There are destroyed ships in space near your starter planet. This is a simple guide in how to restore one, what you will need to bring and to provide an option for those who want to roleplay restoring a CV rather than spawning a blueprint from the magic factory.
Contents
Why Restore a CV?
All credit goes to FionnMacCumhaill!
Alpha 10
As part of one of the missions of the Robinson protocol, or potentially just from puttering around the planet, you will come across a minefield of destroyed ships. There there are several half-destroyed shipwrecks (CVs of differing sizes and one SV) all of which can be salvaged as functioning ships. Note, this is unlike destroyed ships on the planet/moons which are down as bases in the game and cannot be made to fly. In this guide we will be looking at restoring the larger of the CVs. There are several reasons for doing this:
Personally I think it is more in the spirit of a survival game to salvage a wreck.
- It is an interesting process to go through.
- It has a nice balance with building a ship how you want it but with an existing outline and structure to work with.
- I didn’t have a CV in game yet.
It is however, probably easier to simply chop the ship up, dump it in a factory and spawn a blueprint. It will take a lot less time certainly. I felt, though, that my first CV should, like my first SV and HV, be built the proper way before dipping into the factory. Blueprint CVS also tend to be very pretty with everything you could possibly need and a whole bunch besides but are not always built well to a particular purpose and tend to have a lot of different things taking power that are not really necessary.
If you want an additional reason, you have received the following message on your PDA:
Mayday! Mayd…….attacked in the………..system took evasive action …….warp…….through minefield but…..must get the capital ships……..and Exodus to………planet orbit or ………will not be able to complete mission……it is absolutely imperative to prevent………..disaster! ….the last remaining ship of its class…..must ensure…
What Should You Bring?
You will want an eva boost for your suit or, at the very least, a ship you can release a drone from inside (I used the L7 comet miner in this playthrough). Otherwise you will likely freeze. To remove a core being able to fly around in your jetpack is easier.
You will also need to bring:
- A multitool with charges.
- A CV generator.
- Several cores so you can salvage items from ships.
- A CV cockpit so you can actually fly it (I didn’t find any in the other ships).
It is probably worth having a portable constructor in your CV in case you forget something. Almost everything else you can find in other wrecks.
Pick Your Wreck
Decide which CV catches your eye. There are the two smaller more or less identical freighters, the Exodus and the white one like a bird which is the largest of the CVs in the minefield near my starter planet. Different minefields can have different ships but generally seem to have two small CVs, one or two larger CVs and a damaged SV.
You should loot the rest of the ships for thrusters and useful bits and pieces. I easily had enough to what some thrusters on my chosen ship which I then flew down to the planet to stock up on any other materials needed for the restoration. You may not need to do this, and it would more fuel efficient to take down an SV or simply bring the stuff with you in the first place, but I wanted to check if the CV flew alright on the planet as well.
I chose the white CV also because it has nice lines (which makes restoration more time consuming) and because I wanted to add a bit of background. Since it looks like a goose or swan, I decided to call is Swansong to represent the shape and that, despite its almost death it still has one final and great mission ahead of it. NB this CV is also commonly found on planets as a wreck (in which case it is a base, not a ship).
I also took the damaged SV to fix later as well:
Looting First
To loot the other ships you will want to locate the core, remove it, and replace with one of the ones you brought with you.
This allows you to remove entire parts intact so you can use them on your chosen vessel (or future vessels). Now go loot every other CV for every useful part you can find.
Decide the Purpose of Your CV in Your Fleet and What You Need Now
As my (first) and main CV, I wanted an armed and armoured monster to take all comers so I ran around with a multitool and repaired and upgraded every existing block on the ship to combat steel. This then made it extremely heavy with insufficient thrust to move around on the planet so required the addition of many more large thrusters to give it manoeuvrability. Ultimately, it is a powerful, well armored class 2 CV that is not best purpose for puttering around on the planet and the weaponry is mainly for space combat. This CV is my current flagship and will take me to the next planetary system. It is not, however, the CV I use the rest of the time for the initial planet and moon.
So far, in single player, I’ve mostly been using a limited cheap CV with no armoured plating, limited weapons and is basically a mobile base that transports me between points on the planet while bringing my POI attack SV, harvester-fridge HV and combat HV with it.
Decide If You are Building It Up or Down
So if we are going for a little planet hopper CV or general non space combat CV we may want to break a larger CV down to a smaller size or use one of the smaller freighter CVs. If we are building it up as an orbital or planetary combat vessel then we need to plan that at this stage. For this guide we are using the largest CV as it is either closer to the size for our needs but can also be cut down easily enough.
3.1 The Space Combat Vessel
We will be dealing with everything up to an orbital patrol vessel and will want the majority of our armaments able to fire to the front and above. We will want the whole ship armoured or, at least, the top and bottom and will not be wanting to be flying the ship into combat with a bit of glass protecting us from doom while we are sitting close to the enemy guns. We need redundancy of critical systems just in case and we may need to consider protection against “lagshot”. The extra weight means we will need a lot of power from thrusters. We also have a T2 shield, a pentaxid tank and, since there is a lot of resources and expense, a warp drive to move it to other planets to use it there.
