munseeker

One note from testing: Is it possible that the containers have too much stuff in them? Three Kerbals with two standard-sized life support containers that are pretty easy to bring plus the command capsule can survive 184 days - it feels like those containers are not big enough for such a long duration.

Thanks! That is perfect. For now I'm just eyeballing the values for my greenhouses to get a feel for the new resource system in TAC LS - and I'll be ready with an update very soon after the release of 0.9. :-)

So I've been working on making my greenhouse mods compatible to the resource changes in the new TACLS alpha (I know that there are still changes coming...), but I've been having a hard time matching the resource needs I see in the alpha with the Google Doc. I decide to go and test the numbers - if I put Kerbals with TACLS canisters into orbit and measure the resource needs, this is what I see with the latest alpha release: Usage for one Kerbal per day: Food: 0.23 H2O: 0.46 O2: 76 Does this roughly sound right?

Building a massive tanker/tug in Kerbal orbit to finally get Jeb and his crew out of the solar orbit they've been stranded in and on to Duna, where at this point about half a dozen station modules are awaiting the construction crew. Meanwhile Bob and his crew on long duration mission aboard the space station around Kerbin are preparing to be replaced by a new crew. A few weeks back on the ground before they'll go to the Mun!

I still have five Kerbals stuck in solar orbit, low on fuel but high in spirit. I managed to resupply them (I'm using TAC LS, so this was crucial) and add more living space, but just now I had two... TWO(!) tankers fail to reach the crew with enough fuel to make it to Duna. Engineers back on Kerbin are now proposing to build a super-tanker in orbit with "enough juice to send Jeb and his crew to the next star system!"

Those are great! I really like the way you can stack them - I think I haven't seen that before in those kind of modules. Is there any indication on the outside of what's inside other than the label on top? That's some cool modelling going on there. This is going to be great!

I so hope there will be...

TMS, first a big Thanks for these textures - the best I've seen for TAC LS. Did you ever promote them with their own Add-On Showcase thread? I had to re-download them and had a pretty hard time finding them in the middle of the TAC LS thread... :-) Great work!

Even without regular resupply missions it is relatively easy to bring enough food/water/oxygen for an extended stay. TAC LS comes with oxygen filters and water recyclers, so two large water and oxygen containers plus recyclers will last three Kerbals through several years. Food is a bit more tricky, which is why I made my own greenhouse (see signature). It becomes a big problem if you warp at max speed a lot during gameplay to advance Jool missions for example - then it's critical to make sure you have your Duna resupply flights scheduled and on the way in time. Personally, I can't play KSP without TAC LS anymore - I enjoy having to care for the well-being of my Kerbonauts, it really adds another dimension to the gameplay.

Still have five Kerbals stranded in solar orbit. A hastily dispatched tanker finally arrived there, but used too much of the overall fuel. Not enough fuel left to go anywhere, but Jeb and crew have now more real estate for long EVA walks.

Fixed! Sorry for that, the forum WYSIWIG editor was hiding the actual URL when I edited the post...

Update to the MunSeeker greenhouse: There are now two of them! http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84246-0-23-5-MunSeeker-Greenhouses-%28TAC-Life-Support-add-on%29-Update-July-2-2014 In addition to the Mk1 greenhouse there is now a smaller MunSeeker Greenhouse Mk2:

There are now two separate greenhouses - details in the updated OP.

I've just done something similar by turning the stock cupola into a TAC greenhouse - check out the part.cfg file of my mod: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84246-0-23-5-MunSeeker-Greenhouse-Mk1-%28TAC-Life-Support-add-on%29-Update-6-27-2014/page2 The config changes are pretty straightforward and what you want to do is close to what I did there.

Thanks for that link - that is a great reference to keep around. And there's no bio hazard / bio waste in that one. Doh. Handwavium is my current explanation. The bio waste that is left over from the reaction is simply vented into space (slowly and diffuse). I'm now reconsidering and I may add something like 100 units of storage of bio waste (not sure about the name yet) to the greenhouse and it will vent the overflow (that's the default for all TACLS recyclers for all products). And then maybe add bio waste containers as extra units for people who want to ship that stuff around. :-)

My greenhouse uses waste as one of its inputs - it uses waste, waste water and carbon dioxide with a good helping of electricity to make some oxygen, clean water and food. I intentionally built it with a loss of mass, since I wanted less than 100% efficiency. And since I use waste as an input, the loss had to be a magical loss of material. I figured that whatever is unusable in this process is vented into space. So if I want to be a completist about this and not lose mass, I will have to find a good common resource that is already in use by somebody or actually invent some sort of bio-hazard with its own containers. I'm not against that, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel for no reason.

