All of my Ships are too heavy.

[sorcus]

Basically, all the ships I make sink pretty low and I've resorted to just putting propellers on the bottom of my ship, which screws up speed and a bunch of other things.
I've tried making the bottom of my ships wider, but that makes little difference unless I get really ridiculous. Perhaps the issue is with how much metal I use. Would anyone be able to put in to words how often I should use metal? I often feel uncomfortable exposing wood to the outside, especially against high fire rate weapons.

[Rampant Rabbit]

Sounds like you need some help from the Greek shipping industry!

"An object that sinks displaces an amount of fluid equal to the object's volume. Thus buoyancy is expressed through Archimedes' principle, which states that the weight of the object is reduced by its volume multiplied by the density of the fluid. If the weight of the object is less than this displaced quantity, the object floats; if more, it sinks.

So it's more about mass/volume of your ship than hull shape. If you have a compact ship packed full of stuff that's denser than water, it's going to head for the sea floor once ya hit caps lock. Hull shape does affect drag and stability, and keeping a low profile can help. As any crew member would know*. If the ship's not showing much above the waterline, it's harder to hit with shells, especially when broadside.

(* competent crewmembers also know to be in motion and in the opposite direction to any superior by the time you hear the 'v' in in "I'm looking for volunteers". Also works the same as with bears, lions etc. You don't have to be the fastest, just not the slowest crewmember.)

[Javelin99]

^

[xchrisx88]

rule of thumb:
metal ships are eaiert to build and make float, the bigger they are
also make sure you have an airpump in every section of your ship

maybe take a screenshot or upload one of your ships so we can get a better idea, if you still run into problems

[Javelin99]

Originally posted by xchrisx88:

rule of thumb:
metal ships are eaiert to build and make float, the bigger they are
also make sure you have an airpump in every section of your ship

maybe take a screenshot or upload one of your ships so we can get a better idea, if you still run into problems

Don't forget that the less top heavy it is, the less it is for it to easily capsize due to it's center of mass shifting.

[Unless you build something that is 100 meters wide, and the large super structure is in the middle. Then there is more hull beneath it than it has weight to tip it over. Following FTD logic because otherwise the tiniest hole and thus flooding would make it probably tip over anyway.]

[Eggie84552]

Originally posted by Mein Pomf:

Basically, all the ships I make sink pretty low and I've resorted to just putting propellers on the bottom of my ship, which screws up speed and a bunch of other things.
I've tried making the bottom of my ships wider, but that makes little difference unless I get really ridiculous. Perhaps the issue is with how much metal I use. Would anyone be able to put in to words how often I should use metal? I often feel uncomfortable exposing wood to the outside, especially against high fire rate weapons.

try hydor foils easy to set up and resonalby effective
also if you use propelers try using a pid system or custom controler inputes and automated control blocks also are you ships low in the water or just sink?

[Javelin99]

OH YES and another thing:
you don't have to expose wood on the outside. If it is purely a weight issue such as it being perfectly stable but sinking down, you can replace some of the interior armor or unnecessary metal with wood and it will still have a effect. Same for light alloy... If you still want something with a metal-feel, use light alloy. It is very light and with a good color, looks exactly like a more mixed version of metal. Dangerous Waters for example, has most of the entire interior made out of wood to make the ships lighter. And uses timed-airpumps to correct rolling to prevent capsizing.

[sorcus]

Originally posted by Eggie84552:

Originally posted by Mein Pomf:

Basically, all the ships I make sink pretty low and I've resorted to just putting propellers on the bottom of my ship, which screws up speed and a bunch of other things.
I've tried making the bottom of my ships wider, but that makes little difference unless I get really ridiculous. Perhaps the issue is with how much metal I use. Would anyone be able to put in to words how often I should use metal? I often feel uncomfortable exposing wood to the outside, especially against high fire rate weapons.

try hydor foils easy to set up and resonalby effective
also if you use propelers try using a pid system or custom controler inputes and automated control blocks also are you ships low in the water or just sink?

Most of them are low, I'll see about uploading my monstrosities

[sorcus]

Originally posted by xchrisx88:

rule of thumb:
metal ships are eaiert to build and make float, the bigger they are
also make sure you have an airpump in every section of your ship

maybe take a screenshot or upload one of your ships so we can get a better idea, if you still run into problems

Uploaded 3 ships, the monstrosity1 and 2 are ones I scrapped cus they're just god-awful.

