KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[Rushligh]

Oh! @FreeThinker, I just had a thought.
I know you said you were thinking about redeveloping the atmospheric scoops; what about a part that converts intake ATM into its propriety atmospheric composition ( uses megawatts to convert intake air into nitrogen, methane, amonia etc.) Basically a scoop that requires intake atm to function. 

if there's a way to do it with the current version, do you think you could post the module code so I could mess with it? 

[Demeter]

3 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

mmm, well it will be in the next patch, I intend it to scale it with the microwave reciever  mass, which is exponent 2.5

Great idea! 

I am looking forward to get it. My 330+ GW transmitter will benefit from it for sure. 

[raxo2222]

I think both of these fusion guys should have higher ISP.

Core temp for them is over 300 000 kelvins. (sandbox)

Also there is bug with smaller integrated fusion engine, when switching engine modes.

 

 

[FreeThinker]

18 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

Also there is bug with smaller integrated fusion engine, when switching engine modes.

 

 

Alright, you have to help me, what is going wrong?

Edited July 8, 2016 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

8 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Alright, you have to help me, what is going wrong?

ISP for Tokmak is only 3000 on Hydrogen, and Magneto Inertial Fusion Engine has ISP of 6678 on lithium mode (only lithium is accessible for this engine, even from VAB)

Are these ISPs intended? On this table Tokamak has ISP of 11800 and Magneto Inertial has 6500 (actually its fine here).

Can Magnetoinertial engine use lithium only, or aluminum too? This table is bit cofusing, it should be separated into reactors and reactors with integrated engines.

Also Start EngineEMI and EnginePulse don't do anything.

Edited July 8, 2016 by raxo2222

[FreeThinker]

1 hour ago, raxo2222 said:

I think both of these fusion guys should have higher ISP.

 

Well the first one should have been 11800s

1 hour ago, Rushligh said:

Oh! @FreeThinker, I just had a thought.
I know you said you were thinking about redeveloping the atmospheric scoops; what about a part that converts intake ATM into its propriety atmospheric composition ( uses megawatts to convert intake air into nitrogen, methane, amonia etc.) Basically a scoop that requires intake atm to function.

Yes that's the plan, a part  which can use the Atmosphere as a resource and retrieve all resource at once which in case on Earth/Kerbin will be Mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen

It will also act as a universal Compressor / Gasifier

Edited July 8, 2016 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

35 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

ISP for Tokmak is only 3000 on Hydrogen, and Magneto Inertial Fusion Engine has ISP of 6678 on lithium mode (only lithium is accessible for this engine, even from VAB)

Are these ISPs intended? On this table Tokamak has ISP of 11800 and Magneto Inertial has 6500 (actually its fine here).

Can Magnetoinertial engine use lithium only, or aluminum too?

 

The Tokamak Isp for Hydrogen should be Hydrogen 11800s , it looks as it it now in thermal mode, which limits it isp to about 3000s.

The Lithium only mode for the Magneto Inertial Fusion Engine is intended as this is the only this engin inertial fusion can work. The only known alternative would be Aluminum, which  would have lower Isp and efficiency, but I still need to add this.

35 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

Also Start EngineEMI and EnginePulse don't do anything.

This appears to be a stock bug, it used to work. These buttons are supposed to only function in the VAB. For unknown reason it is visible in flight as well.

Edited July 8, 2016 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

38 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

 it should be separated into reactors and reactors with integrated engines.

How would this help?

[raxo2222]

16 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

How would this help?

It would be more organized.

Well you can sort table by technology level, so on first place it would be technologies, that you unlock earliest.

[Aghanim]

I think that the CKAN installation is bugged, as OMEGA is missing in my sandbox mode:

I'm using clean reinstalled Steam KSP 1.1.3 with CKAN KSPI and all of its dependencies

[ss8913]

@FreeThinker I'm noticing some very odd thermal behavior... non-CKAN-installed 1.9.4 I believe at the moment.. anyway, my craft builds and dissipates waste heat at drastically different rates depending on if this is the initial launch or if I have loaded from a save.  Wasteheat production is minimal at launch, but if I save and reload, it builds a ton of heat and it dissipates very slowly.  Thermal helper in SPH has numbers just a bit under the 'green' threshhold.

Perhaps more interesting is this:  if I look at the WasteHeat resource in TAC fuel balancer, I can see it dissipating at a certain rate.  If I accelerate time to 100x, it doesn't really change.  Shouldn't heat disspiate 100x faster at 100x time warp?

