The Planets in Space Engineers have different atmospheric conditions and weather that have an impact on game mechanics. For example, it can rain, snow, or storm, depending on which planet you are on.
Weather can be enabled or disabled in the World Settings. Admins can change the weather in-game from the Admin Screen. For beginners it can be advantageous to disable weather until they got the hang of the base game.
Types of weather[]
There is rain, thunderstorm, snow, sandstorm, electrical storm, fog. Each weather can exist in a light and heavy variant. Otherwise, the default weather is "Clear".
Oxygen levels can be high or low in different areas of a planet: For example, Pertam and Triton have only a bit of oxygen in valleys and low plains, while the Moon has no atmosphere (and hence no weather) at all.
Impact[]
Weather has an impact on various game elements:
- Player health — Toxic fog and extreme storms drain the life support systems of the engineer's spacesuit, which has to stabilize oxygen levels and temperature. Lightning can strike and lower the player's health as well.
- Visibility — While traveling, sand and dust storms prevent you from seeing obstacles such as mountains or cliffs.
- Power production — Wind mills produce more power during storms and less during fog. Solar panels produce more power when it's clear than during sandstorms.
- Damage — Lightning damages functional blocks and the blocks around them. Without a lightning rod, functional blocks or non-Admin players will be struck, even underground.
- Oxygen — Some types of weather will lower the amount of oxygen in the air. This can make it temporarily not possible to breathe on planets such as the Alien planet and Pertam with your helmet open.
Protecting yourself[]
Trees, Decoys, and antennas attract lightning. Trees protect a radius of 400m but they get destroyed by it. Decoys protect a radius of 50-10m, and Antennas only protect a radius of less than 10 metres. Decoys on static main grids function as lightning rods (optimally paired with a block welder to repair the lightning damage automatically).[1]
Closing your helmet helps against the green fog. The safest place for players during extreme storms and lightning are cockpits that are connected to oxygen and power. Lightning also spares respawn drop pods.
If the oxygen level is too low to breathe but isn't none, use Air Vents on depressurize mode to collect oxygen from the atmosphere. This allows your survival kit to refill your suit oxygen supply without needing to use up ice in an O2/H2 Generator.
Tip: Set up an LCD Panel screen to display the "Weather" script. The status will switch to the next incoming weather before players can detect it themselves, serving as a weather forecast.
Weather on Planets[]
The probability for various weather types depends on the planet. Weather also influences which source of power generation is best for a planet, and where you should build your base (hint: not in toxic fog).
| Weather: | Rain
(harmless) |
Thunderstorm
(lightning) |
Snow
(low wind, cold) |
Sandstorm
(low sun) |
Electrical Storm
(low sun, lightning) |
Fog
(low wind, sometimes toxic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthlike | yes, except deserts and icy regions | yes, except deserts and icy regions | yes, on poles and mountains | yes, in deserts | no | yes, except deserts
non-toxic |
| Mars | no | no | rare, on poles | very common | no | no |
| Alien | yes, except icy regions | yes, except icy regions | rare, in icy regions | yes, in deserts | no | yes, toxic fog |
| Pertam | no | no | no | Rarely | yes | no |
| Triton | no | no | very common | no | no | yes, in plains
non-toxic |
| Europa | no | no | very common | no | no | no |
| Titan | no | no | no | yes, except lakes | no | yes, toxic fog |
| Moon | no | no | no | no | no | no |