EnderiumSmith

Any plans for the Medusa variant of Orion? Since a deployable parachute would be freed from the concerns of fitting in the VAB it could make use of hydrogen bombs and get some actually good ISP, maybe enough to go interstellar. Like how the NSWR has an upgraded variant. Also could the nuke tanks be separate from the frame so they can be decoupled?

Through various save files ive accumulated various custom tweaks and ran into other things i wanted to change, so i decided to compile them into a mod. The first iteration is designed to go together with a mostly stock-like game with Restock and Restock+ so it doesnt touch other mods like Cryo Engines or Kerbal Atomics yet. Features include: Part independent SAS levels: Now the HECS and OKTO are identical and remain capable after unlocking higher tech nodes. Probes now hibernate in warp by default so you dont run out of EC. Tweaked part placement to allow for a probe only start, while not affecting the kerballed route. Other science tree tweaks in the lower branch, such as an earlier fuel cell and moving the EVA science kit to space exploration(the one with ladders) Remote surface sample collection via the small drill, also moved to space exploration. It doesnt interact with the animation unfortunately so it on you to put the drill in a sensible location. ISRU now works at 50% capacity unkerballed, instead of 5%. The mini ISRU now behaves the same as the big one, with 1/5th the speed for 1/3th the EC use. No more loosing 80% of the ore! Mk1 cockpit now has equal mass to its inline version(like the Mk2 does) and the Mk2 Lander Can now weighs slightly less than 2 Mk1 Lander Cans instead of more Science Junior is now more heat tolerant. The side mounted variant form Restock+ weighs 50kg less instead. Science texts for the magnetometer for both stock and outer planets pack! I dont know why they werent included by squad. Eve now has a return modifier of 20! Before it was only 5 which is lower than Gilly and Dres!! Requires Kopernicus. Overhauled most of the Restock+ engines and their place in the tech tree. More info bellow Ye Olde KANDL: Several mods are distributing this old model so heres a standalone copy: 4kN@700Isp for a 0.25 tons. Particle plume provided by Restock. Switchable fuel tanks. You can now fill an orange tank with only LF for the Nerv! Requires B9PartSwitch. This conflicts with Cryo Tanks so you should remove the module if you use both. New Waterfall plumes for hydrogen based engines and fixed most of the typos in restock configs. More Info bellow. Requires Waterfall, Waterfall Restock, Stock Waterfall Effects (for the jet engines and aerospike) The Restock+ engines have been overhauled to maybe be an option worth choosing in some situations: A new tech tree node has been added before the one that unlocks the Skipper, and the nodes following it have been moved forward 1 step. That means the Skipper and modded engines like the Hecate need the upgraded RnD to research. Said new node now holds the Saturn class engines from Restock+ and the Kickback SRB. Torch has increased Isp to be viable as a small engine. Its somewhat like the Merlin from NFLV, if somewhat lacking in TWR. Ursa has thrust boosted to 460 to better fit the 1.875m size. Other stats increased accordingly. Also moved to the same node as Terrier. Caravel has its Isp changed to be like a small Rhino. Its mass has been increased but its TWR is still fantastic for a vacuum engine. Galleon(F1) stats adjusted to be in line with the Boar(F1B). It now makes 870kN at a very respectable TWR, but is no match for itself from the future. Schnauzer has less Isp at 340 but higher TWR. Only the Dart beats it at both. Its also cheaper. Undeprecated the Mallet and Striker and adjusted stats to match the stock ones. The Shrimp wasnt long enough. Stock radial engines Twitch and Spider now has the same Isp as their inline version so theres now a reason to use them over the inline on a cubic strut. Waterfall plumes have also been tweaked a bit, including new plumes for hydrogen based engines: Poodle also a better fitting plume.All engines that have turbopump exhaust pipes have had their effects restored. Before only the single Boar kept its effects. Fixed a lot of typos including Schnauzer not having a plume at all and made the Rapier plume the correct position for the Restock model. Poodle now has a better fitting plume based on the Proton Rocket and fixed the typo that made it not make sounds. New hydrolox plumes that are blue instead of white/cyan. Recolored based on the RS25 plume. Nuclear engines now have a working plume based on an old SWE config. A while ago i released a config for just that plume, so its just that built in this config. New Ion plume based on SWE adjusted to fit the Restock model. Planned features: Disabling the fuel switcher if Cryo Tanks is also installed Somehow applying the recolored plumes to all engines dynamically Tweaks to USI life support to make recyclers more part efficient. A second iteration based on a more expansive mod list with customized ISRU chains, branching tech tree and better plumes for the Argon engines from NFP SpaceDock release Download via GDrive

