes speed, making it useful but not really practical for a cockpit that's accelerating and rolling about the place :) Ah, I might see if I can find that in the file and hopefully it'll help, the weird part is that the antenna doesn't even show up...

[@Trotils]

I have crazy idea. Maybe costly. Drop decoy with parachute over adversaries base. And while decoy lands shoot base with Rudolf or other weapon that you can control. (Rockets)

[@Splitsie]

I think you'll like what happens when you get to episode 98 ;)

[@Trotils]

Still long time... I’ll be honest- I haven’t seen very beginning (episodes 1 to 20-ish...

[@Shakads]

Don't forget to do something about the debris that the tuggets... erm, turrets are targeting, otherwise you'll end up again in a spot of bother, like Sage would say, even with a new and improved bunker ^^''

[@Splitsie]

I won't forget, I'm looking forward to building my grinding pit :)

[@kalsaari4670]

Lesson of the day : Aiming without a crosshair is a nightmare! Also, bomber dropping clusters of 10-ish warheads sounds like a real plan to me!

[@Splitsie]

I think I did pretty well all things considered, but yes, no crosshair does add a challenge :P

[@Tamalor76]

Wonder how decoys on a rotor would work, spinning the decoys around...or for the bombs a decoy surrounded by warheads....If the decoy gets shot, the warheads still fall down on the target...maybe worth a try.

[@Splitsie]

Apparently it works very well, looks silly, but very effective :) Maybe I could apply it to the missile as I don't mind so much if it looks silly...

[@stephanevally170]

Look at the programmable block whitch runs Isy's Inventory (debug side) , I bet it lacks some config. It runs fine for me as it pulls bottles from anywhere and push them in the appropriate container.

[@Splitsie]

Isy commented on the last video and explained the problem, unfortunately he did it after I'd already recorded and edited this, the issue is due to the fact that the PB has no way to tell whether the bottles are full or not so if the bottles are already in the cargo container they're to be stored in he can't make the empty ones get moved :( Basically I'm going to have to always place them in the wrong box first, then pick them up full from the right one :P

[@alexringess]

You don't need to use your combat drone to haul rudolf. rudolf can go straight to its target like a ICMB, from your base to the pirate base, without being hauled ^^

[@Splitsie]

The danger of launching in the base, is crashing in the base. That's why I liked the idea of a ship launched missile :)

[@alexringess]

Ah ! I didn't thought about that. That's right ! It could be a sever issue lol ! But you also plan to build a launch platform that could not be near your main base, remotly controled, so you'd minimized the risk, but you'll increase the amount of work to shoot them too :D

[@Kobe_Russell]

It took a few years, but keen software has finally radicalized its first player

[@Splitsie]

The church of Clang has its first freedom fighter :P

[@LoriH2O]

Have your bottles sorted into a small container you don't ever directly access. Inconvenience of having to find the bottle after it's filled... but the script will still at least fill them for you :) Also, those decoys are way too close to the solar panels. Really should put them a little further out if you can. Otherwise the spread of the guns will end up hitting the panels anyway :D. Also... you could make some decoy "bombs" and drop them a little away just before the proper bombs to distract fire from the bombs. :D.

[@Splitsie]

Yeah, the decoys are a little close, but I'm not sure I'll like the look of them being pushed out further - plus if I extended the arms I'd really just want to put more panels on the extensions anyway :P

[@PayrollTips]

Good to see you are using my bomber suggestion, but if you added a large rotor part and then a large blast door block, there is no need for a warhead, and the bomb will not be detected, the destruction is about the same as a warhead though ;)

[@Splitsie]

It's the not being detected part that kept me away from just dropping something heavy, I'm trying very hard not to use an attack method that the AI has no protection against :P

[@PayrollTips]

OK attach some decoys well away from the warhead, armed warheads are way too sensitive to take even the smallest amount of damage.

[@drarchadus3518]

splitsie put a landing gear on the sandbags then you could stick them on hills

[@Splitsie]

Yep, that's one thing I want to add in the new version, thanks for reminding me as I hadn't written it in my ideas notebook yet :)

[@remethepplays]

Getting around to grinding down all those drones should net you a ton of stuff. Including a nice heap of ammo.

[@Splitsie]

They'll definitely net some nice resources, but do they carry much ammo in cargo containers?

