GreeningGalaxy

1136: A thin plane of some kind of viscous, black liquid is falling all the way across the door to the floor; you can't see anything beyond it and it looks rather malignant, so you decide not to try your luck running through it.

Gets cracker-shaped living tiger. Inserts SCP-914.

7/10. It's a little big, but very intimidating anyway. has this one been posted already? even if it has, it's totally the best it has RADIATORS and a photon sail and it's a puller configuration look look at all that realism

Reality bender, anyone?

You fail to bend the coin slot into itself for two reasons: one, this doesn't make any geometric sense, and two, the coin slot is part of the Immutable Framework of the thread, and is thus indestructible. The machine gives you a deploring look, and dispenses a bill worth -50 USD. I insert a single Planck-wavelength photon.

Sorry, your military lost all it's funding so we could establish permanent bases on all of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons. You can't afford nifty gadgets like that.

You manage to freeze for a moment, but you quickly melt because I'm super hot. *sunglasses* ayyyyyyyy deal with it I launch several relativistic kill vehicles at the next poster from a LINAC chain out near Eeloo.

You try once again to close a timelike curve, but fail to do this because time travel is still impossible. I retain my hill.

I am a tidally-locked hot-Jupiter with molten glass sideways rain. What are you?

Receives a disk containing the complete Starbound soundtrack. Inserts a cutting of Crassula ovata (common jade plant), etched with a sigil of accelerated propagation.

Receives a 1.25-meter "Kiwi" molten salt fission reactor, Inserts a stream of relativistic charged pions.

wink wonk. Red Iron Crown.

The Novikov Self-Consistency Principle denies you all your paradoxes. Hey, don't look at me, I don't make the rules. I claim a hill in a universe which is a replica of this one, and accordingly contains no provisions for time travel.

It makes sense to scale weight with surface area on radiators, mainly because there's no point in making them thicker, only broader and longer. The models scale volumetrically, yes, but that's probably not now it would work in real life. The current scaling factors seem to result in very slightly heavier radiators than one would expect for area scaling alone, but this can be explained away by supposing that the large mounting armature is contributing to the weight at large sizes, and it would make sense to scale that volumetrically, at least to a point. I'll look into it more, but it looks rather like the tweakscale configs are more or less fine as is.

I think the radiator scaling is, for the most part, okay. We just had an isolated problem in which the scale exponent apparently got messed up somehow. Please disregard my previous posts and my radiator config; that's not actually necessary.

I actually tried it out myself some, and it looks to me like the radiator mass scaling issue was isolated to one person's install - I couldn't reproduce it. Guess my big radiator isn't super useful, then. Now that you mention it, though, Procedural Wings-style radiators could be awesome. Probably would be quite hard to implement, especially if they're folding, but now I kind of wonder how hard it would be to give the radiator module with realistic area scaling to a pwing....

One problem that's been noticed is that radiators become heavy far too quickly as their size increases. I don't know how to fix tweakscale/freescale for this, but I can always do what I do know how to do: Make more parts. Running that giant antimatter engine (and thus a reactor on full power) requires some truly staggering waste heat radiation, so I've made a 1.5x-scale radiator part with realistic[1] mass and radiator area for its size. Copy this to a text file, name it "radiator3.cfg" and drop it into WarpPlugin/Parts/Electrical/HeatRadiator/: PART { // --- general parameters --- name = radiator3 module = Part author = zzz // --- asset parameters --- mesh = model.mu rescaleFactor = 6 // --- node definitions --- // definition format is Position X, Position Y, Position Z, Up X, Up Y, Up Z node_attach = 0.06, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0 // --- editor parameters --- TechRequired = largeElectrics entryCost = 14500 cost = 300 category = Utility subcategory = 0 title = Giant Heat Radiator manufacturer = Boltzkerman Co. description = A really gigantic heat radiator, for those really powerful vessels. Radiates heat into space via the Stefan-Boltzkerman law. // attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision attachRules = 0,1,0,0,1 // --- standard part parameters --- mass = 7.2 dragModelType = default maximum_drag = 0.2 minimum_drag = 0.2 angularDrag = 1 crashTolerance = 8 breakingForce = 2000 breakingTorque = 2000 maxTemp = 3200 MODULE { name = FNRadiator animName = a1 radiatorTemp = 1350 radiatorArea = 3600 originalName = Mo Li Heat Pipe upgradeCost = 15 upgradedName = Graphene Radiator upgradedRadiatorTemp = 3500 upgradeTechReq = experimentalElectrics } RESOURCE { name = WasteHeat amount = 0 maxAmount = 720000 } } If you want to be able to tweakscale this radiator too, add this module to Warp_TweakScale.cfg under GameData/TweakScale/: @PART[radiator3] // Giant Heat Radiator { MODULE { name = TweakScale type = surface } } [1]This config assumes that radiator thickness doesn't increase as you make them bigger. This would be true to real life, but not so for KSP/Tweakscale, which does increase thickness. If you don't like this, you can always increase the mass to 10 tons.

