Wintermote Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 This is an old, old idea I had put together awhile ago. It was meant to be a replacement for the singularity, as I felt the singularity's failure mode was too harsh, and the multiple failure modes of the chernobyl-style reactor here gave the crew greater leeway for fucking up and fixing the engine, as well as sabotaging it. The following's just a straight copy/paste from my old post and is an idea only, there is no code whatsoever for this. Each square block = 1 tile in-game. Color coded to represent heat, red warmer, blue colder. How it works: Fuel rods [F] and control rods [N] are inserted into the reactor core [R]. Control rods 'poison' the reactor, slowing down or killing the reaction. Fully inserting all the control rods might stop a meltdown. [Depends how hot the core is before they were inserted and whether or not the core still has coolant. The fuel rods won't melt down if they are still submerged in coolant, but if pressure builds too high coolant will need to be dumped to prevent a steam explosion.] Fully inserting all the fuel rods *without* control rods will cause a meltdown very quickly. But you can play around with it, insert all fuel rods, heat up to power-generating temp and pressure quickly, then insert control rods to slow down the reaction before a meltdown occurs, etc. Fuel rods and control rods can be inserted by varying degrees. The more they are inserted, the greater effect they have. There's some fun stuff that can be had with this. If the science department has some sort of Science! that needs a lot more power than the Reactor can normally provide, it would be possible to spike the reaction rate for a short time to generate more power [at the risk of a core meltdown]. The Fuel Rods once inserted, begin to excite each other. [One fuel rod by itself will not really do anything] As the Fuel Rods excite each other they get really really hot, and the surrounding coolant also gets really hot, and pressurized. This extremely hot, high-pressure water [Not steam] is piped through the reactor vessel and into the Boiler/Steam Generator . Disconnecting the outlet pipe from the Reactor to the Boiler would kill you as your body would be ripped apart and flash cooked by the rapidly escaping radioactive hot water. The Reactor would likely spike in temperature and may melt down with the loss of its coolant. Once the hot reactor water reaches the boiler, it heats the boiler water into steam, this steam then pipes through and drives the turbine before condensing and coming back to the boiler to be heated up again. If the boiler gets too hot, it will explode. [Due to pressure, it will cause a steam explosion] In the turbine [T], the hot water will heat up another pipe network that extends out to radiators [C] in space. Here the steam will recondense back into water before flowing to the turbine again. Losing this coolant will eventually result in the boiler's pressure increasing to the point of failure, causing a steam explosion. This in turn will cause the pressure in the reactor to increase, causing another steam explosion unless the reactor is cooled down. And that is it. That's all there is to your basic Nuclear Fission Reactor. You take some really hot stuff, make some steam, and it generates power! Extra stuff: This design lacks the reactor shielding and containment vessel that would typically be in place in order to contain a meltdown. Standing next to the reactor will give you a lethal dose of radiation very quickly. In the event of a meltdown, simply being in engineering period could kill you. If the control system locks up, someone is going to have to manually insert the control rods/pull out the fuel rods/activate pumps, etc. The coolant used, at least in this design, is Heavy Water. [Deuterium] Basically what this does is causes fast neutrons given off by the fuel rods to slow down so that they have a greater chance of striking the U235 creating U236 which then fissions. The Fuel Rods themselves are composed of pellets of Uranium, so in order to get a reaction going, you want to stick the fuel rods next to each other in the moderating coolant. Loss of coolant can cause a meltdown if the fuel rods are hot enough. [so releasing coolant/steam in order to drop pressure in the reactor so that it doesn't explode might not be the best course of action if you don't keep a careful eye on that core temperature.] The temperature of the water in the reactor is around 315 degrees Celsius (600F, 589K) and pressurized to 15.5 Megapascals (15,500 kpa - Earth normal is ~101 kpa) so that it remains a liquid. Needless to say, you don't want to shoot it, hit it with sharp objects, or accidentally open a release valve... The temperature of the water/steam in the boiler and turbine is around 275 Celsius (527F, 548K) and pressurized to 6.2 Megapascals (6,200 kpa). There are several different pipe systems, each separate from the other: 1. The Reactor pipe system 2. The Boiler - Turbine pipe system 3. The Radiator pipe system Although they are connected, the coolant in each pipe system does not come into direct contact with coolant in another pipe system. The pumps for moving the water around consume a *tremendous* amount of energy in reality. Around 6 megawatts for a single pump is pretty common. Our current SS13 power generator, the singularity, generates about half a megawatt, and total station power generation peaks at about 1 megawatt with the solars