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Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-END OF CHAPTER 21! (and hopefully not so many talking heads in 22!)


Mister Dilsby

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23 minutes ago, Willbl3pic said:

 

there, I added a </joke>, to make my original intention a little clearer.

I meant no harm. I've been following these since almost the beginning of E:O0. I like your comics.

No harm done :) But really, if it comes down to it I'd rather be called an idiot than an non-metric user!

15 minutes ago, Deddly said:

That's actually very interesting. I always thought that ton always meant imperial and tonne always meant metric.
I've learnt my new thing for today

i could certainly be wrong about its 'official' use. I can say that within the office where I work, people routinely use 'ton' to mean the metric kind. 'Round these parts, using 'tonne' tends to mark a person as having learned a differently 'coloured' English (looking at you, @Starhawk :) )

But certainly the different spellings are the best way to differentiate between archaic units and modern, where both are in use. As an American in the minority who thinks hanging on to the USCS system is ridiculous, I long for the day when the 2200lbm 'ton' is forgotten and that word means 1000kg for everybody.

Edited by Kuzzter
more clarity and colour
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24 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

No harm done :) But really, if it comes down to it I'd rather be called an idiot than an non-metric user!

i could certainly be wrong about its 'official' use. I can say that within the office where I work, people routinely use 'ton' to mean the metric kind. 'Round these parts, using 'tonne' tends to mark a person as having learned a differently 'coloured' English (looking at you, @Starhawk :) )

But certainly the different spellings are the best way to differentiate between archaic units and modern, where both are in use. As an American in the minority who thinks hanging on to the USCS system is ridiculous, I long for the day when the 2200lbm 'ton' is forgotten and that word means 1000kg for everybody.

It's kind of weird here.  There were and are at least partial holdouts against the metric system.  And, we live so close to the U.S. that it's inevitable there's some crossover.  It tends to be mostly one-way, of course.  The supermarkets here sell butter in 454 g blocks.  All produce is priced in both kg and in lb.  Canned goods show ml as well as fl oz.

But gas is sold in litres and temperature is measured and reported in degrees Celsius.

So, with both systems in use it becomes very important to denote which unit is being referred to.  I remember, though, when we had an 'imperial gallon' that was a different amount than the U.S. gallon.

I'm honoured that you noticed the local colour in my use of what is, ostensibly, the same language. Many here don't continue to make the distinction, but I tend to cling to those symbolic parts of my national identity.  I always pronounce Z as 'Zed'. :)

Anyway, that was a tonne of fun.

Happy landings!

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3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

No need for name calling. When I say 'ton', I mean one thousand kilograms. In some countries that's a correct spelling.

IRL, for me, one ton is 2,000 pounds.  IKSP, for me, one ton is 1,000 kilograms, since that's what the VAB/SPH uses as a ton.

The question is, will the KSS [REDACTED] be 200 imperial or metric PARTS?

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So I just did some Longboat testing on the KSC pad. Some things I learned:

  • Almost all my preliminary calculations were right on!
  • 40t (prior to ore loading) was just about the right budget for this craft.
  • Tested with 1x ISRU250, 2x large drills, 4x large fuel cell, 1x large extendible radiator, NO solar.
  • Heating was well under control.
  • Drills ran at full power; ISRU at about 22% with no ore accumulating in the tanks (i.e. the drills were the rate-limiting step)
  • Total power draw was about 37 e/s (I wish it was in Watts, that makes more sense to me... but anyway...) This is consistent with two drills running full out at 15e/s each, with the ISRU at (30 e/s) * (22%) = 6.6 e/s.
  • Fuel cell output matched power draw of equipment; note that the 4 fuel cells can put out 72 e/s total max, so I had them at about 50% capacity.
  • Fuel cells used .0924 total LFO to make that much electric power
  • Net LFO production was measured in the resource window at a total of .13 units/s. This is consistent with the ISRU max output of 1 unit/sec * 21.91% load = .2191 units/sec - .0924 units/sec used by the fuel cells = .1267 units/second. 
  • That's about 58% efficiency, not too shabby considering the total mass and it can run in total darkness.

In that particular spot I could have made good use of a couple more drills to load up the converter closer to 50%; at most I would have needed another fuel cell or two to power everything. Overall efficiency is highly dependent on ore concentration--in that spot (the KSC pad) each drill was giving .055 units/second, and the drills draw full power regardless of how much they're producing. Of course I'll have no way of knowing what concentrations are like on any potential Joolian landing sites until I get there!

