Kinetic Void 101: ShipBuilding for Beginners (Creative)

Learn how to create a galaxy and build your first ship with this tutorial. Includes a video as well as screenshots.

Video - Build your first ship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Ya6VMS8p4

Step 1: Creating your Galaxy

To access the shipyard through the main menu, you must first either load or create a new galaxy. Creating a New Galaxy is pretty straight forward.

Click the "New" option on the main menu, then enter a name, select the number of sectors and the number of factions you'd like to encounter, then click Start.

Loading a galaxy is even more simple. Simply click "Load", select a galaxy from the list of galaxies you've created in the past, and then click Start.

Once your galaxy is created, it'is time to enter the shipyard!

Step 2: Welcome to the Shipyard! (Creative Mode)

Welcome to the shipyard. This is where you will be able to create and launch your ship.

In the image above, you are able to see the basic layout of the shipyard, and a few of the important areas of the User Interface. You may close the Game Guide which pops up by simply clicking the [x] in the upper right corner of the window.

Step 1: Name your ship. Enter a Ship Name in the upper left portion of the shipyard (highlighted with a green border in the image).

Step 2: Save your ship. Saving your ship frequently will allow you to have a copy of it, should the game inadvertently crash. At this time, we have not implemented auto-save. We recommend you save at least once every 15 minutes.

Step 3: Begin building your ship. At this point, you're given significant amounts of creative freedom in the design of your ship. A few things to remember:

• Engines must face the back (back of the ship faces away from the blue window)
  
• Always add your subsystems (will explain later)
  
• The larger the guns, the slower they move.
  
• Controls in the shipyard
  
  • Right click + drag = Pan camera
    
  • Left click + drag = Move entire ship
    
  • Center mouse scroll wheel rolling forward = Zoom in
    
  • Center mouse scroll wheel rolling backward = Zoom out
    
  • Shift + mouse scroll wheel = Zoom quickly
    
  • C = Release currently selected module (puts it away so you can grab something else)

Step 3a: Adding Modules (C&C)

Start by adding a cockpit (C&C) to the Front of the ship (you really can add it anywhere, we're just using the front for now).

• Under "Available Modules" you'll see | Type | C&C | Size | 1 |
  
• If you want the smallest ship, simply click one of the C&C modules you see, then click somewhere on the Root Cube in the center of your screen.

Next, add a subsystem to the cockpit. Subsystems are critical to giving your ship the power of flight and combat. To add a subsystem, place your mouse over the module until it turns blue, then right click on the module and select Subsystems from the tool that opens up. Once you click, you should see a window pop up with shields, sensor boosters, and sensors.

Now, with the window open, there are a few things to note:

• Where you see "T1_Cockpit_02 0/4" on the upper left portion of the window, this is where the module name and available volume is stated (highlighted by a light blue box in the image below)
  
• Each System which is available has a specified volume, which is indicated by the number in the upper right corner of each system. (denoted by green, orange and red squares on the image below)
  
• By mousing over any System, you will bring up the System Stats (highlighted by a lavender box in the image below). Stats are as follows:
  
  • Name of System
    
  • Compatibility (E=Engine, H=Hull, W=Weapon, C=C&C)
    
  • Mass: ____ (This adds to the overall Mass of the ship, which in turn shows how much Thrust is needed to maneuver the ship effectively)
    
  • Volume: ____ (This is the volume of the System, and only so much volume can be placed in any one subsystem. This is the same volume as mentioned above regarding the green, orange and red squares in the Systems Available icons).
    
  • Size: ____ (What tier the System is in, relating to the module size. In our case, the Ballistic Plating is huge compared to other Systems (since its volume is 4, the maximum volume for this C&C) so it is tier 3, as opposed to 1 or 2. Larger modules can have a larger spread of tiers.
    
  • Durability: ____ (This adds to the specific module's durability and how much damage it can take before being destroyed).
    
  • Cost: ____ (This is the base cost of this particular System. It is not the currently traded/sold/bought value of the System however, as that number may change based on alliance/faction standings.
    
  • Att_Durability: _____ (Attribute Durability) is the durability that is added to the module.
    
