Building/Ship Acamarian Protectorate (learning to build stuff!)

So, I'm not very good at this, but I kinda enjoying trying it out and building various things so to bridge the skill gap postin' stuffs here so I can get better! (and hopefully y'all will enjoy it too!)

rion Adler- Log #1



“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. USCM vessel 283145 'Sparrow'. Losing altitude. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.”

So the call would go out, over and over again for as long as the ship's backup power supply lasted. The Sparrow was in rough shape: primary power knocked out, the cargo bay ravaged and filled with blood-stained debris, the engines were offline for want of fuel and most of the control surfaces had been blasted apart. The crew was all dead save for the unconscious man locked in cryo. The captain, or whatever is left of him, is sealed into the cockpit.

A long whine and the mayday call ceased and the last of the lights shut down. Only the soft blue of the AI control panel remained lit, feeding off of the emergency power reserve. The cryo tube warmed and woke its occupant.

Pressing up on the glass the young man looked around the dark compartment in a daze. He never could get used to cryo or how it effects his memory. He stood up and stumbled towards the glow of the AI panel on the far side of the ship, leaning heavily on the bulkhead. He shambled on in a stupor before reaching it.

The emergency lights powered on and he looked around at the mess. He sighed and turned his attention back to the AI and beginning to go through the interface to figure out what happened.

Flipping through the videos and images his memory returned to him. Earth was destroyed and humanity was scattered. Every human was now a refugee without a place to call home. The tentacle creatures ripped Earth apart He and his crew had been trying to flee when a small one got on board and slaughtered everyone else. He had only survived by locking himself in the cryotube.

The dessicated corpse of the creature lay on the ground nearby, very obviously dead and frail. In the months that had passed the creature had starved to death. Fortunately for the young man.

His gaze fell down to the planet that the ship would eventually crash into. Silently he powered up the teleporter and beamed down to the surface.

(little behind on the writing, but here is what I've got so far. Constructive critique is welcome. Keep in mind I haven't advanced beyond steel yet though!)

Simple two story farmhouse... not very farmhousey if you ask me.


And the farmland itself... all vegetables. Somehow I don't think pearlpeas and corn is a very satisfying diet, but they stay alive...






Here is my woodcutter's hut along with work station below.


Rather obviously, I suck at decorating. >.<

(How to take pictures of structures bigger than the screen? The new hunters lodge is too big for the zoomed out screen... >.< )

 

There is a mod that expands the amount of zoom you can go too. Don't remember the name, but a search should turn it up.

Good start too. A tip for building, always try for asymmetrical builds. If everything is all the same symmetrically, it looks fake. Gotta dirty it up, so to speak.

 

That would be 'Extra Zoom Levels'.http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/extra-zoom-levels.63670/

 

Thanks for the mod link ^_^ Asymmetry, got it. Going to be a lifelong with the ocd that insists on perfect symmetry, but I'll do my best!

Made some edits to the chef's place and now includes a small dining area for the colonists:


Some admittedly uninspired mining area...


and the hunters lodge, which I'm kinda proud of (at least in comparison with everything else I've built so far! xD )


Lots of room for improvement all around, but its what I've got so far, for better or worse...

 

I see good improvement, especially in the hunters lodge. Great job!

As you experiment, you will find styles and designs that work well together. Experimentation is key. Some will work, some will not... but that's the fun of building.

 

The chief's place has a LOT of roof.
You may want to consider building a tiny little crawl space filled with boxes and crates.
It might not look good (hard to picture) but that's what most houses do with that empty space.

 

Thank you! Definitely will have to. I'm finding that I really like the seperation of workspace and living space, gives me a lot more control on the species that moves in and still allows me to use most of the possible items. I've tried building on an ocean world so far and the challenges are so different that I'm looking forward to showing off how different the architecture is going to be (probably)

A question: how do you collect rainwater? Seems like a stupid question, but it doesn't seem to collect in areas where I've placed bricks for whatever reason, only accumulating on naturally spawned dirt blocks, is there a reason for this?

Thank you for the suggestion! That's a great idea, will have to work that in somehow. ^_^

 

I look forward to your designs on the ocean planets, they are a big challenge, for sure!

The way I collect rainwater is by making runoff gutters that collect into liquid tanks. The trick is to have backwall to make the tanks and gutters water conductors. If you look at my series, the pagoda tower collects water through the arms that are offset to allow each to collect some rain. I then simply use the matter manipulator to collect the full sections of their water.

 

Yep, and it is mighty annoying when that rainwater keeps filling up your underground base because the roof is out of loading range.

 

Yeah, I've had to alter my building methods a bit because of that issue... mostly by having drains everywhere.

 

Is there a drain item that does it, or just physical ones? The background was what I was forgetting about, I keep forgetting the background means something other than extra blocks >.< D'oh. It hasn't been a problem on the lush world for whatever reason, I guess there's enough caves and such that the water goes off screen, but the islands are a real problem for some reason with it. Is it possible to get water to go into the background, move it to a new location, then put it back in the foreground?

