First, just wanted to thank TheState for an awesome guide, which allowed me to get an idea of what each ship has to offer. For the first time, I felt that I could buy an untried (by me) garage ship and feel fairly confident that I knew what I would be getting.
My impressions of the Companion:
Being mostly a PVE’er, I ended up getting a Companion for 10 mil, and for the most part I have really enjoyed it. It handles very well, it is decently armored, and it has enough amenities that living out of it on extended explorations feels comfortable.
That being said, I do have a few (mostly) minor critiques, mainly addressed to whomever designed it, hoping that the next iteration might fix these issues:
The most critical thing I’ve noticed is the arrangement of the grow plots. Specifically, the way that they are planted, with lower lying plants like wheat behind taller ones like akua berries, makes it kind of hard to pick the wheat. Furthermore, with only 9 grow plots, I am not sure exactly why you chose the particular mix of crops that are pre-planted. Maybe a short note on an LCD to explain why those particular plants? Especially since for me, this was one of its selling points.
The first issue leads directly to this one. Never having owned an SV with growplots before, and given the problems with crop choice and placement, I multitooled up the crops, intending to plant my own mix. Imagine my chagrin when I found that I could not plant new crops because the shrunken CV/BA growplots in an SV is not a normal planting situation! Obvious in hindsight, but not so much in the moment. Maybe also include an LCD note to new owners saying that they cannot plant new crops? Which by the way, is why the first issue of crop choice and placement is so important.
Minor thing: it would be nice if all the constructors could be grouped together, preferably near the furnaces. As it is currently, it’s not bad… At least they are located in only 2 places instead of scattered around individually. If there is a logic to the grouping, perhaps labels to explain? This time, I knew better than to multitool them, so thank goodness for that!
Super minor quibble: dem shutter doors! OMG. Given the relative close confines of the SV form factor, it is impossible to walk from one area to another without triggering them. Need to go to make food? Shutter door noise. Need to construct ammo? Shutter door noise. Need to load the other set of constructors with ingots from the furnace? Shutter door noise, Shutter door noise. Need to walk to the cockpit from outside? Every. Single. Shutter. Door. Noise. I think I lasted about 10 minutes before my poor abused ears forced me to multitool those shutters off! At least this one had an easy fix. One thing I noticed is that all the shutters are 3x3 so a standard manual door can take its place if you really need a barrier.
All-in-all, however, I am very pleased with my purchase and would definitely buy it again… Just please fix the crop placement. Even if it isn’t my ideal mix, I still want to pick all my crops! That one unpickable wheat is just sitting there, taunting me.
Hmm. Maybe I should go on those long solo jaunts less often. Ahem.
I will make a MK2 version for next season. The Developers change how to make food mix all the time, when I designed it I wanted you to have a large set of options for whatever they changed in the future. Manual doors will be an easy fix and I will write a small note on an LCD regarding the garden. I should be able to move the constructors as well. Any other feed back or items you think it might need or lack? Let me know, thank you.
I completely agree. This is what I had in mind when i designed the Pyre. Unfortunately all three combat tanks will have one issue this season. Lack of HV combat
Probably right, I don’t really care for the Eye’s shape. The Eye feels like a huge balloon waiting to be popped. It makes a larger hole than the raider if you are mining a deposit, less so if you are focusing down a meteor. I say this not to insult the person who made the eye but if it had been shaped more like the X-7 or Prometheus or PO-7 I probably wouldn’t have made the Raider Mk2.
I have to agree. When I made it a 12 drill miner I thought it was OP. Then someone designed the Badger and someone designed the Eye, so I have been trying to ‘Keep up with the Jones’. That said, aside from a Gravity generator it has all the same items as an Eye. So if one is over powered they both are.
(In regards to the Pyre) Me too! the two battle tanks on the market could not be customized. I made this one for the person who wanted to remake it his/her way. Also after the tank event that RexXxus held I got excited about shooting plasma out of an HV and designed this. Unfortunately it seems BA/HV combat is out this season in place of SV/SV combat and some CV/CV/SV combat.
