Ship struct

Ship structure

A general idea about how the slots, equipments, and the power/resource system could work. I've started overthinking the topic, in order to start getting on a good base we can edit down to something interesting, believable and fun system. The aim is to provide a detailed system that makes player choices, workarounds, trade-offs possible, and to provide some in-depth ship operation. Not as deep as Rogue System, but somewhat deeper than E:D. (Don't know much about SC)

This document is very much work in progress, but regards to the content and structure. I will update it as we discuss the matter.

Overview

The above image shows the general logic of how the resources are flowing.

Power

• The reactor provides Power (MW), and heat (MJ).
• Other auxiliary systems can generate power as well (possibly even the engines in emergency generator mode).
• The reactor uses fuel (H2 for example, or some kind of specialized reactor fuel pellet). Some aux generators could use fuel too (Fuel cells), some not (Solar panels).
• Power is than taken to the power distributor, which handles the flow of power. Practically summs up the output of all available power from reactors, aux system and such. The overall available power.
• From here power flows to the equipment.
• One special equipment is the power storage (batteries, capacitors) which does not generate, but store power. So power can go from them and to them as well (charging or discarging). These are mostly emergency/backup systems)
• Propellant (water) can be converted to fuel (H2), possibly even back, if the ship stores the oxygen. Good for emergencies, but it incurs losses.
• Aux systems have very meager power output compared to the reactor. Fuel cells have way worse fuel efficiency. This includes the engines when used in power generation mode, which also reduces the exhaust velocity, thus deltaV.
• Equipment can loose functionality if under powered, or shut down altogether.
• Possible there should be a priority list which governs, which system are more important than others.

Heat

• All equipment generates heat, aka efficiency. (MW) (except radiators)
• Heat can come from outside as well, from stars, weapons, atmosphere/reentry etc.
• So each ship has capacity to absorb/endure heat (MJ). If heat isn't radiated, it is stored in the heat capacity. If the ship is over its capacity, then equipment get damaged. The more above capacity, bigger the damage is.
• Each equipment could have heat tolerance, governing, how much damage it gets from heat. Delicate equipment could be damaged even if they are only 20K over their limits, but others could tolerate 1000Ks even.
• Heat is collected by the heat management system.
• Heat management outputs the heat to the heat removal or storage systems.
• Heat removal is done by radiators (-MW)
• Heat storage is done by heat sinks (MJ), which store some materials with large heat capacities, aka coolants. The main point is to provide a temporary buffer when the radiators can't remove more heat.
• Heat is then moved back from the coolant to the radiators, when it can be done. Or the coolant can be jettisoned in an emergency, but then the capacity of the heat sink is reduced, or even gone.
• I can imagine that the coolant reserves could be replenished from propellant stores, meaning you can trade deltaV for heat sink capacity.
• More importantly, the more heat the ship outputs, the more detectable it is, and can be seen from a greater distance. (I'm not suggesting full-on stealth gameplay, but it could be there in a limited manner)

Life support

• Life support is an umbrella term for everything that's needed to make the ship habitable. This includes renewable (heat, air, water, maybe even food) and non-renewable (waste losses) aspects.
• Consumables (/crew/day) are representing the aspects that cannot be renewed. The assumption is that the reclamation systems are quite good, so ships need only small amounts of consumables, but need some nevertheless. (So with 1t a 10 crew ship can fly for months, if the life support system is undamaged).
• Life support is then treated as a resource, a number that indicates, how many person it can support.
• Habitats and life support systems draw power and output heat as well.

CPU

• Another resource indicating, how many equipment the ships computer can operate.
• CPUs also draw power and output heat, and can be damaged.
• Inadequate CPU could reduce equipment efficiency, effectiveness (range for active sensors for example) in general, or render some nonoperational.

Ammo

• There could be ammo stores for weapons. Guns and missile launchers included.
• It could provide trade-off potential: should I amp up the machine gun racks, or bring more missiles?

Signal

• Apart from heat, some equipment could output faint or loud signals which would add to the detectability of the ship.
• Active sensors would make very loud pings for example.
• A poorly maintained or shielded reactor could output a loud electromagnetic signal for example.

Equipment examples

The images above show some equipments resource inputs and outputs.

• Inputs are things that are needed for operation (power)
• Outputs are generated by the system (heat)

Data

Data might be an overthinking, but I think it would be a nice way to estabilish connections between equipment:

• The navigation computer is depending on the ship sensors to pinpoint its location. If sensors are down, you are flying in the dark, or precision can degrade.
• I might gone overboard though. Connection between ship computer and reactor could be an overkill. But in case of larger ships, where equipment are sufficiently separated, it could provide interesting situations. Example the connection between the reactor is severed, so the reactor isn't following power demands, meaning it's output has a ceiling, and if the unused power is turned into heat. Until the damage control crew restores connection.
• Or when the autopilot is separated from the engines, you can't use fly-by wire, only direct aux inputs. So no rotation damping either.
• Or if the propellant tanks aren't connected, the nav computer cannot determine the deltaV reserves, which is another kind of flying in the dark.
• Not sure how it could be done though in a simple enough manner.

Cargo racks

• Each ship would need to install cargo storage areas to actually be able to transport stuff.
• These are means to store and fasten the containers.
• It could be possible to store and transport stuff without them, but with a high risk of damaging the goods and the ship, if the pilot flies even a little bit rough.
• There could be specialized cargo holds for things like liquids, grains, radioactives etc. These things could then be bulk stored, which would mean more capacity compared to storing them in containers, but the trade-off is that they can only be used for that type of cargo.

