Connector tips

[Potätr]

I've been trying to figure out a way to line up vehicles with connectors in the early early game. But no matter where I place them: above, below, on the side, I always come in too fast or I scrape too much lining things up, and the connectors explode. Any tips would be much appreciated

[frag2k4]

Well the best advice would be to come in slower, are you using a rover or flying ship? If a flying ship have a toggle to lower the amount of thrusters you are using to get into position, if a rover set a pair of toggles in the hotbar for speed, maybe use extra blocks to guide the craft into place too.

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

never a connector or a Merge block on a Piston.

and set this setting:

<EnableSubgridDamage>false</EnableSubgridDamage>

look in your folder
C:\Users\YourAccoundWindows\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Saves\YourSteam64ID\Your SAVEWorld

Sandbox_config line 80 and edit this.

[frag2k4]

Connectors on pistons are fine under certain circumstances I find, above and below are usually better and only after you have worked out the predefined height needed though these are usually under controlled situation.

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

on stations ok, but not on a ship, its excatly Frag2k4 ty

[frag2k4]

Oh yeah, I don't put pistons on ships unless its a simple design like weapon rack extensions.

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

for weapons in mod or vanilla is pistons greatefully... for all other no need ... ,..,

[dragonsphotoworks]

To dock a rover to station what i have done is build a bay to hold the rover. So i back into slot and helps line me up. One thing i did to stop inpacts was use just wheels "not wheel assembly. Just actual tire" as a buffer.

In one situation i would back into bay. and pistons on sides would "push" me into line. Then i back up to tires. And then piston would retract tires and then i connected to connector.

It was move complexe then needed lol but for my small rovers it worked and to me felt cool :-)

but basic idea is line sides with couple tires. and put tire next to connect so rover hits that not connector.

Now this was over year ago so my idea might not work at all.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Rovers are a lot harder to control, when docking to a connector, than a ship. It's always best to have a level surface for a rover to connect, so build a level pad, even if it's only a scaffolding frame, under you connector of sufficient size where you can more easily control the speed for connecting.

As a side note, I always try in my design to use either a front-facing or bottom-facing connector because i suck at backing into a connector properly.

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

conector on hinges ... on the station, y or ship too ...

[Spaceman Spiff]

I've been using connectors on double-hinges for some time now. It's a great way to get a level connector with an adjustable height that doesn't take nearly the room or resources of building a height-adjustable connector with a piston.

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

I always built ramps before, everything so that it fit perfectly and I was terribly annoyed when something broke ... whatever happened ... the double hinges is ideal

[frag2k4]

Advanced rotors are also good, quiet cheap and space efficient and with the rotor offset can give you those slight elevation changes while also keeping the connector straight.

[Spaceman Spiff]

You can also do a lot with the suspension strength and height offset to move the rover's connector up and down.

[Potätr]

I don't know what hinges are/do yet

[frag2k4]

Hinges are exactly what they sound like, they are also conveyor tubes like pistons and advanced rotors, so if for example you want to create a drill crane these are ideal for the folding arms.