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Post by coaxjack on Nov 25, 2016 21:58:10 GMT
Do you mean a fully differentiated fuel ball, or an actual alloy or carbide (polycarbide?) or whatever?
I think a pebble-bed reactor is something that could be modeled in game, as there are some already running for real, but as far as I can see, they don't run very hot. Then again, the moderator on the spheres of fuel have all been graphite or silicon carbide, so who knows.
Also, how would you get the spheres to stay in a critical geometry in zero-g? I'm thinking the coolant flow would provide enough 'propulsion' to keep the pellets in place, because a spring or piston mechanism would almost certainly melt right away.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 25, 2016 18:08:13 GMT
Got a destination in mind for that colony ship?
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 25, 2016 18:06:53 GMT
"We got some freighters coming in today, hope you losers updated your last will and testament."
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 25, 2016 3:45:52 GMT
Firing ports! Hah, what do you think this is, the Navy? ...Wait, can we make this thing amphibious too? Get out your drills, boys, we're going to Europa.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 25, 2016 0:01:20 GMT
Light, cheap, decent power.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 24, 2016 19:48:27 GMT
Now that I think about it, how do you even idle or shut down a liquid core reactor? Wouldn't it just re solidify requiring a huge energy input to fire it up again?
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 24, 2016 19:29:27 GMT
One of my favorite rounds, the M-61: Attachment DeletedGot a coilgun that fires around 3/sec at 7 km/s, and typically skewers any stock ship. Remember, the point isn't to defeat the armor, it's to destroy what's behind it. Overpenetration is a good trait.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 22, 2016 16:40:03 GMT
You call that physics breaking? 3882233050280 Joules muzzle energy, so a little less than the energy of a 1 kiloton nuke. In pure kinetic. Shiiiiit (I might have messed this up, let me know if my math is garbage)
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 22, 2016 3:16:44 GMT
I know, I was just mashing scifi stuff together to get a cool sounding acronym.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 21, 2016 16:40:38 GMT
High Impulse Graviton/Higgs Linear Induction Null Excitation
HIGHLINE
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 17, 2016 23:25:22 GMT
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 15, 2016 3:00:41 GMT
It especially bugs me that our reactors need to have six months of operating lifetime when all they really need to do is provide power for a couple of hours, tops. I think a checkbox that marks a reactor for 'start-on-launch' so it then only has to operate for however long the flight time to target is would work, so there wouldn't be some workaround to use a shoddy reactor for a full size ship. Then you can severely underengineer your powerplant for 3 days of use or whatever. Without doing the math, something about this tells me that these things will either be very cheap, EXTREMELY radioactive, or both.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 14, 2016 17:02:16 GMT
I think a huge part of the fun of this game is scratching the engineering itch, so having materials that go way beyond superconducting, or tap into some magical vacuum energy to run at 8000% efficiency or whatever isn't really good sportsmanship. Finding a workable solution with your (realistic) given materials is what it's about.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 14, 2016 3:15:56 GMT
Rather that than let millions of credits of possibly functional weapons go sailing off into oblivion.
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Post by coaxjack on Nov 12, 2016 4:17:20 GMT
I base it mostly off actual naming schemes. New missile designs get a 3-alpha acronym with a model number, and small iterations on an existing model get successive letters at the end
ASM-#: Anti-Ship Missile PCU-#: Powered Countermeasure Unit (flare rocket) MBxx-#: Missile Bus (drone missile with submunitions) SSM-#: Standard Submunition Module
so, e.g. PCU-28/D Missile Decoy
Cannon weapons (all types) are named after the ammo they fire.
Ammo is based on characteristics
Model Number, Type, Caliber
M-#: Model number, e.g. M-104
LRP: Long rod penetrator GPHE: General Purpose high explosive APHE: Armor piercing high explosive APIT: Armor piercing incendiary tracer CEM: Combined effect munition
then the caliber in mm. E.g., M-96 APIT 30mm
Ships themselves get a designation based on role, which is kind of nebulous to be frank. Typically it divides into it's payload.
Mostly drones: Carrier Mostly missiles: Cruiser Mostly guns: Destroyer based around one huge gun: Sentinel Some combination used to operate autonomously: Patrol Ship
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