I'm sure everyone knows about them, and how inefficient they are. I play in single player mode mostly because I am really not interested in PvP. So that might be one reason fueling a Capital ship takes me days of fuel generation. But after "filling the tank" and flying from one planet to the next, the fuel is over half way gone. So if I want to be able to leave again, I have to shut the power off; which vents the oxygen, another resource I have to generate to refill. The amount of resources I put into building one seems like a waste when you can't hardly use the ship for anything other then transporting your other vehicles to other planets. It is 2023; NASA has been using solar panels on ships since they started making them. So, I am a little confused as to why we do not have the ability to use solar panels on capital ships to help power the equipment inside them...? Did I miss something in the equipment list, or are there really no options for solar power on Capital ships? Rather then build another Capital ship, I built myself a transport ship for my hovercraft. So glad it worked because now I can fly my hovercraft to other planets and use it. My idea for a Capital ship, one of the reasons I decided to try the game I might add, was to have something I could use as a base. But, if I can't generate power for my fridge, and all of my food spoils, what is the point? My hovercraft has a medical device on it so I have healing when I need it. If I go to a new system, I can just spawn a new ground base as well. Drop a teleporter and now I can move back and forth between the 2 bases. Sure, not as fun as having a huge base ship, but at least I do not feel the resources use were wasted, like I do when I build a CS. It is sad, that the main selling point of this game, the Capital ship, is something I have no desire to do now.
If you're not against mods (aka Scenarios), Reforged Eden offers Solar Panels for capital vessels. They work differently from vanilla solar panels; instead of generating energy based on sun distance/angle, they simply provide negative energy usage. So the CVs (size 4+) I've been working on lately, if I use enough solar panels, can idle indefinitely while using no fuel at all. Before I did this, in a vanilla game, I started developing a few tactics to extend CV battery life: 1. Turn off thrusters when not in use. Even at idle, they consume power. Shut them off completely when not using them. 2. Turrets also consume power when not in use. Shutting them down saves power. Only do this if you're SURE you won't be attacked. 3. Constructors consume power when not in use. Especially the Advanced Constructor. Same advice as above 4. Same for the shield but I leave that on anyway because I don't like the idea of leaving the CV completely undefended while I'm out exploring. I've also been getting used to the idea of only really flying the CV from star to star, posting up somewhere it won't be attacked (Trade Stations are good for this), and using my SV with a warp drive to explore the planets and such. Basically treat the CV as a BA when you get to a new star system, and use the SV for inter-planetary travel. Pretty sure it should be the same in vanilla, but I always try to make Fusion Power Cells, as they effectively give you twice the power output for the same amount of Promethium (plus some hydrogen, which is easy enough to get from Ice asteroids). I usually like to keep a stock of several hundred Fusion Fuel Cells in storage as needed, and a large stockpile of promethium in case that runs out. Do NOT try to run it on biofuel because that will never work. You'll use more energy creating the biofuel than you would get out of it. I pretty much live out of my CVs, tending to avoid BAs after the first planet, so hopefully these tips might help a bit! Having a big CV and going around the universe was the main thing that brought me back to the game, so I completely understand your vision! Edit: Last tip: I always, as soon as I can afford it, put a Tool Turret (in Drill mode) on my CV so I can mine large amounts of promethium, ice (which you turn into water and/or hydrogen), and pentaxid from asteroids, thus ensuring an endless supply of fuel. Once I can afford it, I also put another Tool Turret (this one is multi-tool mode which has a salvage beam) on so I can salvage orbital wrecks and pick up tons of components and resources quickly. Edit 2: Any chance you can post some details of your CV? Size class, etc. I am quite curious to see what is taking up so much fuel
Slam makes some good points, I will add: It can also really help to consider which CV thrusters you are adding to your ship vs. size. Are you building a smaller CV with minimal fuel storage but then placing the largest thrusters? Those large XL thrusters go through fuel QUICK, so only use them when you really need them.
why do you think there is PVP in multiplayer? i play on a server which is open pvp and NO one has ever shot someone else lol....you would only get shot if you attacked first. also nasa doesnt have warships with high powered laser beams etc, solar has limits. sounds like you need an automated fuel farm to gnerate fuel for you and also to put fuel in the gas tank when it runs low automatically. scripts my boy!