hey i notticed the reactor revamp. thats quite a jump in art direction, looks like it shows more than just the reactor core. However i see that the garnet no longer makes 400EC which a lot of NF propulsion engines need. Similarly a 1kEC reactor is still missing for covering the medium sized electric engines. the 1.875 is also quite awkward at 650EC. Wouldnt it work better if Garnet kept its 400EC for small electrics and the prometheus got boosted to 1k so fits together with NFP?

In that sense the usefulness of the other engines is also dubious. The AJ10 is missing the waterfall plume so i dont use it at all. The saturn parts i very rarely use as theres already options in that thrust range. The ursa i do use more but i also boost its thrust to 460 to fit the 1.875 size better. The torch also has quite low isp and very low gimball so i use the NFLV merlin(or the trash panda otherwise). But the new engines do have roll control so it wouldnt be entirely aesthetic. Plus theres no hypergolic plume in restock.

Will Restock+ enable the new models as custom parts like it did with the other MK engines?

i got it before it was down, but someone reuploaded it now. Not that its of much use with the level of bugs it has.

Part 2: Starfox With its new habitat and fuel scoop module, HMS Tempos of Wind Chimes heads to the only gas planet in the whole trinary: Elius. A quaint little ice giant at the outer edges of the system with a couple of icy moons, this planet likes to stay away from the busy life in the inner system. Traveling here does however reveal quite an anomaly, you could fit at least 2 more planets in the gap between the inner and outer system, yet they are nowhere to be found, just an asteroid belt at best. What happened in the early days of this system to cause such a gap, being so far away from the rest of its companions to avoid any possible interaction. The outer moon of the ice giant is covered in a thick layer of organic compounds staining it brown The inner moon is more geologically active and has fissures of solid ice in places Entering low orbit and deploying the particle scoop. I dont quite understand how spacedust is supposed to work. The abundance is set right, if even a bit low, yet the hydrogen tank fills instantly, which cant be right as the ship would burn up if it was passing through so much mass The last moon of this system is an asteroid in a a far retrograde orbit Returning home with full tanks to pick up the next lander A ball of LOX is also added to fuel the landers from. I could have scooped it up from the atmosphere but i didnt make the config and the delivery rockets have plenty of fuel left when they arrive The inner planet of Iro. While i did bring a rover, there was no screenshots to take. While the geometry was technically rendering, what was supposed to go on top was complete nonsense. Anyway this is the smallest planet in the system and has an ocean of low melting point metals at the substellar point Transporting the Sian lander. Sian is the biggest planet in the system, yet its primarily icy composition make its surface gravity lower than Narath or Kerbin. A 3 stage lander will be needed for this one Of course the atmosphere isnt loading now. Sian has a Duna type atmosphere made mostly of CO₂ with traces of H₂. Seismic scans detect the presence of a subsurface ocean so its possible life exists under the surface, if the ice isnt so thick it freezing back up from the pressure Returning to the asteroid to refuel on hydrogen. Of course with the fusion tanks now full it has triple the deltaV in dry mode even if it runs out Calculations show that to go from Proxima Kirbani to the inner system it would take as much deltaV as it took to get here in the first place, so i guess it ends here instead Given that the Galaxies unbound series is so buggy, what other interstellar destinations are there to visit? Overall i liked this system even if its a bit small. It reminds me of Extrasolar from the old days, which was also extremely buggy ✶●●● ● ✶●●●● ●

