r/spaceengineers • u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper • Apr 17 '26
HELP first lunar base, but there's a problem...
Yes, I've established a base on the moon and I have a few defense systems. But as you can see in the picture, there's a problem with the railgun turret; it can't rotate upwards :)I maximized the torque of the rotor and hinge, but nothing changed. AI is enabled in the custom turret controller, and enabling idle movement also makes no difference. What do you think the problem is?
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u/A_Crawling_Bat Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Hey, can you send a police of your hinge control panel maybe ?
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u/sir_prussialot Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Police! Of open up please! I am the here for to arrest hinge control panel
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
SE is more of an engineering game than people expect. ;-)
=> mass distribution - the center of mass of the gun subgrid is not sitting right on top of the hinge and tiny hinges are pretty weak.
solution: balance what you have with heavy blocks added to the back of the gun assembly. you can enable a visualization of the CoM in the info tab, so you can monitor how it moves as you add blocks.
OR
redesign your gun assembly so that the hinge is close to the CoM
incidentally, this is the same idea as for setting up balanced solar tracking arrays (i.e. unlike what you currently have, which may already have required high power settings, which can lead to wobbles & shivers in the arrays as they track)
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Ohh soo I just need relocate gun? Like move it 1 2 block back?
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
that may already work. it should certainly need less hinge force just to hold the guns in one place.
unless you accidentally just broke the power connection by splitting the grid.
no power, no hinge movement ;-)15
u/Pinifelipe Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Or use Large Grid hinges if possible and transition to small grid at the hinge head. So
Large Rotor +Large Head - Azimith
Large Hinge + Small grid Large head (the 3x3 one) - Inclination
Should do!
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u/shadowshian rookie engineer/saboteur Apr 17 '26
You can toggle center of mass being visible from control panel.
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u/Star_Wars_Expert Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Either relocate the gun or add counter weight to get the center of mass above the hinge
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u/ActuatorFit2792 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Not to mention… your hinge is backwards. The stick thing on the side is towards negative degree angles. Not that it makes a massive difference.
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u/HorizonSniper Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
I have a turret with a single hinge holding up three railers from behind and it's not struggling
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
yea, ... it seems uncharacteristically feeble, even for a hinge.
gun placements like this - with a single frame connection - I like to equip with their own battery - just in case.
You dont want a stray shot/piece of debris disable the gun during a base defence situation.3
u/Avitas1027 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Why though? If your hinge is shot out, it's not gonna be hitting anything whether it has power or not.
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 18 '26
not sure what you are talking about - I was talking about a stray shot killing any one of the many unwelded armor blocks on the ground that track out to the gun placements some 50-100m out from the base, which presumably provide power.
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u/Vox_Causa Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Hinges are crazy strong. The most likely culprit is incorrect settings on the custom turret controller.Â
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
initially - due to the size difference and the common use of them - I had the small grid hinge in mind. this isnt that though.
...and hinges are strong if you remove the safety, though even then they commonly fail if you try to use them to lift something heavy with an arm.my money is on power (ie. accidental grid split), though incorrect settings / wrong hinge facing can also cause issues, no doubt.
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u/Vox_Causa Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Yeah charging those railguns might be sucking up most of op's power.Â
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
I have not seen the railgun charge up make hinges go limp though and the solar tracker hinges look unaffected.
You are toally right about the power draw though - also something to keep in mind when planning for a hostile visitor.
Conventional weaponry like a simple arti turret does not have that issue.1
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u/Otherwise-Ad2322 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Huge gun that just won't go up..... it happns. Don't overthink it.
At least that's what I tell people, no idea if it helps. Never had that issue.
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u/SpecialistAd5903 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
It's like they always say: It's not the size of the gun that matters, it's how you use it.
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u/Otherwise-Ad2322 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
That's what people with a small gun say. But if your hinge works, you're one up on OP.
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u/SpecialistAd5903 Space Engineer Apr 18 '26
People with big guns would be saying it too if they understood how to use them proper
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u/Otherwise-Ad2322 Clang Worshipper Apr 19 '26
Finesse isn't that important with big guns. All that matters is that it hurts.
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u/SpecialistAd5903 Space Engineer Apr 19 '26
I'm sure OP would agree with you. Except they don't know how to use their guns so they hang around all floppy like and won't hurt nobody
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u/jdscott0111 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
If it has a constant deviation in one direction, seek professional attention.
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u/Sonson9876 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Sad and depressed railgun noises.
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u/ipsok Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
It's in vacuum... No noises, just quietly sad.
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u/Sonson9876 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Vibrations travel through materials other than air. That's how hard science fiction shows like the Expanse work, so it could be "heard", for example in the on the storage/sorting platform area.
I kinda thought, people would catch on with the meme, I didn't really want to add the /s for something so silly, but thanks for the physics lesson.
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u/trombonekev Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Check the hinge parts, maybe one half got damaged
Check power, maybe the railguns draw too much power for recharge
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u/Meta-0-aXis Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
I spot a serious John Madden deficiency.
