Space Engineers

Space Engineers

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Piquant 6 Transport [No Mods]
   
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Type: Blueprint
File Size
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6 Jun, 2016 @ 4:18pm
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Piquant 6 Transport [No Mods]

Description
The Piquant 6 Transport is a small mining rover meant to carry the Piquant 6 Drone (a compact 4-drill mining drone), store many ore loads from the Drone, and offer some protection from small threats. It was originally designed in Survival but early issues lead me to prototype some changes in Creative. It is fully intended to be a practical, compact, semi-durable (vehicle physics are very unpredictable currently) mode of transport and mineral collection for Earthlike (and possibly other) planets, played in survival mode with some kind of threat active (meteors, cyberdogs, etc).

Operation:
Once assembled, load Uranium ingots into the large reactor by the front right wheel. The rover should start with it's parking brake ON, gyro and thruster assists off, and landing gear retracted and unlocked. Wheel suspension strength should be at 10% (as indicated on controls), which should be fine until you start bringing in ore from the Drone. BE SURE TO set sentries back to idle animations to allow them to scan area for threats!

Fully-assembled, the Transport has gyro and thruster assists, which can be toggled on as needed. Neither is intended to save you from poor piloting decisions, but they may help you navigate terrain that the wheels just can't quite manage. There are also two retractable landing gears near the mid wheels, which can greatly aid in keeping the Transport stationary on hills. 4 Sentry Turrets provide nearly complete cover in almost all directions, but if you are on a safe planet, feel free to not assemble them.

Key points:
* You will need to increase the wheel suspension strength as the Transport containers fill, but should not need stronger than 20-25%
* When deploying the landing gear, MAKE SURE the suspension strength is increased enough to bring the ride-height to it's maximum. They are meant to prevent movement, not support weight.
* Wheel strength and friction are set to handle a full load, so initial handling may seem a bit too fast/powerful.
* Speed limit is set at 80kps. Due to the state of vehicle physics currently, I advise against faster, especially at full load.
* Vehicle can handle ramps when fully loaded, but you might need to take it easy and float the Drone in some spots to aid climbing.
* GREEN Connector is to load ore INTO Transport, RED connector intended for pulling OUT of Transport.
* This setup was surprisingly stable on my system, but because of the nature of things, you may have a different experience. The more weight, the bigger chance for issues (which is why I removed 2 containers from the container stack).

Controls:
Typical left-right for steering, up-down for throttle, space for handbrake and P for parking brake.
Mouse movement influences gyro activity, when that feature is turned on.
Action bar:
1 - Lights, front and rear.
2 - Gyros on/off toggle.
3 - All thrusters on/off toggle
5 - Wheel suspension strength Decrease.
6 - Wheel suspension strength Increase.
8 - Pistons extend/retract toggle (reverse).
9 - Landing gear lock toggle.

Order of operations:
1 - Check reactor fuel ok, secure supplies for pilot (Oxygen, Hydrogen).
2 - Make sure Piquant 6 Drone is landed and locked on pad, stabilizers OFF.
2 - Enter cockpit, turn parking brake off, adjust assists and wheel strength as needed.
3 - Prospect for ore. Sensor is on Drone.
4 - When you find a spot, park Transport off to the side, front facing up or down hill (if applicable, but avoid facing across the grade).
5 - Bring vehicle to as little movement as possible, meanwhile making sure ride height is maxxed (using suspension strength controls).
6 - Extend pistons, and engage lock when green. IMMEDIATELY stop applying movement, put parking brake on and disable gyros and thrusters.
7 - Operate drone per specifications.
8 - When ready to move on, verify Drone is docked, locked, with stabilizers OFF.
9 - Take parking brake off, disengage landing gear lock and immediately retract pistons. Set ride-height and assists as needed and proceed.