Project: Core — Devlog 7

nuclear reactor (peak)
REACTOR PHYSICS: built a proper six-factor formula model (K_eff = ε·L_f·ρ·L_th·f·η), i have no idea what this means but i saw it in a doc from the USA department of nuclear power or smth. each factor maps to something the player actually controls: rods affect thermal utilization, coolant affects resonance escape + void coefficient, temperature gives Doppler feedback. K_eff > 1 = supercritical, K_eff < 1 = subcritical. this took like 6 iterations to calibrate and a lot of help from AI cause i dont know nuclear physics.
DELAYED NEUTRONS: power doesn’t change instantly when you move the rods.
THERMAL CHAIN: power heat core temp steam production steam pressure turbine electrical output. nothing happens instantly.
SCRAM & SAFETY: auto-SCRAM at temp ≥ 92%, pressure ≥ 95%, coolant ≤ 5%. meltdown at 98% with an 8s grace period. warning states at 75% temp, 70% pressure, 20% coolant. SCRAM drives rods to full insert at 0.3/s (~3s total).
the void coefficient is BWR-positive (whatever this means), lose coolant and reactivity spikes before the SCRAM catches it.
CONTROLS: SignalLever and SignalButton (more to come) now use the channel system. bidirectional sync, if the reactor changes a channel (SCRAM pushes rods), the lever position updates to match, or it will just break everything.
BUGS:lever was so sensitive you could SCRAM by breathing on it.
everyhing works but not that well