Suspension/driveline

[Booze_Rooster]

Has anybody figured out suspension and driveline for something other than the slap and run independent suspension setup that comes with the wheels?

I was up on a wheeling trip with some buddies in Maine all weekend and after we got back to camp after some crawling, I started trying to sell them on Stormworks. We got to talking about what you can build in the game and I got the idea to try and make proper solid axles and connect the driveline with hose connections since the game treats everything like a fluid.

Set up a testbed and mounted an "axle" with hose connections from the clutch off of an engine. No dice.

Has anyone figured out a way to create something akin to a driveshaft allowing suspension travel? I tried messing with a center pivot to allow a faux solid axle to pivot on the standalone suspension piston pieces. So far all i've managed to do is make the piston migrate from the cylinder and clip all over the place. No way to make a flexible power connection has arrived in my brain.

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin]

I kind of made this in a couple of my craft for race purposes.

In this instance[i.imgur.com] i slowed down the mechanism to make it easier to show. The return to desired height is as slow, but the adjusting to bottom position is much faster and ground height dependent.

[ElfBossHogg]

I built something that uses both the suspension arm and a suspension wheel. Power is transmitted down each arm to the wheel and they are independent. Check out my LYNX build.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2276591490

[UnreasonablySaucyConcrete]

I've made a trike using a large power delivery pivot and a piston suspension attached to the pivoting part via an unpowered hinge pivot. I got it to be relatively compact, and it works pretty well, but because there are a few different unmerged bodies moving about the game will be a bit slower if too many are used.

[Humphrey]

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

I kind of made this in a couple of my craft for race purposes.

In this instance[i.imgur.com] i slowed down the mechanism to make it easier to show. The return to desired height is as slow, but the adjusting to bottom position is much faster and ground height dependent.

Damn that design looks amazing. I see you are preparing for the next racing tournaments as well ^_^

After experimenting with suspension builds alot i came to still using standard independent one (coz its customisable and a most stable one), but add it more travel. Like Rasputin im using linear tracks but the big one is only transfering power and sending axle position data, while small ones doing suspension job based on that data.

https://youtu.be/rDTVC2PP0h8

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin]

Originally posted by Humphrey:

Damn that design looks amazing. I see you are preparing for the next racing tournaments as well ^_^

After experimenting with suspension builds alot i came to still using standard independent one (coz its customisable and a most stable one), but add it more travel. Like Rasputin im using linear tracks but the big one is only transfering power and sending axle position data, while small ones doing suspension job based on that data.

https://youtu.be/rDTVC2PP0h8

Coming from you especially that's very kind to hear, i'm still impressed by your times back in the tourney. There were quite a few races i partook last year, they were mostly between people of 4chan. The competition was extremely fierce. I think my best placement in ground races was second, though i grabbed a couple of podiums in water races with ridiculously fast boats. (Music there because someone accused me of speeding up the video, so i put a youtube song on the background). That boat is taking a course of one of the races and failing at the hardest bend in that video. In race i gladly didn't smash into the bank.

I also love that big truck. It's at least theoretically something that could exist in reality too! My weak spot in general despite how easy they are to make are those fold-out panels. I try and sneak them in on almost all of my "high-end" vehicles. Is the truck built to the in-game cargo size too?

There is another case of uncommon suspension i have. It's a fairly uncommon vehicle too. It's made within fairly strict race limitations and within 5 days of build time, though total build time is somewhere around 3-4 hours. The balancing system isn't anywhere near perfect, but i didn't want to make a separate system for ground and boat mode because i couldn't fit the microcontrollers on the frame.

[Humphrey]

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

Coming from you especially that's very kind to hear, i'm still impressed by your times back in the tourney. There were quite a few races i partook last year, they were mostly between people of 4chan. The competition was extremely fierce. I think my best placement in ground races was second, though i grabbed a couple of podiums in water races with ridiculously fast boats. (Music there because someone accused me of speeding up the video, so i put a youtube song on the background). That boat is taking a course of one of the races and failing at the hardest bend in that video. In race i gladly didn't smash into the bank.