After exploring Cercani, the agency prepares to aim for the next destination: Nova Kirbani C, a small red dwarf orbiting far out from the binary pair, with 4 planets detected. The mission specialists selected are: Takane Kerman - Chief Pilot: A kerbal with a rather grounded history, she proved her spacial navigation skills inside virtual reality before getting a career at mission control plotting trajectories for probes, including the ships hauling fusion fuel from the outer system. Rayleigh Layman - Chief Scientist: Famous for being the first kerbal born on Laythe, she comes from a corporate outpost set up for prestige before the colonization wave even began. The transition to self sufficiency during her childhood inspired her interest in planetary science Polta Kerman - Chief Engineer: A specialist in fusion technology that oversaw the 3He mining operation around Urlum, he gathered a loyal following back on Kerbin for his series of introspective music, often released in conjunction with the arrival of the 3He shipment Katya Kerman - Second in Science: Hailing from a less developed region of Kerbin, she managed to score an apprenticeship with one of the best scientists on the continent, thus becoming a renowned scientists in the field of stellar wind interactions 16 other kolonists to oversee ground operations Part 1: Planetfall HMS Tempos of Wind Chimes lifts off from the Mun Passing through the glare. Due to a miscalculation the ship ended up with much tighter margins than expected. Some deltaV saving manuvers will be needed. Gravity braking off Sian, the third planet in the system Gravity breaking around your destination is tricky, as you cant change your speed relative to it, only a third body. Instead you must burn at apoapsis to raise your periapsis back to the planets orbit, to encounter it tangentially, thus limiting the normal component of your capture burn relative to the star. About 2/3rds of deltaV can be saved this way if you fly well. Weather this is worth it is another question., as while the capture went from 1400 to 300, another 1100 must be spent to get to low orbit, so the total saving is less than half This little asteroid moon of Sian provides an amazing view of the icy planet bellow Exploring on a lawn chair A mining ship is constructed to source raw materials, as the starship only carries the minimum amount required. The onboard factory and orbital shipyard will turn the ore into material kits. It will also top up the starship with hydrogen as the afterburning mode is much more efficient at conserving fusion fuel Probing Sian. So it turns out the atmospheres in this mod are complete nonsense. I had to rebuild the atmo configs from scratch for this one especially Leaving Sian Trying the same gravity break, this time it wasnt as efficient but the ship is bleeding mass from converting ore to fertilizer so the longer transfer added some deltaV Passing by Narath. While the presence of oxygen is a strong biosignature, the planet is a lot more bleak that it was hoped for. The very thin atmosphere combined with the frequent flares of its parent star restrict life to the oceans, which are slightly greenish Entering low orbit and preparing to deploy the colony. Also is should point out this planet is the buggiest ive ever seen, with bugs i didnt even think were possible Observing the rock formations. For some reason these things are very laggy so ill have to disable them Planetfall. A crumple zone was used on the underside to allow landing with just parachutes with the help of lithobreaking. This will serve as habitat until a large one can be built The colony. Since the planet is tidally locked, solar arrays can provide constant power, even if a mod i cant find is causing them to only output a third of their power when the sun is low in the sky. Does anyone know how to fix that? Time to resupply the starship so it can visit the other planets To be continued... ✶●●● ●

For some reason when the ocean is in frame on Narath i get very low frames and i have no idea how to fix that. This is the second planet i visit and its also buggy. Also the planet looks weird when going between scaledspace and close in model. I get the impression this modpack isnt well made. Also the science messages dont see that i turned on habbitable mode on Narath. Are there even different ones at all?

Im using galaxies unbound. It has some planets that are tidally locked, but since scansat doesnt support other start to begin with, it end up with the side that can see kerbol scanned instead

Is this still in development? Could the needs daylight stat be fixed to work relative to the parent star instead of kerbol? If the other star isnt in the same plane as kerbol then half the planet never sees it. Or maybe add an instrument that scans without light so it can work around tidal locked planets too

I found a bug. Entering Sians atmosphere is like hitting a brick wall. Even heat shields explode unless you enter from the lowest possible orbit. The pressure curve jumps from 0.5 to 0 directly while others have like 0.00007 then 0. Also it has oxygen enabled but the science from the atmo analyzer says it doesnt.

Is there a DeltaV map for Nova Kirbani? Specifically the ascent values for atmospheric planets. I notticed most the planets seem quite big, especially Sian after trying to aerobreak with the starship and exploding instantly.

