KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[Arivald Ha'gel]

On 2/27/2018 at 10:51 PM, FreeThinker said:

The new beta of KSPI 1.17 is available and can be downloaded from here

Changelog

* Added support for constant power generator like RTGs (by Arivald Ha'gel) 

* Added Airospike Z-Pinch Fusion Engine

* Added 3 new Fusion Rocketry technodes and made it a tech requirement of all Propulsion specialized parts

* Added new Faster Than Light technode  and made it a tech requirement of all Alcubiere drive parts

* Added several Ultralight Cubic Truss parts

* Balance: most Fusion engine have there tech requirement increased

* Balance: Vista Engine power requirement and trust now depends more on unlocked high sciene tech 

* Fixed several fuel mode issues with Vista Fusion

* Fixed some issues with Computer Core (by Arivald Ha'gel) 

* Fixed DC Electrical System issue when EC is full (by Arivald Ha'gel) 

I'd also add:

   * Fixed Large ISRU description and fixed Large ISRU output for Hydrates Processor. (by Arivald Ha'gel)

   * Changed Electrolyzer storage to LqdWater (by Arivald Ha'gel)

but those are indeed minor.

 

[Jumberlack]

Hey @FreeThinker, I don't really know how you determine the size of a planet's magnetic field, but would it be possible to single certain planets out even if they aren't in the stock game? I don't wanna seem as though I feel entitled to your (excellent, btw) work, but I think it would be really cool if you could buff the gas giant Gauss's magnetic field from the Galileo Planet Pack, because according to @JadeOfMaar on https://github.com/Galileo88/Galileos-Planet-Pack/wiki/Gauss this page,  Gauss is supposed to have a super strong magnetic field but after a brief excursion, I've found it to be ~20x weaker than Jool's. I don't know just how big it should be, but judging by descriptors used like 'enormous' and 'peril-causing', seems like it should at least be on paar with Jool.

[FreeThinker]

11 hours ago, Jumberlack said:

Hey @FreeThinker, I don't really know how you determine the size of a planet's magnetic field, but would it be possible to single certain planets out even if they aren't in the stock game? I don't wanna seem as though I feel entitled to your (excellent, btw) work, but I think it would be really cool if you could buff the gas giant Gauss's magnetic field from the Galileo Planet Pack, because according to @JadeOfMaar on https://github.com/Galileo88/Galileos-Planet-Pack/wiki/Gauss this page,  Gauss is supposed to have a super strong magnetic field but after a brief excursion, I've found it to be ~20x weaker than Jool's. I don't know just how big it should be, but judging by descriptors used like 'enormous' and 'peril-causing', seems like it should at least be on paar with Jool.

Notice in the latest release KSPIE 1.17.1 I have added a magneticfielddefinitions.cfg which allows you to modify it magnetic field strength of a celestial body. I given the planet Gauss a strength multiplication bonus of 100, making it magnetic field (and potential for antimatter collection) 5 times as powerful as Jool. Please verify that it works as I don't have the time to do it myself

Edited March 3, 2018 by FreeThinker

[Jumberlack]

5 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Please verify that it works as I don't have the time to do it myself

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but neither the magnetic field nor the antimatter collection rate changed. Sorry it took so long to check, I had to download it with my super slow mobile data and then transfer to my laptop so yeah. On another note, is there any way to get a renewable supply of positrons without launching more ships?

[raxo2222]

8 hours ago, Jumberlack said:

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but neither the magnetic field nor the antimatter collection rate changed. Sorry it took so long to check, I had to download it with my super slow mobile data and then transfer to my laptop so yeah. On another note, is there any way to get a renewable supply of positrons without launching more ships?

You will need magnetic scoop, muon catalyzed fusion reactor running on H-D, trialpha reactor running on D-He3, healthy storage of Deuterium, solarwind converter and storage for He3, H and Positron. These two reactors I mentioned have builtin generators. Bring radiators too.

