Mechs

Mechs are vehicles that provide the player with protection and adjusted movement, as well as enhanced offensive and defensive abilities.

They were present as techs in the beta, and then were re-implemented as vehicles useable in both space and on ground, in update 1.3.

Dr. Akaggy will introduce the player to Mechs, and unlock their first, racial-themed vehicle after they complete the quest Test Drive. Also in the Mech Workshop are two important mech stations - the Mech Assembly Station and Mech Part Crafting Table.

Mech Parts

Mechs are composed of 6 customizable parts, each of which can change different characteristics of the mech:

	Body: Affects Maximum Energy of the mech and its Defense. Also determines the resistance of the mech to planetary hazards (Deadly Radiation, Deadly Chill, and Deadly Heat).
	Boosters: Affects Flight Speed and Maneuverability.
	Left and Right Arms: Are weapons, with different effects and energy usage.
	Legs: Affects Ground Speed and Jump Power.
	Horn: In space, nobody can hear you honk.

Different parts can be obtained by learning their corresponding blueprints, usually found in non-planet locations in space. They can be equipped to the mech by using the Mech Assembly Station on your space station, or in Dr. Akaggy's workshop.

Piloting a Mech

The player automatically acquires a mech by completing the Test Drive quest. Once completed, they can deploy their mech while they are on their Ship using the "Deploy Mech" option on the teleporter - this option only appears if the ship is parked at a space encounter, NPC ship, an asteroid field, space station, or orbiting a visitable planet. Clicking this button launches a drop pod containing the player inside their mech which breaks apart upon arrival on a planet or entrance into a space encounter.

On planets and in sections of space encounters with gravity, the mech's movement is similar to that of the player. Left and Right inputs move the mech left and right, Jump input causes the mech to boost upward, and Down + Jump causes the mech to drop through platforms.

In sections of space encounters without gravity, the mech uses a different movement scheme. The directional inputs accelerate the mech in their respective directions, and the Jump input brings the mech to a stop.

In all cases, Left Mouse Button activates the mech's left arm, Right Mouse Button activates the mech's right arm, and F activates the mech's horn if one is equipped. Also, the Interact input causes the player to exit and enter the mech.

The player's mech automatically despawns when the player beams off of a planet or out of a space encounter, becoming available to deploy again from the player's ship.

Mech Assembly Station

The mech assembly station window.

After interacting with the Assembly Station players will see slots, similar to their armor equipment slots. These slots can be fitted with corresponding mech components.

As pieces are slotted in, the total energy and energy usage rate as well as the mech appearance will adjust. There are two color pickers underneath the Assembly diagram -one for the main color of the mech, and one for accent color. These options, if set to a color other than the default, will recolor all mech parts together, making the entire mech color coordinated with the selected options, and any swapped-in mech pieces will automatically color-adjust to the selected color palette.

The only optional component are horns. If there are any other types missing the 'Ready to Deploy' message at the bottom of the window will read 'Configuration Incomplete' and the piece slot will be highlighted red. An incomplete mech build cannot operate, and will not display energy/energy usage. (If the current character has not yet completed Test Drive, 'Unauthorized User' will appear instead of 'Configuration Incomplete' until the quest is completed.)

Mech Energy

Mechs have their own energy reserve, visualized as the blue bar above the vehicle. When in use, the mech's energy will deplete at a pre-determined rate, which can be found on the Mech Assembly Station interface. Receiving damage also depletes energy, and attempting to pilot a mech on a planet without a mech body with resistances to the planetary environmental hazards greatly accelerates energy drain. The energy used by mech arms is included in the energy drain applied to the mech each second, so weapon usage does not deplete additional energy. Hostile space entities, when killed, drop energy batteries that the mech can collect to restore its own energy. No mech energy regeneration mechanism exists on planets, effectively limiting planetary mech usage to five to ten minutes per deployment.

Once the energy bar hits 0, the player is ejected and one of two things happens depending on the cause of energy depletion:

• If the mech was brought to 0 energy by a source of damage or by Lava-accelerated passive energy drain, the mech explodes for massive fire-type damage,which is not survivable except in some niche scenarios involving general and fire-type damage reductions.
• Otherwise, if the mech's energy reaches 0 due to passive energy drain (even if accelerated by a harsh planetary environment), the mech simply vanishes without exploding.

