Ship Design: Tips and Advice.

[similarly]

I wanted to start a thread where we could share tips and advice on ship design. I have a couple.

1. Cargo = build UP! 1st floor cargo pads hold 8 crates. 2nd floor (it SEEMS) hold 16. Haven't actually tried it, but that's the way the numbers work. When I had 1 floor of 30 cargo pads, I had 240 cargo. When I added a 2nd floor, it jumped 720.

2. Fuel pods. I put my fuel pods in a locked room next to the refinery so that, if I get low on fuel, I can easily run hydrogen crates from the refinery room directly to the fuel pods rather than wasting power on a cargo teleporter.

3. Go for large hydrogen generators. 1 large hydrogen generator takes up 8 units of space and delivers 1200 power. Small hydrogen generators filling the same space will only generate 800 units of power.

4. Go for small shield generators. 1 large shield generator gives me 2500 shields, but takes up a minimum of 12 units of space. I use 8 small shield generators, using 8 units of space (10 if you could access) and get 2400 units of shields.

5. Ironically, for weight, power usage and speed, I get my best results with the tiny Class 3 engines.

6. Sculpting the ship makes it look pretty, but those tiny blocks are HEAVY. If you want a fast ship, stick to ugly and blocky.

7. I have no use for batteries. If the idea is that I burn all my hydrogen in port to load up my batteries, and then have batteries as emergency back-up ... well, I'll just stick to hydrogen. I'd probably go for it IF I could turn them on and off, so that I'd ONLY use the power when I wanted to instead of automatically. I just find that batteries aren't powerful enough to really run a ship.

[Knsgf]

Originally posted by similarly:

I just find that batteries aren't powerful enough to really run a ship.

T2 generator occupies 2x2x2 volume and outputs 1200. 32 batteries take the same amount of space and produce 3200. They're way more powerful than generators.

Originally posted by similarly:

If the idea is that I burn all my hydrogen in port to load up my batteries, and then have batteries as emergency back-up ... well, I'll just stick to hydrogen.

A cargo pad can hold up to 160000 units of hydrogen worth of 32000000 total energy. 4 batteries, fully charged, hold 57600000 E or 1.8 times more.

[Peekaboo I C Ju]

looking at the weapon systems i would recomend a tall and long ship for devastating broadsides

[STORM]

- Determine needs based on ship type and usage.

For example: an explorer ship, miner ship, docking station, cargo hauler, fighter, mining station, repair station/ship, fuel station/ship, ship builder, refiner, military station/ship, medical ship, etc. Give ships some identity and build toward that if possible.

This is a personal preference more than anything, I believe however.

[similarly]

Knsgf, that's a very good and convincing point. I'm going to give that some more thought. I'd STILL, though, like to be able to shut off the batteries. I'll put that in the suggestion thread.

[lotw_1]

Originally posted by similarly:

Knsgf, that's a very good and convincing point. I'm going to give that some more thought. I'd STILL, though, like to be able to shut off the batteries. I'll put that in the suggestion thread.

Its already in there.

[Knsgf]

Originally posted by similarly:

I'd STILL, though, like to be able to shut off the batteries. I'll put that in the suggestion thread.

Fuseboxes are planned to accomodate this. Sadly, no ETA on them yet.

[similarly]

Re Engine:
I have a fairly large ship: 222k weight.

Type: Class 1 Engine ..............class 2 Engine................Class 3 Engine
Number: 115 ............................225 ................................450
Power: 9200 ..............................9000...............................9000
Speed: 237 ...............................343................................ 377

Class 3s give the best speed for the power it uses.

[~* BiZZ Keryear *~]

Originally posted by similarly:

I wanted to start a thread where we could share tips and advice on ship design. I have a couple.

1. Cargo = build UP! 1st floor cargo pads hold 8 crates. 2nd floor (it SEEMS) hold 16. Haven't actually tried it, but that's the way the numbers work. When I had 1 floor of 30 cargo pads, I had 240 cargo. When I added a 2nd floor, it jumped 720.

Interesting fact, which after a test I can confirm.
(both ship had exact one cargo pad)
bottom:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498229432
top:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498229479

edit2: after a few test I found out that each crate place has the same weight (0,025). So has the bottom cargo pad a weight of 0.2 (holds 8). The top one has a weight of 0.4 (holds 16)
edit3: additional pads are not accessible! you can't fill them by aiming at the bottom (only 8 from the 16 and not by using a cargo transporter. Soo unless for statistics .. or for the looks ... DO NOT USE 2nd level cargo pads until they are fixed!

