KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[jhook777]

On 2/11/2017 at 4:26 AM, FreeThinker said:

Im afraid this isn't inplemented yet.  This is one part of ISRU which isn't handled yet. The plan is to mine uranium which get processed into enriched uraniun which get reacted with florite into UF4 

Awesome. Good to know! In other news, I wanted to share a video of a SSTO using the Nuclear Ramjet of Doom part. It's wicked fun, thanks for an awesome engine!

Spoiler

 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by jhook777
added spoiler to link

[Z-Money]

I was messing around with some of the engines with infinite fuel on, and I got to the ATTILA. When I turned it to full throttle, I actually jumped in my seat.

Is it just me, or did someone add a couple extra zeroes to its *thrust?

Edited February 14, 2017 by Z-Money
Typo

[FreeThinker]

Using infinate fuel and infinate power combined with xenon might cause you kerbels to die from geforces

Edited February 14, 2017 by FreeThinker

[Z-Money]

I had infinite electricity on, as well. I think that may be the cause.

Now I know what engine to use once I create a Dyson swarm with those massive solar panel arrays!

[entropy--]

On 2/13/2017 at 10:57 PM, Kosach- said:

And by the way, did the old refinery consume megajoules, while the new ones are fine with EC?

By the way, I was wondering around the meaning of "Megajoules". Is this like the high-powered version of the EC circout? Can I convert EC into Megajoules and the other way around?

Edited February 15, 2017 by entropy--

[Kosach-]

17 minutes ago, entropy-- said:

Is this like the high-powered version of the EC circout?

Yes, it is there because if your warp drive or something would use EC, then it could deprive your lights, SAS and everything else wich uses EC. I wish, there could be power control as part of game mechanics, but as i understand, it's because of KSP itself we have to deal with this workaround.

 

 

[entropy--]

1 hour ago, Kosach- said:

Yes, it is there because if your warp drive or something would use EC, then it could deprive your lights, SAS and everything else wich uses EC. I wish, there could be power control as part of game mechanics, but as i understand, it's because of KSP itself we have to deal with this workaround.

Ok, go it. Even so, it's kind of cool I think: you can imagine the super-high-voltage power network with big thick cables for engines and such, and then just a regular low-voltage power network for lights and SAS and wheels.

There should be an optional patch to rename EC to Minijouls, just as a fun factor upgrade.

[ss8913]

@FreeThinker Noticed another FTL/timewarp thing last night:

1. Craft has the ability to push 40.00c at 1x timewarp
2. If I timewarp past 10x, like just to 50x, 2 things happen:
    1. I get 'critical power shortage' - why?  Maybe I need more generators; I will try that, but I would think if it is enough power at 1x, 5x, 10x, it should be enough power at any time scale?
    2. when it drops out of warp  under these conditions, all the part attachments are skewed off, like one of the tail fins is 5m further forward and embedded in the fuselage, and none of the fuselage pieces line up anymore.  F5/F9 solves this but it's bizarre.

Also still hoping for an answer on why, with antimatter reactor + thermal turbojet/thermal ramjet nozzle, the throttle response is so markedly different with 'Atmospheric' vs 'hydrazine' propellant modes... as I stated before, aren't they both just fluids controllable via a valve?  wouldn't the time for the reactor/engine to spool up or down be the same either way?  Especially with spooling down; it'll ramp up like 3x faster than it'll ramp down.  Net result is that these engines can be used for VTOL only in non-atmospheric mode due to the response issues.

[DocRockwell]

Got a few questions:

1. How do I refuel my reactors with Lithium-6? I can't find any tanks that can be filled with this resource. There's a lithium-7 cryostat tank, but no lithium-6.
2. What is lithium-7 used for?

3. The molten salt reactor has 3.4 units of He3 and ~3400 units of He4. I see that He4 is a fusion byproduct, what is its function in the fission reactor?
4. The Stellarator MFC reactor has 20 units of Lqd Hydrogen and 10,000 units of Hydrogen. What is the non-liquid hydrogen for?
5. Regarding propellant types and ISP, the table on page 1 suggests hydrogen should have the highest ISP (everything else has a multiplier <1), yet in the game hydrogen gives me the worst performance. I put an ATTILA thruster on my space station to adjust its orbit and the 3000 units of liquid hydrogen will get me 34 m/s of delta-v, whereas the 500 units of monopropellant on board will give me 112 m/s. This is the same with thermal nozzles too, and so far I haven't found a reason to use anything but liquid fuel in my thermal nuclear powered crafts. Am I missing something? 