[@remethepplays]

Not much, but you have been shooting them down left, right and center. :P

[@Splitsie]

This is true... Plus it never hurts to have thousands of motors ;)

[@lowrads3653]

I wish we had small form factor H2 tanks and batteries. That would make PMWs much more accessible.

[@Splitsie]

Plus it would be much more practical to build a small grid hydrogen powered ship that isn't short and fat :P

[@alexringess]

And I guess rudolf would be more efficient with a small rotor with a large grid head so you'd be able to fit a large warhead on it.

[@Splitsie]

It would do more damage, but wouldn't be able to be printed from a projection due to having a subgrid :(

[@nikolajderburner7150]

"Rudolf the rednosed reindeer..." Stop it! Because of you building bombs, millions of presents didnt get delivered! The FBI arrested Santa!

[@Splitsie]

lol :D

[@tassie7325]

Very nice. Build a B52. That should take care of any base 😈 So looking forward to the next installment of LE

[@Splitsie]

That would be a lot of fun ;) I'm very excited about seeing what people think of it, it's had more time to develop than every previous episode and I think it shows so my fingers are crossed :)

[@tassie7325]

Any hints of an expected release date?

[@Splitsie]

It's coming out this Friday the 25th :) Still trying to decide what Capac and I are going to do to celebrate, but probably a stream of something that'll start straight after the release

[@tassie7325]

Sweeeeeeeet!

[@lordsherifftakari4127]

even now, I have issues with my defenses targeting debris laying nearby instead of an active Drone threat. to date I have found no vanilla way to negate this distraction when under threat by multiple attackers forcing me to use the Smart Turrets 2 Mod to make them more selective so they ignore downed debris and go after the real threats.

[@KeithRCmafia1967]

Ahhh... what a way to wake up! Another great episode Splitsie😆😆

[@Splitsie]

Thanks again Keith :)

[@TheMuffinGnome]

You could try making a missile with the plane parts mod that would make it easier to fly it

[@Splitsie]

That mod does make for very cheap missiles that you can fly quite accurately, but I'm still keeping it out of this playthrough (at least while I'm playing along with the reliance on solar power, as that mod dramatically reduces the power requirements of flight)

[@Forcemaster2000]

You should design an upgraded "sandbag" that has it's own atmospheric engines and remote control so that you can just move them around without having to move them with the ugly duckling.

[@KeithRCmafia1967]

Forcemaster2000 great idea!!

[@AntoTabey]

Forcemaster2000 the whole concept of sandbags is a *cheap* way to destroy drones ...

[@Splitsie]

I've been having mixed thoughts about what to do with v2 of the sandbags, I want to put a landing gear on it so I can lock them onto steep surfaces but I'm not sure about thrusters as power and cost then start coming into it...

[@voraga]

What if you limit the thrusters to just hover thrusters? bring them into position set them to hover about 815m above the ground and let them rain destruction down on the enemies. When they go down the wreckage will pass out of the 800m gun envelope and it with stop trying to track it... I think

[@DavidR575]

If you get really sneaky with a few timer blocks and SAM's Autopilot Manager, you can get the sandbag MK 2 to fly back to base after a set time (Or when batteries are low, using Isy's battery manager), recharge and stock up on ammo, then fly back out.

[@Alecs_automotive_adventures]

Why not use merge blocks to carry missiles? If you turn them off they will disconnect. Also, if you go the bomber route, you should drop a few decoys to draw fire away from the bombs

[@Splitsie]

I used the rotors because they're much smaller on a small grid ship which gave me room for a pair of bombs where I could otherwise have only had 1 :)

[@Eisen_Jaeger]

Buttercup always makes me think of a goldfish when it's flying

[@Splitsie]

So very, very true :)

[@OrenBlau]

always wanted to see if an artificial gravity generator on the war head activated at the last second can pull the warhead to the nearest entity to it :D

[@Splitsie]

It would be cool if they worked that way, sadly artificial grav gens only work on artificial mass blocks, players and debris. They have no effect on other blocks and don't work in planetary gravity :(

[@onepersonsomepeoplestumble7067]

You should make a bomb bomb and then a decoy bomb to distract. Use decoy first..

[@Splitsie]

That might be cheaper, I should look into the cost difference between the two... having some cheap distractors would be nice :)

[@thewootpanda]

have you tried empyrion alpha 8? I like it. I am having a harder time getting a starting Base because you have to work for your equipment and machinery. I am not building a Base core until I am confident I can get power and a turret going. it's awesome.

