KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[FreeThinker]

Version 1.9.3 for Kerbal Space Program 1.1.3

Released on 2016-07-04

• Added Daedalus Inertial Fusion Engine (Made by @SargeRho)
• Fixed display Lifetime reactor fuel
• Lithium Breeding now produces Helium4 gas

Edited July 4, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Undecided]

Freethinker, I figured out that spontaneous self-destructing issue I had with the nuclear turbojets that I originally blamed the Solid Core Nuclear engines for; it turns out it's related to movement speed. If the turbojets are throttled up and not moving, they will evidently overheat and self-destruct in about five seconds. However, if you can get the vehicle moving in the first five seconds or so, this will not happen... I'm guessing it has something to do with air intake speed, or convection rate for heat. The pre-coolers don't seem to prevent this, since in tests I've had air intakes without precoolers not overheat, and inversely, air intakes all attached to nuclear turbojets (and using the built-in pre-cooler) overheat from remaining stationary too long.

EDIT: Nope, nevermind, it wasn't speed. My engines stopped self-destructing when I greatly reduced the vehicle's payload (which incidentally increased launch acceleration), so I assumed it was. I'll investigate further.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Undecided

[Rushligh]

9 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Could you make a minimum part setup that shows what is wrong (allowing me to reproduce)?

Upon doing so i found a new bug with thew computer core. it won't let me do any functions (as though the ship had a drone core but no electricity left). i can't change throttle or enable rcs/sas. note that in the following picture the reactor control window isn't available, but once i replace the computer core with a stock drone core it's available.

now with the stock core:

onto the main problem, the OMEGA reactor. in this example, the thermal turbo jet is connected directly to the reactor. all the other parts are actually connected to the electric generator, because for some reason surface attachment is disabled on the reactor (i'd appreciate if you'd change that). those radiatoes are KSPI wraparound, and the legs are stock. in the following picture, you'll notice that the engine is activated and throttled all the way up, and that the OMEGA reactor is fully functional, but that the engine is producing 0kN of thrust, and is receiving 0watts of thermal power. the engine works perfectly fine attached to any other 'hot' reactor.

[FreeThinker]

@Rushligh Did you notice plasma ratio is 0, it means no fusion and therefore no propulsion.

[raxo2222]

Why this newest fusion engine has so low thrust (75 kn)?

It has enough energy (powered by molten salt), deuterium and tritium.

And there is line: fuel flow: 0.00 kn

Does it mean i could increase its thrust by adding certain fuels/reactors?

[Nansuchao]

18 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

Why this newest fusion engine has so low thrust (75 kn)?

It has enough energy (powered by molten salt), deuterium and tritium.

And there is line: fuel flow: 0.00 kn

Does it mean i could increase its thrust by adding certain fuels/reactors?

I was testing the same few minutes ago. With a 3.75 M  A/AM reactor and particle generator (just in case), still 75 kn of thrust. For such a huge 3.75m engines it seems a little low.

[FreeThinker]

2 hours ago, Nansuchao said:

I was testing the same few minutes ago. With a 3.75 M  A/AM reactor and particle generator (just in case), still 75 kn of thrust. For such a huge 3.75m engines it seems a little low.

A little low? have you noticed its Isp which is close to a million. Combine the super high Isp with Resonably high Thrust 75kN and you have to conclude it has 4 times the effective power  (about 375 GW) output of the VISTA at maximum power (about 91.2 GW).

The Daedalus engine is the first engine mend to travel to the neighbouring stars, it is not a planet hopper. It is situated beween early Fusion Tech and Antimatter powered reactors

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Nansuchao]

Yes, the ISP is fantastic, but if you think to carry a huge mothership (life support, energy, landers, crew space, scientific instruments, fuel and many other things) to a near star, the TWR becomes non effective, you'll risk to waste Delta/V due to the inability to accellerate. It would be like thrust a full KerbalX in orbit with a single Ion engine (the real one, not the overpowered one in KSP).

