Built Starship Interior Is A Maze

[Omnificent Aspiration]

I built kind of a big boy with at least 10 habs (and plenty of structure pieces). Anyways I tried to make it symmetrical for the room sizes and positions even if they were swapped to a different purpose interior to it's mirrored counterpart (like 1x2 rooms on both sides in same place but 1 a med bay and 1 armory).

After a couple of hours of going to various ports to add on parts then putting the thing together in the way I wanted, I finally went in. The darn ship was laid out like a maze. I understand that they may not want to turn every connection point into a doorway between habs but this is silly. I had to go through 6 rooms to get from one room to another that shares a wall.

Are all habs like this or only the Deimos ones I used? Does it choose how points are door ways by the order I attach them or is the whole thing programmed to carve a path randomly or prioritized by what connector it goes through? I know they cannot be 100% predetermined where the connectors make a door otherwise players would end up with dead ends and blocked off rooms people cannot get into sometimes. I hope it's something I can control. Both for immersion and gameplay. A med bay may be hard to get to in an emergency. Or the armory is easier for a boarding crew (if they were to allow people to board your ship) to get to then my crew from their sleeping quarters or duty stations.

Thank you in advance if you can give any practical relevant information on how to improve the layout of my ship more to my liking.

The only thing I can think of now is to stagger overlap my rooms on purpose as to allow only 1 part of each room to touch another. Forcing the game to place a doorway into a certain spot, making it more predictable.

[Chuckledunk]

All habs are like that. The connections seem mostly random, and there's not much you can do to control it. Ships that look really orderly on the outside can often be a chaotic, incoherent labyrinth inside.

Forcing doors is the only solution I've figured out to this, and it still takes some luck to get right. Any time you have habs in any kind of stacked arrangement, it seems like random chance if they punch a ladder through and use that as an excuse to not have same-floor access to a room, though it could just as easily turn it into useful secondary access. Ports will always force a door where they're connected, as will cockpits, and depending on your design you can sometimes use that to force a main hallway to work with.

The ship builder is in desperate need of some expanded functionality, from being able to manually map how habs connect, to being able to rotate habs (or pieces in general) or apply colours to ALL components at the same time. Being able to save ship layouts, or transfer components between owned ships (as long as you have the perk required for it, would be a fair caveat), is also something that should have been in at launch.

[Rudal]

The layout of doors and ladders in custom build ships is a mystery to everyone. There is plenty of posts on Reddit about it and everyone is equally puzzled.
At some point I thought I figured it out and thought that certain hubs (like Captain's Quarters) prefer different door layouts because how they are structured. When you go through the hub you can clearly see that there are certain spaces that are left kind of empty but it quickly changed when I realised that connecting two pieces together can create doors in places I thought it wouldn't.
All I figured out is that those little storage/hallway pieces 1x1 are preffered hubs for ladders. And you will always get a ledder if you stack them together. No matter how high. Problem is that stacking them at the end of 1x2 hub may still result in a ladder transition between the 1x2 hubs no matter what else you connect to them.
I tried this big Nova bridge where you can connect 6 different parts to it.
I stacked Captains Qarters on top of Med Bay and connected them with two little 1x1 hallways. It created ladders in 1x1 hubs as expected but it also created a ladder at the far end between Medbay and Caprains Quarters for god knows what reason...?

I am yet to test those big 2x3 and 3x3 hubs as I noticed yesterday that it didn't create ladders in random places after I put some smaller stuff on top.

At the moment it's a big unknown how this system works.

[Rudal]

Originally posted by Chuckledunk:

<snip, snip>
or apply colours to ALL components at the same time.
<snip, snip>

You can apply colours to all components at the same time.
Onece you finish building just click away somewhere to make sure you have no parts selected. Mouse over your ship and double click anywhere on the ship. It should highlight the whole ship. Then all you need is just hit J and just apply whatever colour you like to the whole ship.

I noticed that some components need a touch up afterwards as not all the pars share the same coulour "distribution" on them.

