[1.0.2] FTL Drive (Updates on development)

[krh42]

Please use this thread to report any suggestions you have for the mod or report bugs.

Rev 6

- Updated to KSP 1.0.2

Rev 5

- Updated to KSP 1.0

- New models and textures for the FTL drives

Rev 4

New update with:

- Automatically generated beacon names from the body they orbit and their altitude

- Moved code from OnFixedUpdate to FixedUpdate.

These two minor refactorings has been waiting for new parts. However, they are still work in progress and will not be available soon.

Rev 3

A new much more stable update for the FTL Drive mod is available on Kerbal Stuff:

FTL Drive

and source:

https://github.com/krhe/FTLDrive/

In this new release the textures has been updated. The parts still has a long way to go, but now they at least don't hurt the eyes too much when they are added to a vessel.

The code has been updated and should be pretty stable.

Planned work for further updates:

• Adding contracts
• Adding science
• Conducting FTL experiments and getting them accepted in the Kerbin Journal of Aerospace Engineering

Mod introduction:

NB. The video shows the old textures.

Ever wished you where somewhere else instantly. With the Kerbin Science Foundry faster than light (FTL) drive you can! Just spin it up to create an instant reality dysfunction that might, just might transport you instantly to another point in space.

To actually end up where you want to go, instead of experiencing a permanent fatal reality dis-coherence (i.e. your ship goes puff, aka. explodes) there are a few recommendations to observe:

• Place a FTL beacon where you want to go, otherwise, the FTL drive cannot get a lock on your target destination and will refuse to even spin up.
• Never, never, ever spin up the drive in a strong gravity field, keep far away from planets, suns, and other heavy objects.

Other than that the FTL drive holds the promise to revolutionize interplanetary transfers and to take the grind out of flying vessels from one point in the Kerbol system to another.

License: CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0

Edited May 9, 2021 by Snark
Link to defunct website removed by moderator

[NathanKell]

Welcome to the forums!

Quick note though: can you add mention in the readme what license you're using, and add it to the OP? The forum rules need the license specified even in the download file.

[krh42]

Thanks for the welcome.

I've added the license to the post and specified it in the README.md file.

FYI The license is also included in the download file, with the source files.

[randomness5555]

Hasn't someone already made this mod?

[krh42]

There are a lot of FTL mods.

I think they are overpowered. The main idea in this one is to create one that has significant limitations.

The main idea is to make the jump dependent on the gravity field at both endpoints of the jump, and that you can only go to a FTL beacon that you have placed at the target in the conventional way of space travel. This puts a limit on how big a ship you can jump and it requires you to go some distance out from the planet. This also means that you will still need to navigate, however, you do not need to wait for launch windows, which is really nice for your supply missions if you are playing with TAC life support or similar mods.

As far as I know that is new. I made this mod because I was missing this game play. You basically has to invest in setting up a FTL network, before you can go faster than light.

If another mod has all ready made that, then I would be really happy to hear about it, so I don't have to make it myself.

[IHaveAQuestion]

When you say "never, ever spin up the drive in a strong gravity field", approximately how far away from a planet or moon do you mean. I'm just looking for a ballpark estimate because I can't seem to get drive to work properly and all the ships keep violently imploding.

[Q-T]

When you say "never, ever spin up the drive in a strong gravity field", approximately how far away from a planet or moon do you mean. I'm just looking for a ballpark estimate because I can't seem to get drive to work properly and all the ships keep violently imploding.

it simply means that the further you are away from the center of a SOI the less force is needed to jump. after you select a beacon the necessary force is shown in the FTL like this -> "necessary force/available force"

if you want to make a 14.000N jump you will need 6 FTL Modules and spule them up simultaneously by action group.

[Q-T]

I like the way the mod works. it is a bit unintuitive however it is a good starting point. I have a few improvement ideas that would make this a great tool for people who know what they are doing. lets say this much, the adama maneuver would be possible.

[FreeThinker]

it simply means that the further you are away from the center of a SOI the less force is needed to jump. after you select a beacon the necessary force is shown in the FTL like this -> "necessary force/available force"

if you want to make a 14.000N jump you will need 6 FTL Modules and spule them up simultaneously by action group.

