Help Wanted

[Fireheart318]

This may sound stupid but I'm trying to make an RTG that comes extremely close to overheating at ridiculous temperatures (it's a thermal sword guys. 10000K) but never really overheats. Its supposed to bleed as much heat into adjacent parts as possible and try to cool down at 100K shy of maximum temperature

Here's my existing code

MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleCoreHeat
        CoreTempGoal = 9000                    //Internal temp goal - we don't transfer till we hit this point
        CoreToPartRatio = 1                //Scale back cooling if the part is this % of core temp
        CoreTempGoalAdjustment = 0            //Dynamic goal adjustment
        CoreEnergyMultiplier = 0.01            //What percentage of our core energy do we transfer to the part
        HeatRadiantMultiplier = 1            //If the core is hotter, how much heat radiates?
        CoolingRadiantMultiplier = 0        //If the core is colder, how much radiates?
        HeatTransferMultiplier = 0            //If the part is hotter, how much heat transfers in?
        CoolantTransferMultiplier = 1        //If the part is colder, how much of our energy can we transfer?
        radiatorCoolingFactor = 0            //How much energy we pull from core with an active radiator?  >= 1
        radiatorHeatingFactor = 0            //How much energy we push to the active radiator
        MaxCalculationWarp = 1000            //Based on how dramatic the changes are, this is the max rate of change
        CoreShutdownTemp = 9900            //At what core temperature do we shut down all generators on this part?
        MaxCoolant = 0                        //Maximum amount of radiator capacity we can consume - 2500 = 1 small
        PassiveEnergy
        {
            key = 0     25000
            key = 200     10000
            key = 250     50        
            key = 300    25
            key = 350    0
        }
    }

[Streetwind]

You're using core heat here. Core heat does not really behave the same as "normal" heat, unless you let it leak out of the core and into the part proper. There may be field you can set that improve core<->internal conduction, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe CoolantTransferMultiplier? Crank it up to 1000 and see what happens.

 

As for the "thermal sword" part, though, I'm not sure if you can achieve what you want to achieve. As far as I know there is no heat conduction at all between parts that are physically touching but different vessels. They need to be part of the same vessel in order for heat conduction between parts to happen. So if you want to make a part that you can touch to another ship and make the part you touched explode, you'll probably end up disappointed.

There's a somewhat different solution that can achieve that goal, though. Try making an engine with a low thrust, a high Isp, and an absurd exhaust heating value. Essentially, you'd have a plasma cutter. Such a thing can and will overheat parts it is pointed at in KSP, provided you're close enough. Really close, like touching range. Like you planned to do with your sword.

[Fireheart318]

4 hours ago, Streetwind said:

You're using core heat here. Core heat does not really behave the same as "normal" heat, unless you let it leak out of the core and into the part proper. There may be field you can set that improve core<->internal conduction, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe CoolantTransferMultiplier? Crank it up to 1000 and see what happens.

 

As for the "thermal sword" part, though, I'm not sure if you can achieve what you want to achieve. As far as I know there is no heat conduction at all between parts that are physically touching but different vessels. They need to be part of the same vessel in order for heat conduction between parts to happen. So if you want to make a part that you can touch to another ship and make the part you touched explode, you'll probably end up disappointed.

There's a somewhat different solution that can achieve that goal, though. Try making an engine with a low thrust, a high Isp, and an absurd exhaust heating value. Essentially, you'd have a plasma cutter. Such a thing can and will overheat parts it is pointed at in KSP, provided you're close enough. Really close, like touching range. Like you planned to do with your sword.

What makes me think this'll work is sometimes in BDA dogfights, my plane is damaged so I have to get out and pray but the cockpit is also damaged and when Jeb starts falling, he's still heated up like the cockpit. Maybe its different with kerbals though. I've tried making an engine like that but it wouldn't load. I'll try it again soon. Thanks for your help!

[Streetwind]

That may be because the Kerbal was part of the heated-up cockpit before going EVA. (speculating here of course)