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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 27, 2020 20:05:30 GMT
Actually when setting up interplanetary invasion I would sling an asteroid on a more eccentric orbit intersecting target body's orbit twice on close fly-by. It would first and foremost serve as armor against long range interdiction, might allow manufacturing while already under way, shortening staging phase and could be used as source of kinetic impactors to soften the defenders. It could also house supplies and accommodations allowing for much more efficiently laid out ships.
Defense might largely end up being game of keeping the attackers off until their departure window starts closing, threatening to cut them off from logistics and possibility of retreat.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 7, 2020 20:41:11 GMT
Most of the data (ships, materials, etc.) is in plaintext form and easily editable, ships and modules are even expected to be designed during normal gameplay. Campaign editor for creating custom campaigns is also included.
OTOH the actual logic is closed so there is no simple way to add things like new propulsion types, although there exist a few successful executable mods (like the one disabling ablation cap), but that's just hex-editing and hunting for values (AFAIK).
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 7, 2020 8:30:31 GMT
Is it because it's a game, not a simulation, that the laserships start fighting at only 20km? I don't think it's realistic given the performance of real-life laser weapons. It's because the laser in use is set to engage at 20km, because based on it's wavelength, aperture and beam quality it rapidly becomes ineffective at longer ranges. You can build far longer range lasers, although at Mm ranges turret wobble becomes significant limiting factor even if the intensity is still good.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 6, 2020 19:10:46 GMT
Engagement ranges fully depend on weapons used.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 4, 2020 8:16:00 GMT
I understand the enemy will try to shoot down my incoming blaster launched rounds. But it looks to me like my own guns are shooting them down, which is what I'm trying to avoid. Position your guns so that they don't.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 3, 2020 20:01:50 GMT
Is there a way to make this work? Yes but that's really up to you. The enemy will obviously try to shoot down incoming payloads. Find a way to disallow that (for example by saturating PD).
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 1, 2020 16:28:59 GMT
Well, it's not sitting at the worst angle, but it doesn't quite want to cooperate. By reducing armor coverage to 50% I was able to add a 100% 3cm spider silk spall liner and still gain 0.3km/s and reduced cost for the same reaction mass load. Revised the internal layout putting the power plants at opposite ends of the ship, used more smaller tanks of the same total capacity. Had to exchange the power plant radiators for longer ones. Failed VO due to first drone wave. Suggestions? Put on 4 more 4mm RGs (all aiming in the same direction) for redundancy. They are not terribly heavy and it's 5x spinal guns per single gunner. Use polygonal armour and flatten ship - cyllinders offer almost no protection in broadside orientation due to almost perpendicular impacts when hitting near centerline. Possibly move important stuff away from centerline too. Add more thrust. Thrust is the best defense against cannon drones. Around 800mG acceleration should be workable. Replace heavy CGs with something useful. They are very heavy, expensive, vulnerable, inaccurate and inefficient. Sure, when they hit they hit, but usually they just don't. Replace scatter RGs with something that can actually hit targets. Move launchers away from things you'd rather keep in case you haven't already. Add more firepower, since you have 2x power of stock Gunship already. Useful weapons: Sniper CG - hyper-accurate and heavy hitting. 60MW CG - small, lightweight, very rapid fire, capacitorless with short firing time so single 60MW reactor can drive a large number simultaneously. 100MW CG (turreted) - similar to the above, a bit slow, but more accurate with heavier projectiles. 39MW 6mm RG - a bit large, heavy and fragile, but also capacitorless with faster projectiles and good tracking speed. 60mm cannons - PD and accurate CQB firepower. Extra lasers.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 1, 2020 15:10:37 GMT
Yay, forum attachment limit space error. Fun. Why haven't we all switched to Steam file sharing again? ...maybe because not everyone has access to that coprorate "sharing" (eek)?... Well, you could set up some sort of alternative location for sharing. The advantage of workshop (the disadvantages are many) is that everyone with a legit copy can access it and that it makes for a single place where stuff is. Set up a reasonable alternative and I will be happy to use it. Not that I like Steam, mind you, it's just slightly below my "fuck this shit" threshold - I would definitely prefer it if the game was on GoG. Would probably throw my money at it again too if it was. namely the use of zombieship trick. Wait. What exactly is that one? I'm not familiar with this kind of terminology. Putting a remote control module on a crewed ship so that it is pretty much unaffected even by total crew kill. An exploit, basically, and removes interesting design considerations (keeping crew alive between incoming enemy fire, exploding munitions and spin-induced G-forces).
