Understanding ships

So hopefully now we got a small understanding of the ships, and how all the parts are put together, the last thing to do is to look up each part. Some of the ships have 60+ parts to lookup, each filling in one part of the ship.

Looking up the parts

Now lets go back to our engine example (found in the ships macro file):

<connection ref="connection_engine01">
  <macro ref="engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro" connection="Connection01" />
</connection>

Now we need to follow the macro ref; engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro, so we can find out more about this engine. So using macros.xml (in the index folder), lets look-up where this engine is defined:

<entry name="engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro" value="assets\props\EngineSystems\macros\engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro"/>

So head over to assets\props\EngineSystems\macros and open-up engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro.xml. You will see something like the following:

<macros>
  <macro name="engine_size_l_builder_ship_01_macro" class="engine">
    <component ref="props_enginesystems_engine_l" />
    <properties>
      <identification name="{20104,1201}" description="{20104,1202}" />
      <acceleration forward="9" reverse="9" strafe="6" pitch="0.8" yaw="0.8" roll="0.2" />
      <angular roll="20" pitch="60" />
      <speed forward="74" reverse="-24" strafe="24" pitch="8" yaw="8" roll="2" />
      <hull max="40000" threshold="0.25" integrated="0" />
      <effects>
        <explosion ref="explosion_engine_l" />
        <sefx_shield ref="sefx_shield_l_01" />
      </effects>
      <efficiency>
        <threshold threshold="0.75" value="1" />
        <threshold threshold="0.25" value="0.25" />
      </efficiency>
      <sounds>
        <ambient ref="engineambient_large" />
      </sounds>
    </properties>
    <connections>
      <connection ref="connection_booster01">
        <macro ref="enginebooster_size_l_01_macro" connection="engine" />
      </connection>
    </connections>
  </macro>
</macros>

As you can see, above is all the properties of this engine, from its name, to its speed. Each part needs to be looked up like this, so this could be (in some cases) there are 50+ xmls to look-up. However storage-bays are a little more complex.

Storage / cargobays

To find out what we can store in a cargobay, will need to first lookup the storage macro. Once there we will be given the some properties of the cargobay. In the example below (storage_ship_m_container_01_macro.xml), the cargobay macro can be found as the first connection (macro['ref']):

<connection ref="cargo">
  <macro ref="cargobay_ship_m_container_01_macro" connection="StorageConnection" />
</connection>

Once we got the macro ref, we need to open-up this file, so we can tell what we can store. Once again we need to refer to macros.xml to find out its real-location. Once found, it should look something like this:

<macros>
  <macro name="cargobay_ship_m_container_01_macro" class="cargobay">
    <component ref="generic_cargobay" />
    <properties>
      <cargo max="10000" tags="container" />
    </properties>
  </macro>
</macros>

So with this file open, we can see what we can store, how big the bay is etc. Often storage / cargo-bays are shared across many ships. So if you change one, it could effect a lot of ships.

The end

Well, there still a lot more to learn about the ships, however this guide should give you atleast a good start.

Next: End of guide
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