undercoveryankee

Interstellar engines aren't that hard to change. They get all of the data about their fuel modes from a config file. And replacing an Interstellar resource with a third-party resource that has a different density I've already done once. Replaced KSPI Argon with NearFuture ArgonGas. Fortunately, most of Interstellar's resource producers and consumers check the density of the resource at runtime instead of making you manually recalculate every conversion ratio to fit the densities of the resources you're using. A ModuleManager config to multiply all of the tank capacities by the ratio of densities is the hardest part. I've actually been thinking about attacking KSPI/RF if RoverDude slows down enough that I get bored with KSPI/CRP.

There's a concept known as the zero-one-infinity rule that says that if it makes sense to allow more than one of something, there's no reason not to allow as many as the underlying architecture permits. The only limit on how many same-situation runs of an experiment you can store in a lab is your own patience. (If you wrote a script that just ran an experiment and stored it in the lab over and over again extremely fast, you might be able to bloat your save file enough to get the game to crash. I don't consider that a design limit of the part.)

Air pressure and density at sea level are similar to Earth. The higher drag is because the game approximates a ship's cross-sectional area as a fixed proportion to its mass, and that approximation significantly overestimates the cross-sectional area of typical aerodynamic-looking designs. A more accurate description than "soupy air" might be "having invisible parachutes strapped all over your ship."

Pu238 is the isotope used in RTGs. Not really fissionable, but it puts out enough energy through normal decay to cook nearby parts if not properly cooled. The definition is in Interstellar to go with some currently-unused code for a depletable RTG. Nobody's done any parts that produce or use it, so the only real reason to store it is if you want to simulate the fun of cooling it.

As of Saturday's experimental, CRP now includes ORSX maps for Uraninite, which MKS harvests and refines to EnrichedUranium. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79588-0-24-2-USI-Kolonization-Systems-%28MKS-OKS%29-%280-21-1%29-2014-09-28?p=1452494&viewfull=1#post1452494) That gives me a few things to do: Look at the Interstellar and CRP uranium maps and decide which set I want to use. Wherever I've imported oceanic or atmospheric uranium from Interstellar, make those concentrations extractable as Uraninite. Make sure SCANsat integration stays polished. Provide some means of refining Uraninite to Interstellar's uranium fuels so that you can combine MKS's drills with Interstellar's reactors. Interstellar's uranium fuels are non-pumpable, so I may need to call on the work that RoverDude has done on transferring non-pumpable SpareParts. Allow reprocessing of Interstellar uranium to EnrichedUranium in case you're switching away from an Interstellar reactor and don't want its fuel supply to go to waste. I'll put up a package as soon as I'm done so anyone who's interested can start testing. Watch this space. Any packages that depend on an experimental release from RoverDude will be conspicuously marked "EXPERIMENTAL" as well. The main non-experimental download in the OP will always correspond to the "stable" release of the USI mods.

For now, use 5.3.2 but edit the DeadlyReentry.cfg file to set the density exponent to the previous versions' value of 0.85.

What happens if you change the reference to APOAPSIS a few lines back to SHIP:APOAPSIS? And is there supposed to be a space between HEADING and the parentheses six lines before the bolded line? It sounds like something earlier in the code is leaving the parser in a state that's only detected as an error when it finds the beginning of the LOCK statement.

efo is just a variable that's created and used in that snippet. The name is probably short for "engine flame-out". The PRESERVE statement tells kOS to keep the WHEN trigger in place and allow it to fire again, instead of the default behavior of removing it after it fires once. Documentation at http://ksp-kos.github.io/KOS_DOC/command/flowControl/index.html#PRESERVE .

Sounds like the optimum angle for entering with the traditional amounts of ablative is steeper than it would be on a larger planet. Apollo was rated for between 5.3 and 7.7 degrees entry angle. Just another gotcha if you try to apply real physics to a tiny little world. And can you elaborate a little on what speed and altitude you used the drogue chute at? I thought firing them while subject to serious heating would just destroy the chute.

Now that parts' R&D entry costs are actually charged at higher difficulties, it'll be worthwhile for mods that have parts to go take a balance pass over entry costs as well as part costs.

