Forums » Suggestions

ship fuel

Feb 16, 2005 Andromech link
I couldnt nowhere find such a siple thing like a fuel for a ship. I can imagine that all vessels operate on I can tell "gravity" or thermo-nuclear engines. But one thing is missing. Anything that moves needs energy. My ship has a battery which can be recharged. If my ship can recharge it, then it is consuming energy from some source, what is it, and what is the FUEL for my ship?

And what about the trash? If my ship produce energy it needs fuel and is producing some garbage like radioactives or contaminated water/helium whatever it is.

FUEL - I think this is the main economic factor of the space market. And long journey produces higher costs (buying fuel and selling garbage).

Game makers should seriously take it in mind.
Feb 16, 2005 Forum Moderator link
The game makers HAVE taken this in mind. The engines and reactors are mentioned in the Backstory sections 4, 6, and 8.

The ships are pulled along by gravitic pulse engines. My understanding (from other sources) is that these engines create a local gravitational shockwave effect which pulls the ship along. The effect is somewhat directional, which is why the ships are able to move in all directions without having to have thrusters all over the place. Some have said that the "jets" on the rear of the ships are merely releasing heat. I'm unsure of the official word on that.

The gravitic pulse engines are powered by highly efficient fusion reactors. I've been unable to find reference to the actual fuel used, but hydrogen is quite abundant and would be the most likely candidate, along with deuterium (heavy hydrogen) and tritium (heavy-heavy hydrogen) - and lithium. The hydrogen could be collected using a ramjet or ram scoop - a device that uses a powerful magnetic field to collect interstellar hydrogen during flight. The greater the speed, the more efficient the collection would be. Since we're already creating a localized gravity effect, why not? (I know there are several fuels that can be used for a fusion reaction. Let's not get all bogged down with it though.)

Depending on who you believe, the wastes from a fusion reaction (helium and a neutron) are not radioactive and are safe. They could be vented away, or used to make your voice sound funny.
Feb 16, 2005 Lord Q link
[Editted to avoid the appearance of rudeness] - Forum Mod

Anyway, it can be assumed that the ships refuel in flight or that they automatically refuel when you dock.

Or you could just accept that this is a game and that particular aspect was deemed unnecessary given the dynamics of the game.
Feb 18, 2005 Andromech link
Hey, I know this is just a game! Just making things with fuel in mind would be funny I think. It could be another thing to trade.

Of course ships sould be refueled at dock, but it costs.
Or maybe different fuel could affect the acceleration or top speed of the ship. The better fuel, the price rises.

Just an idea.
Feb 18, 2005 Apex link
I'd say the 'thrusters' on the rear are exhaust ports and thrusters for turbo purposes. why else would we only be able to turbo straight forward?
Feb 18, 2005 Forum Moderator link
That explanation works for me.

Some fusion fuels (including those mentioned above) release the energy of their fusion reaction in the kinetic energy of released particles. This could be used to produce the thrust of "turbo" using the same sort of fusion reactor and fuel that is used to power the gravitic pulse engine. Obviously there would have to be some way to convert from electrical generator to particle sprayer.

I've kept it rather simplified here, since we have enough pedantic overrun as it is, but if you want you can check out:

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/~jfs/neep533_lect32_99_fusionProp.html

(Just FYI: D-3He refers to a fusion reactor fuel made by combining Deuterium (also 2H) which is an isotope of Hydrogen, and 3He which is an isotope of Helium.)
Feb 21, 2005 Andromech link
What about a mission?

"The base is at fuel shortage! W will pay well for it. Bring us at least 90crates of D3He fuel."
Feb 21, 2005 bsp link
In the game "Escape Velocity", fuel was an important part of gameplay. Now, I realize that you've already stated a solution, and I don't argue that it's "good enough", but I think that actually having ram scoops would be cool. This would require a "reserve energy", that would play like the reserve energy did in the game "Ares".
For those that like reasoning, the reserve energy/ram scoop idea would:
1. Add another aspect to the game that could be cushioned for neophytes by including simple ram scoops on all ships
2. Look very cool, by integrating the reserve energy meter behind, next to, or over the available energy (think transparencies, work with me)
3. Allow a future opening of energy trading

(This idea can be expanded by having the reserve capacity/scoop capability tied together, making a true mess of things)
And for any moderators or developers that may read this, be aware that I am not supporting this idea because it is "cool". "Cool" is not very important, as it eventually becomes "boring". I support this idea because it opens the door for a type of strategy. And, as I think, there is nothing better than when hot-headed ambition is shot down by careful strategy.

I ramble a lot. Sorry about that.
Feb 22, 2005 Andromech link
The idea of energy reserve is OK for me. It could be computed based on the amounts of fuel it how you told that - scoop.
Mar 02, 2005 Daikaze link
Well here is just an idea for this subject (assuming a new fuel system is developed for certain ships that proves mroe effective than the Grav-Engine).

Fuel Costs... Rather than make the ship move using energy cells we could still have fuel.

The energy could still be reserved for weaponry but fuel would cover movement and if the [player runs out then fuel can be brought to the player (like cargo or soemthing).

The player could buy variant fuels for turbo and regular movement. and once the player runs out of fuel they will need to use energy and move at a slow speed.
Mar 12, 2005 Soulless1 link
The reason why we don't need fuel: Fusion generators hardly use much...the use time would be so long that it's simply not worth programming into the game.

Also the 'battery charge' thing makes perfect sense if the fusion reactor is being used (like FM said) to 'vent' and create turbo thrust: There is only a certain amount of fuel in the reactor, and you couldn't vent too much stuff without risking the reaction ceasing due to lack of fuel. Therefore the computer would have an auto-cutoff.

Same deal with the energy weapons; many of them utilise ionised plasma (hot!), and the fastest way to get hold of some of that might be to draw it from the fusion reactor core (and THEN mess around with it to get neutron and positron blasters etc...) so you'd get the same auto-cuttoff to prevent the core reaction 'stalling'.

This is all just me theorising of course, but it seems to make sense to me.. :)