Gravity
The simulated, simplified gravity in Space Engineers is different from real life physics, sometimes in unintuitive ways. This article is about how gravity works in Space Engineers.
The game has two types of gravity:
- “Natural” planetary gravity on planets and moons, and
- Artificial gravity that is generated by Gravity Generators and Spherical Gravity Generators.
What is affected by gravity?
Natural gravity affects all mobile grids, all players, and all items, within a certain radius around the moon or planet. Gravity is measured in a unit where 1.0 g corresponds to Earth's gravity. Its pull stays constant in a wide area that includes the surface. It starts decreasing towards zero g the further you travel away from the planet, and it also gradually decreases towards zero g the closer you dig to the core.
Asteroids in game exert no perceivable natural gravity on anything.
Artificial Gravity Generators affect only
- players that have their jetpack switched off,
- dropped items (ores, tools, ammo, components),
- mobile grids containing Artificial Mass Blocks.
Jump Drives are affected by gravity only in the sense that they cannot jump into or out of natural gravity fields.
What is not affected by gravity?
Stations, planets, moons, and asteroids (also known as voxels) do not orbit, they are completely stationary. They are not pulled or pushed by each others' gravity fields, either.
If you use Voxel Hands to create voxels, they will float statically in mid-air. Meteors cannot be deflected by gravity, either.
The Gravity Generator’s effect is partially negated by natural gravity, this means that you can use at most 50% of the strength of artificial gravity on planets.
How do I see the artificial gravity range?
On the Info Screen, you can enable Show gravity range to see the area of effect around an artificial gravity generator. You must additionally enable "Show on HUD" on the Gravity Generator's Control panel.
Seeing the range of an Artificial Gravity Generator is valuable while configuring its range. You want to know whether it is covering the right area inside and outside your base or ship: Is it covering any unexpected areas outside, is it missing any unexpected corners inside? Will ships docking at your space station also be affected by the field? From where to where exactly will floating ores be pulled into the Collector? And so on.
Differences between real physics and game physics
In game, natural planetary gravity affects only a mobile grid's "natural" mass. Similarly, artificial gravity only affects mobile grids with Artificial Mass blocks. Always keep in mind that it isn't the ship itself, but its Artificial Mass that is affected by Artificial Gravity. Be mindful as well of the Center of Mass when adding Artificial Mass blocks, the artificial center of mass may be in a different spot than the rest of the ship’s center of mass.
In contrast to real gravity, the imparted acceleration of a Gravity Generator in game is equal throughout the area of effect (AoE). Not only does it not diminish with distance from the AoE, but it is also indifferent as to the position relative to the generator. That is, you will be pulled up (or down) according to the setting, irrespective of whether you are above or below the Gravity Generator. If you need artificial gravity whose pull is centred on the generator, use a Spherical Gravity Generator instead.
As mentioned above, inert mass and gravity-affected mass are, unintuitively, two unrelated things in Space Engineers. Therefore, an in-game replication of Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment yields the opposite result: Terminal velocity in game is a variable that depends on the proportion between inert mass and Artificial Mass generated by the relevant block (as well as the number and setting of gravity generators, obviously).