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ASD DS-Mk.1 Kèrux Dropship
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Type: Blueprint
Tags: ship, small_grid
File Size
Posted
2.910 MB
13 Oct, 2020 @ 7:37am
1 Change Note ( view )
Created by
Mackinaw
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ASD DS-Mk.1 Kèrux Dropship

In 1 collection by Mackinaw
Aster Stahl Dynamics
31 items
Description
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
The Kèrux ("herald", in greek) is the first purpose-built dropship conceived by Aster Stahl Dynamics. Its look speak for istelf: brutish and utilitarian, its main purpose is to get people in and out of combat zones quickly and safely.
While it is lightly armed, its mobility is nothing to scoff at and it has proven itself countless times in combat situations.



(Sidenote: I suggest turning the hydrogen engine on while in atmosphere to avoid power overload/save the batteries.)

ARMAMENT:
-3 forward-facing gatling guns
-1 rocket launcher

SYSTEMS:
-small cargo containers for the assault team
-connector for resupply
the rest is standard: reactors, batteries, gyros, etc.

TOOLBARS:
Toolbar 1:
1-gatling guns
2-rocket launcher
3-increase gyro power
4-decrease gyro power
5-hydrogen thrusters on/off
6-atmospheric thrusters on/off
7-landing gear lock/unlock
8-connector lock/unlock
9-hydrogen engine on/off (auxiliary power)


Toolbar 2:
1-front-viewing camera


There you have it! If this design suits your tastes, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know by commenting and rating! (Also if you have suggestions or comments on the design itself I'd be grateful, it does help me improve.)
14 Comments
< >
Mackinaw  [author] 9 Jun, 2022 @ 6:07pm 
@condottiere All advice is appreciated! I look forward to hearing from you again; any way to improve is welcome.
condottiere 9 Jun, 2022 @ 3:53pm 
No problem! What you create is your choice. :) As I mentioned, I kept the aesthetics of your ship overall since you gave it a very clear style -- "vent" blocks in certain places, etc. The Kerux has decent flight ability, so I mostly consolidated the many small thrusters into a few larger thrusters (with multiple for forward and up to have redundancy/safety). I wasn't optimizing for 100% efficiency (which itself depends heavily on each player's own priorities) -- I was just looking for ways to cut costs staying 95% within the boundary of your existing design. It's interesting to try to see the lore-reason the way you intended.

I'll try out your Mk 2 and some of your other more recent ships that I've seen posted. It's easy to learn a lot within 2-3 ship designs, so I expect this one is not an indication of your more recent style or approach.
Mackinaw  [author] 9 Jun, 2022 @ 3:04am 
In a nutshell, I try to make my ships good-looking and coherent while still being functional, rather than practical. Maybe this is a flawed way to consider shipbuilding, but it has worked best for me so far.

That being said, what you brought up is extremely important to consider when making atmospheric-capable designs, so I thank you for that. I've been focusing on space-only design as of late but I'm planning on making an actual ground force eventually.
Mackinaw  [author] 9 Jun, 2022 @ 3:04am 
@condottiere I'd be interested to see what you have come up with. You may have noticed I did a Mk.2 version, which tries to improve on the flaws of the former design. Perhaps it is worth taking a look at as well to compare, though I'm confident that your version is even better.

Also, just as a heads up so there isn't any misunderstandings: the ships I publish here, especially the larger and more recent ones, are by no means optimised for survival. I'm more about coherence with the lore I wrote for them (the more recent ones, that is, I still need to do an overhaul of all my older lore) and the ships being part of an actual navy that calls for specialised crafts than practicality in the scope of SE's meta and game mechanics.
condottiere 8 Jun, 2022 @ 5:12pm 
FYI, your ship stats are:

10,211 PCU
2995 blocks
162,470 kg

I deleted all external LCDs, replaced some blast doors with light/heavy armor (mostly for better block connections, but sometimes for weight savings where blast door protection was not necessary), saving about 1000 kg (not important).

But I replaced the 34 atmo thrusters with 6 large atmo, and replaced the 60 H2 thrusters with 12 large H2 thrusters. (both approximately equivalent, no major gain or loss in thrust) I did change a LOT of down thrust H2 to up thrust H2, since down thrust in planetary gravity is pretty useless.

Changed stats were:
7891 PCU
2767 blocks
138,886 kg

Reductions were 2320 PCU, 228 blocks, 23,584 kg saved. I kept all the aesthetic lines the same. That's 10-20% savings on all three areas. The Kerux was much lighter and flew/turned faster, and with fewer PCU it should be less demanding on PC resources especially when flying this with other ships (a carrier, ground rovers, etc).
condottiere 8 Jun, 2022 @ 5:05pm 
Hi Mackinaw, I randomly try out ships I like the look of. I know the Kerux is 1.5 years old, and I see your recent designs have evolved!

My notes:
Flies okay -- good for a transport concept. Gyros for turning give decent flight handling.

Really nice sharp color contrast. Nice fluorescent light color (though it would ruin eyesight in darkness in real life -- red light protects night sight better) -- I really liked how that light shows through the deconstructed heavy armor "vents" on the engine nacelles.

Way too many small thrusters. This is space-efficient, but costs a LOT of PCU, block count, and extra mass. Large thrusters are much more efficient on everything except volume. Redundancy isn't too important since any small grid ship tends to get shredded quickly by weapons fire.
Mackinaw  [author] 21 Oct, 2020 @ 1:14pm 
I realise now that several of the issues you pointed out can easily be solved, I'll be sure to fix them as soon as I get the opportunity to do so. I think it was because I mainly create my ships in creative, so I tend to forget to check them in survival.
Thanks again for your feedback!
Now off to build the Kerux Mk-2.
Mackinaw  [author] 21 Oct, 2020 @ 12:57pm 
@Taydir Wow. You went so far as doing a video on it, even though you were under the weather. That means a lot to me, thanks man.
And don't worry too much about your english, I'm French so my standard isn't very high in the first place x)
Taidyr 21 Oct, 2020 @ 11:54am 
It's hard to point out the problems without a visual reference, so I decided to put them in a video. I apologize ahead if anything's unclear. I don't get to practise talking in english very often these days and I'm still recovering from a cold, which is still effecting my voice a bit.

https://youtu.be/LcFsEkpZT5w
Mackinaw  [author] 20 Oct, 2020 @ 4:17am 
@Taydir Thanks man, take your time.
@Lt.Starbound I'm glad it helps you! Love your designs as well and I'm eager to see your dropship.