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Sparks of the Future

Space Engineers grids can be mobile Small Grids, mobile Large Grids, or (large) Stations. Stations are stationary grids made of large Blocks.

In survival, Stations are the only grids that can benefit from Safe Zones, and they are the only grids that cannot use Icon Block Jump Drive Jump Drives, wheels, or thrusters. If such a mobility block is added to a station, it will be non-functional, regardless of power, and can only be decorative. Beyond that, they can contain all large-grid blocks such as Icon Block Refinery Refineries, Icon Block Assembler Assemblers, File:Icon Block Contracts.png Contract Blocks, Icon Block Store Store blocks, and Upgrade Modules.

Examples include planetary surface bases, mountain or underground hideouts, moon bases, asteroid stations, space stations, or space elevators. Example purposes include crew quarters (airtight living spaces with life support, cryopods, medical rooms), stationary cranes, 3D Printers, grinder pits, welder pits, refuelling stations, mining outposts, production factories, Trading Outposts, airfields, or stationary defense grids.

Construction[]

To begin building a station, place a large Armor Block so that it is embedded in voxel, such as intersecting with an asteroid, planet, or moon.

Alternatively, if the "Unsupported Stations" options is enabled in the World Settings, Station are un-moveable and unaffected by gravity even if they are not touching any asteroid, moon, or planet. Basically, start building a large-grid ship, position it in mid-air or in space, and use the Info Screen to turn it into a station; optionally, grind off the thrusters. If the option is disabled (default), stations that are not anchored by at least one block that's embedded into voxels will float freely through space like Large Ships (and possibly, one day, crash into asteroids or a planet surface).

Stations only use large-grid blocks, but note that some functional and decorative blocks are only available in large-grid size and some are not available as large-grid blocks. Assign the block to the toolbar and press the number of the slot again to toggle between large and small size variant, if available. When attempting to add a new block to a large grid, the large-grid version is automatically selected. If a block does not have a large-grid version, you can’t add it to the same grid.

Unyielding Inventors Orbital station

Comparisons[]

  • The mobile variant of stations are Large Ships.
  • Large grids are more often designed to be multi-crew than small grids, but that’s not a requirement.
  • Stations are made of large-grid Blocks 125 times larger than the volume of Small Ship blocks. This does not mean that the mass and costs are increased by 125 times since the blocks are hollow.
  • In contrast to mobile grids, Station Blocks are allowed to partially intersect with voxels (asteroids, moons, or planets).

Tips[]

  • When copy/pasting a station using Creative Tools/Creative Mode, the ghost preview will move along a raster aligned to the copied station. This automatic alignment allows the engineer to merge a pasted station onto a pre-existing station.
  • Stations can be converted back into mobile Large Ships under certain conditions by going to the Info Tab, and clicking the "Convert to Ship" button. Remember to add mobility blocks such as thrusters.
  • Conversely, mobile large ships can be temporarily or permanently merged with stations and become static, using Merge Blocks.
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