Systems / Volume Breakdown. How to build systems 101.

[MrGrey1]

Where is the balance point and how do you equip / fill a ship so that it is 'balanced?'

In the current system there are three systems that use power. Weapons, Thrust & Shields. For simplicity I'm ignoring the ship size vs thrust mechanics and am simply going to state that a 'balanced ship' requires 1/3rd of it's power to each of these systems.

Reactor Power.
The reactor mechanics now mean that for every 'unit of power' (100 e/sec,) you need one reactor and one stabilizer. You also need to consider chambers.
A single chamber is approximately 1/10th reactor count. Once again to keep it simple I will assume a 10 chamber ship, on a 10 chamber ship the reactor requires 1 chamber block for every reactor/stabilizer unit.

ie; For a 10 chamber ship a 'unit of power' (100 e/sec,) = 1 reactor + 1 stabilizer + 1 chamber = 3 blocks volume.


Breaking Down Power Use.
How much power does each system use?

100 e/sec = 1 weapon block.

100 e/sec = 4 thruster blocks.

100 e/sec = 2 shield re-charger + 2 shield capacitor blocks. (For a balanced 50/50 shield.)
ie 100 e/sec = 4 shield blocks

Now we know that 100 e/sec requires 3 blocks volume of reactor/stabilizer/chamber and that if we are trying to balance the ship then we need to allocate an equal amount of power to each system.

1 'unit of weapons' = 1 weapon + 1 reactor + 1 stabilizer + 1 chamber. = 4 block volume.

1 'unit of thrust' = 4 thrusters + 1 reactor + 1 stabilizer + 1 chamber. = 7 block volume.

1 'unit of shield' = 2 rechargers + 2 capacitors + 1 reactor + 1 stabilizer + 1 chamber. = 7 block volume.

The volume ratio of the theoretical balanced ship is then;

4 weapons volume : 7 thrusters volume : 7 shield volume = 18 volume

It can also be shown as;

1 weapon : 4 thrusters : 2 re-chargers : 2 capacitors : 3 reactors : 3 stabilizers : 3 chambers = 18 volume.

For powered 'system units';
4/18 = volume required for weapons
7/18 = volume required for shields
7/18 = volume required for thrusters.

The number of 'reactor units' can also be calculated as;
3/18 + 3/18 + 3/18 = 9/18 or 50% of the total volume.

For base module block count;
1/18 = volume weapon modules
4/18 = volume thruster modules
2/18 = each of recharges & capacitors
3/18 = each of reactor, stabilizer & chambers.


From these numbers and the total volume of our ship we can now work out the block counts we need.
I'm going to use a 9000 volume ship as an example because the numbers work out nicely.

If my ship has a volume of 9000.

9000 x 1/18 = 500 weapon modules

9000 x 4/18 = 2000 thruster modules

9000 x 2/18 = 1000 each of capacitor & re-charger modules.

9000 x 3/18 = 1500 each of reactor / stabilizer / chamber modules.

So our 9000 volume 10 chamber ship consists of 500 weapons + 2000 thruster + 1000 each capacitors & rechargers + 1500 each of reactors, stabilizers & chambers.


This is a very simplified way of looking at it but for a beginner it is a great starting point.
There are a lot of caveats, exceptions and personal preferences that undoubtedly effect these ratios eg;

Missile systems require Missile Capacity and therefore extra volume.
Turrets and docked entities require Rail Mass Enhancers and will also need extra volume.
The number of desired chambers for the ship, for me 10 is a few too many, I usually find 7 to 9 chambers is enough.
A large battle ship has most of it's weapons on turrets external to the ships hull volume so the weapons module count can be reduced / removed from the equation.
Smaller ships require less thrust, larger ships more thrust. Somewhere in the middle is a balance point. This is the main issue with this basic system calculation and experimentation is required to work out your own thrust preferences.
Ships can 'redline' reactors. ie; use more power then they generate. For instance, large battleships do not necessarily go full thrust all the time so there is 'extra' power available when thrust is idle that can be put into shields & weapons. (This can also be used to mitigate the thrust / mass issues of larger ships to some extent by simply piling on extra thrusters. Your ship will redline and lose power if you go full thrust, full shields & all weapons on, but you won't be doing that as you're just sitting there blasting everything in sight.)


