The conversion of the Thunder Naiad was initially a painful and emotional process. Prior to the update with alpha 9.4, I was crying over the extreme loss of performance that was hitting my heavy tank. I wanted the tank to be reasonable to operate in 2.0g. This meant I really wanted to keep the 14+ m/s^2 acceleration to climb hills. In the end, it was going to be very impractical with around 1 m/s^2 to the sides and braking thrust. It would work in 2.0g, but there was so much wrong about the heavy tank that it was tearing me up to complete the conversion. With the release of alpha 9.4, it was like a burden was lifted. Even without changing a bit, that prototype conversion went from sluggish and painful to a thrill to drive again. It wasn't the change in CPU that really mattered. The new balance of the thrusters alone made a world of difference. The prototype went from climbing hills in 2.0g to potentially climbing hills in 4.0g. Now, I would end up moving some of those thrusters and make some adjustments along the way to bring the final build closer to the original Thunder Naiad. Putting more thrusters side and forward to improve the thrust even more so there for balance. Greater balance in performance in the gravity range I really wanted to support. So why does the backstory on this conversion matter? They changed the balance. Well, I had made some alterations to the Thunder Naiad to reduce the overall mass of the heavy tank. I made it one meter shorter, one meter narrower, and a half meter less in height. Shaving off where I could to save building materials. Before: 15,640 CPU After: 7,500 CPU The new L thrusters for HV are not the most efficient, but they do have the best output per unit of volume, actually putting out more thrust for CPU. By converting to the tier 2 L thrusters, I was actually able to use fewer thrusters to hit my targets, which meant some saved CPU for some minor improvements elsewhere. Adding a couple small hover engines a little further forward for better handling while driving. And, yes, I did try another pair of large hover engines, but they were just too much and tended to point the nose of the HV up slightly, and that was a no go because one of the ways I saved on overall mass is a weaker floor to the vehicle using hardened steel. Containers: 1,250 SU Harvest: 125 SU Size Class: 1.23 Mass: 123 t Dimensions: 10.5x14x5.5m With the CPU restriction, I would include some new signal work and a different arrangement of the hover engines to compensate for what I could just add on more RCS to accomplish previously. The primary hover engines are closer to the center of the HV to actually introduce some instability for pointing the nose up or down. This required a complete redesign of the central cabin because the hover engines are not airtight and they were now under the cabin space. Still, being closer together was not enough, so I added the signals for "SitUp" and "BowDown". SitUp shuts down one of the rear hover engines. This is enough to improve the ability to tip the bow of the vehicle up. BowDown shuts down the two small hover engines forward on the hovertank, improving the ability to tip the bow of the vehicle down. These gimmicks are intended for better aim of the six gatling guns at targets above and below the plane of the tank. My biggest challenge in the end was the forward cockpit. I would go for a test drive and park, only to find that I would be standing smashed under the glass and unable to move. This would lead to me finding a new arrangement of the cockpit that prevented me from exiting the cockpit stuck under the window, to only go for another test drive and repeat the whole process over again. The current arrangement seemed to have the least amount of issues (thus far) of my character getting out of the seat and stuck in the cockpit of the HV. But this wasn't a CPU challenge, just a last delay in the conversion of my heavy tank. And, oh yeah, while the tank is primarily hardened steel on the inside and underneath to keep the tank lighter, the outer shell has been converted to combat steel with this as well. The harvest container is mostly a token to the harvest modules also added on the front of the tank. They aren't there really to collect wood so much as to better enable this tank to go through the forest instead of around it.
This time I just going to put links to some of the BP I found since last time on the workshop. There was just so many. Of course, I probably rejected just as many because of flaws I caught. Now, I am human, so I may have missed something, including the possibility that one of these might be over 7500 CPU. I tried checking them to verify, but there was so many.... By the way, the most humorous mistake I found in my inspections? No cockpit. The SV looked so promising, but after a quick inspection I began to wonder where the pilot sat. I hit the auto sort button for the device tree, it undid all their organization, but I was looking to see if any cockpit was listed. Only passenger seats. Mining HV -------------------------------- Basic mining test passed of course. Melon Baller A9 (HV) by @AlienPet13 Sinker C Driller [Level 10] [Alpha 9.4] by @Payden Melon Baller DX A9 (HV) by @AlienPet13 HV -------------------------------- Some over 200 tonnes. Sentinel-HVT-A9 by @Semp Diretank-APC-A9 by @Semp Diretank-A9 by @Semp SV -------------------------------- A size class 7 included among these. Arrowhead DX A9 by @AlienPet13 Loot Lifter 300 by by @CrazyZ SC-1 Scrapmover by @Templar Rheinland Humpback - Freelancer by @Zodiac Tempest 2 (SV) Sub 7500 CPU by @GTVADeimos ADHD V2 by @Neuticles F4U Black Widow by @Larry Transit-CH1 by @jrandall Lysander R10 sub 7500 CPU (SV) by @GTVADeimos Hewer - Compact Cargo Hauler SV [Level 12][Alpha 9.4] by @Payden CV -------------------------------- Expedition by @Semp Essex Light Carrier/Support CV [Level 10][Warp][Alpha 9.4] by @Payden Carapace-C3 by @jrandall Avariel by @Semp Guardian by @Semp
