Help with Tank Tracks and engine

[Voin]

Hello Lads

So the other day i went back to a design of mine which was trying to model a functioning Chimera APC from the Warhammer 40K franchise. With what i've done so far, i've installed a automated 4 gear box system, one small engine, 2 heat sinks and a pump in the middle of them and a few generators and such to keep the batteries alive.

My first issue is that the engines cannot go for long without popping and at this point i'm just wondering where the devs intended to spit all those who want to use Radiators/Heatsinks on engines that go over 5-10 RPS.

My second one is with the clutch shaft method, i pretty much copied the logic block that Ra Ra Rasputin used which puts both sides at a constant 0.5 clutch pressure and when a key (For example, left key) is pressed, that side will switch to 0.25 which basically allows the engine to reach it's max FPS and slowly turn to where you wanna turn to. Not only does this pop my engine after 15 seconds of usage, it is also really slow on the tracks.

My final thing is to ask whether their is a actual torque limit on tracks so that engines don't just stop because the unspecified torque which may even be on a infinite setting just kills a engine without a clutch system in place.

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin]

One small engine can't comfortably run a thing of that scale, unless you've scaled it down significantly. Also remember: Even if you're limiting the engine to 20 RPS, it's still putting in all the work on top of that on torque gearing, so it's not only hell on the fuel economy, it's also hell on the engine itself.

A single radiator can hold an engine comfortably sitting at ~17 RPS indefinitely from what i remember, although the radiators are somewhat inefficient, they do work fine in series. The only problem is that there's no real way to track the fluid temperature, so it's very hard to figure out what they're doing.

I've made so many logic blocks, i'm practically losing count here, but i think you're referring to the setup i made for your Baneblade, the twin-stick drive one.

While i still don't have huge experience with tracks, i find that in some cases even 9:1 ratios are very conservative ones when pushing for speed. Tracks seem to operate like absolutely gigantic wheels in a lot of ways, except for that they do not retain momentum or put back force anywhere near as well into the system, which often means that you're running at most 2 gears. Due to the extremely high torque requirements, a variable clutch is absolutely mandatory without some sort of electric assist drive, and even then it's a good idea.

I'd offer to have a look at it, but i'm prepping for bed here (which also explains the rambling reply), i'll have a new, improved brain after sleep, so if you upload it, i'll still give it a good kicking.

[Voin]

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

One small engine can't comfortably run a thing of that scale, unless you've scaled it down significantly. Also remember: Even if you're limiting the engine to 20 RPS, it's still putting in all the work on top of that on torque gearing, so it's not only hell on the fuel economy, it's also hell on the engine itself.

A single radiator can hold an engine comfortably sitting at ~17 RPS indefinitely, although the radiators are somewhat inefficient, they do work fine in series. The only problem is that there's no real way to track the fluid temperature, so it's very hard to figure out what they're doing.

I've made so many logic blocks, i'm practically losing count here, but if you're looking for tank-like controls, i think i still have the Baneblade up in my workshop uploads. It's a way of twin-lever steering that some tanks use, in which W/S controls the left drivetrain and Up/Down controls the right. I know some wheeled APCs use this as well in the real world, but my WH40K lore is very surface level.

While i don't have huge experience with tracks, i find that in some cases even 9:1 ratios are very conservative ones when pushing for speed. Tracks seem to operate like absolutely gigantic wheels in a lot of ways, except for that they do not retain momentum or put back force anywhere near as well into the system, which often means that you're running at most 2 gears. Due to the extremely high torque requirements, a variable clutch is absolutely mandatory without some sort of electric assist drive.

First Point: A chimera is fairly small being nothing to the baneblade i built before, it's dimensions are 5.7 W, 6.9 L and 3.72 H compared to the baneblade that was 12.6 W, 20.25 L and 9.45 H and used 2 large engines which i planned on refining into a single engine with more space for tanks and a automatic gear system but just haven't got round to doing it.

Second Point: How do you get them to work? Every time i've tried, even using pumps and multiple radiators i get no difference in performance, still popping when i did a 40 RPS Medium Engine with 10 radiatiors all linked up in a chain.

Third Point: I wasn't looking for authentic take controls i just was wondering if their was a system that allowed more usage of the engine with the same automatic changing properties of the one you made for the Baneblade which i have saved.

Fourth Point: I was worried you would say that, shame, oh well, i'll stick to using the tracks for now since it seems it automatically calculates the torque it needs to function in the first place depending on mass.

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin]

40 RPS will pop even with direct ocean pumping, that just won't run at all. If you want a somewhat dangerous and insane system that's pretty damn decent replacement for radiators, do this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1976317566

It's a more effective system than radiators on their own, the downside being that running low on fuel will create dangerous situations, so you'll have to make a system that either cuts off the engine at high temperature or low fuel volume.

Generally speaking, if you have to run an engine consistently at 30 RPS to get good performance, add another engine instead. It will be much more fuel efficient and you'll get better power curves out of it. I'd say absolutely peak consistent RPS for any engine in any situation should be around 23-24 RPS, and even then only for high demand situations, like running up a heavy hill or drawing an excessively heavy load. A good cruise should sit around 10 RPS in all situations, 15 RPS if you care less about fuel and want meaty sounds out of your thing.

[Voin]

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

40 RPS will pop even with direct ocean pumping, that just won't run at all. If you want a somewhat dangerous and insane system that's pretty damn decent replacement for radiators, do this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1976317566

It's a more effective system than radiators on their own, the downside being that running low on fuel will create dangerous situations, so you'll have to make a system that either cuts off the engine at high temperature or low fuel volume.

Generally speaking, if you have to run an engine consistently at 30 RPS to get good performance, add another engine instead. It will be much more fuel efficient and you'll get better power curves out of it. I'd say absolutely peak consistent RPS for any engine in any situation should be around 23-24 RPS, and even then only for high demand situations, like running up a heavy hill or drawing an excessively heavy load. A good cruise should sit around 10 RPS in all situations, 15 RPS if you care less about fuel and want meaty sounds out of your thing.

Fair enough, i'll give it a go at some point over the weekend, cheers for your advice.