totm may 2024 [1.12.x] - Modular Kolonization System (MKS)

[JamesonKerbal]

On 3/21/2024 at 4:00 PM, sir raftalot said:

was [passenger routes disappearing] resolved? if so how?

I had to turn it off and back on again.

There are a number of issues with WOLF that require quitting to desktop and relaunching KSP1. There were a number of janky workarounds that I explored but the only reliable one was turning it off and back on again.

There are other janky issues like WOLF hoppers not staying connected/on. The WOLF resource would still be consumed in that biome, the hopper would still be producing the equivalent MKS resource, but the buttons in the Part Action Window would show "connect to depot" instead of "disconnect from depot" and  "start hopper" instead of "stop hopper". This issue is relatively harmless and the workaround is to simply toggle the buttons or ignore them.

Note that WOLF hoppers will also do annoying stuff like keep consuming resources from their origin biome when you move them to a new biome without disconnecting them first. Whether this is a bad thing or a good thing is up to you.

 

[JamesonKerbal]

On 12/31/2023 at 9:58 AM, Shoey said:

Is resource refining/manufacturing supposed to work in the background? It doesn't seem to be working for me.

MKS refining and manufacturing will work in the background but there are conditions.

"Stuff" is updated when the facility comes back into physics range. If you've been away for a few minutes you'll get one update of that few minutes worth of extraction/refinement/manufacture/fabrication. If you've been away for one or more days of game time (1 Kerbal day = 6 hours), "stuff" will be updated for the days you were missing, one day at a time, then for the remaining time after that hour (the daily update is the important part, I'm not sure if the remainder comes first or last). Thus if you want to have an autonomous system you need enough storage to hold one day's worth of every output. If you want to extract metallic ore and refine it to metals you need enough electricity generation and storage, enough heat dissipation, and enough metallic ore storage to keep the extractor running for a day (six hours), then you need enough electricity and metallic ore production/storage  and metals storage to last for a day. And then you need to take into account the presence of any engineers, mechanics, technicians, miners, geologists, etc as applies to your equipment. Your base might have enough storage and energy to sustain production with no crew, but then you add an engineer and suddenly production increases by 500% and now you run out of energy, overheat your radiators, blow up your reactor, etc.

So for every extractor, make sure you have energy in batteries, a power supply that can deliver the sustained energy that the extractor needs, enough product storage, and make sure that this budget allows for ~200% of capacity. There are autonomous options for each extractor which are not affected by crew, they are excellent for small mining drones. I typically put a couple of the autonomous extractors and a few thousand units of storage on a "Duna" Logistics Hub (with a small nuclear reactor, radiators, Terrier engines, propellant tanks, probe core, etc) and drop those where they're useful and ignore them for the rest of the game. Make sure to turn on "Planetary Warehouse" on the storage and production from that autonomous mining drone will go into planetary inventory.

Here's an example autonomous facility, you can swap out the MEU-100-A Pulse Drills for regular MEU-100 Pulse Drills and this facility with crank out more stuff than you'll know what to do with. Essential parts here are MKS "Duna" Power Distribution Unit, MKS "Ranger" Thermal Control System, MKS "Duna" Logistics Center, 4 x MEU-100-A Pulse Drill, plenty of supplementary battery, 2 x 2.5m Kontainer Tank - Flat (2.5m), with a few other parts to make it visually appealing and useful for Kerbals. You can use a much smaller reactor and only 1 extractor, but I figure if something's worth doing it's worth overdoing.

Spoiler

Then here's a version of that with larger extractors set up as a lander with copious part clipping:

Spoiler

Hidden inside that vessel is a MKS "Duna" Logistics Center and a 1.25m Nuclear Reactor (the blue one) with 4 large radiators in addition to the 2 medium Thermal Control Systems.

 

Edited May 2 by JamesonKerbal
Added lander variant. Days, not hours.

[JamesonKerbal]

On 3/14/2024 at 1:38 PM, Pipcard said:

Is there a formula for calculating a drill's output rate given the percent abundance of a particular resource, the presence of engineers, and other factors?

There is a formula out there somewhere but I couldn't find it in a few minutes of searching.