[FreeThinker]

3 hours ago, ss8913 said:

@FreeThinker I'm noticing some very odd thermal behavior... non-CKAN-installed 1.9.4 I believe at the moment.. anyway, my craft builds and dissipates waste heat at drastically different rates depending on if this is the initial launch or if I have loaded from a save.  Wasteheat production is minimal at launch, but if I save and reload, it builds a ton of heat and it dissipates very slowly.  Thermal helper in SPH has numbers just a bit under the 'green' threshhold.

Perhaps more interesting is this:  if I look at the WasteHeat resource in TAC fuel balancer, I can see it dissipating at a certain rate.  If I accelerate time to 100x, it doesn't really change.  Shouldn't heat disspiate 100x faster at 100x time warp?

You should keep a look a te amount of wastehead dissapated by the radiators, it should be about the same before save as alter load

[ss8913]

6 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

You should keep a look a te amount of wastehead dissapated by the radiators, it should be about the same before save as alter load

it's clearly not... at first launch wasteheat stays around 0, ie, it's dissipating it faster than it can be generated and it never builds up.  After an f5/f9, it builds up super fast and if I use my ATILLA vtol engines for any length of time, the whole system overheats.  only reason I can still make it back to Kerbin at this point is because i can deorbit, brake, and turn off the engines with about 80% wasteheat buildup, radiators glowing red hot, and then glide it to the runway.  If I haven't done an F5/F9, the whole thing stays cool throughout the entire mission, even with using the hyperdrive/etc.

And the other issue is still .. an issue... 100x timewarp doesn't change the rate of dissipation.  ie, it dissipates X wasteheat per *real second* and ignores timewarp, or so it seems.

[raxo2222]

Link KSPI-E for dummies leads to random comment in said thread on main post

KSPIE for beginners (second link) is same thing as link above, just without pics and in google docs.

EDIT:

AI still shutdowns causing whole ship to be unresponsive, when there is not enough power.

Microwave transmitter shouldn't use more power, than is available.

Can we fuse He4 with itself in reactors too?

It would be unlocked in same tech as p-p-p-p fusion.

Edited July 9, 2016 by raxo2222

[FreeThinker]

2 hours ago, raxo2222 said:

Can we fuse He4 with itself in reactors too?

It would be unlocked in same tech as p-p-p-p fusion.

Perhaps, from my understanding only a He4+ He4 + He => C would be possible but it requires even higher temperatures (and therefore power)  and  less likely (lower reactivity) than p-p-p-p. Still it should give a small gain.

Edit: the combination, High power requirement + Low reactivity + Low gain result in barely break even / loss.

Edited July 9, 2016 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

1 hour ago, FreeThinker said:

Perhaps, from my understanding only a He4+ He4 + He => C would be possible but it requires even higher temperatures (and therefore power)  and  less likely (lower reactivity) than p-p-p-p. Still it should give a small gain.

Edit: the combination, High power requirement + Low reactivity + Low gain result in barely break even / loss.

So He4 fusion is only useful for creating heavier substances.

I wonder, if we could create hydrazine in deep space out of hydrogen.

Hydrazine would be very useful for our thermal/VASMIR SSTO, as it gives highest DV,

Hydrogen could be harvested from solar wind/interstellar space, and then heavier elements could be fused in nuclear furnace, then new resources could be transferred to ISRU so we could create hydrazine while in deep space, not just when on low orbit.

 

 

[FreeThinker]

36 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

So He4 fusion is only useful for creating heavier substances.

I wonder, if we could create hydrazine in deep space out of hydrogen.

Correct

It is certainly possible, just not with a Fusion engine which has to have a net power effect  to sustain itself

Using a particle accelerator on the other hand, you can pretty much create anything you want, it just a matter of energy and time.

Using Proton chain fusion to power a particle accelerator, could technically allow you to construct anything you desire using just protons.and nuclear He4

Edited July 9, 2016 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

2 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Correct

It is certainly possible, just not with a Fusion engine which has to have a net power effect  to sustain itself

Using a particle accelerator on the other hand, you can pretty much create anything you want, it just a matter of energy and time.

Using Proton chain fusion to power a particle accelerator, could technically allow you to construct anything you desire using just protons.and nuclear He4

So I could make clone of mothership, if it contained rocket building workshop

But that would require ability to make rocket parts out of simpler resources.

So I would need QSR reactor for infinite energy, particle accelerator for nuclear furnace, ISRU for making simple chemicals and nanotech metallurgy plant (something like 3d printer, just more advanced) and I could make any resource.

imagines such starship making clone of itself and producing SSTOs and probes out of this solarwind "air" while batching nearby alien sun.