  • Att_rKinetic: _____ (Attribute Kinetic Resistance) is a flat percentage of resistance to kinetic damage. All damage is currently Kinetic, this will be changed as we add additional weapon types.

Click on a #2 Armor, a #1 Sensor Boost and a #1 Sensor. This will allow your cockpit (C&C) to have both higher durability as well as the ability to see enemy ships and points of interest from farther away.

Press the [x] on the Subsystem Management to return to the main Shipyard.

Step 3b: Adding Modules (Hull)

It's time to add your hull. Click the dropdown list next to Type under Available Modules and select Hull.

Select a hull you like (I used Hull 9) and place it on the cockpit by placing the module over one of the blue triangles (nodes). A few notes when placing modules:

• Rotate the module on the current axis/node = E or Q
  
• Select a different node for attachment = R
  
• Toggle Freeform (follows lines of the ship instead of attaching in a gridlike node-to-node pattern) = Tab or press the Node button located beneath the Available Modules list.
  
• To release the current module (so you can pick a different one) = C
  
• To place the module = Left Mouse Button click

You may continue to place hull pieces on the ship until it looks the way you like. All subsystems will be collective, meaning the more hull pieces you have, the higher you total subsystem volume can be.

Now, it's time to add subsystems to your Hull. These systems are the critical systems needed to Power your ship. On the left side of your screen, you will see Mass, Durability, Total Power, and Power Needed. Total Power is gained from Reactors, which are a subsystem of your Hull, whereas Power Needed can come from Weapons, Engines, etc. Also, adding armor to your Hull will dramatically increase the Mass of your ship.

Hulls should always have at least a Reactor, KFG and Jump Drive. Armor is also highly recommended.

Now that your Hull is complete, it's time to add Engines and Weapons.

Step 3c: Adding Modules (Engines)

Return to the Available Modules dropdown list, and select "Engine". Size 1 only comes with 12 default engines at this time in Creative mode. Select from this list and place the same way you placed the Hull modules. Please note that Engines Must Face the Rear of the Ship!.

Engine Subsystems must include at least one Engine (I, II or III), and it's helpful to add Engine Boost if you're worried about the cost (not really applicable in Creative Mode, but it is valid for Career/Standard mode).














Engines add Thrust to your ship, allowing it to maneuver in space. The amount of Forward Thrust must be greater than the ship's Mass in order to move. Below is an example of a ship that would be unable to maneuver effectively in space:

However, by adding a Level 2 Engine Boost (2 Volume), we're able to have enough Forward Thrust to maneuver our ship. Keep in mind however, that the Pitch, Side, and Backwards are all still very low, so I'll be adding one additional Engine in order to allow more agile handling.


Once both of my engines are in place, this is what my ship looks like:

The current stats of this ship are as follows:

Mass	454
Durability	9370
Total Power	17500
Power Needed	14510
Thrust Forward Pitch/Yaw Side Roll Backwards	____ 1465 385 310 1275 450

Next, it's time to add our weapons.

Step 3d: Adding Modules (Weapons)

Finally, it's time to make things go Boom! I will preface this section by saying this: More is not always better when it comes to adding weapons to your ship, especially if your ship would end up being composed of mostly just weapons. They carry very little armor in relation to everything else, and depending on how crazy you go, can cause system performance to slow down.

Weapons break down into three types:

• Cannon
  
• Gun
  
• Turret

At this time, the difference is in the descriptor of the weapon, rather than the weapon type.

For example:

• Fixed Cannon - has a single barrel and is not able to move direction
  
• Dual Cannon - has 2 barrels and will swivel on its base
  
• Triple Gun - has 3 barrels and will swivel on its base
  
• Quad Gun - has 4 barrels and will swivel on its base
  
  

  As of Patch D10 (Pending release in March 2014)

  :Weapons must be placed as modules, and then have damage subsystems applied to them, otherwise they will not do any decent amount of damage. Also, in order to fire the weapons, you must purchase Ammo from the Store, more on that in the upcoming guide :Kinetic Void 103: Shipyard Inventory and Store use.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Place your weapons on the ship in a way that will allow you to shoot in at least 2 general directions, such as forward and to either the right, left, top or bottom. My preferred style involves a gun placed in the front of my ship, and another on the top of my ship to allow my ship to continue shooting enemies if they fly overhead.
  In the image above, I have a total of 5 weapons:
  
