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I should probably stop flooding the forum with my suggestions but they get seen here.
This time I actually played the beta.
8. [Removed]
9. Make aerospike nozzles customizable
Aerospike nozzles get more and more efficient (closer to ideal performance) the longer they are (they reach ideal performance when they have infinite length, just like a De Laval nozzle), so length could be made a variable.
Aerospikes could also be truncated to save mass. It will reduce efficiency a bit. There could be a variable for the truncated percentage.
10. Aerospike nozzles are airspeed dependant
Surprise! This came up in my research.
They have a small performance drop between transonic to Mach 3.
11. Allow speeds up to at least Mach 3 (Mach 5 preferred) of the engine performance analyze tool
Only up to Mach 1.5 doesn't give a good enough overview of an SSTO's engine performance.
12. Different fuel/propellants have different thrust
I feel like HydroLOX and MethaLOX should have different thrusts for a liquid engine.
Water should have about double the thrust than liquid hydrogen for an NTR.
13. Expander cycle
Limited to small hydroLOX engines.
14. Allow higher pressures on staged and full flow staged engines.
25MPa for full flow staged (as in Raptor) and 20MPa for staged (as in SSME)
15. Allow engine sizes as small as 25%
The current 75% limit prevents me from making landing motors and launch abort systems that don't kill the occupant via acceleration.
16. Add an altitude and velocity slider in the staging editor
Because apparently the altitude and velocity selected with the performance analyzer affect the delta-v calculation in the staging editor.
17. Make SRBs activate if they are on the same stage as detachers
They currently don't fire when they are detached in the same stage
Useful for missiles and ejecting launch escape systems.
18. Highlight changing variables
This is a very useful quality of life and learning the game.
So for example when we change an engine parameter, the engine's mass and the cost will change, its efficiency, thrust, exhaust pressure, etc. will also change, and the craft's mass and the cost will change too. If the game highlights these changed values (in blue), players can better understand the cause and effects of the different parameters and characteristics.
Adding or removing fuel, changing performance analyzer's altitude, etc. will all cause changes that could be highlighted.
@Kell uwu
really good suggestions, i agree with all of them
uwu @emiIy
very cool
@Shoot2kill agreed
@legohelobilly aerospike is a type of engine nozzle. It has nothing with fuel type.
@Kell Then what does and why do I see i in the ARCA SSTO rocket?
no @legohelobilly
@Kell Hyproperoxide is what powers the Aerospike engines so...
@legohelobilly no
Does this mean Hydro peroxide as a fuel be added in? Also, What type of education do you need to make this game?
@AndrewGarrison the ability to change the length of the aerospike should be one of the most important suggestions.
@Kell :D
@AndrewGarrison oh ok good luck with Aero Effects VR ;D
@Kell The mass flow actually goes up quite a bit with H2O but the exhaust velocity goes down, so the thrust is the same.
@AndrewGarrison the water NTRs should have around double the thrust as liquid hydrogen (same mass flow) as they share the same reactor (so the total energy is the same).
9 and 10: Good ideas, but not sure we will have enough time to make it happen.
11: I'm sure you already know this, but the Mach setting in the PA window currently only affects jet engines. If the aerospike thrust drop at Mach 3-5 is implemented, then it would make sense to do this.
12: The thrust equations take the fuel properties into account when calculating thrust, so they should be accurate given the propellant type.
Thrust = MassFlow * ExhaustVelocityHydrolox and Methalox have lower molecular weights than Kerolox so mass flow (for a given throat area) drops, but exhaust velocity increases resulting in about the same thrust. Chamber pressure and throat area are the biggest driving factors behind thrust. The big advantage of the water propellant type is the massive increase in density impulse.
13: We won't have time to add another engine type at this time.
14: I can look into it. This was my attempt to slightly nerf the engines.
15: I will look into it.
16: I agree this needs to be improved. I'd like the PA window to work a little better with staging and allow selecting different planets so you can see DeltaV in totally different environments.
17: Good catch. Thanks.
18: It's a good idea. Maybe negative changes could be highlighted in red and advantageous changes could be highlighted in blue. I'll keep it in mind, but can't make any promises.
@AnotherFireFox thats hot, I mean, literally
@pedro16797 It is believed that scramjets can theoretically propel you faster than mach 20, but there's not much research :(
@Kell hm, fuel flow is based on fuel mass or fuel volume? If it's fuel mass the thrust is the same, only the Isp changes
I'm glad 8 is dead then hahahaha
Water nuclear aerospikes aren't a thing in real life too :/
@pedro16797 8 was about nerfing.
30MPa hasn't been achieved irl yet
12 isn't a thing
@AnotherFireFox I will love to see you reaching Mach 25 on the StratoSphere, I'm sure you have to hit escape velocity of Earth or something like that because of how thin the atmosphere is
What was 8? What do you mean with 17?
For 14 I would say 30MPa and for 15 add that higher max values too.
If I remember it right 12 is already a thing.
I like this post more than the other hahahaha no more nerfing :P
@pedro16797 Yeah sure, Mach is dependent on your atmospheric state - I mean if you wanna do a ScramJet SSTO you typically hit up to Mach 25 on StratoSphere
@AnotherFireFox In this game Mach is Mach, not like in other games :). In Earth's orbit you have Mach 0. Mach 25 is a vertical reentry at really huge speeds.