So I landed an extractor on the Mun, and found that in an area of 5.79% concentration of Uraninite the MEU-100-A Pulse Drill was extracting 0.046282/s while the MEU-500-A Pulse Drill was extracting 0.075787/s, giving a 60% greater extraction rate. The "-A" components are autonomous, so they harvest at a higher rate than the normal components but they get no bonuses for having crew present.

Hope this helps.

On 5/1/2024 at 7:16 AM, Space Chimp said:

The MKS wiki says to use regolith sifters or Crush-O-Matics, but I can't find either in the science tree.

If you installed the addons after starting a game, you can end up with broken tech tree.

Try creating a new career/science game and check the tech tree for that game. For one of my games all of the MKS industry components are available under the "Advanced Construction" node including Crush-O-Matic and the ATLAS equivalent modules.

Also try using the search box in the R&D screen. If you search for "Crush" (case sensitive!) the node with that module will be highlighted with a yellow box.

If the new game has the node in the expected place, it's likely your current game is broken.

[RunaDacino]

If I made myself a patch to allow in-situ production of methalox, hydrolox and lithium for Near-future and cryoengines (no containers or WOLF or anything like that, just MPUs able to convert water, chemicals and rare metals respectively), should I post it anywhere (it's just more or less "this feels right" numbers without much balancing).

 

I saw people mention making patches but CKAN and forum search showed none of them.

[RunaDacino]

I made an enormous mining probe conveyor using Duna logistics modules, probe cores and MEU-500 drills. I got them to Minmus, landed them all and... noticed that apparently my meticiously set up drills all became dirt drills on all 4 probes.

This killed my mood significantly, and so I want to fix them with save editing but I cannot seem to find where it keeps track of what bay is set to what.

Wonder if Kerbal Construction time or reverting my first launch caused the issue.

 

Edit:

 

You go to SwappableBay and alter currentLoadout to the index/number of the module you want, starting with 0 for dirt.

Edited May 8 by RunaDacino
figured it out.

[Pipcard]

I recently built a huge base with MKS and Extraplanetary Launchpads, which uses three "Hermes" fission reactors from Near Future Electrical.

However, I am experiencing an apparent bug in which every time I load a save, two out of the three reactors are emptied of Enriched Uranium (EnrU), while the other reactor is full.

I am currently drilling Uraninite and converting it into EnrU, so I can restart the reactors. But those two reactors always start out empty no matter how much EnrU was in there when I saved.

I also see EnrU periodically disappear from the two reactors whenever "Automated Maintenance" is performed.

Edited May 10 by Pipcard

[RunaDacino]

I wish the "Customized Kerbalnauts/Kolonists" option was more granular. That is, have the ability to hire higher level kolonists separate from their personality - I like their personality being kinda random even if the effects are minimal, but doing WOLF stuff and needing dozens of kerbalnauts means I do need the higher level option.

 

Edit: If you allow customizing, set hire level to 2 and turn it off - all new hires will be random AND level 2. This feature exists, in a kinda indirect way.

Edited May 15 by RunaDacino

[KingWilliamB]

I saw this mod integrates with ground construction. I assumed this meant fabricating the kits, the wiki doesn’t say much at all. Whats the integration?

[JamesonKerbal]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:41 PM, KingWilliamB said:

I saw this mod integrates with ground construction.

Not really integrates, but they play okay together. MKS has an orbital construction ability that magics vessels into existence in space, while Global Construction works with DIY kits that are put in the place that you want the final object to appear. Global Construction and MKS both use Material Kits resource, though MKS has more resource types and a far more complicated industry chain.

There are a number of ways to produce Material Kits using MKS, including a 2.5m in-line component that converts Ore directly to Material Kits, or various sizes of assembly line that produce Material Kits from inputs of Polymers, Metals and Chemicals (which are in turn processed from the raw materials of Substrate, Metallic Ore and Minerals respectively, which are mined using MKS mining equipment while the stock drill-o-matics continue to only mine Ore).

[RunaDacino]

Posting it here in case I end up cleaning up my gamedata folder again or just in case anyone else wants them.

