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[1.0.5] Snacks! Kerbal simplified life support v0.3.5


tgruetzm

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define "modified version of the Resource Generation Module dll" you mean one you modified and compiled yourself?

Yeah. Just 3 lines. Mostly to allow checking if the vessel is landed on any planet instead of a specific one.

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I made some progress on a simple GUI for displaying snack supplies. I'd like to keep it simple by just showing a list of ships with current crew and their supply levels. I considered breaking it out by planet, but it can get messy. Personally I don't have hundreds of manned operations at one time, so this works well for me. Is there anything you guys think would be critical in this type of display?

UoKwL6N.png

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something that alerts you to look at it when some one is running low so you don't accidentally time warp away someones snacks would be important though if there isn't a way to cut down on the potential false alarms it would also be important to include an off switch for that feature.

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I think most people would want to see the snack levels listed by number of remaining days given the current crew using that snack box-shaped insular niche (Snack B.I.N.), lol. Is that possible? (knowing down to the last second is probably unnecessary)

Edited by impyre
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I think most people would want to see the snack levels listed by number of remaining days given the current crew using that snack box-shaped insular niche (Snack B.I.N.), lol. Is that possible? (knowing down to the last second is probably unnecessary)

snack consumption is inconsistent though so it might not be best to provide a projection not without a warning anyway. Oh! the ships should list the number of kerbals with the number of available snacks pership that way we can work out our own projections at a glance.

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nice, I like it! fits in very well with stock gameplay.

toggleable kill switch for kerbals is a fun idea. make you sweat as you decide who eats and who doesn't as you scramble for a re-supply mission.

a simple snack generator could destroy the whole reason for the snacks life-support system. good to hear you have some ideas, hope it fits with stock as well as your snacks idea does.

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I made some progress on a simple GUI for displaying snack supplies. I'd like to keep it simple by just showing a list of ships with current crew and their supply levels. I considered breaking it out by planet, but it can get messy. Personally I don't have hundreds of manned operations at one time, so this works well for me. Is there anything you guys think would be critical in this type of display?

http://i.imgur.com/UoKwL6N.png

That looks quite handy :)

One thing that might be nifty would be a filter button to toggle between ALL missions and ONLY ones that are low/out of snacks. "Low" could be something simple like less than 25%-of-max snacks, or less-than-10-days-of-snacks or a more complex heuristic that balances daily need vs. maximum snacks etc.

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nice, I like it! fits in very well with stock gameplay.

toggleable kill switch for kerbals is a fun idea. make you sweat as you decide who eats and who doesn't as you scramble for a re-supply mission.

a simple snack generator could destroy the whole reason for the snacks life-support system. good to hear you have some ideas, hope it fits with stock as well as your snacks idea does.

I don't think a snack generator would destroy it at all. It would give those of us who like to build bases and stations a way to keep them fed without having to run back to Kerbin for snacks. And in any case, as he mentioned it would probably require surface samples, that dependency really means that the main use would be to carry enough snacks to get to point A, make enough for the return trip on site, and then come back. For short trips like the mun and minmus, you'd probably save on weight just skipping the snackfactory and just packing a few extra treats for the trip back... but for trips to places like laythe, the usefulness of a snackfactory becomes much greater (without eliminating the point of snacks altogether.)

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One suggestion: I'd make the average number of snacks eaten in a day per Kerbal to be 1 instead of 2. It just makes the math easier.

I did this on my own save by making each module hold twice as many (in patch.cfg), and then cut their density and cost in half in Resources.cfg, and finally in snacks.cfg I set snacksPerMeal to 0.5 instead of 0.25

I also think it's possible to use math to somehow simplify patch.cfg but I'm not smart enough to know how :D

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One suggestion: I'd make the average number of snacks eaten in a day per Kerbal to be 1 instead of 2. It just makes the math easier.

I did this on my own save by making each module hold twice as many (in patch.cfg), and then cut their density and cost in half in Resources.cfg, and finally in snacks.cfg I set snacksPerMeal to 0.5 instead of 0.25

I also think it's possible to use math to somehow simplify patch.cfg but I'm not smart enough to know how :D

I do have a few simplifications planned for this for the next release. I'm assuming you're referring to the number of times they eat per day is currently 2 instead of 1? I think once every 6 hours(on average) is better than the current 3 hours. This also means that penalties will be applied less often, but I think they're too frequent now anyways.

By changing the frequency to be every 6 hours I'd also change the number of snacks per meal to 1/2. This keeps the average daily consumption at 1/2 per day for Kerbin days and 2 per day if you still like the time system of that alien planet. With two time systems, it's difficult to say what a good consumption per day should be. I wish it could just be 1 snack per day, but if it's 1 per Kerbin day then it's 4 per Earth day. I think the 1/2 or 2 math is the easiest compromise.

I've also made quite a few improvements to the Snack Supply window. Should be ready Soon.

CoPGuWE.png

Edited by tgruetzm
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Ah nice, estimation!

Is that pop-up uhh.. "locale sensitive"? (ie does it detect the game settings of kerbin/alien day length?)