Mech Components

Mech part schematics are unlocked by consuming mech blueprints, found in space encounters. The player will receive their first mech components, enough for a basic starter mech, after completing the quest Test Drive.

The tooltips for each mech piece display their stat levels. Each player receives an initial mech body which is racially themed to their character's race. Each race has an available upgraded racial body which they'll learn to craft after completing the quest Advanced Test Drive.

All mech components are crafted at the Mech Part Crafting Table which can be found beneath the Outpost. The station next to the crafting table, the Mech Assembly Station, is used to equip pieces.

There's no penalty to switching parts using a Mech Assembly Station, but each player can only have one mech configuration at once.

Environmental Resistance

Mechs are immune to fall damage. Their resistance to other kinds of hazardous environments depends on the quality of the mech body:

• Deadly Radiation: Resisted by mech bodies for which the sum of Max Energy and Defense rating bars are 4 or greater. This includes all mech bodies except the prototype racial bodies. Bodies that do not resist this effect drain 20 more MJ of energy per second on natural tier 4 planets.
• Deadly Chill: Resisted by mech bodies for which the sum of Max Energy and Defense rating bars are 6 or greater. This includes all upgraded racial bodies, as well as any better bodies. Bodies that do not resist this effect drain 25 more MJ of energy per second on natural tier 5 planets.
• Deadly Heat: Resisted by mech bodies for which the sum of Max Energy and Defense rating bars are 8 or greater. This includes all bodies based on Refined Violium or Solarium Star, as well as the Peacekeeper Mech Body. Bodies that do not resist this effect drain 30 more MJ of energy per second on natural tier 6 planets.

Mechs will drain an additional 40 MJ of energy per second while in contact with Lava. If a mech's energy reaches 0 while it is in contact with lava, the mech will explode.

A Mech will shield its pilot from airless environments and hazardous environments, even if the mech itself cannot resist the hazardous environment. A mech pilot will be shielded from most damage sources while piloting the mech. However, a mech cannot shield its pilot from taking damage from the Erchius Ghost on natural Moons.

Mech Stat Modification

Each part of a mech, apart from the horn, determines certain performance characteristics of the mech.

Body

All bodies add 1 MJ of energy drain per second to the mech. In addition, the following mech stats are determined by the equipped body:

• Max Energy: Begins at 400 MJ, increases by 80 MJ for each filled segment of Max Energy.
• Damage Reduction: For 1/2/3/4/5 filled segments of Defense, incoming damage is reduced by 76/80.8/84.6/87.7/90.2% before being deducted from the mech's energy (the numbers shown when damage is taken do not include this reduction).

Boosters

The following mech stats are determined by the equipped boosters:

• Air Control Speed: Maximum horizontal speed in the air in environments with gravity. Starts at 2 tiles per second and increases by 1 tile per second for each filled segment of Flight Speed.
• Air Control Force: Determines how quickly the mech changes horizontal speed in mid-air in environments with gravity. Starts at 10 and increases by 5 for each filled segment of Maneuverability.
• Flight Control Speed: Maximum speed in zero-gravity environments. Starts at 5 tiles per second and increases by 5 tiles per second for each filled segment of Flight Speed.
• Flight Control Force: Determines how quickly the mech changes speed in zero-gravity environments. Starts at 40 and increases by 10 for each filled segment of Maneuverability.

Legs

The following mech stats are determined by the equipped legs:

• Ground Speed: Maximum horizontal speed on the ground. Starts at 3.25 tiles per second and increases by 1.25 tiles per second for each filled segment of Ground Speed.
• Jump Velocity: Upward speed during the boost phase of a jump. Starts at 14 tiles per second and increases by 4 tiles per second for each filled segment of Jump Power.
• Jump Boost Time: Length of a jump's boost phase. Starts at 0.45 seconds and increases by 0.05 seconds for each filled segment of Jump Power.

