Opinion Question for the Community

[Kyoretsu]

So I am getting to the point of wedging out the surface of a WIP, and I am curious about an aesthetic look. Star Destroyers, as you know, have a lot of armor bits sticking up off of the super structure that give it it's industrial feel, but in this game, we have a lot of mass/thrust issues we have to consider when doing something like that. I am worried if I do the raised armor plates off of the super structure, it may add enough mass that I absolutely can't overcome it in a reasonable fashion. What should I do?





Edit: I should have mentioned it in the beginning and it slipped my mind. This will also be an RP ship, with a lot of empty space in the form of rooms and hallways, which is where my concern for thrust came from.

 

[Sachys]

Use slabs. Ignore thrust issues. Its a sizeable ship, as long as it moves, thats all that matters.

Edit: and dont be afraid to mix various armour types (hull, standard, advanced).

Edit2: and overdrive... you could always use overdrive if you want to get the top speed up a bit!

 

[Groovrider]

In the past when I have made something big I've found it more efficient to use push groups fore and aft for main propulsion. Normal thrusters were entirely devoted to turning.

 

[Keptick]

Thrust really isn't an issue with ships that size unless you have really thick armor all over (5-10m+). You can also stick systems inside of the big armor plate that's sitting in the top/back of the ship.

Besides, you won't have any amazing thrust/mass ratio with a ship that size so really don't worry about it.

 

[DrTarDIS]

Everything Sachys said. Use all 4 shades of grey to highlight the slabbing.

Motherboards, girders, circuits, scaffolds, grates, grilles, mesh and other low-mass "decorative" blocks can and should be used for their intended purpose. Build most of your filigree with it.

 

[Az14el]

would highly recommend using only basic hull for your outer layer, it's extremely cheap and light relative to other armor types, and gives very adequate AHP, which is a vital stat and much more important than the EHP of individual blocks

As AHP is drained as a percentage of the HP of armor blocks destroyed, lots of adv and standard on the outer layer results in much heavier spikes of damage to your AHP when large & strong AoEs hit your outer layer. Essentially the tougher blocks are also more "brittle".

the stronger armor types are still important to protect key structures & systems inside your ship, buried behind the outer hull layer, where it will benefit from massive reductions to any damage that penetrates to them, as well as the AHP provided & better protected by the outer layer of hull.

Like in real life, you need your plate AND your gambeson to effectively protect yourself, only in SM the order is reversed due to AHP mechanics