[0.23.5] Fuel Science v0.4 - Balance out that tech tree!

[ArcaneZedric]

Fuel Science

An addition to the Station Science mod by ethernet.

Included in this mod are three new experiments located in the fuel branches of the tech tree, to help balance the science-heavy electrics side:

Rocket Fuel Testing

: see how rocket fuel reacts to various space-based situations. Requires a crewed Science Lab (from

Station Science

, not the stock one), and some liquid fuel and oxidizer (you can pump some in from a separate tank, or use the tweakable interface to fill up the experiment pre-launch).

Can be performed everywhere except when flying, and gives 100 science points in Low Kerbin Orbit.

Advanced Fuel Testing: expose a tank of fuel and oxidizer to Retrograde Kuarqs from the Cyclotron. What could go wrong? You'll also need a crewed Science Lab and a fair amount of electrical power to keep the Cyclotron ahead of the Kuarq decay.

Can be performed everywhere except when flying, and gives 200 science points in Low Kerbin Orbit.

Plasma Fuel Testing: see if you can't get Xenon to react with something by pelting it with highly unstable Eccentric Kuarqs. In addition to the Science Lab and a supply of Xenon, these need two Cyclotrons and enough power to keep both running at the same time, since the Kuarq half-life is so short. Make sure not to run more than one Kuarq-based experiment at once, since the output of the Cyclotrons will split between them and the decay will likely get ahead of you.

Can only be performed in high orbits, and gives 300 science points in High Kerbin Orbit.

Download from Dropbox

NOTE: this mod does not work without Station Science! Make sure you have that installed, or these parts will just be eye candy.

This mod adds a new model for Station Science experiments, with new config files. Note that these are not replacements for the original parts, and will show up separately in the parts list in the VAB and SPH. If you want to use these instead of the old parts, make sure you're not using the old parts on any active flights and then remove the StnSciExperiment1-6 folders from GameData\StationScience\Parts. Make sure you back up the files, in case you want to revert.

It also adds new functionality to the experiment config files themselves, so you can make exciting new experiments with whatever resources you want.

Monopropellant? Yeah. Kethane? Sure. Antimatter, from KSP Interstellar? Why not? Life-support oxygen? Seems a bit iffy, but okay!

Note: these may be added in future updates, depending on requests.

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Current status of experiment definitions:

- Rocket Fuel: custom text for surface and orbit on Kerbin's moons and all planets but Dres

- Advanced Fuel: custom text for surface and orbit on Kerbin's moons and all planets but Dres

- Plasma Fuel: custom text for every available situation

Guidelines for creating your own custom-resource experiments:

-Resources are defined in REQUIREMENT nodes inside the ModuleCostlyExperiment.

-This requires the name of the resource and the maxAmount you want the experiment to be able to store.

-If your part also has regular tanks for the resources used in the experiment, strange behaviour may result.

MODULE
{
    name = ModuleCostlyExperiment
    experimentID = progradeKuarqs

    // lines omitted for clarity

    REQUIREMENT
    {
        name = Eurekas
        maxAmount = 24
    }
    REQUIREMENT
    {
        name = Kuarqs
        maxAmount = 50
    }
}

Todo List:

- Finish custom text for experiments

- More experiments

- More models

- Look into making experiments hard prerequisites for tech nodes

License:

All source code and software is licensed under GPL v3

Models and textures are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License

Version History
- 27 Jan 14: Initial Release (v0.1)
- 28 Jan 14: Experiment definition update (v0.2)
- 31 Jan 14: Significant code updates (v0.3)
- 06 Feb 14: Experiment definition update (v0.4)

Edited June 17, 2014 by ArcaneZedric
added custom experiment instructions

[landeTLS]

Nice stuff. Instant download for me. Kudos on the nice models. Hope more follow for the station science mod. That is an excellent plugin that lacks proper models

[KvickFlygarn87]

Neat models! What ballpark is the science output in?

[czokletmuss]

Fantastic models. Downloading

[ArcaneZedric]

Neat models! What ballpark is the science output in?

The science values are based on the Station Science amounts for Creature Comforts and Bio-Activity.

A completed Rocket Fuel experiment from LKO gives 100 science points (was 250), Advanced Fuels gives 200 (was 350), and Plasma Fuels gives 300 (was 450).

- edit: values have been changed and are now in original post

Edited January 28, 2014 by ArcaneZedric

[Hades]

Your mod gave me an idea about how the science mechanics could be realised in a completely different fashion than it is done currently in the stock game. Instead of collecting points that we can spend on whatever, we could complete experiments to unlock specific technologies, tech tree nodes. By experimenting with various fuel types for example, you would unlock new engines and tanks. That would make it more realistic than a generic magic "science" resource that equals all knowledge, even if your experiment had nothing to do with what you unlocked or discovered. But hey, I can't code or have the time to learn currently.. Nice mod. Will use in my next career playthrough. May even roleplay/fool around with the tech tree nodes to simulate mechanics I described

[CleverLikeMe]

So this mod is being released tomorrow? =P

[ArcaneZedric]

Hades: I've been having thoughts along very similar lines. I'd very much like to make something like that, but right now it's a bit too much for the free time I have.

