What in the game Classifies a Ship, a Ship?

[Venombrew]

Not a weird trick question or anything, but what actually makes a ship in the game count as a ship? Combination of certain parts? Being built in the builder or when bought from a vendor? The reason I ask, is because I was mousing through some alpha reports back in December and noticed something that caught my eye,

Ship Transponders

• Will only broadcast a signal when attached to a ship
• Only one transponder will work per ship
• Default broadcasting range is 100km, this can be adjusted from Settings
• Can be turned on or off via the Unversal Tool or with YOLOL
• Ship transponder signal will be visible to everyone
• Can be implemented to ships in Ship Designer
• Ship Transponders built through the Designer will save the ownership information when built and broadcast that information regardless of which ship the transponder attached to

The first line is what has me wondering what classifies a ship as a ship in the game? The 2nd line is the reason behind this questioning. The idea of being able to make a "dummy" transponder and sending it out to throw people off or confuse them in some way seems ideal since ships will have personalized transponders and this could be a good technique for evasion(as with the last line above, it could be confusing to have two transponder signals with identical information going in different directions). But to do so, the "dummy" transponder would have to be on something that would count as a ship. What classifies a ship as a ship in the game?

To elaborate more, I can't hook a transponder to a torpedo and send it flying. But what could I do or add to an object to make it count as a ship? If possible?

 

[kiiyo]

Not a weird trick question or anything, but what actually makes a ship in the game count as a ship? Combination of certain parts? Being built in the builder or when bought from a vendor? The reason I ask, is because I was mousing through some alpha reports back in December and noticed something that caught my eye,

Ship Transponders

• Will only broadcast a signal when attached to a ship
• Only one transponder will work per ship
• Default broadcasting range is 100km, this can be adjusted from Settings
• Can be turned on or off via the Unversal Tool or with YOLOL
• Ship transponder signal will be visible to everyone
• Can be implemented to ships in Ship Designer
• Ship Transponders built through the Designer will save the ownership information when built and broadcast that information regardless of which ship the transponder attached to

The first line is what has me wondering what classifies a ship as a ship in the game? The 2nd line is the reason behind this questioning. The idea of being able to make a "dummy" transponder and sending it out to throw people off or confuse them in some way seems ideal since ships will have personalized transponders and this could be a good technique for evasion(as with the last line above, it could be confusing to have two transponder signals with identical information going in different directions). But to do so, the "dummy" transponder would have to be on something that would count as a ship. What classifies a ship as a ship in the game?

To elaborate more, I can't hook a transponder to a torpedo and send it flying. But what could I do or add to an object to make it count as a ship? If possible?

A ship is any amount of beams attached to a hardpoint attached to a thruster, last time I checked. Yes, a thruster duct-taped to a single beam also counts as a ship, it just wont fly without propellant

 

[Venombrew]

A ship is any amount of beams attached to a hardpoint attached to a thruster, last time I checked. Yes, a thruster duct-taped to a single beam also counts as a ship, it just wont fly without propellant

ty Kiiyo! this was a great bit of information, just knowing that gives to light to a lot of our ideas.

 

[CalenLoki]

To be more precise: thruster attached to hardpoint attached to valid frame (at least 3 beams welded together) allows you to use thrusters.
But for being a valid ship, with ownership, spawning/despawning rights, hosting and longevity it needs to be either bought from SSC or from ship shops. I.e. if you cut a ship in half, the smaller (I think) part will be considered debris and will despawn if you fly the remaining part too far away.
ATM you can't just build a ship only out of parts.

Transponder works only when bought with the ship (SSC/ship shop).
Transponder broadcast range is always 100km. You can only change from how far you can see transponders.

 

[Venombrew]

To be more precise: thruster attached to hardpoint attached to valid frame (at least 3 beams welded together) allows you to use thrusters.
But for being a valid ship, with ownership, spawning/despawning rights, hosting and longevity it needs to be either bought from SSC or from ship shops. I.e. if you cut a ship in half, the smaller (I think) part will be considered debris and will despawn if you fly the remaining part too far away.
ATM you can't just build a ship only out of parts.

Transponder works only when bought with the ship (SSC/ship shop).
Transponder broadcast range is always 100km. You can only change from how far you can see transponders.

Okay question for you Calen, if I buy a cheap ship from the vendor, how far could one assume to be able to break it down to its bare components and still be a ship? Correct me if im wrong but we are able to alter premade ship correct? And I do mean the cheapest smallest ship, like the Vasama.

Spoiler

 

[kiiyo]

Okay question for you Calen, if I buy a cheap ship from the vendor, how far could one assume to be able to break it down to its bare components and still be a ship? Correct me if im wrong but we are able to alter premade ship correct? And I do mean the cheapest smallest ship, like the Vasama.

Spoiler

Yeah you're able to alter them quite a bunch. I'd guess the moment it stops being a ship is when you pass it under the minimal ship requirements, AKA 3 beams and a valid thruster connection, as Loki told us... but the game behaves wackily sometimes so not 100% sure.

 

[Venombrew]

ty, you guys gave us a lot of info, appreciate it.

 

[five]

A ship is any amount of beams attached to a hardpoint attached to a thruster, last time I checked. Yes, a thruster duct-taped to a single beam also counts as a ship, it just wont fly without propellant

lemme into CA ima build a fricking hoverboard