 

Patch: Makes MPUs (1.25, 2.5, 3.75) able to produce LqdHydrogen + Oxidizer, Methane + Oxidizer, Lithium from "water", "chemicals" and "rare metals" respectively with not exactly balanced or too deeply considered ratios. For hydrolox, I just went with molar masses. For methalox, I kind of copied liquid fuel. For lithium, I went for small conversion rate since lithium is rare yo.

 

For search term: Patch for Near-Future / Cryoengine Fuel production with MKS

 

Spoiler

//Runa
// Adds LH, Methane, Lithium to MKS processors

@PART[MKS_Processor375]:NEEDS[MKS,CommunityResourcePack]:Final
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Hydrolox
		StartActionName = Start water splitter
		StopActionName = Stop water splitter
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Water
			Ratio =  0.1
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 48
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdHydrogen
			Ratio = 0.06
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.04
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00001
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00001
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 2000
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Methalox
		StartActionName = Start Methane Generation
		StopActionName = Stop Methane Generation
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Chemicals
			Ratio =  0.1
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 6
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdMethane
			Ratio = 0.07
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.03
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00001
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00001
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 2000
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Lithium
		StartActionName = Start Lithium Production
		StopActionName = Stop Lithium Production
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = RareMetals
			Ratio =  0.1
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 6
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Lithium
			Ratio = 0.05
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00001
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00001
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 2000
		}
	}
}
@PART[MKS_Processor250]:NEEDS[MKS,CommunityResourcePack]:Final
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Hydrolox
		StartActionName = Start water splitter
		StopActionName = Stop water splitter
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Water
			Ratio =  0.047
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 12
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdHydrogen
			Ratio = 0.0313
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.0157
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00000325
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00000325
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 650
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Methalox
		StartActionName = Start Methane Generation
		StopActionName = Stop Methane Generation
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Chemicals
			Ratio =  0.047
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 2.5
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdMethane
			Ratio = 0.0329
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.0047
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00000325
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00000325
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 650
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Lithium
		StartActionName = Start Lithium Production
		StopActionName = Stop Lithium Production
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = RareMetals
			Ratio =  0.047
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 1
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Lithium
			Ratio = 0.0235
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00001
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00001
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 2000
		}
	}
}
@PART[MKS_Processor125]:NEEDS[MKS,CommunityResourcePack]:Final
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Hydrolox
		StartActionName = Start water splitter
		StopActionName = Stop water splitter
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Water
			Ratio =  0.013
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 6
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdHydrogen
			Ratio = 0.00865758
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.00577172
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00000045
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00000045
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 90
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Methalox
		StartActionName = Start Methane Generation
		StopActionName = Stop Methane Generation
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Chemicals
			Ratio =  0.013
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 1
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = LqdMethane
			Ratio = 0.00909685
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Oxidizer
			Ratio = 0.001299973
			DumpExcess = True
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00000045
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00000045
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 90
		}
	}
	MODULE
	{
		name = USI_ConverterSwapOption
		ConverterName = Lithium
		StartActionName = Start Lithium Production
		StopActionName = Stop Lithium Production
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = RareMetals
			Ratio =  0.013
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 1
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Lithium
			Ratio = 0.0035957446808511
			DumpExcess = False
		}
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 0.00000045
		}
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Recyclables
			Ratio = 0.00000045
			DumpExcess = true
		}
		REQUIRED_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = Machinery
			Ratio = 90
		}
	}
}

 

 

Patch: Adds ability to produce Hydrolox, Methalox, Argon and Lithium using "Fuel" from the 2.5 and 2.75 hoppers.

For searching: Adds WOLF Near-future fuel compatibility

Spoiler

Quote

// RunaDacino
// Adds ability to produce Near Future fuels using WOLF hoppers.

