Thruster Covers Feature Request - Do not allow flames to damage blocks 0.25m in front of them.

Steve shared this feedback ago

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So I want to make thruster covers for my hydrogen thrusters. But I am concerned that once flame damage is introduced the thruster flame will destroy the covers.

Is there any chance that the thruster flame damage could be set up to not do damage for 0.25m in front of it? This would allow flame to go through thruster cover holes without destroying them.

I know that one possible solution would be for me to attach the thruster to the thruster cover via blender to make them all one model but I want to have multiple covers on the same block and then choose different thrusters to go behind them. If you look at this picture you will see that if I have to make thrusters part of the cover, I would need to make at least two for each type of thruster. If you just allow me to put thrusters immediately behind these covers then I can have the one block and just put whatever thruster I want behind them.

Thanks for your consideration.

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Replies (2)

Rabiator ●

There is some "ultra resistant plate" in game. The name suggests that it could be made flame resistant. If that happens (Hello Keen!), cover your landing pad in that and you're fine.

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Steve ●

I sure hope they do that.

Actually, you raise a good point - in SE1, did landing ships on armoured building damage them due to thruster flames? It has been so long since I played SE1...

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Tael ●

Odd, I replied to this and it didn't stick...

In SE1 large grid heavy armor and blast doors appeared to be resistant (though not immune) to thruster damage such that if you didn't sit there hovering low over a landing pad of extended periods, and if the armor wasn't pressed right in to the thruster when the ship was landed, then you'd just need to occasionally go wave a welder and some steel plate at it and you were good.

That said there probably needs to be some manner of requirement to keep things away from hot engine exhaust lest we end up with people just burying thrusters under slabs of cover-material. SE is an engineering game, and not burning other parts of your ship up is part of the engineering.

Also, such a cover would obstruct projectiles in combat and make it harder for smaller ships to launch mobility-disrupting precision strikes against larger ones. As larger ships typically already have the advantage in combat, such covers would run counter to combat-balance by further pushing the advantage to larger ships.

Subsequently, I might advise instead either using the 25cm system to find the damage area of a thruster and then building a cover that just leaves that part exposed, or simply disabling thruster damage in the world-settings for the server (it is an option in SE1, no reason to think it wont be in SE2).

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Semtex ●

The engine should be directed towards open space.

Any obstacle in the path of exhaust gases to open space should significantly reduce engine thrust (law of action and reaction). Even an ion engine has "exhaust gases."

This rule should apply to a significantly greater distance than the distance at which the obstacle is damaged or the player is injured.

The exhaust channel should also reduce engine thrust - correctly, the exhaust should spread in a cone with an angle of more than 120°, as can be seen in satellite images and real spacecraft.

Another issue is the protection of landing pads. On planets, landing pads could be protected with concrete or molten stone panels, for example. Or steel armor plates.

And, of course, the correct design of the ships so that the engines are not too low above the ground/terrain/surface.

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