[1.12.x] Far Future Technologies - August 23: new engine!

[ProgorMatic]

The X-2 was already my favorite engine in this mod.  Now I'm going to have to hurry up and finish the USI patch for SSPXR so I can play with this engine.  I had to throw something together to check it out... 90k delta-V on a 1,000 ton payload with only 9 of the largest extending graphene radiators (8 for the engine + 1 more for the reactor)?  Sign me up.  Can't wait to get this bad boy into space... should be able to take this cargo anywhere in the system.  This ship will take 1000 years to get to Nova Kirbani (Galaxies Unbound mod), but if I trade enough cargo for fuel... it will be interesting to see if there's a place for these on the colony ship, or if the frisbee is still the only option for interstellar travel.

For scale, this thing is a little taller than the VAB.  All parts are 5m, except the central liquid methane tank at the bottom which is 7.5m (to provide enough room for the 8 5m tanks surrounding it).  It takes 17 tyrannosaur engines to get this thing into orbit, but then it can cruise the system with the single X-42 with a decent TWR of 0.34.

Almost feels like you missed a decimal place somewhere... did you mean for this to use 1/15 of the fuel and provide double the thrust of the X-2?  If so, it almost seems like it needs its own fuel type - concentrated nuclear salt water or something.

[Nertea]

On 9/4/2021 at 3:18 PM, ProgorMatic said:

most feels like you missed a decimal place somewhere... did you mean for this to use 1/15 of the fuel and provide double the thrust of the X-2?  If so, it almost seems like it needs its own fuel type - concentrated nuclear salt water or something.

Yes, it is correct, it compares to the Cascade and Frisbee rather than other engines. When you look at that triad, you get the high thrust/low ISP, lower thrust/higher ISP and the ultimate one. May always need tuning with respect to each other, but those torches aren't meant to be balanced

[Not a Spy]

GREAT MOD!

 I'm wondering what we can look forward too, is there a roadmap for what your working on?

Edited September 11, 2021 by Not a Spy

[modus]

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/47223-wip-nerts-dev-thread-current-such-nuke-wow

[Space Kerbalisation Tech]

what tag should i use in the ksp vab in search to find the parts, as in ALL the parts, as all the keywords i have been using can't get all the parts, there always seem to be a few parts that are left out and i have to tediously find them by going into each category (quite hard and very slow when you have a ton of mods installed)

[Brigadier]

7 hours ago, Space Kerbalisation Tech said:

what tag should i use in the ksp vab in search to find the parts, as in ALL the parts, as all the keywords i have been using can't get all the parts, there always seem to be a few parts that are left out and i have to tediously find them by going into each category (quite hard and very slow when you have a ton of mods installed)

Depending on what you're trying to do, have you considered using Janitor's Closet?

 

[Nertea]

12 hours ago, Space Kerbalisation Tech said:

what tag should i use in the ksp vab in search to find the parts, as in ALL the parts, as all the keywords i have been using can't get all the parts, there always seem to be a few parts that are left out and i have to tediously find them by going into each category (quite hard and very slow when you have a ton of mods installed)

FFT -> farfuture, most NFT -> nearfuture, SSPX -> sspx.

[Space Kerbalisation Tech]

9 hours ago, Nertea said:

FFT -> farfuture, most NFT -> nearfuture, SSPX -> sspx.

Thanks! 

[ProgorMatic]

The X-42 needs some "torch" radiators to go with it.  8 radiators to cool one engine makes sense if you only have one engine, but once you start clustering them to lift kiloton plus payloads, it gets a bit crazy:

What I'd like to do is scale a VF-1250 Delta (the biggest that can survive ascent through atmosphere) radiator up to 800%.  This should make one radiator that covers 50k waste heat, assuming the heat disippated is proportional to the surface area. But when I scale it up, it doesn't change the System Heat values.  Has anyone got TweakScale to work with System Heat?

Alternatively, I'd love to see an active cooling module that could consume Liquid Hydrogen (in lieu of adding Liquid Nitrogen as another resource to manage) to produce Radiative Flux.

[Judicator81]

5 hours ago, ProgorMatic said:

Has anyone got TweakScale to work with System Heat?