What on earth ship did you build and how are you fueling it? Are you using biofuel to power an interstellar capital vessel? Because if so, that would be your first mistake. I don't mean to rag on you, but of all the frustrations I encountered when learning the game, this was never one of them. As such I suspect you are playing drastically differently and the solution to your problems might be a simple one. No ship I know of at the stage of the game I suspect you're at, would ever use as much fuel as you describe. Some pointers to try out that might help: - get promethium: it's way more efficient than biofuel. For a starter or early game CV, you won't need much fuel honestly. - if you're starting, or just exploring, don't build over a T2 CPU ship. Not until you've gotten the hang of things. You're probably gonna stay away from combat, so you won't need guns. Steel hull, maybe some medium thrusters for extra lift, that's it. It should be relatively cheap and just get the job done. Something in that range will not use a lot of fuel. I've recently built a T1, warp-capable CV that only has two small fuel tanks in it. I think it'll run for a few days unless you're flying in high gravity -don't install parts that will eat up fuel/turn them off if you don't need them. -A: a teleporter is the biggest power drain when idle. If you have one on your ship, set up a switch (preferably a motion sensor) to turn it off when you're not using it. -B: having lots and lots of container extensions will use up power too. So watch out. -C: a shield generator will also use noticeably more power. If you're clever about staying away from combat, you won't need one. -D: you can turn off constructors if you're not using them, that will save some fuel. -lastly, and this goes back to the first point, use your space travels to keep your fuel going. You can buy fuel at UCH stations for super cheap through station services. Also, go get promethium asteroids. It's literally thousands of promethium just waiting for you to take it. EZ mode. You can put a small constructor on your ship, mine promethium, then have the constructor make fuel as you go; it will produce more fuel than it uses to make it, even while flying. Edit: or ignore my post and go with what Slam Jones said. I literally didn't read his at all and have now realized I only wasted keystokes after the fact. lol
Sorry but your first 6 lines about fuel and the consumption is nonsense. Take a SV mounted with 6 drills and you take very little time to mine a promethium asteroid that returns about 3000+ ores in less than 5 minutes real-time. Same for the pentaxid, and there are traders which also sell ores in bigger quantities, if you meet such ones then place a solar-powered teleporter nearby. Ressource problem solved. As for consumption, what you need to know is the 'power left' number in the P menu, main section. It's real time in hours: minutes, so you know how long you can stay away at the current consumption rate, this is usually several hours real-time before you must return to your CV, game interruptions not counted. And if you play the RE scenario there are even solar panels for CVs if I'm not mistaken, taking away any fuel and consumption problem. Then, your title is wrong only because a CV comes with 36.000 shield points in vanilla which beats everything else as for protection during attack, the best SVs have only 4000, so I guess well that CVs are not totally useless...
Are you landing your CV on planets? That can dramatically reduce fuel efficiency depending on the planet. I usually keep my CV in space and jump into my SV to explore a planet. By mid game, you should have enough fuel to keep even a relatively large CV in space for an extended amount of time. When I get access to fusion cores, most of my CVs have enough fuel to keep running idle in space for a day or more (real time). I usually don't have a lot of problems with fuel management past mid game so I have never done this before but maybe the problem could be solved with signal logic? Switch non-essential devices off while you are using other vehicles?
Hey, thanks for the responses. I will try to respond to everyone real quick before I go to bed. @Slam The main thing I was going to say to you is I would post the ship info, but it was done on the experimental side of the house, and when I stopped playing on that I deleted the game save. I can tell you it was 3 hanger sized compartments with a double wide corridor connecting them all (ship hanger, bridge, hovercraft hanger). I don't have a problem with mods, just never really used any on any game I have played before, but I will look into it. Thanks for the info. @Fractalite I was using the large thrusters for the main propulsion, medium for directionals. I think I tried using smalls for lift but it just seemed too slow so I switched them to medium. @Arron IDK, probably what I am used to from other games I have played. I always tend to draw the attention of the people that want to PK so, I just stay away from multiplayer now. @Insopor Don't worry, redundancy isn't always a bad thing, especially when you are offering advice to someone trying to learn something. I appreciated the confirmation of what Slam said all the same. I was using biofuel, because I haven't explored the other options yet. I was using the resources to build and upgrade other things. I will look into the other options now that I have managed to get off of the start area. I also have yet to fine a station but I will start looking out for them. @japp_02 The only asteroids I have found that I can mine so far are ice, but I will look for the ones you suggested. @everyone My biggest issue is being new to the game. I am still learning what the rest of you learned probably 500 hours of game time ago. In all of the time I have played, I have been in the normal version of the game, then went to see the experimental, then came back. I started a new game each time. So I haven't really been far yet. On experimental I decided to build a CV, but was not happy with the results, because I was using biofuel to try to keep it going; it was the only source of fuel I knew about. But now, thanks to you I know o others. I turn off everything that I can, even in my groundside bases, to save the batteries and try to build them up. Before I started working on some stuff before I logged out a bit ago, my base was at 44% battery, but it is back to 18% again. Now that I warped to the next system, they may charge back up, we will see. As far as a CV, I may try another one in a while, after I have gathered more resources. Oh, I forgot to mention, the CV I did make wasn't very big. Just big enough to hold my SV and HV as I mentioned before, with a corridor leading to the bridge. The hull was hardened and combat blocks, the frame was steel. I didn't put in many lights, and I had a large constructor for main and a small making fuel. I had planned on putting in a plant fiber farm, but when I planted some on my ground base, I wasn't thrilled about the small amount I got from gathering them. Seems better to farm wood and use that instead. Also, when I land any of my ships, and have stuff in the fridge, I shut off turrets, thrusters and lights so I don't loose my food stores. So I am used to turning all of that off in my ships. Thanks for the input and advice everyone, I really appreciate it.
