About This Dev Diary
Every Thursday, I share some of what we’ve been working on – the challenges, solutions, and ideas that caught my attention. This is my unfiltered dev journal, so my thoughts and plans may change quickly, and nothing here is set in stone. And if you don’t like spoilers, don’t read further!
Space Engineers 1
Since our Warfare 3 reveal, we’ve received a lot of questions, many along the same lines: How will all of this actually work?
We sat down with Space Engineers Lead Designer Ryan Keel to pick his brain – this week, we’re talking new automation events and a conveyor surprise!
Are there any new automation events related to combat?
Yes! We’ve added a new Event Controller event that can detect missile lock-on and allow you to set up automated responses to incoming fire. This should allow players to easily create systems that react to incoming seeking missiles and torpedoes.
That could mean quickly deploying countermeasure flares, switching target priorities to aim at incoming missiles, or even sounding an alarm. We’re sure you’ll put this to good use and create some awesome defensive systems with it.
I spotted some unusually long blocks while browsing the update – any reveals or spoilers you’d like to share?
Oh yeah, we always strive to add items to every update that have broader applications. While Warfare 3 is focused on delivering new combat mechanics, we’re not neglecting players who aren’t interested in combat, or who just want more tools to create with. One of those items, amongst several very exciting new additions, is longer Conveyor Tubes! The standard Conveyor Tube, Reinforced Conveyor Tube, and Heavy Industry DLC Conveyor Pipes are all receiving additional variants that are 3 times longer. This allows builds to have significantly longer stretches of pipes at a fraction of the PCU cost.
This follows the same goals we had when adding Structural Platforms to the game. We know you all enjoy that set, and the response to those blocks helped push us towards adding more options like this in Warfare 3. Our whole team is excited to see what you create and how you incorporate these into your designs!
Colorful Icons
This is an exciting one for a lot of people. Colorful Icons have been at the top of the feedback tickets on our support site for a long time. It’s a big task – and one we couldn’t do without dedicating a fair amount of resources to it. Our game has over 1,600 items that use icons – from blocks and components to tools and consumables… It’s a lot to adjust, and we wanted to do it right.
Alongside what we wanted for the base game, one of our biggest goals was to give our modding community a tool they could use to match the lighting, composition, and overall style of our new icons. We wanted to give them the ability to update their mods quickly and with as little hassle as possible, helping their creations stay visually consistent with the vanilla game. This tool will be available inside our ModSDK when Warfare 3 launches. I’m very happy with what’s come out of this endeavor, and I can’t wait to see some of our favorite community additions updated in full color.
Overall, this change adds some much needed clarity to all our menus. Thank you all for being patient, commenting, and voting on the support site – your voice made this possible!
Warfare 3 Pack
Warhead Type II (1x L, 1x S)
Clean, squared-off, and ready to detonate, this powerful explosive fits neatly into missiles, torpedoes, and compact weapon systems.
Decorative Intake Blocks (7x L, 7x S)
Add vents, grilles, and industrial detail to any surface with decorative intake blocks built to make ships and stations feel more complete.
Can’t wait? Wishlist the Warfare 3 Pack on Steam now!
And follow us for more detailed reveals every week as we take a closer look at what’s coming.
Space Engineers 2
This week, I want to give you a first look at the Interior Turret. It is a compact defensive option designed to help protect tight spaces where bigger turrets simply do not fit.
We are improving NPCs shooting from cover, with better animations and positioning so they stay more protected while still maintaining a clear line of sight to their target.
We are also improving ragdoll behavior – with NPCs coming to Space Engineers 2, you will also be seeing that behavior much more often.
We are adding proper weapon recoil.
Also with flora inclination control, you should no longer see trees stuck at weird angles on sloped terrain.
Question to you: Do you use automation and engineering in ship combat?
Share your thoughts in the comments below – I read them all, and they’re one of my favorite parts of making our games.
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I think it’s great that you’re considering the many amazing modders out there when it comes to something that might seem trivial at first glance, like colored icons. I can’t mod myself, but one reason I tend to play a “vanilla” style is that it breaks my immersion when mods don’t quite “fit in”—even though they’re often fantastic and work perfectly. Thanks, guys.
Regarding the question:
I’m not much of a combat player, but that’s precisely why I try to gain an edge through engineered solutions. I’m really curious to see how the new missiles and torpedoes will fit in alongside custom missiles.
Looks amazing! Are there any planned changes / additions to grid AI navigation and control with this update? I’m particularly interested if there will be any additional functionality that can affect Player-Made Missiles and attack drones.
I think there are two key things for the AI / PMM combat fantasy to come online:
1. Being able to command AI to attack your locked target from your host grid.
2. For AI to be able to use thruster blocks more efficiently with gyroscopes, for example, to be able to orbit a target with only one thruster.
It seems to me like these functionalities are in line with the planned addition of Missiles. Is something like this or similar on the table for the upcoming update? Thanks!
Hopefully, a thick 3x3x5 piston or something will be added to the fine mesh someday. There are already so many blocks that “duplicate” the functionality, and for so long there has been a shortage of a thick piston for a small grid, and there are hinges, rotors, but no piston, and for some reason this has been the case for many years 🙁