RoverDude

Dunno, consider that liquid fuel is already past the refining phase, a raw material is generally less, otherwise there would be no market (why buy Karbonite when it's more expensive than just using rocket fuel?) Ideally (and this is a coding thing) it will be random on all bodies (there will be some parameters for how random), but I have to sort out some coding bits first, and also see how ORS handles it's resource maps, etc.

FYI sellable would be purely a function of recovery and cost. Probably not the most valuable thing in the world though, it's cost would be inline with liquid fuel / oxidizer.

Three separate converters you can turn on/off independently, all on the same part. The more you have on, the more electric charge it sucks out. No heat generation, just resource costs. If we end up in a place with enough models, I would not be opposed at all to changing that, but with just one, that's where we're at Could also be a case where the 2.5m can do all three, but smaller ones (1.25/0.625) can only do one, and at lower efficiency.

Glad I could provide some comic relief

It should stop the converter, I'll ensure that's the correct behavior since it has a custom plugin anyway

One part I want to make is a giant (2.5m or 3.75m) collector that is conical, but when activated, the sides fan out like petals, making it a giant air funnel. Possibly with appropriate shark-like nose art....

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why open licensing is good. In other glorious news, I have just finished testing the fully functional and animated converter (the little fans move properly when any of the generators are active). So at this point, I'm preparing to start wrapping things up for a pre- release. Once I get the first extractor from Nertea, I'll whip up a variant of the MKS module base to serve as a mining platform part (it would fit in between the extractor and something on top - converter or tank).

Let's see if someone makes one Launch is all about cheap and cheerful - I then expect the community will fill in all of the gaps, given the open licensing of Karbonite.

On that note... one of the more perposterous and bordering on ludicrous ideas I have is to enable dive bombing of Karbonite-rich atmospheres like Jool with large-scale cloud harvesters. Basically, ram the atmosphere as hard as you can to maximize, during the aerobrake, the sheer quantity of air going into the intakes. Then at AP, rendezvous with a ship to drop off your cargo, or use a Karbonite engine to pull your AP out of the atmosphere only to do the whole exercise again. Lucrative but incredibly risky. Just the kind of job for Kerbals.

So a quick design note. Karbonite will have a mass of 0.0125. This puts it at 2.5 times the mass of Liquid Fuel/Oxidizer, which I think is a good thing. It encourages conversion, with the loss in mass being the waste product. And it makes Karbonite-driven engines and generators less of a slam-dunk because of the weight, so there will be choices to be made. It may be that I compensate the mass and low ISP for greater thrust, etc. (basically balance it out in a way where there will be cases for both).

So things are shaping up nicely - working on the converter code to add in animations and optional particle effects to the standard KSP generator module, hope to have that wrapped up today, then it's off to atmospheric and oceanic resources. The random map generation by Arrowstar is beautiful (it makes randomized Karbonite deposits, in the shape of small concentrations as well as impact craters and some random shapes), the models are amazing, and overall I think we're in excellent shape to get a first alpha out for testing this weekend (I for one plan on spending my entire flight back from LA to NYC on the plane working on code and configs). I just wanted to say again how amazing it is that the community is coming behind this idea, and everyone's contributions are greatly appreciated. I stand in awe at your modeling and artistic talents and your generosity!

This is correct. One of the earlier thread posts justified chemically how it could be in different forms. On most planets it will be a solid that's extracted out, but can also be harvested from the atmosphere (with places like Jool being swirling balls of the stuff), and places like Eve having (literallty) oceans of rocket fuel. (edit) I think we can assume, fiction wise, that once harvested, it is generally stored in a liquid form.

This. I either have box colliders, or twelve sided cylinders. Sometimes custom shapes. The MKS modules only have ten sided coliders (the cube tapers at the top). But in any case, the very best thing to do is get out there and just iterate

I'm just teasing by the way - I actually appreciate it when people help out by finding those kinds of bugs in my mods.

Let me look at it - it's 4am here, but at least I like the license

Yep, there will be an early scary early release - very wip, only for test purposes (mostly balance, etc.) - working on the generators right now, I'll need to do a bit of plugin goodness, so worst case I'll release for test sans animation

Good news everyone! We have the first Karbonite extraction Moving onto a WIP converter till I get some lovely models in my hands. No reason why we won't have something testable as a super-pre-alpha this weekend, at least for the 'scrappy startup' parts.

Why not adjust crew capacity when not on the ground? FYI - what we do with Hollow Asteroids is that if you disconnect a crewed component (what would essentially result in Kerbals trapped in rock) we force-EVA and your ship starts pooping Kerbals out of the hatches. Which in itself is wildly entertaining to watch as they fly all over the place

Thanks for the correction. Best bit is I am 100% certain of everything being up and running, and pretty darn confident of success. Oh - and is it irony to correct the grammar on "I don't them having a lot of success"?

For modelers: Please let me know how you want your name in the credits. Please put your name in the stub CFGs you send me Please let me know if you want a different manufacturer other than Umbra Space Industries - I'll add it to the backstory for the mod ('a collaboration between USI and XYZ corp') And thank you again for being incredibly awesome

It was an excellent start - don't be shy on the tris It's generally not tricount that slows down KSP - The MKS parts are all in the 3K-5K range (as an example). I'd say do that radial one you started - that's perfect for 2.5/1.25. Here's the WIP (not done greebling yet, needs some finned vents and I want to round off the intake edges) on my 0.625 micro scoop: And oh yeah... first part!!!!

Nice idea, out of scope for first release

Thank you sir for being awesome.

Top notch! Feel free to do a pull request to the Models folder in Karbonite, or just send me a dropbox link to the assets Either the mu and textures or even fbx if that's easier and I can handle the PartTools bit in Unity

Also I'd want to see how it fits on 1.25/2.5m cylinders because it does look a bit flat, so it may have issues with curvature