AntaresMC

But they can be really thrusty, Ive made plasma nozzles with around 100kN 1000s, thats a good pressure isnt it? And havent never had one working on Kerbin

The plasma and mag nozzle aint the same, as one is a mag mirror with a hall effect or something along the lines accelerator. The other is an MHD backwards with a railgun. And actually they have different mag field configurations (insert technobable) that dont work the same. I know its a placeholder for "everything that control heat explosions" but Id like a good review, because there are some problems: 1st) whats the reason plasma nozzles dont work in athmo? As long as they have enough pressure shoud work. 2nd) there's no reason ever to use the thermal aerospike, less fuel variety, less thrust, same weight, same Isp. For some reason, there's no Isp curve in the thermal nozzles (nor in every other nozzle), that would be AN's strong point. 3rd) there's no reason ever to use the thermal ramjet nozzle, all the other do whatever job better. Same of the Isp curve complaints. 4th) thermal nozzles work by the same principle as the orbital scanner, witchery (its canon lol). 5th) Id love interchangeable nozzles, for example an AIFF with a turbojet for thrust/athmo and a plasma nozzle (thats 2× as efficient with that reactor) for in space, or an AFFRE like nozzle (can use CP or plasma). It can be done with exploits, but Id like if it was legit and there's no reason why dont do it... Also, the Tory engine isnt very realistic as a ramjet, but works exactly as a thermal turbojet would work, there's no reason for a differentiated turbojet and ramjet, they would work both very similarly and its so easy to shift gears from one to another. Also there's no reason why regular Zpinch (exist in the first place) cant work in athmo, nor the plasma, bell, aerospike, lightbulb (that need a small buff), the plasma drives (that have enogh pressuse, probably only ATILLA) and probably Im forgettig someone cant work on air intake... And why the mag nozzle is so big!? CP only need channeling, the less they expand the better, and mag fields work better closer. Id suggest a smaller, not as wide model, and a bit shorter.

Wasnt yet? I dont use the tokomak a lot, prefer the stellerator or the MIF. I see it a no brainer, GOGOGO GO! XD But do it with all neuron sources, not just the tokimak. Got it, thaks! Ive got really bizarre things from being a rock to a hyperglic ship, violations of thermodynamics and double nozzles (Id love if that last was legit) Talking on that (almost): Id love to know how do thermal nozzles work, because its says it has a heat exchanger but the math dont say the same (at least not for things hotter than the pebble bed). A complete therm nozzle descriptions' overhaul is needed (also thermal nozzles become useless at around 6000K)

Talking on exploits, is there any thread to post bugs/exploits. Im a spiffing brit level amazing person in gaming and would wanna report some bizarre things I found. And exploits are ethically correct and more fun if they are can be patched (aka, the dev knows)...

No problem, I learnt by asking, enjoy answering (make me think, I havent done the math for the Discovery before, the 1st posts were eyemeasured). The trick is just brute force, read a lot, memorize formulae and interactions, make a tierlist in your head (dont matter, jus for organization, but He3+He3-D #best and H-B #worst XD), and forget about quantum mechanics, the formulas and theory contain all you need without much weirdness. Just as the Saitama trainig, just brute force. Read everything you possibly can, and contain the tinyest amout of info, even YT videos contain info (better papers, more info/time). And Im not an expert just a super nerd that wastes most his time searching and playng KSP. AthomicRockrts is your friend! You are lucky to be english speaking... Th requires a sh1tload of heat to melt and U not that lot less, and you are using fusion fuel, and the Li blanket isnt enough by no means. You could mix the Li blanket with other fertiles in a %, that would solve the heat problem, also you'd need a closed loop and thats not worth the extra mass. Instead why dont do it with reactors? And with no active nozzles attached, if not I can see exploits. Dont think Discovery can afford a lot of extra mass...

