Equipment
Equipment is all of the machinery that can be installed on or within a ship to perform a function.
Equipment initially arrives as a box with the equipment name on it. This box is treated like any other cargo. The equipment needs to be installed by a crew member before it can be used.
Getting Equipment
- Most equipment can be purchased via the Trade menu while in a Colony or Shipyard system, though some equipment may be out of stock in that system.
- Equipment may be left in space when a ship is destroyed. This equipment will appear in boxed form and can be picked up with Logistics Drones.
- Some equipment can be manufactured on the ship. This requires the ship have manufacturing equipment, and often requires research to unlock the recipe.
Installation
Once equipment is on the ship in boxed form, it can be installed by selecting it in the Construction -> Install menu, and then selecting the location to place the equipment. A crew member is required to perform the actual installation. If the install location is outside the ship, the crew member will need a spacesuit.
Each piece of equipment has a grid footprint. Some equipment footprints reserve a space for crew or passenger access. Most equipment also has cable and/or pipe connection points.
Placement
It's recommended to be in the top-down Schematic view when placing equipment, rather than the standard isometric view, as it's easier to see where the equipment footprint falls.
Equipment varies as to where on the ship it is allowed to be placed. Valid locations fall into common categories:
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Fully Inside | Must be within the ship and not intersect any walls. |
| Fully Outside | Can be placed on scaffolding outside the ship. It is sufficient for one square of the equipment to overlap scaffolding.
Currently all equipment capable of being installed outside can also be installed inside. |
| Hull wall | The equipment must intersect the hull wall.
Typically a portion of the equipment is required to fall inside or outside the ship. |
A few pieces of equipment break convention. Mining Lasers, for example, cannot be fully inside, but hull wall and fully outside are both valid.
Orientation
Some equipment can be rotated by pressing R. This rotates the footprint and changes where the cable and pipe connection points fall.
Equipment may display an arrow indicating a direction it operates in, such as a thruster's output. Typically this is hull wall placed equipment and the arrow points towards/through the exterior side.
Reserved Space
In addition to the equipment footprint itself, some equipment requires a certain amount of space along one side to be free of any other equipment. This limits the valid placement for this equipment, and also limits the valid placement of future equipment as it can't impinge on this space.
| Equipment | Equipment Side | Spaces Required |
|---|---|---|
| Docking Bay | Interior | 2 spaces beyond footprint.
Because the footprint already includes one clear space, this appears as 3 spaces after install. |
| Ladder | Arrow side | 1 space |
| Engine | Left | 6 spaces |
| Thruster | Exterior | 2 spaces |
| Drone Bay | Exterior | 3 spaces |
| Mining Laser | Firing | 6 spaces |
| All Weapons | Exterior | 6 spaces |
| Deflector | Exterior | 8 spaces |