Atmospheric Ships

[Arachnyd]

I'm finding that atmospheric flying ships are either difficult to build, or difficult to fly, or both. For the moment, I'm trying to build an atmospheric drilling ship and I'm using vanilla atmospheric thrusters. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :-)

Arachnyd

[Wygos]

If it was easy we wouldnt have cars.
But it is easy in this game. Dont build wasted space Simple drill with thrusters and it works.
Also know your flying limits.
For example 4 small thrusters can hold 50 000kg safely.

[Arachnyd]

That's essentially what I've got: 1 Drill, cockpit, oxy gen, cargo, 4 reactors, 2 gyros, antenna & ore detector; it took 8 small down thrusters just to get it off the ground, and, I keep flipping over when I go to drill. I've got 4 small thrusters in all other directions.

Arach

[sir_lancealittle]

A good start would be the "Earth Easy Start" scenario.
Look around there for inspiration, there are some nice atmospheric ship designs there that work reasonably well.

Bottom line seems to be:

• You'll need large thrusters for upward thrust to overcome gravity. Even for a lightweight ship, I use 4-6 large atmospheric thrusters for the "upwards" direction.
  
• Remember, any ship that picks up cargo while in operation, like a miner or grinder, gains weight through that payload. So: Just because it handles fine when empty, doesn't mean it'll handle as well when fully loaded.
  
• In SE, ship rotation is handled through gyroscopes only. The heavier your ship is, and the more outwards from the center of gravity the mass is distributed, the more gyroscopes you will need to provide the torque needed to keep it under control. Install at least 4-6 gyroscopes.
  
• If you don't install thrusters symmetrically (I usually don't), remember: The more you tilt your ship out of the "upright" plane, the less upward thrust you will have available. The ship might simply topple over and be unrecoverable without a tow ship, if mishandled that way.

[Arachnyd]

Sir_Lance,

I am indeed running into the problem with leaving the vertical plane as I keep flipping over when I go to drill. More gyros? More thrusters? Both?

I am trying to keep my drill ship small and compact...I didn't like the easy-start driller, as it wasn't in any way compact, and ground it down.

Thanks for your response :-)

Arach

[sir_lancealittle]

Do you know how to use blueprints yet?
I could upload one of my small miners for you to repro.

[sir_lancealittle]

Here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=838853292
If you can't use the blueprint yet, you still get the idea from the screenshot.
2 gyros, 2 batteries, 1 drill and tons of thrusters.

EDIT:
I found this design handles reasonably well at around 45° incliniation angle when empty, and about 20° inclination angle when full.
If you keep toppling over, you may need more thrusters, or alternatively don't exceed about 50% payload.

[2000]

The unintended consequence of adding planets to space engineers

[Arachnyd]

Wow, that's a lot of thrusters. You're using two mods that I'm not: Heavy drills and encased gyroscope, are they used in this ship? I'm trying to stay mostly vanilla with this first ship.

Arach

[Mr_Crazy_Manno]

I have a ship i could uplaod so you could take a look at that. it is long, so you need to be carefull when turning in tunnels plus it can dig a hole big enough to fit itself, with leftclick even.

[Arachnyd]

Mr. Crazy,

I'd definitely be interested in seeing that....thank you :-)

Arachnyd

[Mr_Crazy_Manno]

ok here it is
here

if you are plannig on going straight down. watch out as this dont have any thruster pointing up. tipping over 90 degress will send you smacking into the surface. and you can change out the rear cargo container with a extra big reactor, otherwise you will not have enoug power.

i will upload a more powerfull version at some point. And be sure to read description of the workshop page

[sir_lancealittle]

(1) Yep, lots of thrusters. Like I said, you'll need them to carry the payload, and to keep the ship controllable when you tilt it out of the upright plane.

(2) You can replace the mods with vanilla parts. Just use vanilla gyros and drills instead of these modded ones. The encased gyroscope has the same specs as the vanilla one, but it has the advantage that you can attach stuff on all sides of it. (I always hated the vanilla gyros for being so dodgy that way).

[Arachnyd]

Thank you both :-)

If anyone else would like to chime in, please do so. The more information I have, the better off I'll be :-)

Arach

[Arachnyd]

Here is a tech question or two: How many Kg will a small and large thruster propel? Do they have 'lift' in this game? I.E. the Bernoulli effect...will 'wings' help?

[Mr_Crazy_Manno]

There is nothing like wings in this game, or drag for that matter. so everthing is lifted by the trusters. There is a mod for wings tho.