History VideoGame / SpaceEngineers

* RealityEnsues: Plenty of it (see RammingAlwaysWorks above) but the first example many first-time Survival players find is that mining an asteroid is a very fiddly job when you have to chase those resource nuggets through the inertia-less void on a regular basis. A gravity generator makes things a lot easier.

Currently in alpha stage, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/244850/ the game is available for Early Access]] on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and an XboxOne port has been announced.

** Same idea here. All those beautifully constructed titans in the workshop, as mentioned below, might not be the most functional. But the well designed ones tend not to look as pretty, and you'd prefer them to play with in survival. But in Creative, you can mess with all the really cool ones, and if they break horribly you can easily paste them back in for tweaking.

* ArtEvolution: Thrusters were originally a solid, uniform color, but were later altered to be more detailed, primarily by having the thruster exhaust noncolorable.
** With the implementation of [=DirectX=] 11 into the game, the developers have begun to redesign more blocks with a detailed, realistic look, marking a departure from the minimalistic and borderline EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture appearance that previously defined ''Space Engineers'''s art style.

* ArtificialGravity: Provided by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gravity Generators]] on Large Ships and Stations. There are two types: the regular one that makes a cube/cuboid field and a spherical one that has itself as the centre of gravity. Natural gravity subtracts from artificial gravity, so on a 0.25g moon an artifical gravity of 1g is weakened to 0.75g; this prevents the usage of the extremely powerful gravity drives to take off from heavy worlds.

* EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture: Ship systems predominantly feature soft edges, minimalistic details and occasionally brightly-colored lights; aided by the fact that the default color for everything is a very light grey with darker grey highlights.
** This is looking to be [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], however, in light of the new redesigns several blocks have received with the implementation of Directx 11: The emerging aesthetic is noticeably more [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty gritty and realistic]] than before, with greater emphasis on detail, though it largely retains the smooth, flat colors of its predecessor.

* OldSchoolDogfight: [[SpaceFighter Small Ships]] generally fight like this, since their weapons don't track targets and they can move pretty fast.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: Until the weapons were implemented, the only real way to damage other spaceships was to ram into them at top speed. [[RealityEnsues Of course, this generally left both ships equally mangled unless some serious hull-reinforcement was installed]].

** Your spacesuit in particular needs power, oxygen and hydrogen simultaneously in order to function properly. Without hydrogen, you can't fly; without oxygen, you can't breathe; and without power your jetpack and life support won't function at all.

** Scuttling abandoned or derelict structures is a good way to get ready-made crafting materials; though some players, armed with weapons, are perfectly happy to gun down fellow engineers before proceeding to loot their ships.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Quite a few things are fully audible in the void, especially explosions and weapons fire.
** The Sound Block allows you to broadcast effects like sirens or music in the vacuum of space.

* SpaceStation: Either in open space or attached to an asteroid. Unlike ships, Station blocks are rigged to a universal grid system, making them totally static and immovable unless you decide to convert one into a Large Ship.

* StandardHumanSpaceship: All armor blocks are made up of riveted steel plates fitted together, which are by default colored gunmetal gray. The standard ships largely avert part of this though, as they are often painted in bright colors.
* StuffBlowingUp: Missile launchers are the most predominant, available in two sizes and types. Small Ships gets regular one-missile-at-a-time launchers that you need to manually load and re-loadable rocket launchers that uses the conveyor system; Large Ships get a hefty missile pod capable of [[MacrossMissileMassacre firing full-auto]]. Also, SpaceMines.

* {{Telefrag}}: [[DefiedTrope Defied]], as Warp Drives cannot be used to leave or enter a location too close to a planet, asteroid or another ship, preventing accidental collisions... Though this won't stop you from accidentally warping into the path of a moving ship.

** User-created weapons, such as large caliber gravity powered cannons or missiles, can also fall into this category, due to being overly complex to build and each projectile needing to be made separately, and the general complexity of the weapons being a pain in the ass if repairs need to be done. A good example is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ9ZNRvOesQ Terminal Gravity Torpedo]]. Sure, it can punch through even the thickest of armor using only a couple gravity generators and a rock, but the torpedo itself is almost as big as a small ship, you have to craft each one individually, and to fire it, you have to accelerate your ship up to max speed, release, then slam on the brakes before you crash into the enemy ship along with your warhead, and then, if you pray hard enough, the enemy ship 'may just' let itself be hit by the incredibly slow torpedo. Even if it's far more effective against, say, fixed targets such as asteroid bases or stations (which can't dodge), it's ''still'' so slow that an enemy can relatively easily deflect the strike or shoot down the weapon.