In reference to the aesthetics, it doesn’t necessarily matter if things are pretty or beautiful. Sometimes fluff takes away from a ship’s combat capability.
However, these are garage ships. You can mix and match block types to keep it under a block count while remaining stronger than a normal SV.
They must be appealing in look. First rule. Of course rules can be changed but honestly why put a low effort ship on the garage when a better looking ship that can do the exact same thing is available. Like I said above, the low effort ships on the garage also have low effort internals. While they lack appeal, these current ones also lack functionality.
Badger was out well before the raider for sure. I’m not sure about raider and Eye, I think they were similar in timeframes.
I completely understand. Updating ships is totally realistic and necessary with rapidly changing configs. I firmly believe, though, that niche ships should remain niche ships and not stray too far from their purpose.
Both of these minor issues could be addressed by the ship class or type organization and by creating a line of ships meant to be customized rather than ready to go on purchase, as I believe I posted above.
I have been able to pick all the crops in the Companion with little trouble… even with the big sign in the way.
Crops I would use: 2x Blue pepper for food, 2x fiber for bullets, 2x wheat/corn for plastic, 2x oranges for healing juice, and whatever for the last spot.
I feel that the deconstructor is out of place in a mining SV and would have fit better in a utility SV. Slapping a +5mil to the price tag makes it not worth it to me personally.
I fully agree. Mining ships should be just that. Ig you want a factory/exploration ship it should not mine.
There is an issue with garage ships where they are sliding more and more to being jacks-of-all-trades while still trying to master one. Old garage ships had one purpose and it was apparent. They weren’t built like normal ships but with tougher blocks. They were balanced. Ships now are “let’s throw all this stuff on there and make it as OP as possible”
That shouldn’t be the kind of stuff on the garage.
Factastic overview of all the ships and great (and constructive) criticisms of the ships of the HWS Garage. Nowhere have I found a full and comprehensive guide like this and a big thank you to @TheState for putting this together. Honestly I’m a huge fan of the Companion as I use iut to run trade routes and POI farming. Keep up the good work State.
I designed the Eye with functionality in mind. Aesthetics were a secondary priority once it was mostly built. So I understand when people think it’s ugly. I tried to improve on this with the updated version. As far as the deconstructor goes, I wasn’t trying to make it as OP as possible, but I see why that is being said. Also, it seems the Raider got a 4 mil price increase. Was there a breakdown on why?
I also just realized the last comment was 18 days ago. Oops.
In this list you can find the new and consistent prices for the different garage ship components.
All ship prices will be calculated this year according to this system.
Price
Component
for free
6 Drills
for free
Medic Stations
for free
Medical Stations Type 1-4
for free
Shower
for free
Fridges
for free
Food Processors
for free
Repair Stations
for free
ATMs
for free
Sentry Guns
for free
Detectors
for free
original max. placeable amount of each Turret/Weapon/Drill is gratis for every vessel
After the calculation each total amount will be rounded down to millions.
I understand the reasoning behind these prices but I feel like the HV assets in garage are overpriced now.
On the 1st I purchased a Fenrir HV for 11mil and now they cost 16mil.
To me spending 16mil for an asset that I am using for PvP purpose is a bit excessive when the same asset cost 11mil a few days ago (and the Mjolnir was 9mil?, now 16 mil)
Not even bringing up the Panzer (which has always costed 30mil)
We made a cut here with a consistent price table now.
Before it was really more or less random or not up to date.
That is why it took us 3 weeks now to go through all of this.
And while high prices are always on position one to complain, nobody point out the return of full golden globe where you can get rich with ease. Or the secret treasures of Armageddon or the high volatility of the Commodity Traders this season (even if still not finished). Most of richness is of course waiting in PvP, the overall feedback / request for a long time: boost PvP + high risk = high reward.
We will observe the coming month how the overall economy handles all of that.
