Incarnation of Chaos

KSP is a PC game first and foremost; i would just be happy that a console release is happening at all and move on from there.

Also Software can be "Totaled" at a point also; it can get so bad that it's actually cheaper/easier to rebuild a piece of software from scratch than working with an existing base. This can be especially true for large pieces of software (i.e games) where so many dependancies are tied into the systems you want to change that you're at a minimum going to break compatiblity with existing software.

The study that found that metallic hydrogen could be metastable is from the 70s; well before current experiments. The experiments performed recently have had it dissipate whenever pressure is removed; this means that with our current knowledge that metallic hydrogen has not been proven to be metastable. This doesn't mean that it can't ever be metastable, but right now all evidence points to that being unlikely. Science deals with proof and evidence, so since it hasn't been shown to be metastable we cannot say that it is. This would also make any estimates of performance or projections of any traits highly dubious.

Hmmmm, you're correct. The entire point of N-body is making the system accurate to RL; so if you're not replicating the chaotic behavior then you really defeat the point. Also they could just disable it near rask and rusk if they realize it causes issues.

I know this has likely been discussed before but wouldn't it just be possible to put the system "On Rails" during extreme timewarps? That way you wouldn't introduce the compounding errors via rounding you would get if they remained N-body during that same time.

Well take our solar system as an example; it's a series of resonances that's been keeping it stable for billions of years. So creating stable systems isn't impossible; just limits what you can create in a way. Orbital stations can be reboosted or otherwise corrected; so that's not an unsolvable issue either. At the end of the day if they wanted N-body they would have it, but Star Theory decided not to. And i think it really comes down to two elements, primary gameplay like you're saying. N-body creates a ton of busy work with stations, supply and complicates orbits significantly; no longer can you just go "Hmmm; 80K is good" you have things like the distribution of mass making "Lumpy" gravity fields, preccession making it harder to keep a constant inclination and etc. This is more realistic, but does it really enhance the KSP experience? Not really; especially if most of these things are automated away. But i also suspect it comes down to time; depending on what we look at KSP2 has had about 2 years of development with another 6 months in the more generous estimates. So considering they're building the game on the newest Unity version from the ground up with a new codebase, optimization features KSP never had along with everything else it's understandable why they didn't go for N-body. They're familar with the Patched Conics system; they know how it's supposed to behave and that helps tremendously with troubleshooting. They're already tackling a big project with not enough time; N-body would just be more work for a feature that may end up turning away much of the audience or irritating the ones that stay. This is a very smart choice; especially since they're going to support mods anyway.

It would've been reboosted by now at least; who knows what the future holds though. Starship may very well provide the capablity to service it again if everything goes to plan.

I figured they would also be modular; so you could get contracts to add components or refit older ones.

There could also be contacts to launch telescopes, service missions for ones already up there etc. If it's implemented correctly it will fit fairly smoothly into gameplay; the primary issue is KSP2 doesn't seem to be doing procedural systems so this is pretty much destined to become a mod.

Oh thank god; i couldn't imagine having to "Program" with punch cards xD

That's awesome; did it have a dummy terminal or did you have to use punch cards?

They've been part of the C standard since 89; iv'e also written code with them on multiple consumer machines ;o But damn; i didn't expect you to have experience with old mainframe tech xD

Hm? i haven't seen them in person but i wouldn't imagine they don't exist; how else would you implement 128,256,512 bit extentions to current CPU instructions. But for us consumers i doubt we're looking at anything more than a 128-bit FP number since the more extreme ones generally end up on server chips due to die size and cost.

You haven't seen a long long double have you? (I'm not even joking these are a thing)

Still unlikely to have anywhere near the intended effect; i'd have to do the math to see for sure though.

The video literally shows why Gilly isn't being moved anytime soon; you either need a box of fuel of similar size and mass or you need to change the laws of physics themselves lel.

I mean we were having a fairly decent discussion about the practical application of a system using it; not sure how that's considered "Whining".

At the deepest portions of the marianus trench it approaches 1,086 bars; this is around 0.1086 gigapascals. Water is good for heat transfer though, so if you're already fine dealing with insane pressures then go for it.

I'll just leave you with this.

Passively you would be correct, however with active heat transport it is very possible. You would need some form of refrigration at the bare minimum.

Have you actually looked at HOW we've attempted to produce vanishingly small quanitites of metallic hydrogen on earth? This isn't the best source but gives you an idea what we're looking at- https://physicsworld.com/a/the-quest-to-create-metallic-hydrogen/ "At low temperatures, enormous pressures – until recently, around 350 GPa – have been achieved in diamond anvil cells (DACs). In DACs, the hydrogen is in a hole or cavity in a metallic gasket that is pressed between two diamond anvils. We developed techniques to achieve even higher pressures – touching 500 GPa" GPa=Gigapascals, um=Micrometers, DAC=Diamond Anvil Cell "The main challenge is creating the enormous pressures that are required. In DACs, the highest pressures are achieved with a small culet. The culet is the flat-polished part on the tip of a brilliant-cut diamond. At the highest pressures, we use culet flats around 20–30 µm in diameter with a hydrogen sample size of about 10 µm in diameter and 1 µm thick. While the sample is in a cryostat, this requires careful study using microscopes that creates certain optical challenges. Furthermore, the hydrogen sample is between two diamond anvils, and to study the sample, radiation must pass through those diamonds. The diamonds have a region in the visible and infrared where they are transparent, but block out light in the ultra violet, which limits studying them in this region of the spectrum."

Ummmmmm No We're talking CNT's or GTFO at these types of pressures and temps; also you could just use a membrane to contain your gases you're using to pressurize the system.

Perhaps, all this adds weight though. And that's on top of our impossible pressurization system we're assuming we have and runs off of literal pixie dust because we're unable to currently approach these pressures except on microscopic interfaces between diamond anvil cells.

That's what i was envisioning tbh, perhaps having a system where you push chunks of the material out of a one-way valve to spontenously decompose so the tank never sees any meaningful changes in pressure. But yeah metastable metallic Hydrogen is dead, and that means the entire idea of propelling a ship with it is dead with it.