Edited February 15, 2017 by DocRockwell

[Liquid5n0w]

16 hours ago, DocRockwell said:

Got a few questions:

1. How do I refuel my reactors with Lithium-6? I can't find any tanks that can be filled with this resource. There's a lithium-7 cryostat tank, but no lithium-6.
2. What is lithium-7 used for?

3. The molten salt reactor has 3.4 units of He3 and ~3400 units of He4. I see that He4 is a fusion byproduct, what is its function in the fission reactor?
4. The Stellarator MFC reactor has 20 units of Lqd Hydrogen and 10,000 units of Hydrogen. What is the non-liquid hydrogen for?
5. Regarding propellant types and ISP, the table on page 1 suggests hydrogen should have the highest ISP (everything else has a multiplier <1), yet in the game hydrogen gives me the worst performance. I put an ATTILA thruster on my space station to adjust its orbit and the 3000 units of liquid hydrogen will get me 34 m/s of delta-v, whereas the 500 units of monopropellant on board will give me 112 m/s. This is the same with thermal nozzles too, and so far I haven't found a reason to use anything but liquid fuel in my thermal nuclear powered crafts. Am I missing something? 

Regarding number 5, hydrogen is the best by mass, but you were comparing by volume.  Hydrogen's big disadvantage is that is takes up a lot of tanks space for very little mass, so if you want to compare the performance of Hydrogen to say Hydrazine, you need to make sure you have the same mass of each.

As for 3:  

• Tritium Breeding - This is a process that allows the reactor to produce Tritium which is used in a fusion reactor. Tritium breeding requires a compatible reactor as well as a supply of Lithium and a tank to store the Tritium which is created from the free neutrons. Tritium is the 3rd most valuable fuel in KSPI and is one of the required fuels to power the Vista Engine. Tritium will decay into Helium 3, which is the second most valuable resource in KSPI and can be used for efficient aneutronic Fusion.

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by Liquid5n0w

[DocRockwell]

7 hours ago, Liquid5n0w said:

Regarding number 5, hydrogen is the best by mass, but you were comparing by volume.  Hydrogen's big disadvantage is that is takes up a lot of tanks space for very little mass, so if you want to compare the performance of Hydrogen to say Hydrazine, you need to make sure you have the same mass of each.

As for 3:  

• Tritium Breeding - This is a process that allows the reactor to produce Tritium which is used in a fusion reactor. Tritium breeding requires a compatible reactor as well as a supply of Lithium and a tank to store the Tritium which is created from the free neutrons. Tritium is the 3rd most valuable fuel in KSPI and is one of the required fuels to power the Vista Engine. Tritium will decay into Helium 3, which is the second most valuable resource in KSPI and can be used for efficient aneutronic Fusion.

 

Ahh yes, that makes sense. Are there applications where you prefer to use hydrogen over a denser propellant? Stacking up unwieldy fuel tanks doesn't seem very appealing.

I get the role of lithium-6 and helium-3, I'm just confused as to where the lithium-7 (available in cryostat tanks) and helium-4 (resource in fission reactor) comes in.

Cheers

Edited February 16, 2017 by DocRockwell

[Liquid5n0w]

4 hours ago, DocRockwell said:

Ahh yes, that makes sense. Are there applications where you prefer to use hydrogen over a denser propellant? Stacking up unwieldy fuel tanks doesn't seem very appealing.

I get the role of lithium-6 and helium-3, I'm just confused as to where the lithium-7 (available in cryostat tanks) and helium-4 (resource in fission reactor) comes in.

Cheers

I almost always use Hydrogen unless I need high thrust for launch or landing.  ISP is truly king and even the next best is basically half of hydrogen's ISP.

[Z-Money]

On ‎2‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 11:00 AM, ss8913 said:

when it drops out of warp  under these conditions, all the part attachments are skewed off, like one of the tail fins is 5m further forward and embedded in the fuselage, and none of the fuselage pieces line up anymore.  F5/F9 solves this but it's bizarre.

That sounds cool. If it's easily remedied, then why remove it? It can be a feature, probably causing some laffs.

[Liquid5n0w]

@FreeThinker I have been looking at the Fusion Reactor Fuel Modes table from the OP, and I don't understand the difference between Reaction Power, Reaction Energy and Reaction Rate?  I understand that certain reactions make less power, also certain ones need a higher energy level to start like P-B11.  Is the Rate fuel usage?  

Also I assume Brems-strahlung means energy output that isn't charged particles but also isn't damaging the reactor like Neutrons? So just pure thermal power output.

EDIT: I put a trialpha on a test stand and the numbers in the table don't seem to make any sense when compared to the table?  The P-Li6 isn't even close and the P-Li6 and P-Li7 have the same maint power even though they should be different? And why does each fuel have two maintenance powers in the table, how do I pick between neutral plasma and not?

