Maffif

You are correct. The idea in situations like this is to use systems that mathematically approximate realistic function. My point is this : Creating special tankage for the nuclear saltwater (and all the other highly niche resources, like plutonium carbide, water, UF4, and the myriad of fusion resources down the road) will take up both scope and prime real estate in the end user's RAM, especially with the modeling standard I hold myself to. Right now the only planned extra tankage is a size3 cryogenic stack. I could maybe add some tube array tanks, with very economical UVs but that would take time I barely even have to model. I might go back on this later if I learn to model more quickly and there is a sufficient demand for it, but for now this is the plan. Imagine the two tanks together (working fluid and nuclear fuel vaults) as a closed system that can be approximated as the assembly of tubes required for safely storing nuclear saltwater. The gameplay is no different beyond that threshold. Taking this approach will keep the scope narrower and make the mod much more lightweight on the user's end, which is one of my main goals.

The Fissile salts have their own dedicated storage, aside from the water. I know it isn't perfectly realistic, but between the two tankages (Plutonium and Liquidfuel) the mass should be similar to the array of tubes required. This way the tankage can be used in other engines that only need the Plutonium dust (like a dusty plasma or fission fragment rocket) The top section here is built into the engine, but will also be available as a standalone part in multiple profiles (I made sure that the ambient occlusion would work with it) to use in other setups. I'd sooner use stock xenon for stock-only, but that is moot; Given a very high need for LH2, I'm going the CRP route. Stock liquid fuel is far too dense for any sense of balance with very high-isp NTR's, so aside from another art pass on the engines, I am making some custom cryogenic storage. Edit: I could make the nuclear fuel boxes (or engine) rapidly ISRU into nuclearsaltwater maching Nertea's definition, which the engine then consumes, but don't see much of a use for that (since the end result is identical)

Hi @FreeThinker, The current plan is to use preexisting resources; however, for gameplay simplicity I am more likely to use a small number of them rather than find the explicit match, for local commonality. IE, plutonium or EnrichedUranium + Liquidfuel instead of the nuclearsaltwater resource- which means that other fission rockets such as the dusty plasma would share ISRU. As far as balance, I have part high weight and an inordinate fuel cost, as well as the engine (and most of the strong engines I am making) being fairly unwieldy. This one in particular is very long, has no gimbal and is very thrusty- these factors together make atmospheric usage almost impossible without auxiliary control engines, and restrict it to use as an interplanetary/interstellar drive.

I'm currently working on a pile of fission rockets (might do a beta soon), and was entertaining the idea of doing fusion engines when I finish that. If enough people seem to want it, I might be tempted to do just that. My parts are straightforward to use (they just work) and remain balanced. It is a very lightweight and minimalist approach compared to how KSPIe handles things

I don't have a good answer; my preference is Jool for the interesting moons and green skies. This is really something to decide for yourself. One thing to be aware of, scatterer has a bug in 1.4+ that makes the gas giant atmosphere vanish below 300km. If you want a view like the attached picture, you'll need to downgrade to KSP 1.3.1- Also, it will be a very difficult endeavor to try and return to orbit at a gas giant from an airship (but it is a borderline possibility, with the right parts)

Yes, I am here. Aside from a vacation and skyrim/building a new pc, this is what I have been up to: Edit: updated OP

B Brief update. I haven't stopped working; Good/bad: I keep growing as a modeler and having to scrap obsolete work/develop new workflows. This is how things are looking now.

So that gives 2.25km/s acceleration and deceleration (leaving the reserve 1000) There exists some specific trajectory that uses precisely that much dV to intercept earth sooner, but I don't know if MJ has the facilities for that sort of advanced transfer, or how much sooner you can make it- odds are slim here. I would either try to weather it out, or fiddle with Mechjeb

Hi, Your imgur link doesn't seem to work, I don't think the post is submitted yet. What resolution is your base image in blender? A higher resolution image can help, within reason of course. It's important to note even some of the best modelers here have to do a once-over after their image is made to properly align the UVs without seams being apparent As far as inverted sides, by selecting all the cylindrical faces (alt-right click on a long edge) and all the subsequent UV faces (A in the UV side) it can be figured out which faces are inverted by dragging around the UV while watching the model. Then you can just use 'h' to hide the islands in the UV panel, and type r180 to spin the UVs (or sy(-1) if they are actually flipped and not just rotated) Without seeing what is going on, I can't be sure if this actually helps you or not, but this is the best I can do for now.

