Ships' range too short

[AssassinT90 (OP)]

Hello, helpful Aurora players.     

I've been reading (and following) the tutorial.      On part 6, the final freighter has the following summary:

Code: [Select]

Atlas class Freighter    33850 tons     218 Crew     304 BP      TCS 677  TH 372  EM 0
549 km/s     Armour 1-93     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maintenance Capacity 6 MSP    Max Repair 16 MSP
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10    

Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (6)    Power 62    Fuel Use 10%    Signature 62    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 26.6 billion km   (560 days at full power)
My ship, however, has the following summary:

Code: [Select]

Malcanthet class Freighter    33.950 tons     107 Crew     318,25 BP      TCS 679  TH 375  EM 0
552 km/s     Armour 1-93     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 6    Max Repair 15,625 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0    
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10    

62,5 EP Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (6)    Power 62,5    Fuel Use 13,26%    Signature 62,5    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50.000 Litres    Range 2,0 billion km   (41 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposesThe engines have a slight difference on fuel use and power, which explains minor differences like speed, weight, and BP cost.      But it doesn't explain why my range is 10 times lower than the tutorial ship's range.     

So.     .     .      My first question is:
Why is my ship's range 10 times lower than the other ship's? (that also happens to the Geological Survey ship: it's range is 10 times lower than the tutorial ship's range)

My second question is:
Why do I have 107 crew members while the tutorial ship has 218?

And an additional question:
Why can't I chose between military and commercial engine when I'm designing a new engine? (There's no dropdown)
I'm playing version 6.  21 on Windows XP and 1400x1050 resolution.   
My freighter has the following components:

Defences:
18,7x Duranium Armor
Engines:
6x 62.    5 EP Commercial Nuclear Themal Engine
Special Functions:
1x Cargo Hold - Standard
2x Cargo Handling System
General:
1x Crew Quarters - Tiny
3x Crew Quartes
1x Fuel Storage
1x Engineering Spaces
1x Bridge

Thanks in advance,
AssassinT90

[Charlie Beeler]

The short answer is that the tutorial's are out of date.  The v6 release completely changed engines. 

[Erik L]

What Charlie said.

[Nightstar]

The mechanics of engines were completely rewritten in 6. 0.  Sadly, much of the documentation around here hasn't been updated since.  One of the changes resulted in a massive increase of fuel consumption for commercial engines, causing your problem.  If you want more range you have three options:

• Add more fuel storage
• Research fuel consumption technology, and then a new engine.
• Research minimum engine power modifier and research a new engine with lower power.

[AssassinT90 (OP)]

Thank you very much, Charlie, Erik, and Nightstar.   I'll add some fuel storage and see how it goes. 

Thanks again for the quick responses,
AssassinT90

[Erik L]

You might also want to make sure your decimal separator is set to the period rather than comma as it seems. This will come back and bite you eventually.

[AssassinT90 (OP)]

You might also want to make sure your decimal separator is set to the period rather than comma as it seems.  This will come back and bite you eventually.

And why is that? (I'm using 6. 21 portable release, so I thought it would configure everything correctly for me)

[Erik L]

And why is that? (I'm using 6. 21 portable release, so I thought it would configure everything correctly for me)

I noticed in your ship designs the comma and period were in reversed usage.

[Charlie Beeler]

Erik is talking about Regional and Language settings on your system control panel, not game settings.  The installer doesn't touch those.

[AssassinT90 (OP)]

Okay, changed.  Thanks for the tip.

By the way, is the turret size still rounded up in the current version? I've beem reading the Basic Beam Warship Tutorial and it says that a turret's size is always rounded up, but I've just designed a turret whose size was 8. 33 (and not 9).

[Nightstar]

No it is not.  Instead you get slight size reductions for double and quad turrets.