[1.4.x] Stock Antenna Balance - July-29-2018

[WuphonsReach]

v1.2.2.9 - Feb 5 2017

- Package README / CHANGES / LICENSE inside distribution archive
- Better method of dealing with UPGRADES{} from forum's "blowfish" user
- Tier 3 homeworld contracts will stil be available after tier 4 is unlocked
- Boost rewards for tier 4 stationary, increase maximum completions
- Lower power storage requirement for polar orbits
- Loosen acceleration requirement for polar orbits (KSP has trouble near Pe)
- Outer planet rewards boosted based on cube root of SMA ratio with homeworld
- Tweak reputation rewards

[Erebus1]

On 1/28/2017 at 4:20 PM, WuphonsReach said:

It's calculated based on the antennas on the craft (DSN level shouldn't matter).  

A) There is a log file at GameData/ContractConfigurator/log/StockAntennaBalance named after the contract.  In there, you will see a section called AntennaRelayPower with a parameter called minAntennaPower

  Reveal hidden contents

AntennaRelayPower
type = HasAntenna, deterministic = True
name = AntennaRelayPower, deterministic = True
targetBody = Kerbin (CelestialBody), deterministic = True
rewardFunds = 0, deterministic = True
rewardReputation = 0, deterministic = True
rewardScience = 0, deterministic = True
failureFunds = 0, deterministic = True
failureReputation = 0, deterministic = True
optional = False, deterministic = True
disableOnStateChange = null, deterministic = True
completeInSequence = False, deterministic = True
hidden = False, deterministic = True
hideChildren = False, deterministic = True
title = Have at least 4 G (combined) relay antenna power, deterministic = True
notes = null, deterministic = True
completedMessage = null, deterministic = True
minAntennaPower = 4000000000, deterministic = True
maxAntennaPower = 1.79769313486232E+308, deterministic = True
antennaType = RELAY, deterministic = True

 

That minAntennaPower value should read out as 4 billion (4 thousand million) or what I call "4G".

B) The other piece of the puzzle would be to look in the VAB and make sure that it shows the correct Antenna type and rating in the VAB/SPH:

  Reveal hidden contents

If either of those things don't check out, then there's possibly a mod conflict and I'd need a KSP.log file.  Maybe something else is playing with the antenna values.

I ran into this with OPM and the JX2Antenna Mods.

OPM does the  @antennaPower *= 4, and then JX2Antenna-OPM Patch did a  @antennaPower /= 4).

With those, the HG-5R had an antenna Power of 1.25G.

I didn't see anywhere if you did anything due to the OPM *4 in yours, so I'm wondering if you deal with that in a different way.

Removing the JX2Antenna OPM patch cfg reverted it to 5G. (Though obviously the JX2 still isn't balanced in line with this mod.)

Not sure what would be good values to edit the JX2 too, but at least that was the cause of the problem for me.

*** It also appears Kerbol Origins provides a 1T Relay also. Given you already provide a 3T relay, I will most likely just remove JX2, and remove the KerbolOrigins part altogether for my play through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2017 by Erebus1
More info

[WuphonsReach]

@Erebus1 I think what I should probably do is add :AFTER[] sections so that my configs run after OPM/JX2.

[canisin]

Hello, I am just starting an OPM campaign, and I noticed the  @antennaPower *= 4  line among the OPM files. I was just coming here to report this and ask if it would cause any conflicts! Happy to see that you are already on it

I will remove that line from OPM in my installation.

[WuphonsReach]

@canisin

Yeah, OPM likes to multiply everything by 4, then JX2Antenna (if you also have that) divides everything by 4.  I have a patch for that in the master branch of the repo, but I haven't packaged it into a release.  I also fiddled with the HG-5R and RA-2 relay antenna power (slightly stronger).  I'm pretty sure the RA-100 does not require anything beyond what it already has and the JX2 or DMagic SIGINT dishes provide lots of power too.

The upcoming changes are listed in the CHANGES.md file in the master branch.

I should push out a release soon, but still experimenting with the rewards.  Is 4M too much or just right for an Eeloo contract that ties up a contract slot for about 4 years?  Is 1M too much for Eve/Moho contracts?