[FreeThinker]

4 hours ago, raxo2222 said:

You will need magnetic scoop, muon catalyzed fusion reactor running on H-D, trialpha reactor running on D-He3, healthy storage of Deuterium, solarwind converter and storage for He3, H and Positron. These two reactors I mentioned have builtin generators. Bring radiators too.

No, he was testing the antimatter collectors, but it appeared not to have worked as expected. I will investigate later

Edited March 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[enewmen]

From the Support thread:

Was told it belongs here.

 

On 3/4/2018 at 11:42 PM, FreeThinker said:

Yes, what do you think of new changes of the tech tree? I made the change after analyzing some of the balance problems I had with the fusion tech nodes which tended to be too powerful in comparison to other tech nodes as multiple reactor and engines were unlocked by single tech node. Especially Advanced fusion technode was overcrowded. The most logical solution was to split up fusion power and fusion propulsion. It allows more conscious choice in a players strategy by focusing on either power or propulsion. Also by putting the Alcubiere warp drive in its own FTL technode at an 11th tier, it created more advancement room allowing me to put the more powerful reactors and engines at a higher technodes.

I like the new tech-tree and it makes more sense.   I also like the room for more powerful reactors, engines, transmitters, receivers.

This is what I personally suggest:  Some are easier to make than others.

Add a tech-node that allow existing reactors to scale smaller:  Quantum Singularity Reactor (< 5m),  Magnetic Containment Fusion Reactor ( < 5m) , Spherical Tokamak (< 2.5m),  Stellarator Fusion Reactor (< 1.875m),  etc.

Engine miniaturisation:  Allow the Bussard, Kerbstein, and other bulky engines to scale smaller.

Advanced nuclear surface launching engines with higher ISP (ASL) that also allow Vacuum travel. :  Such as a nuclear version of the Sabre/R.A.P.I.E.R Engine that can toggle use Atm and Plasma depending on the air density. Others are a more powerful/ advanced version of the Ablative Laser.  Or a more advanced version of the Closed Cycle Gas Core engine.

High Power Receivers &Transceivers with new materials that allow a higher maximum electric & thermal power for the same size diameter.

High Power X-Ray Transmitters that allow larger apertures and smaller mass for ultra long range power.

EDIT: After chatting with FreeThinker, it seems the existing X-Ray lasers are as good as they can be and gamma rays are inefficient.

 

Advanced Receivers that allow Double Pivoted receivers to scale smaller than 2.5m and turn on 2-axis (if not already)

Advanced long range transceiver antenna & relay for interstellar travel that are not super-size.

Centrifugal Force:  Make Spaceships and  Stations with "Habitation Wheel" centrifugal force artificial gravity that allow much longer habitation time while requiring lower power (than some existing deep space habitation modules). I don't think this requires a high-tech node, but may need new modeling.

Sub-Light Engines or Impulse Engines:  Radically new non-warp plasma engine tech that changes time dilation &  energy conservation make it easier to reach low warp speed travel equivalent (.000001c - .3c I guess), use LESS power at lower speeds, and the ability to move much larger vehicle masses (than the Alcubiere warp).  This will also make it easier to reduce excess Delta-V after exiting warp speed to a more manageable level such as 1000 m/s.  High non-warp speed will require huge amounts of power and will also have an inertial dampener so Kerbals won't get killed during ultra high acceleration.

Artificial Gravity:  Kebarls can now walk & eat snacks normally while inside the spaceship without needing a bulky centrifugal habitation wheel and will highly increase habitation time.  I guess this tech is related to the sub-light engine inertial dampener.

I DO NOT Suggest breaking physics or making any tech magically good.

My 2 cents worth.

 

On 3/6/2018 at 12:20 AM, FreeThinker said:

Great suggestion but it should have been posted in the development tread.

Regarding the miniaturisation, great idea but Tweakscale in it current state doesn't allow it, as the unlocking tech is the same as the scaling tech. I'm considering creating my own version of Tweakscale where I could add features like tech-based scaling and flow curves for mass and cost scaling.