Edited February 17, 2017 by Liquid5n0w

[FreeThinker]

5 hours ago, Liquid5n0w said:

@FreeThinker I have been looking at the Fusion Reactor Fuel Modes table from the OP, and I don't understand the difference between Reaction Power, Reaction Energy and Reaction Rate?  I understand that certain reactions make less power, also certain ones need a higher energy level to start like P-B11.  Is the Rate fuel usage?

 

 

1

Reaction energy is the energy produced for every atomic nuclear fusion reaction relative to D-T fusion. Reactiom Rate is the likelihood a  fusion reaction occurs, this is related to fusion cross section,  the product of Reaction energy and  Rate determines the  effective reactor power.

Brems-strahlung loss isn't implemeted yet

Edited February 17, 2017 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

8 hours ago, Liquid5n0w said:

And why does each fuel have two maintenance powers in the table, how do I pick between neutral plasma and not?

Sorry for the confusion, the non neutral plasma was meant to counter the bremsung stralung, which is technically caused by electrons slowing down. By making the plasma non neutral, you an effectivly remove the bremsung stralung, the disadvantage however is that it would require more power, that why the number for non eutral plasma were higher. But it neer got implemented, so for the moment I just remove it...

[Liquid5n0w]

5 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Reaction energy is the energy produced for every atomic nuclear fusion reaction relative to D-T fusion. Reactiom Rate is the likelihood a  fusion reaction occurs, this is related to fusion cross section,  the product of Reaction energy and  Rate determines the  effective reactor power.

Brems-strahlung loss isn't implemeted yet

Well that explains how it affects the real world, which honestly I already knew.  But I meant more of how does it affect the game in context? Does that mean reaction rate does nothing ingame? 

What's the difference between reaction energy and reaction power?

[FreeThinker]

1 minute ago, Liquid5n0w said:

What's the difference between reaction energy and reaction power?

Reactor energy is the amount of energy genrated by fusion reaction between 2 atoms in MeV relative to D-T fusion . It affect how much energy can be produced by a molar quantity of a resource. in others it determines the amount of energy a gram of resource can produce.

Reactor power is the raw power produced by the reactor in this mode, relative to D-T fusion, which is the product of reaction energy and reaction rate.

[Liquid5n0w]

14 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Reactor energy is the amount of energy genrated by fusion reaction between 2 atoms in MeV relative to D-T fusion . It affect how much energy can be produced by a molar quantity of a resource. in others it determines the amount of energy a gram of resource can produce.

Reactor power is the raw power produced by the reactor in this mode, relative to D-T fusion, which is the product of reaction energy and reaction rate.

So the only number that affects the game is Reactor power, all others are just flavour used to make the reactor power number?

Also it appears that the P-Li6 reaction power doesn't match this table.

P-Li6 is getting 7.932GW / 8.773GW = 0.9041 power relative to the reactor, when the table says it should be  0.22

P-Li7 gets 9.639GW / 8.773GW = 1.098 power relative to base reactor, when the table says  0.977

And they both have the same Fusion Maintenance power of 512MW when the table says one is 6x and the other is 8x?

Am I doing this right?

Edited February 17, 2017 by Liquid5n0w

[Liquid5n0w]

Um, everytime I end my timewarp the Regolith drills deactivate, when they were active the whole warp.  This happens for even a 20x warp for a few seconds, so it isn't resource related.  I also have tons of power.  Anyone else?

[Nansuchao]

4 hours ago, Liquid5n0w said:

Um, everytime I end my timewarp the Regolith drills deactivate, when they were active the whole warp.  This happens for even a 20x warp for a few seconds, so it isn't resource related.  I also have tons of power.  Anyone else?

I had this issue with stock drills sometimes, so it's probably a stock bug, seen that probably the KSPI-E drills uses the same stock module.

[mcniff]

What can you do with mined uraninite?

[DoubleUU]

Are there any 3.75m generators?  I seem to only have generators up to 2.5m and I have almost the entire tech tree unlocked with just one node left and it doesn't contain any generators that I can see.  I feel like I'm missing something and I'm still trying to figure this mod out.

[Nansuchao]

4 minutes ago, DoubleUU said:

Are there any 3.75m generators?  I seem to only have generators up to 2.5m and I have almost the entire tech tree unlocked with just one node left and it doesn't contain any generators that I can see.  I feel like I'm missing something and I'm still trying to figure this mod out.

You're missing TweakScale 

[DoubleUU]

Ah, got it.  Too simple!  I got so used to rather complex workings behind this mod that I didn't think of the easiest solution first.  Thanks!