Ship Welders versus Hand Welder

[White Rhino PSO]

Does anybody know if the ship-based welders are any faster or slower than the handheld one?

I ask because I plan to build a fairly large station inside an asteroid. If the small ship welders work better than the hand-welder then I'll built a tiny welding ship and go around using it to help be build. If not I'll build a tiny ship with a cargo box on the back to carry components I might need so I don't have to leave the station just to keep building.

[puruska37]

only thing i have to say if you are right on the join of 4 block all 4 will weld with ship welder, this should answer your question :)
+ you save from getting material forth and back

[White Rhino PSO]

Originally posted by puruska37:

only thing i have to say if you are right on the join of 4 block all 4 will weld with ship welder, this should answer your question :)
+ you save from getting material forth and back

I suppose that alone would make it faster to use a little welding sled than going by hand. I'll still have to get resources to feed into the thing, but it would still likely be faster.

[Ludovsky]

It's also possible to make some basic though nontheless kind of nice repair/assembly platforms on stations or capital ships this way too: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=264083170

[shaynec_777]

Make a welding ship for any projects. 3 welders and a long body consisting of medium crates (I use 3 rows of 4 crates) does well.

[Arya]

I take a totally different approach. I've got this utility-boat design I often use with two arms on either side of the cockpit. One is a welder, the other is a grinder. It's not vastly quicker doing things by hand, but with several crates for supplies it makes things a lot more convenient. Especially when you're re-cycling one ship and using it's parts in the new one.

[Bakamoichigei]

The primary benefit of a ship-based welder is that it has ample internal cargo space, and can be conveyor-connected to a cargo container... So you can fill up on components from the storage on your main ship, or even just have an assembler or two on your 'construction ship', open the production console and be like "Okay, I want the components for Large Ship blocks: Large Reactor, two Small Thrusters, and a Gravity Generator." and as the assembler builds the components from raw materials, they'll be available to the welders.

Considering how many components there are in Large Ship blocks like Large Thrusters, Refineries...or really damn-near anything that isn't just the hull...it means not making a dozen trips between the blocks you're building and a cargo container full of components like you would with a hand welder because of your measly 400L carrying capacity.

[Arya]

Another big tip would be to practice making efficient iteam storage/load/unload systems. Sounds boring, but the less time you spend making sure you've got the parts you need, the more time you can spend building and flying. And in my experience, the biggest time-waster is processing materials and then reloading them.

[terry309]

I made a repair station, it's pretty difficult to use but it works, i used a welder on a rotor and it welds everything automatically at a certain range, you still have to touch up on it though...

[LameWarrior]

Originally posted by GPMoDBakamoichigei:

The primary benefit of a ship-based welder is that it has ample internal cargo space, and can be conveyor-connected to a cargo container... So you can fill up on components from the storage on your main ship

This does not seem to work without a cargo container (just saying). I had a collector on the other side of the conveyor (see picture below) and materials were not passed to the welder.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271627760

[ShadowFlux]

1 small ship welder can do 4 blocks at once if you are centered. 2 small ship welders 1 block apart can weld up 6 blocks at once if centered.

I have noticed however that when welding multiple blocks at once; the time increases vs. simply welding 1 block. Same goes for grinding.

So what I generally do when working on something large is use the ship welder to "graze over" a bunch of different components like reactors etc. This will FILL IN all needed components strait from ship inventory.

Then I get the ship started welding up a 6 block section; I jump out and hand weld something nearby that already has all components installed.

Rinse and Repeat :)

[LameWarrior]

Plus, you don't have to go back to med station or ship every few minutes to refill your suit energy capacitor. Overall, welding ship can save you lots of time and is much more fun (but that's my subjective opinion).

[Arya]

I agree. Speaking for myself I really enjoy laying down the framework as a 3-D blueprint, doing all my design work at that stage, and then just assembling it all at once with a construction frigate. It's a fairly quick process, too. If I'm working from a memorised "blueprint" I can build a fighter in about a minute and a half provided I've also got the resources.

There's something rewarding and oddly beautiful about watching your machine literally assembling from a wireframe to virtual life in front of you, in real time.

[Kodos]

Is it possible to use a ship welder to 'start' building something, or do you still have to do that by hand.

[dga8705]

Originally posted by LameWarrior:

Originally posted by GPMoDBakamoichigei:

The primary benefit of a ship-based welder is that it has ample internal cargo space, and can be conveyor-connected to a cargo container... So you can fill up on components from the storage on your main ship

This does not seem to work without a cargo container (just saying). I had a collector on the other side of the conveyor (see picture below) and materials were not passed to the welder.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271627760

Make sure that the ports on the cargo containers are facing the right way. The collector, connector, and welder all need large ports. If you have small ports, most of the parts will not be pased through.

[dga8705]

And by the way, Kodos 2.0, yes it is. The ship welders will take whatever materials the piece needs out of storage and put it in the block.