Hello Everyone!
It’s time for another Broken Beyond development post and this week we’re looking at some of the new blocks coming with the expansion, all designed for space!
If you’re excited for The Broken Beyond, wishlist below!
The Broken Beyond brings with it a massive 12 new blocks, all designed with building space machines in mind!
The new expansion also introduces a fuel system to Besiege for the first time and we’ll be diving into the details of that in next week’s post.
One of the key blocks introduced in this expansion is the “Booster”, which works both inside atmospheres and in the vacuum of space. The Booster is a powerful rocket engine capable of producing large amounts of thrust!
Despite its power, you may need several boosters attached to your machine to make it capable of leaving a planet’s atmosphere, depending on the size and weight of your design.
The booster requires fuel to operate and although containing a small internal reservoir itself, you will need to supply it with additional fuel to achieve any meaningful flight-time in the atmosphere.
We’re also adding a Powered Metal Wheel with The Broken Beyond expansion, designed for use in space-like environments where traction is important or possibly difficult to achieve.
Besiege’s existing wheels will work in the new space environments, but we felt the block selection was lacking one that provides continuous traction over rough terrain. It also wouldn’t have been right to release a space expansion without some kind of rover wheel!
While Booster blocks are great for propelling your machine through space, they’re quite large and don’t provide particularly fine levels of control, making them less useful for steering/orienting your machine.
Therefore, we have added two types of steering block specifically designed for orienting your machines in space, each functioning in different ways.
The Control Thruster works similarly to an “RCS Thruster” (used by real spacecraft), expelling gas in one or several directions at once to provide a reactive force.
It also has an option for countering rotation, effectively providing automatic counter thrust to the rotation you’ve initiated. This means you don’t have to worry about manually cancelling out your machine's rotation by firing the thrusters in the opposite direction.
This block is great for fine adjustment to your orientation and works best on smaller, slower moving machines.
For larger or faster moving machines you’ll probably want to use the Inertial Steering block to orient your machine through reactive torque, albeit to an unrealistic degree.
The block also has an option for countering rotation and options to change the rotation & counter-rotation speeds.
The Inertial Steering block is ideal for providing very quick orientation of even the largest machines and we anticipate seeing it used in many fighter type space-craft designs!
Controlling your machine inside an atmosphere is quite different from space, as aerodynamic forces come into play! Although Besiege already has a good selection of aerodynamic blocks for creating flying machines, we felt some additions were needed to plug a few gaps.
The Rocket Fin rotates to guide airflow around your machine, allowing you to alter its path through the atmosphere. They also provide a stabilizing effect even if you don’t rotate them, ensuring your machine flies straight and true.
The Grid Fin works in the same way as the design popularised by SpaceX several years ago. It can be opened or closed to add or remove aerodynamic drag from your machine, essential for slowing your descent!
Another block we’ve added to help you slow your machine’s descent into an atmosphere is the Parachute block. The parachute can be deployed with the press of a button and its size can be customized using the keymapper tool, allowing you to decrease or increase the amount of drag it produces.
That’s all we’ve got time for today, but next week we’ll continue our breakdown of The Broken Beyond's new blocks and take a look at the new fuel system!
If you’re hyped for the new expansion, don’t forget to join the discussion on our Discord and wishlist The Broken Beyond!
Cheers everyone,
Von
Previous Development Posts
Post 1 - Simulating Planets & Gravity