User:Grabowski

The Prototype Defense Screen Reactor or PDSR is an experimantal Nanotrasen reactor, which generates a defensive field of particles around a vessel, utilising electricity and nucleium. It requires a high amount of both of those resources, and a skilled operator. As such, it is only placed on a select few ships with especially trained engineering crews.

Can it run the PDSR?

This is a placeholder for the PDSR

So, you are an Engineer, who has this mighty piece of machinery on their ship. But what do you need to run it? The PDSR needs two resources, namely

Power

To nobody's surprise, you need electricty to create a Screen. It is highly recommended that you wire the PDSR straight to another power source - usually the AGCNR - as it can eat 22MWs of power, or even more. How much more exaclty can be seen on the Screen Manipulator console.

• Available Power shows how much power is in the wire under the PDSR.
• Input Power is the number you can change. How much power do you want to input? Well, that depends on
• Minimum Safe Power shows how much power is required to contain the reaction inside the Reactor. If you give the Reactor more than this amount, it will be able to function properly, without emissions.
• Maximum Safe Power shows how much power is too much. If you pass this number, the reaction will quickly end in an emission.
  

If Minimum and Maximum power are getting close to eachother, the temperature inside the Reactor is rising. If they ever reach eachother, an emission is imminent.

Nucleium

Nucleium is used in the fisson inside the Reactor. It's particles are what surround and protect the ship. This gas is created in reactors - the Stormdrive and the AGCNR - as a byproduct gas. While being harmful to a normal reactor, it is the fuel of the PDSR.

Nucleium can be created in massive quantities in reactors utilising plasma in fisson. In the case of the SD, it's amount depends on the Reaction Rate, the power Generated and the Fuel amount. For the AGCNR, it depends on the amount of Fuel gases - Plasma, C. Plasma, Tritium. After being created, it is then expelled from the reactor. This is where we can collect it, and send it over to the PDSR.

The amount of Nucleium input can be modified on the Mainframe console. The Reactor needs at least 5 mols/s to run, but giving it more will increase the Screen's strength. However, giving it more Nucleium will increase the reaction rate, and increase the heat generated.

Statistics

This is a placeholder for a screencap of the UI

If you managed to get your Reactor running, you will need a lot of work put into it. It is quite volatile, with a multiple, quickly changing variables. The most important of these are

Reaction Rate

Reaction Rate shows how much Nucleium is consumed by the Reactor each second. Your main way of controlling it is by changing the Injection Rate, however it also increases as time goes on.

As the Reaction Rate rises, more and more Nucleium will be consumed. This means that the temperature of the Reactor will rise, and thus it will be harder to control. However, increasing it will result in the Screen becoming stronger.

Reaction Temperature

Inside the Reactor, while Nucleium is used up, the temperature is rising. The temperature is what dictates the amout of power required to contain the raction: the higher the temperature is, the higher the power requirement rises. This will eventually lead to a containment failure, and an emission.

However, we can counteract this by cooling the Reactor. I know, a surprise. To do this, you must introduce a Coolant to the Reactor. This Coolant is a gas that is cooled outside the Reactor - usually with a pipe system in space, or with thermomachines - which then enters the Reactor, heats up and leaves In heating up, it cools down the Reactor. The PDSR requires a high amount of coolant to cool effectively, depending on the Nucleium injection.

In case of the temperature getting out of hand, you can Cycle Coolant. This will quickly move Coolant in and out of the Reactor, but will make any emission much, much worse. And, as a sideeffect, release hot Water Vapor.

If you wish to shut down the Reactor, you will need to lower the temperature to 100 C.

Polarity

This number shows the polarity of the Nucleium particles being injected into the Reactor. This value will constantly change as long as the Reactor is running.

It can be switched - from Positive to Negative and vice-versa - on the Screen Mainframe. If set to Positive, the value will rise, while if set to Negative... you guessed, it will go down.

Polarity influences the Reaction Temperature: the further it is from 0, the more it will increase it. As such, it is advised to flip it often.

The Screen

This is a placeholder for a screencap of the Screen Console UI

If you manage to control the Temperature of the Reaction, and inject sufficent Nucleium, you will be awarded with a Shield Defense Screen, that blocks incoming shots.

Screen Statistics

These are the main numbers and values that influence your Screen.

Hardening and Regeneration

These two values are the ones you can change to adapt to a combat situation:

• Hardening is how high your Screen's Strength can go.
• Regeneration is how fast your Screen's Strength regenerates.

These two are eachother's counterparts - if you raise one, the other will go down.

Integrity and Strength

Integrity and Strength show how much damage can your Screen take. Strength shows the current amount of "health", while Integrity shows what percentage it is of the maximum amount of "health".

Screen Capacity

Screen Capacity is the other factor that influences Screen Regeneration. It shows - with some inaccuracy - how much Strength the Screen regenerates each time. It depends on the Reaction Rate, meaning that this is your main way of strenghtening your Screen in a pinch.

Stability

When you first activate the Reactor, Stability will start to rise. When it reaches 100%, the Screen will deploy, and start gaining Strength. It lowers when the Screen takes hits, especially if those hits are in a short amount of time. If Stability reaches 0, your Screen will fall. However, when not taking hits, Stability quickly regenrates.

Screen Relays

Screen Relays are small machines spread around Engineering. They are quite costly to build - requireing 2 scanning modules, 20 capacitors and 12 micro lasers - , but if you have built them, they will increase the maximum Strength of the Screen and the Maximum Power input. Thus, to raise the Screen, you will need at least one Relay, but luckily, they are present on ships with a PDSR roundstart.

When an emission occurs, three Relays will Overload. This causes two things:

• First, a flashfire will occur. This means that the Relay will quickly release highly heated plasma and oxygen, which will burn up, overheating and overpressurizeing the room. The severety of this can be counteracted by cooling the Relays' atmosphere, but exposing them to space carries a small risk of Overlaoding in itself.
• Second, the Relays will break down, preventing them from functioning.

If all of the Relays break down, the Screen will not be able to turn on. However, they can be repaired with a welding tool and cables.

This is a placeholder for the Relays

Emission

An emission occurs when the Reactors overheats, runs out of power and the Containment falls. This is bad.

When an emission is about to occur, you will notice a few things:

• A stream of particles will erupt from the Reactor with a blinding flash.
• A warning klaxxon will be heard across the room.
• And the Reactor will announce in big bold letters that an emission is about to occur.

If you notice these happening, it is already too late, and you should leave the room to avoid damage.

When an emission does occur, it's effects will be noticeable accross the whole ship. Depending on how long the Reactor has been active, it could be as light as the crew suffering minor radiation poisoning, to as severe as the ship's armor taking a massive hit.