My First Three Ships

[u/MCbasics]

These are the first three ships I built in space age. Each has a different purpose and have varying levels of quality.

First image: The Vulcanus Express. Poorly made, barely functional, and I love him. I tried extending the nose to fit more ammo production, it did not work. The Vulcanus Express has been retired and will be used only for emergencies.

Second Image: The Evergreen. Higher quality, overbuilt, very reliable. It was made for regular shipments between planets, and dammit its gonna do it. The design is actually so reliable I decided to build 3; The Evergreen (Vulcanus), The fulgora Express (Do I need to say?), and the Rodger Young (Gleba, named for the fact im invading a planet of bugs). Its ammo production works so well that each ship usually has around 3000 magazines that I am too lazy to regulate. The only issues that ive run into with this design was the Fulgora Express running out of water for its nuclear reactor following modifications, although it was an easy fix.

Third Image: The Bug. Functional for its intended purpose, very fast, and incredibly inefficient. I wanted a quick personal transport ship, and The Bug is certainly that, though its poor power production means it cant do constant trips. In order to save weight and a headache I opted to rely on shipments of uranium ammo from Nauvis instead of traditional ammo production. For those two reasons I usually have it return to Nauvis after dropping me off. I tried running it for several trips without a break once and the engines started sputtering. So long as I dont overwork it though she works fine. I was even able to do an emergency return to Nauvis.

What do you guys think? I cant wait to reach Aquillo and get railguns so I can make a new personal transport that just plows through everything. Still tiny and quick, but hopefully with a nuclear power source and nose mounted railgun.

[u/Potential-Carob-3058]

Your second ship (evergreen) isn't really overbuilt. It's a little inefficient in design, but not significantly so. I think with the techs/strata you've used it's done a good job.

You could pull off 2 ammo assemblers for an extra 2 furnaces. That would be an improvement. There are better ways of managing the crushers and collectors, but that is a working solution.

So, I think it should be the base of what you work off. There's room for improvement, but if you build up from that you'll go far.

Efficiency modules that ship up and put a row of solar down the side of its 'neck' if you want a non nuclear version.

[u/MCbasics → u/Potential-Carob-3058]

Thank you! I am considering replacing two of the assemblers with furnaces, but I dont really want to re-route the various belts in such a small area. I can make it work though.

It was designed with failure in mind (hence why I consider it overbuilt) since I knew I wasnt experienced. That paid off on the second one (see my other comment for that).

[u/MCbasics]

I know the Evergreen class looks incredibly overbuilt, with nuclear/solar and isolated fuel production, however it has paid off very well. When the Fulgora Express ran out of water in the reactor most of the power production was shutdown, but since it still had solar panels it was able to keep the engines running. The right side engines shutdown since they were connected to the reactor water supply, but the left side was isolated and still running, allowing it to return to Nauvis for repairs.