also wired up, while power consumption is around 0.3 megawatts. Needless to say, the station doesn't use much electricity. About how I imagine new players messing with the nuclear engine controls would look like. Code Requirements: Uranium Fuel We can either start with fuel rods, or require the uranium to be mined and processed before the engine can be started. Or I suppose, start with 3 fuel rods, and the extra two fuel rods would require mining and processing. The reactor design above uses 5 Fuel Rods for operation, but anything 2+ will generate some energy. A storage system for fuel rods will be necessary if we want them more realistic. Fuel Rods are basically always trying to reach 2000 degrees Celsius or so. You need to keep them cooled or they will melt into a radioactive metal puddle. - Uranium Ore - Uranium Processing - Uranium Fuel Rods - Variable that determines how much neutron radiation a fuel rod gives off and determines how quickly a fuel rod heats up in relation to proximity to other fuel rods, should be modified by control rods, and also modified by how far the fuel rod is inserted into the reactor and how many other fuel rods are inserted into the reactor, and how much they have been inserted. - Fuel Rod Storage - Transition from Fuel Rod to Puddle of Radioactive Metal That People Can Step In and Die From - Melting point temperature so they can melt inside the reactor --- Control Rods These will be ready to go into the reactor at round start, not sure what they should be made out of. The reactor starts with 6 of them ready to be inserted. They can "kill" a runaway reaction in the core, or at least try to. Inserting them will reduce core temperature and radiation. - Control Rods - Spare Control Rods? - Variable that determines how much neutron radiation is absorbed by the control rods, which will modify overall radiation output of the Fuel Rods and depend on things like, how far fuel rods are inserted, how many fuel rods are inserted, how many control rods are inserted, how far control rods are inserted, etc. Control rods do not improve radiation absorption of other control rods, they would be static amounts absorbed; whereas fuel rods increase radiation output when exposed to more fuel rods. Fuel Rods multiply their effects together, while control rods only add their effects together, if that makes any sense. --- Reactor Core This is where the reaction takes place. The Reactor Vessel itself shields from some, but not all radiation, so standing near it without a radiation suit will kill you. At higher operating temperatures, standing near it, even with a radiation suit, will still kill you. The above design has 6 Control Rods and 5 Fuel Rods. Control and Fuel Rods can be inserted manually or automatically by computer, possibly with computer lockouts to prevent the AI messing with it if necessary. Also meaning you'd have to go up to the reactor to pull out/push in fuel rods and control rods by hand. Fuel rods and control rods that are not fully inserted are not exposed partially outside the reactor, they stay within the reactor, just how much is exposed to the reactor chamber changes. So a fuel rod inserted 50% is not sticking out of the reactor 50%. Pulling a fuel rod out of the reactor completely so you can run around with it is different than changing its insertion to 0%. In the former case of running around with it, the fuel rod will eventually heat up to ~2000+ Celsius and melt and irradiate things. Possibly setting entire rooms on fire. Core temperature and pressure will depend on the number of fuel rods and control rods inserted, and their amount of insertion. Temperature of coolant inside the reactor should be ~300 Celsius. Depending on how players insert fuel rods, etc. Pressure and Temperature will increase or decrease. Lower operating pressures means reduced power output, higher operating pressure means containment failure and a steam explosion as the super pressurized and extremely hot water jets out of the reactor in a cloud of radioactive steam. - 5x5 Reactor Core [Larger if there is not enough room to connect everything] - Failure mode at a specific pressure resulting in a steam explosion, spreading radioactive and superheated and superpressurized steam into the engine room. Might want to look at atmos code so this does not produce gigantic asspiles of lag. The steam explosion should not be big enough to create holes into space. [Otherwise the steam just escapes into space] - Manual and automatic loading of control rods and fuel rods - Fine control over how much a rod is inserted into the reactor - Readouts on pressure, temperature of coolant and overall radiation levels - Readouts on temperature of fuel rods specifically - Readout on levels of coolant [Are the fuel rods fully immersed, etc.] Reaction rates and overall pressure/temperature are increased while submerged in the coolant compared to air, but the fuel rods melt if they lose cooling - Transfer of heat from fuel rods to coolant - Heat and radiation transfer out of the reactor vessel to surroundings, it should be hot standing next to the reactor, even when it is cooled and the reaction is controlled - More robust pipes and pumps specifically for use in the reactor. We don't want people to simply wrench free a coolant pipe and destroy the reactor by mistake - Release valves for reducing temperature by releasing steam - Coolant shut-off valves integrated into the reactor so that you can stop pumping superheated coolant