@Wanev I was landing on planets, because I knew I was going to have to make fuel while I was there. Being new sucks at times, especially when you are trying to figure things out on your own.
That sucks, being new and discovering stuff should be the best bit of the game, especially in single player! My advice would be to build small, since it means you have to mine less, and whatever you build will use less fuel. Also like everyone says, turn off everything you're not using. My first CV in a game usually has nothing bigger than a medium thruster, and is always T1. Fuel lasts forever, and with a turret or 2 you can see off most drones. It can still carry everything I own, and I eventually squeeze in more gear and maybe a T2 CPU extender as I find the materials. Most important, you're meant to be having fun. If you're not, change up the way you're playing a bit
Bro, I was flying metal bricks that couldn't take more than a few shots for like... 400 hours. I know, right? If you're up for multiplayer, I'd recommend one of the official servers. I play on Official NA. You can always ask in chat if you need help. No stupid questions. Lots of things in this game are worth asking about as the solution (or intended way to do it) may not be readily apparent. Helpful community there, and you can team up with someone if you so desire.
Counterarguments against CV inefficiency. Merganser-class cargo vessel. CPU tier one CV with 320k units of cargo volume. Interstellar, gravitized, pressurized. Best cargo runner I've made to date. Handles my trading and tends my autominers like a boss. A high capacity cargo SV would take optronics, erestrum, and zascosium, carry far less, and be bound to a single system. A Merganser's most exotic material is 580 neodymium. At only 28 meters long, happily lands on most SV landing pads. Youngstown-class destroyer. T2 shield, four fixed lasers, four fixed rocket launchers, four 15 mm rotary turrets. Mostly steel with titanium reinforcement around soft bits. Very fast and nimble. It's only CPU tier two. Kills include and shielded orbital shipyard and a Skaar Nemesis. The entire hull does not even contain even one full stack of iron. It is expendable in a way a high end combat SV could never dream to be. I could go on to show the T3 mother ship that lands tail first on its forward drive thrusters and the planetary assault cruiser that cracks open drone bases with five dozen cannon turrets, but you get my point. CVs are the premiere vessel of this game. Their economy of scale puts smaller craft deep in the shade in any capacity where they're not artificially hampered specifically to mitigate this fact. Even then, the CV can often just carry around SVs and HVs as ship's boats to gain these capabilities. As for practical wisdom, I know of a few ways of dealing with energy issues. Food preservation on a CV when you're offline is conventionally done with large fuel tanks. I would instead recommend a temporary solar powered BA is a safe or empty sector. It doesn't take much to freehand place some solar panels, a capacitor, and a fridge. For more permanent bases, consider using multiple separate BAs with their own solar grids. I typically have one for habitation, one for manufacturing, one for resource processing, one for food/medicine production, one for base defense, and one unpowered BA for cold storage. This way, running out of power working your constructors all night has no effect on your fridge or defense turrets.
@Wellingtoon I am liking the game, it is pretty fun, it was just disappointing that the main thing I wanted to do was so frustrating. You all have helped quite a bit though. Once I get settled in the new system, I may try building one again. I have a large store of materials at the main base but I am lacking a few more items I need. So we will see. @Insopor Maybe my issue with CV building is that I am trying to carry an SV and HV? I would like to build small honestly, but I can't seem to figure out how to pack 2 ships into a 3rd, plus facilities that I need. I will give some thought to a smaller design, maybe try that. I'm not sure I want to venture into multiplayer though. Too many bad experiences in multiplayer over the past couple of years. I kinda just want to run on my own. Maybe after some therapy I will be able to do MP though (I'm not trying to be funny about the therapy either. I'm not crazy, I just know that I need some).
