The primary conceit of this guide is to add a Basic Assembler to the Respawn Pod using a Large Grid to Small Grid hinge. If you’re already nodding your head, feel free to skip down to steps 9-15 for the process.
Even the best Engineers out there will get wiped out or just blown away while playing on DI. Therefore, we end up starting over again more than once, so you will likely use this method again and again. I went through a total of 7 Respawn Pods before I got established enough to build a basic base and get to space.
Important Notes
Clang is alive!
Be careful when grinding on a server. With the Aww, Scrap mod, if you accidentally grind your Survival kit, Battery or other critical component too far, you won’t be able to repair it. Try to grind in such a way that you won’t grind anything else if the server jumps.
Servers in general and especially Draconis Impossible do not like rotors and hinges. There’s a decent chance your hinge will explode when you attach it. I have made this step very early in the process, so you can respawn and try again quickly if this happens.
If you are new the server (or there’s a wipe), you need to build the Solar Panel and Remote Control just for the progression unlocks. If you have already unlocked these, you don’t need to build them again.
Get in the game
1. As you are descending in the Respawn Pod, turn off the O2/H2 Generator. We will use the unlimited O2 in a cockpit bug, and later add a depressurized vent to save ice. This may not be a big deal if you happen to land near snow, but if you don’t, you may end up needing the limited ice you start with to survive.
1 a. Take a look around! If it isn’t dark, look for ore patches, flat areas that will be easier to explore and snow. If you aren’t landing on snow, point your Pod in the direction of the nearest snow and remember which way it is.
2. Add NOMS to name of Fighter Cockpit 1 (the one you are sitting in) and put food and water from the cargo container into your backpack. After you eat and drink, move the food and your waste back to the cargo pod.
3. Change the Interior Lights at least so they don’t flash. I like to use the settings below. Draconis Impossible will absolutely spawn you on the night side of the planet, so some extra light will come in handy.
4. Go to the Production tab, switch to the Survival kit and queue up the following: from the scrap tab, several hundred of each type of scrap, on the main tab, 8 Solar Cells, 4 Girder, 1 Construction Comp, 1 Computer, 10 Steel Plates and a few thousand ingots.
5. IMPORTANT: Rename your ship, or it will get deleted after you log off. Note that this will disable the Respawn Pod GPS point that follows your ship.
6. Grind the Connector and everything around off the back of your ship. This includes the extra blocks and yes, the Emergency Rations block. Don’t worry, we will add food production back a long time before you run out of food or water. Grind away the Hydrogen Thrusters and a few of the Small Conveyors so you have access to the Medium Cargo Container. Deposit all of the scrap and let it get recycled.
7. Mine 4 loads of stone and deposit them in the Pod. Keep in mind that you will want to drill down at an angle you can walk back up, since you don’t have a working jetpack. Also, once you get past the dirt and start drilling rock, you can drill out wide so you don’t have to run back up a long tunnel.
8. Use the components we queued up on the way down to build a Solar Panel. Where you put it isn’t important, especially if it’s already night. I like to grind away a couple blocks and place it on the battery. While we’re here, the orange Small Conveyors running down the sides of the Spawn Pod are redundant and can be ground away at any time and recycled.
9. Add a 3 x 3 Hinge Part to that back of the Medium Cargo Container. Don’t weld it up for now.
10. Place a single Large Grid Armor block in the voxel just behind the Pod. You want it lined up with the Spawn Pod and a few centimeters away. It helps to stand directly behind the Pod, far away, and walk slowly back until the Armor block goes from red to green so it can be placed. This picture shows roughly where the block should be placed.
11. IMPORTANT: Drop a Basic Assembler on the block. Make sure it’s not attached, but just resting on it. Also make sure the single conveyor port on is pointed toward the Respawn Pod. To get the alignment right, stand just in front of the front landing gear and drop it from there.
12. Add a hinge to the Basic Assembler. It may push itself away from the Spawn Pod a little bit, but that’s ok.
13. Grind away the Large Grid Hinge Part inside the hinge.
14. Grind away the Armor block in the voxel so that (hopefully) the Basic Assembler drops with the Large Grid hinge around the Small Grid Hinge Part.
1. a. Getting this right takes some practice and can require a few retries. If the hinge is too far away, it may attach, but then explode (see next step). Take your time and try to get it lined up as well as you can. Order up more Steel Plate if you need to and start all over again if it doesn’t land where it needs to.
