KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[Bishop149]

Another possible solution would be to add a special partmodule which allows me to enable/disable resource consumption from a tanks. A MM script would add it to all tanks containing water. The same solution could also be aplied for other resource which you don't want to be consumed by engines, like Lithium.

That sounds like a better solution than a further sub-division of resources.

[ss8913]

Any ideas on the VASIMR thrust alignment thing I posted a few pages back? It seems odd that only those engines do it, and in SPH the thrust is aligned perfectly with the center of mass - and there's no way for fuel to shift vertically within the craft (it's only a pitch problem, not yaw).

Also do the thermal turbojets/rockets no longer need to be directly attached to the reactor? (from seeing that SSTO spaceplane pic a few pages ago).

[Cosmonauth]

Is there any good tutorial...i am totally lost with this mod. I could not find a good spot to use anything. It allways seems to me that is is too much work required to get anything good out of it. I can build a ship with good ISP value but with a TWR that let me cry. Or a good ship where the fuel of the reactor is running out in only a fraction of the mission time.

I find it way more effective to build a conventional rocket. So my conclusion is, i am doing something wrong and like to learn more without studying nuclear science

Hope there is someone who made a tutorial that helps me on my way to the stars.

There is no actual tutorial, but I can feel your pain man When I started with Interstellar - there was a punch in my face. I felt like I'm retarded. All I can suggest to you, first of all, to play career, not sandbox. New parts will appear "step-by-step", try to build something not too complicated. Starting on thermal rockets, try different fuels, different reactors to figure out how those changes affects your vessel. Once you understand thermal mechanics, It would be easier to go further.

For now I cant say I owned KSPIE and understand all of that stuff, but every time I build new vessel - I learn something. I am not physician at all, I'm lazy at math, but now I can build something that flies. One thing you have to have for shure - is patience. Good luck with this awesome mod

Edited August 12, 2015 by Cosmonauth

[ss8913]

Quick tutorial for sandbox: 1. pod, 2. interstellar-48 tank - right click on it and make sure it's full of Hydrazine. 3. large antimatter containment device. right click it and fill it! 4. charged particle generator at default 2.5m scale, 5. antimatter reactor at default 2.5m scale 6. thermal rocket nozzle.

7. Make sure to put "large flat radiator" x4 surface attached to the craft symmetrically facing upward.

Boom. you've now got a single-stage-to-almost-anywhere rocket powered by antimatter and hydrazine. Limit your thrust to 20 or 30 m/s^2 when leaving the atmosphere.

[FreeThinker]

Any ideas on the VASIMR thrust alignment thing I posted a few pages back? It seems odd that only those engines do it, and in SPH the thrust is aligned perfectly with the center of mass - and there's no way for fuel to shift vertically within the craft (it's only a pitch problem, not yaw).

Also do the thermal turbojets/rockets no longer need to be directly attached to the reactor? (from seeing that SSTO spaceplane pic a few pages ago).

I have no idea how to achieve thas as I'm not a modeller. Perhapas someone with experience with this can help me.

Regarding the thermal engines no longer require a direct connection. But heat transfer will not be 100% efficiënt unless for certain parts. Thiis should allow for easier construction for SSTO as it allows you to put more mass in the center of plane. In the Past you were forced to a [Nozzle][Reactor][Generator][Fuel Tank] configuration, which result in the SSTO flipping over when the reentered the atmosphere. Now you can apply a [Noozle][FuelTank][Reactor][Generator][FuelTank] coonfiguration, which allows you to put much more mass to the front of the plane, allowing for much better flight stability as you can transfer fuel from the top to the back.

Edited August 12, 2015 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

That sounds like a better solution than a further sub-division of resources.

Indeed, but note technically I still need seperate resources, it's just that the player will not notice it. What I do is create a small resevoir (LqdWater) on the engine which will act as the engine propellant which is converted from a stored resources (Water) which can be controlled by the user. This actualy allows me to feed the engine with anything I want. Beside lifesupport water, practical application would be to allow the run LqdCO2 mode to accept both LqdCO2 as well as Carbondioxide (Gas) without the user needing to switch fuel mode mid flight.