This is not for complaining, just tryin to understand and find a good balance realism/gameplay.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Nansuchao

[raxo2222]

28 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

A little low? have you noticed its Isp which is close to a million. Combine the super high Isp with Resonably high Thrust 75kN and you have to conclude it has close to 5 times the effective power  (about 750 GW) output of the VISTA at maximum power (about 186 GW).

The Daedalus engine is the first engine mend to travel to the neighbouring stars, it is not a planet hopper. It is situated beween early Fusion Tech and Antimatter powered reactors

Well since it has so low thrust it needs thrust ability during time warp just like magnetic nozzle engine.

[FreeThinker]

1 hour ago, Nansuchao said:

Yes, the ISP is fantastic, but if you think to carry a huge mothership (life support, energy, landers, crew space, scientific instruments, fuel and many other things) to a near star, the TWR becomes non effective, you'll risk to waste Delta/V due to the inability to accellerate. It would be like thrust a full KerbalX in orbit with a single Ion engine (the real one, not the overpowered one in KSP).

This is not for complaining, just tryin to understand and find a good balance realism/gameplay.

high TWR is not the most important part , what is important is efficiency and total power output. The deadalus has a power output of 375 GW,  it should be enough to send a small science probe into a neighbouring star system. Btw, you can always scale up

To use the Daedalus, simply aim at a neifghbouring star, active the Daedalus engine and Time acclerate to maximum warp.and you will find yourself racing to the star in a couple of years..

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

double post

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Nansuchao]

Ah, for probes!

Ok, for probes il will be perfect. I thought its main purpose was for motherships.

[FreeThinker]

28 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

Well since it has so low thrust it needs thrust ability during time warp just like magnetic nozzle engine.

Indeed it has build in Time Warp ability , as long as the engine is active, it will accelerate the vessel while as it has fusion fuel (LqdDeteurium + LqdHe3) and sufficiently  powered. the standard 3.75 requires up  2 GW to power itself. Lower power also still work, but at a lower thrust.

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Axeon]

16 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Yes it has build in Time Warp ability , as long as the engine is active, it will accelerate the vessel while as it has fusion fuel (LqdDeteurium + LqdHe3) and sufficiently  powered. the standard 3.75 requires up  2 GW to power itself. Lower power also still work, but at a lower thrust.

Maybe a stupid question, but am I missing something? The only way I can warp with this engine is through Physics Warp. The engine shuts down as soon as I initiate Time Warp. Or is it the intended behavior?

I was going to use it for my interstellar (literally) ~300t mothership. But if the only way to warp with this engine is using Physics Warp, then I am looking at hours of waiting, in which case I might as well just revert back to Vista, scale it up, and just grab a buttload of hydrogen.

[FreeThinker]

28 minutes ago, Axeon said:

Maybe a stupid question, but am I missing something? The only way I can warp with this engine is through Physics Warp. The engine shuts down as soon as I initiate Time Warp. Or is it the intended behavior?

I was going to use it for my interstellar (literally) ~300t mothership. But if the only way to warp with this engine is using Physics Warp, then I am looking at hours of waiting, in which case I might as well just revert back to Vista, scale it up, and just grab a buttload of hydrogen.

You don't have to set thrust. The engine just need to be activated. Prefably don't set thrust as it might sometimes block going to warp. As soon as it detect going on rails, it will accelerate the vessel durring time warp. It should function up to highest avialbe timewarp which is much higher than any physics warp

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Nansuchao]

18 minutes ago, Axeon said:

Maybe a stupid question, but am I missing something? The only way I can warp with this engine is through Physics Warp. The engine shuts down as soon as I initiate Time Warp. Or is it the intended behavior?

I was going to use it for my interstellar (literally) ~300t mothership. But if the only way to warp with this engine is using Physics Warp, then I am looking at hours of waiting, in which case I might as well just revert back to Vista, scale it up, and just grab a buttload of hydrogen.

Just TimeWarp and look at your orbital parameter on KER or Mechjeb, the engine accelerate also at 0% throttle.

 

EDIT: Ninja'd

Edited July 5, 2016 by Nansuchao

[FreeThinker]

50 minutes ago, Nansuchao said:

Ah, for probes!