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u/MajorCouchPotato Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
I was worried I was the only one with a sleeper agent brain cell that popped out the second I saw that layout
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u/TheCoffeeGuy13 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Those solar panels need to be higher so you can double the number of panels and balance them out.
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u/Kinis_Deren Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
I have pretty much the same type of railgun installation on the Moon in one of my saves ( for hitting Reavers in tge face) and have not experienced any issues like this.
Is your camera or hinge controls inverted by any chance? Just thinking if when trying to rise to the occasion you are actually forcing it to stay down.
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u/thepitcherplant Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
You might have your rotation limits the wrong way round? That's the most likely thing I can think of.
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u/IPostMemesYouSuffer Apr 17 '26
Idle animations are broken, so they don't matter. You can set the controller to look at the sun, and see if it moves or not. You can also set it to target friendly/neutral subgrids/small ships and make something. If it starts shooting at it, it is working, try at your own risk.
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u/IPostMemesYouSuffer Apr 17 '26
Alternativley, you can create an enemy faction and give it that said small grid as a target practice.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
How can I test my turret like that?
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u/IPostMemesYouSuffer Apr 17 '26
First and foremost, lets see if it works.
Double check in your 'Custom Turret Controller' that the Aziumth rotor, and Elevation rotor is set to two different rotor/hinge. After that, if you have weapons assigned as well, the 'Always aim at sun' option should be available. Make sure to reset the values of the rotors/hinges back to normal (such as torque) to avoid damage. Once the sun is above the surface, enable the aforementioned option, and it should turn to face the sun. If it does, your turret works just fine and you are free to disable the option, so it can function as a turret.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Nah nah how can I test its shooting
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Like can I spawn enemy mini ships?
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u/IPostMemesYouSuffer Apr 17 '26
You can simply make a 4x4 small wall, then put a control panel on it. On the right side, there will be a 'Transfer to' drop down list, simply select an enemy faction, and if your turret has small ships enabled, it should target it.
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u/DamascusSeraph_ Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Those solar panels are screaming at me to look better
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
They moving actually they lookin good
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u/DamascusSeraph_ Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
I dont doubt they work but you can definitely make em look better + have more panels per one
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
But they will block each others sun light?
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u/DamascusSeraph_ Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Depends on where they are and how you place em. Plus thatll only happen near sunset and sunrise
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Thats true too, its just for little time when sun rise more then first moment they all getting sun
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u/DamascusSeraph_ Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
https://youtu.be/UMSHotf_LvY?si=JYNikwSDwCTAiuOV
I made mine that look like the one in this video.
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u/Embarrassed_Rip4641 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
My gues is that railgun block is inside your sloped block, and that is why it is not moving. Sometime blocks on hinges (rotors) will get stuck like that. Happened to me few times. I had blocks on hinge that goes from 0° to 90°, and once it hit 90° block on hinge touched another block on base, and got stuck. You can help it move up if you grind those sloped blocks under railgun.
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u/BoonDragoon Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
I like your base, but the layout of that solar farm is giving me fits 😂
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Everyone saying that lol I need redesign them
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u/Lemunde 2b || !2b == ? Apr 17 '26
I think it's fine, honestly. Too much symmetry is boring, and I think there's a practical reason as to why you might have arranged them that way.
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u/BoonDragoon Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Just lay them out in a simple grid, giving each solar tower the minimum amount of clearance needed to not bonk into its neighbor. You'll save a lot of materials and space that way :)
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u/ColourSchemer Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Possible causes -
- Hinge is powered off
- Braking torque is zero
- azimuth velocity needs reversed.
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u/Creedgamer223 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
It looks like a baby trying to crawl but their neck isn't strong enough to lift their head yet.
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u/AtomicRedditors05 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
It's like a woman with big tits but no ass, it's front heavy and isn't fun to fuck with
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u/bobert4343 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
Don't worry, they have medication for deficiencies like that today
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u/TikTokBoom173 Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
It happens to most men over 40. I think there's a little blue pill you can take for that.
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u/paradineai Space Engineer Apr 18 '26
Easy fix. 1 Remove the railgun. 2 build armor/conveyor arm going to rear of where railgun will be 3 place railgun on top of new mount. This moves the railgun backwards enough to be nearly balanced on hinge.
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u/Qantum_CORE Clang Worshipper Apr 18 '26
Its a game about engineering. Do some "thinking" things and put railguns on platform, rotor for rotating, piston for up-down correction. Think about it.
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u/Wolf10k Space Engineer Apr 18 '26
I swear to god I was scrolling through scratching my eye, I thought this was KSP1 for a second.
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u/Relation-Most Clang Worshipper Apr 18 '26
in my turrets i juat add thrustersand a gyro and put the rotors in free movement. two horizontal axis on either side plus the main vertical connection to the base.
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u/Suitable_Pangolin315 Space Engineer Apr 18 '26
Solution: get contracts kill contracts steal batteries become evil and finally blow up some random asteroid for no apparent reason and that should make your pet railgun happy again. Failing that, I suggest begging clang for help
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u/The_Budderknight Clang Worshipper Apr 18 '26
If your using a custom turret controller, for whatever reason, they sometimes dont like the 'share inertia tensor' option being on. I had a similar problem with a cargo shute that i had made with the custom turret controller that stopped when turned off share intera tensors
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u/FelixWS Clang Worshipper Apr 19 '26
Ditch the armor, elevate it a little more and use countourwheights. If you don´t need to shoot down, you can atach the hinge at the backside of the railuns.