A spinoff - developed by a separate team - named ''MedievalEngineers'' is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJBYsv3sGAI also in]] [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/333950/ Early Access]]. It's ''Space Engineers'' [[RecycledInSpace but set in]] [[InvertedTrope the medieval period]]. [[http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/01/medieval-engineers_22.html Improvements made]] to the VRAGE GameEngine for ''Medieval'' will be applied to ''Space'', such as compound blocks and voxel modification.

A spinoff - developed by a separate team - named ''Medieval Engineers'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJBYsv3sGAI been announced.]] It's Space Engineers [[RecycledInSpace but set in the medieval period]]. [[http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/01/medieval-engineers_22.html Improvements made]] to the VRAGE GameEngine for ''Medieval'' will be applied to ''Space'', such as compound blocks and voxel modification.

Currently in alpha stage, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/244850/ the game is available for Early Access]] on {{Steam}}, and an XboxOne port has been announced.

* ArtificialGravity: Provided by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gravity Generators]] on Large Ships and Stations. There are two types: the regular one that makes a cube/cuboid field and a spherical one that has itself as the centre of gravity.

''[[http://www.spaceengineersgame.com/ Space Engineers]]'' is a survival-crafting sandbox InSpace developed by KEEN Software House, which puts players in the role of one of the titular space engineers working in an asteroid field, building all manner of spacecraft and machinery as they mine the local resources. Unlike games such as ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'', you don't have to worry about entering and exiting planetary atmosphere, which gives players significantly more freedom to design ships and recreate their favorites from across fiction.

* BabyPlanet: Downplayed. Planets do have visible curvature when one is standing on high ground, but they are still dozens of kilometers in diameter.

* NoWarpingZone: Warp Drives do not work within the gravitational field of planets, or within 1 kilometer of other constructs.

*** To be fair, the Devs added oxygen (so now there's atmosphere) and eventually planets. They may add a sound pack so the only sound is what vibrates in your suit.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: A race of predatory creatures called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7t37LNdy6k Saberoids]] are slated to be a threat on certain planets. They move fast, are able to burrow underground, and are allegedly strong enough to tear most light-armor blocks to pieces.

* SelectiveGravity: While players and pickups are affected by gravity, actual blocks are not, even when the block in question has no logical means of keeping itself aloft. The only blocks affected by gravity fields are the Artificial Mass block.

* {{BFG}}: Rocket Launchers can be mounted on Large Ships, and they're easily the biggest weapons in the game.

* ReactionlessDrive: Despite producing a [[WeaponizedExhaust damaging plume]], thrusters are effectively reactionless. They require no fuel source and can produce an infinite source of thrust so long as they are hooked up to a power plant, be it a battery or nuclear reactor.

** These were removed in favor of having the ship be a separate faction from the player when the related updates came out, so now if you want to salvage them (and they come filled with goodies, and hey, free ship), their turrets will target you. The Space Engineers wiki lists several methods you can do to avoid getting shot.

** The Rescue Ship. Players are given one when they start a game on the 'Asteroids' map-type, when they join a new multiplayer server, or if they die without having a Medical Room to respawn at. It's not much to look at, but it's decked out with everything a player needs - a Medical Room, Refinery and Assembler are all onboard and ready to use, and keeping it running is a simple matter of finding a uranium deposit somewhere, or a large enough quantity of silicon to build solars and two oxygen farms.

** On the subject of improvised weapons, the Kinetic Torpedo: essentially a rod of blocks mounted on a 3x3 or 5x5 cross as its own entity, to launch one simply accelerates their ship, slams the brakes and releases it as a quick, easy way to do some damage. Need more power? Mount a warhead on it for extra boom.

** User-created weapons, such as large caliber gravity powered cannons or missiles, can also fall into this category, due to being overly complex to build and each projectile needing to be made separately, and the general complexity of the weapons being a pain in the ass if repairs need to be done. A good example is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ9ZNRvOesQ Terminal Gravity Torpedo]]. Sure, it can punch through even the thickest of armor using only a couple gravity generators and a rock, but the torpedo itself is almost as big as a small ship, you have to craft each one individually, and to fire it, you have to accelerate your ship up to max speed, release, then slam on the brakes before you crash into the enemy ship along with your warhead, and then, if you pray hard enough, the enemy ship 'may just' let itself be hit by the incredibly slow torpedo. Even if it's far more effective against, say, fixed targets such as asteroid bases or stations (which can't dodge), it's ''still'' so slow that an enemy can easily relatively easily deflect the strike or shoot down the weapon.

* HyperspeedEscape: Provided you can survive for ten seconds while [[SpaceIsNoisy everyone nearby can hear your jump drive spooling up]].

* SolarSail: The Solar Panel is commonly used to invoke this. Since it generates a decent level of energy (while facing the sun, obviously), it's somewhat common to find Small Ships and some lightweight Large Ships using masses of solar panels to power their engines while conserving valuable uranium.