| Gravity Generator | |
|---|---|
| |
| Category: | Functional Block |
| Status: | Functional |
| Function: | |
| Provides gravity for players in space when their jetpacks are turned off. | |
| Fits large ship and station | |
| Mass: | 8,532 kg |
| Power: | -1.85 - -567.13 kW |
| Force: | 0-4000 N |
| Range: | 0-150 m |
| Data Controls: | [edit] [purge] (?) |
The 
Gravity Generator is an endgame block that can be added to large-grid ships and stations to provide artificial gravity, so that players can turn off their jetpacks in zero g and walk to conserve hydrogen fuel. Artificial Gravity is also more intuitive than walking with Magnetic Boots. More creative advanced constructions will enable you to push, pull, grapple, or accelerate floating items, or even whole ships!
Construction[]
Gravity Generators are 1x1x1 blocks in size and exist for large grid only. Place it in the center of the intended area of effect. The block attaches to other blocks on the bottom side only and has one terminal on the front side.
The block needs to be powered to function. The power consumed by a generator varies strongly depending upon the size and strength of its gravitational field that you configure. To save power, make the area of effect as small as possible.
Usage[]
Using the Control Panel Screen from the cockpit of the ship or station, or through the control panel on the gravity generator itself, you adjust the strength and direction of the gravity effect and the size of its area of effect. Details are described in this article.
Although termed a "Gravity Generator", the device has a number of properties that go against conventional terrestrial wisdom about gravity that the real-life physics-aware novice players would use. Gravity Generators affect only:
- players that have their jetpack switched off,
- floating items (mined ores, tools, dropped components, etc.), and
- rovers and ships with mass blocks
Important Tip: This means, when using gravity generators to accelerate something, make sure to keep your jetpack turned on before you enter the affected area, or you are in for a very fast trip to the respawn screen.
Recipe[]
| Gravity Generator | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Large Ship/Station Required | Large Ship/Station Optional | ||
 Computer | 40 | — | ||
 Motor | 6 | — | ||
 Large Steel Tube | 4 | — | ||
 Construction Comp. | 60 | — | ||
 Gravity Comp. | 6 | — | ||
 Steel Plate | 110 | 40 | ||
How to set up direction and intensity?[]
Possible intensity values range from 0 G (no artificial gravity) up to 1 G, which is the same as Earth gravity at sea level. The generator can also be set to -1 G, pushing players and objects "up" instead, relative to the generator’s orientation.
The direction does not flip below the base of the block and (unintuitively) stays the same throughout the cuboid area of effect. Positive gravity is always applied towards the base of the generator (that’s "down" from the point of view of a walking player that is looking at a generator that’s sitting on the floor). Negative gravity is applied upwards.
Tip: If you want gravity to flip at a focal point and be centered on the generator, use a Spherical Gravity Generator instead.
How to set up the Area of Effect?[]
The Gravity Generator’s area of affect (AoE) is cuboid (see Spherical Gravity Generator for an alternative). To see the AoE highlighted on the HUD, enable the Show on HUD setting for the generator, and then enable Show gravity range on the Info Screen.
You can adjust the cuboid shape in three dimensions, that means that you can specifically target very flat or oblong areas as well.
The AoE is a squared cuboid measured in meters from the outside edges of the generator's collision box and can be set from 1 to 150m in width, height, and depth. A large ship/station block is 2.5m in all dimensions, so a gravity generator sitting in the middle of a 5x5 pad could be set to 5 meters to make the AoE match the pad exactly.
The width and depth are relative to which direction the control panel is facing; from the player's point of view standing in front of the control panel, width will be the left and right span of the AoE, and depth will be the front and back distance.
What happens in Overlapping Areas of Effect?[]
The effects from several Gravity Generators adds up, and negative gravity values are subtracted and can even cancel each other out. Additional planetary gravity weakens the artifical effect, that's why Gravity Generators are mostly used only in space. When multiple AoEs overlap, game elements are subject to multiple forces at the same time. This effect can be purposefully exploited to create gravity-powered transportation, machinery, and even weaponry.
It’s equally important to adjust the areas of effect to a minimum so they don’t accidentally overlap. For example when ships land on stations (or more generally, when a mobile grid with a gravity generator comes close to another grid with a gravity generator) and their AoEs inadvertently add up, players and objects will float or be pushed or pulled unexpectedly.
When the effects overlap, you obtain the vector that affects objects through vector addition (Online Calculator). The acceleration value can exceed 1.0 when they add up (or be lower than -1.0, respectively), and objects will be affected accordingly.