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 1, 2020 0:10:58 GMT
Maybe a player made fixed long range laser purely so that broadside order might keep the roll edge on instead of side on. That's what 4mm 200kW RG is for.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 1, 2020 0:09:58 GMT
Steam Workshop Link
The Corsair-class was an attempt to make a neat-looking ship reminiscent of AtonHeartDragon's cool, Homeworld-esque designs
Appreciated. There is one disappointing thing about this design, though - namely the use of zombieship trick. You could probably also add some short spacer to the nose. Also, Titanium carbide/diboride makes for *practical* external coating if you go for silvery nose aesthetics. You could replace decorative magnesium tip with that.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jan 18, 2020 16:25:20 GMT
Well in the drab coloured world that is CoaDE I'll take grey with a slight purplish tinge. A lot of ceramics have desirable qualities (hard, refractory) and attractive colours for thin outer layers. Titanium nitride is blingy gold, titanium dioxide kind of navy blue, a lot of other good outer coatings (ceramics, diamond) are somewhere between glossy black and various metallic shades, etc. You can make purty AND performant ships:
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jan 18, 2020 11:54:55 GMT
I think COADE switched to prismatic model at some point. Anyway, my observations: - Other than shielding, neutron reflector does zilch in COADE. It's not modeled in any meaningful manner in regards to the reaction itself.
- Moderator can be used to squeeze extra criticality and lifetime out of even very small amounts of fissile.
- Core geometry matters.
- On a spaceship there does not seem to be any good reason to not go with as highly enriched fuel as you can have because not keeping your core light and compact makes everything else become not light and compact in consequence causing mass and cost to balloon.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jan 16, 2020 22:33:24 GMT
Does not compute. Tungsten carbide was all the rage for kinetic penetrator cores before dU stole the limelight, FFS! Whole 5mm of it over most of the hull sounds like downright hideous mass penalty. Well, you do cram the crew in the nosecone and presumably use singular large tanks to help offset the armour mass penalty. Also, why selenium? Ahem... yes that's my mistake it's actually Titanium Carbide and it's 2.5mm. I'm not at all sure about it now you bring it up, I just seem to remember it helping against nuke flashes. Titanium carbide is pretty good. Both at tanking flash and at bouncing lightweight grazing kinetics. Ok, that's interesting. The most common used anti-laser stuff is aramid (allegedly best ablative), PE (allegedly cheapest ablative) and AC (thermally hard). But selenium is just grey with very slight purplish tinge? I also tend to build cool looking craft, but they typically tend to be fairly effective as well. I have a pretty long list of "cool" features with practical justifications.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jan 15, 2020 20:09:15 GMT
(5mm Tungsten Carbide) 2/3rds coverage (...) It's pretty light Does not compute. Tungsten carbide was all the rage for kinetic penetrator cores before dU stole the limelight, FFS! Whole 5mm of it over most of the hull sounds like downright hideous mass penalty. Well, you do cram the crew in the nosecone and presumably use singular large tanks to help offset the armour mass penalty. Also, why selenium?
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jan 15, 2020 20:03:03 GMT
I typically build fairly heavily shielded reactors. Boron carbide for low temp ones, titanium diboride for moderate temperatures, pyrolytic carbon or even hafnium carbide for high temp stuff.
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