So this mod is being released tomorrow? =P

I'm in Australia, where the timezones are ahead of almost everywhere else

Edited January 26, 2014 by ArcaneZedric

[ArcaneZedric]

Version 2 released

Includes new custom result text for more planetary and lunar bodies

[ArcaneZedric]

Version 3 released

Significant code update, now much cleaner and fits more closely with original Station Science experiments.

New features:

- "Start Experiment" button instead of being active all the time

- Added status indicator to experiment right-click menu

- Experiments now check that they're in the right place before allowing completion

- Storage for materials disappears when the experiment is completed

- Added the ability to turn off flow to material tanks

This update is likely to break previous installs, due to large-scale code changes. Back up your save before installing.

[GavinZac]

Super. I don't want to replace the original models (yet) but the new experiments sound useful.

[ArcaneZedric]

Version 4 released

Adds more custom result text for Advanced Fuel testing. Now includes all planets except Dres, as well as Kerbin and its moons.

[kiwiak]

Sup.

I recently started playing career mode and im using your mody. Its nice thing.

I have idea for new experiment. "Meeting lounge". Its is used to research social interactions of Kerbals in harsh condisions of space. It can have some crew capacity of its own, but to do research it requires some larger number of kerbals present on whole station... lets say 20.

As model for part, i dont think you have to create your own/use existing... Just make it compatible with inflatable habitats or fustek station modules.

And description coudl have some reference to prison experiment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

oh by the way

what will actually happen if i install original station sience experiments and these you made?

i send station into orbit counaining botch i wonder if i will get any bugs

Edited February 6, 2014 by kiwiak

[ArcaneZedric]

what will actually happen if i install original station sience experiments and these you made?

i send station into orbit counaining botch i wonder if i will get any bugs

These new experiments are designed to work alongside the original Station Science ones. There shouldn't be any problems with having a station performing say, a Plant Growth experiment and an Advanced Fuel test at the same time.

If you do find a bug though, let me know

I have idea for new experiment. "Meeting lounge". Its is used to research social interactions of Kerbals in harsh condisions of space.

Currently this mod deals with resources rather than Kerbals, but there's a possibility that it could be extended to include them in the future. If it does, I'll keep you informed

[timmers_uk]

Hey,

Just posting to say I'm really enjoying taking the Station Science/Costly Science (ah hang on ... Fuel Science now it is!) route in my current career mode game. Much thanks for your hard work.

You may be amused to know that I just finally got to finalizing results on my first rocket fuels experiment, EVA'd to pick it up and ... damn (cue check of part.cfg) ... its intentionally not recoverable by EVA ... and I had such grand plans involving having the experiment permanently attached, cleanable by my science lab and now .... (again) ... I need a redesign. Again. Oops.

Timmers

[MDBenson]

Hm... I've been trying to use this to set-up ISS modules to do science using experiment resources flown to orbit, and it works, but I've run into a couple of huiccups, I don't know whether these are your mod or Station Science.

If you run a Science Lab on the station and Clean the Experiment and rerun it after removing the data, The status is stuck on 'Inoperable' and where 'Start Experiment' should be, the 'Finalize Results' message is still displayed, but clicking it starts a new experiment, waiting for resources to be loaded.

Also if you add an experiment to any part that already has right-click menu actions it can cause issues with the right-click menus dying completely on all parts if you right-click that part.

[ArcaneZedric]

If you run a Science Lab on the station and Clean the Experiment and rerun it after removing the data, The status is stuck on 'Inoperable' and where 'Start Experiment' should be, the 'Finalize Results' message is still displayed, but clicking it starts a new experiment, waiting for resources to be loaded.

Thanks for the heads up! That sounds like the internal state isn't getting updated when the experiment is cleaned out. Depending on how much work it would take to detect that, I'll either fix it or put a warning in the top post.

Also if you add an experiment to any part that already has right-click menu actions it can cause issues with the right-click menus dying completely on all parts if you right-click that part.

That seems like a more serious error. Would you be able to provide a list of the other modules you had on the offending part? It'll make debugging easier.

Similarly, what parts have you tried adding the experiment module to? I know there are unpleasant interactions with anything that has tanks for resources that the experiment requires.

[biohazard15]

Do you plan to update this for new Station Science?

[kiwiak]

Do you plan to update this for new Station Science?

Does it needs updating?

[Christoph1337]

Does this mod work in 0.24?

[Manimal]

Does this mod work in 0.24?

... or 0.25 ?

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

I have it installed in 0.25 just fine, so it won't break anything at least. I'm still working on getting my science station up. When that's done, I'll see if this mod's parts are functional.

[Manimal]

I have it installed in 0.25 just fine, so it won't break anything at least. I'm still working on getting my science station up. When that's done, I'll see if this mod's parts are functional.

Excellent, thanks for the info.

[almagnus1]

Anyone tried this with .90 yet?

[DirtyFace83]

Seems to work fine with the 0.90 update of Station Science.