Yaivenov

Hmm, perhaps a quality modifier could be added? When you start your available parts are beat up, dented, scratched, rusted, etc. and as you progress through the tech the parts are slowly refined, so a tier 1 engine at the very beginning would look like scavenged junk, but the same tier 1 engine late game would be pristine and polished. This could also be tied in with a state-of-the-art modifier that gives small improvement to the thrust and isp of the available engines up and down the line. For instance the LV-T45 might see a 3% increase in it's vacuum ISP after you research optimal engine nozzle length versus throat diameter ratios.

You have my attention.

Probably. Just tried a few max size (manual setting) realchute radials and the increased drag stats seemed to work just fine (successfully returned an SLS engine and a pair of the largest 3.75m fuel tanks). I guess I'll just suck it up for the time being and setup realchutes for my stage recovery. Sorry to bother you.

@medsouz: Thanks for picking this mod back up and working on it, its just the sort of thing I was looking for to expand my Interstellar career (what's the point of an alcubierre drive if you don't have anywhere to go, right?) I've noted the very first hurdle and I'm hoping you could help me with it. The current problem: Solar panel power scaling. I noted that my a ship I had at eeloo was generating (from solar panels) the same amount of energy that it should have been making while in Kerbin orbit. I flew the ship from Eeloo to Dres taking a very low perihelion route to see what the power levels would do and they seemed to remain more or less constant the entire trip. I'm not sure how the current code is setup so I'm not sure what help I can give other than pointing these things out as I find them. What sort of solar power arrangement is intended with StarSystems? ie. are solar panels supposed to change their point of aim based on which systems SOI it is currently in? Are panels supposed to be completely non-functional when outside of a solar system's SOI?

I'm giving StarSystems a quick spin on my client. The very first thing I noted is that solar power is skewed. My craft at Eeloo was gerating Kerbin-altitude amounts of electrical power from the solar panels with a commensurate amount of wasteheat generation. ETA: Just took that Eeloo craft through a transit to Dres. Solar power remained more or less constant through out the vast Kerbol-altitude changes. I guess fixing solar power sourcing and ranging (since the sun is no longer the center of the Kerbal universe) will be the first hurdle if I want an expanded interstellar region. ETA2: Another quick question, is anti-matter supposed to be selling for so much money? I recovered about 500mg from a spacecraft and it ended up giving me a few billion credits. While I like the idea of a late game money maker in order to free you from the constraints of the contract system this kind of monetary return seems gamebreakingly OP. *shrug* Just my opinion of course but I rather liked the economy constraint imposed by career mode as it made me keep efficiency and thrift in mind when building space craft and rockets, and not just slap together the biggest do-everything ship possible and strapping on Moar Boosters! until it manages to make LKO.

It's while in flight dumping booster stages during launch. Since I kind of have to keep flying my rocket I can't focus on the discarded stage all the way through their descent. I already use realchute for most needs, I just tweaked the stock radial chute because I wanted an easily/quickly installed stage recovery part. I'll try a few launches with max-size realchute radials installed and see how that fairs.

Just a stray thought, but now that we've got the means to get around I was thinking it would be nice to have some places to go to. I was wondering how difficult it would be to integrate some of the multiple solar system mods into Interstellar with a few interesting tweaks, such as those systems and planets being hidden until you "find" them via for example the Direct Planetary Observation experiment with the IR telescope. In theory we could add a whole new cartography and astrogation aspect the game with the concept of searching for other nearby stars, then developing a profile of what sort of planets they possess, charting their orbits etc. in anticipation of sending an expedition. Which then segues into colonization type efforts, establishing a self-sufficient station or planetary hub from which to conduct further and farther exploration.

I seem to be having some trouble with the mod. I tweaked the stats on the stock radial parachute in order to reduce part count (gave it the drag of approximately 10 regular radials) however the recovery mod seems to still treat it as if it were just a single standard-stat stock parachute when it computes the impact speed. What am I doing wrong?

I can confirm that the NFT solar panels do generate waste heat, and it seems commensurate with their energy production. That's why I was unsure about making megajoule generating solar panels as it might bypass the heat generation code (assuming that code is specifically looking at default energy resource generation).

Would the solar panels still produce the appropriate amount of waste heat?

@GreeningGalaxy: Thanks for that engine. So silly question moment, but has there been any thought given to an inverter-transformer-rectifier type part? Purpose being to take "electric charge" (kW DC power) and step it up to megajoules. This would give craft orbiting close to Kerbol a lighter weight power option.

