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Pertam Prospector

Pertam Prospector was specifically designed for the high-gravity environment of Pertam as an ultra-compact, early survival game mining ship for accessing space-based ores such as uranium and platinum, and bringing them back to Pertam safely for processing. Its compact profile (10m × 5m × 3m) enables it to easily pass through a large-grid 3-block wide × 2-block high (7½-meter × 5-meter) opening such as provided by a gate or three airtight hangar doors. Because it exclusively uses hydrogen thrusters for propulsion, Pertam Prospector will operate in any environment.

VANILLA DESIGN; NO DLCS; NO MODS

DESIGN NOTES: This focused design came about during a recent survival game where I needed a very small, lightweight, and reasonably fast ship that was capable of easily getting to space through Pertam's rather shallow gravity well of only 18½ kilometers for getting the rare ores (or bring back parts from salvaged ships and/or stations), all while being harassed by PvE NPCs. But I also needed enough cargo capacity to make trips to/from space economical.

Once again I designed a ship that uses thruster override for the "UP" thrusters to minimize hydrogen fuel consumption during the ascent phase of a prospecting mission, and the end result was only 12% of the hydrogen reserves being used. The ascent process is relatively simple:

1. Without activating the hydrogen thrusters yet, tap {8} repeatedly to increase thruster override until thruster override is dialed to its maximum setting.
2. Now tap {9} to activate the thrusters.
3. Tap either {6} to switch lock on the connector or {4} to switch lock on the magnetic plates to release the ship.
4. As the ship gains altitude, tap {7} to decrease thruster override and conserve hydrogen fuel; maintain a speed of 90 m/s or greater.
5. Once out of Pertam's gravity well, tap {7} until thruster override is disabled; the ship will stop.
6. Find ore and save the princess.


DESIGN STATISTICS
  - Blocks: 177
  - PCUs: 3,738

MASS AND SIZE
  - Empty Mass: 31¼ tons
  - Gross Ore & Ice Mass: 63¼ tons (based on 1-1-1 realistic survival settings on Pertam)
  - Gross Ship Mass: 94½ tons (based on 1-1-1 realistic survival settings on Pertam)
  - Length: 10 meters
  - Width: 5½ meters
  - Height: 3 meters

POWER
  - 8 small batteries
  - 1 hydrogen engine

PROPUSION
  - 38 hydrogen thrusters
  - 1 large hydrogen tank
  - 1 O2/H2 generator

CARGO CAPACITY
  - 4 medium cargo containers
  - 1 connector
  - 1 cockpit
  - 2 drills

REPAIR CAPABILITY
  - 1 projector with blueprint loaded

ARMAMENT
  - none

CONTROLS 1
{1} Drills
{2} Camera View Front
{3} Magnetic Plate Autolock On/Off
{4} Magnetic Plate Switch Lock
{5} Camera View Down
{6} Connector Down Switch Lock
{7} Thrusters Up Decrease Thrust Override
{8} Thrusters Up Increase Thrust Override
{9} Hydrogen Thrusters On/Off

CONTROLS 2
{1} Antenna On/Off
{2} Ore Detector On/Off
{3} Navigation Lights On/Off
{4} Spotlights On/Off
{5} ---
{6} Hydrogen Engines On/Off
{7} Batteries Auto/Recharge
{8} ---
{9} ---

NOTES FOR BUILDING WITH A PROJECTOR IN SURVIVAL
1. Build a large-grid rotor on a powered grid.
2. Remove the large-grid rotor head and replace with a small rotor head; lock rotation.
3. Build a projector on the small rotor head with two armor blocks minimum vertical clearance under the projector.
4. Load the blueprint into the projector; set the projector to "Keep Projection".
5. Build the blueprint.
6. When completed, grind away the connecting armor blocks under the projector.

REQUIRED PARTS FOR BUILDING IN SURVIVAL
  - 715 Steel Plates
  - 152 Metal Grids
  - 252 Interior Plates
  - 995 Construction Components
  - 94 Motors
  - 130 Large Steel Tubes
  - 87 Small Steel Tubes
  - 152 Computers
  - 23 Displays
  - 54 Bulletproof Glass
  - 17 Power Cells
  - 1 Detector Components
  - 4 Radio-Communication Components