@The Big Brzezinski That actually looks like a SV at first glance. I thought it was a shuttle. Took me a minute to see it was not. My main concern has been fueling the CV though. Everyone has given me so much information, I might be able to try another one. But I think first I need to start working on the fuel thing. Get the ideas figured out, like where to find the asteroids and such. I like the idea of a small CV, but I really do want to be able to transport my SV and HV too. I will back to the drawing board with my idea and see what I can come up with.
A hangar big enough to transport all your small craft is a perfectly reasonable place to start designing a CV. Just need to make a big box with a hangar door, then add other boxes onto it containing things like generators and detectors, and finally slapping thrusters to the sides. If you look on the system map after you start, you'll see there are promethium ore deposits on the desert moon Skillon. Reaching, mining, and retrieving this fuel is one of the early adventures.
Lots of good advice in this thread! The need to carry SVs and/or HVs shouldn't been too big of an issue in my experience. On many of my CVs, I will start with a hangar bay big enough for the mission parameters, then add the rest of the ship around it. I've found that in many cases, the hangar takes up a lot of the ships interior space, which can feel excessive at first, but makes sense in the long run. It's also worth noting that you can dock SVs and other vessels to the outside of your ship. It won't look pretty, and they won't be defended from incoming fire, but it can be helpful to make the most of a small ship. This is the early-game CV I've been using lately. Size 1.5 or so, with enough dock space for a mid-size SV, and enough internal space to customize as needed while playing. I've currently got shield and extra constructor, but could switch it to a small farm pretty quickly. It actually ends up feeling rather small after a while. De Gama-class light explorer / corvette It's worth noting that it's not the size of the CV that dictates battery drain, but rather the components and devices onboard. While larger ships tend to have more thrusters and other devices, they don't have to. If you keep away from combat zones, then speed isn't as much of an issue. If you don't need to land on planets, then you can get away with far fewer thrusters. Lately I've only had maybe 2-4 small thrusters for lateral movement, and a maybe 4-6 smalls for vertical movement. It's slow as hell in those directions, but that's okay since I don't spend a lot of time scuttling sideways like a crab; it's usually forward speed that matters the most. As for Solar Panels, take a gander here: Magellan-class heavy explorer / frigate This big bastard (Size 4, but the interior is mostly empty, so more like Size 6 or 7 when done) uses 0 fuel at idle due to the solar panels and turning things off. And that hangar bay could take many SVs and HVs. The only ship I had started to encounter fuel issues was this Size 11 behemoth: Starstrider-class cruiser But even then, I was able to mine enough Promethium and Ice using the onboard Drill Turret that my array of constructors (I think I had 12 or so last I used it) could pretty much continuously pump out Fusion Fuel Cells, and kept it going basically forever. Just needed to find a Promethium asteroid or two every few real-life days and it was set for a while. And this ship has a hangar bay big enough for a dozen SVs. Pretty much just came down to economy of scale; the proportion of energy produced in constructors to energy consumed by the ship as a whole was high enough that I never had to shut it down completely, ever. I only stopped using it because it doesn't follow CPU-rules, takes forever to turn since it's so heavy, and would cause my crusty old pc to lag a bit when walking around due to the large number of deco blocks and lights and such. TL;DR - Carrying SVs and HVs should be no issue, as with time you'll get better at making more efficient CVs with better use of internal space and fuel consumption. Reforged Eden helps massively by providing Solar Panels and lots of other cool goodies, but is not strictly necessary if you just keep things like thruster spam in check. It's very easy to overbuild, so it's good to step back once in a while and ask: "is this part necessary?" And it's been said many times in this thread, but it bears repeating for anyone reading along who may have missed it: NEVER try to power a CV with biofuel. It's a losing battle. Always use Promethium Packs or Fusion Fuel Cells.