Cheers guys, I hope this can help some players get an understanding of where to start their builds and the approximate number of blocks they're going to need for the various systems.

MrGrey1.

ps. these numbers are very easy to put in a spreadsheet and make fancy graphs from...

 

[MrGrey1]

I had difficulty finding this post again, was suggested that it needs a reply to come up in searches so please excuse my self bump.

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

Came back to this guide to calculate the block requirements for a ship with almost exactly 1,000,000 blocks of available internal volume. I ended up copy-pasting the original post, and adjusting its numbers to fit the current game configs.

Two configs have changed that significantly affect systems balancing: reactor blocks now generate 150 e/sec (previously 100), and the required blockcount per chamber is now 5% of reactor blockcount (previously 10). The numbers don't work out quite as elegantly anymore, but we get more for less.

EDITED VERSION OF ORIGINAL POST:


A 'balanced ship' requires one-third of its power to each of the basic systems, Weapons, Thrust and Shields (ignoring the ship size vs thrust mechanics for simplicity). The reactor mechanics now mean that for every 'unit of power' (150 e/sec) you need one reactor and one stabilizer.

You also need to consider chambers. A single chamber is approximately 1/20th of reactor blockcount. To keep it simple, let's assume a 10-chamber ship. On such a ship the reactor requires 0.5 chamber blocks for every reactor/stabilizer unit. That is, for a 10-chamber ship a 'unit of power' (150 e/sec) = 1 reactor + 1 stabilizer + 0.5 chamber = 2.5 blocks volume.


BREAKING DOWN POWER USAGE
How much power does each system use?

100 e/sec = 1 weapon block

100 e/sec = 4 thruster blocks

100 e/sec = 2 shield recharger + 2 shield capacitor blocks (for a balanced 50/50 shield), i.e. 4 shield blocks total


Now we know that 150 e/sec requires 2.5 blocks volume of reactor/stabilizer/chamber, and that if we are trying to balance the ship then we need to allocate an equal amount of power to each system.

1 'unit of weapon' = 1 weapon + 0.66 reactor + 0.66 stabilizer + 0.33 chamber = 2.66 blocks volume

1 'unit of thrust' = 4 thrusters + 0.66 reactor + 0.66 stabilizer + 0.33 chamber = 5.66 blocks volume

1 'unit of shield' = 2 rechargers + 2 capacitors + 0.66 reactor + 0.66 stabilizer + 0.33 chamber = 5.66 blocks volume


The volume ratio of the theoretical balanced ship is then...
2.66 weapons volume : 5.66 thrusters volume : 5.66 shields volume = 14 volume

It can also be shown as...
1 weapon : 4 thrusters : 2 rechargers : 2 capacitors : 2 reactors : 2 stabilizers : 1 chamber = 14 volume

The number of 'reactor units' can be calculated as...
2/14 + 2/14 + 1/14 = 5/14 or 36% of the total volume


For powered 'system units':

2.66/14 = volume required for weapons​

5.66/14 = volume required for thrusters​

5.66/14 = volume required for shields​

For base module block count:

1/14 = volume of weapons​

4/14 = volume of thrusters​

2/14 = volume of shield rechargers & capacitors EACH​

2/14 = volume of reactors & stabilizers EACH​

1/14 = volume of chambers​

From these numbers and the total available volume of our ship, we can now work out the blockcounts we need. As an example, let's look at a ship with available internal volume of 10,000 blocks:

10,000 x 1/14 = 714 weapon modules​

10,000 x 4/14 = 2,857 thruster modules​

10,000 x 2/14 = 1,429 shield rechargers & capacitors EACH​

10,000 x 2/14 = 1,429 reactors & stabilizers EACH​

10,000 x 1/14 = 714 chamber modules​

So our 10,000-volume, 10-chamber ship consists of:

Weapon modules - 714​

Thusters - 2,858​

Shield rechargers - 1,429​

Shield capacitors - 1,429​

Power reactors - 1,428​

Power stabilizers - 1,428​

Chamber modules - 714​

To find the available volume within ship shells, use the flood-fill tool to fill it with placeholder blocks, then check the amount of those blocks.
For caveats, consult the original post.