Indeed, it should be limited to maximum mass. This was what other FTL jump mods made so over powered. A tiny jump probe could be used to send a huge ship to the other side of the solar system. From a balalance point, this completely wrong and it would be much be balanced if only the opposite was true, meaning it would require a large jumpgate to send a small ship.

[Q-T]

So, I am currently diving through the source code and think i know where to start modifying it. I like the idea behind the math, however i'd like to make the following changes for myself:

- the distance between start and endpoint and the mass of the ship will be the main driver for the costs

- the destination can be punched in manual (by sMa, ecc, inc, lan, aop and the reference body)

- the ship will appear at the periapsis(if a beacon is chosen as target the ship will apear next to it) of the chosen orbit and will keep the momentum and prograde orientation from before the jump.

Short version -> A JUMP DOS NOT AFFECT YOUR VELOCITY <for the sake of the game the reference will be orbital velocity>

- Beacons for Convenience

- jumping from all situations

- damage to the near surrounding area. you would need an immense amount of power and would most likely destroy the launchpad. you can not jump with launch clamps or towers

things that would be possible:

- jumping a small ship out of the atmosphere

- jumping long distances in multiple smaller jumps

- the Adama maneuver

why it won't be OP:

well without testing i cant say that it is. for the sandbox i am not that concerned about overpower and in the career the tech tree will do its work also some general points:

- you will need a sufficient amount of conventional fuel in your ship. that stuff has weight, ergo more power needed. to give you an idea of how much fuel is needed: after a jump from a semisync kerbin orbit at roughly 1300 m/s to a point right above the atmosphere of jool you would need accelerate your craft to about 6800m/s after the jump.

so, that are my Ideas so far. what do you think?

[Svm420]

As far as I know that is new. I made this mod because I was missing this game play. You basically has to invest in setting up a FTL network, before you can go faster than light.

If another mod has all ready made that, then I would be really happy to hear about it, so I don't have to make it myself.

Not sure what exactly you would want from a FTL jump beacon mod, but the other one I know of is this one. I will be watch the development of your mod though since that one is no longer actively developed.

[krh42]

When you say "never, ever spin up the drive in a strong gravity field", approximately how far away from a planet or moon do you mean. I'm just looking for a ballpark estimate because I can't seem to get drive to work properly and all the ships keep violently imploding.

it simply means that the further you are away from the center of a SOI the less force is needed to jump. after you select a beacon the necessary force is shown in the FTL like this -> "necessary force/available force"

if you want to make a 14.000N jump you will need 6 FTL Modules and spule them up simultaneously by action group.

The effect of drives, currently, do not stack, as only one can be active at one time. So that puts a hard limit on the size of ship that can be jumped.

As Q-T points out the think to watch for is that the required force is smaller than the maximal for available (2500N), if it is the jump has a 100% chance of being a success. If the required force is larger than the maximal for available, then the chance of a successful jump is proportional to their ratios (i.e. if required force is 5000N then your jump has a 50% chance of succeeding).

Edited April 3, 2015 by krh42
to make it more clear what it refers to

[krh42]

So, I am currently diving through the source code and think i know where to start modifying it. I like the idea behind the math, however i'd like to make the following changes for myself:

- the distance between start and endpoint and the mass of the ship will be the main driver for the costs

- the destination can be punched in manual (by sMa, ecc, inc, lan, aop and the reference body)

- the ship will appear at the periapsis(if a beacon is chosen as target the ship will apear next to it) of the chosen orbit and will keep the momentum and prograde orientation from before the jump.

Short version -> A JUMP DOS NOT AFFECT YOUR VELOCITY <for the sake of the game the reference will be orbital velocity>

- Beacons for Convenience

- jumping from all situations

- damage to the near surrounding area. you would need an immense amount of power and would most likely destroy the launchpad. you can not jump with launch clamps or towers

things that would be possible:

- jumping a small ship out of the atmosphere

- jumping long distances in multiple smaller jumps

- the Adama maneuver

why it won't be OP:

well without testing i cant say that it is. for the sandbox i am not that concerned about overpower and in the career the tech tree will do its work also some general points:

- you will need a sufficient amount of conventional fuel in your ship. that stuff has weight, ergo more power needed. to give you an idea of how much fuel is needed: after a jump from a semisync kerbin orbit at roughly 1300 m/s to a point right above the atmosphere of jool you would need accelerate your craft to about 6800m/s after the jump.

so, that are my Ideas so far. what do you think?

