So I'm a big fan of nuclear pulse propulsion, and was naturally kind of disappointed that it was not included in the base game. I mean, I understand why, but I'll be damned if I was not going to try to include it anyway, despite my complete lack of programming ability and complete lack of math hammering the physics behind it. So after a few hours, and an unsuccessful* attempt utilizing comically large radiation shields (2cm diamond outer, 1m maraging steel, 10m graphite aerogel, and finally 1m maraging steel inner), I finally got this thing to actually move while under atomic bombardment:
What makes it all work is 1/3 this:
and 1/3 this:
Why yes Virginia, that 0.5kt nuclear fission bomb is the absolute heart of the vessel. Why so small? because I wanted it to work as a test for proof of concept without having to redesign the pusher plate a zillion times because it cant handle the bomb.
But that's not enough to make the Orion Drive work. and I even forgot about it myself for the first two iterations: PROPELLANT. like in this handy declassified diagram:
So the final 1/3 that makes this all work is wrapping that nuclear firecracker in a few millimeters of tungsten:
And that is how we get from this:
...to THIS:
... to ALL THE WAY OVER HERE:
THAT'S... actually kind of unimpressive. The launcher finally broke on the ~80th pulse, which lasted longer than any previous test.
So the key is to use a launcher that discharges a nuke clad in propellant, which is timed to go off after 0.995 seconds, and the launcher has a reloading speed of longer than that. You can get the pulse unit to detonate extremely precisely by tuning the launcher's ejection speed (in m/sec). I think this version had it tuned to go off 25m in front of the ship.
And now for the "quirks." The pulse unit is backward, and the armor pusher plate is mounted on the nose of the ship, because the ship designer likes to leave a big-ass hole where a thruster would normally go even if there is not a thruster mounted, and having an open window to a fission propelled cloud of tungsten plasma is just the absolute worst. The launcher is maximally armored in diamond, and WILL get blown off if it over heats. Going from the battle view to the orbit view and back instantly removes all heat built up on the armor and launcher, and it also instantly kills off all velocity gained from all previous nuclear pulses.
So to be honest, THIS ship sucks. but that's OK. It exists to prove that Nuclear Pulsed Propulsion can work in some fashion within the limit of the game's current engine. I offer it to the forum so you guys and gals can actually math-hammer and re-engineer this starting point into something iteratively better. Because Project Orion is awesome.
So I'm kinda new to this, so here's the .txt file with everything in it, because of course. And by everything I mean everything, it's just the raw file.
So the absolute key to this is getting the launcher to survive. It works just like you think an Orion would, you queue the number of pulse units you want to launch and accelerate in jumps. Keeping the launcher cool is an absolute must, as what seems to happen is that it just melts under the prolonged point blank nuclear bombardment. Prolonged being the operative word. A better engineer could math hammer out how long stuff needs to cool between pulses and tune the pulse launcher accordingly. I literally just eyeball everything because I barely know what I'm trying to do, and have no idea how to accomplish that without iterative destructive testing.
FEATURE REQUEST: I'm pretty sure we could devise an actual nuclear shaped charge: we just do what the text says and armor the pulse unit in Depleted Uraninum while leaving a window that will be covered by a patch of Tungsten armor as directed propellant. The only problem with that is the rotational armor slider: we need another one. as of right now there is no way to have, like the 180-270 degree radius have armor without also armoring the 0-180 degree radius. So we really need another slider like the front/back: a Clock/Counter, combined with the front/back will give us a can with a directional hole to be covered by the propellant.
Hey qswitched, you made an awesome simulator. It is literal childhood wish fulfillment of an actual wish for a space fleet. You done good.
Post by The Astronomer on Jan 8, 2017 12:41:48 GMT
Hello everyone. This is The Astronavigator.
I mean, I have some pretty cool stuffs for you guys, and it's an Orion drive research project conducted by the very same guys as the one who designed the Techrescraft: The Jovian Scientists.
It is 30.9 meters long, its mass is 108 tons, has a visually noticeable acceleration per one detonation, and its shield can support 2 detonations before it fails. Current work is to make it more nuke-resistant. Any ideas?
Arghhh noo, you beat me to it. I've been playing around with designs but have been too lazy to make a post.
I ended up on naked 1.5 Megaton nukes triggered at 1-5m since surrounding them with armor didn't seem to make any noticable difference in delta V, 3-7 m/s per nuke depending on detonation distance, though I may have made a mistake by only covering them in some aluminum. The most important thing seems to be having enough armor on the launcher that it doesn't get destroyed by whatever manages to sneak through the pusher plate.
Edit: Got the video working.
Edit 2: Putting 5cm of tungsten around the nuke, doubled the delta V change on a ship the same weight.
Last Edit: Jan 8, 2017 13:57:23 GMT by randomletters
Arghhh noo, you beat me to it. I've been playing around with designs but have been too lazy to make a post.
I ended up on naked 1.5 Megaton nukes triggered at 1-5m since surrounding them with armor didn't seem to make any noticable difference in delta V, 3-7 m/s per nuke depending on detonation distance, though I may have made a mistake by only covering them in some aluminum. The most important thing seems to be having enough armor on the launcher that it doesn't get destroyed by whatever manages to sneak through the pusher plate.
Edit: Got the video working.
Edit 2: Putting 5cm of tungsten around the nuke, doubled the delta V change on a ship the same weight.
What kind of material did you use to make the nuke-resistant armor?
The tungsten in the original design is probably there to be able to detonate the nukes far away enough that the pusher plates will not be ablative pusher plates, the problem with this in game seems to be that the impact when the nuke is that far away does not impart any velocity change, at least it is so in my tests.
What kind of material did you use to make the nuke-resistant armor?
5cm of diamond, might have to try coating the pusher plate with some too. Upon actual testing 1cm of diamond on the pusher plate seems to cause the ship to be destroyed by a single nuke, I guess I'll just try using reinforced carbon-carbon.
The tungsten in the original design is probably there to be able to detonate the nukes far away enough that the pusher plates will not be ablative pusher plates, the problem with this in game seems to be that the impact when the nuke is that far away does not impart any velocity change, at least it is so in my tests.
Nope, in a real orion drive it gets turned into plasma and shot against the pusher plate. In CDE it stays a solid piece and blows a hole through your ship.
What kind of material did you use to make the nuke-resistant armor?
5cm of diamond, might have to try coating the pusher plate with some too. Upon actual testing 1cm of diamond on the pusher plate seems to cause the ship to be destroyed by a single nuke, I guess I'll just try using reinforced carbon-carbon.
The tungsten in the original design is probably there to be able to detonate the nukes far away enough that the pusher plates will not be ablative pusher plates, the problem with this in game seems to be that the impact when the nuke is that far away does not impart any velocity change, at least it is so in my tests.
Nope, in a real orion drive it gets turned into plasma and shot against the pusher plate. In CDE it stays a solid piece and blows a hole through your ship. Edit: and that wasn't a single lucky event, more like 4k lucky events in that case.
That's not what I meant though, though the solid piece didn't at all blow a hole through my ship.
What I meant is that plasma will not do ablative damage to armor (unless the armor isn't intended to be used against plasma) but detonating a nuke too close will do that.