I think it would be nice to have a speed-dynamic warp system for highly eccentric orbits that lowers the warp level as you move faster closer in (allowing you to stop with precision) and faster as you go slower further out (making going to Eeloo not take hours). That said, the warp-to feature will probably make this unnecessary.

Actually, no. The reactor's not idling (Antimatter reactors have no lower limit on power, and thus do not have an idle power other than what's needed), it's running at 100% to compensate for the fact that 324000 units of charged particles are being sucked out of its reservoir by the magnetic nozzle every second. Of course, when that picture was taken, the bugged config was causing the reactor to draw twice as much antimatter as one would expect for its declared 30% efficiency, but that happens no matter what setup you use for the reactor. If you use my edit in the footnote to fix antimatter consumption rate, it doesn't do that.

I managed to make my own implementation of charged-particle-powered magnetic nozzles: It's not seamless, it probably isn't true to how magnetic nozzles would actually behave given ~350 gigawatts of charged particles (the thrust would be lower and the Isp higher, I believe), but it does work, it does provide substantial Isp (42000 seconds) at quite reasonable thrust (1570 kN), and it didn't take more than a little config editing to make. If you're interested in testing it out, I'll make it available here. Please note: -You need two new parts, a special antimatter reactor and a special magnetic nozzle. No new models are used, of course, so RAM usage will be unchanged, but it will add yet another reactor and engine to your part list. -Direct Conversion generators don't work with the charged-particle antimatter reactor (but thermoelectric generators still work fine and at full power). This appears to be hardcoded behavior and is not something I can change with simple config edits. -Normal magnetic nozzles will not work with the special antimatter reactor. -Regular reactors (which produce charged particles) may work with the special magnetic nozzle to some extent, but since the nozzle just draws power and charged particles as propellants, its performance will be a little wonky and potentially unbalanced. Use at own risk. -I haven't changed the antimatter consumption rate at all. The reactor is still using 15 milligrams per second, which is a shade too much.[1] Installing it is rather complicated, but not too hard if you're used to moving modules around and installing new config files. Step 1: Copy this module: REACTOR_FUEL_MODE { name = ParticleAntimatter ReactorType = 256 GUIName = ChargedPionAntimatter ChargedParticleRatio = 0.80 Aneutronic = True NormalisedReactionRate = 1.0 NormalisedPowerConsumption = 1.0 FUEL { name = Antimatter FuelName = Antimatter UsagePerMW = 1.1111111111e-14 Unit = mg } } Open the ReactorFuels.cfg file under WarpPlugin/Resources/ReactorFuels.cfg and paste this module on a new line at the end. This will enable use of a reactor mode that uses antimatter and creates charged particles. Step 2: Copy/paste this into a text file: PART { name = AntimatterReactor375cp module = Part author = Fractal mesh = model.mu rescaleFactor = 1.5 node_stack_top = 0.0, 1.2665, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2 node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -1.2665, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2 node_attach = 0.0, 0.0, 1.4, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 1 cost = 150000 category = Utility subcategory = 0 title = 3.75m Charged Pion Antimatter Reactor manufacturer = Zefram Kerman's Warp Supplies Co. description = A plasma core antimatter reactor. attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0 TechRequired = experimentalRocketry entryCost = 90000000 mass = 54 dragModelType = default maximum_drag = 0.2 minimum_drag = 0.3 angularDrag = 2 crashTolerance = 6 breakingForce = 1500 breakingTorque = 1500 maxTemp = 3600 MODULE { name = FNAntimatterReactor ReactorTemp = 22922 PowerOutput = 135000 originalName = Gas Core upgradedName = Plasma Core upgradedReactorTemp = 646146 upgradedPowerOutput = 405000 upgradeCost = 180 upgradeTechReq = interstellarTechUHEPhysics animName = e5 radius = 3.75 consumeGlobal = true reactorType = 256 fuelEfficiency = 0.3 upgradedFuelEfficiency = 0.3 } RESOURCE { name = ThermalPower amount = 0 maxAmount = 405000 } RESOURCE { name = ChargedParticles amount = 0 maxAmount = 405000 } RESOURCE { name = WasteHeat amount = 0 maxAmount = 1350000 } } Save it as "AntimatterReactorCharged.cfg" and place it in your GameData folder under WarpPlugin/Parts/Electrical/AntimatterReactors/[AntimatterReactorCharged.cfg goes here] This is the antimatter reactor that generates charged particles. Step 3: Copy/paste this into a text file: PART { name = KSPIMagneticNozzle4 module = Part author = Fractal MODEL { model = WarpPlugin/Parts/Engines/MagneticNozzle/MagneticNozzle rotation = 0,0,180 scale = 1.875,2.1,1.875 } node_stack_top = 0.0, 1.505, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2 node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.93, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2 fx_exhaustFlame_blue = 0.0, -0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, running fx_exhaustLight_blue = 0.0, -0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, running fx_exhaustSparks_flameout = 0.0, -0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, flameout TechRequired = ionPropulsion entryCost = 14000 cost = 78000 category = Engine subcategory = 0 title = 3.75m Charged Pion Magnetic Nozzle manufacturer = Ionic Protonic Electronics description = This is an updated version of the magnetic nozzle, which is designed for higher power antimatter engines. Instead of being designed for simple alpha particles or fission fragments, this engine can deflect the powerful flux of charged pions emanating from a large antimatter reactor. attachRules = 1,0,1,1,0 // --- standard part parameters --- mass = 6 dragModelType = default maximum_drag = 0.2 minimum_drag = 0.2 angularDrag = 2 crashTolerance = 7 breakingForce = 200 breakingTorque = 200 maxTemp = 3600 EFFECTS { running_closed { AUDIO { channel = Ship clip = sound_rocket_spurts volume = 0.0 0.0 volume = 1.0 0.1 pitch = 0.0 0.2 pitch = 1.0 1.0 loop = true } MODEL_MULTI_PARTICLE { modelName = WarpPlugin/FX/interstellarChargedExhaust transformName = thrustTransform emission = 0.0 0.0 emission = 0.05 0.0 emission = 0.075 0.25 emission = 1.0 1.25 speed = 0.0 0.5 speed = 1.0 1.2 } } engage { } flameout { PREFAB_PARTICLE { prefabName = fx_exhaustSparks_flameout_2 transformName = smokePoint oneShot = true } AUDIO { channel = Ship clip = sound_explosion_low volume = 1.0 pitch = 2.0 loop = false } } } MODULE { name = ModuleEnginesFX engineID = ClosedCycle runningEffectName = running_closed thrustVectorTransformName = thrustTransform exhaustDamage = True ignitionThreshold = 0.1 minThrust = 0 maxThrust = 1574 heatProduction = 350 fxOffset = 0, 0, 0.25 PROPELLANT { name = LiquidFuel ratio = 0.76 DrawGauge = True } PROPELLANT { name = ChargedParticles ratio = 320000 } PROPELLANT { name = Megajoules ratio = 55000 } atmosphereCurve { key = 0 42000 key = 1 42000 } } } Save it as "part4.cfg" and place it in your GameData folder under WarpPlugin/Parts/Engines/MagneticNozzle/[part4.cfg goes here] This is the special magnetic nozzle for the antimatter reactor. Step 4: Copy this module: @PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle4]:AFTER[WarpPlugin] { @MODEL,0 { @scale = 2.5,2.1,2.5 } @node_stack_top = 0.0, 1.205, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3 @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.75, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3 } Open the KSPI_scale_fixes.cfg file under WarpPlugin/KSPI_scale_fixes.cfg and paste this module on a new line at the end. This extends the scale correction for the other magnetic nozzles to the new part as well. That's it! If all went well, you should have a magnetic nozzle antimatter engine in your KSPI. [1]I did some further poking around with the antimatter usage stuff. As it turns out, Fractal assumed the antimatter reactors would only have a 30% efficiency or so, which I suppose I can't really argue with. Assuming the real-world value for the speed of light, though, the reactors are still using too much antimatter, because it's only counting the energy of the antimatter's mass alone in the reaction, not both it and the mass of the normal matter it's reacting with (which would ordinarily be half of the energy released). This means the efficiency is more like 15%. It would be trivial to either double the efficiency value for the reactors or simply halve the UsagePerMegawatt number in the reactor mode config, but I haven't bothered with that just yet. If you like, you can change the UsagePerMW= line in ReactorFuels.cfg for the antimatter modules (this one as well as the existing one) to 5.5555555555555e-15 instead of 1.111111111111e-14 to fix it yourself.

