Space Engineers

Space Engineers

Whip's Automatic Drop Pod Script
405 Comments
Whiplash141  [author] Nov 29, 2024 @ 12:08pm 
The linked hunchback has 3 types of drop pods i designed for this script inside of it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=883186115
Ace Nov 29, 2024 @ 12:03pm 
Anyone got some good blueprints of this?
Thorn Blackwell Sep 25, 2024 @ 6:08pm 
I think the cryo interfered with the remote controller until I restarted. It's one of many odd things I've found that require a restart to fix.
Whiplash141  [author] Sep 25, 2024 @ 4:38pm 
yes, cryo pods/beds do not constitute ship controllers.
Thorn Blackwell Sep 25, 2024 @ 4:36pm 
Apparently if you occupy a cryo pod instead of a seat or cockpit of some kind it's not happy. Even if you have a remote block to give reference. However, exiting the game completely and restarting fixed my issue. Now, if somebody could create a new mod that cleans KEENs hopelessly dirty glass (all the old ones no longer work, even mine) I'd be really happy.
Whiplash141  [author] Sep 25, 2024 @ 11:02am 
Do you have enough thrust to fly on your own?
Thorn Blackwell Sep 25, 2024 @ 10:37am 
It appears to have some issues with the new thrusters, and I'm unsure why. I have been trying to use the new flat atmo thrusters and no go.
Robin <3 Sep 7, 2024 @ 5:42pm 
sorry i got it
Robin <3 Sep 7, 2024 @ 5:31pm 
no matter what I do it just says no downward thrusters found
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 15, 2024 @ 3:04pm 
descent speed is only considered when the drop pod is actively burning for landing
Joey Aug 15, 2024 @ 9:36am 
The variable decentSpeed does not seem to do anything, from my limited testing. I'm trying to get my pod to descent at a max speed of 60 m/s, but it just freefalls everytime.
Am I doing something wrong, is there another setting I should be looking at?
DakotaHartwig215 Jun 2, 2024 @ 8:18am 
I love the idea of making a large space to planet assault ship that deploys huge turret towers down to a planets surface, they land and attach upright using deployable mag legs, and then begin to fire at the enemy base, with a strong modded gyro i bet that would work
Blacky Watchy Jan 7, 2024 @ 3:01am 
is there any command to cancel the drop and reset all the gyros to their previous configuration?
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 12, 2023 @ 3:26pm 
Up oriented relative to the remote or seat tagged with "Drop Pod" in its name
kandrinchae Aug 12, 2023 @ 2:55pm 
the script primarily uses up oriented thrusters for braking, yes? i have two control seats and two remote control blocks, all in proper orientation. one seat and one remote block are selected as primary. could this set up interfere with the script?
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 12, 2023 @ 10:12am 
The only other thing I can think of is that your ship controller is not oriented properly. The down direction of the tagged ship controller is used to find braking thrust
kandrinchae Aug 11, 2023 @ 1:06am 
thrusters dont have an ownership option, and i went through and checked ownership of everything else. I dont have any mods installed that change anything about thrusters either. still making craters lol
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 10, 2023 @ 5:07pm 
Sounds like ownership issues. Warfare ions are no different than regular ions to this script.
kandrinchae Aug 10, 2023 @ 1:30pm 
quick question - is anyone else having issues with the script not recognizing warfare ion thrusters? I have a ship with only that style and it is consistently impacting the moon surface without activating braking thrust - usually throws an error claiming there are no thrusters, but not every time. no speed mods and works perfect with original vanilla thrusters both on the moon and on earth-like.
BuildersExam Jul 30, 2023 @ 6:38pm 
Could I use this as a sort of "auto lander" for normal ships, i. e. I enable the scrip in a gravity well and the script would take me to almost above the surface (attemptToLand = false) and I then could manually land or fly my ship into a mountain or something, the normal SE stuff. Thanks.
kota May 29, 2023 @ 4:09pm 
can this guide a prop pod to a designated GPS? so you could make a titanfall script to drop mechs to ground troops
Thorn Blackwell Apr 24, 2023 @ 12:37am 
This is one of my favorite scripts. I like that it can land a drop pod that has only down thrust.

It would be nice if you could add the main screen of the programmable block to the list of statusScreens by adding drop pod to the Programmable Block's name.
Whiplash141  [author] Apr 14, 2023 @ 10:35am 
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

:slimehappy:
Marredone Apr 14, 2023 @ 9:44am 
This still is easier and more accurate than the new keen automaton blocks being used for the same purpose. gj Whip
Spite Nov 29, 2022 @ 7:28am 
Hi, sorry if I missed it in the description, but is there a way to make the script stop itself while on the way down?

For example if I see a better landing spot on the way down and want to pause the descent to make a little horizontal progress before touching down?
Rezun Aug 24, 2022 @ 10:47am 
This might work, thanks!
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 24, 2022 @ 7:58am 
it _starts_ earlier by that many meters
Rezun Aug 24, 2022 @ 2:50am 
But will that higher altitudeSafetyCushion make the ship end drop sequence higher above the ground, or it will just start decelerating sooner?
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 23, 2022 @ 10:17pm 
"How can I fix it?"

