Inertia dampener, a 1000 science part

[Unfawkable]

Not sure where in the tech tree, but that's not important right now. Now, this suggestion is well out of limits of realism (though not as much as warp drives, thematically), but I prefer adding gameplay depth and elements instead of sticking to realism in a game that doesn't fully have it in the first place. So, without further addue:

Intertia Dampener

Cost: 30.000

Size: A tank-like 3.75m part, around a meter high

Weight: 15 tons

Creates a dampening field around your vessel reducing it's overal mass at the cost of 300 electric charge/second. The dampener cannot work under strong gravitational fields, and will therefore not reduce mass within 1000 Km of a body equal to or bigger than Kerbin. It's efficiency then increases to up to 40% mass reduction the further away it is from a gravitational source. (Does not take Kerbol/Sun into consideration, this means that in orbit around the sun unaffected by any planet/moon it would have 40% reduced mass when activated).

The device needs 10 days to recharge once used (Costs 30 electric charge per second, can be turned off manually)

Why I think the game could use this: There still aren't many way to efficiently travel between planets other than Nerv engines, and this part could make other engines a possibilty with huge interstellar ships, since its mass and electric cost would make it useless on smaller vessels.

Discuss

[Bug_]

Sounds like a mod thing not a core game thing.

[Tankman101]

There's sacrificing realism for gameplay.

And then there's things like magically reducing mass with a single part.

[Unfawkable]

There's sacrificing realism for gameplay.

And then there's things like magically reducing mass with a single part.

Well it says that the orbital surveyor uses witchcraft to find Ore. I'm content with that explanation.

[Rath]

NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNothank you.

Nice for KSPI though.

[Tankman101]

Well it says that the orbital surveyor uses witchcraft to find Ore. I'm content with that explanation.

No, the orbital scanner is an abstraction of something that would actually be put into space. Think the satellite that analyzed the regolith from the impact probe, just without the impact probe. Also working in an entirely different way.

[Vectura]

SO a part that somehow reduces the mass of a craft with electricity? Show me the real life equivalent. And about the ore scanner, we needed a way to find ore, and that is a convenient way to do it. We do not need a way to increase the TWR and Delta-V of nuke ships. Add more engines if the burn is too slow for you.

[Wjolcz]

Ugh... Seriously? If this gets added how about we also get warp drives?

[Kuu Lightwing]

I think such a magic thingy would suit Space Engineers, but not KSP.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Why I think the game could use this: There still aren't many way to efficiently travel between planets other than Nerv engines, and this part could make other engines a possibility with huge interstellar ships, since its mass and electric cost would make it useless on smaller vessels.

So, you're using the LV-N's as they're intended to be used. First off, how is that bad? Second, when you start making creations that are too big for nukes to push, you use normal chemical rockets. When those start becoming unfeasible, you've built it too big. Third, if it weighs 15 tons and provides a 40% reduction in mass, the original ship can be as light as 23 tons and still benefit from it - that's pretty light, as far as interplanetary vessel go. Fourth, if it only works around bodies lighter than Kerbin.. what's the point? Every journey has to start there and you're probably better off starting off without the extra weight than adding 15 tons in exchange for a lighter craft at the end burn.

This is a silly idea and is completely unrealistic (the warp drive at least sounds plausible. This though.. where does the extra mass go?). For a mod though, sure, go for it.

[KerikBalm]

Why don't we just make a module that, when active, makes your ship travel in the direction it is pointing..... so if you flip 180 degree, your prograde orbit becomes a retrograde orbit.... yea.... becase to ***k with realism, this would be "good" for gameplay.

[Unfawkable]

So, you're using the LV-N's as they're intended to be used. First off, how is that bad? Second, when you start making creations that are too big for nukes to push, you use normal chemical rockets. When those start becoming unfeasible, you've built it too big. Third, if it weighs 15 tons and provides a 40% reduction in mass, the original ship can be as light as 23 tons and still benefit from it - that's pretty light, as far as interplanetary vessel go. Fourth, if it only works around bodies lighter than Kerbin.. what's the point? Every journey has to start there and you're probably better off starting off without the extra weight than adding 15 tons in exchange for a lighter craft at the end burn.

This is a silly idea and is completely unrealistic (the warp drive at least sounds plausible. This though.. where does the extra mass go?). For a mod though, sure, go for it.

Thank you for actually pointing out design disagreements first instead of realism. I already said there isn't any realism, you don't have to repeat yourselves.

Now, 23 tons could be the bottom limit of benefit, but you also need a lot of electricity, and with that solar panels, and taking burn times with the amount of electricity required to sustain them makes it hard to make it worthwhile on a small vessel, so I think somewhere around 40 tons would be the right number. Didn't crunch the math, but it just seems like it. Anyway, the mass of the device can be increased for balance reasons if needed anyway.

Now for the gravity part, it's meant as another downside to keep the balance, and to keep the device niche of interplanetary travel, and not to just use it anywhere because it's useful.

I would design a whole lot of mods, I have ideas levels more unrealistic than this one, but I don't know the first thing about modding sadly.

- - - Updated - - -

Ugh... Seriously? If this gets added how about we also get warp drives?

Agreed.

[Mutex]

Thank you for actually pointing out design disagreements first instead of realism. I already said there isn't any realism, you don't have to repeat yourselves.

But that's the issue, it's *way* too unrealistic for this game. You're trying to dismiss this when frankly it's a total show-stopper. This is literally pure sci-fi (Alistair Reynolds I believe, he even called them inertia dampeners I think), even warp-drives are based on theoretical physics that could be possible.

If you ever want to see this in a game, a mod is the only way it's going to happen I'm afraid.