[Ossiana]

Perhaps this will help: separate the sections of your ship that's below and above the waterline. Use water pumps on those below the waterline and air pumps for those above the waterline.

If you are feeling particularly cheesy, and if your ship is big enough to do this, you can put ballons inside your ship and if your is big enough (enough room for the ballones to wiggle) you probably won't see them from the outside :) Expect possibly when you're turning.

I'm actually not 100% sure about that last one...

[sorcus]

Originally posted by Selki:

Perhaps this will help: separate the sections of your ship that's below and above the waterline. Use water pumps on those below the waterline and air pumps for those above the waterline.

If you are feeling particularly cheesy, and if your ship is big enough to do this, you can put ballons inside your ship and if your is big enough (enough room for the ballones to wiggle) you probably won't see them from the outside :) Expect possibly when you're turning.

I'm actually not 100% sure about that last one...

Trust me, I've tried the balloons but that was a tad too ridiculous for me to make little enclosure for my balloons XD

[xchrisx88]

Originally posted by Mein Pomf:

Originally posted by Selki:

Perhaps this will help: separate the sections of your ship that's below and above the waterline. Use water pumps on those below the waterline and air pumps for those above the waterline.

If you are feeling particularly cheesy, and if your ship is big enough to do this, you can put ballons inside your ship and if your is big enough (enough room for the ballones to wiggle) you probably won't see them from the outside :) Expect possibly when you're turning.

I'm actually not 100% sure about that last one...

Trust me, I've tried the balloons but that was a tad too ridiculous for me to make little enclosure for my balloons XD

btw forgot to mention, I love that profile^^

[xchrisx88]

just took a look at your ship, the front is waaay too thick and heavy, thats why, remove the heavy armor and change the inner metal beams to alloy

[FourGreenFields]

The 2. monster has some props on 0 drive. Not sure why.
I think I also saw a room with several airpumps on the 1. monster. That doesn't help, one is enough.

I think the superstructure is one of the main reasons your craft are relatively heavy. Could be built much smaller, I'd say.

[sorcus]

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

The 2. monster has some props on 0 drive. Not sure why.
I think I also saw a room with several airpumps on the 1. monster. That doesn't help, one is enough.

I think the superstructure is one of the main reasons your craft are relatively heavy. Could be built much smaller, I'd say.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=815195126
One thing I don't understand is how this floats if it's 100% metal, and it can also hold a bunch of structure on top and extra stuff inside without going too low. I understand how mine differs from it, but is it just the structure or what? The size?
I'm thinking the issue is I try to cram too much ♥♥♥♥ on a ship I make that's not big enough, but idk how to make small weapons that still deal considerable damage
Also the reason I try to put at least two in a section is because I've had the courtesy of them being destroyed from shrapnel

[Javelin99]

Originally posted by Mein Pomf:

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

The 2. monster has some props on 0 drive. Not sure why.
I think I also saw a room with several airpumps on the 1. monster. That doesn't help, one is enough.

I think the superstructure is one of the main reasons your craft are relatively heavy. Could be built much smaller, I'd say.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=815195126
One thing I don't understand is how this floats if it's 100% metal, and it can also hold a bunch of structure on top and extra stuff inside without going too low. I understand how mine differs from it, but is it just the structure or what? The size?
I'm thinking the issue is I try to cram too much ♥♥♥♥ on a ship I make that's not big enough, but idk how to make small weapons that still deal considerable damage
Also the reason I try to put at least two in a section is because I've had the courtesy of them being destroyed from shrapnel

You could try getting the AC mod. Despite all the loony bastards saying it's broken, it really isn't. Switch out the AI blocks with vanilla blocks to get them to have a working failsafe and connection. All the weapons fire perfectly fine, and it even has it's own casemate cannon. Although all of those weapons are far too small for a main weapon

Also I had similar problems like that too. My INS victoria back when it was version 3, was over 500M long and 73 wide because I didn't know what the V button did. [Also having no sense of scale.] It was entirely nothing but metal but with 5 airpumps, it was floating with the water 3 4M blocks upwards beneath the waterline making it tip over. It is completely absurd and I love it.