[@Splitsie]

I've played it a bit, some of it feels quite a harsh grind compared to before, but I love the new larger planets. I'm expecting that it'll be a lot more fun again once they're out of the experimental :)

[@thewootpanda]

Yeah the loss of the jetpack is a bit much I am not sure how I feel about that..they should put a damaged jetpack and make it terrible then let you fix it rather then remove it alltogether

[@madmann225]

Splitsie, since you do love doing over the top stuff. Have you thought a vanilla guidance system for the bombs to lock onto the target using sensors?

[@Splitsie]

I want to play around with some of the scripts on the workshop for making guided missiles, but that will necessitate something a little more expensive so holding off on that idea for the moment :/

[@madmann225]

I came across this video a long time ago and once Im far enough along in my current play through I want to try to implement it somehow. I was hoping you would use it and twist it into a splitsie contraption. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqq3YZyCbKibgZo&ab_channel=w4stedspace

[@Splitsie]

I will have to take a closer look, see if all the stuff W4sted used still works :)

[@Splitsie]

I wonder if you'd still be able to get much use out of it without the massive sensor range...

[@madmann225]

You were pretty close when you dropped the bomb on your first try. With the sensors they could fire up a thruster when they got within rage and shoot in onto the target. And the other benefit of the sensor is that is does not have to be on the front where it can be shot off. You can bury it inside where it will be safe.

[@Zamolxes77]

I like the concept of the sandbags, but you didn't went far enough. Turn them into turreted drones that you can remote control and place them wherever you want.

[@Splitsie]

The reason not to do that is the expense, if one gets destroyed I then also lose the thrusters, gyro etc. And if you mean to have them remain flying, the power expense doing that would be far too high to be sustainable :/

[@Zamolxes77]

@@Splitsie Nah, I would mean them to stay stationary, the thrusters would be there only so you could relocate them. I guess you're right, might be too expensive, Instead of doing that then better build remote drones with quad turrets.

[@macgabhann1108]

Im betting you are right about the turrets shooting at debris and sadly not targeting neutrals will not help with parts like a reactor as that only seems to work with thrusters and other blocks that dont require ownership, but a fallen reactor would certainly get the turrets attention, and they have a bad habitat of not switching targets once they lock on. Looks like you are having the same odd behaviour with the remote control blocks as i am where it shows the name of the mobile command base that the drone is attached to instead of the drone name like it used to. Ive been having that welding problem lately as well, but usually can only get a surface block and then can never seem to get the block under it no matter how many times i grind down the top block to get the the one under it, ended up having to add in one of the nanit mods just to take care of it. And i do like the idea of you building a bomber.

[@Splitsie]

When I was messing around with the multiplayer test update thing, I tried to build the butterball via projection and it was sooooo painful. I had to get a block placed, turn off the projector, weld it, turn on the projector etc. The process was horrible without build vision :P The remote control block thing is very weird, took me a while the first time I was looking for a drone before I realised the distance was right for the ship I was looking for - felt like the game was using a jedi mind trick on me 'this is not the drone you are looking for'

[@wardaddyindustries4348]

Whips Camera overlay is good.

[@Splitsie]

It does have that scifi vibe, I'll probably go for a completely clear one though, just so I can use it for timelapses as well :)

[@drahcirtmd3924]

Have you considered tunneling up from inside your base to create a bunker turret on the mountain peak directly above your base?

[@Splitsie]

That's probably a good idea, I probably won't connect it to the current base for performance reasons (the base grid is getting very large and I'm still playing with airtightness on) but I could have a mined tunnel that is walkable as an emergency access way

[@stanpollard]

Try this.a medium small cargo 3 ejectors on the 3 small ports on the bottom and 2 Gatling guns on the sides and a remote with a realtor and a gyro on top with 4 thrusters for lift 2 for forward and backwards and side to side.then fill it with rocks to bomb the base.fly at 1000 feet and release the missels and guns will not shot at the rocks.this is a very cheap way

[@Splitsie]

Sadly the rocks no longer do damage, it was a fun way to make a bomb when it worked though :)

[@stanpollard]

What about scrap metal

[@CaptPatrick01]

If you're gonna mass-produce torpedoes, maybe you should build a 3D printer. Like what LSG tried to build in season 3 (until Tazoo touched it and the physics imploded. I swear, he's the physical manifestation of clang.)