Best theory is that "efficiency" on the generator module would have been significant for some of the ways the proposed stock resource system would have used the module. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/72177-whats-with-the-effiency-thing-on-the-thermoelectric-generator?p=1019434&viewfull=1#post1019434) We don't know how you would go about changing it on an RTG or what the result would be; all we know is that the RTG doesn't change any of its own state in normal operation. Decay isn't modeled.

Yes, anomalies are detected using the multi-spectral (the one that maps biomes).

Eeloo, low solar orbit, and Eve surface.

You'd have to replace ModuleCommand with a subclass. It's possible, but getting everything that checks for ModuleCommand to do the right thing without breaking would be a challenge.

That's correct. If the more common case of a swept-back trailing edge as shown in the tutorial is represented as a positive angle, then a forward sweep would be represented as negative.

All of the reactor types are based on concepts that have been proposed or experimented with in real life. If you need general background on the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, or on what distinguishes one type of fission reactor from another, start with Wikipedia.

Yes. If your vessel has both a probe core and a manned pod, the probe core should allow you to access the flight computer while the manned pod is providing local control.

When there's a stable release of RealHeat, anyone who wants the most realistic available aerodynamics will want to switch.

Each vessel stores the date that it was launched, which is used to compute the Mission Elapsed Time. Anything that was launched before you accepted the contract will not satisfy the contract. After you accept the contract, you have to launch a new vessel that meets the requirements.

Here's the plan I've been following for my last couple of careers: Eight satellites with Communotron 16s in a 175km equatorial orbit of Kerbin. This compact ring will reach an atmospheric vehicle using a Reflectron DP-10 anywhere along Kerbin's equator. Note to self: calculate the highest latitude to cover a DP-10 at ground level and the range of altitudes at which the inner ring will cover the poles. Lunar and interplanetary relays in pairs at 1000km altitude equatorial. I chose 1000 km because it keeps all satellites within the cone of a KR-7 in Mun orbit, and within the cone of a GX-128 by the time a probe goes out of the range of an 88-88. The first pair of relays each carry a Communotron 16 and four DTS-M1. Targets are Mun, Minmus, active vessel, and spare. Spare dishes will be used if a station or mothership needs to relay to its support craft while outside the coverage of its cone-mode dishes. Hasn't happened yet. Second pair of relays carries the 88-88. Targets are Moho, Eve, Duna, active vessel, and two spares for symmetry. The shorter-range "active vessel" dishes on the older satellites can become spares once the longer-range "active vessel" dishes are available, since "active vessel" doesn't care about cone width. Third pair of relays carries the GX-128. Targets are Dres, Jool, Eeloo, active vessel, and two spares. The "active vessel" 88-88s that are freed up now target Dres, to provide coverage of high Dres orbit at close approaches when the GX-128 cone is too narrow. Mun and Minmus get sets of three equatorial relays with Communotron 16 and one DTS-M1 to talk to the Kerbin-orbit relays. Mun-orbit relays go at 240 km altitude to support use of DP-10 on landers and rovers. I thought of that altitude only on my current career, so I haven't calculated the corresponding altitude for Minmus yet. Duna- and Jool-system local relays will be designed the next time a career advances far enough to need them.

"Splashed" applies if you're actually subject to water physics; "landed" if you're on the ground but the biome map says "water." So "Landed in Ocean" happens if you're close to the edge of the water or on a small island that isn't reflected in the biome map (most notably the island airfield). "Splashed" on a land biome can happen if you manage to find a river or pond that's too small to be shown on the biome map.

Do you have any non-stock command pods or probe cores on the vessel?

Interstellar's radiator code is about on the level of DRE. Enough to calculate a radiator temperature to determine the efficiency of the generators, but not really concerned with anything else. Integration will probably take the form of forking Interstellar to replace its heat handling with RealHeat.

Well, the parts themselves are old C7 models that have been around forever. They had fuel added to them in 0.24.

When you have display of cones turned on, is there a line from the Duna probe to the center of Kerbin? That's the normal appearance of a cone that just isn't far enough out yet. Since, per your handy chart, the KR-14 is too narrow to cover keosynchronous from Duna orbit at Duna's closest approach to Kerbin, you may just not be far enough out for your KR-14 to cover your 1000km relays. Since I've never had the patience to wait for a probe to get several million kilometers out before I can control it, I've always used 88-88s in pairs, one targeting each Kerbin-orbit relay directly.