aaaaron / reeditshipmanagement

Broad ship management solution tailor made for Draconis Expanse.

[RSM] Reedit Ship Management

Reedit Ship Management (RSM) is a broad, ship automation script tailor made for the Draconis Expanse Space Engineers server.

Subscribe to Reedit Ship Management on steam.

Join the discussion on the Sigma Draconis Discord

The broad goals of this script are to…

• Provide a range quality-of-life functionality to make ships on DX easier to use and better.
• Output a high-density, customisable LCD display (with hudlcd support)
• Prevent configuration errors that can lead to combat failure or other mistakes.
• Simplify ship control via fully-configurable 'stances'
• Automate monotonous tasks like block naming so you can get a new ship up and running fast.

Quick Start Guide

RSM does a lot, so it can be daunting at first, but it's easy once you know the basics. Let's cover them now...

Setting Up

So you have a pretty new ship... We'll run RSM in a minute, but first let's do a few preperation steps to make it easy...

• Name your lights:
  • Simply name sure the word interior is contained within the name of all interior lights, and NOT for exterior lights.
• Prepare for mass renaming:
  • RSM is going to rename every block on your ship, and you might have names you wish to retain.
  • For example, you might have a camera called Camera Forward.
  • If you want the word Forward to be retained in this process, it must come after the second . in the name.
  • So rename that camera to Camera..Forward or even just ..Forward. Trust me, it will make sense soon.
• Name your airlocks:
  • RSM will automatically manage all of the doors on your ship, but it can also manage airlocks to prevent both doors opening at the same time.
  • Airlocks are configured via name. RSM will rename all our doors shortly, but we can set this up now so it's ready to go.
  • Think of a unique name for each pair of doors. In this example, we'll configure the Forward airlock.
  • Rename the inner door to ..Airlock.Forward.Inner and rename the outer door to ..Airlock.Forward.Outer.
• Prepare your LCDs:
  • RSM outputs a range of data that is available on LCD blocks including hudlcd support.
  • There are lots of ways to set this up, but let's try out the default option first. This will work better if you install the hudlcd plugin first.
  • Place 4 LCDs and name them ..[RSM].HUD1 to ..[RSM].HUD4. Again, trust me, this will make sense shortly...
  • RSM will also configure an LCD name [EFC] with hudlcd if you have one.
• Build the PB:
  • You will need a Programmable Block to run RSM.
  • Build one on your ship, name it ..[RSM] and load the latest version of Reedit Ship Management from steam.
• Disconnect from other ships:
  • Make sure you seperate from other ships during the next steps to ensure you don't automatically rename other, unrelated components.

Initialise

Now you're ready to rock. Run the RSM Programmable Block with the argument Init:ShipName, replacing with your actual ship name. I recommend using a short name for this step.

RSM will now initialise your ship. All blocks will be renamed with the ship name, and your LCDs will be automatically configured and loaded for hudlcd.

Enjoy

Now that RSM is running, let's explore some features...

• Control the whole ship with Stances
  • Set a stance with the command Stance:StanceName for example Stance:Cruise or Stance:Combat
  • Setting a stance controls a number of functions on the ship all at once such as interior and exterior lights, drives and RCS, weapons, automatic repair systems, extractor management and EFC configuration.
  • My favourite stances include...
    • Stance:Combat Configures the ship for a long-range fight
    • Stance:CQB Configures the ship for a CQB fight
    • Stance:Cruise Configures the ship to fly a long distance.
    • Stance:Docking Configures the ship to dock (spotlights on, main drives off)
    • Stance:Docked Configures the ship to refuel/recharge at dock.
  • There are many more stances, and all are fully configurable via the custom data on the RSM PB. You can even add or remove new stances from the list there.
• Toggle hudlcd on and off!
  • This plugin is awesome, but sometimes I just want to take a screenshot!
  • 'hudlcd:on', 'hudlcd:off', 'hudlcd:toggle' now turn all hudlcds on and off.
• Automatically handle Extractors
  • On DX, you probably know fuel tank components are loaded into Extractor blocks to refill your ship tanks.
  • RSM does all of this automatically. Configured per stance, RSM will use fuel tanks from your inventory to either keep the ships tanks topped up, or else top them up a little only when they are totally empty.
  • This also works with jerry cans on SG ships (yes, RSM works with SG).
• Automatically handle Spawns
  • Spawns are a vulnerability, and players can inject data into custom data of survival kits or medical rooms to open up spawn access.
  • RSM clamps down on this hard, frequently resetting the custom data to prevent mismanagement.
  • It also uses this chance to inject the owner's faction tag into all connected SKs and MRs. If someone steals your ship and doens't check themselves, it might let you back on.
  • RSM can also automatically handle opening and closing of your respawn point for your friends. You can configure a list of friendly faction tags or steamIds in the RSM PB custom data, and then use the Spawn:Open and Spawn:Close command to add or remove them.
• Save and load the position of projectors for easy alignment.
  • Run Projectors:Save to store offset and orientation to custom data.
  • Run Projectors:Load after loading your BP to recall it's offset and orientation.
• Automatically handle Doors
  • RSM acts as a basic door management script, closing open doors after a timer runs out.
  • For airlocks, RSM also disables other doors in the same airlock for a time to prevent loss of air.
  • You can configure the timer values in the RSM PB custom data.
• Manage Antennas
  • Send a new hud message to all antennas with the command Comms:Antenna Message.
• MOAR LCDs, MOAR Data!
  • RSM's LCDs output a whole range of useful info, with each LCD configurable via custom data.
  • The header section shows the ship name and current stance, as well as other useful messages.
  • The inventory section shows a list of important inventory with quotas and bars. Configure the quotas in the RSM PB custom data, or remove all together by setting to 0.
  • The thrust section shows Decel (distance and time needed to stop), Accel (total thrust) and drive signature range. Switches from Best to Actual when a thrust override value is set.
  • The comms section shows the current antenna hud message and range.
  • The autorepair section shows the current status of autorepair blocks.
  • The doors section shows a count of all doors and how many are closed.
  • The advanced thrust section shows a range of additional thrust info including current mass, and decel at different thrust percentages.
• Automatically Configure Weapons
  • RSM sets a range of configuration options for weapons
  • RSM can also handle a seperate group of 'Repel' PDCs always set to defend.

Developer Promise

Draconis Expanse is a PvP environment, and scripts have been used as weapons before. I have and will do that on other scripts, but WE DON'T DO THAT HERE. As long as it's me (christophuck) handling the development of the script, it won't be used as a weapon, and I guarantee malicious code won't be added. If you experience such a thing, it's a mistake, please report it! The full, unobfuscated script is posted here for all to review.

Disclaimer

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

This script is safe (all of my ships run it) but it is complex, and using it improperly can lead to damage or destruction of your ship. Read the guide, ask questions, and practice.

DON'T FIGHT THE SCRIPT!

What? My PDCs keep turning back on when I switch them off! lol, RSM is doing that, and for good reason. There's probably a stance or other option to achieve what you want with one command to RSM. If it's freaking you out, just turn off the RSM PB!