Space Engineers Warfare 3 will let servers switch off gravity drives

Keen Software House explained on 22 October how Space Engineers’ upcoming Warfare 3 update will actually work. In a Steam post, lead designer Ryan Keel answers the questions players have asked since the reveal. Two of the changes are new world settings aimed squarely at PvP servers.

The first stops players from using Relative Dampeners on hostile grids. That targets the familiar trick of latching onto an enemy ship with a jetpack and grinding it apart. Boarding is still possible, Keen says, but it will take more skill and planning if a jetpack is all you bring.

The second lets communities disable Artificial Mass blocks and Space Balls, the parts behind so-called gravity drives. Keen calls those builds incredibly fun but also performance intensive and hard to balance in PvP. “Rather than imposing restrictions on everyone, we’re giving communities the option to disable these blocks if they choose,” the post reads.

If you run a server, both rules become world settings rather than something you enforce with mods or a pinned Discord message. Turning off gravity drives may also take some load off a busy world.

Artificial Mass isn’t only getting a switch. On planets and moons the blocks will act as gravity anchors that add mass when enabled, which Keen suggests could help vehicles in low gravity. Keen has already floated the idea of a trebuchet.

Item explosions, known in the community as nukes, are getting a single formula across Cargo Containers, Floating Objects and Temporary Containers. Big blasts stay possible, but Explosives Components now contribute the most, rather than Flare Gun rounds dominating the meta.

Keen lists a few more changes:

• PCU reductions for many weapons
• Target locking from hand weapons, so the PRO-1 Rocket Launcher can fire homing missiles
• Camera panning and view rotation for cameras and turrets, ending upside-down turret views
• On/Off toggles split into separate actions, plus new Set Value actions for automation

All of this arrives in a free update, alongside the paid Warfare 3 Pack with brig doors and an inset flare launcher. Keen hasn’t given a release date in the post yet.