Znath Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I'm assuming everyone's already aware of the current fuel efficiency issue.But something I thought I'd bring up is regarding efficiency at various throttle levels.Should efficiency drop at full burn? If so, how much?I would just think that like most engines like cars, jets, etc... full throttle really burns a lot more fuel.The question being though also if it should burn the same amount of fuel per the same amount of force.ie10 units of force burns 10 units of fuel/min5 units of force burns 5 units of fuel/minOr should it be10 units of force burns 12 units of fuel/min5 units of force burns 5 units of fuel/minWhere in the 2nd case, full burn does give more thrust, but wastes 2 units of fuel. That extra is basically wasted because the engines are just going berserk turning a fraction of the thrust simply into heat rather than force of thrust.I believe currently it's basically like that. In my opinion, it seems more like engines burn way more fuel when at full. Some people say that currently low thrust is really "more efficient" by a bug. The thing is, when the "fuel bug" is fixed. I'd rather full thrust was made more efficient rather than having partial thrust made less efficient. That is, if it is true that the original intent of the game designer is 10 thrust = 10 fuel used and 1 thrust = 1 fuel exactly. My guess right now, is yes, it's supposed to be a uniform 1:1 thrust to fuel ratio. I'd just rather they were fixed on the side of efficiency, It'd sure make my life easier.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardgame Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I will admit that I remain completely in the dark regarding the current fuel bug, but as of .15 burn rate scaled linearly with thrust and I think this should remain the case, lest managing your engines become needlessly complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsalis Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 If I am not mistaken, liquid fuel rocket engines are most efficient at full thrust in RL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncientAstronaut Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 No. Engine Specific Impulse should remain constant regardless of throttle. Atmospheric pressure, however, will affect your efficiency. The fuel bug can be fixed with a simple download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Rocket engines typically reach maximum efficency at 100% rated thrust; Isp can actually decrease when throttled. As for jet engines, I'd like to see afterburners in the future, either as a mod or (better) in the main game: those should definitely behave that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzaku Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 If I am not mistaken, liquid fuel rocket engines are most efficient at full thrust in RL.This ^Also solid fuel rockets too lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziff Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I believe currently it's basically like that. In my opinion, it seems more like engines burn way more fuel when at full. Some people say that currently low thrust is really "more efficient" by a bug. The thing is, when the "fuel bug" is fixed. I'd rather full thrust was made more efficient rather than having partial thrust made less efficient. That is, if it is true that the original intent of the game designer is 10 thrust = 10 fuel used and 1 thrust = 1 fuel exactly. My guess right now, is yes, it's supposed to be a uniform 1:1 thrust to fuel ratio. I'd just rather they were fixed on the side of efficiency, It'd sure make my life easier..It's only been a bug in .16, not for any version before that. Before .16 engines used a fuel burn rate. For .16 they switched to Specific Impulse. The problem is that a line of code was left in that lets the fuel usage be modified the square of the throttle or something, I don't remember exactly. But basically at 100% thrust it works correctly. However, at 50% thrust it should use 50% of the fuel usage but instead it's using like 25%, and at 10% thrust it's using even less, it's only using 1% fuel.It's not hard to build rockets that get to orbit with plenty of fuel left over , it just takes some practice in design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Znath Posted August 26, 2012 Author Share Posted August 26, 2012 (edited) Where is this fix for the fuel thing?I guess it does make things a lot simpler for it to just always be 1:1 on a linear progression.I was mostly just curious about how real engines work in this regard. I'd still rather engines were more efficient than they are now.I have a feeling my current setup isn't 1.7 capable since full thrust usually screws my fuel load. My biggest limitation is really the speed of my computer so I'm constrained by the size of my original launcher. Edited August 26, 2012 by Znath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elios Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 (edited) If I am not mistaken, liquid fuel rocket engines are most efficient at full thrust in RL.yes they are the bell shape is tuned for full open there are a lot things that go in this other then that but thats the big one running at any thing other then full messes with thisgreat video on this in relation to the Shuttle here and link to rest of the videos from MIT all talks from the guys that designed the shuttle systems fun stuff http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/ Edited August 26, 2012 by Elios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBlaster Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Rocket engines are most efficient at full throttle. You have it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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