Mineral Uses

[Father Tim]

How big would a Tug have to be to move that 51,000 ton Orbital Mining Platform ? For me there would be in game time constraints in building a Shipyard large enough for the Tug and working out what engines I would need to provide the moving power / Fuel allowances etc.

I am only using the basic Nuclear Thermal powered Engines at present.

DavidR

Technically, fifty tons.

But that would still be speed 1 km/s, and you want at least 50 km/s to catch planets, and 500 km/s for comets.

The correct answer for tugs is "as fast as you can practically make them within your size, cost, and mineral restraints" -- and all of that depends on your technology, wealth, production, minerals, officers and governors.

[skoormit]

Black,

Many Thanks for putting me right.

How big would a Tug have to be to move that 51,000 ton Orbital Mining Platform ? For me there would be in game time constraints in building a Shipyard large enough for the Tug and working out what engines I would need to provide the moving power / Fuel allowances etc.

I am only using the basic Nuclear Thermal powered Engines at present.

DavidR

FWIW, my orbital mining stations are ~255kt, and my tugs are ~65kt.
Since the station weighs about 4x the tug, the speed of a tug when towing a station is about 1/5 the unladen speed.

It takes many years to expand the shipyard enough to build the first tug, but I start that process well before I have the tech to build them.