[Apocryphus]

Great mod, I've been enjoying it quite a bit in my current modded play through.  I've used RemoteTech in the past, and I think that these changes provide a good level of Difficulty/Complexity when mixed with all the other systems involved in modded play throughs .

 

Balance feedback - I think ~1m feels good for Eve/Moho contracts.  Haven't personally ever made it out to Eeloo, so I don't think I could comment there.

 

I made one change to the mod for my personal use - I removed the requirement for a polar relay to be completed before unlocking the homeworld moon relay contracts.  With the CTT, by the time I was getting ready to send some probe landers to Iota (Mun counterpart in Galileo's Planet Pack), I wasn't yet at that tech level.  I think you mentioned on a previous page that this balance was a conscious choice on your part - just personal feedback here.

 

Also - I was wondering if you've considered adding configurations for the antennas offered in the Coatl Aerospace mod? 

I think they look/function quite nice, but they're quite a bit more powerful than everything else in my current play through, since they're balanced for stock.  Just a suggestion.

[WuphonsReach]

@Apocryphus Mmm, I'm playing with CTT now as well.  Which antenna was not yet unlocked that you didn't get the polar relay contracts?  I'm guessing the RA-2?  Possibly I should add a polar contract that can be completed with the HG-5R.

Currently experimenting with OPM.

I'll make a note to look at Coatl's parts.

 

[Apocryphus]

@WuphonsReach - it was the RA-2, it was behind the Precision Engineering node.  I didn't have level 2 R&D yet, so I couldn't put the science towards it.  I think a tier 1 polar contract with the HG-5R would work - seems like a reasonable prerequisite.

[WuphonsReach]

v1.2.2.10 - Feb 27 2017

- Use :FINAL to undo JX2Antenna/OPM Changes (@Erebus1 and @canisin)
- Boost HG-5R / HG-55R from 5G to 10G (better balance for larger systems)
- Contract rebalancing (rewards, reputation, penalties, advances)
- Increase number of simultaneous contracts to 8
- Add a tier 1 home world polar relay contract (@Apocryphus)

[canisin]

16 minutes ago, WuphonsReach said:

v1.2.2.10 - Feb 27 2017

- Use :FINAL to undo JX2Antenna/OPM Changes (@Erebus1 and @canisin)
- Boost HG-5R / HG-55R from 5G to 10G (better balance for larger systems)
- Contract rebalancing (rewards, reputation, penalties, advances)
- Increase number of simultaneous contracts to 8
- Add a tier 1 home world polar relay contract (@Apocryphus)

Thanks mate, I'll try the update when I get home.

[Apocryphus]

15 hours ago, WuphonsReach said:

v1.2.2.10 - Feb 27 2017

- Use :FINAL to undo JX2Antenna/OPM Changes (@Erebus1 and @canisin)
- Boost HG-5R / HG-55R from 5G to 10G (better balance for larger systems)
- Contract rebalancing (rewards, reputation, penalties, advances)
- Increase number of simultaneous contracts to 8
- Add a tier 1 home world polar relay contract (@Apocryphus)

Wow, I didn't expect to see a change that quickly, heh!  Thanks for the update, I'll be trying it out tonight!

[WuphonsReach]

Been playing around with OPM the last few days.  Looking at the delta-V map, I'm going to need to adjust some things in the contract deadlines and mission rewards.  Jool is about a 3 year transit plus another year or so to do the orbit and Eeloo was a 4.5 year transit (optimal ballistic), with another year to do the orbit.  Jool has a SMA ratio with Kerbin of 5.06

But then there's the OPM planets, and my calculations need to take into account the much longer transfer windows.

• Sarnus - 5 years (9.2x SMA ratio)
• Urlum - 16 years (18.7x SMA ratio)
• Neidon - 24 years (30.1x SMA ratio)
• Plock - 35-100 years (39.4x SMA ratio)

I think if I use a calcuation of '2.5 * pow(ratio, 4/5)' I will get something reasonable for the number of years for a contract deadline.

