Does cargo weight count into total ship weight / maneuverability?

[Motam]

I noticed that this seems not always to be the case. I have a small cargo ship (small cockpit, three medium cargo containers). It says in the cockpit it weighs 3.4 tons. After filling the cargo containers (each over 10 tons) I notice no change in maneuverability or shown weight in HUD.
Only after I attached two drills to the cockpit did the weight change (to over 5 tons) and maneuverability changed.
It would be awesome if the cargo weight counted into ship weight too. This way my few measly thrusters would have had a lot of work carting over 40 tons around. Also if I would not distribute the weight evenly among the containers, this should change center of gravity etc.
Did anybody else experience this (cargo weight does not count towards ship weight / maneuverability)?

[LameWarrior]

Weight? In space? Ummm...
I don't see any difference between flying an empty and full cargo ship (four large cargo containers). I would say, cargo mass does not affect the maneuverability of carrying ship (yet?). Maybe in the future.

[Motam]

Yeah, it would be cool. After all, the cargo mass changes (or rather should) the (inertial) mass / thruster power ratio. Would be more realistic and fun (my little cargo ship would probably maneuver like a behemoth when fully loaded --> more thrusters and gyros needed).
Then we would need a thruster or gyro adjustment lever or switch or something (maybe keys to adjust the thruster and the gyro power in steps of 10% or something like this).

[LameWarrior]

Keep in mind, that I'm not 100% sure about this. I only didn't notice any change. To fully test it, you should pack your ship with items small in size but of large mass, see how fast you will reach maximum speed and compare it with results from flying while empty.

[Motam]

well, I scooped up almost all of the non-platform components of the starting base (in lone survivor) and the maneuverability did not change (even though total ship mass should have been close to 10 times more). Then I attached two mining drills to the cockpit and mass as in the HUD went from 3.4t to about 5.5t or so and the ship maneuvers much more sluggishly.
As a fun fact: when switching on the drills, the whole ship wiggles like crazy because my side thrusters are not able to compensate the drill vibrations. A bit hard to mine precisely this way until I get some new thrusters in place ;).

[LameWarrior]

Try adding more gyros. If that wiggling is fairly consistent, it can actually help you with mining (but not tunneling).

[Motam]

More gyros is a good idea to help with the wiggling. A lot cheaper than more thrusters. Let's see how this goes :).

[LameWarrior]

If it's a small ship, with small thrusters, then gyros are more expensive. For thrusters you need 1 thruster component, 1 construction component, 1 steel plate and 1 computer. Gyro needs lots of steel plates, motors, tubes etc. Too many gyros can also make your ship hard to control, which is important when mining in narrow places.

[Motam]

Mh, ok, added a gyro, did not help with the wiggling (the side thrusters are working like crazy to equalize the shaking), so I'll have to build a few more thrusters then.
And yeah, it is small :).

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=281192854

[LameWarrior]

Oh, yea... One thruster for each side is a bit few for a mining ship :)

[Motam]

How many would you suggest or should I switch to large ones and how many? I now added two more per side = three per side, still not enough to keep these two unruly drills at bay ;)

[LameWarrior]

On my micro-ship, when I was using it for mining (my merge block addon with two drills vanished one day; I probably bodged it with other ship and it happily pinged off into space) I have two small thrusters on sides, two small up, two small down, two small retro-thrusters and three small for acceleration. It was wibbly-wobbly while mining, but before I added more thrusters, I built a larger ship just for mining. Try adding three small thrusters on the left, right, top and bottom. If that won't help, then add one more on each side. Should be enough for a start. You will probably make larger ship soon, with cargo containers and other fun stuff.

[smoothpop]

hey just to point out that the mass of the cargo would affect the acceleration/ manouverability of a ship IRL because the the total force is distributed over a greater mass. however this has so far not been implemented in the game from what i can see ( and weight is a value given to mass affected by gravity)

[LameWarrior]

@smoothpop: Thank you Cpt. Obvious ;)

[Motam]

@LameWarrior: yup, was at three per side, still pretty wobbly. I will add some more or even try the big ones to see if it helps.

On a funny / sad side note: I managed to blast the last two containers (plus contents!) + three rear thrusters + reactor + 2nd gyro to smithereens when uranium ran out (in total about 16 thrusters plus two drills eat uranium like a mad man) meaning no more thrusters, no more gyro.
The slowing drills still had so much momentum that the ship smashed violently against the rock I was drilling - after that, since the reactor was gone it drifted off into space and it took me at least half an hour to recover (two containers with contents still gone) xDDD
I'd say lesson learned: _never ever_ let your uranium run out on a small mining ship while drilling, could end fatally ^^
Now it looks more like this:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=281287984
But at least I improved on the drill connection to the container and added a connector (station remains to be upgraded).

@smoothpop: yup, looking forward to it since it adds more realism and more fun :).

[LameWarrior]

Increase the mass. Add heavy armor blocks. You will reduce the wobbliness and get additional protection from rocks. Sorry to hear about your ship and cargo. Try building a larger vessel now. Mine has eight drills and two large containers (on a small ship frame). It eats rocks like crazy :)

EDIT: I would also add more support for drills. I see they are hanging only on small conveyor tubes.