Edited August 12, 2015 by FreeThinker

[ss8913]

Noted on the thermal engines - also are the VASIMR supposed to run off quantum vacuum? How do you make them do that? if I 'toggle propellant,' nothing happens - except for one time it selected quantum vacuum. once. while i was on the runway. never happened again.

[FreeThinker]

No, VASIMR is not supposed to be able to use "quantum vacuum plasma" for propulsion, they do no exist long enough. Only Magneto electric thruster (MPD) have the ability to use them at (20% efficency). VASIMR does however have the avility to run on compressed atmospheric gas (with Specialised Plasma Tech), which consists mainly on nitrogen ang oxygen, which the vasmir can use as a propellant (at 30% efficency).

Edited August 12, 2015 by FreeThinker

[ABZB]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/118884-1-0-2-JSeebeckUtils-Electricity-from-heat-gradients-BETA-v0-9-2-May-2015

I think this might be of use for those building power stations near the sun.

[Trolllception]

What combination of mods should I use to only have a single hydrazine resource instead of monoprollent and hydrazine as 2 separate fuels?

[Nansuchao]

Real Fuels. It replaces all the stock propellants with the Real Ones.

[Trolllception]

Real Fuels. It replaces all the stock propellants with the Real Ones.

And my understanding is I also need an engine pack? I guess I'll have to check it out more.

[ABZB]

What combination of mods should I use to only have a single hydrazine resource instead of monoprollent and hydrazine as 2 separate fuels?

no mod *removes* monoprop, but RealFuels combined with the stock-alike engines pack will basically replace every usage of monoprop with Hydrazine. If you are using CKAN, you will need to install (and update) RealFuels manually, but the stockalike engine configs can be installed via CKAN once Realfuels is present in any event (this is what I do, btw).

I would recommend first installing Real Plume, & Solver Engines Plugin from CKAN. The download and install RF from github (link is in its forum thread). The go back to CKAN, and install Real Fuels: Stockalike RF Configs (this adds the engine configs).

[Trolllception]

no mod *removes* monoprop, but RealFuels combined with the stock-alike engines pack will basically replace every usage of monoprop with Hydrazine. If you are using CKAN, you will need to install (and update) RealFuels manually, but the stockalike engine configs can be installed via CKAN once Realfuels is present in any event (this is what I do, btw).

I would recommend first installing Real Plume, & Solver Engines Plugin from CKAN. The download and install RF from github (link is in its forum thread). The go back to CKAN, and install Real Fuels: Stockalike RF Configs (this adds the engine configs).

This is all pretty confusing until you really know whats going on with all the mods out there. I did some further research but it appears that if I use realfuels then I will have more realistic engine/tank masses and that will allow tiny rockets with tons of delta-v. Has anyone had any experience using Realfuels with a stockalike config and using the useRealisticMass flag for balance purposes? I may just end up sitting these mods out until I've gotten a bit more experience with KSPI and am ready for a RP-0/RSS career as that's something that sounds appealing to me. I also checked out the 6.4X Kerbin mod but that currently has a bug which breaks career mode. Ideally I could use hydrazine with stock engine configs without changing too much else for my career.

[ABZB]

This is all pretty confusing until you really know whats going on with all the mods out there. I did some further research but it appears that if I use realfuels then I will have more realistic engine/tank masses and that will allow tiny rockets with tons of delta-v. Has anyone had any experience using Realfuels with a stockalike config and using the useRealisticMass flag for balance purposes? I may just end up sitting these mods out until I've gotten a bit more experience with KSPI and am ready for a RP-0/RSS career as that's something that sounds appealing to me. I also checked out the 6.4X Kerbin mod but that currently has a bug which breaks career mode. Ideally I could use hydrazine with stock engine configs without changing too much else for my career.

that's what I am doing. it's working for me

[ss8913]

I have no idea how to achieve thas as I'm not a modeller. Perhapas someone with experience with this can help me.