Quite a few hours into my current Reforged Eden Scenario play-through and I've not ONCE made fuel for my CV. This CV is my mobile home base, so is a bit of a chunky boy with lots of thrusters, decent shields, basic armament - just to fend off Drones and clear hostiles from landing zones - as well as constructors and plenty of storage. Despite this, it's only been fuelled using fuel I've managed to loot from POI's - I've not turned any of the Promethium I've mined into Fuel yet. I did craft some biofuel very early-on to power certain tools and my first HV, but that's it. I do carefully power-manage my CV though, turning off Thrusters when not needed, as well as powering down things like Constructors and Food Processors when not in use. I'll even power down the Shield if I consider my current location safe. Gravity is OFF unless I'm walking about the ship in orbit and I only turn the light on occasionally, using the suit's headlamp if I'm just heading to the bridge after an excursion. Add to this, this CV does have some of RE's CV-class Solar Panels. They only generate enough to supply the ship is "standby" mode. I.e. when I've powered everything down bar the Fridges, for when I'm going to be away for a long time. Speaking personally, getting a CV is always one of my main early-game objectives and, unless I'm deliberately role-playing differently, I will always have one before leaving the starting planet and moons. It's usually a bit rubbish, but it's mine, I then continue to upgrade it as things progress. I will eventually often build specialised CV's for certain tasks - fairly compact builds - while having a giant "CV Carrier" mobile warp-capable vessel. All that said, I wish BA's didn't become obsolete so quickly. During the early-game, it's good to have a base to work from but, once I have a CV, they're largely obsolete as I'm just going to leave them behind when I eventually warp away in my "mobile base" CV. In my current game, I captured and took over a Pirate Space Station. I've become quite attached to this orbital BA and I'd love to be able to take it with me, but current game mechanics won't allow it. I did a suggestion post about allowing orbital BA's to warp to new systems, with various restrictions in place, to allow them greater utility. The main utility of CV's during the early-game for me is their great ability at carrying all my stuff around. Indeed, often my first CV has been a cargo hauler, bringing loot and salvage back to my starting base. Later it evolves. I would really like to be able to take an orbital BA with me to new systems though...having scouted out the area first of course...
I spent the last 26 hours I think over on the Creative part of the game (seriously, I woke up yesterday around 0730) working on a CV. It doesn't look nearly as good as the ones y'all have posted here, but it isn't as ugly as some of the things I have made. I took it to space and hopped into my SV to test landing on it in space. I have to say it actually looks good up there. Once I figure out a big issue I discovered after landing again, and finishing up making the outside look pretty, I will take a ss and post it up. I do not currently have anything aside from the thrusters, cockpit, generator and fuel tank on it so I do not know how well it is going to handle power management. I put too many thrusters on it I think, because the cp is 225k. I have to decide what to remove to get it back under 200k, or I won't be able to put anything else on it until I can get the T2 core made (that won't be until after I raid the hell out of start system though, so I will be going back and forth in the SV. Couple of questions though. The blueprint says I need 12k titanium rods. Is that for the titanium sheets? I have never really checked to see what is used to make the sheets since I usually get a bunch from the other planets. Where exactly do I find solar for CV's? Is that the mod you mentioned, or are they bought from a station? I always shut everything off when I park my ships, but I really would like to keep the fridge powered. Have to eat right? Anyway, I am off to bed, it has been an extremely long day for me. Also, thanks for sticking around in here everyone, I am learning a lot from all of you.
Yes, Titanium rods are for titanium sheets. At that amount, I'm sure it's because you used hardened steel for the hull. I would recommend not doing that, and using regular steel instead. Titanium might be hard to find on starter, especially at those amounts. It will also make your ship much heavier. If you do want a bit of additional armor, maybe only put hardened steel around important stuff like the generators. Solar does not exist for CVs in the vanilla game. A neat little alternative for allowing CVs to be turned off, but preserving food, is to make a tiny HV with a fridge and fuel tanks. No thrusters, just those green hover engines and a docking pad. Stick it somewhere inside your CV and it should be able to stay powered for several days on almost no fuel. Possibly, or you might be using medium thrusters instead of small. Thrusters are the thing that uses the most CPU in ships, so be careful. Medium thrusters use a lot more CPU than small, so check that first. Maybe only use medium thrusters facing down in case you need the extra lift.
@Insopor That actually all explains a few things I was actually just questioning (literally just now, I tabbed out of the game because I was going to do some edits on my post lol). I was going to ask if the hardened blocks raised the CP usage like the Xeno blocks did, because I used all hardened blocks not thinking about it in the beginning. I started downgrading the inside, but unless I want to tear the hull open the supporting blocks will have to stay hardened. Also, I actually really love the HV fridge idea, I am going to do one here in a minute. That will definitely solve my food storage issues, plus I may actually be able to link the food processor to the fridge in the HV. As for the thrusters, I did have to swap out the small dorsal thrusters for medium, because I couldn't lift off. But your explanation most likely explained why I couldn't (full hardened blocks). So I think I will swap out the left and right thrusters for small, that might bring me below 200k.