And if I go with the pow(ratio,3/4) * 1M for scaling the reward I get about 1.37M at Duna and 15.73M for Plock.  The original reward calculation used the cube-root and you can see that it doesn't scale right (too conservative).  While 15.7M sounds like a lot for Plock, it's a 35-45 year transit time.

[WuphonsReach]

I think I'm happy with the reward values in the current master branch.  Not sure what would happen if planets got added out past Plock.  The reward would be okay, but I'm not sure about the deadline.

Neptune = 4,504 Gm SMA, 30.1x farther then Earth's SMA.  About 30 years with a Hohmann transfer.  Not too different then Neidon.

http://ccar.colorado.edu/asen5050/projects/projects_2001/parker/Interplanetary.html

So I'll be curious to see if anyone uses this with RSS.

[zeant93]

Which mod is doing this, I think is Kerbalism, can you confirm?

http://imgur.com/a/89b09

 

 

[WuphonsReach]

28 minutes ago, zeant93 said:

Which mod is doing this, I think is Kerbalism, can you confirm?

http://imgur.com/a/89b09

 

 

Yes, looks like Kerbalism

https://github.com/ShotgunNinja/Kerbalism/blob/92dd7e6dbccb9072398d02e5a016eb329a6ed91c/src/Modules/Antenna.cs#L166-L169

I don't personally use Kerbalism (it changes some game mechanics that other mods like USI/MKS depend on).

[zeant93]

14 minutes ago, WuphonsReach said:

Yes, looks like Kerbalism

https://github.com/ShotgunNinja/Kerbalism/blob/92dd7e6dbccb9072398d02e5a016eb329a6ed91c/src/Modules/Antenna.cs#L166-L169

I don't personally use Kerbalism (it changes some game mechanics that other mods like USI/MKS depend on).

But in this case what can I do?

Can you explain?

[WuphonsReach]

6 minutes ago, zeant93 said:

But in this case what can I do?

Can you explain?

I would suggest not using StockAntennaBalance (as it is currently) with Kerbalism, as Kerbalism also majorly overhauls the CommNet system and SAB is not designed to work within that framework.

[zeant93]

4 minutes ago, WuphonsReach said:

I would suggest not using StockAntennaBalance (as it is currently) with Kerbalism, as Kerbalism also majorly overhauls the CommNet system and SAB is not designed to work within that framework.

If you can, I suggest you to make a integration with Kerbalism in future updates, thanks

[WuphonsReach]

Working on balance with OPM, mostly between the RA-100, JX2 and SIGINT (DMagic) antennas.  

One major change is that the standard DMagic science parts will no longer be upgraded to relays using the KSP upgrade system (they didn't work as relays, at all, due to the way KSP upgrade system works), they'll just be slightly more powerful direct-connection antennas.  I've instead gone with a cloning route where I create two new copies of the oversized/undersized SIGINT dishes which are always available to be used as relays.

RA-100 - 2.0T power 2.85t mass 96k cost 20 EC/s

JX2 - 2.0T power 3.5t mass 75k cost 20 EC/s

SIGINT (undersized) - 1.2T power 1.35t mass 65k cost 15 EC/s

SIGINT (oversized) - 6T power 6t mass 200k cost 100 EC/s

 

Edited March 7, 2017 by WuphonsReach

[zeant93]

How can I have 4G (combined) relay antenna power for tier1 (I use 4 HG-5R Antenna Relay in the same satellite)? Can you help me?

Spoiler

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by zeant93

[WuphonsReach]

On 3/8/2017 at 11:32 PM, zeant93 said:

How can I have 4G (combined) relay antenna power for tier1 (I use 4 HG-5R Antenna Relay in the same satellite)? Can you help me?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Each HG-5R is 10G (but only when extended), so maybe something else is messing with the antenna power values.  Check the value in the VAB/SPH.

If you search in the GameData/ModuleManager.ConfigCache file, look for "HighGainAntenna5".  Under there will be a section like:

Quote

MODULE
{
name = ModuleDataTransmitter
antennaType = RELAY
packetInterval = 0.50
packetSize = 1
packetResourceCost = 250.0
requiredResource = ElectricCharge
DeployFxModules = 0
antennaPower = 10000000000
antennaCombinable = True
}

As you can see, it shows antennaPower of 10G (10 billion).  The above is what it should look like.  If it doesn't then something else is messing with the values (and you can find out by looking at the KSP.log file).

