In the game Spaceship Commander ships have 2 types of engines: a warp engine, through which the ship moves through Star Systems and deep space at speeds faster than light, as well a standard main engine, through which the ship moves after leaving the warp mode, for example, at orbit planets or during a space battle.
There will be a separate article about the warp engine and how it works (as well as why, in my opinion, this is the most adequate sci-fi technology for moving at speeds above the speed of light). But if in short - the warp engine bends the space in front of the ship and behind it in such a way that the ship appears to be on the "crest of a wave". At the same time, the ship is still unmoving but space itself is moving.
The warp drive on the ship bends space
As for reactive propulsion engines, the ships in the game use ion engines. These are the same engines that some spacecraft and satellites use in the real world. It would seem that this is a primitive technology and is not suitable for a game about the future.
But firstly, the action of the game takes place in the region of 2100 years and, according to the lore of the game, humanity does not have any absolutely super-technologies. One of the exceptions here is just the technology of the warp drive and warp gates (there will also be a separate article about them). No teleporters, replicators and other hardcore have yet been invented, and if they did, it remains a secret :)
Generally speaking, if you use technologies that are shown in many sci-fi films or games, it is very difficult to imagine how this should be influence to the balance of the game. In fact, we would have to rethink all the sci-fi concepts that we have become accustomed to over the past decades. For example, in many games, ships can reach some unthinkable speeds, and in fact, if a ship can reach almost the speed of light, why you need all these lasers and other things? Just accelerate the ship to light speed (or so) and to ram the giant station where the main villain sits, that's the end of the movie ... Therefore, in the Spaceship Commander game technologies, let's say, are ordinary and familiar for modern people. But with some modifications.
So, back to ion engines - this is a type of electric rocket engine, the principle of work of which is based on creating jet thrust from ionized gas (plasma), which is accelerated to high speeds by an electric field and ejected from the engine. Let me remind you that in a classic liquid or solid propellant engine (chemical rocket engine), jet thrust is created by burning fuel (fuel + oxidizer) by heating it and following expansion and then ejection from the nozzle.
Scheme of the ion engine
Ion engine on a ship (sectional view)
The advantage of the ion engine is that it has a very high efficiency (about 90%) and a huge specific impulse compared to a chemical engine. Specific impulse this the ratio of the amount of motion received by the rocket engine to the mass of the expended working fluid. I.e. the higher this figure, the less fuel is needed to accelerate. Remember this point, it will come in handy later.
The disadvantage of ion engines is that they have very little thrust. The fact is that it takes a lot of energy to create desired thrust. And modern satellites or spacecraft are equip with some unconvincing solar battery or, at best, a small nuclear reactor. And it would seem what we forced to fly further on chemical engines. But in the game Spaceship Commander on a ship with ion engine also installed fusion reactor! It changes everything. A fusion (thermonuclear) reactor releases at orders of magnitude more energy than a usual nuclear reactor, and is capable of powering a small town or village.
So, taking into account the huge available energy on the ship, ion engines can reach a fundamentally new level - we can supply a powerful current and create a powerful electric field, which will accelerate the speed of the outflow of ions at orders of magnitude and, consequently, thrust. As a result, the level of thrust of ion engines in the game is at the level of modern liquid engines.
It doesn't sound like the super technology of the future, but the point of the ion engine is that they don't require the huge volumes of propellant that older rockets require. Of course, they also need it, but orders of magnitude less. By the way, ion engine use xenon gas as fuel. As a result, it turns out that size of your ship's tank is no longer as size of the ship itself, but takes up relatively little space. Imagine for yourself how inconvenient and unsafe it is to carry a tank of fuel with you, which occupies 90% of the entire size of the ship. And it ends almost instantly, about 10 minutes of continuous acceleration - and the tank is empty.
Although, imagine, liquid and solid fuel engines are also used in the game. For example, a liquid-propellant rocket engine is used in marines capsule, since it is assumed that its task is simply to fly to the enemy ship, and maybe back, and then refueling is already required. Well, we don’t want stick a whole thermonuclear reactor with a complex ion engine into a disposable device, although there are also such developments, but for elite units :) By the way, you can read about the landing capsule here. Still chemical, namely solid propellant engines are used for missiles. Good old kerosene + oxidizer! Cheap and cheerful.
Marines capsule with liquid propellant engine
Missile launch
So, the ships in the game Spaceship Commander use a warp drive to move at FTL speeds through Star Systems and deep space, and for "normal" movement at planetary orbit or maneuvers in space combat they use ion-type sustainer engines powered by a fusion reactor.