15. Now it’s time to see if Clang has had his coffee yet. When the Large Grid Hinge is in place, use Build Vision to attach it to the Small Grid. Even if everything is lined up, this explodes randomly for no reason, taking out your Survival kit and/or Battery. At that point, you just have to respawn and try again. It should have taken you about 10 minutes to get this far, so we haven’t lost a lot of time. Even if you have to restart 3 times, this method is still much faster than starting with a Large Grid base. If everything goes well, attach the hinge, then make sure you lock it in place using Build Vision.
16. Order up the parts for the Basic Assembler from the Survival kit, skipping the 20 extra Steel Plate. Make sure you drag the Ingots last in the queue so it makes the components first.
17. Mine 7 more loads of stone.
18. Finish welding up the Assembler. Until we finish the hinge, you will need to manually move ingots from the Survival kit to the Basic Assembler.
19. Add a piston and a Landing Gear to raise up the pod so we can add wheels. If you had to place a Solar Panel, this is a great place to the piston. Otherwise build out 4 or so blocks and put it there. Raise it up a bit until you lock the Landing Gear. Once it’s locked, unlock the other 4 Landing Gear (set Autolock to off) and raise higher until you can place the wheels. Depending on where you land, you probably need to raise it 1-1.5 meters.
20. Grind off the 4 Landing Gear around the Respawn Pod and the struts that attached them. Recycle the scrap. Place 4 armor blocks in the positions shown to mount the wheels. Wheel placement is up to personal choice, but I have found this to be very stable and not interfere with the ship drill.
21. Mine 3 more loads of stone.
22. Add 3 x 3 Wheels around the Respawn Pod.
23. Grind the armor blocks off the nose. Order up the components for a Small Grid Remote Control, Hinge, Hinge Part and Drill.
24. Build the Remote Control, if needed to unlock the Drill. If you want to keep it, put it someplace cool, otherwise just add it anywhere and then grind it away.
25. Mine 3 more loads of stone.
26. Add the Hinge and Drill to the front of the Pod. Lock the Hinge before you add the Drill so it doesn’t tlit down.
27. Set the Handbrake, lower the piston and release the Landing Gear. I usually leave the piston and gear on there, but I’ve never actually used it. Grind away if you want, along with the Solar Panel.
28. IMPORTANT: We mentioned Clang earlier and he hasn’t forgotten about you. Set the Lower and Upper limits on the Drill hinge to -70 and 70. Set the limits on the hinge for the Assembler to 0 and 50. This is also a good time to set up the Wheel Suspension to your liking. I highly recommend a top speed of 120, or even 75 if you aren’t in a flat area.
29. Lower the drill and move backward slowly creating a trench. As your Survival kit processes the stone, you will be able to finish some blocks and build more. Until the rear hinge is finished, you’ll have to manually move ingots, but it won’t take long.
Epilogue
Keep drilling and producing ingots until you have enough to complete the Assembler hinge. Once you have it finished, angle the Assembler up to 50 degrees so it doesn’t bump the ground as you drive.
I add 2 more drills up front, which works well. However, if you establish a land base and remove the Assembler, this set up is a little front heavy, so be careful.
Add an air vent somewhere and set it to depressurize so you will get O2 quickly in the cockpit and from the Survival kit.
Now you have enough materials to build the 3 basic Daily Needs blocks, Waste Water, Protein Resequencer and Hydroponics. Since they function just like conveyor junctions, I grind out the conveyors between the O2 Gen and the Survival kit and put all 3 of them there.
For whatever reason, 6 wheels is almost always better than 4. As you build up resources and get heavier, add 2 more wheels in the middle for more stability and power to get up inclines. Set the Strength of the middle wheels slightly lower so that they keep traction as you go over rough terrain.
Now you have a mobile drilling and production platform! Your next step is to explore the area around you and find your best source of snow and, of course, Cobalt. I wish you all the best!
Hope you enjoy the post for Space Engineers Draconis Impossible Quickstart Guide – Mobile Drilling and Production in 45 Minutes, If you think we should update the post or something is wrong please let us know via comment and we will fix it how fast as possible! Thank you and have a great day!
- Check All Space Engineers Posts List
Leave a Reply