 

Added:

The tweakscale seems to allow the bulky reactors like the Quantum Singularity Reactor to scale larger - smaller is not possible.  Tech based will also be an improvement.

 

On 3/5/2018 at 9:00 PM, enewmen said:

High Power X-Ray Transmitters that allow larger apertures and smaller mass for ultra long range power.

 

"We already do have an X-ray Transmitter."

yes, we have a X-ray transmitter, but the aperture is much smaller than the microwave/visible type of transmitters.  I hope to find a way to build large aperture X-Ray transmitters without being super massive.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by enewmen

[FreeThinker]

2 minutes ago, enewmen said:

yes, we have a X-ray transmitter, but the aperture is much smaller than the microwave/visible type of transmitters.  I hope to find a way to build large aperture X-Ray transmitters without being super massive.

2

I see what you mean now, but the one provided is the only conceivable solution I could come up with using known physics. The big problem is that X-ray is extremely hard to redirect. Besides that, it needs to be combined with a beam generator to allow it to track a target accurately. The only conceivable other solution would be to turn the entire vessel into a big beam generator which you have to pivot completely to aim at a target. What you might gain in aperture you lose in accuracy as keeping a ship aimed at one particular target is extremely hard.

[enewmen]

58 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

I see what you mean now, but the one provided is the only conceivable solution I could come up with using known physics. The big problem is that X-ray is extremely hard to redirect. Besides that, it needs to be combined with a beam generator to allow it to track a target accurately. The only conceivable other solution would be to turn the entire vessel into a big beam generator which you have to pivot completely to aim at a target. What you might gain in aperture you lose in accuracy as keeping a ship aimed at one particular target is extremely hard.

Maybe a gamma ray laser & receiver makes more sense if the goal is very range power.  Just thinking.

[FreeThinker]

23 hours ago, enewmen said:

Maybe a gamma ray laser & receiver makes more sense if the goal is very range power.  Just thinking.

Current X-ray Free Electron Laser Transmitter is capable of transmitting in 1 pico meter wavelength (0,00000000001 meter).

To give you an idea what this allows you to do:

An X-ray/ thermal receiver on Pluto which lies at (7.5 billion kilometres at a maximum distance from Earth), would need to be about 40 meters in diameter to receive power from a 2.5 diameter  X-ray Free Electron Laser Transmitter.

That's pretty good, especially the Kerbal solar system (where all distances are 10 times as short) as the equivalent distance would require only 4m diameter receiver.

Besides that, you can scale it up by a factor of 16 (40m)  to reduce it to a mere 2.5 diameter requirement. This effectively allows you to power the entire solar system.

Do note that the shorter the wavelength, the less efficient the power can be transmitted as a large part is absorbed by your optics.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by FreeThinker

[ArmchairPhysicist]

I had an idea today and in the short time since I thought of it I’ve become obsessed and must share it.

Supercritical liquid/gas fission rocket.

I shall expand on my idea. 

This rocket is fueled by subcritical powdered fission fuel, most likely plutonium, stored in neutron absorbing fuel tanks.

These tanks feed into a heating chamber(also neutron absorbing) where the still subcritical powder is melted into a fluid or a gas, and then pumped out of the device.

Once out of the device and potentially on the other side of a shielding apparatus, the fuel goes supercritical due to a combination of a lack of moderation and violent compression of the fuel by a magnetic field. 

The resulting continuous atomic explosion out the the business end of the rocket will drive glowing kerbals to the stars and beyond,.

 

Im sure there are numerous issues with my idea of nuclear physics with this drive, however I figured I would share it anyway,

 

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by ArmchairPhysicist

[enewmen]

On 3/7/2018 at 1:25 AM, FreeThinker said:

Current X-ray Free Electron Laser Transmitter is capable of transmitting in 1 pico meter wavelength (0,00000000001 meter).