Originally posted by similarly:

2. Fuel pods. I put my fuel pods in a locked room next to the refinery so that, if I get low on fuel, I can easily run hydrogen crates from the refinery room directly to the fuel pods rather than wasting power on a cargo teleporter.

I run all my life support, transporter (long range), disposer, cockpit, thrusters (not engines) and doors on grid B on ~ 3-5 solar panels (still figuring optimal out). That way I never will run out. and not using any hydrogen on that. 2 capacitors are usually enough to make a 360 turn. Even on a relative heavy ship.

Originally posted by similarly:

3. Go for large hydrogen generators. 1 large hydrogen generator takes up 8 units of space and delivers 1200 power. Small hydrogen generators filling the same space will only generate 800 units of power.

Unless you put them in the same space.

edit4: Another speed test has shown one big generator is considerably lighter than 12 small. Test was same ship. One time with one big gen: Speed was 1250m/s. The other time with 12 small: Speed was 1060m/s. (other test ship than my speed test ones [which I had deleted just before] which I used in the other test.. )

Originally posted by similarly:

4. Go for small shield generators. 1 large shield generator gives me 2500 shields, but takes up a minimum of 12 units of space. I use 8 small shield generators, using 8 units of space (10 if you could access) and get 2400 units of shields.

5. Ironically, for weight, power usage and speed, I get my best results with the tiny Class 3 engines.

I tested it with a small test ship. Setting was smallest cockpit, 4 small hydrogen tanks, 1 large generator and engines. I tested all engines. Condition was same power consumption as Tech 2 Class 1 Engine (800) .
Result:

1. Class 3 Engines 975m/s
   
2. Class 2 Engines 770m/s
   
3. Class 1 Engines Slower. Lost my results and ship file (sorry)
   
4. Tech 2 Class 1 Engine around 440m/s. Lost my results and ship file (sorry)

Originally posted by similarly:

6. Sculpting the ship makes it look pretty, but those tiny blocks are HEAVY. If you want a fast ship, stick to ugly and blocky.

I tested all kind of designs. The lightest an the one the used the less resources (empty) was a cube. Result was the also the same when each level was an own room.

I assumed that a sphere should be the one that used the least since a sphere has the least surface. But even larger spheres didn't had advantages.

edit: did forget: test criterion was same amount of ship interior cubes. I started with spheres and built with the same amount of cubes a roughly cube. I even saved weight and material needed when I completed cubes that where one or two ship interior cubes where missing. So a cube seems the very most effective shape. ... if someone finds a shape with less weight / cubes would be nice if they tell it to me. But everything I tried was worse than a cube.

Originally posted by similarly:

7. I have no use for batteries. If the idea is that I burn all my hydrogen in port to load up my batteries, and then have batteries as emergency back-up ... well, I'll just stick to hydrogen. I'd probably go for it IF I could turn them on and off, so that I'd ONLY use the power when I wanted to instead of automatically. I just find that batteries aren't powerful enough to really run a ship.

The only advantage batteries have at the moment ... is that you can't steal the energy equivalent to hydrogen stored in them. They might have some if charged with solar while you aren't on.

[similarly]

Another bit of advice: I don't use elevators. If you lose power, you're stuck. I stick to stairs. I just figured out yesterday how to stack the spiral staircase to have landings at multiple floors while continuing up. Don't know why I didn't get that earlier.

However, I WISH there were a better way to control entrance and exit direction. Sometimes it's not convenient.

[lotw_1]

The biggest tip is build for what you need and dont build a bunch of stuff that isn't needed. A normal mining ship doesnt need 100 cargo pads. You will get bored way before you even come close to filling that much cargo.

[similarly]

This is true, Lotw. My most recent "cargo" ship has 20 pads, and it's more than I need. On those 20 pads I can carry 288 crates of cargo. If I'm carrying minerals, that's 172,000 units. Two runs will build a large ship, and at over 600m/s, it won't take long to haul it.

[lotw_1]

Its really going to come into play when pirates and other things can happen. You want fast, sort of desposable ships. Ones that dont take forever to mine the resources to build.

[similarly]

Lotw, that's actually why I was looking for smaller, faster ships. A great big cargo ship is a great big target, and the longer you're in transit and the more cargo you're carrying, the juicier you'll look to pirates. However, I also suspect that perhaps people might start trying to move in convoys.