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Dawnstar

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  1. This mod keeps going great guns and it's a delight to see all the new and upcoming features. This post, however, is about two balance issues with existing features: tanks containing cooled liquids, and tank wet/dry ratios. When I use TweakScale to change the size of any given tank containing liquid hydrogen, both the charge consumption and the boil-off rate scale with surface area. This is expected behavior and I agree that this is how things should work. Now, swap out your tank for one in the same series, scaled to the same diameter but having a different height. You will notice that your new tank's charge consumption is charge.original * (height.new / height.original). But that's not the ratio of the surface areas! Now, swap out your tank for one in a different series. Again, you will notice a new ratio between surface area and both charge consumption and boil-off. To re-cap: This ratio is constant as you tweak scale any given tank, and changes if you swap to a new tank. One of these two facts should change, and I propose that it is the latter that is more physically incorrect. Another issue: Tank dry to wet mass ratios. These differ radically between tank series in a way that makes it clear that this mod has not yet integrated the various sources of parts (and game balance choices) it draws on into a unified project. I am currently running this mod with a RealScale solar system. With this choice of map, wet/dry ratios for a lot of tanks need to rise dramatically to match real-world performances, especially with modern and projected technology. To take but one example, a pressurized gaseous Xenon tank built with 2017-level tech has a wet/dry ratio of roughly 20 (see example at http://www.cobham.com/mission-systems/composite-pressure-solutions/space-systems/xenon-propellant-tank-datasheet/docview/). However, if I were using this mod with a Kerbin-scale solar system, or even one x2 or x4 of Kerbin scale, wet/dry ratios need to rise by less, and for some tanks might even stand to be lowered.
  2. And, no doubt, any of these will work. But they yield very different games, due to the number of biomes to do science on, and the scale of the universe. They range from x1 to x10 stock, and that's a HUGE variance! Plus, they differ in quality of planet textures and atmospherics. What I need is advice. From players (including yourself if you like, most excellent FreeThinker). What sort of universe yields a fun KSPI-E game, and why? Any warning about memory usage that you'd like to share? Also, while I'm here: Would anyone think it impracticable to simply not use the Science Lab at all for processing science? I'm looking to get a proper KSPI-E boot-strap game going, not "get all the tech before I leave Kerbin orbit", or "endless slog to get even half the tech tree", but rather something challenging yet not too rough.
  3. I'm looking forward to giving this mod a whirl, but I cannot figure out what planet and/or intersteller pack to use, or what scaling to use, or what visual packs I can use. I used ckan to install KSPI-E, and only the mods it itself asked for, so I see the stock universe. I know that it's too small, and I see the options listed in the first post, but they differ radically in both scale and # of worlds. Which of these, or what other universe, would you recommend, and why? I'd like something that plays nice with EVE.
  4. First thing to do is make sure you have enough memory. The biggest cause of my getting exactly the symptom you describe is running out. I have 8 GB. Depending on number of optional mods installed and on whether I have a web browser up, that sometimes just isn't enough.
  5. Great mod and a real inspiration. I am, however, having real difficulty with heating (v11.0.0, all required and recommended mods installed including Deadly Reentry). Here's a Mk1 pod with max (200) ablator that got inserted into LEO, then had periapsis dropped to 80k - about the most gentle possible reentry. It's made only one reentry pass, lost ~500-600 m/s of speed, is at the lowest altitude it reached during reentry, and is about to lose the last of the ablator. It blew up due to overheating immediately after this image was taken.
  6. While the thread posted by nobodyhasthis2 is good, perhaps some more basic comments might be suitable. 90% of my crashes in KSP are due to running out of memory. Most of the rest are due to mods. I recommend checking these two possibilities first.
  7. So! How much does a Kerbal breathe, by mass? Assume Kerbals = humans. Assume Kerbin day = Earth Day (divide the mass by four if Kerbin hours = Earth hours) Humans consume about 550 liters of oxygen per day (http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/question98.htm). Now add something for exercise and fudge factor, perhaps 25-30%, for a total of ~750 liters. Assuming this oxygen is breathed in at standard temperature and pressure (25 C, 1 atmosphere), each liter has a mass of 1.429 g (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen), for a mass of 1.073 kg of oxygen consumed/human person/earth day. Tank weight is additional, but this is already accounted for in the mass of parts. EDIT: Kerbin hours have to be equal to Earth hours, because they still contain 3600 seconds, and I assume that the meaning of a "second" or a "meter per second" hasn't changed. So divide my masses above and here by (24 Earth hours / 6 Kerbin hours = 4) for an estimated consumption of 0.6 kg of food and drink, and 0.26 kg of oxygen per (human-type) kerbal, per Kerbin day.
  8. Kerbals eat 50 kg of food per (Kerbin, six-hour) day. Even though "food" probably includes drinks, this seems a bit much. http://imgur.com/728joeY A more reasonable quantity depends on whether: - Kerbals are green human-equivalents, or green peeps that are substantially smaller, and - a day on Kerbin is equal in length to an Earth day, or whether it's hours that are equal. Let's go with the choices that lead to the highest estimated consumption: Human-sized Kerbals, days of equal length. A read of http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01982.x/pdf gives us some very useful numbers for the carry-on mass required to sustain one human person for one Earth day. Assuming we provide reasonably tasty, hydrated, and varied meals, this is about 1.5 - 2 kg/person/day of food, accessories, and packaging, for a US astronaut. Drinks are additional, but liquid waste is recyclable. Values in the range of 0.25 - 1 kg/person/day of lost water seem reasonable, bringing our budget to 1.75 to 3 kg/person/day for food and drink. I've gone with a 2.5 kg/day value for now.
  9. There are no mods so crucial to me that I wouldn't play KSP without them. However, KER is super nice to have, and ScanSat, KAC, FAR, and EVE are also huge wins.
  10. My MK1 pods always keep falling when they touchdown in water. The pod, the instruments, and the parachute(s) just keep on going until they hit the bottom of the sea. A read of the forums indicates that a few other people have the same issue and that most people appear not to. What I haven't yet read is what might be causing this bug and how to fix it. Any thoughts?
  11. As do I. Too many people giving equations neglect to provide English translations of the terms. Most of us don't, in fact, read math natively ... and even those of us who do appreciate it when variables are defined.
  12. 20m. Fits in the shed, holds the juice, gets the payload lofted. Except when it doesn't, and then it's time for moar boosters. Which might or might not fit in the shed.
  13. Are you referring to standard KSP? It sounds instead like you're referring to some mod, but not giving us enough context to understand your post.
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