Proposal to Improve Historical Accuracy of Fuel Burner Techs

[BattleshipOfDestruction]

This topic is to discuss an improvement to the generic and immersion breaking fuel options in the game. I've been chipping away at this and other topics for over two years for being a part of a mega mod of my own that strikes a balance between historical immersion and enjoyable gameplay while keeping the same number of options in the game menus as currently, but considering I'm nowhere near done enough for it to be released, much less be even put into an alpha state, I put this to the mod creators of Naval Arms Race, etc or for Game Labs to implement (if Development is still active) as an info dump from what I found in over two years of historical research immersed in ship design from 1890 to 1945/1950. More topics will be coming about other modules and discussions on their accuracy and possible improvements that can be made.

I know there are only a few ways to stretch Fuel options with the way they are currently implemented and the amount of options there are. Although there is nothing technically wrong with the options up to Oil I, we do have to address the nonsensical Oil II and Oil III Upgrade. Yes there were efficiency bonuses as technology increased, however fuel burners with a boiler setup reached their height at the same time boilers did according to my research (there is only so much fuel efficiency bonus for the better burners). So by 1930, you could burn regular fuel oil or even diesel fuel oil directly to increase efficiency and reduce smoke interference. The developers completely ignored the difference between mechanically stoked and manually stoked boilers in the early techs, leading me to rebalance this section accordingly.

At Tier I we obviously have Manually Stoked Coal Burners, introduced in 1890 and in use until 1900 when it is declared obsolete (gameplay wise). Coal in this case is stored in its original form and coal is stoked by hand into the boilers. This is the least efficient use of coal, but the storage of coal in bunkers does increase the hull's resistance against penetrating hits. Coal is much more obscuring compared to oil which affects smoke interference to aiming systems.

What I Would Put As Values:

- Funnel Capacity: 0%

- Resistance: 10%

- Smoke Interference: 100%

- Engine Cost Per Weight: -25%

- Boiler Weight: 25%

- Fuel Efficiency:  -50%

- Fuel Stowage: 25%

-Oil Fuel: 0%

 

At Tier II we have Mechanically Stoked Coal Burners. Introduced in 1900 and declared obsolete in 1910 (gameplay wise). Coal is Stored in its original form and mechanical stokers pulverize and spray the coal dust into the burners. Pulverized coal is more thermally efficient, increasing the fuel efficiency and also the power to the engines.

What I Would Put As Values:

- Funnel Capacity: 5%

- Resistance: 10%

- Smoke Interference: 100%

- Engine Cost Per Weight: -25%

- Boiler Weight: 25%

- Fuel Efficiency:  -25%

- Fuel Stowage: 25%

-Oil Fuel: 0%

 

 

At Tier III we have Semi-Oil Burners. Introduced in 1910 and declared Obsolete in 1920 (gameplay wise). Semi Oil Burners combined the mechanical approach of pulverized coal with the newly introduced Fuel Oil. Not all navies were willing to make a complete switch to fuel oil; therefore a mixture of coal in bunkers and fuel oil in tanks were kept in the ship, which decreased resistance compared to a fully coal fueled ship, but further increased fuel efficiency. The coal was pulverized into dust and sprayed into the firebox. Likewise Fuel oil was sprayed on top of the coal to improve thermal efficiency. This was more powerful than Pulverized coal dust alone. Although the amount of smoke interference was less, it still wasn't as good as pure oil.

What I Would Put As Values:

- Funnel Capacity: 10%

- Resistance: 5%

- Smoke Interference: 75%

- Engine Cost Per Weight: 50%

- Boiler Weight: 50%

- Fuel Efficiency:  0%

- Fuel Stowage: 10%

-Oil Fuel: 50%

 

At Tier IV we have Heavy Fuel Oil Burners. Introduced in 1915 and Obsolete by 1950 (gameplay wise), It eliminated the need for coal bunkers, but reduced resistance accordingly. Management was near completely automated thanks to mechanically pumping and spraying fuel oil directly onto the burners. It was generally more fuel efficient than coal on its own, but supply is a problem making the fuel more expensive depending on where you were in the world. It did require a warm up time, but it was half as time consuming to start oil burning boilers compared to Semi-Oil and Coal. Smoke Interference was less, but not entirely eliminated.

What I Would Put As Values:

- Funnel Capacity: 20%

- Resistance: 0%

- Smoke Interference: 25%

- Engine Cost Per Weight: 100%

- Boiler Weight: 0%

- Fuel Efficiency:  25%

- Fuel Stowage: 0%

-Oil Fuel: 100%

 

At Tier V we have Diesel Oil Burners. Introduced in 1930 and Obsolete by 1950 (gameplay wise). These Oil Burners use Diesel Fuel Oil to reduce the time it takes to start the engines. Although not as efficient as true marine diesels, the smoke interference is nearly completely eliminated and it is more efficient than fuel oil. Due to being higher enriched than regular Heavy Fuel Oil, it is much more expensive to acquire.

What I Would Put As Values:

- Funnel Capacity: 40%

- Resistance: 0%

- Smoke Interference: 5%

- Engine Cost Per Weight: 200%

- Boiler Weight: 0%

- Fuel Efficiency:  50%

- Fuel Stowage: -15%

-Oil Fuel: 100%

 

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Again More Topics are coming soon, but hope this spurs discussion even though it isn't the most glamorous of the options available in the ship designer to discuss about.