Regarding the thermal engines no longer require a direct connection. But heat transfer will not be 100% efficiënt unless for certain parts. Thiis should allow for easier construction for SSTO as it allows you to put more mass in the center of plane. In the Past you were forced to a [Nozzle][Reactor][Generator][Fuel Tank] configuration, which result in the SSTO flipping over when the reentered the atmosphere. Now you can apply a [Noozle][FuelTank][Reactor][Generator][FuelTank] coonfiguration, which allows you to put much more mass to the front of the plane, allowing for much better flight stability as you can transfer fuel from the top to the back.

I'm not sure what's causing the thrust alignment issue either. Let me try it later on a craft with a single engine and see if I can reproduce it. Come to think of it, I *think* MJ2 will draw thrust vectors in realtime.. maybe I can grab some data from that as well.

Is anyone else having this problem, btw? Reproducing it is simple - make a spaceplane with 2 horizontally separated VASIMR engines, aligned in the same vertical plane. Get it up into orbit (atmospheric forces make this unnoticable in atmosphere). Hit the engines at thrust > 50% and see if you notice the craft pitch up significantly.

[FreeThinker]

Ideally I could use hydrazine with stock engine configs without changing too much else for my career.

Indeed, RCS is a blind spot in KSPI-E games now. This remind me we need to get a basic mono propellant switch for RCS thrusters that allows you to switch between Mono-propellant Hydra-zine or HTP propellant. I know RealFuels contains it already but some people feel RealFuels is to drastic. I can remember I felt this way when I first installed Real Fuels. Edited August 12, 2015 by FreeThinker

[bos]

Is anyone else having this problem, btw? Reproducing it is simple - make a spaceplane with 2 horizontally separated VASIMR engines, aligned in the same vertical plane. Get it up into orbit (atmospheric forces make this unnoticable in atmosphere). Hit the engines at thrust > 50% and see if you notice the craft pitch up significantly.

I don't get any pitch difference and it shows fine in RCS build aid in VAB too. The only issue I have with 2 horizontal engines is yaw due to receiving different MW's.

Edited August 13, 2015 by bos

[ABZB]

On a recent spaceplane with a single MMed mk2 form VASIMR , i notice that both mechjebs smart-as and the stock Sas seem to wobble oddly at times. My spaceplane has about 3 times the torque it should need to offset torque from mass imbalance, based on that VAB RCS balancer mod. Maybe something weird wrt expected thrust vs actual thrust? Or some PID thing due to very small fluctuations in thrust from moment to moment that are smaller than what mechjeb or KER display?

[FreeThinker]

I don't get any pitch difference and it shows fine in RCS build aid in VAB too. The only issue I have with 2 horizontal engines is yaw due to receiving different MW's.

Yes, this explains the Yaw problem, one of the VASIMR is recieving more power than the others resulting in an inbalance.

[raxo2222]

Hydrazine is best fuel when it comes for DV under fixed volume. Also it has highest TWR!

All fuels (not counting monopropellant, neon, xenon and lithum fuels for not being selectable) were tested.

Heres testing vessel (2.5m radius):

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited August 13, 2015 by raxo2222

[FreeThinker]

The combination of relatvely high Isp and density probably will give you the highest delta V for the same craft. However, If you would take mass into account, LiqdHydrogen should give you higher DeltaV / Ton

btw, what kind of tool are you using (right pannel)

Edited August 13, 2015 by FreeThinker

[ABZB]

looks like hyperedit - presumably to easily ensure that all other factors are constant for the experiment.

[raxo2222]

The combination of relatvely high Isp and density probably will give you the highest delta V for the same craft. However, If you would take mass into account, LiqdHydrogen should give you higher DeltaV / Ton

btw, what kind of tool are you using (right pannel)

Why go for per ton DV if I can have fixed volume?

Even if I made it bigger to have same amount of hydrogen as hydrazine I still would switch to it meaning I would have much more DV/TWR in fixed volume.

In that test hydrogen TWR was 0.63 and hydrazine - 4.53.

Mass of hydrogen - 595 kg. Hydrazine - 8433 kg.

And yes I was using hyperedit.

Edited August 13, 2015 by raxo2222

[FreeThinker]

Btw, from my understanding, the efficiency of VASIMR should depend on the Vapor pressure of the propellant. I have not taken this into account yet.

Edited August 13, 2015 by FreeThinker