More thrust? haha

Are you sure you are not maxing out on power and overloading? Provided that you are not, the script should dynamically calculate how much stopping distance you need with the current thrust available.

You can also increase the altitudeSafetyCushion in the custom data to make it begin braking earlier.
Rezun Aug 23, 2022 @ 1:15pm 
I have a problem with implementing the script on a quite small ship. There's not much thrust due to it's compact design, and the script appears to start slowing down too late. How can I fix it?
Pounce Jul 29, 2022 @ 6:00am 
I have to copy and paste the ship to see if i have an loose block who makes it rroll in hover mode, but right now it lowers its nose and rolls clockwise
Whiplash141  [author] Jul 29, 2022 @ 4:30am 
"Then i am not clear, does the script orient the pod to stop sidemotion with down thruysters or does it level the ship for landing too?"

Both.

Reduce shutdownTime to 0 and it will give you back control as soon as you land
Pounce Jul 29, 2022 @ 2:58am 
I toyed around using an freighter shuttle big block i build, it works as advertised but it does not give me back gyro control, i have to switch them back to manual after landing
I tried to do that over the timer the script can trigger but they remain override until i shut down script and set them back to manual.... no idea what i do wrong

Then i am not clear, does the script orient the pod to stop sidemotion with down thruysters or does it level the ship for landing too?

Because when i set it to not land but hover the ship starts to slowly roll... until i shut down script and switch gyros back to manual.
Whiplash141  [author] May 24, 2022 @ 12:23am 
The height is automatically calculated on the fly, so no, not a set specific height.
xxmanofmemesxx May 23, 2022 @ 5:36pm 
Is there a way to make the thrusters activate at a specific height?
Whiplash141  [author] May 9, 2022 @ 2:24pm 
It definitely still works. I need more details to help.
Kivi May 9, 2022 @ 1:30pm 
Hey, your script doesn't work anymore. The rocket does not land but flies up 10 meters and drops again and again. Help pls
Thorn Blackwell Apr 22, 2022 @ 11:27pm 
Okay, it works, but I don't know why it didn't before. I spent hours dropping the same vehicle from the same height and only changing thrusters and tanks if needed. Every time I used atmo thrusters it bounced (voxel and block damage off). I reloaded the game and restarted my computer several times, I even spent an hour looking through the code. Everything I checked said it had to work, but the atmospheric thrusters never once reacted to the program.

I got up to answer the door, leaving the game running, and then returned some time later and it then worked every time. Good, but it didn't explain why it hadn't worked before. So, I've spent most of the day since running diagnostics on my computer, because I am at a loss as to why. it didn't work before. I'm still lost, but glad it works. I managed to fix some small issues with my computer afterwards so it wasn't a total waste of time.
Whiplash141  [author] Apr 22, 2022 @ 3:49pm 
Also, ensure you have enough power and are not overloading. That is another issue I've seen in the past
jackik Apr 22, 2022 @ 3:23pm 
maybe check if all of those thrusters are properly turned on and if you can use them yourself, perhaps you overlooked something simple (as things usually are ^^).
Whiplash141  [author] Apr 22, 2022 @ 7:05am 
thruster force is continually calculated to account for efficiency change
Thorn Blackwell Apr 22, 2022 @ 3:58am 
I think I found the issue, if dropped from a significant altitude the thruster force is calculated from the altitude it's dropped from not the thruster's force nearer the surface.
Thorn Blackwell Apr 22, 2022 @ 1:54am 
I have used this script successfully with hydrogen and ion thrusters, but it doesn't work when I try it with atmospheric thrusters. I can't tell if it is detecting the thrusters on setup, but it doesn't indicate that it hasn't found them. It surely doesn't use them. I've run several trials with large grid thrusters, Not sure if it works with small grid atmospheric thrusters.
狙撃兵の法律 (Laww) Mar 2, 2022 @ 10:12pm 
so this script could essentially be used on say a main ship that you just want to land in without having to babysit planetary landing right?
DeltaWing Nov 26, 2021 @ 5:11pm 
Is it possible to have thrusters that push you away from the vehicle you are detaching from?
Pablo Diablo Sep 21, 2021 @ 8:30pm 
Awesome. Thanks.
Whiplash141  [author] Sep 21, 2021 @ 7:29pm 
Drop duration is the minimum length of time that the drop pod will freefall before the brains kick in.
Pablo Diablo Sep 21, 2021 @ 7:00pm 
I see a "DropDuration" variable in the custom data field, but not in the variable list in the mod description. What does this do?
(Also, thanks for all your kick-*ss scripts, Whip)
RaidenDerpy Aug 9, 2021 @ 8:10pm 
What this would do is stop the drop pod from having an escape velocity when traveling upward. If using the vanilla speed limit of 104.4 m/s the gravity well of a planet is enough to slow the ascent of a drop pod and then begin its descent. But if using a speed mod, anything above vanilla speed needs to be released in lower and lower orbit to make sure it has enough distance inside the gravity well to slow down. Since this script turns off inertial dampeners, the retrograde thrusters don't help slow the drop pod unless it's traveling towards the planet.
Whiplash141  [author] Aug 9, 2021 @ 6:30pm 
I'm not sure I understand what that is supposed to do. You can enable a drop while flying up, the script will still work fine and start caring about braking once it starts descending