Creative uses of Artificial Gravity[]
The following ideas only work in space (zero g), their effect will be drastically reduced or even negated in the natural gravity of planets.
Non-Jetpack Travel[]
Use targeted placement of multiple sources of Artificial Gravity on a space station to make walking on foot and jumping more intuitive in any orientation desired. You can also use gravity fields to create transport tubes for players. Or you can let players walk on the inside of a “rotating” space station drum, like in Babylon 5 or in the movie “2001”. You don’t actually need to rotate the drum since in game, rotation is not what creates the centripetal force.
Wheeled Vehicles[]
Artificial gravity and Mass blocks are a must when using wheeled vehicles on asteroids due to obvious reasons. Gravity Generators also help conserve suit power by allowing travel on foot and jumping. For example vehicles, see the Sparks of the Future Scenario.
Acceleration Gate[]
Propelling ore, personnel, and ships from point A to point B in space by imparting acceleration far in excess of what engines can produce. Inertial dampeners on grids must be offline until destination. Floating ore may despawn over longer distances, check your Trash Cleanup settings on the Admin Screen.
Gravity Cannon / Gravgun[]
Gravguns are simplistic Player Built Weapons dating back to the days before specialized weapon blocks were available. Its practical value in the current state of the game is doubtful; however, proper designs do demonstrate considerable damage potential regardless of range to target.
To build a gravity cannon, you need: a battery of gravity generators, preferably tuned to affect a narrow column of space, and, mounted in that area of space via a Landing Gear, a slug of arbitrarily large size, with or without an explosive payload. The slug obviously has to be equipped with Small Reactors, Artificial Mass cubes, and Gyroscopes to prevent tumbling. Calculate the exact quantity of artificial masses and gravity generators using the equations "(quantity of gravity generators) * 9.8 m/s^2 * (artificial mass, kg) = (inert mass, kg) * (imparted acceleration, m/s^2)", "v(t)=a*t" (the definition of acceleration), and "s(t)=(a*t^2)/2" (simplified by presuming a uniform field; a good approximation is only counting the area where all the generators overlap) with the aim to achieve the maximum velocity possible in the game, in the range of 145 m/s.
An exemplar gravgun, which generates 36g over a 62.5 m track, projects a 5x5x14 small-block cylindrical slug of heavy armor with sufficient force to penetrate 10 light armor blocks or 4 heavy armour blocks. Without mods, such player-built railguns are limited by maximum speed, but can deal tremendous amounts or damage when mods allow higher speed limits.
A strong advantage of gravguns is that powered projectiles have a virtually unlimited range in zero g, compared to under 1km for regular weapons. This allows performing "sniper bombing" of very heavily defended ships that would leave no chance to smaller ships within range.
Gravity Drive[]
A peculiar characteristic of in-game physics is that gravity generators affect even Artificial Mass blocks mounted on the same ship. This is frequently exploited to create a reactionless drive/warp drive, with the potential of being more effective at accelerating large-grid ships than thrusters. You control your flight by changing the generator's Area of Effect. Gravity Drives work in space only.
Gravity funnel[]
The gravitational force produced by a Spherical Gravity Generator will affect any small rocks and ore produced while mining asteroids in zero g. Similarly, it affects floating components when salvaging. This can be utilized to funnel floating ores and components for easy collection. Typically, four generators are focused toward a central point, where a fifth generator will draw them toward the ship's Collector. This can be combined with angled armor to build a physical funnel.
Gravity grapple[]
The gravity grapple works along the same lines as the funnel, using six gravity fields in combination with Artificial Mass blocks. Small ships with artificial mass blocks can be held in position near a larger ship even while it's moving. The small ship's inertial dampeners must be turned on so that they help stabilize its position.
Launch tubes[]
A must-have among Battlestar Galactica fans is a reduced-power gravity cannon and an artificial mass cube in the nose of their replica Colonial Viper, which cause the craft to be violently propelled out of the carrier when combined (disable inertial dampeners for launch). "Necessary" amenities are a triangular-shaped launch tube and two blast doors; and install a Connector to control the launch process from inside the craft.
Practical applications utilize the capacity to quickly pick up distance from a carrier, either to avoid being blasted on take-off or to quickly enter the battlezone; see Acceleration Gate above.
You can also have a 3-4 gravity generators and have a connector and a storage container filled with items (drills or other tools, components, stone/ore). Put 1 item into the connector, have the connector eject the item, and then turn the gravity on. Aim before you fire.
Gravity shield[]
By setting up gravity generators around your ship so that they repel any gravity-affected objects that get close, one can make a gravity-based shield which will repel any incoming items and PBW projectiles that are equipped with artificial masses.
