The previous iteration of the ship was suitable for flights between Novis and Vulcanus; however, the voyage to Fulgora proved problematic due to insufficient power for the ship's lasers, as solar panels generate less energy the further the ship is from the sun.
Flying to Gleba is somewhat easier since there is enough energy, but the flight to Aquilo with the ship's starting configuration is strictly a one-way trip. Consequently, I had to fundamentally redesign the ship so it could comfortably handle long-distance flights.
Key challenges of flights to Aquilla:
- A distance twice as great as to the other planets
- Large asteroids
- Less solar energy
- Asteroids in orbit consist mainly of ice.
It was precisely these challenges that had to be addressed during the ship's modification. Here is the result:
Ship defence
We had to remove the lasers; they consume too much energy and are ineffective against large asteroids. Next, we added an impact shield consisting of a three-layer concrete wall and increased the total number of turrets in the top section.
After the Gleba stage, you unlock a crucial ship component: rocket turrets. These are essential for shooting down large asteroids, as those targets have the lowest resistance to missiles. The turrets themselves are configured with a filter to fire missiles exclusively at large asteroids.
Logistics and Production
Due to the large number of turrets, I had to install faster conveyor belts to ensure they could keep up with ammo delivery. The same applied to the conveyor for rocket turrets; all missiles from storage are evenly distributed along the belt.
And of course, just as we previously set up dedicated missile production on the ship using asteroid resources—since lifting them from planets isn't cost-effective (its lieft 25 units for a single rocket)—we did the same here. This feature apparently becomes available after the Gleba planet (using the chemical plant reaction to produce coal from carbon).
Energy and fuel
Since solar panels become useless as far out as Fulgora, what can be said about Aquilla, which is even further from the sun? On top of that, we removed a large number of batteries and panels from the ship to make room for turrets, new production facilities, and the associated logistics. The solution here is to install a nuclear reactor and a couple of turbines on the ship. We had to bring nuclear fuel up to orbit and eject the spent cells into space.
As for the engines, the fact that the distance to Aquila is twice that to other planets necessitated doubling the fuel and oxidizer reserves. This was to ensure an immediate return home after loading or unloading, given that the orbit of Aquila is populated largely by massive ice-rich asteroids, which complicates fuel replenishment.
Whether this ship concept can fly beyond Aquilla to the edges of the solar system remains to be seen :)