To give you an idea what this allows you to do:

An X-ray/ thermal receiver on Pluto which lies at (7.5 billion kilometres at a maximum distance from Earth), would need to be about 40 meters in diameter to receive power from a 2.5 diameter  X-ray Free Electron Laser Transmitter.

That's pretty good, especially the Kerbal solar system (where all distances are 10 times as short) as the equivalent distance would require only 4m diameter receiver.

Besides that, you can scale it up by a factor of 16 (40m)  to reduce it to a mere 2.5 diameter requirement. This effectively allows you to power the entire solar system.

Do note that the shorter the wavelength, the less efficient the power can be transmitted as a large part is absorbed by your optics.

 

 

Thank you for explaining. It seems the existing lasers are as good as they can be.  To try to power near by star systems, I'll just make the current X-Ray far-hard laser scaled up a lot.  Let me edit the future tech-node wish list.

[FreeThinker]

17 minutes ago, ArmchairPhysicist said:

I had an idea today and in the short time since I thought of it I’ve become obsessed and must share it.

Supercritical liquid/gas fission rocket.

I shall expand on my idea. 

This rocket is fueled by subcritical powdered fission fuel, most likely plutonium, stored in neutron absorbing fuel tanks.

These tanks feed into a heating chamber(also neutron absorbing) where the still subcritical powder is melted into a fluid or a gas, and then pumped out of the device.

Once out of the device and potentially on the other side of a shielding apparatus, the fuel goes supercritical due to a combination of a lack of moderation and violent compression of the fuel by a magnetic field. 

The resulting continuous atomic explosion out the the business end of the rocket will drive glowing kerbals to the stars and beyond,.

 

Im sure there are numerous issues with my idea of nuclear physics with this drive, however I figured I would share it anyway,

Sounds like a nuclear salt water engine to me. Big problem is that is spewing radiation like crazy, it also requires a lot of uranium/plutonium. Still it is probably one of the easiest method to combine high isp with very high thrust. The trick is to keep the nozzle from melting

Edited March 7, 2018 by FreeThinker

[ArmchairPhysicist]

13 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Sounds like a nuclear salt water engine to me. Big problem is that is spewing radiation like crazy, it also requires a lot of uranium/plutonium. Still it is probably one of the easiest method to combine high isp with very high thrust. The trick is to keep the nozzle from melting

These do seem similar, I suppose original ideas are impossible. However (I could be misreading the NSWR’s method of operation) the goal of my rocket seems to be a hybrid of the NSWR and project Orion. NSWR seems to simply use supercritical fission mass as a propellant. I’m envisioning a continuous atomic detonation being formed by the ejected and compressed fission fuel. 

[FreeThinker]

17 hours ago, ArmchairPhysicist said:

These do seem similar, I suppose original ideas are impossible. However (I could be misreading the NSWR’s method of operation) the goal of my rocket seems to be a hybrid of the NSWR and project Orion. NSWR seems to simply use supercritical fission mass as a propellant. I’m envisioning a continuous atomic detonation being formed by the ejected and compressed fission fuel. 

Ah yes, that sound more like a Z-Pinch Microfission engine, which tries achieve super-critical fission by compressing a small amount of nuclear fuel. I had some plans already to introduce something like that but the problem is finding a suitable model for it. Granted it would be the perfect part to fill the Exotic Fission propulsion tech node (which is currently empty except upgrades)

Edited March 8, 2018 by FreeThinker

[ArmchairPhysicist]

Just now, FreeThinker said:

Ah yes, that sound more like a Z-Pinch Fission engine, which tries achieve super-critical fission by quelching a small amount if nuclear fuel. I had some plans already to introduce something like that. The trick is a suitable model for it.

Oh awesome. Maybe the fission engine can be a lower tech analog to the z-pinch. Potential downsides being very expensive fuel and high mass? 

No matter what your idea ends up being, I look forward to checking it out. Your mod is still one of my favorites.

Keep up the great work man!