Arms

The following mech stats are modified by each equipped arm:

• Energy Drain: Starts at 0.1 MJ/s, increases by 0.05 MJ/s for each filled segment of Power. This drain occurs continuously, regardless of whether the arm is being triggered.
• Estimated Damage Output: Roughly, starts at 100 DPS and increases by 50 DPS for each filled segment of Power. However, see each mech arm's page for actual DPS.

Mech Parts Listings

Known Bug

The following tables list the mech parts available in Starbound. However, the wiki code for generating these listings has a bug. If the article corresponding to any mech part is changed, the changed mech part may disappear from these listings after about 24 hours. If this happens, navigate to the missing article, edit it, and then save in the editor without actually making any changes. After another 24 hours, the article should reappear in these listings. For a canonical list of the mech parts that should be listed here, see the "Mech Components" table at the bottom of this page (except that table is missing the Peacekeeper Mech Body and the Neo Laser Mech Arm, omissions that a wiki admin needs to fix).

Mech Bodies

Body Piece	Description	Max Energy	Defense
Arthuria-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed for Glitch pilots.
Champion-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed for Avian pilots.
Dominion-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed for Apex pilots.
Golem-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed for Floran pilots.
Kabuto-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed for Hylotl pilots.
Marshal-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-front mech body, designed for Novakid pilots.
Venturer-00 Mech Body	A prototype open-top mech body, designed by the Letheia Corporation.
Occasus Mech Body	A crudely engineered mech body, designed by members of the Occasus cult.
USCM Mech Body	A mech body manufactured by the now-disbanded USCM organisation.
Beat Mech Body	A somewhat strange mech body. Its original designer is unknown.
Skulduggery Mech Body	A mech body used primarily by pirates and mercenaries, for obvious reasons.
Reactor Mech Body	An experimental mech body powered by an unstable radioactive core.
Shockhopper Mech Body	The Shockhopper MK II, a body designed to fit with modular mech components.
Arthuria Mech Body	A mighty Glitch-styled mech body, made from thick layers of plated violium.
Champion Mech Body	An imposing mech body, designed in the image of an Avian warrior.
Dominion Mech Body	A high tech Apex-styled mech body, powered by a vented cold fusion reactor.
Golem Mech Body	A mech body fit for a Floran, made from vines and recycled mech parts.
Kabuto Mech Body	A sleek Hylotl-styled mech body, complete with a trinocular scouting system.
Marshal Mech Body	A unique Novakid-styled mech body, built for tireless and skilled pilots.
Venturer Mech Body	A sturdy mech body, originally designed by the Letheia corporation.
Exodus Mech Body	A powerful mech body operated by a web of synthetic brain tissue.
Occasus-2 Mech Body	A high-tech mech body, designed for high ranking members of the Occasus cult.
Peacekeeper Mech Body	A classic Mech body historically used by Terrene Peacekeeper agents.
Hero Mech Body	Defend the universe with this exciting looking mech chassis.
Lilotron Mech Body	A mech body based on the Lilodon. Its bark isn't quite worse than its bite.
Miniknog Mech Body	A mech body made for Miniknog soldiers who are cleared for space combat.
Protector's Mech Body	A finely engineered mech body, for use by members of the Terrene Protectorate.
Cyclops Mech Body	A mech body that uses a cutting-edge energy field to protect the cockpit.
Nightwinder Mech Body	A mech body made for stealth and infiltration, personalised with a spooky skull face.

Mech Boosters

Body Piece	Description	Flight Speed	Maneuver-ability
Basic Mech Boosters	Mass-produced mech boosters, with external fuel tank attachments.
Astro Mech Boosters	A set of mid-range boosters that use a series of long thrusters.
Stalwart Mech Boosters	A classic design of mid-range boosters, historically used by delivery crafts.
Zed Mech Boosters	Speedy mid-range mech boosters that are shaped like the letter Z.
Sleek Mech Boosters	Very sleek mech boosters.
Hammer Mech Boosters	A set of large boosters, which trade speed for greater control.
Zero Mech Boosters	A set of pointed, high quality mech boosters. Be careful with those corners.
Gallant Mech Boosters	A set of slick mech boosters built with intricate circuitry for high performance.