if there is a leak, to allow you to fix the leak without a face full of superhot steam - Connector pipes/injectors so that reactor coolant can be refilled - Due to the annoying way atmosphere pushes you and other things around, all equipment and spare parts for repairing the reactor should be small enough to carry in a hand so that the steam in the room does not prevent you from repairing things. --- Boiler This is filled with superheated steam and like the reactor can explode if pressure is not watched. - 3x3 Boiler [Larger if there is not enough room to connect everything] - Heat transfer from reactor piping to steam inside the boiler - Release valves for releasing built up pressure - Coolant shutoff valve so that pipes and leaks can be repaired without spraying steam everywhere - Connector pipes/injectors so that coolant can be refilled - Readout on temperature, pressure, and coolant levels --- Turbine This is where the power generation happens - Approximately 5x5 - Heat transfer from turbine coolant to radiator coolant - Coolant shutoff valve so that pipes and leaks can be repaired without spraying steam everywhere - Power generation depends on pressure/temperature of the steam, higher pressure = more power --- SMES Batteries We may want to change these so that power output is not actually stored, but rather continually supplied by the reactor to everything, the SMES batteries would then only function as backup in case of power loss due to the reactor shutting down, rather than all the energy going into the batteries first and then distributed to the station. Maybe that is already how they work, I don't really know. - Display of power in kilowatts or megawatts rather than watts. --- Radiation Suits These are necessary to get near the core and handle fuel rods, pumps, control rods and other such things manually, without instantly dying from the radiation. Under normal and good operation, the reactor will put out enough radiation to harm you if you don't wear a radsuit, but will not instantly fry you otherwise. During meltdowns or peak load to generate extra power radsuits will only buy you time to fix things, not leave you immune, and lack of a radsuit will result in your death very quickly. Radsuits will also need to protect against temperature somewhat, enough that you can wade through clouds of 300C steam without burning to death instantly, but not enough that you are perfectly fine going into space with them or wading through steam all day. I think it would also be a good idea to have a mechsuit designed specifically for operation in and around the reactor, that offers the best protection against radiation and heat, allowing you to work around the reactor for much longer than someone in a radsuit would be capable of. [but still ultimately failing to high levels of radiation exposure, only granting you more time to work] - Adjust radiation protection levels to be balanced vs the nuclear reactor - Grant increased protection against high temperature so you can work around the reactor for a short time while surrounded by steam - Replace starting gear with radsuits - Engineering uniform should help protect against radiation slightly as well --- Mob Stuff The effects of radiation and heat and things may need to be modified. - A separate health counter for radiation, rather than using toxins as current - Breathing superheated air should be *much* more dangerous than simply walking in superheated air. To the point that a lungful of 300C steam should crit/kill you. Instantly. Better not leave engineering doors open during a meltdown! --- Equipment Various tools that engineering will likely need to do their jobs around the reactor. - Geiger Counter, or maybe some sort of radiation goggles that display visually the amount of radiation in an area - Earmuff Radios, function as earmuffs combined with station radios, worn on the ears instead of a headset and protects against loud noises and going deaf in proximity to them, [Engineering is going to be very loud with the pumps running] while still allowing communication via radio. Hearing normal speech is, obviously, not possible while these are worn. - Bolts for throwing at anomalies in the zone --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceTimeNow Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 It's to late and i am to tired to read it completly. Seems complicated and awesome, i am totally up for it. But i fear this complicated of a engine would never be approved by the admins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wintermote Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 It's... not a matter of admin approval. It's a matter of whether or not anyone is interested in coding it. I can't code worth shit, but I can lay out what I'd do with it if I could; so that's what I did. If it were coded at some point, and it functions more or less as described, it'll have a place on sigurd, even if it doesn't make it onto paradise. Admin approval isn't really a concern here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regen Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Admin approval isn't really a problem, we're reasonable people and this looks fucking amazingly well though out. While the true barrier lies in coding this beast, I think this would be a really cool project. I myself can't code for shit, and creating something this big requires experience as well as knowing how to code, because it needs to be properly balanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 If it can be coded, that would be one of the best engine designs so far really. That is EXACTLY what most engies want in an engine. Only problem I can see if the rad collectors, either they need some minor changes or they could always be a viable option to increase the reactors rad output. Funnily enough, I was just thinking about how to make a better engine. I can see two things that would add onto the reactor: Overall computer/server system that controls and tries to manage everything, but is relatively easy to sabotage and is somewhat complex to setup and manage. It would need to be linked with every single system it would need to control. Think something like the Gooncode DOS system (or whatever it is) but sliiightly less complex. Main part of it would be having an extensive array of server racks that control everything and need to be fed a very steady supply of power (So having UPS systems and all that jazz) and also needs to be cooled. (Melt down? AHAHAH, GG server racks!) Corse, the coolers themselves would need power and a coolant supply. There are already a few sprites for server racks in the code: (middle of the room) A somewhat complex power startup system that mostly uses a large, immobile, plasma fed generator. (The same tanks the rad gens use) It would need to be built (wiring, spark plugs, oil, ect) and once everything was in place, you need to turn on an array of powercells (think a charger but with six powercells stacked together) and then you get maybe three or four chances of having the generator tick over. If RNG hates you and that fails? The power cell array is drained and you will need to either replace the cells or start up the PACMAN gen to recharge them. The entire point of all that is that having a loss of power would be very, very bad. If the server racks loose power they shut down so the computer control system is useless, if the coolers loose power the server racks get damaged and you need a source of power to kickstart the backup power system. (Classic NT) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceTimeNow Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Admin approval isn't really a problem, we're reasonable people and this looks fucking amazingly well though out. While the true barrier lies in coding this beast, I think this would be a really cool project. I myself can't code for shit, and creating something this big requires experience as well as knowing how to code, because it needs to be properly balanced. Hey, if it came across a little offensive, this was not intended. It was just the short form of me saying that i tried to give atmospherics on Paradise a little more impact on the station and was shut down pretty quick on that part. If there is no place for a atmos system that issn't already set up, ready to go and failsave than i just can't see how this engine would possibly be placed on Paradise. It's... not a matter of admin approval. It's a matter of whether or not anyone is interested in coding it. I can't code worth shit, but I can lay out what I'd do with it if I could; so that's what I did. If it were coded at some point, and it functions more or less as described, it'll have a place on sigurd, even if it doesn't make it onto paradise. Admin approval isn't really a concern here. I should probably give sigurd a try, the only thing that holds me back right now are the reports of it having a very small playerbase and at the moment i have a very limited time to play SS13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I have no idea what the server's money situation is currently like, but maybe hiring this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/SS13/comments/ ... _relevant/ Would be one idea to help make this engine a reality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadApple797 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 1) This is really awesome 2) An ideal engine is kinda like atmos is now: Fine for the round unless something goes wrong, lots of ways to upgrade and run, few ways to royally fuck up - If its really complex we'll just never have enough trained people on to run it, so I think its really about balancing and tweaking the thresholds to make it pretty idiot proof 3) Nice to have rad system than instant toxins and the hallucinations and stuff. I've noticed we got a full rad level system you can even scan people for, but it would be nice if radiation was more about long delayed toxins release, horrible mutations, and burns at high levels, Meaning people can go into high rad areas and fix stuff at the price of a slow, extremely horrible death later, rather than instantly falling on the floor and puking. Gives us more Chernobyl like events with nuclear reactors 4) Big coding problem I see up front is the steam - I was under the impression that all 5 gases in game are hard coded in, so adding a new one would be a big challenge. So its use the smoke system that all the chemicals use (which is kinda weird and probably wouldn't work fantastic) or use hot air ( which would work pretty well) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 If we had a long and detailed checklist that told you everything to get the basics of the engine setup, that might help newbies and make it easier to remember all the basic steps. Or just make it all the worse when people fuck it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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