No, H is a good moderator, absorbs very little thermal n when hot, but a lotta when they are cold, this means that only a small % will transmute into D D is the best moderator/deflector I know of (close to He) wont absorb a n in its life (has so little cross section that I would need scientific notation). Use Li6H, or if dont care about n, Li7H (mabe too much embrittlement, the mag coils still block them). The T is bred fine, the D, not quite, youll have to recycle H over and over. And dont need closed loop, just dump the unburnt out the nozzle, free thrust and if Li6, may fuse and give a bit more power. No, size2 is because surface area (aka thermal mass) is squared, fuel flow is exp -1, as the plasma has to be cooler to not damage the engine Nope, because you cant have too much heat (read radiative absorption) per unit of mass (area in this case) because all radiation can become ionizing if hot enough and last thing we want is a burn/embrittlement in our tinfoil thick CNHf alloy.

No, the power production gets inneficient AND the magnets as well, leading to a cascade effect (dont worry blackbody goes with T4, this effect is just squared) Double the thrust would multiply cost by 2 (1/2 as hot plasma gives 1/8 the heat, but need twice the energy to maintain, so 1/4, its a log curve), but also 2× power output, but as 1/2 core temp, its not 2× but 1.4× (sqr2) effective cost

Exactly! But, warm He3+D-He3 is more energetic, and like 99.5% CP (better than H-B). Also He3-He3 is 100% CP, but les energetic. Edit: not more energetic, actually less, but lower Lawson and 10 times less neutrons, so more usefully energetic. NONONONO, sorry, no. The core temp is only dependant on Size2/FuelFlow (only if you want a, lets say not single use, not violently deflagrative engine) XD The thing is that low n modes require less fuel flow to the same energy, so, its a byproduct, not a direct ralationship Ok, replies merged, do I delete the 1st, wrong one?

The idea is to breed D and T, the free propellant is a plus because its too heavy to have a closed loop, not worth it, and a dood chunk of the Li6 fuses at the nozzle.

MEEEH, WROONG! The Li6 blanket double as coolant and its not extra weight, it can even be even shooted out the back open cycle like. Lets explain. Imagine a LCNTR, with its vortex, but made of Li6H and very thin. The D and T breed buble out to burn, mabe some Li6 burn as well, and the ones that dont burn will inneficiently burn in the bottleneck of the nozzle and give extra free thrust and cooling. If do it, you can make tinfoil thin CNHf alloy that let the almost all neutrons scape, and the ones absorbed by Li go out the back, heating only a little bit.Thats why in my example I assumed n transparency. Also the shiny LH (moreless) help keep plasma temperature. Low n fuel modes are almost the same as high n ones, the only difference is low n ones require less fuel flow for same temp, making them better in Isp, worse in thrust, both linerarly with n % times total output (this means even D-D is better than H-B, take that, silly H-B fans! ) Im a bit H-B hater, was it noticed? All thermal power comes from blackbody and bernsstahlung rad. A bit from cherenkov and n but negligible.

Same efficiency as an MHD (same system) is a hard max, can extract all you want but 1w you extract, 1 less w you have... for the mini-cilinder of the mag nozzle Id say 10% is optimistic. BUT Id like if you could change it, like a slider, the more left the more power it gets, the center gets 0, the more right, the more power it uses but improves Isp (equal to the energy it uses, times nozzle efficiency) and thrust (equal to 1/2 its energy). You know, all MJ get in, MJ in Psp (1/2thrust×Isp), MJ get out, MJ in Psp get out, and mabe can tweak it by +-10%, this gets to balance, your work. Even you could get a slider of the railgun size, as stock rotors with its motor, and the more, the heavier but bigger the extractable/injectable power is.

Tokomaks are bulky, but a Discovery like engine will not need most its things, as it doesnt have to confine the plasma for longer than seconds until goes out. Also shielding and things like that are needed for thermal power production, but they are all unwanted in a direct fusion rocket. Ive seen concepts of dirct MCFR 2m r sized (and kerbal engines are all 1/2 diameter as real ones), and the burn chamber of less thn a m...

Or just make the CP production scale up... Its quick and dirty but gets the job done. And if wanna make the plasma nozzle generate electricity, has to curve towards inside somewhere, and I prefer an accelerator nozzle (like a railgun). Do I draw it? Its hard to explain, and Im as good at it as a closed book... Edit: wait, wait, no! The kinda cilinder it has in the start would do the trick, no need for design change. Still prefer accelerator nozzle.