Mech Arms

Body Piece	Description	Power	Energy Usage
Drill Mech Arm	A basic mining drill that can serve as a weapon in a pinch.		0.15 MJ/s
Flak Cannon Mech Arm	The cheapest available mech weapon, an arm that fires heated metal shards.		0.15 MJ/s
Heatrifle Mech Arm	A cheap mech arm that fires off rounds of superheated lead.		0.20 MJ/s
Missile Rack Mech Arm	Fires a swarm of guided mini missiles.		0.20 MJ/s
Split Shot Mech Arm	An arm that fires shells which burst in all directions.		0.20 MJ/s
Tommy Gun Mech Arm	No-one knows where this submachine gun mech arm gets its name.		0.20 MJ/s
Cannon Mech Arm	A mech arm equipped with a laser cannon.		0.25 MJ/s
Cluster Mine Mech Arm	A mech arm that fires a cluster of small remote mines.		0.25 MJ/s
Gatling Gun Mech Arm	A mech arm equipped with a heavy Gatling gun.		0.25 MJ/s
Homing Missile Mech Arm	A military mech arm that fires a homing missile with onboard guidance systems.		0.25 MJ/s
Neo Chainsaw Mech Arm	An energized chainsaw originally developed for cutting through ice.		0.25 MJ/s
Plasma Drone Mech Arm	A mech arm that at deploys an offensive turret drone.		0.25 MJ/s
Wobbleshot Mech Arm	This mech arm fires eerily oscillating plasma donuts.		0.25 MJ/s
Beam Drill Mech Arm	An advanced utility mech arm that fires a rapidly pulsing mining beam.		0.30 MJ/s
Beam Sniper Mech Arm	A mech arm gun that discharge fast-travelling beams of solar energy.		0.30 MJ/s
Dual Rifle Mech Arm	What's better than a giant machine gun? Two giant machine guns.		0.30 MJ/s
Energy Blade Mech Arm	A powerful energy blade for cutting through... Pretty much everything.		0.30 MJ/s
Energy Rifle Mech Arm	A well made mech arm that fires beams of something akin to pure energy.		0.30 MJ/s
Gravity Mine Mech Arm	Fires a remote mine that creates a tiny gravitational singularity.		0.30 MJ/s
Guided Missile Mech Arm	A heavy mech arm that launches a trio of remote-guided missiles.		0.30 MJ/s
Neo Laser Mech Arm	A ranged offensive beam weapon designed for Peacekeeper agents.		0.30 MJ/s
Shield Drone Mech Arm	Launches a drone which projects a defensive energy shield.		0.30 MJ/s
Spikefist Mech Arm	A mech weapon that fires a self-returning fist tipped with durasteel spikes.		0.30 MJ/s
Swarm Drone Mech Arm	An advanced mech arm that can deploy multiple attack drones.		0.30 MJ/s
Tesla Stream Mech Arm	A classic weapon design that overloads enemies with a devastating electric charge.		0.30 MJ/s
Solus Katana Mech Arm	A powerful mech weapon made for Asra Nox's "Swansong" mech.		0.30 MJ/s

Mech Legs

Body Piece	Description	Ground Speed	Jump Power
Basic Mech Legs	Mass-produced mech legs that allow for basic mobility.
Hopper Mech Legs	A mid-quality set of mech legs designed for jumping.
Twinjet Mech Legs	Mech legs that have an extra jet booster for balanced performance.
Arc Mech Legs	Claw-like mech legs, designed to be streamlined for speed.
Sleek Mech Legs	Sleek mech legs that pair composite socks with titanium sandals.
Ronin Mech Legs	A high quality set of mech legs designed for maximum jump height.
Intrepid Mech Legs	Heavy duty mech legs that balance speed and thruster power.
Hermes Mech Legs	Finely crafted mech legs that provide the fastest possible ground movement.

