TMarkos

Yes! I hadn't really worked with texturing before so I was making it easy on myself. I had logged an issue on Github (#22) to do a texture pass before I do a final release. I plan to redo models for almost everything as I work through functionality issues, so I'll try to adhere more to best practices then.

Updated to 0.1c, includes 4nxs's fix for the hailer config, a KAS config for the tech upgrade boxes and a fix for a bug where the beacons were checking the wrong box for gravity limit assessment.

Thanks for the feedback! I've been playing with MM configs to extend the Hailer implementation and had actually tried that, but I'm not very familiar with MM syntax yet and was missing the @ before the Module I was searching for. I plan to release configs to extend the Hailer into all antennas as well as to make the tech upgrade boxes KAS-attachable. That last one is causing some issues, though, since it's not picking up the new part very well. Electrical use by the beacon is on the roadmap and is logged as Issue 25. I was leaving it until after the dev release so I could get comments on balance and how people were using it.

Yeah, the gravity system is set up to encourage networks of beacons. You can't get very close to an object with a large beacon, and the small beacons can't transmit very effectively over a gigameter. The ideal scenario is to have a small low-orbit beacon that pops you out to an outgoing larger beacon in high orbit. That takes you to a receiving small beacon in high orbit, which transfers you to the destination small beacon in low orbit. For smaller ships (<50t) you can cut out a lot of the middleman stuff by just using medium beacons for everything, since they can operate pretty darn close in while still transmitting over long distances.

Thank you! I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

The Extra-Kerbin Space Technology Research Agency's Superluminal Logicstics Division (EKSTRA SLD) (ESLD) is proud to present their first-ever public release of technology. As colony-building becomes a more common project, Kerbals are spending too much idle time between the stars. This will not do! The ESLD Beacon network will get your Kerbals from point A to points B through Z in no time at all, presuming you've positioned and fueled them, read the warning manual and installed all necessary safeguards. The ESLD is not liable for any deaths or insurance claims that result from the use of our beacons. Download Kerbal Stuff (Version 0.6a - delete old (4.0 or earlier) versions of mod first!) Github (Version 0.6a - delete old (4.0 or earlier) versions of mod first!) Also available on CKAN. Wiki These are not cheaty, easy jump beacons. They incorporate: Line of sight checking. Gravity restrictions (also checked under LoS). Incredibly costly fuel. More on that in a second. Scaling fuel costs with tonnage/distance. Tech advancements that allow increased capability. Proximity requirements for activation. Unique beacon models optimized for different transport scenarios. The general process to use this network is to place at least two beacons, then approach one with a hailer (currently just MM'd into the stock antennas). The hailer allows you to open a dialog window with the active beacon, where it will tell you what other active beacons it can see and if it has enough fuel to send you there. Assuming it does on both counts, press the button and off you go. Fuel is an important consideration, because it's what keeps the beacon system balanced in career mode. True to the maxim that you can choose two from the list of fast, cheap and high-quality, the jump fuel that makes the system tick is incredibly costly, to the extent that most transfers the beacon system performs are more expensive than or comparable to traditional rocketry-based solutions. Time is the ONLY thing you save with beacons, and some players may even plow more into logistics than they would otherwise have cause to do if they feel like maintaining an accessible and fueled beacon network at all times. The mod includes a cfg to allow players to use stock extraction parts to obtain Karborundum. I'll put this here for my own sanity: if you're playing career, at the start your beacons won't be able to safely transport Kerbals, Karborundum or a variety of other high-energy resources. There will be warnings in the pre-jump window if something bad is about to happen. READ THE WARNINGS. This project is still in the early stages. I'll note that this is my very first time: Running a GitHub repository. Writing code in C#. Modeling in Blender. Modeling in Unity. I had used Photoshop before, so I have that going for me, which is nice. Changelog 2015-07-06 0.6a - New CRP config, harvestable solar Karborundum is again accessible for K+ users. 2015-05-25 0.6 - Beacons now bend time and space appropriately. 2015-05-25 0.5g - All in-system transfers now disregard far beacon velocity. - IB-1 now has an integrated hailer, no need for another antenna. - Relative velocity predictions fixed, was being displayed as absolute velocity. 2015-05-23 0.5b - Fixed scientist discount not being shown/applied. 2015-05-23 0.5a - Created UI button to trigger warp dialog rather than right clicking on antenna, both options still available. - Updated SCU formula, now uses scientists on beacon to factor in discounts. - Updated EC calculations to factor in engineers on board. - Updated drift penalties to factor in pilots on board. - Fixed an issue where orbital predictions failed to clear. 2015-05-22 0.5 - The GMU now uses the station's mass to increase the gravitational tolerance of the beacon. By building your beacons into asteroids you can get them deeper into gravity wells, at the cost of incredible amounts of electric charge. - Clarified wording in the Heisenkerb Compensator warnings (thanks Katalliaan!). - Fixed a bug that would cause the animations to hang. 2015-05-18 0.4-b - Provided optional difficulty configurations to support wider range of playstyles. - Provided support for Community Tech Tree. 2015-05-18 0.4-a - Converted all textures to .dds, mod size dropped from 86mb to 22mb. - Fixed HCU rates for transporting hazardous material, they had lowered with the change to Karborundum density and are now where they should be. 2015-05-17 0.4 - Placed all parts in Adv. Science Tech and Experimental Science nodes. - Balanced part costs & part entry costs. - Added MM config (Scan_Extract_MM.cfg) to add Karborundum scanning to stock resource extraction parts in the absence of K+. Karborundum now appears as specified in CRP on Eve, Eeloo and in some asteroids. - Added manufacturer to techboxes. - Added nickname to IB-1. - Updated list of resources that need Heisenkerb shielding to avoid exploding during beacon transit. 2015-05-17 0.3g -Updated part nodes/sizes/attach. -Recompiled against 1.0.2. -Updated ModuleManager version. -Updated Community Resource Pack files. 2014-09-21 0.3b -Updated ModuleManager config for Karbonite Plus compatibility. -Updated ModuleManager version. -Updated Community Resource Pack files. 2014-09-01 0.3a -Directional indicators for orbit projections. 2014-09-01 0.3 -New models and textures for large beacons and IB-1 to match the LB-10. -Much lighter memory footprint, better inline fit. -Folder structure change. -Better utilization of shared assets. 2014-08-31 0.2d -Fixed AMU and HCU cost formulas. -Fixed origin beacons exploding dramatically on use. -Updated Community Resource Pack config. 2014-08-30 0.2c -Beacons now require ElectricCharge to turn on and to operate. -A large initial charge is required to activate the beacon. -A constant per-second charge is required to keep it operational. -Charge amounts are determined based on the current gravity vs the beacon's gravity limit and the amount of fuel in the beacon. -Using the Gravitational Mitigator now carries a penalty to required activation and operation charges. -Beacons will not start up without at least a small amount of Karborundum aboard. -New model for the LB10 beacon. -Better inline fit -Much lighter filesize - 25% of previous. 2014-08-27 0.2b -Added handling for multiple active beacons in range. -There is a new GUI button that allows you to step through all active beacons the Hailer can see. -Fixed incorrect HCU costs & fuel exemption -The HCU doesn't charge for fuel used during a jump if the beacon is the IB1, but it was applying that to every beacon. -The toll rate was too low, it's meant to be 2% of cargo weight in Karborundum. -Made the Hailer GUI respond correctly to switching vessels with the GUI open. 2014-08-26 0.2a -Fixed ModuleManager Config for Distillers to produce an appropriate amount of Karborundum. 2014-08-26 0.2 -Switched Karborundum to be Community Resource Pack compatible. -All costs and counts of Karborundum are multiplied by 5. -Relative density is up slightly but down per unit. -Karborundum is now non-tweakable by default. -Karborundum becomes tweakable if Karbonite is not installed. -With Karbonite (but not FTT), Karborundum must be produced at the distiller. -With FTT, Karborundum must be harvested. -Added exit orbit preview for non-AMU-assisted transfers. -Added HCU toll per ton of protected material (including crew). -HCU toll is equivalent to 2% of cargo weight in Karborundum. -Revised LB10 velocity transfer, no longer takes exit beacon velocity into account. -I found that this led to more intuitive local transfers. -Interplanetary beacons still use exit beacon velocity to allow players to use it to help shorten their exit vectors. -Fixed an issue where gravity barriers weren't being obeyed. 2014-08-23 0.1c -Included revised ESLDHailer config so module now appears on all antennas. Credit to 4nxs for teaching me how to ModuleManager. -Included new MM config to make tech boxes KAS-attachable. -Fixed bug that had the beacon checking if it had an SCU instead of a GMU when determining its own gravity limits. 2014-08-23 0.1b -Included ModuleManager dll. Oops. 2014-08-23 0.1a -Initial Dev Release. Credit goes to ParameciumKid for inspiring me to work on my own version of a jumpdrive mod with his own excellent mod, and for being nice when I asked for pointers. Part.cfg changes powered by sarbian & ialdabaoth's ModuleManager plugin; used with permission. Released under the GPL2 license.