Yes but no. Yes, but plasma can be cooler and fusion rate is higher so yes, uses more power but produces more power. Dont know if cancels out, but improving Isp reduces power output as pulses, so lets say improving thrust (with fuel, not H) improves power output in a log fashion (that kninda makes sense) In TweakScale it says 3.75 (Im in an old version of a few months ago, mabe is 1.9 incompatibility). And Im referring to the real one that around 10×10×15m plus nozzle Also 3.75 base looks more sensible since you want upgrades to make it bigger, you dont miniaturize an engine that gets worse smaller

Right, also the more WasteHeat the engine has, the more difficult is to maintain fusion, as hotter magnets go worse. When I propose something I do from a gameplay perspective, as I dont play a perfect sim nor RO. I believe realism is good if 100%, if not, as much as dont affect (#LF=H2). The thing is that Im a nerd and try design basing on science for fun! Edit: And not only core temp but thrust power as well!

Id love to talk abou dD (I think degenerate deuterium is more informative, and shorter to write) 1st) dD has a >1eV Lawson, BUT creating it in the first place is more energy costly than even H-H or H-B (and thats a lot to say) 2nd) did you know its possible to create every degenerate element? This includes UD He3, that is so unstable that would auto explode in seconds! And other bizarre things like iron fusion, that is possible in white dwarves if heated enough (may be a reason why they can collapse in magnetars when collision). 3rd) WHEN THE HELL DO YOU WANNA ADD DEGENERATE MATTER!!? Yea, its not as famous as fusion or antimatter, but deserves love, and its so useful... its like a happy middle between the two, AM is really underpowered in KSPIE, like an order of mzgnitude less than its potential, looks like an early technology that hasnt evolved enogh... I think pressurized degenerate fusion fuels (can be even stable with active support and cryo cooling) and then neutronium would easily fill the gap. Ultimately quark matter could be a direct competence to antimatter... I only let it fall...

I misunderstood, sorry. No, at 3.75m upper limit is 12000, but can improve if pulsed and can reduce by adding more fuel flow (not H, but fusion fuel) until the plasma gets so cold its not sustainable and have to pulse, negating thrust increase, or adding H when alredy capped until run outta Isp. In theory there is no limit but if you double Isp the WasteHeat quadruples. If you increase thrust fuel comsuption AND reduce Isp, so its always a loss exponentially from the base, and you cant run outta Isp nor thrust. The more radiators you add the smaller is the exponent, so you can shift gears more drastically. If you improve thrust power (aka size) the base gets bigger in the first place so you can move the thrust/Isp balance more. If dont have enough fuel, you can add H2 at the expense of electric power generation (1w goes to H, 1w doesnt go to power), but still got the problem of running out of Isp. So in theory an infinetly big engine with infinite radiators would be able to shif gears to infinity (in reality not because gets a point where MCF gets capped). 36000s BASE is for the 10m variant (a bit less, but rounding FTW!) Base=max if dont pulse (a lotta pulses per sec, so you can just lower thust and you are fine).