Stuff like this would need USI/MKS/KAS/KIS/extraplanetary launchpads/infernal robotics, interstellar can take care of converting simple resources to stuff, that other 4 mods can use

Edit:

I think mothership would have cling to random asteroid, so it could feed itself with matter and produce probes/SSTOs and itself, unless its solar wind collectors would be big enough to collet lets say 10 ton of matter per day.

While necessary resources could be missing, they could be fused in nuclear furnace.

So self sufficiency would be like this:

21st century: Can make any fuel when in exosphere, and build rockets on orbit using materials delivered from planets/moons/asteroids.

22nd century: Fusing any lacking element is no problem, must create base on planet to collect materials, if you want to clone mothership or make new rockets, fuel can be created using only solar wind, but it would be bit slow.

23rd century: No planets/asteroids? No problem, either build bigass collectors or warp to search other stars.

Edited July 9, 2016 by raxo2222

[killbotvii]

I'm having a problem where the game just flatout stops loading at a certain point when I've got this installed. Are there specific logs I can provide to help figure out why this is happening?

 

EDIT: Here's a picture. Even if I remove the mod it stops on, it'll then just stop on something else.

EDIT 2: Fixed. I was wrong. Removing the USI Reactor Pack fixed the problem. Sorry for wasting your time!

Edited July 9, 2016 by killbotvii
added picture

[Rushligh]

39 minutes ago, killbotvii said:

I'm having a problem where the game just flatout stops loading at a certain point when I've got this installed. Are there specific logs I can provide to help figure out why this is happening?

 

EDIT: Here's a picture. Even if I remove the mod it stops on, it'll then just stop on something else.

EDIT 2: Fixed. I was wrong. Removing the USI Reactor Pack fixed the problem. Sorry for wasting your time!

Alternate reactor and electrical mods can interfere with KSPI. The Near Future Electrical mod does for certain. the USI reactors should be superfluous if you have KSPI-E.

another thing you're all forgetting is that solar panels exist. there's no need to go craycray on reactors. if you can get close to the sun, you can filter solar wind (offput gases) and absorb immense photon power. essentially, you could "mine" the sun, using the solar power to operate immense reactors fuse mater.

Of course we're not that far along in solar panels, especially ones efficient/heat resistant enough, but it's an idea; one especially well suited to the future of KSPI-E i think.
if or one would love to see some cylindrical parts with built in retractable solar arrays and compactors. this would be especially nice for SSTO's; you could have fuselage mounted on the tip of each wing, so that the solar arrays could deploy out like a fan on each side. im thinking like the umbrella radiator, but missing 1/4 on the radius for where the wing mounts.

 

PS i love the umbrella radiator; but i wish there was one that would hide within an aerodynamic fuselage. 

 

EDIT: GUYZ I HAVE AN IDEA:

1/8th umbrella radiator that's surface attachable, and a sister part (same model, different color) as a solar wing.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Rushligh

[ss8913]

@FreeThinker - update on the thermal issue - redesigned craft to be well in the green in the Thermal Helper.  After a quicksave/quickload, it builds heat faster than it can be dissipated, even with all radiators extended.  Before the quicksave/quickload, WasteHeat stays at 0.

 

I'm going to try uninstalling DRE.  That's the only other mod I have that does.. heat things.  Will post an update.

UPDATE:  It's not a DRE thing.  behavior is the same with or without it installed.  Using the ATILLA thruster is running the electric generator and the antimatter reactor at full output, but with the thermal helper in the 'green', it shouldn't be building wasteheat at all should it?  it'll overheat in probably 1 minute or less.  And again, before loading a save, it sits at 0.

Edited July 9, 2016 by ss8913

[Nansuchao]

8 hours ago, ss8913 said:

@FreeThinker - update on the thermal issue - redesigned craft to be well in the green in the Thermal Helper.  After a quicksave/quickload, it builds heat faster than it can be dissipated, even with all radiators extended.  Before the quicksave/quickload, WasteHeat stays at 0.

 

I'm going to try uninstalling DRE.  That's the only other mod I have that does.. heat things.  Will post an update.

UPDATE:  It's not a DRE thing.  behavior is the same with or without it installed.  Using the ATILLA thruster is running the electric generator and the antimatter reactor at full output, but with the thermal helper in the 'green', it shouldn't be building wasteheat at all should it?  it'll overheat in probably 1 minute or less.  And again, before loading a save, it sits at 0.

Can you please upload a picture of your ship and your output.log?

