engine nacelle/pre cooler, what do they do?

[Penguinhero]

and if they do anything different from each other please explain.

[InterCity]

They do next to nothing. They provide a bit of air and some fuel.

[Warzouz]

I'm also interested in this topic.

I think pre-cooler has air intake that is still available even if you plug a another air intake (ram, cone or regular) in front of it.

It has also a litle bit of fuel (which hasn't been upgraded since the regular fuel tank was modified from 150 to 400).

Last it is supposed to have a hugh thermal capacity for its mass, which is not usefull since 1.0.4 and the radiators. I never noticed any effect on that matter.

[Edax]

The precooler may have some use. If say, you have more air engines than shockcones, 2 of these things can feed the 3rd engine, plus the increased heat tolerance may increase your max speed (by virtue of not having the intakes explode from friction) assuming the shockcones are attached to these things. These also look pretty snazzy, you might even find a use attaching lv-ns to them to naturally keep them cooler. But because their so bulky and carry so little fuel, they might not important enough to find room for them.

[Xannari Ferrows]

All they do differently is look cooler on different parts of the plane. The Nacelle I'm assuming was made be mounted under a wing, while the precooler is inline.

Other than that, they function no differently.

EDIT: Actually, that's not true. The precooler costs more, but has a higher emissiveConstant

Edited August 27, 2015 by Xannari Ferrows

[GDJ]

I noticed a small difference when I was doing my Velocity Circumnavigation challenge. When the coolers eventually ran out of internal fuel the heat went up in the rest of the fuselage and engine. Apart from that, they do make a nice intake.

Also the Nacelles do look good.

[Warzouz]

... These also look pretty snazzy, you might even find a use attaching lv-ns to them to naturally keep them cooler. But because their so bulky and carry so little fuel, they might not important enough to find room for them.

I did som tests in1.0.2 and didn't notice any real difference on a 15min burn with 8 LVN. With the 1.0.4, event if it was usefull, I think it's not anymore.

I hope that part will be improved

[TheBrisbyMouse]

2 Precoolers in front of a Rapier will give you all the air it'll need. Cap off the front with a pointy 1.25m fairing for some heat resistance and you've got the perfect SSTO engine. You can do the same with a turbojet, but it needs 3 precoolers.