@PART[WOLF_FuelHopper250]:NEEDS[USI_WOLF,CommunityResourcePack]:Final
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_Lithium_DisplayName  // Lithium
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,2

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Lithium
            Ratio = 0.0185185
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_LqdMethane_DisplayName  // Liquid Methane
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,2

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = LqdMethane
            Ratio = 2.3148148
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_ArgonGas_DisplayName // Argon
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,2

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = ArgonGas
            Ratio = 2.3148148
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
}

@PART[WOLF_FuelHopper375]:NEEDS[USI_WOLF,CommunityResourcePack]:Final
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_Lithium_DisplayName  // Lithium
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,5

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Lithium
            Ratio = 0.0185185
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_LqdMethane_DisplayName  // Liquid Methane
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,5

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = LqdMethane
            Ratio = 2.3148148
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = WOLF_HopperSwapOption
        ConverterName = #LOC_CRP_ArgonGas_DisplayName// Argon
        StartActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_START_MESSAGE
        StopActionName = #autoLOC_USI_WOLF_HOPPER_STOP_MESSAGE

        InputResources = Fuel,5

        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = ArgonGas
            Ratio = 2.3148148
            DumpExcess = false
        }
    }
}

 

 

[dlrk]

Do any Kerbal specializations boost life support recyclers?

[Grenartia]

So, can someone clarify, what is WOLF?

[slyfox023]

got a question for the day, will you ever be working on the interior parts of the mod? while these models you've made are amazing, the fact that they have nothing inside them kind of breaks the immersion when using them 

[RoverDude]

2 hours ago, slyfox023 said:

got a question for the day, will you ever be working on the interior parts of the mod? while these models you've made are amazing, the fact that they have nothing inside them kind of breaks the immersion when using them 

Likely not.  I dislike making IVAs, though we'll take a pull request if someone makes some

 

[Grenartia]

On 5/30/2024 at 9:36 AM, dlrk said:

Do any Kerbal specializations boost life support recyclers?

 

On 5/31/2024 at 3:17 PM, Grenartia said:

So, can someone clarify, what is WOLF?

Bumping because these seem to have been ignored.

[OKBTrurl]

Are all the Kolonization parts supposed to be in the one node of Advanced Construction, or is that just an issue on my end?

[ttikkoo]

On 6/1/2024 at 6:17 AM, Grenartia said:

So, can someone clarify, what is WOLF?

As per this MKS guide: 

Quote

WOLF parts allow you to build 'virtual' bases rather than needing physical infrastructure.

GitHub wiki for MKS has lots of info on the WOLF page and many other things. It's always good to check out the GitHub wiki for mods - they very often have good information about them. There's also another WOLF Walkthrough by MaraRinn and WOLF Intro (I think it's by RoverDude, but not certain).

I've never actually gotten far enough into MKS to understand it but I just have these links stored on a personal document for a future playthrough.

[Grenartia]

7 minutes ago, ttikkoo said:

As per this MKS guide: 

GitHub wiki for MKS has lots of info on the WOLF page and many other things. It's always good to check out the GitHub wiki for mods - they very often have good information about them. There's also another WOLF Walkthrough by MaraRinn and WOLF Intro (I think it's by RoverDude, but not certain).

I've never actually gotten far enough into MKS to understand it but I just have these links stored on a personal document for a future playthrough.

Thank you for the links. I only asked because none of that is actually visible from the github wiki page linked in the OP. Most of the links there seem to be self-referential (i.e., the page links back to itself) , and thus, useless. 

[lBoBl]

Hey guys. 

Like many frustrated KSP 2 backers I'm trying to wash the bitter taste in my mouth with a fresh new modlist in KSP 1, and I'm currently looking at options. I've always loved MKS, especially since the whole WOLF system was introduced. But it's been a while since I last played, and I'm struggling to find up to date information regarding compatibility with other mods. I'm not sure the wiki is fully up to date and I'm finding a lot of contradictory information on the forums so I'd hugely appreciate if someone could clarify things for me.

My first question is regarding orbital/planetary construction. In the long distant past I used MKS with EPL which was a wonderful combo in my opinion but I don't know if it's still a recommended / viable option. I've seen mentions of Ground construction / Global construction, which I've always liked less because you have to ship parts from Kerbin, and it looks like MKS now has its own orbital construction system but does it work on planets? So basically my question is should I use EPL or something else, and is EPL still compatible or will I have to write patches for it (I'm writing a bunch of patches anyways)?

