Overview
Welcome! I am EvilDylan, and today, I will guide you through the obvious and the secret of remote control. Utilizing this information, you’ll never need to leave the comfort of your space staion!Who says “all men must die”, anyway?
Getting Started
Alright, maggots! (Always wanted to say that!) Let’s get started with the blocks you’ll need:
^This is a Remote Control Block. This small block, 1x1x1 on both large and small ships, is the most important part of RC. It allows you to actually take control of the ship. A remote control block is only needed on the ship you wish to control.
Let’s look at it’s options. By going into the ship’s control panel directly, we can see that it has nine (9) main ones:Show in Terminal, Show on Toolbar Config, Show on Hud, Control Thrusters, Control Wheels, Handbrake, Inertial Dampeners, Control, and Autopilot (which has its own associated options).
Let’s break that up:
(Since the first three are a feature of all blocks, they will not be included here.)
Control Thrusters: If this option is checked, you will have full control of the ship’s thrusters whenever in control of the RC block.
Control Wheels: The same as Control Thrusters, except with wheels.
Handbreak: If this option is checked, wheels will not move.
Inertial Dampeners: If this is checked, the ship will automatically stop itself from floating away as long as you are in control of it.
Control: Clicking on the Control button will instantly kick you out of the control panel; at the same time, however, you will gain full control of the block/ship it is attached to. You will still see through the astronaut’s vison, though.
Autopilot: This one is a bit difficult to explain, and will thus have its own section further down. Basically, autopilot and its sub-options allow you to send a ship to a coordinate location without taking direct control.
Next image!
^This, my friend, is an Antenna. The antenna is commonly seen as the second most important part of remote control, but is much harder to put on a ship; on a small ship, it is 1x1x2, but on a large ship it’s a horrifying 1x2x6! This block is used to access the RC block from a distance.
The options for this one are as follow:
Toggle Block: This controls whether or not the block can be used. If the block is off, it will not work or use power.
Broadcast Radius: This is the radius in which antennai will send out a signal. The distance both affects it’s appearance on the HUD and it’s communication; in order for RC to work, both the sending and recieving antennai must be able to “talk” to each other. That is, they must be within each other’s radiai, or even communicating to an antenna talking to another antenna.
Show Ship Name: If this is checked, the ship’s set name will display through the antenna until the world is next reloaded.
Though curiously…
Idle: This will reset the laser antenna’s default position.
Copy my coord: This will store the antenna’s exact coordinates in your copy/paste clipboard. It is vital that you do not move the antenna after copying these.
Copy target coords: This will store the coordinates of the antenna the laser antenna is currently connected to.
Paste coords: Pastes the coordinates into the laser antenna’s coordinate box, allowing a connection.
Connect to coords: Allows the antenna to connect. Both antennas must attempt to connect. There’s even helpful lights on the block for this: red means unconnected, yellow means connecting, green means connected, and blue means connection lost/reconnecting.
Permanent Connection: They will be together. Forever!!!!!
Alright, last one!
^This here is a Camera. Arguably more important than the antenna, the camera is only 1x1x1 on both ship types. It holds the vital job of allowing vison from the controlled ship.
Here are the options:
Toggle Block: Same as it is for the antenna.
View:This is what makes the camera important. Clicking this will show you the camera’s point of view; this will allow you to see what you’re doing with your drones from relative safety. Clicking this will not interfere with control of the ship.
Remember that none of these blocks work without power; if you cut the power (via the Y key) while in control of a drone, the only way to repower the drone is to manually access the control panel and turn the power back on.
“Gee, thanks EvilDylan!” You boredly reply, knowing these things already. “I’m just going to throw a bunch of these together now, and hope it won’t explode. Some gui–“
Whoa, whoa whoa! Don’t be so impatient! There’s more! Don’t run off yet, we’ve baraly scratched the surface with remote control!
Angry that you were inturrupted, you furiously type: “HEY, YOU CUT–“
And I will continue to do so! So, without further ado, to basic control!
RC Basics
So, the first thing you need to know about RC: it’s simple.
Allow me to explain. In order to enable RC on anything, it must have a remote control block (see above). The RC block allows you to directly control a ship from a control panel aboard it.