 

You can craft drains at the wiring station, it's an item that attaches to a wall rather than needing to sit on top of something so you can set them up to only drain once water reaches a certain level as a simple overflow control. You can also switch them on and off via wiring for something like a tank purge if you want to be able to fill up and dump a tank on a whim without having to remove and place them each time.

 

I love that lodge!

 

Ah, awesome and thank you!

I'm glad! ^_^ Thanks!

Awesome, I'll investigate and see if I can add some in for the oceanic farm! Thank you!

Current colony statistics:
Population: 12
Yury Ewald – Pearlpea Farmer
Shelby Kregal- Corn Farmer
Chen Dyomin- Wheat Farmer
Lane Hadfield- Potato and Rice Farmer
Nevada Ashby- chef
Quinn Atkov – Copper Smith
Quinn Bayliss – Coal Miner
Kiley Garriot – Copper Miner
Nevada Hieb – Woodcutter
Alex Franklin- Woodcutter
Hayden Favier- Huntress
Hayden Atkov- Hunter

Net Product:
+324 carbohydrates
+24 Protein
+54 vegetables
+111 lumber
+38 coal
+17 tools (copper)

-12 clothing
-36 fruit

Mostly due to the imbalance of foods available on the starting world since there are no fruits and 4 different grains/carbs/starches. Getting a spaceport and a second colony up and going on a forest world to get a tomato farm going is a pretty high priority for food at this point.

To-Do
Spaceport- something relatively small, enough to small in-system freighters to deliver goods
Water towers ,and wells: No proper water collection or purification facilities in place yet, not a big deal given the volume of rain, but certainly has an impact on sanitation
Sewer system: self explanatory. Perhaps a sewage to fertilizer facility or something. Boost farming productivity? Just a thought.
Weavers: Just to solve the lack of clothing at the colony. These jeans only last so long!
Stories: Need to write more of the story as well as figure out stories for each of the colonists perhaps.

 

So, I ended up getting really distracted and decided to re-work the farmhouses to something that I'm hoping is a bit better. Size is the main difference, also has indoor plumbing and the roof angle has been lessened. Less symetrical and not as much roof space.



Also messed with the fields themselves a bit:


So now there is a well to support the farmers with their own water needs as well as an irrigation system (yay mod). At the far right I added a little kiosk for them to rest and get something to drink, farm work is hard work afterall.

Unfortuntely with the move Yury Ewald and Shelby Kregal have moved on to other parts. Yury was quite the jerk and the coal miner nearly threw him down a mine shaft in an argument. As a community it was decided that everyone had enough of him and it was time to move on. Shelby didn't want to leave him and so left with him.

Hayden Reilly (ANOTHER Hayden? Popular name...) and Tyler Brody (f) have moved in in their place. Both seem to be getting acquainted to their new surroundings quite well. Tyler seems to prefer the wheelbarrow to his own bed though, I'm sure there's a story behind that...

Edit: the longer I look at the picture the more errors I realize I've made. Tis late so I'll have to fix it another time but...: fireplace stone doesnt extend all the way up, needs support for the area under the second floor balcony, neither the bathroom nor the kitchen has a light source, consistency errors with the outside wood pattern and the inside vertical wood support... if you find anything else throw something at me.



This is an experiment I did, the house is almost completely symmetrical except for the windows and I was wondering how 'off' it felt. I think I've moved beyond being stuck into changing the window shape to get out of the stuck, but might be handy to know if it works or not.

 

You've come a long way in a short time. I love all these new builds and refurbishes.

 

Thank you ^_^

I made a thingy! Not sure about this...



First prototype of a shuttle sitting on the grapples of the new basic freighter port. As of yet there is no storehouse or fuel tanks so its sorta just gonna sit on the grapples until these get built.

Officially the X1, or experimental craft 1, the shuttle series has been named the Midge class Shuttle. While it is unlikely this particular craft will not be changed, the eventual craft official designation will be the Imperial Protectorate Ship (IPS) Bull. S-1 Midge will be the class name.

The craft is a basic interplanetary shuttle that is not designed to leave the system as it lacks the necessary drivess. The armored skin of the shuttle is sufficient for thousands of atmospheric descents and repelling the average rocks and dust that it is likely to face. Without shields or armament, however, it is vulnerable to attack. Its the smallest class of transport, carrying only a single cargo bay giving it a total capacity of 64 slots. (how to work this in, anyway?) Can form a single trade route to and from Acamar IIIa.

The small engine, modest cargo capacity, and thin skin enables this prototype to get by on relatively low fuel, requiring only 50 gallons of oil per round trip.

This shuttle is piloted by Captain Kiley Titov.

(How do I get the big thruster things that you can see on your ship but cant break?!? I wants them! >.< )

 

MODS!!!

Here is one that is discontinued, but still works (for now) - http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/hull-plating-blocks-more.2998/

I would just use the "ship in a box" part and open it for all the parts needed.

 

XS-2 model for the IPS Bull. Thoughts? Favoring more clean lines I think, though Same stats, more or less, though with a large primary engine and 4 planetary thrusters. Still only enough room for a single cargo container.

 

Good, clean lines... But how does the shipping container get off loaded? Needs a big hatch door or something, I think.