Ok, for probes il will be perfect. I thought its main purpose was for motherships.

THe idea is that you first send some unmanned vessel to neighbouring star and collect some good science.and find good planets for colonistation.

We don't want to send a manned SLT ship to a star if there is nothing of intrest there.

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Axeon]

16 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

You don't have to set thrust. The engine just need to be activated. Prefably don't set thrust as it might sometimes block going to warp. As soon as it detect going on rails, it will accelerate the vessel turring time warp. It should function up to highest avialbe timewarp which is much higher than any physics warp

Well, that is interesting... Now I accelerate in Time Warp even if I deactivate engine

[FreeThinker]

18 minutes ago, Axeon said:

Well, that is interesting... Now I accelerate in Time Warp even if I deactivate engine

mmm, that part is not intended. I have to fix that.

[raxo2222]

Guys this mod is perfect for engines, that can thrust under time warp.

Now you can actually stay prograde when firing magnetic nozzle or this new fusion engine

 

@FreeThinkercan you make this mod recommended for KSPI Extended?

Also MPD in quantum vacuum mode needs to have same ability to thrust under time warp.

It would be nice if any engine, that needs reactor to work, could thrust as long as acceleration is equal or lower than 1 m/s²

If you thrust engine at acceleration greater than 1 m/s and go into time warp, then engine is automatically throttled down to 1 m/s²

Edit: There is bug: if there is not enough power and core part of ship is AI supercomputer, then ship loses control - you can't do anything.

Solution would be to always direct these 5 MW of power to this AI core no matter what.

Otherwise this part makes ship useless if there is not enough power.

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by raxo2222

[stompy29]

i cant find the Transceivers any where i have the  but i have the receiver. please help me.

[sentania]

8 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

high TWR is not the most important part , what is important is efficiency and total power output. The deadalus has a power output of 375 GW,  it should be enough to send a small science probe into a neighbouring star system. Btw, you can always scale up

To use the Daedalus, simply aim at a neifghbouring star, active the Daedalus engine and Time acclerate to maximum warp.and you will find yourself racing to the star in a couple of years..

Newb question:

Does the vessel have to be the active vessel for thrust to occur?

[Rushligh]

11 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

@Rushligh Did you notice plasma ratio is 0, it means no fusion and therefore no propulsion.

how would i fix this? The reactos say they are active; and they have fuel fuel. i've tired switching all modes, even shutting it of and jump starting it again. even with the change in name which allows me to load my older vessels, the engines on those no longer work. something with the engine's mechanics has changed. is there a fuel source i need to add now? or a secondary reactor to jump start them in some way I don't know? My primary use for the OMEGA's was as VTOL lift engines /primary jet engines because of their efficiency, small size, and fast response time (Antimater reactor causes the engine to delay up to 30 seconds of extra burn, making it useless for anything that has to maneuver in atmosphere, and neither the antimatter initiated or magnetic reactors can go smaller than 2.5M, also they're to long for my applications)

Does anybody else have problems getting the OMEGA reactors to work with the thermal turbo jet?

 

[Nansuchao]

25 minutes ago, sentania said:

Newb question:

Does the vessel have to be the active vessel for thrust to occur?

Yes, it needs to be the active vessel.

[raxo2222]

36 minutes ago, Rushligh said:

how would i fix this? The reactos say they are active; and they have fuel fuel. i've tired switching all modes, even shutting it of and jump starting it again. even with the change in name which allows me to load my older vessels, the engines on those no longer work. something with the engine's mechanics has changed. is there a fuel source i need to add now? or a secondary reactor to jump start them in some way I don't know? My primary use for the OMEGA's was as VTOL lift engines /primary jet engines because of their efficiency, small size, and fast response time (Antimater reactor causes the engine to delay up to 30 seconds of extra burn, making it useless for anything that has to maneuver in atmosphere, and neither the antimatter initiated or magnetic reactors can go smaller than 2.5M, also they're to long for my applications)

Does anybody else have problems getting the OMEGA reactors to work with the thermal turbo jet?

 

Get molten salt reactor to power fusion reactor.