Reactor or Battery? Hydrogen or Ion?

[thx-1138-4eb]

When building a large ship - think large bulk freighter - I have some important decisions to make regarding design and propulsion.

Do I:
1. Build a reactor in the ship with ion drives or
2. Build lots of batteries that charge at a station to power ion drives or
3. Build hydrogen tanks to power hydrogen drives or
4. Build storage to hold ice that in turn is processed to O2 and H2 to power the ship....?

Any guidance is appreciated.

[frag2k4]

Well 1 or 2 are best, 3 would require batteries unless going hydrogen engine which sounds like 4 and to be fair 3 and 4 would be the same as a tank and gen would be needed.

Overall either batteries and ions, nuclear, batteries and ions or batteries and h2 tank, o2 gen, tank and hydro thrusters.

[TheHellKat]

There are no wrong answers here.

H2 is easier to get early game, it's got more thrust than any other so you'll have good acceleration and it can fly in space and atmosphere.

Ions are great for long term use but require a lot of platinum to build, however they don't require additional fuel.

As for reactors Vs batteries, well it largely depends on how far you are going, if your using jump drives or other high usage blocks.
Batteries are a must, even if you use reactors, and at least 1 small reactor is a must if your using batteries... Backups are important in space.

Ultimately it all comes down to what you want to use...

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, I use Batteries on planets only because I can go to a Rich ore spot once is space to build Nuclear Reactors and be able to build the best ship concepts of the game (more compact).

I use Hydro thrusters only as "Booster", just a few upwards that I turn ON for the needed push to exit the planet gravity, I prefer to go in space as fast as possible so I can build all thrusters in but will use batteries to go to the Rich ore spots in space.

I mean I don't spend too much time/work on ship I will use to exit the planet if I start playing over there, so I build basic ship using batteries + Hydrogen / less blocks as possible so I can go to Rich ore spot in space to build all blocks so I will not need batteries anymore.


Also, better use ION thruster only for huge space Motherships because too big Hydrogen system (O2/H2 Gens + Hydro tanks + Hydro thrusters) can lower the world SimSpeed where the character become very slow.

In order + details :

1 - Use Atmos Thrusters + Hydro Thrusters + Batteries on the ship you will use to exit the planet Gravity (Temp ship)
2 - Use Atmos Thurster + Batteries on planet ships (miner + welder/grider + Planet scout)
3 - Use Ion Thrusters + Reactors on space Motherships.
4 - Use Hydro Thruster as "Booster" for the needed push to exit the planet Gravity.
5 - Go to space Rich ore spot to build a 3 Thruster in.

That ^ is Me, and you may want/prefer to create Hydro ships, it's a cool SE challenge, too.

Depends on what SE challenge you want to do and I recommend to do all to gain pure Engineer experience to know the one you prefer.

A challenge I like in SE = Is to use less blocks as possible.
(simplicity is the ultimate sophistication)

[Dan2D3D]

I will add :

Using Hydro thrusters as "Booster" only that are always OFF to use for about 3 minutes only.

= Wil avoid using too much O2/H2 Generators, Hydro Tanks and ice that can add way more mass to the ship when full load so it will need more thruster and more Hydro tanks .... at a point it becomes too heavy or too big for what it was made to do.

[Namdoolb]

Batteries are only really going to work if you plan on staying relatively close to a place where you can recharge. If the ship is going to be particularly independent & stay away from base for a while you'll want a reactor as it lets you go a lot longer without refuelling.

You're probably going to want to go with ion thrust.
Assuming you're operating primarily in space & you're not a combat vessel, you probably don't need the extra acceleration offered by hydrogen thrust. At which point, Ions are just easier to manage (if a little more expensive to build).

Don't forget, you can still mix & match your thrusters:
You can be mostly ion, but still have some hydrogen thrusters at the back and/or underneath that you only turn on when you need them (like when operating within gravity or if attacked).
If you do run some hydrogen thrusters, then use hydrogen tanks: much better to store the h2 in tanks than as ice. Although you may want some 02/h2 generators so that you can refill those tanks should you need to.

If you do decide to go full hydrogen thrust, then feel free to ignore my advice about reactors: without the power draw from ion thrusters, batteries should keep you well enough.

[thx-1138-4eb]

Thank you.

[dragonsphotoworks]

Dont forget solar panels... they seem to be ignored often. But they can make difference. When ship stationary and turn off unneeded items. Solar panels can recharge batteries pretty well. And since its a ship you can turn for best results into suns view.

EDIt - due to engines not being 100% effective when charge batteries. it is 80% if i recall. while i might throw one on for backup. I tend to rely on solar panels more. No fuel needed so no extra weight. Panels pretty light weight. Low amount space taken up. With inginuity can be made to fold up when not in use as well.

[Buzzard]

Batteries *ALWAYS* waste 20% of the power used to charge them, no matter the source. If you're using fuel to charge batteries... well, that's fuel that could have been used later on at 100% efficiency.
As backups on fuel-burning craft, batteries can be life-savers. As constantly running devices on 'Auto', they're fuel waste.

Now for power production for the cubic and mass, batteries beat reactors... for as long as the charge holds out. A pure battery-craft isn't a bad thing, so long as someone keeps an eye on the charge levels.

[dragonsphotoworks]

I charge my large rover with just solar and a ton of batteries. Since its large i had ton of wasted space i could throw batteries in. Also read some where that charging batteries by solar and.. i forget are best. But using hydro engines had a cap of 80% efficency. Cant find post now but but it talked about what to use to charge them.

[Buzzard]

Again, batteries are 80% efficient on charging *REGARDLESS OF THE SOURCE*. The preferred methods to charge batteries are solar and wind, as there's no fuel consumed in the process. Generally, one doesn't notice a bit of waste unless things get to be really dire somehow. (It's not like you're going to run out of wind, after all)

I'd link in the wiki entry, but it's ...hilariously out of date, complete with battery modes that haven't existed for years.

[dragonsphotoworks]

I believe you. Was just saying why i had the misconception about charging them. Where i got idea from.