"One hitter quitter" weapons | Children of a Dead Earth

kerikbalm
New Member

Posts: 13

"One hitter quitter" weapons Dec 20, 2023 15:28:31 GMT via mobile

Quote

Post by kerikbalm on Dec 20, 2023 15:28:31 GMT

So I have made massive improvements to many modules, including weapons, but I can't get over how hard even stock hulls are to most weapons.

A modern tank cannon will punch through several hundred mm of steel armor, yet even at 50km/sec, I don't get past a couple cm of spaced armor.

I know, Whipple shields, outer layer vaporizes the projectile...
I tried making a payload railgun, firing spaced DU "penetrators" (long thin DU radiation shields), I'd think the second penetrator would go right through the inner armor layer, but I didn't notice much improvement (still kills external modules well) - but did notice a lot of lag.
Similarly, I took a look at the stock heavy coilgun, and made some fairly large buffs to it, but even 10kg projectiles weren't delivering the results I wanted - being that a single hit will penetrate all the armor and damage internals.

I tried making kinetic kill missiles with similar DU "penetrators" (with the outer armor of the missile being another layer of spacing for eliminating the Whipple shield so the penetrator is intact for the inner armor layer), and with a dV of several thousand m/s

I was again dissatisfied with the results.

Should I be trying high dV nuke missiles that are contact fused?

I'd really like a weapon that will just wreck an enemy ship of it connects, but so far all I have a lasers that cripple enemy ships by frying externals, or high velocity "sandblasters" (1-10g rounds, not modded for lower projectile masses) that largely do the same thing, but can eventually get through enemy armor, or missiles that also require many hits

Any suggestions on how to make a weapon that will hard kill an enemy capital vessel with a single hit?

yehang79
New Member

Posts: 30

"One hitter quitter" weapons Dec 28, 2023 3:09:09 GMT

Quote

Post by yehang79 on Dec 28, 2023 3:09:09 GMT

For one hitter quitter weapons in this game, try massive nukes or shape charged nukes(using a glitch in explosion calculations)
It is unlikely to make railguns one-hit-one-kill weapons with high velocity. A long slim tube of high density materials with diameter less than cm would easily penetrate anything, but if it dont hit core modules there would be no actual damage to enemy ships.
Having coilguns that shoots massive projectiles can tear enemy ships apart, though its pretty hard to hit anything.
For shape charged nukes, search on workshop. It totally vaporizes anything with game glitch.

kerikbalm
New Member

Posts: 13

"One hitter quitter" weapons Dec 28, 2023 19:37:22 GMT via mobile

Quote

Post by kerikbalm on Dec 28, 2023 19:37:22 GMT

Dec 28, 2023 3:09:09 GMT yehang79 said:

For one hitter quitter weapons in this game, try massive nukes or shape charged nukes(using a glitch in explosion calculations)

How many Mt should the yield be. So far all I have in that category is something about the same yield as the largest stock nuke (I think around 2 Mt?), but significantly smaller and cheaper.

I know it may be more practical to use masses of smaller missiles, but I kind of like the idea of making a heavy "torpedo" - I figure with custom propulsion modules, tanks, and armor, it should be feasible to make a missile with enough dV and armor to get through to the (stock) target on its own (as opposed to in swarms where only a fraction make it through), and to neutralize the target.

may not be prac

It is unlikely to make railguns one-hit-one-kill weapons with high velocity. A long slim tube of high density materials with diameter less than cm would easily penetrate anything, but if it dont hit core modules there would be no actual damage to enemy ships.

Isn't spalling modelled?
From nose on, it should have a cloud of fragments going down the length of the ship.
There's always the use of payloads on the railguns.

I'd still be happy with completely penetrating enemy hulls, in one side out the other, even if they aren't one hit kills.

But even that seems beyond the capability of the railguns I have tested

Having coilguns that shoots massive projectiles can tear enemy ships apart, though its pretty hard to hit anything.

Any advice on parameters?
Projectile mass, velocity, bore size, best payloads (if any)?

For shape charged nukes, search on workshop. It totally vaporizes anything with game glitch.

Seems to be the sort of glitch/exploit that goes too far for me.

If it was a legitimate "casaba howitzer", I would be for it, but it sounds like it's more like a cheesy exploit.

yehang79
New Member

Posts: 30

"One hitter quitter" weapons Dec 30, 2023 1:38:47 GMT

Quote

Post by yehang79 on Dec 30, 2023 1:38:47 GMT

How many Mt should the yield be. So far all I have in that category is something about the same yield as the largest stock nuke (I think around 2 Mt?), but significantly smaller and cheaper.

I know it may be more practical to use masses of smaller missiles, but I kind of like the idea of making a heavy "torpedo" - I figure with custom propulsion modules, tanks, and armor, it should be feasible to make a missile with enough dV and armor to get through to the (stock) target on its own (as opposed to in swarms where only a fraction make it through), and to neutralize the target.

may not be prac

For nuke yields, the bigger the better.

Isn't spalling modelled?

From nose on, it should have a cloud of fragments going down the length of the ship.

There's always the use of payloads on the railguns.

I'd still be happy with completely penetrating enemy hulls, in one side out the other, even if they aren't one hit kills.

But even that seems beyond the capability of the railguns I have tested

Fragments is modelled, but only for 'normal projectiles'(could add tracers to it) without payloads. If you make railguns shoot a slim long tube of osmium radiation shielding, it would penetrate any sort of armor in few seconds, like a space APFDS without finns
Payload or ship colliding calculations are messed up in this game, spalling and ricochet are only modelled with 'normal' projectiles.

Any advice on parameters?

Projectile mass, velocity, bore size, best payloads (if any)?

Stock heavy coilgun on gunship shoots 3kg projectile with a speed of 3.4km/s. It tears anything apart, so you can try improving this stock module.

Seems to be the sort of glitch/exploit that goes too far for me.

If it was a legitimate "casaba howitzer", I would be for it, but it sounds like it's more like a cheesy exploit.

Massive amount of small nukes would shoot stuff(hull, radiators, propellant) onwards with immense speed due to calculation problems, creating some sort of 'casaba howitzer' but much more powerful.
And yes, its exploit.

kerikbalm
New Member

Posts: 13

"One hitter quitter" weapons Jan 11, 2024 20:28:28 GMT via mobile

Quote

Post by kerikbalm on Jan 11, 2024 20:28:28 GMT

Dec 30, 2023 1:38:47 GMT yehang79 said:

For nuke yields, the bigger the better.

I don't know, I am at 9 Mt, and it's still iffy. Sometimes I get one hit kills on the gunship, but only because it often seems to take out the reactors (is there some radiation model where a nearby nuke makes the reactors go prompt critical or something?)
Nukes in general seem iffy to me. Toyed around with them a lot a couple days ago, made some nice improvement to stock modules, but still, meh.
Does ablation cap limit nuke damage, or is that just for lasers?

Stock heavy coilgun on gunship shoots 3kg projectile with a speed of 3.4km/s. It tears anything apart, so you can try improving this stock module.

I have, my module throws the same slug at something like 6km/s I think, with more accuracy and a higher RoF.
It's not ineffective against stock gunships, but it's certainly not punching right through enemy armor - maybe it would if it was hitting perpendicular, but against sloped nose armor, it struggles.