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Post by AdmiralObvious on Jul 14, 2018 20:24:37 GMT
Edit its lessening** Also an idea i had for capital ship armor was Deployable whipple shields. From an engineering stand point making these should be simple. something like this www.researchgate.net/publication/280388978_Origami_of_thick_panels Not a clue how links work here my apologies. So these origami metal sheets would unfold after being shot out of a low speed gun or something of the like and act as a whipple shield for incoming projectiles. The main problem with shooting whipple umbrellas at incoming fire is that those umbrellas then won't stay put - they are effectively a consumable. They will also limit manoeuvrability.
You could try emulating this idea by creating disposable armour plate drones using radiators and see how it works out.
I find that the results are somewhat better if you shoot armored spacers out of something. Mostly because I'm pretty sure that one projectile can't actually damage multiple things along the same path.
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Prancer
Junior Member
Jousting in space. We're all Knights of the Stars.
Posts: 57
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Post by Prancer on Jul 16, 2018 4:08:40 GMT
My standard armor is:
spall liner of spider silk graphite aerogel stuffing amorphous carbon bulk graphite aerogel stuffing aluminum whipple shield PTFE
It's a very basic all-purpose format that can be modified for different threats and cost/mass levels. This will get the job done. I use aluminum whipple shileds because its cheap and light, and I'm not sure if the material makes much of a difference.
You could add more whipple shield layers with additional graphite aerogel/aluminum layers. If I want to build on the amorphous carbon it's always a composite armor, usually amorphous carbon, steels, diamond, nitrile rubber, and fibers (para-aramid, UHMWPE, spidersilk) stacked in thin layers for a total thick layer. Basically just repeat "stop, catch" layers over and over again for anti-KE. Sometimes I'll add in an osmium cap for nosecones or an osmium skirt to protect the engines for broadsiders.
PTFE is also replaceable with aramid fiber, nitrile rubber, silica aerogel and such to take care of lasers and nukes.
UHMWPE or para-aramid can replace spider silk for a spall liner.
Just for fun I build a nose cone with stupid amounts of armor and rammed an enemy ship in half.
Usually I end up sticking with spider silk, graphite aerogel, amorphous carbon & VC steel, aluminum, and PTFE. I think it's just what I've grown used to, and it works.
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Post by Pttg on Jul 16, 2018 21:55:05 GMT
Casaba Howitzers (or at least nuclear shrapnel) might really shake things up in the game meta.
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Post by doctorsquared on Jul 18, 2018 1:45:26 GMT
Casaba Howitzers (or at least nuclear shrapnel) might really shake things up in the game meta Forgive my ignorance but outside of Laserstars that just ablate your ship to dust from 1 Mm away which can remain unarmored due to the extreme ranges that they operate at what is the current meta?
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ghgh
Full Member
Still trying to make kinetics work.
Posts: 136
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Post by ghgh on Jul 18, 2018 3:03:44 GMT
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Post by AdmiralObvious on Jul 19, 2018 5:19:53 GMT
Casaba Howitzers (or at least nuclear shrapnel) might really shake things up in the game meta Forgive my ignorance but outside of Laserstars that just ablate your ship to dust from 1 Mm away which can remain unarmored due to the extreme ranges that they operate at what is the current meta? Nah. The last time we tried Casaba howitzers in this game, basically all that happened was the nukes detonated INSIDE the center of mass of a random enemy ship. We don't know where the flak went.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Jul 19, 2018 6:59:19 GMT
Forgive my ignorance but outside of Laserstars that just ablate your ship to dust from 1 Mm away which can remain unarmored due to the extreme ranges that they operate at what is the current meta? Nah. The last time we tried Casaba howitzers in this game, basically all that happened was the nukes detonated INSIDE the center of mass of a random enemy ship. We don't know where the flak went. As far as I can tell nuke+flak combos don't accelerate the fragments any faster than flak alone, which is disappointing. I've never succeeded at making a working NEFP with a radshield either.
What's worth considering is a mini-orion munition that splits into a nuke and kinetic impactor(s) (solid or frag) that can survive getting propelled by a nuke going off at point-blank range.
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Post by Pttg on Jul 21, 2018 8:40:28 GMT
Come to think of it, nukes do impart momentum on ships at close range (you can make really, really bad orion drives this way), so I suppose that non-flak modules actually would get accelerated that way.
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Prancer
Junior Member
Jousting in space. We're all Knights of the Stars.
Posts: 57
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Post by Prancer on Jul 27, 2018 20:22:47 GMT
Nah. The last time we tried Casaba howitzers in this game, basically all that happened was the nukes detonated INSIDE the center of mass of a random enemy ship. We don't know where the flak went. As far as I can tell nuke+flak combos don't accelerate the fragments any faster than flak alone, which is disappointing. I've never succeeded at making a working NEFP with a radshield either.
What's worth considering is a mini-orion munition that splits into a nuke and kinetic impactor(s) (solid or frag) that can survive getting propelled by a nuke going off at point-blank range.
I'd love to see testing and results on this concept.
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Post by newageofpower on Jul 27, 2018 23:21:09 GMT
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Post by Hicks on Aug 1, 2018 23:38:09 GMT
Come to think of it, nukes do impart momentum on ships at close range (you can make really, really bad orion drives this way), so I suppose that non-flak modules actually would get accelerated that way. Not really. From my work with orion NPP, a nuke interacts with the ship armor, and the ablation of the armor flying off of the ship imparts (neglegable) momentum to the ship, until the armor fails and the nuke ruptures a reaction mass tank. But the flying/spinning momentum of the ship careening off into the void after that is from all if the dV in the tank being expelled, not the nuke.
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Post by anotherfirefox on Aug 14, 2018 15:38:48 GMT
What would be best to get structural integrity? I'm using all-or-nothing partial armor scheme but definitely need some structural support for unprotected portion.
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Prancer
Junior Member
Jousting in space. We're all Knights of the Stars.
Posts: 57
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Post by Prancer on Aug 29, 2018 17:52:33 GMT
What would be best to get structural integrity? I'm using all-or-nothing partial armor scheme but definitely need some structural support for unprotected portion. VCS would be my starting point. Vanadium Chromium Steel.
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ghgh
Full Member
Still trying to make kinetics work.
Posts: 136
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Post by ghgh on Aug 30, 2018 4:52:57 GMT
Using aramid fiber might be more practical. VCS does not hold up to laser fire very well. While aramid costs an arm and a leg, so does VCS and it weighs a TON.
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Post by AdmiralObvious on Aug 30, 2018 6:51:33 GMT
If you dont care at all about lasing, diamond is pretty cheap and reliable for the sheet thickness.
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