[Snake]

I like the game but I wish you had some control over that particular thing, like the house you get

[Omnificent Aspiration]

Originally posted by Chuckledunk:

All habs are like that. The connections seem mostly random, and there's not much you can do to control it. Ships that look really orderly on the outside can often be a chaotic, incoherent labyrinth inside.

Forcing doors is the only solution I've figured out to this, and it still takes some luck to get right. Any time you have habs in any kind of stacked arrangement, it seems like random chance if they punch a ladder through and use that as an excuse to not have same-floor access to a room, though it could just as easily turn it into useful secondary access. Ports will always force a door where they're connected, as will cockpits, and depending on your design you can sometimes use that to force a main hallway to work with.

The ship builder is in desperate need of some expanded functionality, from being able to manually map how habs connect, to being able to rotate habs (or pieces in general) or apply colours to ALL components at the same time. Being able to save ship layouts, or transfer components between owned ships (as long as you have the perk required for it, would be a fair caveat), is also something that should have been in at launch.

Thank you for your response. It is as I feared. I agree with the changes you suggested. I think in the same way you can change a wall in an outpost from no window to window they should let you do that for doors in ships. Scan mode then off to ship interior customizer just like how you get to customized your outpost.

The not being allowed to transfer parts is super annoying. Having to tack on the parts I think I may need for a build from each port the having to finally put it together only to find out my final version didn't need 20% of the parts I lugged along is terrible. Or making the best looking and working of what I have at each port instead of just attaching for transport, time after time, then still finding that I paid for parts I ended up not using even more is worse. A waste of time. I could make notes on my final model then go back on a save to only get those parts. Saves credits. But so much worse on the time and effort.

[Graze]

Originally posted by Chuckledunk:

All habs are like that. The connections seem mostly random, and there's not much you can do to control it. Ships that look really orderly on the outside can often be a chaotic, incoherent labyrinth inside.

Forcing doors is the only solution I've figured out to this, and it still takes some luck to get right. Any time you have habs in any kind of stacked arrangement, it seems like random chance if they punch a ladder through and use that as an excuse to not have same-floor access to a room, though it could just as easily turn it into useful secondary access. Ports will always force a door where they're connected, as will cockpits, and depending on your design you can sometimes use that to force a main hallway to work with.

The ship builder is in desperate need of some expanded functionality, from being able to manually map how habs connect, to being able to rotate habs (or pieces in general) or apply colours to ALL components at the same time. Being able to save ship layouts, or transfer components between owned ships (as long as you have the perk required for it, would be a fair caveat), is also something that should have been in at launch.

To color all parts at once triple click on the ship to select all parts then open the color picker and there you go.

[TNX.]

They need to add the ability to edit within the habs themselves, how the overall interior looks and which doorway leads to where.

[Kapitänleutnant Kerensky]

If you want to keep it as simple as possible....try to keep cockpit and gantry on same level preferably obviously at the end. Add the living stuff above on the next level.....it makes it at least simpler to get in and just run straight for the cockpit :P I put my workshop towards the rear and the infirmary towards the front.....so all stations are covered....and then just add the extra crap above it....the only time I have to remember stuff is when I board a ship and then return as I have to use the second level to get back to normal level....but most of that is simple as my current ship is a straight arrow so no side modules to worry about stepping into...just above ;)

[dulany67]

I find if you place 1x1 companion ways in a stack, 1 for each level, you will get one ladder that travels up through all decks. This tends to eliminate the maze feeling for the most part.