And my other question is about third party parts mods, notably Planetary Base Systems. I'm not a huge fan of the Duna/Tundra parts, and I'd like to use something else like PBS or something with a similar aesthetic to replace those. So same question, is PBS still compatible or will I have to write my own patches? Are there other third party parts mods that you could recommend?

[OKBTrurl]

Is there some way to make nuclear bombs and ablative oil for the USI nuclear pulse propulsion mod in USI Kolonization?

[JamesonKerbal]

On 6/4/2024 at 2:10 AM, lBoBl said:

My first question is regarding orbital/planetary construction. In the long distant past I used MKS with EPL which was a wonderful combo in my opinion but I don't know if it's still a recommended / viable option. I've seen mentions of Ground construction / Global construction, which I've always liked less because you have to ship parts from Kerbin

MKS with Global Construction is a workable combination. You can use various modules from MKS to produce the MaterialKits that GC uses to construct things from DIY Kits. You can also create DIY kits using GC or MKS, eg: set up a craft to land a specific DIY kit at your destination, then build that craft using the MKS orbital shipyard. Then use the MKS infrastructure to deliver MaterialKits to the build site. Various MKS parts include the Workshop module that GC needs, with decent efficiency so you can build things faster.

GC is my go-to option for landing large rovers because I just do not enjoy building large complicated EDL vehicles. Much easier to land a series of large boxes that can be entirely encapsulated in a fairing and protected by a 10m inflatable heat shield.

One caveat is that MKS construction uses a mix of parts: MaterialKits (equal in number to the mass of the vehicle being constructed, each MK is 1kg), Specialised Part, Alloys, Electronics, Prototypes, Robotics, Synthetics (various combinations reflecting how many of what type of modules are present, the tech level of the modules, and so forth). Global Construction on the other hand just uses mountains of MaterialKits to build things from DIY kits and I never bothered to measure just how many but it felt like about twice to three times as many MaterialKits as MKS for the same vehicle.

I haven't used EPL at all so I can't comment on that.

Edited June 5 by JamesonKerbal

[JamesonKerbal]

 

On 6/1/2024 at 6:17 AM, Grenartia said:

So, can someone clarify, what is WOLF?

WOLF is MKS industry without the part count.

There are a bunch of WOLF parts that provide an analogue to the MKS industry parts (harvesters, refineries, assembly plants, power, life support), but to use them you survey WOLF-specific resources ("resource veins") in each biome, then you "deploy" the base to the biome at which point the model ceases to exist in the game and is now represented as a bunch of numbers reflecting production rates in that biome.

So instead of a thousand-part industrial base that slows your frame rate to 0.3fps every time you load it into physics range and in return supplies you with a few thousand MaterialKits per day, you get empty landscape with WOLF infrastructure hiding in a table in the save file ("WOLF space" which consumes zero processor cycles). To get the industrial output back into fps-chewing MKS space, you use a WOLF Hopper and the usual MKS storage (2 parts) which can consume some level of WOLF productivity (capacity to produce at X units/s) and turn it into MKS production (actual X units every second).

In addition WOLF allows for automated transfers between biomes: if you have a space station in orbit around Duna that needs propellant supplies you can produce "WOLF fuel" at Kerbin Shores, transfer it to the KSC biome, transfer from there to Kerbin Orbit biome, then to Duna Orbit biome, then on the space station itself you have a WOLF Hopper which takes the "WOLF fuel" and turns it into LF+O, monopropellant, LF, or oxidiser. This means instead of carefully planning a dozen fuel tankers to be transferred to Duna every synod you just do it once and then let WOLF take care of transfers from there.

WOLF is MKS without:

• the giant save file
• the need to visit every vessel every now and then to check that production lines are actually working
• the surprise nuclear reactor over-heat because you dared to warp time faster than 100x for a few seconds
• the fps-chewing part count

Hope this helps.

I did start writing a tutorial some time back and I should get around to finishing it. It's only been what... three years?

[modus]

Time does fly...I remember being all confused when WOLF came out (the tutorial does help!), I can only say: the best way to learn it is to just try it. Experiment, fail, try again.

