Turret Size vs Ship Size

[Kyoretsu]

I want to build a turret capable of combatting a capital ship, while still looking plausible. Anyone have any advice?

 

[starhaiden]

make the turret on the bottom of the ship maybe.

 

[Jaaskinal]

http://imgur.com/a/YoGiJ this style seems not to suck with big turrets, at least IMO

 

[Kyoretsu]

I suppose I should have clarified. I plan on having around 32 of them all around the ship, but I don't want them to seem overly large or out of place. Only 18 will be able to engage a target at any given time, so what ever DPS I need to maintain divided by 18, would that be small enough to make it look like a plausible turret and not some over sized monstrosity?

 

[Knack]

1.) Try to hide the base in the ship.
2.) All power recharge and cap has to be in the base
3.) If the base supplies enough energy, you could use overdrive to decrease the size of the barrel

4.) First (raw)design the turrets, then build the ship for it. Big turrets on a ship, that's not designed for big turrets look always a little strange

 

[NuclearFun]

1.) Try to hide the base in the ship.
2.) All power recharge and cap has to be in the base
3.) If the base supplies enough energy, you could use overdrive to decrease the size of the barrel

4.) First (raw)design the turrets, then build the ship for it. Big turrets on a ship, that's not designed for big turrets look always a little strange

i was in the midst of writing pretty much the same when your post showed up
100% agree

As i guess this is for your Harrower, this would also mean that you could build good looking (star wars canon) turrets that still have a lot of DPS because of overdrive and the provided power regen from the base.

 

[Kyoretsu]

i was in the midst of writing pretty much the same when your post showed up
100% agree

As i guess this is for your Harrower, this would also mean that you could build good looking (star wars canon) turrets that still have a lot of DPS because of overdrive and the provided power regen from the base.

You are correct sir, and I have a lot of example of the turrets FROM the Star Wars canon, the problem I am running in to is design the turret with enough damage and still able to move. Since I can't link a Canon computer to other canon blocks on another entity, and the way that the SW turrets are designed, I have to either sacrifice power or mobility. I am trying to find a balance between the two.



Usually, I use the barrel length to provide the firepower, but with these canon* designs, it's been difficult.


* canon is being used here as "acceptable reference to said universe"

 

[Adonis0]

Mobility should be linked more to rail mass enhancers than the size of the turret. (Although last I knew they're still a bit buggy in that the mass of the barrel is squared and multiplied by the base instead of being added, or something like that)

 

[Kyoretsu]

Mobility should be linked more to rail mass enhancers than the size of the turret. (Although last I knew they're still a bit buggy in that the mass of the barrel is squared and multiplied by the base instead of being added, or something like that)

The mobility I was referring to is on the axes (ax-ees- in this respect) because of their shape and relatively short barrel lengths.

 

[Knack]

The problem with the star wars turrets is, that they have really small barrels.
There is a possibility to build them, by setting the rail docker directly in the front part of the barrel (only 2 or 3 cannon blocks would be visible) and the big part of the barrel would be hidden by the base.
(Very awesome drawing skills)
Black is the Barrel, Red the TurretAxies, Blue the Base(Housing), green the ship's surface

 

[Kyoretsu]

The problem with the star wars turrets is, that they have really small barrels.
There is a possibility to build them, by setting the rail docker directly in the front part of the barrel (only 2 or 3 cannon blocks would be visible) and the big part of the barrel would be hidden by the base.
(Very awesome drawing skills)
Black is the Barrel, Red the TurretAxies, Blue the Base(Housing), green the ship's surface
View attachment 13972

That's not a bad idea! Thank you, sir!

 

[Rokiyo]

I find it MUCH easier to build realistically sized ball turrets.

This video by Skylord Luke provided the inspiration for most of my turret designs:

 

[EricBlank]

The large quad ball turret you posted also seems reasonable. A sphere can contain a lot of volume. The base of course will have to occupy a portion of that because it needs mass enhancers as well. I've been experimenting with a few ball-and-socket designs myself.

 

[Thalanor]

I like every opportunity to spam my turret system :p

This way you can have very tiny barrels as well as the absolute maximum firing arc on every axis. The barrel part is by far the one with the greatest mass, and the base can be made longer (deeper into the hull) for turrets with especially high power requirements. All my turrets are now self-powered, as this is basically one way of modular reactor that works very well.

 

[Hexed]

I like every opportunity to spam my turret system :p

I really appreciate it, it has aided my own designs immensely. Particularly just after the update.

In response to OP I do honestly believe that Thalanors design is the most efficient, and with a little effort you can get a few different shapes out of the idea if you don't want the circular design.

Alternatively having parts of the barrel sunk into the turret base/ship hull is an alright idea but I've never liked the ship hull route because it weakens the Armour in that area and turrets draw a lot of fire.

 

[StormWing0]

Sometimes depending on the turret I might have two bases for it instead of one. Basically one acts as extra hull, shields, power; while the other is the actual base the rotates. I know it costs a bit more but sometimes it does get the lower base used as a fixed turret in its own right for those moments the upper turret that rotates goes down.

 

[EricBlank]

Thalanor's turrets and the EVE online turrets have inspired a lot of my designs as well. The turret setup posted above works well for missile launchers, and ams turrets (without the inset into the hull.) Its also a good option for large or capital ship guns, being inset, but for small turrets on small craft the inset doesn't make much difference, and that's where the eve small turret designs, with the barrel raised above the base, come in handy. They get a slightly larger firing arc, despite being smaller overall. Acceptable when the prime target is fighters/drones.

 

[Rohen]

Well as this is just a game you can build your turrets a bit "unrealistic".
The barrel and the base do not need to be "connected" or physically touching. Well not counting the turret axis block.

Black is the Hull in this case, Red the Barrel with Blue being the turret axis, and Green is the base of the turret.

This construction has its pros and cons.
Pro: If build in ball-shape the barrel can rotate 360° in any direction. it can be almost entirely filled with weapon systems as it does not need to worry about colliding with the base (or hull).
As the base is in the hull you can build it cylindrical and it should turn well.

Cons:
Obviously you can not undock this, it needs to be dismantled.

If you add Barrels to the ball, you limit its turning ability but add more space for weapon systems.
Small tip. leave a small tunnel in the hull (to the turret axis docker for the turretbase) so you can dock new turrets if needed.

 

[Master_Artificer]

Thanks for this thread guys, plenty of ideas to outfit my frigate!

I actually ended up making the grey circles the diameter of the turret inside, and had to expand them.
It feels like I am making a washing machine, and about to test the spin cycle. XD

EDIT: It works! Making recessed turrets is both easier and harder than I thought :O

Eats up a bit of internal volume, but it should look very fine.

Kinda looks like tires...

Edit2:

Shit is getting complex! This is what the basics of a Ball Turret looks like before you fill it. The Core is where I hopefully can put the barrel, because the AI aims with it's face, and needs the "output" to be relatively close to where it looks. Hope this image helps all others trying to make recessed ball turrets in the future!

 

[Master_Artificer]

I was told that turrets with barrels (or turrets with less than 360 degrees in both X and Y axis) generate extreme lag when attempting to aim at something they should not be able to hit, like a target on the other side of the ship. It will attempt to aim at it's base, and if, say, that it is blocked by it's mount or it's base, it throws a fit in errors and lags everyone. Is this true, and will it be addressed soonish?

Thanks.