You can try this MM-config (TweakScale support for SH radiators):
 

TWEAKSCALEEXPONENTS
{
	name = ModuleSystemHeat
	volume = 3
}
TWEAKSCALEEXPONENTS
{
	name = ModuleSystemHeatRadiator
	convectiveArea = 2
}

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[ModuleSystemHeatRadiator],@MODULE[ModuleSystemHeat],!MODULE[ModuleEngines*]]:NEEDS[TweakScale]:FINAL
{
	%MODULE[TweakScale]
	{
		type = free_square
	}
}

I didn't test it though.

[ProgorMatic]

I ended up switching back to KSPIE for my high end engines.  I love the simplicity of far future, but for what I'm trying to build, embracing TweakScale is a necessity.  The same build came out to 65 parts with 2 Metallic Hydrogen engines scaled to 8.5m.

[Xeithr]

need help, Something is going wrong with FFT for me

here's my log https://mega.nz/file/Ne4hyKgR#hdNHBHXc5CEzj53Ycz52OyTZRiOdRcqKZ_h8L-zbGrM

 

and here's an exert from it

[WRN 10:08:44.049] The script 'FarFutureTechnologies.ModulePulseEngineAnimator' could not be instantiated!
[EXC 10:08:44.054] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
        PartModuleList..ctor (Part part) (at <cd473063d3a2482f8d93d388d0c95035>:0)
        Part.Awake () (at <cd473063d3a2482f8d93d388d0c95035>:0)
        UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
        ModuleManager.UnityLogHandle.InterceptLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
        UnityEngine.Object:Instantiate(GameObject)
        PartLoader:CreatePartIcon(GameObject, Single&)
        PartLoader:ParsePart(UrlConfig, ConfigNode)
        <CompileParts>d__56:MoveNext()
        UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)
[EXC 10:08:44.056] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
        Part.Effect (System.String effectName, System.Single effectPower, System.Int32 transformIdx) (at <cd473063d3a2482f8d93d388d0c95035>:0)
        ModuleEnginesFX.OnAwake () (at <cd473063d3a2482f8d93d388d0c95035>:0)
        PartModule.Awake () (at <cd473063d3a2482f8d93d388d0c95035>:0)
        UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
        ModuleManager.UnityLogHandle.InterceptLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
        UnityEngine.Object:Instantiate(GameObject)
        PartLoader:CreatePartIcon(GameObject, Single&)
        PartLoader:ParsePart(UrlConfig, ConfigNode)
        <CompileParts>d__56:MoveNext()
        UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)

[Space Kerbalisation Tech]

for some reason after i downloaded this mod there are no radiators when i looked in the 'thermal' section. previously when i was using an older version i remember there were graphite radiators. without them every single endine overheats and shuts down within 5 secs, so they're pretty important for this mod to work

are the graphite radiators in another mod, is there some problem with my install or is it a glitch or bug.

thanks so much in advance

[SpaceFace545]

3 minutes ago, Space Kerbalisation Tech said:

for some reason after i downloaded this mod there are no radiators when i looked in the 'thermal' section. previously when i was using an older version i remember there were graphite radiators. without them every single endine overheats and shuts down within 5 secs, so they're pretty important for this mod to work

are the graphite radiators in another mod, is there some problem with my install or is it a glitch or bug.

thanks so much in advance

I do believe the radiators are in the heat control mod

[Rakete]

3 hours ago, SpaceFace545 said:

I do believe the radiators are in the heat control mod

They are.... this is a different Nertea mod. Downloadable seperately.

[Not a Spy]

does anyone have recommended buffs for engines if i want to get to  interstellar destinations in under a thousand years?

i tried getting to alpha centauri from real exoplanets and it was taking me 500+  and i want to make the z pinch and antimatter drives more realistic

 

is this a dumb question to ask?

Edited September 24, 2021 by Not a Spy

[Nertea]

On 9/23/2021 at 5:40 PM, Not a Spy said:

does anyone have recommended buffs for engines if i want to get to  interstellar destinations in under a thousand years?

i tried getting to alpha centauri from real exoplanets and it was taking me 500+  and i want to make the z pinch and antimatter drives more realistic

 

is this a dumb question to ask?