I like the idea of non-directly-attached thermal nozzles. Are you planning on adding decreased efficiency as the nozzle gets further from the reactor as a result of pipe loss, though? Moderately unrelated: I tried modifying the antimatter reactor to provide charged particles. It worked, in the sense that the reactor now does indeed produce charged particles and fill up its reservoir when activated, but the problem is that the Direct Conversion generators and magnetic nozzles refuse to accept the particles from it. I can't tell for sure, because both generators and nozzles appear to be hard-coded, but it might be some kind of reactor-type detection which is rejecting the antimatter reactor regardless of its charged particle production. I'll keep looking into it more, but if you have any idea how to edit the reactor detection on those, I'd appreciate help.

I tested the large 405 GW reactor with a thermal nozzle and liquid fuel, and it gave me something like 750 kN at 3000 seconds (with the reactor running at 100%). So essentially, almost all the reactor power is vanishing into thin air, without showing up as useful work or even waste heat. Also note that even if the energy was conserved and 80% efficiency was assumed, 3000 seconds at that thrust power would give around 22 meganewtons (22,000 kN) of thrust. An Isp of 5000 seconds would give 13,200 kN, and even if you drove that up to 7000 seconds, you're still looking at over 9,000 kN. While not exactly game-breakingly strong, that's still enough to accelerate at a quite ludicrous number of Gs for even most large spacecraft. Ergo, mega-powerful antimatter engines really need a higher Isp to make them sane - There's just no need for an engine that thrusty, and even if there is, it probably involves partcounts bigger than most computers can handle. Edit: Derp. I had bad parens in all that math, and it was totally bogus. Should be fixed now.

I thought it was already established that unused charged particles are automatically thermalized by the reactor? This was consistent with my observations with the thermal jets - the jets were putting out about as much power as the thermalpower + chargedparticle components of the power together, not just thermalpower. I believe antimatter reactors with charged particles would behave about the same with thermal rockets as they do now (which is still very buggy, by the way).

Yeah, I'm aware how rare antimatter is in real life, but there's a huge amount of it in KSP - you just have to fly a big collector array out to Jool, and you can get kilos of the stuff in a handful of years. When KSPI got its magnetic nozzle nerf in the first place, I tried adding in my own config for an antimatter "torch drive," which had a thrust of 3750 kN, an Isp of 56000 seconds, and antimatter consumption directly proportional to that thrust power (I assumed real-world c for my mass/energy calculations). I don't know what you'd get out of a 405 gigawatt antimatter reactor (the thrust power of my drive was over a terawatt because I wanted >1G acceleration) but the ratio of antimatter to propellant worked very well - some very large ships needed two of the biggest bottles, but collecting that much isn't that prohibitively difficult with endgame tech. Sure, there comes a point when your Isp is too high, and you'd get a more effective interplanetary ship by gearing it down, but 56000 seconds isn't nearly there yet. For a drive using a 405-gigawatt reactor (assuming 80% charged particles), I'd probably cut the Isp slightly to about 42000 seconds (after all, we're probably not trying to make actual torchships here the way I was), which would then give us a very reasonable maximum thrust of roughly 1500 kN. It would be like running a much stronger DT Vista, which I think should be the goal. If I have some time later today, I'll see if I can mess with the reactor configs and get this to work myself. Yeah, the ~80% range looks about right. It could easily be slightly higher or slightly lower than that, depending on how efficient the reactor is at capturing gamma rays, but just some quick-and-dirty back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that a reasonable efficiency for that might give you an 80% charged particle ratio.