[zeant93]

10 hours ago, WuphonsReach said:

Each HG-5R is 10G (but only when extended), so maybe something else is messing with the antenna power values.  Check the value in the VAB/SPH.

If you search in the GameData/ModuleManager.ConfigCache file, look for "HighGainAntenna5".  Under there will be a section like:

As you can see, it shows antennaPower of 10G (10 billion).  The above is what it should look like.  If it doesn't then something else is messing with the values (and you can find out by looking at the KSP.log file).

Can I have a satellite with 4 Relay Antennas and other type of antenna?

Spoiler

 

 

 

[WuphonsReach]

8 hours ago, zeant93 said:

Can I have a satellite with 4 Relay Antennas and other type of antenna?

Yes, you can have dozens of antennas, as long as you have enough power to drive the relay versions (which have a constant power drain).  The "direct" connection antennas don't have a constant power drain.

The default combinability exponent of 0.75 means:

• 1 antennas = 1.0x power
• 2 antennas = 1.7x
• 3 = 2.3x
• 4 = 2.8x
• 5 = 3.4x
• 6 = 3.8x
• 7 = 4.3x
• 16 = 8.0x

By the time you get past 7 antennas, it's probably time to start thinking about installing something larger, which will be just as powerful, but use less power.

A lot of my early contracts, I'll launch satellites with the appropriate antenna, but with 2, 3, or 4 of that antenna type.  I've launched sats with up to 7 RA-15s, that only got me 4.3x more power then a single RA-15.  But not all antennas will combine to form a stronger antenna (uncommon), and some antennas have an exponent of other then 0.75 (very rare).

---

But if, like I suspect, you're using Kerbalism; Kerbalism does what StockAntennaBalance tries to do, but in a completely different way.  So they're not really compatible.  The only bit that could be made compatible would be the contracts, and those would need to be rewritten to function under Kerbalism's high-gain / low-gain design.

[zeant93]

6 hours ago, WuphonsReach said:

Yes, you can have dozens of antennas, as long as you have enxugue power to drive the relay versions (which have a constant power drain).  The "direct" connection antennas don't have a constant power drain.

The default combinability exponent of 0.75 means:

• 1 antennas = 1.0x power
• 2 antennas = 1.7x
• 3 = 2.3x
• 4 = 2.8x
• 5 = 3.4x
• 6 = 3.8x
• 7 = 4.3x
• 16 = 8.0x

By the time you get past 7 antennas, it's probably time to start thinking about installing something larger, which will be just as powerful, but use less power.

A lot of my early contracts, I'll launch satellites with the appropriate antenna, but with 2, 3, or 4 of that antenna type.  I've launched sats with up to 7 RA-15s, that only got me 4.3x more power then a single RA-15.  But not all antennas will combine to form a stronger antenna (uncommon), and some antennas have an exponent of other then 0.75 (very rare).

---

But if, like I suspect, you're using Kerbalism; Kerbalism does what StockAntennaBalance tries to do, but in a completely different way.  So they're not really compatible.  The only bit that could be made compatible would be the contracts, and those would need to be rewritten to function under Kerbalism's high-gain / low-gain design.

But I'm no longer using Kerbalism and the problem with the 4G power combined continues. For example in my case, I have a tier1 contract with minimum 4G Relay Power Antenna and I want to know how many antennas do I have to have for a 4G combined relay antenna power satellite.

Edited March 11, 2017 by zeant93

[WuphonsReach]

6 hours ago, zeant93 said:

But I'm no longer using Kerbalism and the problem with the 4G power combined continues. For example in my case, I have a tier1 contract with minimum 4G Relay Power Antenna and I want to know how many antennas do I have to have for a 4G combined relay antenna power satellite.

If you go into the VAB, into the communications category, what power is shown on the HG-5R antenna?  It should be 10G.  So a single HG-5R would be enough for the tier 1.

If it's not, then you need to search the KSP.log for anything that is touching its part ID (HighGainAntenna5).