[@Splitsie]

Well Tazoo did write a fair bit of the early code for SE... I'm hoping to build a printer for making drones and missiles, not sure how long it'll take me to get around to it though

[@sockshandle]

Or the elevator that LSG tried and succeeded to build then SAGE touched it becoming a momentary manifestation of Clang [LSG: OMG Sage! Sage:Not my fault Totes not my fault LSG:Sage broke the elevator! Tazoo:Sage! Sage:Its not my fault I only told the pistons to retract!]

[@statewidetfd4107]

Have you thought about finally putting in a reactor in the base?

[@Splitsie]

When I first got some uranium I decided that I'm going to keep this base solar powered until the pirates are destroyed, at which time I'll be heading to space so I'll unleash the reactors then - I'm going to need every trick I've got to take on Meridius IX's Corruption NPCs :/

[@guilhemmarty6287]

Maybe you should have your gatlings separated from the combat robot by a rotor and with a camera on them to be able to aim?

[@Splitsie]

The big disadvantage of that is the addition of a subgrid (apart from the silly bombs I made) my intention with the chicken hawk was to make it printable from a projector which means no subgrids can be part of the design :(

[@guilhemmarty6287]

makes sense now. Anyway, the idea of the bomber is great !

[@MistahBryan]

@1:57, you left the steel frame of the Reactor behind.

[@Splitsie]

Oh right, I completely forgot to go back for that :P

[@Arturus009]

"Not the best thing to say if you want to stay monetised" X'D !! Made me LOL

[@peatbogg3688]

When bombing, your aim would probably be better if you had the crosshair turned on and the camera zoomed in to the target.

[@Splitsie]

You're absolutely right, but I really dislike the crosshair on my videos and it's a pain to turn on and off. However zooming in would probably get that last little bit - I felt like I did pretty well though :P

[@gabrielglouw3589]

I think using a build and repair system just to disassemble stuff wouldn’t be cheating. It’s kind of ridiculous how the game makes grinders fling stuff all over the place. I don’t know what you have in mind for a grinding pit, but a pit with an array of piston mounted grinders pushing into the pit would be how I would go.

[@Splitsie]

I agree it's way over the top how the blocks get flung, but it should be fun to try to come up with a way to deal with it - I'm thinking something like a dumpster :)

[@DuneGames]

Why not control the bunker's turret(s) whenever something gets near?

[@Splitsie]

I'm pretty hopeless at aiming, especially at night. But even still I did try a couple of times... it did not end too well :P

[@DuneGames]

@@Splitsie Just mentioned it because you kept pulling your rifle out, but could have controlled a turret instead.

[@Splitsie]

It's a fair point to raise, I think I'd need the target lead indicator thing to have a real chance of being useful on a turret though

[@rick5078]

an auto pilot script would be useful for missiles. set gps and let it fly itself onto the target at max velocity.

[@Splitsie]

Only if you've got the GPS coordinates for your target though, which would be challenging to get while your target is still a threat worth hitting with a missile :/

[@rick5078]

@@Splitsie you could get the gps coordinates the same way you set up the gps marker for the closest base. :) bit time consuming but works.

[@Pyrenthius]

F8 Spectator moves. use the scroll wheel to speed it up. im confused why Reggie would be any different. but he is still an entity that spawns enemies

[@Pyrenthius]

also my testing of your script on the installations mod reveals, so far as i can see is the Fighter base from the mod produces enemies. you can then also rename out post antennas to match the Fighter bases antenna name to get them as literally out posts of the Fighter base. But only if the out posts are in range of the Fighter base antenna

[@Splitsie]

The issue wasn't with the movement of the spectator cam, that's something I'm very comfortable with (see my machinima for the fun I've had with it ;) The issue was that an entire grid was only visible to the host player, the other PC couldn't see the base in the position it existed :(

[@Pyrenthius]

either way, love your work as always. might look at your machinima then. shameless plug huh :P

[@Splitsie]

Pretty much, though I was serious about how excited I am, I've been working on the new episode for close to a year :)

[@Pyrenthius]

maybe a link to where it begins as im a bit confused about the different games it spans across, by how it looks anyway

[@kelemvour]

Your bombs are reminiscent of J-Sow... I'm impressed again... You just need like 12 bomblets...

[@Splitsie]

I wish there was an easy way to build them onto rotors, I'd totally build a massive bomber with 10s of them to drop :)

[@bendavidson4393]

Splitsie, why drop bombs when you can eject rock? get high enough and gravity will make them do damage.