Thanks for all the great ideas.

The reason I included beacons and that you can only jump to beacons, are to force people first to go to the place first in a conventional way, so they are required to set up a transport network, and send out "seed" ships. It is also a great convenience, and it turns the jump into game mechanics (seeding of beacons throughout the Kerbol system. If you can enter (sMa, ecc, inc, lan, aop +reference body), then I think it would be too much just like hyperedit. The reason you can turn beacons on/off is so they don't show up while in transit.

However, one thing that is really missing is that beacons require power, and they should stop working if there is insufficient power.

I would be sad to see the force req. dependence on the gravity field go, as it forces one to go far out and hence that you still need to put a lot of thoughts into your vessels.

However, I think the idea that the ship keeps it momentum is an interesting idea. Currently, it is very illogical that it just instantaneously changes it momentum. But it would make the mod really hard to use, but as you say force you still to design good vessels even if there is no force dependency on the gravity field.

Another solution could be to keep changing the momentum to match the beacon as it is now, but include the difference in momentum in the force required, and then indirectly you would have a force dependence on the distance of the jump, as there is the different orbital speeds, but also for example a high difference in the speed that for example Kerbin and Jool travels around Kerbol. However, this would also introduce a kind of launch window as the required force would go up if the planets are on opposite sites of Kerbol and hence travelling in opposing directions.

So open questions.

1. Keep dependence on gravity as it is now, or

2. Make force required relative to change in momentum, or

3. Distance to jump

4. Some combination or other.

Right now it is harder to jump to planets close to Kerbol, and quite difficult to jump to Eve (close to Kerbol and relatively large).

Damage to surrounding area is a great idea and should be implemented.

[ZodiusInfuser]

Kottabos just uploaded a mod showcase of this:

[Q-T]

Thanks for all the great ideas.

The reason I included beacons and that you can only jump to beacons, are to force people first to go to the place first in a conventional way, so they are required to set up a transport network, and send out "seed" ships. It is also a great convenience, and it turns the jump into game mechanics (seeding of beacons throughout the Kerbol system. If you can enter (sMa, ecc, inc, lan, aop +reference body), then I think it would be too much just like hyperedit. The reason you can turn beacons on/off is so they don't show up while in transit.

However, one thing that is really missing is that beacons require power, and they should stop working if there is insufficient power.

I would be sad to see the force req. dependence on the gravity field go, as it forces one to go far out and hence that you still need to put a lot of thoughts into your vessels.

However, I think the idea that the ship keeps it momentum is an interesting idea. Currently, it is very illogical that it just instantaneously changes it momentum. But it would make the mod really hard to use, but as you say force you still to design good vessels even if there is no force dependency on the gravity field.

Another solution could be to keep changing the momentum to match the beacon as it is now, but include the difference in momentum in the force required, and then indirectly you would have a force dependence on the distance of the jump, as there is the different orbital speeds, but also for example a high difference in the speed that for example Kerbin and Jool travels around Kerbol. However, this would also introduce a kind of launch window as the required force would go up if the planets are on opposite sites of Kerbol and hence travelling in opposing directions.

So open questions.

1. Keep dependence on gravity as it is now, or

2. Make force required relative to change in momentum, or

3. Distance to jump

4. Some combination or other.

Right now it is harder to jump to planets close to Kerbol, and quite difficult to jump to Eve (close to Kerbol and relatively large).

Damage to surrounding area is a great idea and should be implemented.

So i was really lucky to make the 15000N jump!

To answer your open questions. I was thinking 4. Combine the different elements but lay the focus on the mass and jump distance. Punching in the numbers requiters a huge amount of knowledge and even than it requires careful planing if you don't want to end up falling from the sky like a rock or shooting out of the SOI of your target. It is a very different approach to difficulty. Also the tech tree is our friend. Setting limits to the the jump distance and making beacons mandatory in the beginning of the tech makes it an interesting experience for career. If you start with a distance limit of 75Mm you can't even clear the SOI of Kerbin. I will definitely implement some of my ideas myself over the next weeks and keep the development here in this thread, if that is ok with you. Consider it a Mod Mod.

[krh42]

So i was really lucky to make the 15000N jump!

