How to build actually good ships

[AdlerssonSeinRechterNasenPopel]

I have about a 1000 hours on this game but I haven´t even build one single ship that doesn´t look like a blob any tips on how to shape ur ship better so it looks like a ship and not some fat blob?

[-=ZXP=-CrispyFries]

play with slopes. tons you can do with them, breaking down workshop builds is great too

[-=ZXP=-CrispyFries]

also. playing other sci fi games helps a ton in giving you ship ideas

[Husker_85]

You'll get there. When I was 1000 hours in a lot of my ships looked like fat blobs, too. Just keep building and trying new things. Usually I'll build the core components first and then wrap armor over it, which can end up looking very blobby. The best looking ship I ever designed though, I started with the top deck where I wanted to park ships because I had a specific shape in mind, and then I fit the internals into that shape.

[Mettle]

Something that helps me choosing different shapes block-wise, and therefore playing with forms and what fits, is having one toolbar specifically just for armor block shapes.
Example:
Welder, Grinder, Armor Block, Conveyor Junction, Slope 2x1x1 Base, Corner 2x1x1 Base, Slope Transition Base, Sloped Corner LA Tip. Slot 9 is your choice, like Panel or Blastdoors.
All of these blocks have a plus (+) sign having all of its variants by scrolling. The names are confusing tho, but you get there.
Generally leave some parts visible, it does add personality. Try a few PCU friendly decorations like ladder, using slops and stairs/ramps.
Try a colour scheme; start with a darkish ground tone a brighter different colour and feature some blocks with a mid tone.
There are many tutorials out there, but I recommend getting a few of the economy ships and start refitting them, gut them and learn from the hull and its inner working. These ships are not too over the top and vanilla and give you a good start.
Shape wise overall, stick to what style you started with to have consistency within each ship or possible Mk2 version. And Most important: Have fun doing it.

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, here is a good Tip on Brick shape ships :

I just change / replace some cube blocks on the ship skin by using different slopes to add more details.

Example on a Brick shape ship :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2018250971
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2018245493

Another thing I do a lot is to search for space ships with Google, find one I like and do my best to reproduce in-game.
+
Also looking at SE screenshots, artwork and workshop links on top of the forum can help a lot, some are very good at this and always give me inspiration.

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Maybe watch Blackarmor videos, he is a very good creator in SE and shared a lot of good building Tips, in this one :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGTj6rVkK-0

[lego_is_ cool]

what i do first is i make the guts of the ship first and keep the build fairly long so you can build freely, after that i make sure the ship is a odd number. Then I look at references online, last is coloring, I choose around 3-4 different colors/textures. Make sure you pick colors/textures that complement each other. You should get a pretty good looking ship. I would also add different shapes, hexagon, square, triangular, much more.

[Dan2D3D]

Another example of a basic Defense Tower.

It would look like a square pillar without the slope blocks as "Deco" :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3191775721

[Jack Schitt]

This is the closest I've come to being able to make a ship actually look like anything other than a flying brick:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2516830361

Fun and function is more important.

[Dan2D3D]

That is a very Very common shape ^ A Lot use for their ship.

I also used it on the very first large block ship I made in SE Jan 2014 and keep updating since.

2 big balls at one end :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3038805758

[Incanatus]

I didn't start building my own stuff till I had 2k hours of playtime. Now I've got loads of stuff to work with. +3,000 individual blueprints in my archive (not published), broad variety of work, and some questionable design choices.

Dig through my profile and look at all I've done for inspiration. Put on some good music. Take a seat. Get to building. Don't start working on another project until you've put five hours into one build.

For context I've built over 50 fleets consisting of at least four ships each doing this exact plan. I've got about 20 self made factions with the most popular ones being IRW, AFP, MYE, and OMI.

Just gotta let your creativity take over your hands and mind.
Or if that doesn't work then you can rip-off mine and build your own without problems. Free reign on anything I've made so feel free to yoink a build or three.

[semtex]

Good advices...
I'll add only one - ships are not designed in survival mode, but in creative mode.

[GrehSonic95]

https://youtu.be/UE5TRShFerA

[DivineEvil]

Originally posted by KugelFischBestäuber:

I have about a 1000 hours on this game but I haven´t even build one single ship that doesn´t look like a blob any tips on how to shape ur ship better so it looks like a ship and not some fat blob?

Judging from the problem as you have described it, probably the best advice on that particular task is Segmentation. Do not design your ship as a homogenous objet, but rather as a collection of segments, that correspond to a specific internal function. In Sci-Fi ship designs, ships often designed and depicted having multiple sections, which can associate with crew/quarters, engineering, cargo, hangar and power facilities contained within.

So, design your ship with the thought of having 3-4 segments, all of which have the dimenstions appropriate for the functional blocks expected to be placed, but have a different profiles in terms of slopes and straight lines between each-other. Instead of trying to fit and match everything to fit into the uniform sausage, make a 1-2 block distinction between widths and heights of such segments, and have variety in patterns of surfaces for each one.

Finally, never fall to the desire to smooth everything out - flat surfaces and straight slopes offer great detail and definition of the segmentation for the ship. Between a brick and a potato, there's a golden middle, where you can combine flat surfaces with rounded or sharpened curves to make interesting shapes.

[Ronin Planetary Industries]

Flat surfaces tend to be boring. Interesting ships have a lot of unnecessary shapes and griebling.

There's a guy named "Black Armor" that has a few tutorials on building in Space Engineers. He goes over some very useful and practical advice for making better looking ships.
https://www.youtube.com/@BlackArmor718

Final note... when you're going for looks, you will build and rebuild your ship about 10 times. It will take you about that much more time to worry about form over function. I like to copy and paste another instance of my ship when making changes or exploring a design change. Then I can always get back to where I started if I change my mind.

[Mollymawk]

Have an idea to aim for. A clear goal. Form follows function, what is the function of the craft? A single sentence to describe your goal: "I am building a mining ship", "I am building a frigate", "I am building a squid in space"

I find giving myself lots of space gets me away from noob-bricks. You can go more compact once you know what your doing. spread out the internals.

Iterate, if you're in survival copy, jump into a creative world, paste and test ideas before you waste resources.

You never have to call anything finished. I often alter a single ship for every task, you learn a lot doing this. The ship just evolves to your needs and can have a very organic feel.

Symmetry is ok but don't be a slave to it. some of my most loved craft have been a little asymmetrical.