What are the stat-facts/measurements for the mass enhancer system?

[Planr]

The new rail system came with a mass enhancer block mechanic where heavier, higher-mass rail turrets require mass enhancers in order to rotate at an acceptable speed past a certain point. But what exactly is that "certain point", and how much "mass compensation" does each mass enhancer block add? Does the "compensation" per mass enhancer block stack linearly or exponentially?

For example, if I had a 500 mass turret, how many mass enhancers should I add to it to make it turn fast enough? And which part should I add the mass enhancer blocks to, the base or the barrel? Do I need to add an amount to both, or does just putting mass enhancer blocks on one of the two parts apply for both? How exactly does the system work, and what are the default values?

It really bothers me that I have not seen any official explanation for how the mass enhancement system works with dual-axis rail turrets, or even for single-axis rail turrets. I wish Bench would do a tutorial on mass enhancers too.

Can someone please tell me how mass enhancers work, and how I should use them, and what their default values are, so that I can know how many i'd need to use for a turret of a particular mass? I'd appreciate it.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Yeah this is something I have been wondering myself.

 

[Tydeth]

Mass enhancers go on the thing being docked to, not the thing doing the docking (unless it in turn will have moving parts docked onto it).

The free mass and amount added are in the Block Behavior Config, so they can vary by server. Defaults are:

<RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>50.0</RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>
<!-- mass that is free to place without the need of a rail mass enhancer -->

<RailMassEnhancerMassPerEnhancer>3.5</RailMassEnhancerMassPerEnhancer>
<!-- how much mass is free to place for each rail mass enhancer in the structure -->

<RailMassEnhancerPowerConsumedPerEnhancer>25.0</RailMassEnhancerPowerConsumedPerEnhancer>
<!-- How much power per second is consumed my rail enhancer blocks -->

<RailMassEnhancerPercentCostPerMassAboveEnhancerProvided>0.05</RailMassEnhancerPercentCostPerMassAboveEnhancerProvided>
<!-- how much % of mass speed (between 0 and 1) is subtracted for every one mass placed on a dock that is above the current mass limit (free blocks + enhancers) (e.g. at 0.1, for every block placed the speed is one percent slower)-->

In the current release version, there is a bug with calculating chain-docked mass (such as 2-axis turrets), thus requiring either config editing or way more enhancers than expected. According to the comments, it should be fixed in next release update.

 

[Planr]

Mass enhancers go on the thing being docked to, not the thing doing the docking (unless it in turn will have moving parts docked onto it).

So I take it then that a dual-axis turret will need mass enhancers on the base, and the base will in turn need mass enhancers to back it up on the ship?

 

[Tydeth]

Enhancers on ship: Definitely.
Enhancers on base: I think the intended design was that the ship have enough enhancers to cover the full mass of chain-docked entities, but to be safe, yes. That should help while the bug with chain docked mass is amok, and in cases where the turret got blown clear from (or undock-glitched off) the ship but can still fire. It could also be helpful in design situations where you might not have the blocks to spare after putting in the main ship systems to fully enhance the chain-docked rails while staying within volume/mass limits set for that vessel.

 

[Planr]

Another question... Does the mass enhancement for the base, as supplied by mass enhancer blocks on the ship, count the mass of the barrel axis entity with the base? As in, is the barrel mass added on to the base mass (so the mass of the base is barrel mass + base mass, while mass of barrel is just its own mass)?

 

[CyberTao]

The number of enhancers needed on the ship for a turret is mass of Base+Barrel, if that is what you are asking.

 

[Planr]

The number of enhancers needed on the ship for a turret is mass of Base+Barrel, if that is what you are asking.

So I have to provide the number of mass enhancers needed for the barrel TWICE? (once on the base, once on the ship)? Wow, that really sucks.

 

[CyberTao]

So I have to provide the number of mass enhancers needed for the barrel TWICE? (once on the base, once on the ship)? Wow, that really sucks.

Well, the base ship shares enhancers with everything, so if you needed 1500 enhancers for 1 turret, you would still only need 1500 for any number of the same turret afaik.

 

[Planr]

Well, the base ship shares enhancers with everything, so if you needed 1500 enhancers for 1 turret, you would still only need 1500 for any number of the same turret afaik.

Wait, so are you saying that one amount of mass enhancers on the ship will handle multiple turrets at the same time of different masses?

Like say, I have 12 turrets that each have 500 mass (base and barrel combined), and I have 500-mass-compensation's-worth of mass enhancer blocks on the main ship. That will cover all 12 of those turrets, even though their combined mass is 6000?

 

[CyberTao]

Wait, so are you saying that one amount of mass enhancers on the ship will handle multiple turrets at the same time of different masses?

You should only require enhancers to handle the heaviest single chain, unless I am mistaken. But it's all bugged up in public so I'm not sure honestly.

 

[Kaamio]

Not sure on multiple turrets, but I made a turret for my homebase. Small turret base mass 2 or so, barrel at 850ish mass.

Should take about 230 enhancers in the station, put around 1000 and it had zero effect. Then I added the 230 enhancers in turret base, turret barrel stopped complaining.

Didn't fiddle around any more after that but it seems for now we pretty much need rail mass enhancers in the turret base for larger guns.

 

[Rand_Al_Thorn]

is there any way to disable these dam things!?!?! the amount of enhancers I need to move my turrets is absolutely ridiculous. I have more enhancers then I do turret blocks and still they move too slow. I just want a way to turn them off all together...they are a HUGE waste of space

 

[Tydeth]

Rand_Al_Thorn

Yes, there is a way to effectively disable them, or put more accurately, disable the need to put them on your ship.

In your blockbehaviorconfig, there is the following line:

<RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>50.0</RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>

Change it to:

<RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>2147483647.0</RailMassEnhancerFreeMass>

No more rail enhancer needed.

 

[Rand_Al_Thorn]

THANK YOU!! now I don't need to use ridiculous amounts of ehnacers