Couldn't you guys use the naturally expected radius just divided down to kerbal scale? (1:10 based, very roughly, on Earth/Kerbin) So in the case of brown dwarfs, which are expected to be roughly the size of Jupiter (despite being much more massive) would give a radius of around 70,000km. Kerbal scale that down to 7,000km and you have a star that is about 2.3 times the diameter of Jool. It wouldn't be too hard to a compile a list of kerbal-scaled star radii.

Small question/request.... The situation: I've been having a blast with the antimatter reactors combined with thermal rockets and the like, and I've currently worked around the problem of starting with no AM by collecting some, then returning a canister of it to the spaceport before loading it onto a fuel bowser. New rocket going up, drive the fuel bowser over to the launch pad, and load a gram or two of AM and then drive the bowser back over to it's parking spot. The issue: While this has worked well I find the increase in part count and such to be a bit problematic for slower computers, plus the ever present hazard of my fuel technician tripping over a pebble and spontaneously exploding as they face plant on the tarmac. The possible solution?: Would it be possible to integrate recovered fuel storage into the space complex? Ie. a ship returns with a load of tritium or antimatter and when recovered the rare fuel is stored at the complex ready to be parceled out to ships at a later date.

Interesting. I think this might integrate into my interstellar (and other mods) game regarding making a good general purpose interplanetary VTOL craft (antimatter powered thermal rockets are fun).

Ooo, gimbal lock for the first few generations of craft instrumentation would be a neat kind of "extra-hard-mode" mod.

Just an aside, I really like the retexture for the solar panel. Even if I'm not using the ion engine I think I'll definitely add that to my collection.

That's awesome... and the thought of hauling around a GPS unit that large makes me actually miss the old PLGR units.

Yeah, there's going to be nay-sayers who wont be satisfied with anything short of a FRAPS film from install to landing, but I don't care, I found my first anomaly through cosmic coincidence! ETA: Just realized I need to add a dot to my Duna ribbon.

That was my thought when I took a look around my probe yesterday. I mean, what are the odds of dropping your non-mobile first probe on a planet, in an unguided descent (beyond, "hey, that crater floor looks flattish, I'll de-orbit in that general direction"), without any prior mapping of the area, and having it land within sight of an anomaly? "What a nice planet, lets start doing Scie-hey, what's that over there?" *zooms out and swings the camera view around* "!!!" Needless to say, there's now a Kerballed mission en-route to explore and flaggify the object.

Bit of a low-priority and selfish request, but would it be possible to add a numerical horizontal and vertical velocity indicator (VVEL, HVEL) to the instrument as well? The lines and pips are great for general alignment (and have made docking MUCH easier) but seem to lack the "resolution" if you will to allow for complete zeroing out of my translational velocity.

Love the minimalist approach, but a small observation and suggestion. There are times when the target velocity indicator isn't visible, reversed, or otherwise affected and thus less reliable for translational alignment. Perhaps a horizontal/vertical-only velocity vector could be added? Just a simple red line that stretches from the center of the target alignment indicator, in the direction you are moving along the two axis that are perpendicular to the docking port, and with a length proportional to your relative speed on that plane. (Quick edit because sometimes my brain tries to shift without a clutch...)

Fractal, I'm trying to add the waste heat factor to the solar array wings from the KOSMOS add on (I could just use them as-is, but that would be "cheating"), but I'm apparently missing something. I assumed I needed to add .cfg files specific to those parts in the Additions folder, with the appropriate part names, but I'm not sure what else needs to be added.

Alright, I'm in the process of building a very large couple hundred ton interplanetary ship that uses several sets of MDP connections, I'll let you know how it works. Oh, by the way... THANK YOU!!! I've been looking for something like this for a while. Update: So, preliminary testing, where I had RCS enabled on a 10 ton part assembly, and was using it to swing an 80 ton part assembly about madly resulted in no visible deformation of the multi-docking port node. Sorry I can't get more technical than that, Bob accidentally jettisoned the material stress analyzer when he decided to "go outside for a stroll."

How does this mod function regarding multi-docking port connections?

*goes back and re-reads his notes* ...and that's what I get for just going off my memory. Aero-50, more shelf-stable, thus better for long duration missions, but not used as a mono-prop. Doh. But by all means, go read up on FT processes. Seems like they'd be straight up this game's alley.