I allways hoped something like WOLF (and MKS in general) would be in ksp2, but yeah...we all know how that went...

[Thurak]

https://ibb.co/HgxDCRv - 3 slide gif of my current WOLF setup.

Its moderately late game in KSP but early WOLF stuff, as it appears mainly useful for lategame. I found it takes a little to get your head around it but its really useful once you do as it completely eliminates so many parts for long term bases. As I am playing in career money is important as well, but essentially what is going on:

Step 1: Scan some biomes on an interesting orbital body - I have scanned more places but for simplicity in the image it is filtered to midlands. To me something about free transfer routes along Kerbins surface feels wrong to me in terms of balance so I have decided to not use any WOLF stuff on the surface of Kerbin, orbit and above only, this is a personal choice though. This is a space programme, we should mine moons not mountains.

Step 2: Deploy depot in Kerbin oribt, Mun orbit, Mun midlands. This provides 5 units of power and does nothing else when used off Kerbin.

Step 3: Send a MHU-500 Bulk Harvester set to mine Karbonite and deploy it on Mun midlands

Now any vessel with a WOLF Harvesting Hopper is able to start using that 10 Karbonite resource that is being produced. A single 3.75m hopper uses 5 Karbonite and makes 2000/day, so 2 hoppers, 4000 karbonite/day. Sweet. But currently this is on the surface of the Mun, nice to have but there should be better places surely?

Next: Transport routes! Transport routes are created with WOLF Cargo containers, you start from somewhere, then fly somewhere else, this creates a transport route. The cost is based on mass lost, as I have been doing this with single stage vessels I docked them at refuelling stations, so there was no mass lost as far as WOLF is concerned which means no transport credit requirement. This is intended design as the idea is that it rewards having the infrastructure in place for orbital refuelling. Plus the transport route is for fuel anyway. I created transport routes from Mun:Midlands → Mun:Orbit and Mun:Orbit → Kerbin:Orbit.

Now this means I can use hoppers on stations in both Mun orbit and Kerbin orbit to pull Karbonite out. With the 10 karbonite that could be split for 2000karbonite/day in each location. You can change what the transport route is sending at any time as long as it fits within the capacity limit that you have and doesn't leave anywhere with a negative resource count. So if I had 5 being used by the hopper in Mun orbit, I would need to turn off the hopper first before adjusting the transport route to sending the full 10 to Kerbin orbit.

Profit!: As I am playing in career, I was running low on cash. So as my transport route still has extra capacity available (It can take up to 30 currently) lets mine something valuable. As the first miner already took up the 5 power created by the depot, I sent a power module in low power mode, it only produces 5 power instead of 50 but has no maintenance requirement. This went up with another miner and is now extracting 10 units of ExoticMinerals. I could have instead sent a MHU-100 Bulk harvester, but this mines less efficiently, still consuming 5 from the resource vein but only producing 2 rather than 10 units of resources. I decided the extra weight of sending the power was worth the increased amount of resources. Now these are being sent to the station orbiting Kerbin and when a container fills up they can be sent back down and sold for profit - Note that there appears to be a bit of a bug with this and it usually results in your vessel having a negative value on returning, not sure if this is an issue with USI parts or just inherent in KSP.

That is as far as I got, the bug is rather annoying with the parts values as it kinda ruins the moon mining operations I wanted. Editing credit value can be used as a workaround though, just requires checking through the parts list to see which values are wrong and adjusting to what they should be. I do want to expand it, first add more mining and using regular parts to process those resources. Then later on move onto processing chains within WOLF its self.

[modus]

39 minutes ago, Thurak said:

 That is as far as I got, the bug is rather annoying with the parts values as it kinda ruins the moon mining operations I wanted. Editing credit value can be used as a workaround though, just requires checking through the parts list to see which values are wrong and adjusting to what they should be. I do want to expand it, first add more mining and using regular parts to process those resources. Then later on move onto processing chains within WOLF its self.

CommunityFixes fixes this!

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/204002-18-112-kspcommunityfixes-bugfixes-and-qol-tweaks/