The Engine Mod
Having played, Stock, Proportions (my favorite as far as the tech trees and components go), and Pirates and Nomads, I got a new idea for a mod that is a bit different.
Basically the goal of my mod which I'm still working on the components right now, is to create more types of engines and reactors/supply components, using real life somewhat as a guide as well as traditional SE4 engines. The other main thing is how I cost the engines and everything else. I will make changes to missiles and projectile weapons as well
For the early game, Organics are the easiest to produce, followed by Minerals, and followed by hard to produce Rads, so for all components I keep in mind an exchange rate of:
10 Organics for one Mineral
10 Minerals for one Radioactive.
With tech in all three resource areas, Rads and Minerals make up a lot of that ground, and in the very endgame, the resources are balanced in production ability. This means a tech advantage gives a player an extra advantage in Radioactives and a lesser one in Minerals. and fancy experimental engine designs tend to rely more on Rads.
I play against the AI mostly so I want to make sure to get the AI running with this mod once I'm done, but I will try to figure out PBW and see how it works on there as well.
First, I use the Pirates and Nomads idea that you can use as many engines as you want up to the limit of your hull space, allowing for mostly engine ships or hardly any engine ships. Its also QNP of course.
Also, for many engine types, the default engine is larger than in most mods. For some engine types I provide smaller and larger versions of those engines, for ships that can take one or the other.
For example, the 5kt Chemical Engine has 1 movement, so it doesn't improve at all with tech, but you can make some very slow designs on a 100kt hull which wouldn't work if I only had a 20kt design and you wanted less than 20% engine space.
The 40kt Chemical Engines on the other hand have 8 movement, so they improve with every level of tech in Chem engines, but for small ships you have to devote a lot of space to even use one. The other sizes are in between.
Most of the other engine types that I've developed so far come the only the 20kt version, but Chemical as well as later mainline engines will have sizes.
Engine types I've finished and have in mind so far are as follows:
First Generation of Engines
Chemical Engines - These are the first engines, representing good speed in the early game, they use significant supply at a time when reactors are likely to be primitive however.
Ion Engines - Not your grandchild's Ion engines (ie Stock SE4), these Ion Engines represent the kind of Low Flow Ion Engines that will be developed and built in the near future IRL. They are efficient in supply usages but slow, and the technology paves the way for SE4 style Ion engines.
Solar Sail - These provide for VERY slow ships that use no supply at all for movement. At 80% of hull size for sails, ships would have 4 movement.
Muscle Engine - A biological engine that has mostly Organics costs. Faster than Ion Engines but slower than Chemical, with moderate efficiency. This is an Organic racial trait engine.
Pulse Engine - Based on the idea of using nuclear explosions to power a spacecraft, these engines surpass all the other first generation designs for speed, but are very inefficent This engine has high Rad and Mineral costs, but no Organics costs. This is a Radioactives racial trait engine. The Pulse Engine only comes in the large 40kt size.
Second Generation of Engines
High-Flow Engine - This is the Ion Engine taken to SE4 levels. The problem with Ion Engines is they can not have a high flow because of energy requirements, but with Reactor tech levels as well as Ion Engine tech levels, the High-Flow Ion Engine is unlocked. This engine is inefficient in supply, but very fast, 80% of hull space gives a speed of 28.
Gravitational Engine - The Gravitational Engine uses artificial gravity to provide size independent bonus movement. Ships using this engine can not reach the peaks of speed other engines provide, but large ships can have a reasonable speed at a smaller cost to kilotons. Small ships can hardly use this engine at all, since its base size is 100kt.
This is the last of the Engines I've made components for so far, but the following are planned.
Bio-Pulse Engine - This is a special and likely rarely seen Engine opened up by races that have both Organic and Radioactive racial traits. This engine uses the power of pulsed explosions, but in the organic context of the muscle engine. Fast and efficient, it represents the power of third-tier engines in the second tier.
Anti-Matter Engine - Opened up with the antimatter reactors technology, this engine is expensive but efficient and fast. Radioactives cost represents the antimatter being used, and without an adequate antimatter production facility, this engine will be pricey to build and maintain.
Third and Fourth Tier Engines
I have not decided what engine types to have for these, but the Quantum Engine and Jacketed Photon engines are likely to be in here along with several others. I want fourth tier to be VERY late game, and only reachable in a long game or with a great research effort, so I can provide a fast, efficient, inexpensive and flexible engine that won't be used most of the time.
I have to be very careful that speeds don't go past 30, since I have heard this causes problems in Simultaneous play, and with unrestricted numbers of engines used it is easy to go past 30 movement for some absurb all engines design.
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