In the current code base it only calculates based on a Kerbin day. I plan to pull the current settings and calculate for which time system the game is using, but I haven't looked into it yet. There's actually a bit of work/cleanup that needs to be done yet behind the scenes to get it ready for a release, but in general it's working well.

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tgruetzm, this is really a great mod!

I agree with those who say it should be stock. The supply window looks great!

But I also have some suggestions:

I agree with those that say it should have an specific part instead of hitchiker... What do you think of having a small amount of snacks preloaded on command pods (kind of what happens with monopropellant) but additional reserves coming in specific parts?

About the number of snacks per day, I too think it should be one. Maybe half a snack every three hours as doctors tell us to eat (one small meal every 3 hours).

About penalties, I agree "disabling" kerbals would be like killing them... Better to take a hit on reputation and MAYBE a 33% chance of occurring some delay (1 or 2 seconds should suffice).

BTW, when is next version due? (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Edited by jlcarneiro
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Thanks jlcarneiro, there are some others here who think snacks should have their own container, but I disagree. I really prefer to use extra habitable space for storage. To me a hitchhiker is the equivalent of an ISS resupply vessel. Snacks are actually added to command modules in small amounts 150 for an mk1-2. I have no plans of adding extra snack containers. That being said, if someone would like to model snack containers I'd gladly mention them as a snack mod in the initial post. biohazard15 already made some space fridges for the purpose, but they're re-purposed rcs tanks.

The number of snacks per day is actually somewhat configurable in snacks.cfg as snacksPerMeal. Currently there are two meals in a Kerbin day, but that will be one meal per Kerbin day in the next release. I plan to keep the consumption at 1/2 snack per Kerbin day 2 per Earth day, because I like the math better than 1 and 4. But you're free to change it via the snacksPerMeal setting.

The next release will be soon! Actually don't hold your breath for anything in the next few days. I'll be out of town tomorrow through the weekend and I don't think I'm at a point where I'm ready to release my changes.

Edited by tgruetzm
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No problem! I can live with the concept of a mod's mod! I'll give biohazard15's a try... :wink:

The same can be said about setting the number os snacks per meal (although I think a GUI option would be better).

About the next version, what a shame! I'd really like to test the supply window...

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You know with thinking about the idea of space fridges and after looking over that ResGen plugin that someone pointed out I think I got a potential idea for a dedicated storage part. Basically its a more literal space fridge. Basically the part in question instead of holding snacks holds frozen snacks which would be a new a non-pumpable resource. to get snacks a kerbal has to eva over to the part and thaw some out(ResGen can accomplish this it would be a simple eva activation only frozen snacks to regular snacks conversion generator, and of course include another going in reverse for storing the snacks again) The parts big perk is it would effectively hold more snacks for a given dry mass, but the down side is it would constantly draw electricity, and if the space fridge doesn't have electricity it will start to dump the frozen snacks (ResGen can also do this with its BADINPUT functionality). This probably shouldn't be part of the core mod as it adds a new resource and as a result breaks a key unspoken rule about simplicity but it would definitely be worth it as an add on. So assuming no one gets impatient and beats me to it I should have time to hammer this out for real this weekend by turning less popular parts like the structural mk1 fuselage or the probodyne rovermate into real snack freezing power hungry space fridges.

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You know with thinking about the idea of space fridges and after looking over that ResGen plugin that someone pointed out I think I got a potential idea for a dedicated storage part. Basically its a more literal space fridge. Basically the part in question instead of holding snacks holds frozen snacks which would be a new a non-pumpable resource. to get snacks a kerbal has to eva over to the part and thaw some out(ResGen can accomplish this it would be a simple eva activation only frozen snacks to regular snacks conversion generator, and of course include another going in reverse for storing the snacks again) The parts big perk is it would effectively hold more snacks for a given dry mass, but the down side is it would constantly draw electricity, and if the space fridge doesn't have electricity it will start to dump the frozen snacks (ResGen can also do this with its BADINPUT functionality). This probably shouldn't be part of the core mod as it adds a new resource and as a result breaks a key unspoken rule about simplicity but it would definitely be worth it as an add on. So assuming no one gets impatient and beats me to it I should have time to hammer this out for real this weekend by turning less popular parts like the structural mk1 fuselage or the probodyne rovermate into real snack freezing power hungry space fridges.

It's tempting, passinglurker, but I think it would make thinks overcomplicated...

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I noticed a relatively severe issue for new installations of snacks this morning. If you are on a game where snacks have not yet been loaded to existing vessels, the snack window will not show any data until every vessel is loaded. If you're experiencing this, I updated the release to v0.3.1 with a fix.

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Is "snacks" a generic resource? If so, I might just have to write in a few generators, much like the popular internet game cookie clicker. Giant snack solar arrays out in a space station generating snacks, very Kerbal.

Anyway, awesome mod, I love how you managed to kerbalize the concept of life support (Haven't once touched TAC, because it's so darn complicated).

Best of luck to you!

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