[enewmen]

@ArmchairPhysicist  (so I don't ask FreeThinker for everything)

"Sub-Light Engines or Impulse Engines:  Radically new non-warp plasma engine tech that changes time dilation &  energy conservation make it easier to reach low warp speed travel equivalent (.000001c - .3c I guess), use LESS power at lower speeds, and the ability to move much larger vehicle masses (than the Alcubiere warp).  This will also make it easier to reduce excess Delta-V after exiting warp speed to a more manageable level such as 300-1000 m/s.  High non-warp speed will require huge amounts of power and will also have an inertial dampener so Kerbals won't get killed during ultra high acceleration. "

You seem interested in future tech, so you think this is possible in the Kerbal universe; the same universe that has a working Alcubiere warp?  If it's just fiction, I'll stop entertaining this idea.  If possible, then it's better suited for RoverDude's development thread?   The Centrifugal Force "Habitation Wheel" seems very possible, but that may also be better suited for RoverDude.

thanks!

Edited March 8, 2018 by enewmen

[ArmchairPhysicist]

I have a question, are there any plans to add some form of active heat management for late game craft? By this I mean a cryogenic cooling facility to help cool the high end fusion reactors and drives. I’ve found that for high energy reactors to be useful, even with beamed power, radiators simply can’t keep up in space without using an unreasonable amount of tweak scales radiators.

[enewmen]

8 hours ago, ArmchairPhysicist said:

I have a question, are there any plans to add some form of active heat management for late game craft? By this I mean a cryogenic cooling facility to help cool the high end fusion reactors and drives. I’ve found that for high energy reactors to be useful, even with beamed power, radiators simply can’t keep up in space without using an unreasonable amount of tweak scales radiators.

I would just get a large folding radiator made to reduce waste heat.  Then get a heat exchanger and connect that to the reactor if it helps.  Can also scale up the radiator to cool the vessel further.  Some reactors don't require a thermal electric generator and produce very little heat.

If you want to receive beam power AND radiate heat, then you can use the wrapped microwave thermal receiver which also has a very large receiving diameter and a large cooling surface area. 

I don't think cryogenic cooling will help any - but I'm not any kind of expert.

Edited March 9, 2018 by enewmen

[ArmchairPhysicist]

5 hours ago, enewmen said:

I would just get a large folding radiator made to reduce waste heat.  Then get a heat exchanger and connect that to the reactor if it helps.  Can also scale up the radiator to cool the vessel further.  Some reactors don't require a thermal electric generator and produce very little heat.

If you want to receive beam power AND radiate heat, then you can use the wrapped microwave thermal receiver which also has a very large receiving diameter and a large cooling surface area. 

I don't think cryogenic cooling will help any - but I'm not any kind of expert.

The reason I ask is because on my last save (this is an extreme project) I built the SuperSpaceNuka station. This mofo sat in KSO above the KSC and used a Quantum reactor and 4 Akulas to pump pour 76 GWs of ultraviolet beamed goodness. The downside was that I had 8 400% large winged radiators, 8 200% ones, and 16 100% ones. Darn thing still melted faster than Three miles islands core when I fired up the far ultraviolet transmitter. I figured I was overkilling it with the SuperSpaceNuka, but still that much radiators spam should have fixed my meltdown, at the very least my part count needs help if realistic radiators numbers can’t be achieved.

[FreeThinker]

1 hour ago, ArmchairPhysicist said:

The reason I ask is because on my last save (this is an extreme project) I built the SuperSpaceNuka station. This mofo sat in KSO above the KSC and used a Quantum reactor and 4 Akulas to pump pour 76 GWs of ultraviolet beamed goodness. The downside was that I had 8 400% large winged radiators, 8 200% ones, and 16 100% ones. Darn thing still melted faster than Three miles islands core when I fired up the far ultraviolet transmitter. I figured I was overkilling it with the SuperSpaceNuka, but still that much radiators spam should have fixed my meltdown, at the very least my part count needs help if realistic radiators numbers can’t be achieved.

