Starbase Easy Build Mode Tips and Tricks

This is a guide from the 10.08.21.
The servers are down for a patch – this guide may be invald after the patch.This guide is not very long – read it all if you want to use it or don’t use it at all.

This guide is for people who want to use easy build mode. This isn’t for fancy ships. But you can ugrade your laborer within minutes. If you have the modules ready you can upgrade the speed, manouverability, payload and endurance within minutes.

Example:
My laborer is ugly as hell but it can pick up over 90 crates of material, flies to the brink of the safezone in less then 10 minutes, does that trip 4x without refueling, has enough spare fuel to refuel three times and still has some manouverability.
If I wreck it, I can rebuild it in less then 10 minutes.
Downside: Crafting time for all the parts is tremendous. (but how could that be different for free building)

All other ships did NOT WORK for me and the game itself tells you NOT TO USE any other ship.
DONT build your own ship from the start with this tool.You “spawn” a ship at the screen next to the green box in the easy build hall.

If you have issues like “only one ship can be worked on” load another sihp and then reload the one you want to use. Logging out and back in helps a lot, too.

In the green square is a crafting bench. Stand close to it and go to your inventory crafting section. Craft modlues.

Things I added to most my basic laborers;
– more box thrusters (the ones that go through a corner can be added easily next to the existing ones)
– even more box thrusters (just box thruster without anything fit neatly on the harbpoints available ON your thrusters in corners)
– manouvering thrusters to the sides + top + bottom – box thrusters get you moving forwards; if you have enough of them they give some yaw and pitch but not much.
– 2 more generators (build in next to the first generator)
– more propellant tanks (next to the propellant tanks [never forget to fuel them up – you dont want to run out of propellant)
– tons of extra fuel racks
– tons of storage crates
– some cover to the front if you want to leave the safe zone – you dont want asteroids crashing directly into your internals

CRAFTING CAN TAKE A WHILE – go and have look at ships you can buy or earn some credits while waiting ( i suggest mining asteroids in the base like in the tutorial )

YOU CAN ONLY GIVE CRAFTING ORDERS NEXT TO THE BENCH BUT YOU CAN LEAVE THE BENCH UNTIL THEY ARE FINISHED AS LONG AS YOU STAY IN THE AREA OF THE STATION

Try to build your ship as symmetric as possible. If it isn’t symmetric it may fly but it will use a lot more fuel or some flight axis may seem jammed or broken. This is due to the fact, that manouvering thrusters will be constantly in use to counteract the unbalanced force. When you want to turn and the manouver thrusters are already operating nothing or little will happen.

Have enough manouvering thrusters on all sides

If a module does not have the word THRUSTER in it, it doesn’t have one! A spaceship does not need wings. But a wing with a thruster is a usefull addition

… use a ship part instead of a module in easy build (should work anyway)

… bolt a ship part to your ship from easy build mode (they might work, but easy build mode may not anymore for this ship

… unbolt parts to remove them (they will be removed – but you cant put anything in there with easy build mode

.. be hasty. A PART PLACED CAN NOT BE REMOVED SO FAR – PLACE A MODULE WRONG AND YOU HAVE TO START NEW / LIVE WITH IT / OR CONTINUE BY BUILDING FREELY

… build more then 50 thrusters – Your main flight computer (MFC) can only support 50. The workaround is quite easy but tedious – you can point at any part in your ship and press U to see its details. You can change the thrusters names. If you give many thrusters the same name (grouping) they will count as one and always fire together. Thus you can build as many thrusters you want BUT:
– a mistake in spelling screws you
– bad grouping screws you
– you should check ALL thrusters for their name. Any thruster with a number over 50 will not be used