Ventilation/Thermal Conduits

[real rover]

Although the system as we have it right now is functional, I want to perhaps present a better option.

As it stands, we currently have a system where structures such as air pumps and heaters and coolers and such are installed directly into a room, with air vents being set up between bulkheads to cycle air between spaces.

This is functional, but necessitates a heater and cooler and fresh O2 and N2 cans in each area you wish to have a closed atmospheric loop, and also means venting heat from a centralized area that does not have easy access to vacuum is difficult.

What I propose is a system similar to conduits, called ducting, that can have switches to disable flow in one direction or another. Vents would need installing in each area the atmospheric system needs to reach, but this would allow for a centralized "atmospheric space" inside of a ship responsible for cycling and controlling the flow of air throughout the ship, and make setting up closed atmospheric loops easier.

Similarly, thermal transfer from a central point on the ship is rather difficult, especially if the space is surrounded by rooms.

Coolers are wonderful and all, but it would be great if we could have thermal conduits to extend their range.

[quartz nexus]

p i p e s :D

[tiny jungle]

Pardon my ignorance, could just be my lack of creativity, but other than a powered airlock why would you want multiple closed atmospheric loops in a ship? I guess it would be dependent on ship design and that's where I'm coming up short.

For example with my current ship, I have kind of a zone system. Any compartments that could be subjected to vacuum (outer hull) all have auto-vents connecting them to the core living spaces where my atmo room is. Rooms there all have manual vents because if I'm unintentionally venting that deep in my ship, most of my ship is already destroyed and I have bigger issues.

I have my cargo hold separate from the crew quarters with auto-vents so that if I'm stripping a derelict and the pressure in crew quarters drops too low because of the constant hauling, those close off and preserve atmo in the rest of the ship. Same with my thruster nacelles and the aft reactor/engineering area.

I guess I'm just not fully understanding why you want separate atmos in a ship, especially since as soon as you open a door between the areas, the atmo is going to seek stasis between the two

[real rover]

i don't like auto vents and i find them fiddly and obnoxious to use

even when powered and with appropriate oxygen in both sides, it randomly flips closed for no real reason

i also like having separate atmo loops for different areas for redundancy; if one atmo system fails, the other can pick up the slack in case of emergencies

a lot of my ship building philosophy revolves around redundancy measures designed to keep the ship safe in case of emergency

[mint cipher]

Generally because sometimes a single atmospheric compartment can become no atmospheric compartment quite quickly. Having 2 means you can run to the other one to prepare for fixing the other.

It can also make extending your ship easier.

[tiny jungle]

I'm not saying a single compartment. I'm saying multiple atmospheric loops for different areas. Compartments I'm all in on and use myself. Compartments that have the hull as a wall get auto-vents(and doors of course). that compartment loses pressure and it's sealed of without draining the rest of the ship.

I have a single atmospherics room near the center of my ship(pictured). Only thing I can't install there are the coolers(for obvious reasons). I have 3 N2 Turbo Pumps and 1 O2 Turbo pump, heaters, CO2 scrubber, and space for a contaminant scrubber when it becomes needed. I have 6 vents I leave open all the time for(theoretically more for air return/CO2 scrubbing more than anything as the pumps dump outside of the room). My N2/O2/CO2/Thermostat are all nearby, close to the doors to my cargo hold(main source of atmo loss and temp drops). My cargo hold, thruster nacelles, and aft engineering section are all set up for isolation with doors and auto-vents. This protects the core/living quarters from decompression. Crew quarters, mess, med bay, bathroom, and the rec room all have manual vents so I can close them off if needed but for the most part just get airflow.

Any time I have to restore atmo to one of those outer compartments, it takes just a minute and there's a touch of fluctuation and klaxons, but the gas transfer is quick enough that the only real issue is having to go through a bunch of N2 cans to get the atmo mix right again if I lose a big space like the cargo hold completely. Temps are rarely an issue, and if it gets a bit chilly, crew goes in EVA(which they're often wearing most of the time when we're not in port).

This is where I'm finding myself confused. I'm not needing multiple atmo setups and complex ducting, and my ship is pretty massive.

[real rover]

it's just redundancy 🙂

and perhaps a bit of immersion over gameplay efficiency

[mint cipher]

At any time your atmo compartment gets holed, then you're screwed. So have 2. And if your atmosphere room can be split by a door then it's effectively 2 atmo compartments.

[real rover]

i still think ventilation ducting and fluid piping would be neat features to have

so instead of having a sink we have a dedicated water tank onboard that we pump from for the sink

[tiny jungle]

my atmo room is pretty much at the center of my ship. If it gets holed, someone drove their ship really deep into my ship and I have much bigger issues.

[tiny jungle]

I'm not saying it wouldn't be neat. I'm just saying it would add a lot of unneeded complexity primarily in coding and subsequent bug fixing, but that's just my perspective. I think it would be cool to have them so I could keep my crew quarters a balmy 72 degreesF and route cooling to my reactor room to keep it frosty at the same time. I get it and I'm a fan of the concept. I'm just looking at it pragmatically

[tiny jungle]

Now this.....this I am a fan of. I would LOVE to have a freshwater and a blackwater tank and have to install/maintain them. As it stands I can be out away from port almost indefinitely. But dealing with that would be a big step toward forcing people to come back to port more often. Wouldn't take a TON of extra coding to add the tanks and tie them to the toilet/sink, but again I think for the time being we stick with "underfloor piping" until they have some of the larger, more mission critical issues resolved.

but I am a big proponent of some level of fluid dynamics in game. Like being able to drain HE3 or D20 tanks found into the ones installed on your ship like you can with N2/O2, condensing partial cans together for refueling

[real rover]

ALSO for the blackwater tank i'd love to have like

.... honestly that brings up a good question, would just ejecting the blackwater into space be like, a valid/legal thing in spacing?