Mech Horns

Body Piece	Description
Airhorn Mech Horn	Make a little noise from the comfort of your own mech.
Bike Bell Mech Horn	Assert yourself with a gentle ring.
Bull Mech Horn	Why simply grab the bull by the horns, when you can BE the bull?
Charge Mech Horn	A musical fanfare, typically a prelude to a sporting event or gruesome battle.
Clown Mech Horn	Honk.
Foghorn Mech Horn	A horn traditionally used to warn others of nearby hazards.
Melody Mech Horn	La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar!
Robot Voice Mech Horn	Give your mech a booming voice to intimidate your foes.
Rubber Duck Mech Horn	A timeless classic.
Sports Mech Horn	Shrill and loud, this horn is perfect for obnoxiously announcing your presence.
Steam Whistle Mech Horn	Full steam ahead!
Toy Mech Horn	This horn module is surprisingly small... I wonder what it sounds like?
Train Whistle Mech Horn	Put on your conductor's hat and get on track for fun!
Truck Mech Horn	For beeping angrily when someone won't move out of the way.

Original Mechs

During beta, mechs were Techs powered by the player's energy bar, and could be beamed down from a player's ship to a planet. Taking damage in a mech would slowly drain the player's energy. When the energy was depleted, the mech would de-spawn, requiring a cool down before being re-summonable.

Before beta the developers confirmed there would be at least one unique mech per race at launch.

Sources

Mech Components
Mech Stations Mech Part Crafting Table • Mech Assembly Station Mech Materials Salvaged Actuator • Salvaged Armor Plate • Salvaged Interface Chip • Salvaged Nano Receptacle • Salvaged Power Coupling • Salvaged Proton Limiter • Salvaged Thruster Nozzle Mech Parts Arms Beam Drill Mech Arm • Beam Sniper Mech Arm • Cannon Mech Arm • Cluster Mine Mech Arm • Drill Mech Arm • Dual Rifle Mech Arm • Energy Blade Mech Arm • Energy Rifle Mech Arm • Flak Cannon Mech Arm • Gatling Gun Mech Arm • Gravity Mine Mech Arm • Guided Missile Mech Arm • Heatrifle Mech Arm • Homing Missile Mech Arm • Missile Rack Mech Arm • Neo Chainsaw Mech Arm • Plasma Drone Mech Arm • Shield Drone Mech Arm • Solus Katana Mech Arm • Spikefist Mech Arm • Split Shot Mech Arm • Swarm Drone Mech Arm • Tesla Stream Mech Arm • Tommy Gun Mech Arm • Wobbleshot Mech Arm Bodies Arthuria Mech Body • Arthuria-00 Mech Body • Beat Mech Body • Champion Mech Body • Champion-00 Mech Body • Cyclops Mech Body • Dominion Mech Body • Dominion-00 Mech Body • Exodus Mech Body • Golem Mech Body • Golem-00 Mech Body • Hero Mech Body • Kabuto Mech Body • Kabuto-00 Mech Body • Lilotron Mech Body • Marshal Mech Body • Marshal-00 Mech Body • Miniknog Mech Body • Nightwinder Mech Body • Occasus Mech Body • Occasus-2 Mech Body • Protector's Mech Body • Reactor Mech Body • Shockhopper Mech Body • Skulduggery Mech Body • USCM Mech Body • Venturer Mech Body • Venturer-00 Mech Body Legs Arc Mech Legs • Basic Mech Legs • Hermes Mech Legs • Hopper Mech Legs • Intrepid Mech Legs • Ronin Mech Legs • Sleek Mech Legs • Twinjet Mech Legs Boosters Astro Mech Boosters • Basic Mech Boosters • Gallant Mech Boosters • Hammer Mech Boosters • Sleek Mech Boosters • Stalwart Mech Boosters • Zed Mech Boosters • Zero Mech Boosters Horns Airhorn Mech Horn • Bike Bell Mech Horn • Bull Mech Horn • Charge Mech Horn • Clown Mech Horn • Foghorn Mech Horn • Melody Mech Horn • Robot Voice Mech Horn • Rubber Duck Mech Horn • Sports Mech Horn • Steam Whistle Mech Horn • Toy Mech Horn • Train Whistle Mech Horn • Truck Mech Horn