Space surface in map editor?

[Falesz]

Hey all,
I just came back after finishing my semester at Uni to finish the final stretch of Space Age. I left the game right when I was about to design a space platform to go to the edge of the solar system and beyond for the prometheum science. However after being out of the loop for so long it seems way too much of a task to also bother with the limitations of freeplay mode, so I wanted to take the task over to the map editor. I can't seem to find a way to create a space surface though, so I can't really make a space platform there. I'm 98% sure I'm just too lame to find the space surface option, so can someone please help out?
How can I access the space surface in the map editor so I can design space platforms freely without the added mental load of having to build everything as ghosts and wait for important stuff to be built before I can test out how well they'd actually work?

[Chindraba]

In the editor create an empty, lab-tile, surface the normal way. Instead of placing water and dirt tiles you place empty space tiles.

However, I don't think that will completely solve the problem as somehow the 'real' surfaces are linked and I don't know if, or how, to accomplish that part in editor. You can still create the "space" and design the platform and make a print. Perhaps 50% of the objective is better than none.

[Fel]

You need to create it similarly to how you would in freeplay (send a starter pack through a rocket).
At least that's how I got mine to be created in the map editor, there could be another way but with a supply chest to cheat in the ingredients for the rocket and giving myself the starter pack it was simpler than trying to figure out a console command for it.

[Falesz]

Originally posted by Fel:

You need to create it similarly to how you would in freeplay (send a starter pack through a rocket).
At least that's how I got mine to be created in the map editor, there could be another way but with a supply chest to cheat in the ingredients for the rocket and giving myself the starter pack it was simpler than trying to figure out a console command for it.

I tried to send a rocket to space with a Space platform starter pack, but the button never got enabled. I guessed the feature is disabled in the map editor.

Originally posted by Chindraba:

In the editor create an empty, lab-tile, surface the normal way. Instead of placing water and dirt tiles you place empty space tiles.

However, I don't think that will completely solve the problem as somehow the 'real' surfaces are linked and I don't know if, or how, to accomplish that part in editor. You can still create the "space" and design the platform and make a print. Perhaps 50% of the objective is better than none.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try them soon!

[Fel]

Originally posted by Csöpper:

I tried to send a rocket to space with a Space platform starter pack, but the button never got enabled. I guessed the feature is disabled in the map editor.

Not sure what to tell you, I have a save started in editor mode where I do a lot of my "playing around with weird stuff" and testing.
I feed the 3 rocket components through an infinity chest and a stack inserter, then put the starter pack into the rocket, the button to create a new platform lights up and clicking it allows me to create the platform (name and all like in freeplay).
If you didn't build the rocket in the silo, the button would tell you that.
You also need to uncheck automatic requests for it to even be possible to put the starter pack into the rocket.

Just to double-check though, have you run the research all command?
It seems like you can't create a platform without researching the right technology (even if the tooltip doesn't tell you), so just use this in the console:
/c game.player.force.research_all_technologies()

[Falesz]

OH that will be it. I didn't have the research for it. Entering a game where the unlocked research and the unlocked features aren't exactly matching up always makes me forget stuff like this. Thank you.

[SciFiGuy]

enter editor mode by typing /editor, open the map, on the top left hit "+Add space platform", create it, then hit the big "+" sign next to the trash symbol. Click on the station to change surfaces. Enter the research all technologies command Fel shared two comments above mine. There ya go! with editor you can speed up or slow down time too which can be helpful for stress testing your ship.

Absolutely no need to create silos and send up rockets etc. You can just create the platform and start free building.

[Fel]

I didn't know about the + method, that is definitely faster.

Just a note though, you can start directly in editor mode (from the "editor" button in the title screen), no need to first make a freeplay save and go through the /editor command.

You might still want to make a silo with rockets depending on what you want to be doing in this mode (many things are significantly easier to test in editor mode, including things related to platform schedules, requests, trash slots and so on) but being able to make a platform with that simple method saves a lot of time for sure.