| Space Engineer (Player) | |
|---|---|
| |
Vital statistics
| |
| Position | Engineer[citation needed] |
| Age | about 35-40[citation needed] |
| Status | Unknown |
Physical attributes
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| Height | 1.85m |
| Weight | 100kg[citation needed] + Mass of inventory |
The Space Engineer is the representation or avatar of the player, and the player's way of interacting with the game environment. Upon creating a new game, your Space Engineer is spawned (on the dayside of the planet, if applicable).
You use Keyboard and Mouse, or a Controller to control the Engineer.
Space Engineers can wield Character Weapons, equip tools to create or break blocks or mine ores, carry equipment and materials in their backpack, drive rovers, pilot ships, and trade. The suit is equipped with an antenna, life support, magnetic boots, and a jetpack. The engineers can express themselves through emotes and chat.
The suit antenna has a range of only 200 metres: The player can remotely access grids that are within a 200m radius. The player can passively see other antennas that have a stronger broadcast radius, but cannot actively connect to them. This means if you e.g. want to Remote Control a drone, do it seated in a base or ship and don't rely on your suit antenna for more than short range.
Appearance[]
Space Engineers avatar - default female and male faces
The Engineer will start in a spacesuit with a random color. Standard starting colors are Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, White, and Black.
You can change your appearance by opening the Character Screen.
Player Vitality[]
Vitality is determined by three Life Support factors: Health, Suit Energy, and Oxygen. You recharge these three properties by interacting with a powered and conveyored Medical Room or Survival Kit.
- Suit energy can also be regenerated by sitting in a Cockpit or Passenger or Control Seat in a powered vehicle, but this will not regenerate health.
- A Cryo Chamber restores oxygen and hydrogen if it is conveyored to respective tanks or generators, but does not restore health either.
Health can be negatively impacted by Weapons such as the hanguns, rifles, automatic turrets, and rocket launchers. Tools like the Welder and Grinder, if used on other players, deliver significant loss of health in melee range. High speed collisions with the ground, asteroids, and solid grids are another source of often lethal damage.
The player can survive without a helmet in a warm and oxygenated environment, such as a pressurized room or the Earthlike planet. Outside an atmosphere, players slowly suffocate if they run out of oxygen or open their helmets. In space, on moons, and on extreme planets, suit energy is continuously consumed to maintain a suitable environment for the engineer.
Using tools such as the hand drill, welder, and grinder, increases power consumption, causing the suit to run out of energy at an increased rate. A HUD warning is displayed in red text once the suit reaches critical levels of 20% or less, providing the player time to find a Cockpit or Medical Room to recharge Life Support. If the suit power reaches 0%, the player's tools and life support will no longer function.
Once health reaches 0%, players are considered dead, drop their backpack, and are prompted to respawn. You can force your character to respawn by pressing (BACKSPACE key) (for example, if your drop pod has crashed right on landing).
You respawn at the closest faction owned (or your own if factionless) Survival Kit or Medical Room. Depending on World Settings you may be allowed to pick a respawn point instead.
Player Inventory[]
While not seated in a cockpit or seat, the player can access their personal inventory by pressing (I key). With "Realistic" settings, players can hold a total volume of 400L of items in their backpack.
In multiplayer, engineers can trade items with each other from their inventories using (F3 key).
Even though you stay the same player on each server, your personal inventories are separate and are not transferable between save games.
Key Commands[]
- There are more commands, for a complete list, see Key Bindings
The standard WASD keys are used for walking forward/backward, strafing right/left, while the mouse is used for turning. The following commands are available for the player character while not seated in a cockpit or similar:
- Press (G key) to configure your Tool Bar.
- Press (I key) to access the player Inventory.
- Press (V key) to toggle between first and third person view.
- Press (X key) to toggle between Jetpack and Magnetic Boots.
- Press (Q key) or (E key) to roll the engineer's jetpack while flying, and (SPACEBAR key) and (C key) to fly up and down.
- Press (O key) to toggle the suit antenna.
You can also chat and Emote (gesticulate and pose).