Here we have the large CV with the entire hull upgraded to combat steel and a “battle bridge” set deep into the ship. The front cockpit and the “neck” of the ship all block access to critical systems further back. The thrusters, generator and weapons around the cockpit all function as decoys and will be the closest thing the enemy targeting will latch on to. Where feasible armoured shutters have been interspersed with combat steel to prevent against possible lagshot. The weaponry is primarily space only weaponry. I’ve gone for a mix of weapons here but use what is appropriate. The remains and the space and any vehicles parked therein can also absorb damage if need be. The hangar is there mostly for non combat purposes though and leads through an armoured tunnel to the “battle bridge”.
There are two growing plots are because I find them generally useful. Only 16 spaces as there is an armoured window under the grow lights (so two blocks of “hull” need to be breached before the area loses 02/growing plots get blown up). Flat spaces on the top allow up to three SVs to dock (and one more could dock upside down on the underside of the “neck”). If you had to add more weapons you could use these spaces for weapons instead. If you want to be able to attack POIs as well, add guns to the underside of the neck, underside of wings and hangar exterior.
Tested with existing weapons against Rucky’s combat simulator, and against the toughest enemy I could fine in the PVE game, the Orbital Patrol Vessel:
I have tried to keep the “feathered wings” which involved almost going blind while rotating hundreds of triangles and other shapes to try and fit them in the right places. It is up to you if you want to simplify the “wing” design to save time.
3.2 The Planet Hopper Vessel
For this we want to keep weight down we are looking at 10ms-2 of thrust in all directions to move well under 1g.
Here we have shorn off the “wings” and “belly” of the CV including the hangar as we want to drop weight and we want a flat bottom for LOS for our bottom weapon. We have a small hangar/growing plot for any small CV or HV. A more powerful HV is better docked on the top for easy access for a combined firepower system (see below). Weapons need to be ones that work on planets, should be built in rather than external to save weight and space where possible.
Our primary combat opponent will be drones attacking a base we are at and possibly ground troops or hostile creatures. The latter are not particularly dangerous and so it is more of an early warning system we are looking for. Drones can be more damaging so we need a bit more combat potential for the top. Power usage with all systems going and thrusters at full:
Generator capacity: meaning one generator can be taken out with no loss of ability (and the front generator therefore functions as a potential decoy).
Power usage with non critical systems idle and space thrusters only: Easy access to the roof and ground near the cockpit.
3.2a (An Aside) Combined Firepower System
For attacking POIs you will probably be using a HV and/or SV for your main attack. If you have a HV with heavier weaponry and armour for this kind of task then, in my opinion, you want it on top of your planet hopping CV rather than in a hangar. This is because you can use its weaponry easily and quickly while attracting fire away from the CV. The turrets of a docked HV will not fire. However, if you jump in it and undock (typically by rising up) then both the CV’s weapons and the HV’s weapons can fire at any attacking drones. This can be accomplished very quickly compared with messing about with hangars, ramps and driving out to face the right direction. If you don’t have such a HV, you will probably want to consider slightly heavier armament on the top.
3.3 The POI Attack Vehicle
This is basically a half way house between the other two with the planet hopper as a base but heavy armour exterior on the underside and front and a lot of weapons on the front and underside in addition to the anti-drone ones on top. Secondary cockpit deeper in the ship.
Additional thrust has also been added along with a T2 shield generator. All this means it is a lot more power hungry than the planet hopper but not to the point of the SCV. Frankly, though you are better using a HV or SV to attack planet based POIs. You might want to park this in range and then fly in on your CV for the giggles though
3.4 The Ship You Want
Best of all, simply decide which CV you like the look of, what resources you have available, and what you would like it to do. The above is all simply my opinions based on how I play. It is also important to remember that you can always add or remove things like drives and guns very easily or add them on when you need them. This avoids wasting power but also means you can tool up if you are expecting something difficult. This can be applied usefully to SVs as well.
I have a very small CV that fits through doors that I use for attacking deep POIs like mines and factories but keep wings, blocks and guns in the cargo box so I can upgrade it to a light attack fighter if need be. The toolbox approach can work well with a CV as well if you plan for possible uses of an area of the ship when you are first restoring or building it.
Decoration, Story and Settings
Decide how you want to paint and decorate your ship, what décor you want to add, how much power it has, what backstory you want to add to go with it or what role it will play in your universe. I called mine Swansong as it looks like a swan, and was getting one last glorious chance to make a difference. I painted it white with pretty trim and painted the name on the neck of the ship.
Decide how to group your devices and if you want to add a power switch for them on the main panel. For me I tend to have cargo boxes called input (for all raw materials and components for the constructor), output, one for 02 and fuel, one for equipment like armour and guns and one emergency one with backup thrusters, drives and ship armament.
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