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Post by mrsandman on Oct 27, 2016 19:00:19 GMT
Hey, I am a fairly new member of this community (I picked up the game a day or 2 after the launch on Steam) and I was just looking for tips on how to design custom modules. I see all these ridiculously overpowered railguns, engines, missiles, etc, but nobody really says how they designed them. Was it a trial and error process, using provided documentation, or something else entirely? Just some easy tips that can help me dive into the module designer with more knowledge.
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Post by someusername6 on Oct 27, 2016 19:38:51 GMT
I am not a rocket / nuclear / electronic engineer or anyone who would know how to build those in real life. I happen to be a computer scientist and know about hill climbing, but that's not too complicated?
I often start from an existing design close to whatever I want and go "I wonder what happens if I change this one thing". Then move every slider step by step in a direction that improves whatever metric I am looking to improve, while respecting any constraints I care to keep (like limiting power, mass, cost, min range / turning speed / etc). Or I iterate through likely candidates when picking materials. Do it enough and you get a feel for what works. Yeah, not exactly scientific.
General things I like:
Boron is love, boron is life -- light, cheap, good tensile properties. Probably what you want on reaction wheels. Amorphous carbon is great for radiating, aerogels for laser armor, methane and decane for NTR fuels, xenon for MPDs, uranium dioxide for high temperature reactors, don't bother with radiation protection if it goes on a drone, sodium for coolants, magnetic metal glass for coilgun projectiles if you can afford it, YAG or Titanium for lasers, silver for reflecting most things.
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Post by Durandal on Oct 28, 2016 0:44:27 GMT
Do it enough and you get a feel for what works. Yeah, not exactly scientific. Actually, I think that's just about the definition *of* scientific. |
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Post by jonen on Oct 28, 2016 12:39:25 GMT
Do it enough and you get a feel for what works. Yeah, not exactly scientific. Actually, I think that's just about the definition *of* scientific. Only if you're taking notes. Otherwise it's just blindly flailing about. But if you're writing it down, then it's scientific. |
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Post by nivik on Oct 28, 2016 15:31:20 GMT
GENERAL - All stock modules and ships have plenty of room for improvement.
- Kinetic weapon ranges are determined by target cross section: large targets can be hit from a lot further away than small targets.
- For non-crewed, non-powerplant modules, use the highest coolant temperature you can. High temperatures mean smaller radiators.
- Launcher modules don't require nearly as much power as stock designs use.
MATERIALS
- For neutron absorption, use boron compounds or carbides. Predictably, boron carbide does really well.
- For sustained thermal protection (lasers), minimize thermal conductivity. Silica aerogel is best at this.
- For instantaneous thermal protection (nukes), maximize melting point and specific heat capacity. Boron nitride has worked well for this in my experience.
- If you require a good balance between strength, thermal characteristics, mass, and cost, elemental boron is excellent. It excels as armor, in turbopumps, and particularly as a rocket nozzle/chamber material.
- If you require high strength and low mass (fuel tanks), use UHMWPE.
- If you require high strength and high melting point, and either don't care about mass or want more mass, use osmium.
- If you don't really care about something, but the game requires you define some material (rocket gimbal armor, turret armor on drone weapons, etc), use graphite aerogel. It's extremely light and extremely cheap.
- If you really need to conduct heat quickly, use graphite aerogel. If you need the material to also withstand anything more than harsh language, use diamond.
- Lithium is best if you need low mass and passable mechanical properties. Polyethylene is good if you need better mechanical properties than lithium, but still care about mass.
- Magnesium is lighter than aluminum but has similar properties. If you're thinking of using aluminum for something, use magnesium instead...
- ...but titanium is a lot stronger, not that much heavier, and not that much more expensive.
MISSILES/COMBUSTION ROCKETS - "...Issac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space!" -Dude From Mass Effect
- Kinetic kill vehicles are definitely possible, and can be very effective.
- Rockets maximize kinetic energy with a mass ratio of 7.39. KKVs should aim for a mass ratio around this mark.
- Methane/fluorine is an excellent balance of fuel density and energy density, which makes for small, fast missiles.
- Large missiles require larger launchers and larger magazines, which means larger ships, which means more mass for armor. More compact missiles are also targeted at much shorter ranges by kinetic point defense than larger missiles.
- Kinetic point defense is usually too short-ranged to make much difference. Kinetic armor for missiles isn't very useful.
- Laser point defense is brutal, but armoring your missiles in silica aerogel makes them damn near laser-proof.
That's all I've got for right this second.
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