Note: this article is about advanced building techniques. For advanced building mode, click here.
There are many ways to design various ships in Star-Made. Within this page of the wiki are some of the fundamentals important for advanced ship-building.
Hull Types/Systems[]
There are many different colours of hulls (including Plextanium Glass ) and Reinforced Hull s. Hulls can absorb 100 hp of damage, 25% armour rating (125c per). Glass can absorb 200 hp of damage, 25% armour rating (500c per). Reinforced Hulls can absorb 200 hp of damage, 50% armour rating [1500c per] (best absorbtion of damage). The main reason why hulls are so important is to protect the inner layer of a ship that holds your core and/or other computers/systems. The reinforced hulls absorb more damage and have a higher armour rating to protect your ship(s), but costs 12 times more (1500c rather than 125c) than regular hulls. Therefore, to fully protect your ship you'll need to have a lot of credits in order to buy stronger hulls.
Shield Systems[]
Shield systems work in such a way that the more shield dispersers you place (along with a source of power to provide to these dispersers) the better protection they offer for your craft. Dimensions are up to the user/person creating the craft.
Ex: 1x1,2x2,3x3,4x4,5x5 Or
StarMade Episode 7 Advanced Building Tutorial
Ex: 1x2,1x3,1x4,2x3,2x4,2x5,etc. As long as the shield dispersers are given enough power (generated by SD HCT xm3.4, or stored in batteries), your shields will be able to absorb and withstand lots of hits from enemies. (NOTE: Once shields are depleted they need to be able to recharge/reset for 15 seconds!)
Decks[]
The internals of a ship are usually divided into decks, which can vary in height but usually contain three blocks of space. There are two types of decking: inclusive decks and exclusive decks.
Inclusive decks consist of a floor and walls. The ceiling in inclusive decking is comprised of the floor of the deck above, which means more decks can be fit into a smaller area. However, any modifications to the floor or ceiling of an inclusive deck affects the levels above and/or below it, which can disrupt aesthetics or functionality. Additionally, it is easier to penetrate through inclusive decks, as there is only one layer of material between levels.
Exclusive decks consist of a floor, walls, and ceiling. Each level is self-contained, so modifications remain local to the deck being edited, rather than affecting multiple levels simultaneously. Exclusive decking has the advantage of being two layers thick between each level, making it significantly more difficult to penetrate through decks to reach sensative areas, such as weapons computers or the ship's core. The tradeoff is that exclusive decking takes more blocks and cannot fit as many decks in the same space as inclusive decking can. The result is a ship that is more expensive and either larger or less spacious.
Armor[]
Like decking, armor comes in two major flavors: integrated (or hull) armor, and armor plating. Unlike decking, however, armor is more flexible in application.
The first type of armor is integrated armor. This approach simply uses the structure and internals of the ship to shield its vulnerabilities. Integrated armor can make use of either regular or hardened hull blocks, and is extremely simple; most beginner ships use integrated armor.
The second type of armor is armor plating. This involves building up a physical buffer around the surface of the ship to absorb damage before the structure. While armor plating frequently makes use of hardened hull blocks, this is not always the case. Armor plating can be attached directly onto the skin of the ship, or it can be attached with an empty space between, known as a blast gap. Blast gaps reduce the structure damage dealt by missiles by moving the impact point farther away from the structure. As a result, the blast radius doesn't reach as far into the structure, reducing the effective damage taken. While solid, thick armor plates are more effective than blast gaps, they are also significantly more expensive and add considerably more mass.
These two methods can be mixed in a variety of ways to create different armor defense strategies.
Turtle Philosophy[]
One way to use armor effectively is to strategically place armor to defend key parts of the ship. For an example, a heavier ship might have heavy armor on the front, allowing it to withstand punishment as it dishes out damage. A lighter ship might place armor on the back or sides, relying on agility to evade attacks from the front and armor to absorb attacks from blind spots.
Armor does not have to be localized to just one part of the ship, however; armor scattered around the ship still falls into this ideology.
Onion Philosophy[]
Another way to use armor to build up layers farther and farther away from the core. For an example, the core room may consist of a box of hardened hull blocks. Doors from the core room would lead to short corridors; bridges that span a blast gap to the next layer of the ship. This can continue on repeatedly, resulting in a ship that remains strong even after the outer hull is breached.
Knight Philosophy[]
A third method is to simply build up a thick layer around the entire ship. If the ship is being built using only materials gathered (as opposed to gained via admin commands), this is done almost exclusively with standard hull blocks. This method uses a very large number of blocks compared to other armor methods and can quickly increase the mass of the ship. However, the ship becomes very resistant to attacks, regardless of direction.
Bolt Philosophy[]
Yet another method is to make an extremely light, fast, agile ship. Use mostly thrusters, batteries, and weapons. This method involves out-maneuvering your opponent, and getting behind them to strike without being fired upon. not suggested in multiplayer, where players can attach rotatable turrets to their massive ships.
These methods can be mixed to create extremely tough craft; a ship can be built on the Onion Philosophy, then completely covered by armor as per the Knight Philosophy, and finally be reinforced in areas via the Turtle Philosophy. While such a ship would fare well once its shields dropped, it would also have very high mass, cost a great deal more, and have significantly less internal space.