Shuttle Construction

Space Station 14, despite (current) appearances, does in fact support shuttles, and even the construction of new ones. So a natural question is how. If you're reading this, chances are you've even tried to do it before and got stuck, because the game still considered the shuttle part of the station. The construction workflow isn't yet easy, but it does work.

Starting a new grid

In order to make your shuttle Legally Distinct from the station itself, you need to take a little leap of faith. Slowly move away from the station so that you start to float away (ideally, hold shift to move slower so you don't slingshot yourself), and then place lattice underfoot when you're ~3 tiles away or more. If this new lattice has no gravity (magboots recommended) then congratulations, you have made a shuttle grid, and the least intuitive part is behind you.

Constructing your shuttle

With the grid made, you're now free to expand it. Use metal rods to place additional lattices, and metal plates to build plating atop the lattice, which is safe for construction work and airtight. Shuttles need a few things to work:

• A Generator. This will provide power to the shuttle and avoid having it run on battery. You can obtain this from salvage. Two generators are recommended for a shuttle with one console and two thrusters to avoid running out of power.
• A Substation. This will transform the HV power from the generator into MV power for APCs, emitters, and a few other things. You can obtain this from salvage.
• An APC. This will transform MV power into LV power for computers/etc, and can be constructed from the construction menu.
• Thrusters. You'll probably want at least two, one up front so you can go backwards, and one behind so you can go forwards. You can either buy this for cargo points or obtain it from salvage.
• Gyros. You'll need at least one, and it can be placed anywhere. Required for your shuttle to be able to spin like a record.
• A Shuttle Computer. You need this to actually drive the thing. You can obtain one from salvage, or steal the one in the station's bridge.
• A Docking Airlock. Optional. This will allow you to dock with the station or other shuttles effectively. Make sure to construct them facing away from your shuttle towards where they will be docking. This is indicated by a small pip on the sprite.

Once everything is put in place and powered, you should have a working shuttle, congratulations.

Limitations

As of now, you can't add an atmosphere to a shuttle, it's treated like empty space.

Piloting Shuttles

Piloting takes place at the shuttle computer. Left click the shuttle computer to take control of your shuttle. In all modes currently 'W is for forward thrust and S is for reverse thrust. In normal mode as you activate the console, A is for rotating left via the gyroscope, and D is for rotating right. To select docking mode, right click the console and toggle mode. While in docking mode, A is for thrusting left and D is for thrusting right. This is useful for parallel parking.

External Airlocks

External airlock [Docking] are used for docking with ships/stations that also have docking airlocks. Once you have two docking airlocks face to face, right click the docking airlock and select the Dock verb. If successful, the docks will both open and you will be attached to the other vessel.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Currently docking is finicky and will not always be airtight. Open with caution.

An example of how to use external airlocks. Note the nubs of the airlock pointing at each other.