If you want to limit your part count you should to use the biggest radiators, scaled up as big as possible. The 2.5 M Wrapped Radiator offers a 2 x 50m x 50m surface area and can also be used to receive any type of beamed power. You can scale it up 16 times to a 2x 800m x 800m surface area.

[enewmen]

2 hours ago, ArmchairPhysicist said:

The reason I ask is because on my last save (this is an extreme project) I built the SuperSpaceNuka station. This mofo sat in KSO above the KSC and used a Quantum reactor and 4 Akulas to pump pour 76 GWs of ultraviolet beamed goodness. The downside was that I had 8 400% large winged radiators, 8 200% ones, and 16 100% ones. Darn thing still melted faster than Three miles islands core when I fired up the far ultraviolet transmitter. I figured I was overkilling it with the SuperSpaceNuka, but still that much radiators spam should have fixed my meltdown, at the very least my part count needs help if realistic radiators numbers can’t be achieved.

Have you tried a thermal electric generator ?  At least make all that excess heat into usable electricity.  Can also try a heat exchanger , but personally it didn't do much for me.   Sorry, I never had the kind of problem you're describing and you always want a little waste heat.  I also wouldn't make such a powerful reactor & laser anyway - that will require super-size receivers that can receive so much power - at least until more powerful receivers can be made. 

Most of my space-ship designs (even the really big ones) use a large IFS Electric Capacitor.  This allows me to have a modest size reactor and smallish thermal receiver that just charge the batteries.  When I need full acceleration for going to Kerbal to Jool or  removing excess DeltaV after existing warp, I only need about 3 mins of burn time.  When using electric plasma engines, the capacitors, provide enough juice to keep the engines running.   When time-warping, the batteries recharge quickly.

Edited March 9, 2018 by enewmen

[FreeThinker]

Has anyone tried playing  KSPIE in KSP 1.4? From what I can tell the latest 1.3.1 compatible with 1.4  there are no issues, but I could be mistaken

Edited March 10, 2018 by FreeThinker

[AtilaElari]

On 22.02.2018 at 1:54 PM, FreeThinker said:

Well Uranium Ore mining and reprocessing it into enriched uranium is fairly profitable which you can even do it on Kerbin itself by making a large rover equipped with mining equipment and processors and powered by a molten salt reactor.  Find a site rich in uranium, drive your rover to the site and start mining for profit.

Another potentially profit mining scheme is to create a floating platform which extracts lithium and deuterium from the sea water and used it to breed tritium and helium3 in a fusion reactor in cold deuterium fusion mode. Excess power could be shot into space feeding you beamed power network, allowing you to launch rockets cheaper into space, which is the real money  saver.

Having a Uranite deposit right under the KSC is pretty OP. Provides nigh-infinite supply of funds from silly-looking mining and refinery rovers in rather short amount of time. I wonder if it is possible to nerf the refund price of fuels for balance purposes. Or just declare such way of fund acquisition un-gentelmany.

[FreeThinker]

15 minutes ago, AtilaElari said:

Having a Uranite deposit right under the KSC is pretty OP. Provides nigh-infinite supply of funds from silly-looking mining and refinery rovers in rather short amount of time. I wonder if it is possible to nerf the refund price of fuels for balance purposes. Or just declare such way of fund acquisition un-gentelmany.

Yes you can. The KCS actualy consist of several biomes, you have to figure out exactly which youself but you can find a list here.  and add it as a specific biome resource to Uraninite.cfg.

Here is an example for the KTC LaunchPad

BIOME_RESOURCE
{
	ResourceName = Uraninite
	ResourceType = 0
	PlanetName = Kerbin
	BiomeName =  LaunchPad
	
	Distribution
	{
		PresenceChance = 0
		MinAbundance = 0
		MaxAbundance = 0
		Variance = 10
		Dispersal = 3
	}
}

this will ensure that trying to min on the KTC LaunchPad itself will not work

Edited March 10, 2018 by FreeThinker