Part 4: To Moho and back Initially i planned to post missions by major events but did have the energy. Instead i will post them as they complete Amun-Ra ready to launch. The ship consists of a nuclear stage to put it into an intercept with Moho and a argon-solar stage that will do the rest Turns out i put way to much hydrogen in the ejection stage and the nuclear tug will return with 2 of hydrogen tanks still full Lacking any good shots of the landing, the rover is lowered off the ship After a long while the return window comes and the lander returns to orbit The main ship ejects into a subobtimal kerbin transfer. Since the transfer window is so short, Moho is the only planet where sending a single kerbal is acceptable. For longer missions at least 2 are required to keep each other company Coming in hot Meanwhile A rover mission is sent to the Mun to hit the remaining biomes as well as rescue a kerbal from its surface Unpacking After a long drive it returns home. Despite the high orbit, no heat damage occurs, the engine and fuel tanks sitting in the patch likely helped Brace for landing. The small legs scrunch under the landing impact but enough bits survive that it does not roll of the hill Soon an ion powered probe will arrive at Sarnus, ahead of its chemical precursor

When examining the Nova Kirbani system, 2 colonization targets come out: Proxima c and Nova Ac. Both are confirmed to have a biosphere but its extent is not measurable from Kerbol. They are both slightly larger than Kerbin. Nava Ac has a kerbin-like atmophere that makes initial planetfall easier while Proxima c has a rarefied atmosphere that makes launching back into orbit easier. The proxima system contains the only known gas giant which makes an easy source of fuel, most notably He3. Nova Ac has a local system of moons that allows stocking up on metals closer to the destination while still allowing scrounging up some He3 for an eventual rise to Proxima. Nova Ac also has an easier access to the planets of its companion star. However Proxima c has the style points of being based on Proxima Centauri b. Which planet would make a better colonization target?

what im saying is i DONT. i want the cube to reflect the restock model. After all if everyone uses restock why does it matter. No one bats an eye when people use breaking ground propellers.

It doesnt seem to do. i want the drag cubes to be different, if theyre more accurate to the revamped models. i also dont play on 1.12.5 because its got some memory leak issues. i use 1.12.3

Ive noticed work restarted on restock, but ive been put off by the drag cube part. I want the drag cubes to match the model. Its not like im bringing old ships in new saves so why should i care its slightly different? Can i get the new revamps with the correct drag cubes?

Ah. then they arent any more stackable than the graphene ones. Length variation would be more useful than width. They dont looks as cool without the 1:20 aspect ratio

How do you stack the droplet radiators? I saw a a post on reddit that has them 1km long but when i put them on top of each other the model doesnt change

Part 8: Dancer in the Dark The Endeavour picks up the new fuel module and heads to Nienna. The detour means it will need just as much fuel as it started with. A direct return could have been done with just 1 of those tanks Helium diver arrives at Nienna. Transfers are cheap in this system so nukes will do just fine once the starship leaves the colonists here Had kerbalkind evolved here, fusion development would have been hampered with low demand and high entry barrier having to mine it from gas giants from the start. Nienna is however a much better 3He mine than Urlum, so i guess it evens out A secondary tug transfers 3He to the starship as the diver isnt very agile Once fully fueled it return to Disole to pick up the payload Unknown conditions at the destinations need a very large lander 1H depleted. Switching to reaction products After a long journey the Endeavour returns home. The burn starts while the star is still small but the periapsis is around Moho Hi Minmus you have a small SOI Green and Blue, a yet unique sight With the Mun in the sky, a shuttle is launched to retrieve the crew After 32 years the first interstellar travelers return home. The roster includes the veterans, Zhandar and Aiko's crew. A better destination will be their resting place, one that the James Kerman telescope detected oxygen on. As for the Endeavour, it will be refurbished and used for colonial transport between the Kerbol-Cercani systems. At first it will send smaller crews of 100 and highly advanced tech the colony cant make but once significant self sustained grown its achieved it will start sending crews of several thousand. Eventually a subcolony will be established on Pequar to start producing greenhouse gasses to melt the ice. In a few hundred years Pequar will be terraformed and the truly massive waves of a million at a time will depart for a world like Kerbin bar only breathable air. Vessa is a tease, the SO2 needs O2 to precipitate, there is very little actual rocky surface and the climate is unstable. With enough terraforming both it and Disole will be habitable but that will take geologic time. The spoils. This brings enough science to unlock the most theoretical of propulsion drives. Antimatter will never be practical but Z-pinch will help a lot. The next choice will be between K2V Kepsilon Kirilani and G8V Cer Turi, then furthest yet detected M8V Tarsis-1. But first in focus is the mission to Nova Kirbani... FIN

So what would be the use case for FEEP over the HISNAP and under driving it? the tiny nuclear reactor makes 60kW so xenon would make more thrust there. It looks light so maybe for missions where power is really low it would save weight? Maybe since it uses very dense liquid metal it could get better mass fractions? The resistorjets seem to not be any better than ants due to lower mass fractions and xenon has it even lower. edit: but if the mass fraction would be made better we would run into the same issue but with why pick xenon over clusters of these. NFP itself runs into the same issue: why would i ever pick the DAWN after unlocking the NEXT? Also i think the old PPT texture looked better.