To answer your open questions. I was thinking 4. Combine the different elements but lay the focus on the mass and jump distance. Punching in the numbers requiters a huge amount of knowledge and even than it requires careful planing if you don't want to end up falling from the sky like a rock or shooting out of the SOI of your target. It is a very different approach to difficulty. Also the tech tree is our friend. Setting limits to the the jump distance and making beacons mandatory in the beginning of the tech makes it an interesting experience for career. If you start with a distance limit of 75Mm you can't even clear the SOI of Kerbin. I will definitely implement some of my ideas myself over the next weeks and keep the development here in this thread, if that is ok with you. Consider it a Mod Mod.

I like your idea of different beacons, with a range limit. I will also see if I can implement a line of sight requirement. Also so there can be a progression through the tech tree, perhaps also starting with a smaller size 1 FTL drive, progressing to the current size 2.

Looking forward to see your code, hoping we can reach an agreement on features, so we can merge the two branches. Quick note though, I've always used subversion before, git is an experiment - but how hard can it be )

But the video from Kottabos was quite nice to see - I think the mod is on the right track, and that we should not make it too complicated with extra rules.

Right now, I'm working on better models for the parts. That is a first for me, so it a quite interesting learning experience.

[Q-T]

I like your idea of different beacons, with a range limit. I will also see if I can implement a line of sight requirement. Also so there can be a progression through the tech tree, perhaps also starting with a smaller size 1 FTL drive, progressing to the current size 2.

Looking forward to see your code, hoping we can reach an agreement on features, so we can merge the two branches. Quick note though, I've always used subversion before, git is an experiment - but how hard can it be )

But the video from Kottabos was quite nice to see - I think the mod is on the right track, and that we should not make it too complicated with extra rules.

Right now, I'm working on better models for the parts. That is a first for me, so it a quite interesting learning experience.

Git has many advantages when working with 3D assets and other binarys. I made a Mk2 Unit from the basic Drone Core it still needs some Texture work.

[krh42]

That looks really nice. Far better than my recent rather feeble attempt.

If you would like to help with the models for the mod, then that could really help to make get of the ground.

I've never worked with 3d modeling, and it would take a long time before I will be able to make something that would be worthy of even a semi-finished mod.

[Q-T]

Tried an alternative version today for the mk2 core today. Now with Texture Atlas made from Stock Textures.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Q-T

[DerTroglodyt]

Not shure but wouldn't this be mainly the same as "ESLD Jump Beacons"?

Maybe you should join forces.

[Svm420]

Not shure but wouldn't this be mainly the same as "ESLD Jump Beacons"?

Maybe you should join forces.

Not sure what exactly you would want from a FTL jump beacon mod, but the other one I know of is this one. I will be watch the development of your mod though since that one is no longer actively developed.

I had thought the same so i posted a link for them to check out. Not sure of their exact scope.

[Hiromoto]

I've been looking for a ftl mod that uses jump beacons for a while now. So I hope that you follow through on this. What I like about the Beacon system is setting up networks of them. What I'd like to be able to do is make multiple jumps, starting in Low kerbal orbit and stretching out to the farthest reaches of the kerbal system. The balancing of it needs to come somewhere between too easy to setup, making it boring, and too complex and grinding to be fun and worth while. In the end I hope you make something you enjoy because you'll work harder on it.

[Q-T]

Some statistics that might come in handy, even though they are rough calculations and do not take the inclinations of the planets into account.

[mcbmaestro]

This mod is not working for me. I select the beacon, then I click jump and it says "FTL Spinning up.." and there is a humming sound. Then nothing happens. I'm using the small FTL drive. Maybe my Mun beacon is too close to the Mun it's 800,000 km or so maybe too close? If so ok but should go and destroy the ship or something not just sit there inoperable. It does say success chance 100% btw.

Edited April 13, 2015 by mcbmaestro

[krh42]

This mod is not working for me. I select the beacon, then I click jump and it says "FTL Spinning up.." and there is a humming sound. Then nothing happens. I'm using the small FTL drive. Maybe my Mun beacon is too close to the Mun it's 800,000 km or so maybe too close? If so ok but should go and destroy the ship or something not just sit there inoperable. It does say success chance 100% btw.

I'm sorry for your trouble.

Did you use Hyper Edit directly from the launch pad? I had the same problem when I did that. You need to activate a first stage in order for the physics loop to start OnFixedUpdate().