[raxo2222]

Can we have electric inline microwave receiver? Molten Salt is pretty much useless for powering 3.75m orange fusion reactor on fusion spaceplane. I have to use charged particles generator and fusion mode, that generates power in mostly charged particles.

 

Edt: why dusty plasma reactor (this one fission with charged particles) is bigger than its radius shows?

3.75m part looks like it was 5m, and 2.8m looks like 3.75m

This messes with FAR.

Edit: Best reactor as of core temperature, that doesn't use antimatter and allows atmosphere for propulsion is dusty plasma reactor. MFT isn't balanced, but when I stuffed whole plane with reactors fuel it can fly for 10 years non stop!

Edit:

Now missing resource list in liquid fuel tank is even longer.

Old list:

Missing resources: Oxidizer, MonoPropellant, LiquidFuel/Oxidizer setting, LqdHelium

Inconsistent resources: LiquidFuel (only in X48 inline),  HTP (missing in X24 inline)

New resources:

Diborane, Kerosene (while this is real fuels, it would be nice to have this option in universal liquid tank - we have stuff like substrate or raremetals in universal holding tank).

Deuterium, Tritium and Hexaborane could be included too.

I want to see universal holding tank, universal liquid tank (He3 and antimatter can be exception due to their nature) and universal gas tank hold every possible resource in KSPI.

This means, if I wanted to have resource X, then I would pick one of 3 tank types (not counting special snowflakes - He3 and Antimatter)

 

// Modular Fuel Tanks Config by Trolllception

    @TANK_DEFINITION[Default,Fuselage,Balloon,Structural]
        {
                TANK
                {
                        name = ArgonGas
                        mass = 0.000625
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 56.0
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = HTP
                        amount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = KryptonGas
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = NeonGas
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Hydrazine
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdHydrogen
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdAmmonia
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdNitrogen
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }        
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdCO
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdOxygen
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdMethane
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdCO2
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Lithium
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdDeuterium
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = .7
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdTritium
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = .8
                        note = (Shielded)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdHelium
                        mass = 0.000625
                        utilization = 56
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        fillable = false
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = EnrichedUranium
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = .8
                        note = (Shielded)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = ThF4
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = .8
                        note = (Shielded)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = UraniumNitride
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = .1
                        note = (Shielded)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdHelium
                        mass = 0.000454
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        loss_rate = 1.667794e-8
                        utilization = 7
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Actinides
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = DepletedFuel
                        mass = 0.00009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        fillable = false
                        utilization = .8
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Water
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdHe3
                        mass = 0.000625
                        utilization = 19
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        loss_rate = 1.667794e-7
                        note = (refrigated)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Boron
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Ore
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Aluminium
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Alumina
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Hexaborane
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = SaltWater
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = HeavyWater
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Uraninite
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }                    
                TANK
                {
                        name = Hydrates
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Lithium6
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Monazite
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Silicates
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = Borate
                        mass = 0.0009
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = SolarWind
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 2.205
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }                
                TANK
                {
                        name = Diborane
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
               TANK
                {
                        name = Kerosene
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        utilization = 5.41
                }
        }        
    @TANK_DEFINITION[Xenon]
        {
                TANK
                {
                        name = ArgonGas
                        //mass = 0.000625
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdHelium
                        //mass = 0.000625
                        utilization = 2
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        fillable = false
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = HTP
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = KryptonGas
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
                TANK
                {
                        name = NeonGas
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        note = (pressurized)
                }
        }

    @TANK_DEFINITION[ServiceModule]
        {
                TANK
                {
                        name = LqdMethane
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                        note = (Refrigerated)
                }
        }

    @TANK_DEFINITION[RCS]
        {
                TANK
                {
                        name = Hydrazine
                        amount = 0.0
                        maxAmount = 0.0
                }
        }

 

 

Added 2 resources to MFT patch - Kerosene and Diborane

Edited July 10, 2016 by raxo2222

[HunterForce]

Im having a conflict the USI reactors apparently and I think it is caused by Interstellar. On load in it freezes on the USI reactor 125. When I remove the entire reactor pack it freezes on the Interstellar reactors and some engines. Anyone know whats causing this? Really annoying me.

[Rushligh]

1 hour ago, HunterForce said:

Im having a conflict the USI reactors apparently and I think it is caused by Interstellar. On load in it freezes on the USI reactor 125. When I remove the entire reactor pack it freezes on the Interstellar reactors and some engines. Anyone know whats causing this? Really annoying me.

Most other nuclear reactor mods conflict with KSPI. They become redundant and should be removed anyway. 

USI and NF Electrical both cause crashes.