When controlled, the block will act as a cockpit; the direction it is facing is important to the control of the ship (keep in mind that RC ships are controlled the way you would normally control a ship). Here, I’ll demonstrate:
Keep in mind that, when powered, this weird shape is green.
Okay. You’ve got your remote control slapped on, now what?
Now, you might want a camera. The camera will allow you to see what you are doing, but the view is static; the only way to change it is by moving the ship itself. Meaning a camera facing upwards will always face upwards, and a camera directly connected to a station will never move.
The camera extends for about 0.5 meters into the block it is placed on.
Cameras also have an annoying shader applied while being used. It’s kinda cool, but gets kinda irritating. It also a lovely horror feel to certain situations.
Much like RC blocks, camera direction and rotation, mainly the latter in this case, is very important:
Because it is impossible to use third-person mode in a camera, and it is difficult to rotate said camera, it will be vital to have multiple cameras, especially one near any connectors on your ship. While cameras in different directions might have crazy controls, it’s much easier to dock a ship if you can see what you’re doing. You will be less likely to accidentally blow up your stuff.
Pressing T will return you to astronaut view and control.
That concludes basic RC. With the knowledge I’ve already given you, you could make a ship with a protected cockpit that you can still view in the first person. You could maybe make a hoverchair, or a small ship that uses a passanger seat rather than a cockpit. You might even make a basic missile. But, in order to use RC effectively, you’ll need to learn how to make drones. Up next!
Drones, Mankind’s Replacement (?)
Okay! Now, into the more complicated stuff.
In order to have a fully-RC ship, you’re going to need an antenna. On both the broadcasting ship (the one you’re on) and the recieving ship (the drone).
Remember that RC car you used to have as a kid? Or maybe you just remember RC from Toy Story? It’s sorta like that. In case you never had an RC car and never watched Toy Story (you monster), I’ll explain how they work.
The operator, let’s say you as a 6-year-old, is holding a controller. The controller, which normally takes D- or AA-Batteries, has an antenna on it. The RC car, on the ground in front of 6-year-old you, also has both D-/AA-Batteries and an antenna. However, if either the car or the controller get out of range of the other, the car will stop moving immediately.
It works the same way in Space Engineers. Both antennai must be inside each other’s ranges in order for control to work. Take this for example:
A small ship antenna cannot have a radius exceeding 5000 meters.
Don’t worry! It only gets more complicated.
To control the drone through an antenna, press K to open the control panel (of your astronaut or station). In the top-left should be a dropdown menu. Select the name of your drone (so long as you own that antenna!) and you should be viewing the drone’s control panel. Find the RC block.
For a while it wasn’t possible to control it via an unconnected astronaut; this appears to have been changes again. This may be changed again in the future.
Got that? Okay, good. But that isn’t the only thing a drone needs; it also needs the basics of a regular ship. That means thrusters, power, gyroscopes, and any other attachments you might want. It’s also suggested you add armor you your drone.
With all of that done, your antennae set up and your drone built, you should be ready to sit in your base for all eternity! Laugh in the face of death, because you’ll never run out of energy now.
“But… what if someone breaks into your base, or is attacking it?” You ask, slightly worried for your own safety. “You haven’t said anything about controling turrets and cameras from my base! How do I do that?”
I’m getting to that. Stop being impatient.
Rotor Remote Control
So, you’ve built a rotor-attached security camera:
It is also important to note that, last I checked, it is not possible to control an RC block through a button press. So, if you want to make a super-secure vault ship, you’ll need to include seats to sit down on and possibly a group for each camera.
Now, you may be thinking: “Is that it? Is that all there is to remotely controlling?”
Well, I suggest you scroll down a bit before asking that. Saves the embarassment when you answer your own question.
Autopilot
Apparently Autopilot is a tad broken right about now, so it might be safer if we avoid using it for the time being.
Basically how it’s supposed to work, is you assign the RC block GPS coordinates which it will move to. You can have it move back and forth between two or three, ect, have it complete a circuit, or just have it complete its journey and stay there.
Apparently the RC block currently fails to use thrusters, however, so this doesn’t have the desired effect.