[Omnificent Aspiration]

Originally posted by Rudal:

The layout of doors and ladders in custom build ships is a mystery to everyone. There is plenty of posts on Reddit about it and everyone is equally puzzled.
At some point I thought I figured it out and thought that certain hubs (like Captain's Quarters) prefer different door layouts because how they are structured. When you go through the hub you can clearly see that there are certain spaces that are left kind of empty but it quickly changed when I realised that connecting two pieces together can create doors in places I thought it wouldn't.
All I figured out is that those little storage/hallway pieces 1x1 are preffered hubs for ladders. And you will always get a ledder if you stack them together. No matter how high. Problem is that stacking them at the end of 1x2 hub may still result in a ladder transition between the 1x2 hubs no matter what else you connect to them.
I tried this big Nova bridge where you can connect 6 different parts to it.
I stacked Captains Qarters on top of Med Bay and connected them with two little 1x1 hallways. It created ladders in 1x1 hubs as expected but it also created a ladder at the far end between Medbay and Caprains Quarters for god knows what reason...?

I am yet to test those big 2x3 and 3x3 hubs as I noticed yesterday that it didn't create ladders in random places after I put some smaller stuff on top.

At the moment it's a big unknown how this system works.

Right now to get to the second floor of rooms there is a ladder in the corner of the mess hall of all places. I spent a good while going from room to room looking for a way up. Finally I went outside and when I re-entered I chose go straight to the bridge. I worked my way down instead. It was then I found out the unlikely truth that the only way to the second floor was in the corner of my 3x2 mess hall. I didn't think to look there for it from the first floor. Go figure. I have never been in a house or can think of a space ship I've seen (in fiction of course) where the only way upstairs is a set of stairs in the middle of the kitchen. A latter in the corner of the mess hall is just as silly to me. Ugh....

[Omnificent Aspiration]

Originally posted by Kapitänleutnant Kerensky:

If you want to keep it as simple as possible....try to keep cockpit and gantry on same level preferably obviously at the end. Add the living stuff above on the next level.....it makes it at least simpler to get in and just run straight for the cockpit :P I put my workshop towards the rear and the infirmary towards the front.....so all stations are covered....and then just add the extra crap above it....the only time I have to remember stuff is when I board a ship and then return as I have to use the second level to get back to normal level....but most of that is simple as my current ship is a straight arrow so no side modules to worry about stepping into...just above ;)

This is how I made most of my ships until now. I come in the back and go a room or two straight forward to the pilot seat. Going up the ladder is for access to rooms if I need them. This method gets silly if you try to make a big ship with many rooms. You end up with a skyscapper with thrusters on it.

[Dailao]

Originally posted by Omnificent Aspiration:

The darn ship was laid out like a maze. I understand that they may not want to turn every connection point into a doorway between habs but this is silly. I had to go through 6 rooms to get from one room to another that shares a wall.

You can sort of force a path by placing a 1-1 unit where you want the connecting path to be. It wastes some space, but you can create a better layout with it. I suggest trying to avoid ladders whenever possible, they make it much harder to navigate.

Personally I usually use cockpit -> long "neck" -> mess hall -> branch out towards different directions, all on the same level.

[Omnificent Aspiration]

Originally posted by Dailao:

Originally posted by Omnificent Aspiration:

The darn ship was laid out like a maze. I understand that they may not want to turn every connection point into a doorway between habs but this is silly. I had to go through 6 rooms to get from one room to another that shares a wall.

You can sort of force a path by placing a 1-1 unit where you want the connecting path to be. It wastes some space, but you can create a better layout with it. I suggest trying to avoid ladders whenever possible, they make it much harder to navigate.

Personally I usually use cockpit -> long "neck" -> mess hall -> branch out towards different directions, all on the same level.

Yeah. The 1x1 to connect things method is like my only let one spot to touch method. That was probably gonna be a part of my method naturally as I built. i was just hoping I could save the space if it turned out I could just adjust something like the timing on when I placed each or something like that.

[TheOrigin]

You can actually FORCE an wanted layout if you want. I wrote a small article about it here:
https://theorigin.de/starfield-shipyard/#Tueren_und_Leitern

(site should autotranslate - if not, there is a translation button on top/bottom)

[arti_llery]

If you use the attach function when hovering over a connect point, it seems to favor putting doorways at those points. A bit more work than just placing then connecting stuff.

My current ship has a spiral passageway thru all the rooms due to this.

Need to build yet another ship and try some other ideas.