Some of the early comments on my greenhouse mod ( http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84246-0-23-5-MunSeeker-Greenhouse-Mk1-%28TAC-Life-Support-add-on%29-Update-6-27-2014 ) for TAC LS have suggested a new "bio waste" resource - I'm hesitant to create another unique resource, but maybe something like this already exists in established mods that I don't know about... Is there a list of custom resources across popular mods?

A first update: I've added support for the Connected Living Space API - the greenhouse now appears in green when viewed with CLS and accepts one Kerbal when used with Kerbal Crew Transfer (here: http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/221046-kerbal-crew-transfer ). I've also added the same science crew report that the stock cupola has available. Download link is still the same as in the OP.

Thanks! This is my first mod and it took a little while just to figure out how to do good quality textures. My own model making comes next! :-)

In reality the non-returned material would end up as some new kind of waste plus plant growth with very little loss. But with this add-on you are truly losing mass (I think) - I'd like to explain this away with the greenhouse venting the nasty stuff into space at a very low, diffuse rate. And thanks, yes, I also like add-ons that are inspired by the stock designs. :-)

Thanks! Yes, not getting 100% of everything back was a key feature of this mod. I want to make role playing in KSP with TACLS more varied and interesting, not necessarily easier. I wasn't happy with the existing greenhouses since I felt they didn't use enough energy for the return provided - this one fixes that and gives you a good reason to bring big batteries if you ever expect to encounter shadows. :-) IVA: It would be great, but I've just started out with modding and haven't looked into creating my own models yet. But in the long run I'd love to add IVA - it's why I left space in the greenhouse for one Kerbal. I very much enjoy the idea of one the Kerbals taking care of the plants during a mission.

Coming Soon: I'm now working on supporting CLS - Connected Living Space ( http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/70161-0-23-5-Connected-Living-Space-%28API%29-v1-0-6-0-%289th-June-2014%29?highlight=connected+living+space ). Will have to figure out what I have to do for that, but I guess/hope it will be just an addition to the greenhouse config file.

Finished and published my own greenhouse add-on for TAC Life Support: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84246-0-23-5-MunSeeker-Greenhouse-Mk1-%28TAC-Life-Support-add-on%29

The greenhouse is the latest in Kerbal hydroponics technology - it cleans the waste water from all the connected modules by running it over the roots of the Ssnak tree seedlings which remove all the waste from it, growing the rich, flavorful ssnak fruit from it - unlimited ssnaks for Jeb! It's not a perfect process - there is some loss in the system since the waste water is not just H2O. It takes waste water and delivers back 60% of that volume as fresh water. So even with the greenhouse running, there is still a need - albeit slower - to resupply the Kerbals with fresh water.

Here is a new greenhouse for TAC LS - the MunSeeker Greenhouse Mk1 based on the stock cupola model: The main thread is here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84246-0-23-5-MunSeeker-Greenhouse-Mk1-%28TAC-Life-Support-add-on%29 Download: https://github.com/MunSeeker/Greenhouse-Mk1 Quote from there: There is some loss in this process, so the crew will still need to be supplied. One greenhouse will use 100% of the waste products of 3 Kerbals (waste, waste water and carbon dioxide) and supply them with 30% oxygen, 60% water and 70% food of their total needs. Growing food in a cramped greenhouse in zero G is energy intensive. One greenhouse uses about 0.3 Electrical Units per second, or about 1200 per hour (the RTG produces about 0.75/second, so one RTG could supply two greenhouses). My goal was to realistically extend the food supply for a crew of kerbonauts without completely removing the need of regular resupply missions. This is a good companion to the TAC Carbon Extractor and Water Purifier. The greenhouse is heavy (5.5 tons) and needs oodles of energy, so its use requires careful consideration.