Fringe Science: Storage Options, Cargo Container Comparison

To kick off this part of the series, I decided to talk about the different options a player has for storage on their ships and stations and the pros and cons of each. This may be a topic that most players have already read or heard about, but I still think it's an interesting aspect to consider during construction. For clarity, I'm going to be basing my information off of the standard, "realistic" setting so far as storage capacity goes.

Firstly, let's talk about large ships and stations. There are only two options for cargo containers available, and each has their usefulness.

From a cursory glance, it appears as if the large cargo container would be simply better, as it can hold far more. If you go by a one-to-one comparison of them, that would be true. But, as the image above shows, you can fit twenty-seven small cargo containers in the same space that would allow for a single large one. Not only is this more than three times the total storage capacity of a single large container, but it also triples the number of solid connection points to be used during construction, as well as the number of ports that can be used to access the inventory, either by hand or via a conveyer system.

There are some downsides to using small cargo containers in place of large ones. First and foremost is the fact that building that many small containers takes far more resources, averaging nearly nine times as many components as a single large container costs to build. Using this many small containers also clutters up the ship's terminal with twenty-seven more separate entries, which can make inventory sorting far more difficult. And finally, there are times where using a large cargo container simply has a better aesthetic feel, such as in the construction of ships designed to be massive, deep-space freighters traveling between obscenely long distances. The latter tends to be the major deciding factor any time I have to make this sort of a choice.

Now let's talk about the options for small ships. This isn't as simple of a comparison as the previous discussion, primarily because of the differences in how different items can be moved or stored due to the size of connection points that each size of cargo container allows. I'll explain this issue in further detail, as well as the ins-and-outs of conveyer systems, in a later post.

Small ships have three options: small, medium and large cargo containers. In terms of raw storage capacity, once again the large container wins in a one-to-one comparison of the three. But as far as efficiency goes, the medium can hold more per block of its size. Given that the small cargo containers only have access ports on two sides and cannot hold some of the components that the game considers "large" due to its lack of large access ports, the earlier suggestion of simply building a large cube of small containers simply doesn't work. Each different option still has their uses, however.

Personally, I prefer to use small cargo containers for personal storage; an extra welder, grinder and hand drill to be kept with each small ship I fly, in the event that I somehow lose or misplace my starting tools. A small container can easily hold some extra fuel to be put in a ship's back-up reactor by hand if the craft is designed more with battery power in mind.

For any ship that is going to have its own storage bay, even if only temporarily before it can bring its cargo off to a waiting refinery ship or such, I go with medium containers. They can be easier to fit in amongst the construction in less obtrusive ways. Depending on the design, a large cargo container may simply look far too bulky, giving the ship a strange look. Medium containers can smoothly transition to small ship welders, grinders and mining drills due to their being the same basic three-by-three block size, as well as to the large connectors that allow you to attach to large ships for cargo movement.

A single large cargo container, on the other hand, is the same size as a single block of armor for large ships and stations. For any design that might use free-floating cargo containers, as if for some kind of a freight hauler, these would be ideal. Aaron, of LastStandGamers, suggests just this sort of an idea in one of his many Space Engineers videos, which can be seen here.

Welcome to Enduring the Void!

Whether you're entirely new to the game or simply looking for another venue of related entertainment, you've come to the right place. This blog will include a number of screenshots and pages dedicated entirely to several aspects of the game Space Engineers.

So, what exactly is Space Engineers? Developed by Keen Software House, Space Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox game set amongst asteroid fields in space. Since its initial release on Steam in late October of 2013, the game has seen many exciting updates, ranging from the addition of multiplayer to in-game programming, and nearly infinite, procedurally generated game worlds. Players can collect resources in a number of different ways while trying to deal with energy and oxygen management in survival mode, or avoid the hazards altogether and build their own space ships or stations in creative mode. The game features an extensive destruction engine, allowing for every part of a construct to be deformed by impacts and damage, all in a near-future setting with realistic physics like mass, inertia and velocity.

After extensively playing games such as Minecraft, Terraria and Starbound, gameplay footage of Space Engineers was more than a little intriguing. It wasn't until the developers had included a "survival mode" to the game that I finally decided to purchase it for myself. Within my first few hours of play, I was hooked; Space Engineers is now my most played game on Steam by more than a hundred hours. I quickly wanted to add to the community in some form; thinking back to a blog I had made to follow along as I played Minecraft, I felt that doing something of the same for Space Engineers was a good fit.

So again, welcome to Enduring the Void! I hope you enjoy your visit and make sure to check back for future updates.

What You'll Find Here

• The Exploration Continues: The meat and potatoes of the blog, so to speak. These are the pages that will continue to chronicle my progress through my single player game world. I'll try to take interesting screenshots of my travels, and do my best to post at something of a regular interval. If I ever feel that I haven't made much of an impact in any given day, I'll effort to post something of the following few categories.
• Updated Transmissions:  So far, nearly without fail, the developers of Space Engineers update the game every Thursday. These pages will do what they can to explain what the additions and changes are, and their possible impact on future gameplay.
• Fringe Science: This series will talk about different concepts and ideas that may or may not have occurred to most readers. Anything you've considered and wondered about the logistics of it, or whether or not it could actually work, can be found here.
• The Shipyard: A series of posts detailing some of the design choices I've made for my own ships and those I've found while exploring my little corner of space. Eventually I'll start dipping into the Steam Workshop to highlight some of the more interesting or unique ship designs to be found.
• Fellow Engineers:  The community for Space Engineers is vast and growing by the day. Sometimes another player stands out above the rest for his contributions. Last, but certainly not least, this series hopes to introduce you to some of your fellow engineers by offering a glimpse of what they've given of their time, imagination and ingenuity. You'll also find applicable links to their YouTube channels or websites.