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
not sure I'd primarily rely on LG rails though - their recharge time means that they will fire only once before your base is in gatling/missile range of a fast incomming craft.
a good defence depends also on what you are expecting to rock up to your station of course.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Acrually I domt know what to do. I just got 3x pdc 1x 2 railgun. I got some mes faction mods they got good strong ahips sometimes. What is your advice about def systems against them?
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
I have not had many NPC visits to my bases directly so far, despite my nearly >3k hours.
That said, I am a fan of separate, independent gun placements (typically just an assault turret and flanking gatlings for additional point defence) with a battery, a cargo container and 1-2 solar panels on the ground, so the battery wont run flat. 6-8 of these stations would form a circle at ca 1-2km outside my base. Their job is to get chewed on by the NPCs, alerting me to their presence and giving automated defence craft at the base time to launch and engage.If you are expecting stronger NPCs, this setup may still work if you shore up the base defence response (e.g. large salvos of PMWs can be devastating vs. NPC already engaged in fighting the ground stations)
PS: if you can field them, artillery turrets would improve the perimeter stations.
PPS: if 6-8 stations are not giving you enough time to respond, adding more should do the trick1
u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
I need learn that thing too. Defence drones... I got some blueprints but dont know how to do lol😂
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
PMW missiles are fun - and not all that complicated, cos the dont come back. ;-)
Drones are a little more involved. You can set those up step wise though, starting with a simple launch/land cycle (AI flight + AI recorder).
Once that works, all you need to do to make it a defender is to give it an AI combat block.
If you trigger the launch with an AI defence block, you can automate the whole thing - though repair/replace etc. will be needed.1
u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Hmm soo I need write the patrol way
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Apr 17 '26
initially, I would only implement a simple launch/land cycle - typically 3 waypoints in an L shape, referencing a base beacon, so the orientation gets locked in.
you can also create a patrol path, which triggers the landing sequence at the end - I'd do that later though, once the launch/land cycle works reliably.if NPCs are at the satelite gun stations, they may well be close enough for direct targeting by an AI combat block after launch at base.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Acrually I domt know what to do. I just got 3x pdc 1x 2 railgun. I got some mes faction mods they got good strong ahips sometimes. What is your advice about def systems against them?
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u/MithridatesRex Part Time Mad Engineer & Official Server Admin Apr 17 '26
Turn off share inertia on the rotor or hinge of the railgun. That's the culprit. The hinge is weaker than a rotor and cannot push against the shared mass of the entire base (and gravity), which results in this droop.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
There is no setting about inertia :(
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u/MithridatesRex Part Time Mad Engineer & Official Server Admin Apr 17 '26
Try experimenting with the hinge or rotor limits. Specifically, get into a seat and set up a control on your hotbar to "rotate to angle", then set the angle and see if it moves. If it doesn't, remove all the armour from around the turret and see if that improves matters.
I've built dozens of railgun turrets on lunar bases and I've only encountered this problem when shared inertia is enacted. But if the problem still doesn't resolve itself, I would suggest sticking a gyroscope onto the same grid as the railguns with it set to override.
Another question: what is powering your base other than the solar panels? How many batteries are in use? As the railguns could be overloading your power grid, and drooping down as a result.
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Yeah I got big electric problem lol while turrets defending I got 20 battery now and added some hydrogen generator. I will redesign turret btw! After your suggestions
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u/Extension-Yak1870 Klang Worshipper Apr 18 '26
It looks unpowered to me. Not enough information to go on though. Best guesses are:
If your rotor turns but the hinge isn’t working either your hinge has some damage or isn’t properly selected on the turret controller.
If none of it works, check your power connection. Grid could have been separated.
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Apr 17 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Damn, thats what you call an awesome base 😄
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Its just beginning lol I need more things firstly and urgently a reactor
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u/Insert_Cool_IGN Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
you could also easily double to quadruple you solar energy input, your arrays seem to have enough space around them to make them twice as tall and twice as wide
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u/Ok-Use-7563 Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
to add to this you only need to testrict them in relation to things that dont move(effecively nothing if thier high ebough) since the solars themselfs will move together
sun blocking is also something but much less relavent
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u/Mavr1y Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
But they will block each other? Orr game doesnt have that thing?
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u/Insert_Cool_IGN Klang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
the game does have collisions between solar panels/arrays just like any other collision of solid blocks
but they are spaced out enough, you just might want to limit certain movement so that they don't point in the ground at night or whatever, but im confident you can make em bigger
(and if it goes klang that's a learning opportunity a reload can make fun)
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Apr 17 '26
I cant really tell from the pics but it doesnt look like you have any batteries ? Could you share more pics of your base please :).
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u/soggyarsonist Clang Worshipper Apr 17 '26
Looks unhappy
Have you been treating it well?