Caesium has a bluish purple emission, the next element barium would actually be green so i guess it fits:

Part 7: Country Lode take me Home After returning from Pequar, the only planet left to search is Troni, as hinted in a stray signal found on Disole Theres a thin strip of ice on the night side. Surprisingly the alien considers this gravity comfortable, while its much to low for kerbals. Maybe he is from a Duna sized planet. Next destination is back to Nienna Passing through the rings Does this look as cool as the other shot? No settlement to be found here but theres more points of interest further away. It seems losing fuel to overheating put the alien very close to running out of fuel. Im not sure how since the burn would be close to Nianna so a refueling pass would come naturally. Our ship has enough fuel it doesnt even need to refuel here again Having found everything of note, The Endeavour return to Disole one last time. This time at a very high inclination for some reason. A hohman transfer had to be done due to bad angles for a high energy transfer One last thing is left to do: a long term Vessa base Parachutes are enough here, also no need for a fuel module Lastly an atmospheric probe arrives at Nienna to investigate the concentrations of 3He and 2H. Also its been a long time since a fuel cell has been used. Since Cercani lacks a close in large vacuum moon, Nienna is the only place to get 3He for returning home. Due to other findings with the alien, returning home will not be as simple as first assumed. To be Continued... ✶●●<●●><●●●●><●●>

Part 6: Sand Planet Back at Vessa to investigate the signals. As expected, no remnants of the previous outpost was found. Its still unknown if they were removed intentionally or simply abandoned a very long time ago. If youre flying east on a tidally locked planet, is it called a sunrise or sunset? I dont know if i mentioned it but the plane is called Stormsonor and the return shuttle is Reaper. The low gravity and high atmosphere allow for easy splashdowns so there is no chance of tipping over The fuel truck waits around the asteroid to refuel the next mission Since a lot of traveling will be required around Pequar, a mobile base will be used with long term habitation and renewable life support Even with the fins it is not entirely stable but the fairing is just heat resistent enough to aerobreak Parachutes are surprisingly effective here. A small single use fuel tank powers a set of landing rockets for a soft touchdown Next is the lander, which will meet with the Endeavour in low Pequar orbit to pick up the crew. It has 5k deltaV Tiramisu Base meets with the lander to pick up the crew for the long journey. A large RTG will provide power for the life support during the night This random crater appears to contain a signal. It appears that the alien is from a low gravity world, perhaps one like Vessa. Kerbals however find it perfectly comfortable here. Perhaps if we find its species they could be better adapted for low gravity worlds like Disole, Duna or Tekto The journey has reach far up north, this is round the same latitude as Oslo and the south tip of Greenland. Surface sample reveals something very promising, these polar caps are made largely of ice and CO₂ and satellite scans indicate that its at least 4km thick! This planet is also much richer in exotic minerals so it would be relatively easy to set factories to produce massive amounts of perfluorocarbons to increase the greenhouse effect enough to melt the ice, increasing its atmosphere in the process. Currently the atmosphere only reaches high enough pressure to support breathing in the deepest regions, which are full of rough sand and will be the first to be flooded. The scarcity of N₂ means the atmosphere will likely never be fully breathable but plantlife should be able to thrive This elevation map shows pretty well the expected result. The deep sand seas and polar basin will be filled and swampy midlands will become common around the equator Some marketing guy at intervision claims this polar basin has the best views in the system. This is clearly false This latitude is the best for observing the rings as the thin bands fade out from closer to the equator After 3 weeks and driving basically around the planet the Tiramisu mobile base returns to the landing site, where it will spend another week refueling the lander. Perhaps merging the refueling equipment with the mobile base want the most optimal design as its a significant part of its weight and does nothing while in transit Here is a revised version of the habitability index. While Vessa is still better as is and is much easier to orbit, the terraforming project would raise Pequar to 10, which is higher than Laythe! Vessa could get perhaps another point in the short term. In the long term where atmospheric refactoring is in play Pequar could become a second Kerbin and Vessa could surpass Laythe while Disole could reach at most 8.5, similar to Eve and Duna back home. To be Continued... ✶●●<●●><●●●●><●●>