Ive seen it in some treads before where drag in water were discussed, and for waterjets thrust vectoring testing built a hydrofoils one and to compare them.
https://youtu.be/f_zt8MIHs14

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

I also love that big truck. It's at least theoretically something that could exist in reality too! My weak spot in general despite how easy they are to make are those fold-out panels. I try and sneak them in on almost all of my "high-end" vehicles. Is the truck built to the in-game cargo size too?

There is another case of uncommon suspension i have. It's a fairly uncommon vehicle too. It's made within fairly strict race limitations and within 5 days of build time, though total build time is somewhere around 3-4 hours. The balancing system isn't anywhere near perfect, but i didn't want to make a separate system for ground and boat mode because i couldn't fit the microcontrollers on the frame.

Im trying to build them universal as much as i can now, so yep, it can carry cargo container, has self-loading system, powered 5th wheel and hook for trailers, selectable engine max rps from 8 to 40, can be spawned on train spawn points.

Originally posted by Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

There is another case of uncommon suspension i have. It's a fairly uncommon vehicle too. It's made within fairly strict race limitations and within 5 days of build time, though total build time is somewhere around 3-4 hours. The balancing system isn't anywhere near perfect, but i didn't want to make a separate system for ground and boat mode because i couldn't fit the microcontrollers on the frame.

The problem of a custom suspensions is that they are unstable in a calm position - sliding/shaking/ets - rear axle proving that.
But still you have original approach to solving the task. I dont know what restrictions were there but i would make a foldable hydrofoils with waterjet. Considering your fuel consumption in 2l/second, it would be much faster on water.

Also, i dont know how i could get such a respect from you just for getting good time on one of the championships, but i need to say that you are the one, who i respect the most, for keeping the community alive, for helping everyone who in need of help, and for inspiring me to create something new when im running out of ideas by your unique own style.

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin]

Originally posted by Humphrey:

Ive seen it in some treads before where drag in water were discussed, and for waterjets thrust vectoring testing built a hydrofoils one and to compare them.
https://youtu.be/f_zt8MIHs14

Very impressive and very fast!
What scares most people about that jet black sub is that all it is is 2 medium engines, and 2 large props. It's fairly large and extremely fuel hungry, and while i have a version that can hit 192m/s, it can't do those extremely tight turns.

Originally posted by Humphrey:

The problem of a custom suspensions is that they are unstable in a calm position - sliding/shaking/ets - rear axle proving that.
But still you have original approach to solving the task. I dont know what restrictions were there but i would make a foldable hydrofoils with waterjet. Considering your fuel consumption in 2l/second, it would be much faster on water.

From what i remember, the key areas were:
- 1500 or less in-game mass (on spawn)
- No jet engines
- Restrictions provided by route (start on land, open sea segment, followed by land race)

It has been 10 months since that thing raced, but i think i tried water jets and just couldn't get the speed out. Out of the power delivery systems i tried single large prop gave out the most. It's also extremely cramped in build, the engine sits in its own fuel, the exhaust is one pipe and port, et.c. The fuel is measured to a rather extreme too, i designed it so that i had 30l or so left on finish. This not only squeezed the weight down but left ~15s worth of room for error, which in a sprint race is quite scary.

The main 2 issues with the systems were the balance in water and land having one system. I ended up using the velocity to adjust downforce flaps which worked with 63m/s average on water and 72m/s on land. The other issue was not breaking anything after the jump out of water and still having suspension in the rear. The pivots took a lot of fine tuning not to collapse on hard acceleration or break the prop/other systems on landing.

Originally posted by Humphrey:

Also, i dont know how i could get such a respect from you just for getting good time on one of the championships, but i need to say that you are the one, who i respect the most, for keeping the community alive, for helping anyone who in need of help, and for inspiring me to create something new when im running out of ideas by your unique own style.

That's so very nice to hear, thank you. :)

As for why you deserve so much of my respect, there's 2 very simple reasons. You didn't get upset when people got salty but just stood your place and showed them again that despite all the arguments against it, it's still a car. The second reason is even simpler, i couldn't beat the time you set. While i'd peg road vehicles as my weakest area in this game, i still think i have fairly broad knowledge of engines and power delivery systems, but the best i can get a car to go is around 80m/s and while that's very very fast, it becomes a horror show in turns.