Passenger cabins

• There could be different tiers and sizes of passenger accommodations. Be it a 5 person luxury suite, a 10 capsule-hotel like 'rooms', 20 bunks, or even just 20 seats in the same space.
• These could even govern, how long a trip could be made. Like there's a comfort rating for all of these, which is then divided by the projected trip length. So even a spoiled brat would put up with a capsule pod if the trip is only a couple of hours, but wouldn't even consider it if the trip would take days. And if you botch it, and the trip takes more time, then the satisfaction of the passenger would go down with every hour of travel, which could mean reduced payouts in the end.
• There could be situations where the passengers don't even care, like when you rescue the a king from a wreck, he would be grateful even if he needs to sit on the floor.

Sensors

• Passive sensors - as it says on the tin. They are just listening, without outputting any kind of signal. They are less effective and precise, but less detectable as well. They draw less power, and output less heat as well. Maybe even easier to maintain. Not sure if they would any cheaper though.
• Active sensors - they emit some kind o signal, 'shine a headlight' to search for things. They can be very loud signal sources, making the ship more detectable, but they are more precise, have better range. Ideally they could be turned off at will.
• Special sensors - made for specific tasks, like planet scanning, industrial inspections, research etc.

Other equipment that need some thought

• Hyperdrives
• Scoops
• Airlocks/docking collars
• Light sources (spotlights)
• Mining equipment (most likely deployable)
• Towing equipment
• Computer softwares (trade analyzer, target analyzer)
• Shields - I think they need lots of thought, to build on the trope in a meaningful way, instead of making it a regenerating second hit point.
• Heat shielding - right now the game doesn't care, how big the ship is, the Atmo shielding is always 1t. From which we can kinda assume that it is some kind of special shield generator that is used to mitigate the reentry heating (there are plasma based things that are theoretized IRL). Alternatively there could be special hull coatings that provide similar functionality (even in an ablative way) There is a nice possibility for trade-offs here as well. You could install a coating, which adds some mass, and there's an upper limit to protection, but is dirt cheap. Or you install a generator, which might mean more mass, and draws power/generates some heat, but provide more protection, but it is more expensive as well.

Slots

This is where I'm at now. I'm thinking about how the equipment size and hookups to ship systems should be treated.

• Should there be fixed size slots (Tiny, Small, Medium, Big, Huge, Are-you-nuts)? Or only volume and mass?
  • Fixed slots do make things simpler, but less flexible. Fits better with external equipment as well.
  • Volume based approach is more flexible, but most likely mean more headache in the long run.
  • There could be a mix between too: Some slots are size based (Weapons, Engines), some are volume based (Which go into an internal volume, like computers, cargo racks).
• I'm not sure if it is a good idea to make sized slots downward compatible. Eg. you can fit a small weapon to a large slot.
  • On one hand it allows for more flexibility
  • On the other hand it will look very ugly if you put a peashooter on an artillery mount.
  • I think I'd go with a one-down approach: you could put a one size smaller equipment on that slot, but nothing smaller. (or larger, obviously)
• There could also be a power/heat capacity for each slot. So even if the slot is good for an equipment size-wise, but on that ship it might not be able to provide the needed power.
• Another thing to consider is that universe-wide compatibility seems to be a stretch, even in the 3200's. Manufacturers can be an ass, and try to limit your options to their upgrades for example, while others don't care much.
  • This is another good way to introduce decisions - trade-offs.
  • There could also be ways to attach non-fitting equipment, but that costs money, and could introduce drawbacks (less sturdy, harder limit on power, etc)
  • Would mean more work when balancing, but I think it would worth it, because of the player choices / obstacles to overcome it would introduce

Stealth

This is sure a controversial point, because stealth doesn't really exist in space.

But I think it could still be incorporated in a limited manner. Most articles I read kinda assume military grade detection equipment, and large arrays of them even. But since Pioneer mostly on the civilian side of things (even if there's combat), I think we can assume that the commercially available sensors aren't that effective, especially since you only have one of them, not an entire array on high orbit.

Some scenarios (which could work both ways)

• In high security systems, there is a strong infrastructure in this regard. Transponders are mandatory, and anyone flying without it would be flagged on the system-wide scan that's available to all ships.
• But even then a pirate could still jump on you from the cover of an asteroid for example. Sure they'd be detected as soon as they launch, but they'd have enough time sacking you and jump out before law enforcement could arrive.
• In outback systems, there's no system-scan available, so an off-transponder ship might get close enough to you, drifting cold. You can detect them as soon as they get close enough, or start firing their engines, but by that time you might not be able to get away.
• In the same outback, you might choose to drift cold for as long as possible, in hope to avoid any detection from wolfpacks patrolling around. Hoping that they won't be close enough to intercept you before you start decelerating to your target.

Anyhow, I'd say, these tactics should be more for the last resort, not for the routine, because of their very high unpredictability.

Another interesting aspect

Each ship could have a certain signature, depending on the ship type and equipment installed. This would make identification quite easy even with the transponder off or faked (which both are felonies by the way). So if you know that somebody is looking for you, you could switch out some equipment, and hope to be less noticeable in a high traffic system for long enough to get away or finish a job.