Cargo controllers

[y-man]

I can't find any useful information about cargo controllers or ammunition controllers and such things. What I found is, that the expansions are for more volume inside the containers and as a beginner I did not activate the need for this. But why the controllers ? My turrets get the ammunition out of a normal ammunition container and are fine with this. I do not understand, what a controller device is used for.

[y-man]

I want to add, that the english names may be different than I call it in my question, I hope it is not confusing.

[OnlyZuul]

A cargo controller, be it ammo or otherwise, has 8k storage. Every container extension connected to it adds another 8k of storage. The CV/BA style is what I'm talking about of course.
The benefit is you can make custom sized containers for your needs which is far more versatile than the standard cargo boxes you're referring to. You're not seeing the benefit because you're not playing with weights/volume turned on which, quite frankly, is easy mode and does not require the new container system.

[y-man]

That means the container extensions do only work with the cargo controllers and not with the standard containers and are for more volume ? For more slots I need another cargo box.

[Scipione]

Yes you can only connect extensions to a controller / Other extensions which are connected to a controller. You can not expand a normal cargo box.

The cargo controller / extension system is not needed if you don't play with wieghts/volume system enabled (except for visual reasons)

[Bar0th]

Current BA/CV Cargo Boxes and Container Controllers (any type) will also expand the number of slots available up to 16 rows (place an item on the bottom row, and another row will be added up to the 16 row limit). Allowing them to hold up to 256 slots of items.

SV/HV Cargo Boxes and the old ammo/harvest boxes lack this feature and are limited to the visible slots. So at the very least, you should use Container Controller (Ammo) and Container Controller (Ore and Wood) in place of the old ones.

The original SV/HV Small Ammo Box, and the old Harvest Boxes available for HV/CV can't even be crafted anymore, but are still found on old blueprints. Some people still use the original Small Ammo Box, because right now it still has 1000 volume limit vs 125 on the SV/HV Container Controller (Ammo), but that is basically a cheat if you have the volume limits enabled.

If you decide to enable the volume limits, make sure to place the Container Controller (of the type you need) first, and then connect Container Extensions to it, or other already connected Container Extensions. Placing an extension and then connecting a controller to it after doesn't always read the increased volume limit. Controllers can't be connected to each other either, whether directly or through extensions. So there needs to be a space between your container setups.

[y-man]

Does the controllers and extensions need to be build beside or can they be in different rooms (with many blocks between) ?
And thanks for this detailed answers !

[ThumbsUp]

They can be in different rooms than the devices which will be using them. However, the controller and the extensions must be touching each other. In addition, there are shapes for the extensions (right click) and they have more hit points than regular steel, so many people use the extensions to build walls/floors/ceilings with.

[Anthony]

Controllers must be connected to their extensions.

You CAN have more than one container/controller combination. (More than one storage room for example)

You can NOT have two container/controller setups connected to each other.

Container extensions MUST connect to a controller. The capacity (volume) of the controller will increase with each connected extension.

[y-man]

Thank you all! Now it sounds very clear to me.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by OnlyZuul:

A cargo controller, be it ammo or otherwise, has 8k storage. Every container extension connected to it adds another 8k of storage. The CV/BA style is what I'm talking about of course.
The benefit is you can make custom sized containers for your needs which is far more versatile than the standard cargo boxes you're referring to. You're not seeing the benefit because you're not playing with weights/volume turned on which, quite frankly, is easy mode and does not require the new container system.

pretty much, i started playing with it on a bit ago now that i got teh hang of basic ship design so the things i build now are built for the new system. decided to go for it since with shields you can drastically lighten the mass of a cargo ship by making it out of pure carbon blocks and give it big thrust then fill with cargo capacity. or for mining and harvesting HVs same deal slap a shield gen on and make it out of carbon and container expansions.

[y-man]

Does a shield give a special number of hitpoints to a block or does it depend on the material of the block ? So is it the same for carbon than for battle steel ? Because a light ship (low weight) is better to fly. I replaced the heavy steel blocks because it flew like a duck before.

[Bar0th]

Originally posted by y-man:

Does a shield give a special number of hitpoints to a block or does it depend on the material of the block ? So is it the same for carbon than for battle steel ? Because a light ship (low weight) is better to fly. I replaced the heavy steel blocks because it flew like a duck before.

Shields apply a "buffer" to the entire ship/base, regardless of the block type. The only thing (that I know of) that the shield doesn't protect against is collision damage on a playfield set to PvP (which includes landing at full throttle on those playfields). A common solution on many recent ships is to make the external blocks hardened/combat steel, and the interior carbon. Greatly reduces the mass, which means you need less thrusters/RCS to get the same performance, which makes it more fuel efficient, shorter crafting time, and less mats.

In order to warp though, you need to disable the shield. So if you end up warping to a new system with a hostile ship in front of you, carbon won't last very long :) You will likely be destroyed before the shield comes back online. Also bring extra pentaxid along, since the shield and the warp drive both use it. Too many warps, and you might find the shield stops recharging due to lack of pentaxid.

[y-man]

Does a shield need much pentaxid ? I'm not very far in the game and did not use one.
But i disabled that automining uses up the ressources, so I will have enough pentaxid to power a shield and the warp. Can I have more than one shield ? I think not. But I will try.

[Bar0th]

Originally posted by y-man:

Does a shield need much pentaxid ? I'm not very far in the game and did not use one.
But i disabled that automining uses up the ressources, so I will have enough pentaxid to power a shield and the warp. Can I have more than one shield ? I think not. But I will try.

You can only have one shield, and one pentaxid tank. If you do not have volume limits enabled, you can toss in up to 3200 (64 slots, 50 per stack) pentaxid in the tank. With limits enabled, the BA/CV can hold 200, and the HV/SV can hold 100.

1 refined pentaxid recharges 1000 HP on the shield. The HV can have 6000 shield HP, SV has 4000, T1 BA has 25000, T2 BA has 50000, T1 CV has 18000, T2 CV has 36000.

Another thing to keep in mind is the power usage (especially on HV/SV). While recharging they draw a lot of power, which of course consumes a lot of regular fuel. So you may need more generators / fuel tanks to keep up.

[y-man]

But it will save me from much annoyance from the need for repairs. Repairing every single block is annoying. It would be nice to have a bigger brush like the texture canon and repair an area of blocks. That would be lorefriendly enough and less annoying.