  • Quad Gun 01 on the top of the ship (orange)
    
  • Quad Gun 04 on the front/nose of the ship (green)
    
  • Quad Gun 02 on the left and right side of the ship (yellow)
  
  I am using Quad Guns on my ship primarily because I like how they look and I feel like a rockstar when I use them. Also, they maneuver really well. By using size 1 weapons, I am enabling them to track faster when attacking enemy ships.
  
  Finally, let's add some color to the ship.

Step 3 Final: Color and Your Ship

Last, but not least, is the coloring of your ship. The color options are located at the top of the Shipyard, broken down by Profiles and various Tint options.

By clicking on "Profiles" you will be directed to the listing of the available default color profiles as seen above. You can change any color by clicking on the white box, then using the color box that pops up to adjust the color, hue and saturation as you see fit.

Below is my final ship creation.

Step 4: Conclusion

Once your ship is completed, it's time to launch into your galaxy and see what kind of mischief you can get into! Stay tuned for my next tutorials:
Kinetic Void 201: Flight Mechanics
Kinetic Void 095: Subsystems and Modules

[Niviryd]

the updates must have changed a lot of things here, I'm running into some issues such as not being able to activate nodes for ship building, I'm also struggling to understand what is needed to make my ship move at a decent speed instead of being stuck to such a crawl that you can't tell if it's moving unless right next to the station. any help that can be given on that?

[Mr.Grumpy]

Kaypix:
Thanks for responding! It seems when I got into the game it fixed itself or something, Im not really sure what happened. But I am now able to add subsystems to all my weapons.
A little side note, I uploaded the ship to the workshop, its called the Karis titan X1, check it out if your interested!

[Kaypix]

Mr. Grumpy:
If you put your mouse over the weapons (while in shipyard) do they turn blue? If you're not able to right click on them and go to Subsystems, then you may need to go verify the local cache again or do a fresh install of the game as something is missing. Thanks for commenting however, as I need to update this guide and this was a good reminder :)
~Kaypix

[Mr.Grumpy]

So I went all out in making a ship, it took hours. And now i'm putting the finishing touches on it. It is a dreadnought class ship you pretty big. and I'm going around adding subsystems all all my modules. But for some reason I cant add any subsystems to my weapons. I don't really know what went wrong, I have more than enough power.

[Kaypix]

Creative Mode = Unlimited modules and subsystems at your disposal
Career Mode = Limited modules initially, you may purchase more from the Store in game (in game currency, not RL currency) with $10,000 credits to start, then you'd get more credits/currency as you complete missions etc. (not set up yet)
Gameplay is identical in both modes.

[mark_19182001]

Ok .. Yes I am most likely in career mode .. Thank for the response ... Can u explain what is the difference in mods ?

[Kaypix]

mark:
Are you in CREATIVE mode or CAREER mode? Creative mode you click a little box while making your galaxy that says "Creative" before clicking "Start". If you didn't do that, you're in career mode which starts you with significantly fewer parts. I made a video of using career mode and posted it here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=228346158

[mark_19182001]

Strange how all guides show a mulitple choice in modules . When I try to build a ship I can only use choice 1 size with very limited modules .. I think an update build is in order .

[Kaypix]

PTTG:
You can have literally enough to build a single fighter with the standard career mode. That'll be just enough to get you into space. Then to get additoinal components, you'd complete missions for credits (not implemented yet) , salvage "dead" ships in space (still in concept stage) , and once you have enough credits, get a drone bay and send your drones out to mine asteroids and then sell the ore to mining stations. That's all in development right now (One of our programmers is designing the trade/economy system right now) so that'll make the Career mode more enjoyable overall I think :)

[PTTG]

How do you afford all this in the conventional mode? 10,000 credits barely buys a hull, a 10-man crew quarters, one gun, and a engine module (no engine parts)... How can I even afford a reactor, a shield generator, and a jump drive?