[@Nethan2000]

ben davidson I'm afraid it's no longer true. Rocks don't damage grids anymore.

[@jurezupancic9813]

Now they just bounce of (if I remember correctly)

[@SinZ163]

Splitsie has already said in the series he won't do this as the AI doesn't have a way to fight back and is fairly dirty

[@FunkyBaconArts]

Tried making a rock catapult some weeks ago but after only after spending hours on building the darn thing I noticed rocks don't deal any damage to grids anymore. =(

[@macgabhann1108]

Keen nerfed that so that method no longer works.

[@benmohatun]

Yaaay ! New episode !

[@kelemvour]

I wonder if the bunker should have 3 turrets... one at 850 m, one at 800 m, and one at 750 m...

[@lurkingstar]

Splitsie, do you know the youtuber Epiktetus, aka EpikTek? He's a space engineers player too, so you should play with him one day.

[@Splitsie]

I've followed EpikTek for a fair while, but never had any direct conversations with him. Other than the horrible time zone differences I think he'd be fun to play with as I think our approaches are similar - or that would go horribly wrong as we step on each others toes all the time :P

[@charlieodom9107]

How can you miss TWICE??? You have a camera for first person view! My wife looked at me funny while I'm screaming at my phone after that second miss!

[@Splitsie]

That was the camera in first person view, the trouble was the design of the missiles, with only forward thrust I had very limited ability to adjust the angle of attack - more design flaw than pilot error sadly :/

[@lmcg9904]

So that's how the world's first fighter bomber was born.👍

[@Splitsie]

Or the world's worst dive bomber :P

[@_harbinjer]

if someone could let me know the name of the soundtrack playing ~ 24:52, it would really make my day

[@Splitsie]

That's Seeker by Kai Engel, he's a very good composer from Russia with a bunch of CC tracks people can use www.kai-engel.com/

[@_harbinjer]

@@Splitsie Thank you Splitsie, just about gave up searching, you made my day, cheers.

[@_harbinjer]

@@Splitsie Sent a steam friend request. I don't like to subscribe or give through YT super chat since YT can take quite a chunk, if you decide to friend you may find some funds in your steam wallet from time to time as a thank you for providing solid SE content and entertainment. P.S. unless there is another way to provide a one time thing, either way is fine with me, cheers.

[@kyleschneider1538]

I feel stupid for suggesting this but aren't cryo chambers meant to save inventories after disconnecting.

[@Splitsie]

They are indeed, but they weren't particularly useful in the case of a crash or a disconnect. Fortunately they're still useful as you can log out in the cryo pod of a mobile base, and when you log back in you'll still be with your friends :)

[@kyleschneider1538]

Splitsie right. I thought i was missing something haha. Keep up the great work!

[@LeonidSaykin]

It's more like a really smart bomb :)

[@Splitsie]

Not a bad way to think about it :)

[@mioszstepien1586]

maybe make a bomber that drops decoys and then bombs so turrets wont target them?

[@Splitsie]

I need to check if the decoys are cheaper than warheads, if they are it would totally make sense to drop a bunch of them to let the bombs reach their target :)

[@LordRenegrade]

"modern" security cameras? Security cameras from the seventies had both a clear image AND servos (just..the recording wasn't so great. Although that's also true today). The only difference today is that the equivalent camera is much smaller and cheaper. The stock Space Engineer camera stuff is ridiculous, and the camera mods fully justified. Don't sweat it, man.

[@chrisf84]

@Splitsie Have you tried hitting 'F3", promoting Reggie to 5 stars and, then using 'Alt+F10' to turn on creative mode and admin rights?

[@Splitsie]

I haven't, but this is just what I was looking for to try out, thanks!

[@ZeroPointAlpha]

"Tuggets" = "turkey nuggets" What have you done.

[@Splitsie]

Wait, is that a real thing? If so I'm totally naming a small ship the tugget ;)

[@claytonmcnurlin3841]

Nano bots are better than a pit for scrap. build a nanobot ship and just hover above while they clean up the mess,

[@Splitsie]

I'm not going to be adding the nanobot or build and repair or any of those styles of mods as they take away a fair number of the engineering challenges I like to try my hand at: like building welding ships, grinding pits etc :)

[@ketamine1988]

What's the mod name for the PIPE system?

[@Splitsie]

Those pipes are part of Eikester's decoration pack :)