Make Your Kethane more believable! [UPDATED]

[SkyRex94]

MAKE YOUR KETHANE REALISTIC-ish [uPDATE]

Hello Community,

I present you my idea of a more believable Kethane configuration.

My Aim: I would define myself as a Stock+ player, so i like the simplicity of the stock game, but like to enhance it slightly for gameplay, but no big part-cluttering mods like KW or B9. To show you what i mean, here the mods i use at the moment: Mechjeb(for Data), KAC, NEAR, EVE, Chatterer,

KSPRC's EVE Config(,soon Spaceplane Plus) and now Kethane.

I stumbled upon Kethane and was surprised how simple it actually is. It only adds one new Ressource and doesn't have many Parts, but it gives Bases and stations a economical use and i really like the idea. But some things aren't believable i think, so i reconfigured some Parts. I wanted to achieve that it is not practical to simply build a self-mining-refining-refuel-everywhere ship, but it should be possible to build bigger bases that mine and refine the fuel and can refuel your ships. So you can't simply build a get-everywhere-ship, but instead have to build a little infrastructure to get things running and then you can use this (practically) immobile mining-base to refuel your ship. So i mostly refined the electric rates and the Tech-Tree-implementation and some little things.(I also wanted to change the converter Ratios, but i think they already got much more realistic with the 0.24 Mod-Release).

If you search for COMPLEX ressources go for Interstellar Mod.

So now the problem: I read the License of Kethane and although you're free to modify your Kethane it is prohibited to publish any modified Kethane files.

If you want to modify your Kethane the same way i will tell you now what i've done and you can do it yourself on your own Kethane.

EDIT: Simplified the Edit, with no duplicated parts and fewer edits, while achieving the same goal.

EDITED Modified Config:

1mConverter:

Electric charge for Jet-Fuel Conversion: 30

Electric charge for Oxidizer Conversion: 70

2mConverter:

TechRequired = nanolathing

RocketFuel:

Kethane = 150

ElectricCharge = 500

RCS-Fuel : ElectricCharge = 35

Generator:

TechRequired = experimentalElectrics

KethaneRate = 1.0

PowerRate = 10

heavyDrill:

TechRequired = robotics

smallDrill:

TechRequired = specializedConstruction

1mstandardTank: TechRequired = specializedConstruction

2mTankLarge : TechRequired =experimentalAerodynamics

2mExtralarge : TechRequired = experimentalRocketry

1mSensor : TechRequired = experimentalScience

highGain: TechRequired = advElectrics

Kerbal_Blender: TechRequired = experimentalMotors

Zero-Bypass-Turbine:

Propellant Kethane changed to ElectricCharge.

ratio = 200

Electricity Production to 0.

------------------

Exlanations: I see Kethane not as Methane, but as a composition of all the usable Soil Gases/Liquids - so converting to Oxidizer makes any Sense.

The Generator producing much less Electricity, because it sqeezes all the chemical power out of a raw material. (And you cant gain more power out of a Raw-Material than the refining process would need to make it more powerfull) So you can power your Drills with it but practical not any Converter.

The Converters using much more Electricity: same reason as above and to force you to high power supply and maybe build a big solar Array for your Base which wouldn't fit on a ship.

Turbine to Electrical_Turbofan: Pretending its just a Vent moving the Atmosphere: You just need a lot electricity to run the Fan and move the air whatever its made of.

TechTree implementation: Moved the Parts further back and used 8 out of 9 of the Tier 9 Nodes, giving you more things to spend science on.

8000 more than stock science. (If you've MechJeb ALL Tier 9 are implemented requiring 9000 Science)

Issues/Questions:

During Test-Flights the Turbine ran out of KintakeAir pretty randomly after some time in the air (slow and fast speeds). Does someone know why this happens?

What do you think of the Idea and the new Values?

(This is neither a Part nor a Plugin so i thought General Affairs would be the place to go)

P.S. I've seen the grammar issues in the poll, but I didn't found any way to change a poll.

Edited July 22, 2014 by SkyRex94

[SkyRex94]

Edited and updated first post.

Leave a post with your opinion here if you've tried it.

[enneract]

You'd want to do this with ModuleManager, instead of editing the Kethane files directly.

[enneract]

Here is an example of how to do it. If this file (with a name that ends in .cfg) was present anywhere in the GameData directory (and ModuleManager was also present), it would adjust the converters to your specifications.

That should be enough to get you started.

[Talavar]

Bah, I been modding my mods since I started downloading mods. More mods to take care of other mods usually lead to more problems. Manual edit is always better imo.

[alacrity]

I find Kethane to be fine as is. The real problems for me come from actually using what I mine and refine. With the inherent dangers of Rovers and the part count limits I find that I have to set up Kethane base, Ore mining and smelting facility (exptraplantarry launch) and the ship builder /launch pad (again Extraplanetary Launch) at least 2.5 km from each other and the fueling rovers I use to go between them all eventually fall to the rover wheel mini kraken.

To be clear these bases all together total some 1400 parts including the rover so having them too close together puts my FPS down to about flip book speed.

Alacrity

[sumghai]

Here is an example of how to do it. If this file (with a name that ends in .cfg) was present anywhere in the GameData directory (and ModuleManager was also present), it would adjust the converters to your specifications.

That should be enough to get you started.

Bah, I been modding my mods since I started downloading mods. More mods to take care of other mods usually lead to more problems. Manual edit is always better imo.

The problem with this approach is that if the add-on is updated, you are forced to manually reapply your personal tweaks to each and every part after you download the updates.

ModuleManager has a very nice approach for automatically patching in personal tweaks, that persist even after the original add-ons are updated.

[GoldenShadowGS]

And you can publish tweaks applied by module manager.

[SkyRex94]

Okay if i'll find some time i may take a look how to use ModuleManager.

But besides can someone explain me what desides if you have KIntake Air or not? It's not caused by the change to consume ELectricity , but also in the normal Kethane. Sometimes the KIntakeAir seems to Randomly decrease to Zero for no usefull Reason. Different Altitudes and Different Speeds and i can't quite make out whats the source of the flame out.