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Very nice to see the results of your testing, Kuzzter! May I ask why you are using 4 fuel cells at 50% capacity instead of 2 at 100%? I've not tinkered with ISRU yet, but I'm interested in the mechanics of it.

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Just now, Deddly said:

May I ask why you are using 4 fuel cells at 50% capacity instead of 2 at 100%? I've not tinkered with ISRU yet, but I'm interested in the mechanics of it.

 Sure, I need to have enough margin to run everything at full load. Suppose I was in a spot with higher ore%, and the drills tripled their production rate of usable ore. Then with the reactor at 60% load the total power draw would have been (30 * 0.6) + 15 for each drill = 54 e/s, requiring three fuel cells at full power. 

And of course I can turn off the fuel cells entirely and run on battery power, but it wouldn't last very long. I had two 4k batteries aboard plus all the fuel cell capacity and other modules, for a total of about 9500e. At 37 e/s I could have run on battery for just over four minutes and made less than 60 units of LFO at 100% efficiency before having to turn back on the fuel cells.

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19 minutes ago, Deddly said:

@Kuzzter So if I understand it correctly, the drills use the same power regardless of the ore%, but the IRSU can throttle down to save power? Does it do that automatically, and do the fuel cells also automatically throttle down?

Yes to both, which makes sense to me. The drills are pulling up 1 unit of rock per second, some percentage of which is usable ore. We have to assume that whatever isn't usable gets flung back onto the surface somehow, but anyway the drill has to pull it all up regardless and so you pay the energy to do so. The ISRU takes as its input only usable ore and processes only what it gets; the power required to do that is a linear function of how much ore you give it. The fuel cell, like any electricity generating or storage device, provides power according to the load you put on it. 50% load = 50% power draw.

Edited by Kuzzter
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Will random word salad be making a return?

6 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

No need for name calling. When I say 'ton', I mean one thousand kilograms. In some countries that's a correct spelling.

It's correct spelling in the Kerbal United States of America, you kommunists.

<notKuzzter/>

Edited by Sanic
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Good lord could we all just let this whole tons/tonnes thing alone?

 

I'm interested in seeing your travelship, or how you will get everything to jool. Maybe with an anomaly use of the black things? There should be one on vall, or not?

That reminds me, is Bob stil the moon where you just randomly explode? Haven't been there since 1.0 to be honest.
 

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3 hours ago, Farex said:

Good lord could we all just let this whole tons/tonnes thing alone?

 

I'm interested in seeing your travelship, or how you will get everything to jool. Maybe with an anomaly use of the black things? There should be one on vall, or not?

That reminds me, is Bob stil the moon where you just randomly explode? Haven't been there since 1.0 to be honest.
 

Yes.

It's in 1000 kg tonnes.

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3 hours ago, Farex said:

...I'm interested in seeing your travelship, or how you will get everything to jool. Maybe with an anomaly use of the black things?...
 

Awww yess!

I am also very interested in any black thingys! Just can`t wait! Eagerly swimming around in the pol poll ... pool... :rolleyes:

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To the best of my knowledge, there is no acknowledgement of the existence of any 'anomalies' in Kerbfleet canon.

I think the closest it's ever been so far, is Jeb's 'in case of death' press release where he is quoted saying something like "Is it true there's a [REDACTED] on [REDACTED]?"

But who knows what secrets lurk in the heart of Kuzzter?

Happy landings!

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9 hours ago, Farex said:

I'm interested in seeing your travelship, or how you will get everything to jool. Maybe with an anomaly use of the black things? There should be one on vall, or not?
 

Well, I have a certain intent which a clever reader could deduce from Bill's craft manifest, what the landers include, and what they don't :) I've made some mock ups but nothing ready to show yet. In any case, when we do go it'll be under stock rocket power, no black holes, no ALT-h :) 

5 hours ago, Starhawk said:

To the best of my knowledge, there is no acknowledgement of the existence of any 'anomalies' in Kerbfleet canon.

I think the closest it's ever been so far, is Jeb's 'in case of death' press release where he is quoted saying something like "Is it true there's a [REDACTED] on [REDACTED]?"

Ha! You remember everything, don't you @starhawk! I actually did have a certain in-game anomaly in mind when I wrote that, we'll see if that gets un-redacted :D

Gameplay update: live flight testing (that is, in the main KF save) in progress of Longboat Mk2. Looks really good so far, hope to have a few pages within a few days. After that the focus will be on capital ship components.

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