The z-pinch drive already exceeds its realistic parameters. The antimatter drive you can cut the thrust and increase the Isp if you want, but functionally if your motivation is 'realistic' then you should also increase the needed radiators by 1-2 orders of magnitude. 

You can do whatever you want though with the configs. 

[Truebadour]

Hello, first of all thanks @Nerteafor this wonderful mod !

 

I don't know if the question was already asked, but I couldn't find anything so here I go : I'm trying to design a big efficient ship that can haul very heavy payloads. The design is easy enough : some efficient engines, a ton of fuel...

But the TWR (and not the ISP, sorry about that !) is abysmal! How do you guys deal with the long burn times ? I've read that Persistent Thrust is busted with 1.12 these days... Don't get me wrong, I've been having a lot of fun, but I'd like to know if there is a workaround.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Truebadour

[Spaceman.Spiff]

1 hour ago, Truebadour said:

But the ISP is abysmal!

The isp is actually incredibly good. That’s why there’s the long burn times. 

[Truebadour]

Yeah sorry, I meant the TWR 

[CDSlice]

7 hours ago, Truebadour said:

Hello, first of all thanks @Nerteafor this wonderful mod !

 

I don't know if the question was already asked, but I couldn't find anything so here I go : I'm trying to design a big efficient ship that can haul very heavy payloads. The design is easy enough : some efficient engines, a ton of fuel...

But the ISP is abysmal! How do you guys deal with the long burn times ? I've read that Persistent Thrust is busted with 1.12 these days... Don't get me wrong, I've been having a lot of fun, but I'd like to know if there is a workaround.

You can use BetterTimeWarp to allow larger physical time warps although this increases lag and can make the Kraken very unhappy. I've never been able to get persistent thrust working properly even in older versions of KSP so this is what I have done.

[Truebadour]

11 hours ago, CDSlice said:

You can use BetterTimeWarp to allow larger physical time warps although this increases lag and can make the Kraken very unhappy. I've never been able to get persistent thrust working properly even in older versions of KSP so this is what I have done.

Yeah that's what I've been using too, but I was wondering if a better solution existed.

It works well enough but I've limited myself to a x10 warp multiplier or else my hubris gets punished by the kraken!

[Fundati]

I am having trouble with making a low-part-count ship that doesn't overheat in after 1 second of thrust. Am I missing something about how the heat system works? And is there a way to disable it altogether and not worry about heat (not really that worried about 'realism')

[Daniel Prates]

22 hours ago, Fundati said:

I am having trouble with making a low-part-count ship that doesn't overheat in after 1 second of thrust. Am I missing something about how the heat system works? And is there a way to disable it altogether and not worry about heat (not really that worried about 'realism')

 

You cant use stock radiators. You have to use nertea's specific radiators from "heat control" mod. I had the same issue. (Edit: which is not an " issue "... nertea explains this very clearly in the OPs, it was I who who started using the mod without reasing properly. )

Edited October 9, 2021 by Daniel Prates

[Rakete]

Bug Report / Gameplay design issue:

Z-Pinch engine causes while shut off to disable the stock dV-calulation of KSP. Therefore you don't get a correct Burn start indicator ingame.

Steps to reproduce:

Launch vessel, dV-readouts work until you get to the respective stage, that uses the engine. release stage with Z-Pinch cascade engine and ignite engine: no ingame dV-calculation on the left hand side.

prepare a maneuver node: no burn time indication and no burn start indicator.

charge engine and ignite: dV readouts come back and show burn time. stop engine: dV disappears, burn time information of maneuver node are gone.

 

This issue applies to all engines, who need a charge up and deactivate themselves below 5% thrust. You can not plan precise burns with them. Spent about 2 hours and gave up. Somehow I think, they should not deactivate below 5% thrust. They should be able to be active on stand-by for maybe 5 kerbal hours after activation and then go to shutdown if not thrusting (so that you can guess that you are near the burn start and can enable the engine to standby to get dV readout and precise burn calculations). This would circumvent this problem that KSP can not read out any dV out of deactivated engines of the current stage and not being able to calculate the correct burn start point in time.

 

 

 

Example craft: https://www.filemail.com/d/jhyixvnkmusokdf

@Nertea

Edited October 8, 2021 by Rakete