M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: 0.10.0 New Mission Sneak Peek Part 3 – Steam News
Hello everyone! It’s back to another mission preview. Looks the same right? But this is another indoor mission from the ones we’ve shown before. This one is a… base. Whose base do you think this is? We’ll tell you about it in the future!
While VD’s current non-Quark designs may be a little hit or miss, their mission stages are always on point. I actually think one of the core reasons Mass Builder gets compared to the Armored Core series a lot, is because of the design and scale of the stages VD uses for the game. Yes, there’s obviously customization on the level of, and often exceeding AC games, but the atmosphere of this game and those games has a lot of overlap in places, and so much of that has to do with the way the stages look and feel.
Having some overlap with AC’s aesthetic will never be a bad thing
I’m currently working on the Cosmo Messer F2 and the Ts. The F2s are just an upgraded, printable version of the original F model (henceforth referred to as the F1). Aside from having exposed hydrogen tanks on the ventral side and an offset connector to compensate, it’s a superior build to the F1s. The T model is based on the F2, but it’s designed for carriers. The Hipper currently carries up to 12(14) Messer F2s while carriers like the Seydlitz can handle up to 27 Messer Ts.
Cosmo Messer T with unpainted Seydlitz in the background
I decided I’m going to make two versions of the Cosmo Messer T. Both are going to have the exact same designation, but the second version is going to be an Autopillock variant with no scripts or QoL features in the cockpit that aren’t essential for operations: it’s essentially a drone dressed up as a manned unit. This is to get around a couple of problems I’ve been having designing the blasted things.
Autopillock is a very advanced automation script, so the ‘APck Messer T’ is going to take a fair bit longer than the normal version to finish. If you look closely, you’ll see merge blocks on the wings in the picture above. Those are ordnance hardpoints. Now there are four potential missile setups currently available (that I know anything about), the gyroscope/custom turret controller method, the (new) AI blocks method, the Whip WHAM method, and the APck method. The APck variant of the Messer T is going to use the APck method, which is something I’ll need extensive testing for. The normal manned variant is going to use either the AI blocks method, or the Whip’s WHAM script, whichever I like more after testing. That same method will also be used on the F2s.
Once the missile system is in place, the F2s will be complete and I’ll know the manned T model will always be compatible with whatever weird ordnance I come up with for the F series. Long story short, standardization in practice.
M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP 0.10.0: New Type of Enemies Part 2 – Steam News
As a continuation from last week, here’s another variant of new enemies coming into the next update! Aside from these guys, we’re planning to improve our old ones as well as get more variants with more specialized attacks and engages more with a player so look forward to seeing them in the coming we…
While I like the idea of essentially slapping togeter new enemy types out of various existing M.A.S.S. parts, this week’s doesn’t feel as well put together as the first one.
It just looks unfinished and underdeveloped. I don’t know how long it took to make but it needs more attention, bigger lift fans, a more purpose built fuselage, and maybe an extra weapon? Even if said weapon’s just for show, this thing’s not a turret, so it shouldn’t have just one set of missiles and that’s it.
Anyway, I don’t hate it, I just think it needs a lot more attention than part 1’s little flying dragon. Goodness, I hope it’s little with proportions like these.
Space Engineers – Space Engineers: Automatons – Steam News
Hello, Engineers! The time to “build your friends” is now! Explore a future full of automated and animated allies and enemies. For this Major update we have provided you with the tools you need to define a new era in automation. These new blocks empower your creativity like never before.
A little late on this one but I’ve been busy getting familiar with everything in the update+DLC. It’s mostly been work on the Admiral Hipper, but I’ve been testing some things along the way and for the most part, it’s pretty good. Anyway, let’s get right to it.
Automatons
Now we can build our friends! That sounds a bit weird, actually.
New Features Include:
Event Controller & AI Blocks are here! (Grid AI Guide)
Locked Landing Gear no longer takes control of the grids they are attached to
Added Sun Tracking option to Custom Turret Controller
Small grid “Ejector” block has been changed to Small Connector (including Connector functionality)
Intel Arc GPUs Supported, minimal version of driver .4146
Turrets will now automatically engage a locked target if it is within the turret’s max range and Line of Sight (and the turret is not already engaging another target)
The “Forget Target” and “Copy Target” actions have been removed
New action: Focus Locked Target (replacing Copy target)
When triggering this action, turrets will prioritize the target that is currently fully target locked by the player
Added Grey Lead Indicator + “Out of weapon range” text indicator when you are out of range for the selected weapon
Increased Target Locking distance by 500m, totaling 2500m
Turrets: cycle subsystem in toolbar now shows the name of currently selected subsystem
UI Improvements:
New overlay when manually controlling Turrets
We also got a good number of new blocks. Here are my favorites overall:
Event Controller
The Event Controller practically stole the show on this one. It’s useful on its own, but combining it with scripts (PC users), timer blocks, and sensors, I can’t even imagine what the average space engineer will be able to pull off soon, provided they’ve got the patience and the drive to make it.
In a nutshell, the Event Controller is a conditional ‘if then’ statement in a large box. Now it’s not perfect. My testing showed me a few things I’d like it to be able to monitor for that it simply doesn’t at the moment, but this is one of those foundational mechanics that Keen can add to over time, so hopefully community feedback will get some other things added.
Full Block Air Vent
Every time we get a block like this, that’s one more old mod we no longer have to rely on in our builds. That’s a good thing, and always will be. Once it’s vanilla, it’s forever. Perfect.
Emotion Controller (DLC)
This one I haven’t had time to do any serious testing with yet, but the concept is awesome, with plenty of room for expansion, both by Keen themselves, and modders.
Piping (DLC)
These are just fun. They can really make a ship look like a ship, whether they’re on the inside or the outside. It just gives everything that complex, interconnected look. Also add in redundant and incomprehensible to non-engineers. I love them.
The Admiral Hipper Update
So here’s the progress so far.
I’ve been trimming things down where possible, upgrading whatever I can, streamlining and simplifying any programs I can, and even getting rid of some I don’t need anymore. Easy Automation and Autopillock remain core programs for the ship, along with supporting scripts, but as an example, Aeyos’ lighting script was removed because I found a quick and easy way to get the mode change result I wanted using Easy Automation. I’ll be doing that with any script or ship parts I can.
Hopefully, if I just hunker down and focus on this, I should have the updated Hipper finished and ready for the workshop in a week, two if work is hitting me harder than usual.
M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP 0.10.0: New Type of Enemies – Steam News
Hello! We’ve got a really exciting but short update this week again. Weeks ago we were asked if we’re getting any more enemies that aren’t Quarks and the answer at that time was yes… so here we are showing it now.
This flier looks like a M.A.S.S. unit’s upper half transformed, took off, and left the legs behind. That’s a creative (if transparent) way to design an enemy type. It actually kind of looks like a player made shooter with a bunch of accessories. Pretty cool.
