NoBounds

NoBounds refers to setting values on blocks outside of their normal bounds. Sometimes way outside of their normal bounds. Particularly when used with Scaling, it so drastically increases the available possibilities in both aesthetics and function that it would be no exaggeration to say that it turns Besiege into a completely different game.

It is, of course, named for the mod that makes it possible (see #Usage). This is a Hidden feature - machines using it can be loaded without mods, but actually leveraging it requires the mod.

Effects

Removing the bounds on sliders allows all sorts of things. On a per-block basis, the consequences are either written out on their articles, or can be inferred from what they do.

Here, major uses are grouped by topic. This list is not exhaustive.

Motors and Wheels

'Motors' refer to powered spinning blocks; e.g. Powered Wheels, Spinning Blocks, Steering Hinges, etc.

• One wheel with 8x speed can replace four wheels with 2x speed.
• High-speed wheels (approaching 10x, or the equivalent) will shake around with increasing violence. Above 10x (or ~40x for steering blocks/hinges), they will (usually) shake so violently that they will break things (or break off).
• For optimal performance at high speeds (particularly when used as wheels), they should be attached to low-mass blocks (e.g. a 0.1x-mass Ballast) to allow them to flex more and transmit less shaking to the rest of the vehicle.
• Reaction Wheels are often used to counter the enormous torque from high-speed wheels, keeping the vehicle from trying to do backflips (and, more importantly, remain stable in the air).

Several technologies have emerged from their use:

• Vehicle Suspension has evolved to provide smooth (or survivable) rides at high speed and over rough terrain.
• Tracks have evolved to take the ever-increasing speed and weight of vehicles.
• Propeller Engines have evolved to take advantage of only needing one or two motors instead of four or six.
• Reaction Wheels depend on being able to rotate fast, and while a Brace or two allows a 2x to rotate a small vehicle with ease, using them on larger vehicles requires a bit more effort.

Thrusters

'Thrusters' refer to blocks which deliver pushing force; i.e. Flying Blocks and Water Cannons. Explosive Rockets can count but are single-use only.

• High-power flying blocks and water cannons are often used as the sole propulsion method for jets, or to provide boost for ground vehicles.
  • In practice, water cannons are more used than flying blocks, as they don't have a breakable joint and don't have as much drag.
• Setting water cannons to negative power removes the pesky (and dangerous) particles.
• Thruster blocks can also be used to rotate machines in place of actual steering.

There are technologies which make use of high-power thrust:

• Recoil Suppression systems usually require them for obvious reasons (see #Weaponry).
• Logic Stabilisation requires something for the automation blocks to fire (see #Stabilisation).
• Mechanical Engines can use them in place of steam or Winches.
• Guided Missiles are utterly useless if they can't accelerate and turn real fast.

Stabilisation

Two forms of stabilisation rely on NoBounds.

• Balloon Stabilisation uses balloons of (significant) positive and negative power.
• Logic Stabilisation requires powerful thrusters and fast motors.

Weaponry

As always, if something can be harnessed to better sunder one's enemies, it will be harnessed with great vigor.

• The entire field of Recoil Suppression was created to handle ever-increasing Cannon (and autocannon) power.
• Shrapnel Cannons with negative power have tighter spread and more punch. And fire backwards.
• Flamethrowers with high power are more akin to laser beams.
  • Flamethrowers with negative power, contrary to most other blocks, have particle effects but no actual range.
• Vacuums are the most notorious application for NoBounds:
  • They can be used for brutally-powerful Guided Missiles.
  • Overflow vacuums stop anything caught in their area of effect dead.
  • Most importantly, a ball of super-high-power vacuums pointed outwards is colloquially referred to as a black hole or a nuclear bomb. The reasons why are left as an exercise to the reader.
• Guided Missiles in general require enormous thrust to do their job, and it's not something that can be done with vanilla bounds.
• The pinnacle of combat capabilities is technology that revolves around abuse of Zero-Mass blocks (see the next section).

Zero-Mass

Main articles: Zero-Mass, Force Neutralization System

Setting block mass to zero - something obviously not possible without NoBounds - allows breaking the laws of physics in useful ways, and while it came about because of weaponry, some peaceful uses have come of it.

• Force Neutralization System (FNS) is about using zero-mass connectors to nullify forces between two assemblies. This can be used for the ultimate Recoil Suppression systems, or for lifting enormous weight with little thrust.
  • Spring Tethers, which are interesting curiosities on their own, find their true use supporting this technology.
• Reactionless drives can be created by linking back over a zero-mass connector; normal reaction forces are eaten up by the connector, allowing a machine to lift itself up by its bootstraps.
• Black Armour consists of a zero-mass plate and some other trickery, and can stop high-power cannonballs dead. Somewhat. There are conditions.

The list goes on.

Usage

• You can get the NoBounds mod (made by ITR) here. As is the fate of most popular things on the workshop, there's a lot of unauthorised reuploads, so make sure you're getting the right one.
• Manual .bsg file editing is the other option; it requires you to open the .bsg machine savefile in Notepad (or Notepad++, or Vim, or whatever) and edit the values directly.

Level Entities

There is less scope for NoBounds usage on level entities, as their parameters are usually limited to mass, health, and break force, and they don't interact like blocks do.

There is one unique feature, though - unlike colour settings on machine blocks (which have a hardcoded range), colours on level entities are not bounded outside of their slider. This is extraordinarily useful, as the default colour range is underwhelming and limited. They can even be set to such high colour values that they glow.