Mesh for Nuclear Saltwater rocket is about done. This will be the endgame of the pack, a CTT capstone. Ignore the crookedness in the boxes at the right (top)- that's just Unity importing wrong. Right-end: Storage for ~20 tons of fissile salts, corresponding to 400 tons of water for mixing. (I may just leave the water for this and other engines as "liquidfuel" for stock/ISRU simplicity, but hydrogen engines will still use LH2) Contemplating a mesh-switch option for more fuel storage options. Forcing integrated fission salt storage puts some minor limitations on this seriously broken engine; Even with the proposed 20T limit, a vessel with a mass ratio of 4.5- conservatively heavy, at 150 tons dry - could achieve 700 km/s

>Downloads I think I found the new playground to test my dev stuff on. These planets look good.

New mesh for colossal gas core system

Revamp in progress; The initial release has been delayed (it would've been out weeks ago) but I want the quality to be closer in line with new stock/recent mod work Seen here: Revamped Lightbulb engine

Nuclear Thermal Rockets: Meet the family L-R top first -Vapor Core: early unlock, first engine to make SSTO (without payload) feasible. Slightly better than the NERV; still has really bad T/W (600/900s) -Truss: Fuel line is toggleable. Later on I'll probably make various switchable tubes (Crew etc) and more sizes -Liquid Core 2: Huge, T/W=10. Efficient, sluggish throttle response, will later incorporate optional water-hydrogen fuel toggle to switch to poor thrust/great isp (1111s vs 2000s); this engine can SSTO Eve. -Gas core 2: Efficient, powerful vacuum engine. Fills same niche as Kerbodyne's Rhino -Lightbulb 1: Small, highly efficient. Works well even in atmosphere; most efficient vacuum engine until GC4, but poor T/W (2010s) -Lightbulb 2: Large, responsive, versatile. It isn't the best at any one thing, except maybe T/W. VERY good SSTO engine. Future revised model will have spots to mount legs (or use EEX for unlimeted offset) -Gas Core 1: Same as GC2 but in a smaller package. -Gas Core 4: Interplanetary rocket system. Incorporates a 0.8 Gw radiator system (6222s isp gas core rocket generates MASSIVE waste heat, and also needs to be away from the crew a ways)- VERY poor T/W, unusable in atmosphere. Late unlock. Not present: -Liquid Core 1: Probe engine; abysmal T/W, 2000ish isp -Gas Core 3: relatively low profile engine with decent T/W, mounts for gear, and possibly an integrated heat shield. Late unlock. This will be a good engine for landers- possibly suitable for SSTO or booster-assisted STO on distant worlds with unknown atmospheric profiles.

Thanks. That was my plan for optional CRP integration, but I didn't know offhand how to write it. Right now I'm leaning towards using LH2 for some rockets, water for others, and giving a small few (Like the whirlpool, which needs some buffing to keep it competitive with other engines) a GTindustries multimode option. Likewise I plan on making the NTR's consume very small amounts of (undecided expensive resource); the torch drive (Nuclear saltwater) will use the same resource set, water and X, but at a proportion closer to 1:5. For now I'm giving the leakier GCR's (and later, the NSWR) pathetic isp at 1atm or greater. With that, I invite any to behold the first truly big engine: "A huge monstrosity of an engine, Kerbodyne's late entry gas core rocket is peerless among atomic rockets in terms of specific impulse. The tradeoff is very poor thrust performance; this rocket will not lift itself off of Kerbin- probably for the better, considering the engine is constantly ejecting its vaporized nuclear ractor. This is also the only thermal rocket incorporating nonregenerative cooling." 188 Tons, 1800kN/5222s (vac) (Still making some cfg tweaks to keep heating balanced between generation and loss; the part should do both at roughly equal rates) There are six seven NTR's tested/ready and a bonus switchable truss completed, with three more NTRs and a few more extras on the way. My current hurdle is putting multiple mu's in one folder, since I use an atlas texture. Whether or not I figure that out, there should be a primitive release very soon.