Ah, and how I said: Around the size of old OPdalus, self charging, can generate extra electricity by brayton or MHD with 1/2 eff if afterburned, lighter than old OPdalus Isp up to 1.5Ms if He+D-He3, if you wanna add more fuels, go ahead, but they're all gonna be worse. The twisted mag field works by letting come in plasma in a straight line, the mag field isnt paralel so the plasma twists, then reverse current and the plasma is backon track (going to the sides, but fine), and you've got some power in the way without reducing the speed towards the dome nozzle that channel it back, taking also a bit of energy and then reflecting it back to generate an extra bit of trust. With that trick you can make the plasma move sideways and thake that sideways power via MHD without losing forward move (ok, a bit of heat because the expansion, thermodynamics suck, but it was wasted anyway, so its fine). You also take power via Li6 fission in the coolant, PVs from fusion blackbody and white hot ablator and T decay. The He can run a mini tri-alpha reactor, mini muon cat one or be dumped as free afterburner fuel. I like the mini tri He the most, but muon cat is less heaty and free thrust is always welcome! Warning: This is very rad hard if ablator isn used, please take an engineer, a robotic print and enough graphite for weeks... If not, use the time warp expoloit or take a LOT of radiators! Also, maximizing the surface area of a fuel cell you can make it (almost) as fast as a capacitator. mH cells are really inneficient, but really fast and dense as them alone... (#addMetastableFuels!) Edit: may put U233 mixed with the Li6H coolant (forgot to say that, most n go to Li6, but a small number dont fisse and get deflected. There is H to deflect back and have a small chance of absorbing and taking a D for free), this allows to make easy neutrons exactly where you need, and as they are a bit scarce (only about .05%, and we start with ~1% (we are fusing a few Kg/s, its enough, but...) should reach the shield) this should accelerate He3 and D breeding.

I use both and have found annoying fuel differences (#LF=H2) awfull load times and a clear abscence of balance in the com tech tree, but nothing more... actually really bizzare things, but theyre off topic so Ill let them for another post Have you tried checking for faulty parts or another mods that it uses? Should send the error msg, I dont know programming but Im sure someone will help You could but how do you polarize neutrons? Mag fieldz dont work and a neutron mirror takes a good chunk of the heat to itslelf... And why? Sipin pol fusion gn give you a tight beam, just dont stop it and youve got thrust. What do you think? Sorry, Its sideways There has to be some sphere of influence where you cant place any other one, plasma engine, mag nozzle or MCR Forgot it, 1.25m, can be scaled up with upgrades until 2.5. When you unlock gets 1/2 Isp (is easier polarize in 1 axis than 1/2) and the other 1/2 is waste heat. Thrust power of around a MW when fully upgraded. Real heavy for its size, laughable TWR. Around 10N would be optimistic, but if you do what Squad with Iond drive (1/2 Isp, 1000×thrust) may be fine, and you can afterburn (only 15% of Tp is afterburnable, and its the same 15%that gives electricity). Id put it with the Discovery in tech tree. Remove SpinPol fusion mode. In the future you could add neutronium, they are related as you need a tight dense neutron beam to produce it. Also you can flip polarization and have a super dupper neutro-beam to breed a lot of D or T, this can run on cheaper Li7 and H. And note that the penning trap magnet is pushing it, this is because if not they go forward. The maglev magnet is inverted so it pulls to spaghettify it and counter the mushrooming effect the penning would make.

NO spin pol gives the same energy, makes a horrible logistic challenge put several near each other, are size limite, the magnets eat a lot of powe, are fuel flow limited and harder to ignite! Ah, and last a life to burn their fuel The only thing you could use spin pol is if you need a tight beam of neutrons and can only see 3 things: A weapon A rocket A neutronium factory

This is because depending on the angle, H-B gives differen results, usually gives He, sometimes C12 and very rarely C11+neutron. A bit of spin pol helps reduce the chance of the last, but it isnt aligning the spins perfectly so you have a neutron monodirectional beam... And H-B is fission most the time, Id love if it was called correctly

But thats a beam of single element (He) not moving individual atoms to pinpoint others. And they control the reaction by aplaying heat and pressure with the fuel beams, not moving the athoms.

What the fVck I havent seen that kinda unobtanium never outside anime! No, but the point is to use tne neutons!! I cant see that awfull lot of processing power outside a mini matrioshka brain, and that kinda not pays for an extra 1% eff

D-T

Spin pol He3 is useless, even stupid. YOU HAVE NO NEUTRONS TO TAME! And spin polarization goes away quickly with heat, not something fusion is really free of. You can use the neutrons for thrust and the CP go in the other direction, use a magnetic mirror or a CP converter, whats the problem? If you get the electricity is really efficient, and quite a lotta power (around 15% of the fusion output) but you can only afterburn if redirect them, since neutrons only interact to fVck, will not heat propellant. Also the mag field to spin polarize are so strong they will maglev no problem!