Synoxys

Thanks for taking a look at this, looking forward to a fix! As far as beamed power is concerned, do you have any tips on how best to set up a network that can reach other celestial bodies as far as Jool and further? Does relaying the signal using the double-pivoted mirror for a UV network for example affect the strength, and if so, by how much?

Hello again, I seem to have encountered another issue after revisiting the Stellarator reactor and beamed power. So, essentially, I found a video the shows a simple setup with 2 Stellarator reactors (using the Deuterium-Lithium6 fusion mode) and 2 MHD generators in orbit with a free electron laser attached, which works well in his game. They were supposedly producing over 16 GW each. I'll link the timestamped video here. https://youtu.be/JpYrkQ_-P2k?t=1058 So I tried creating a similar setup in sandbox mode to test it out. I put a single 5m Stellarator reactor, set to Deuterium-Lithium6, and a single 5m MHD generator on a probe core with a radiator that claimed it would provide ~30% efficiency at full power, according to the thermal helper in the VAB. After that, I attached a free electron laser and a transceiver. I then hyperedited the thing into a 500km circular orbit. Upon testing the system, I discovered that the MHD generator was producing approximately 240 MW. A 5m Stellarator reactor and a 5m MHD generator were producing only 240 MW. Now, I understand that there may have been some changes to the system since that video was made, but this doesn't seem right. I also tried it with both a Thermal and a Charged Particle generator, to see if that was the issue, and I got similar results. Surprisingly, the thermal generator produced more power than the MHD had (about 60 MW more - still ridiculously low compared to what I should be getting), despite the description of the Stellarator clearly stating that an MHD was preferable. The Charged Particle generator refused to even activate, as it said that there was no power source attached. Apparently the Stellarator does not output charged particles, which lines up with the in-game description, but leaves me wondering where all of the power is going, especially since the "Current/Max Charged Power" field of the reactor control window showed a considerable amount of energy. So, after some tinkering, I discovered that it was because of the fusion mode I was using. If I reverted to Deuterium-Tritium fusion, the power production jumped considerably, and I was making a decent amount of energy. However, the radiator that had claimed to be adequate in the VAB, was absolutely not. After returning to the VAB to re-examine the thermal helper, I found that whether or not the transceiver is placed on the vessel somehow greatly affects all of the thermal properties, including the effectiveness of radiators (?!), and it was not limited to just the part I was using, but rather every part that could conceivably output microwaves. However, this didn't seem to affect the reactor's crappy performance when using Deuterium-Lithium6 fusion. So, in short, I would like to know if Deuterium-Lithium6 fusion (or any of the other fusion modes, since I tested all of them and they all seem to perform terribly compared to Deuterium-Tritium) is supposed to produce any meaningful power or not. I would also like to know why the thermal "helper" is so incredibly unhelpful. Why are the numbers it provides so far off? Why do the numbers change so drastically when a beamed power transceiver is added, but not when a Diode Laser is added? Is there something that I am missing here or is this actually not working correctly? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance. I've attached links to screenshots so that you can see some information about what was going on. Deuterium-Lithium6 and MHD Generator. The transmitter is active, which means the reactor should be running at full power, but it is not. https://i.imgur.com/v836MmF.jpg Deuterium-Lithium6 and Thermal and Charged Particle Generators. The transmitter is active again, but similar results are achieved. https://i.imgur.com/b3znww1.jpg Deuterium-Tritium and Thermal and Charged Particle Generators. The transmitter is active and much more power is being produced, but the radiator, that was supposedly more than enough, is saturated and the efficiency is horrible at 7%. According to the thermal helper it should have been approximately 30%, at least that is before I added the transceiver. After that it was significantly lower, but not that low. https://i.imgur.com/KYaIsxq.jpg

The numbers were green when I launched it, which is why it struck me as odd that the problem existed in the first place. There are two percentages at the bottom of the thermal helper, but it seems like even if I use tweakscaled radiators to put hundreds of gigawatts worth of radiators for a demand of about 20 GW of actual heat produced the numbers never would rise far above 25-30% for 100% utilization, which is what happens when running a power transmitter. Is this just the way it has to be or is there something I can unlock in the future that lets electric generators achieve closer to their maximum efficiency at full power?

I've been having a bit of an issue with the electric generators and I'm not sure exactly what's causing it. Basically, I made a station with two 5 meter Stellarators on it, with a 5 meter MHD generator on each. Using the thermal helper, I added radiators so that the amount of cooling (according to the thermal helper, at least) would exceed the total heat produced by the generators. However, after launching it, putting it orbit, and starting up the transmitter, the MHD generators rapidly begin losing efficiency and my radiators can't seem to keep up. Eventually, the two gigantic reactors are barely making 5% of the advertised power. What can I do about that? Do I simply need to add more radiators? How will I know how many radiators to add? I should also add that I am using career mode currently. The Stellarators are using Deuterium-Tritium fusion and the MHD generators have a base efficiency of 0.7. I am trying to power a Free Electron Laser with the large Multi Bandwidth Dish Transceiver.