[Starwhip]

I think such a magic thingy would suit Space Engineers, but not KSP.

In Space Engineers, it has seemed to me that the "Inertia Dampener" was always a guidance system that reduced your relative speed to zero by thrusting in precalculated directions.

[Xannari Ferrows]

I hypothesis that Inertial Dampeners work by isolating a pocket of space around you. Kind of [not really] like how a rocket can contain it's own atmosphere, a cruiser can contain it's own "space" or something like that. I'm not really sure how something like that can be achieved, but it'd be interesting to look into.

[KerikBalm]

This would be functionally identical to having a module that increased the Isp of your engines by 1.667x when away from a large body.....

You might as well just ask for a KR-2L with the Isp stats of a LV-N/ a LV-N with the vacuum TWR of a KR-2L

I don't see the gameplay need.

I especially don't see the gameplay need to go around changing ship masses and deviating far from realism, when realism has a lot to do with what makes this game fun in the first place.

[Starwhip]

This would be functionally identical to having a module that increased the Isp of your engines by 1.667x when away from a large body.....

You might as well just ask for a KR-2L with the Isp stats of a LV-N/ a LV-N with the vacuum TWR of a KR-2L

I don't see the gameplay need.

I especially don't see the gameplay need to go around changing ship masses and deviating far from realism, when realism has a lot to do with what makes this game fun in the first place.

This. One of the reasons KSP is fun is that there is no "magic solution" for everything. I cannot see this part being useful at all, nor do I like its magical qualities.

[Joonatan1998]

This is less realistic than warp drives...

If it just reduced the ship mass by a set amount then it would be at the same level.

(both would need negative mass particles)

[KSK]

No, the orbital scanner is an abstraction of something that would actually be put into space. Think the satellite that analyzed the regolith from the impact probe, just without the impact probe. Also working in an entirely different way.

And has been on several occasions, going as far back as the Soviet Luna 10 probe. Google for gamma ray spectroscopy and take a look.

Fraid I don't see a need for this either, at least not in stock. Forgetting about realism for a moment, it's also not quite true that nuke engines are the only efficient way of travelling between planets. Now that ISRU is a stock feature, all your giant interplanetary ship needs is a refueling lander. Once you don't have to carry all your fuel with you from the start, you have a lot more flexibility about which engines you can use.

[Lord Aurelius]

First off, as others have said, I don't think a part like this really has a place in the base game. In a mod with scifi parts maybe.

Second, I'm not really sure what the in-game benefit of this is over something like a high thrust, high efficiency engine. Based on the description you provided, all this would really help out with is reducing the dV requirements in space since it wouldn't work near the large planets/moons where it would be most useful.

As far as sci-fi parts go, here's the parts I would find most useful:

FTL Drive (i.e. KSPI warp drive)

High power, high efficiency engines (every sci-fi ship you see only needs to devote a relatively small portion of its overall mass to fuel, KSPI has some engines that fit the bill, as well as a few other mods)

Antigravity/repulsor drives (kerbal foundries has some, another approach would be basically something that negates gravity entirely for the vessel, similar to the gravity hack cheat)

Energy shield (haven't seen a mod provide this yet, basically the idea is that it creates an aerodynamic shield around your craft so you can easily fly anything down into an atmosphere, would also protect against collisions with other craft).

[Unfawkable]

Alright, overal point taken, it's hated for the unrealism as expected actually.

- - - Updated - - -

This. One of the reasons KSP is fun is that there is no "magic solution" for everything. I cannot see this part being useful at all, nor do I like its magical qualities.

I do believe if it has a hefty cost for what you want to achieve, it's no longer just magical, you've earned it. Earned it by grinding up science, paying the cost, and designing a vessel electrically capable of efficiently running it

- - - Updated - - -

I hypothesis that Inertial Dampeners work by isolating a pocket of space around you. Kind of [not really] like how a rocket can contain it's own atmosphere, a cruiser can contain it's own "space" or something like that. I'm not really sure how something like that can be achieved, but it'd be interesting to look into.

Are you reffering to a possible mod implementation way, or just thinking out loud? :-)

- - - Updated - - -

First off, as others have said, I don't think a part like this really has a place in the base game. In a mod with scifi parts maybe.

Second, I'm not really sure what the in-game benefit of this is over something like a high thrust, high efficiency engine. Based on the description you provided, all this would really help out with is reducing the dV requirements in space since it wouldn't work near the large planets/moons where it would be most useful.

As far as sci-fi parts go, here's the parts I would find most useful:

FTL Drive (i.e. KSPI warp drive)

High power, high efficiency engines (every sci-fi ship you see only needs to devote a relatively small portion of its overall mass to fuel, KSPI has some engines that fit the bill, as well as a few other mods)

Antigravity/repulsor drives (kerbal foundries has some, another approach would be basically something that negates gravity entirely for the vessel, similar to the gravity hack cheat)

Energy shield (haven't seen a mod provide this yet, basically the idea is that it creates an aerodynamic shield around your craft so you can easily fly anything down into an atmosphere, would also protect against collisions with other craft).

This addon sounds fun. Might give it a turn after I finish up the current Career mode.

[tater]

Turn on infinite fuel.

[Kuu Lightwing]

In Space Engineers, it has seemed to me that the "Inertia Dampener" was always a guidance system that reduced your relative speed to zero by thrusting in precalculated directions.

Yes, but still, such a device would fit well in that universe. SE world is not very realistic and there's already some gravity tech in place.

[Rath]

Yes, the game is not too realistic; but it is belivable. This is not.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Are you reffering to a possible mod implementation way, or just thinking out loud?

Just thinking out loud. Analysis is what I do sometimes.