Was playing around with this and it's nice! A few things occurred to me that might make it more balanced, though. Make a heavy, expensive resource for jump fuel, use it as a consumable on the departure end. This would make jumping costlier than the relatively paltry 10k charge it needs now. Make jump drives a larger, costlier part, but allow a small craft beacon transponder to use a charged jump beacon when within 200m of it. Shamelessly knocking off EVE mechanics there. Vary cost based on travel distance - long jumps should cost more than short hops. An exponential increase would not penalize short hops and would encourage some mindfulness about planetary alignment.

TACLS says 30 Kerbin days, so that's only 6 hours per day. This means that you're really only getting 180 hours of time, or a little over a week on Earth.

Well, if your goal is just to get rid of it... sidle up to it, strap on a tank of antimatter, retreat to a safe distance. If you want to pop it into an orbit, however, then your best bet is to snag an asteroid that's alongside Kerbin's orbit but further out/in. That way you'll have enough difference between Kerbin's velocity and your own that there will be an altitude where you can just warp in and click into an orbit. From there, like you said, QVP thrusters are probably your best bet to shift the asteroid - although you'll need quite a few of them or a really long time to move something like a class-E rock. I think you might be better served strapping on something high-DV but also reasonably thrusty, like a Vista or two.

Doesn't make a log, actually - it just freezes, forcing me to kill it in the task manager. No error dump is created, or even the crash log folder.

So, odd issue I found. Looks like attaching antennas using KAS (the Communotron 16 is the attachable one) causes an instant freeze and crash.

Hey, question about the Hybrid Thermal Turbojets. I got the upgrade and was messing around with them, but I can't seem to get them to toggle to LFO mode. Normal IntakeAtm works fine, and it'll flip over to LF+IntakeAir if I click Toggle Propellant, but I don't have the LFO option available. My plane for testing is basically just a pod, LFO tank, reactor and engine, in that order, so there shouldn't be any flow issues. Any idea what is going wrong?

Actually, I had the same problem just today. I had a KAS pipe from my science lab to an aluminum-burning rocket, and the electrolysis replenished the aluminum and not the oxidizer in the same rocket. Thinking there was some odd routing issue, I transferred oxidizer from a few linked containers to the rocket to see if it replenished any of the others - it did not.