Epstein Drive demostrator

[goduranus]

New game exploiting propulsion system found, move aside, kraken drive! 

Inspired by the Epstein Yacht from the Expanse TV series, this is a technology demonstration ship capable of crew crushing acceleration and nearly unlimited deltaV. Careful now, the Gs will make your Kerbals pass out, and you won't get controls back until the next solar system.

Equipped with self-regenerating fuel systems for near infinite deltaV, a base for anyone who wants to build the Rocinante. 

https://kerbalx.com/goduranus/Epstein-Drive-Test

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by goduranus

[Majorjim!]

I'm confused...

[SamBelanger]

Lack of information 

[goduranus]

37 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

I'm confused...

Huh? How are you confused? The name is from the popular TV series, The Expanse, don't tell me you haven't seen it.

The Epstein drive is a drive with almost infinite deltaV, so much deltaV that crews keep their drives on though voyages and use the acceleration as artificial gravity. On the first test run of the Epstein drive the crew passed out from the Gs' and the drive kept running, and the guy was never seen again.

This in game version generates its own fuel, and if you lose control it will keep running until your computer crashes.

Here's a trailer from The Expanse

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by goduranus

[Gaarst]

I haven't seen the Expanse.

What does your craft do exactly? How does your propulsion works?

I'm always interested by Kraken drives but it's hard to figure out what happens without any explanation.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Gaarst

[goduranus]

The craft is a combination of High G acceleration and infinite burn time, making it able to get anywhere within the Kerbol system in a hurry, or be used with drives on to simulate gravity for the crew.

It uses rocket engines with negative thrust percentage to generate its own fuel and oxidizer on the fly, so fuel never runs out. This particular craft has two Spider engines with thrust percentage set to -100000 to generate fuel at 1000 times of its burn rate. This is done by editing the craft file with the text editor, finding the relevant engines, then change the thrust percentage to the desired number. Also make sure you change all the engines that are in its symmetry group, or the craft will spin out of control.

If the craft were heavier and your crew fail to pass out, you can always increase the thrust percentage of the main drive to 10000 or some other big number to make sure that they do.

Edited August 18, 2017 by goduranus

[Azimech]

23 hours ago, goduranus said:

The craft is a combination of High G acceleration and infinite burn time, making it able to get anywhere within the Kerbol system in a hurry, or be used with drives on to simulate gravity for the crew.

It uses rocket engines with negative thrust percentage to generate its own fuel and oxidizer on the fly, so fuel never runs out. This particular craft has two Spider engines with thrust percentage set to -100000 to generate fuel at 1000 times of its burn rate. This is done by editing the craft file with the text editor, finding the relevant engines, then change the thrust percentage to the desired number. Also make sure you change all the engines that are in its symmetry group, or the craft will spin out of control.

If the craft were heavier and your crew fail to pass out, you can always increase the thrust percentage of the main drive to 10000 or some other big number to make sure that they do.

Neat hack! I can actually use this as a new type of electronic building block!

I did something similar: I gave rocket engines a negative heat output. So now I was able to use heating and cooling. This way I developed sensors for the electronic ignition of my piston engines.

23 hours ago, goduranus said:

Huh? How are you confused? The name is from the popular TV series, The Expanse, don't tell me you haven't seen it.

The Epstein drive is a drive with almost infinite deltaV, so much deltaV that crews keep their drives on though voyages and use the acceleration as artificial gravity. On the first test run of the Epstein drive the crew passed out from the Gs' and the drive kept running, and the guy was never seen again.

This in game version generates its own fuel, and if you lose control it will keep running until your computer crashes.

Here's a trailer from The Expanse

 

I don't know the series yet but the face of this guy^ ... doesn't invite me :-P

He looks like Martin Shkreli.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Azimech

[linuxgurugamer]

On 8/18/2017 at 9:47 AM, goduranus said:

The craft is a combination of High G acceleration and infinite burn time, making it able to get anywhere within the Kerbol system in a hurry, or be used with drives on to simulate gravity for the crew.

It uses rocket engines with negative thrust percentage to generate its own fuel and oxidizer on the fly, so fuel never runs out. This particular craft has two Spider engines with thrust percentage set to -100000 to generate fuel at 1000 times of its burn rate. This is done by editing the craft file with the text editor, finding the relevant engines, then change the thrust percentage to the desired number. Also make sure you change all the engines that are in its symmetry group, or the craft will spin out of control.

A Kraken drive by definition is something that happens in a stock, unmodified game.  You've modified the craft file, which makes this not-a-kraken-drive.

It's very easy to modify a part or a craft file to behave in a nonsensical manner.  The trick is to do it in stock.

[goduranus]

Bah, kraken drives are uncontrollable now since parts of the same craft won't collide with each other any more, you have to trap a separated craft and keep in a cage but it often jumps out. This thing is no kraken drive but it does the same thing, gives you deltaV without having to use the cheat menu.

On The Expanse, I highly recommend people watch it. Adam Savage and Scott Manley both like the show.

Here's a clip and a Scott Manley video on it

 

[Azimech]

I'll give the series a go after the Season 7 finale of GoT.

[Majorjim!]

21 hours ago, goduranus said:

This thing is no kraken drive but it does the same thing, gives you deltaV without having to use the cheat menu.

Beacuse someone already cheated for you.

 

[goduranus]

That's right!

[ScriptKitt3h]

OOH, neat! I'm glad someone finally found a nice way to do Epstein Drives outside of doing a proper mod with custom models and all.

Might go on in and take a look at it for applications to my own ships...

 

EDIT: OHHHH YES, this is precisely what I was hoping for. You mind if I adapt this design into a replica of the Epstein Yacht itself, @goduranus? I've been tinkering with Expanse replica ships, but up 'till now have never had the proper propulsion.

Edited August 23, 2017 by ScriptKitt3h

[selfish_meme]

On 8/20/2017 at 0:25 AM, Azimech said:

I'll give the series a go after the Season 7 finale of GoT.

Read the books, the start of the TV series is a bit slow and confusing for those not familiar with the content.

On 8/20/2017 at 0:24 AM, goduranus said:

Bah, kraken drives are uncontrollable now since parts of the same craft won't collide with each other any more, you have to trap a separated craft and keep in a cage but it often jumps out. This thing is no kraken drive but it does the same thing, gives you deltaV without having to use the cheat menu.

On The Expanse, I highly recommend people watch it. Adam Savage and Scott Manley both like the show.

Here's a clip and a Scott Manley video on it

 

Adam Savage is actually in the show in one sub plot, he is a tech on the Earth ship at Venus