[1.8.1 - 1.12.2] KSP Interstellar Extended 1.29.5 Release Thread

[Ace76inDC]

7 hours ago, OOM said:

KSP-I INCOMPATIBLE with Near Future Electrical and Propulsion. They have different operating principles, and if NFP just adds arcade electric engine, then NFE will break the balance of KSP-I

I am still waiting for the moment when NFE can work with KSP-I. For example, some parts of the unreleased Far Future Technology (FFT) mod work great with KSP-I.

Appreciate it.  Can't rule out something conflicting, can't figure out why one of my three Hades reactors (Mk3 Stockalike mod) is affected and the others are fine.  I'm comparing line my line in my save file right now, can't figure it out.

[Yanke-]

Im having issues with regolith drills after updating to 1.25.20 (KSP 1.7.3).Before update i had like Regolith 250% concentration now im having 1 855 160 000 000 000% concentration on minmus.(I also tried deploy new miner after update with same result)

Also is it intended that tech nodes for part upgrades dont take any funds todo so(Even when they show purcharse cost) ? Only KSC Laser Array upgrades tech nodes actually take funds to unlock.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Yanke-
fix image url

[JCLgaming]

Is there a particular reason as to why the direct cycle nuclear turbojet doesn't have intakes by default? And why can't any thermal jet engine use liquidfuel as propellant?

[OOM]

23 hours ago, JCLgaming said:

Is there a particular reason as to why the direct cycle nuclear turbojet doesn't have intakes by default? And why can't any thermal jet engine use liquidfuel as propellant?

Liquid fuel was never the recommended fuel in the KSP-I. Use realistic fuels: hydrogen, methane, kerosene, ammonia. In addition, they can be obtained using ISRU.

It could also be a bug. I have seen that NERVA can use aluminum and oxygen as a fuel, but in reality it does not work.

[FreeThinker]

On 6/14/2020 at 2:45 PM, OOM said:

Liquid fuel was never the recommended fuel in the KSP-I. Use realistic fuels: hydrogen, methane, kerosene, ammonia. In addition, they can be obtained using ISRU.

Yes, KSPIE assumes LiquidFuel its very similar to Hydrazine, with worse thrust performance

Edited June 15, 2020 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

On 6/10/2020 at 10:41 PM, Yanke- said:

Is it intended that tech nodes for part upgrades dont take any funds todo so(Even when they show purcharse cost) ?.

Currently it is yes, but it might change in the future

[JCLgaming]

Right. Thanks for the answer. Hydrazine it is then.

[AntaresMC]

20 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Currently it is yes, but it might change in the future

Its a shame, I was gonna start a carrer mode with all researched and cost at max, and research via funds from ISRU...

Ok, Ill wait.

[Codraroll]

I've been trying out this pack for a bit and have gotten far enough into a career to start unlocking things from the 500+ science nodes in the Community Tech Tree, which is where I guess the fun parts of this mod begin.

However, I keep finding myself returning to chemical rockets time and time again, because, well, I really don't have an idea how to properly use the Interstellar stuff. For instance, I tried sending up a huge rocket with the Molten Salt Reactor, a big fuel tank, and the Krusader engine, and pretty much nothing else, and got a whooping 450 m/s of Delta-v. A chemical upper stage would have been half the size and given me ten times as much Dv, for one tenth of the cost. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here.

The parts list in my VAB is now full of tanks carrying all sorts of strange fuel types, but I don't know the advantages or drawbacks (or requirements/compatibility) of any of them, so I find myself sticking to what I know works: Liquid Fuel + Oxidizer, and engines from Stock, KW Rocketry, or SpaceY.

I mean, Interstellar looks wonderful, but it's all so ... daunting. Is there any good documentation out there? A how-to or let's play that tells you when to use what, with some practical examples? Scott Manley's excellent LP was great in that regard, but the version he played seems pretty obsolete today. Most guides I've found gives an overview of how the parts work, but not how you should use them. Any help out there? Thanks a lot in advance!

[OOM]

22 hours ago, Codraroll said:

I've been trying out this pack for a bit and have gotten far enough into a career to start unlocking things from the 500+ science nodes in the Community Tech Tree, which is where I guess the fun parts of this mod begin.

However, I keep finding myself returning to chemical rockets time and time again, because, well, I really don't have an idea how to properly use the Interstellar stuff. For instance, I tried sending up a huge rocket with the Molten Salt Reactor, a big fuel tank, and the Krusader engine, and pretty much nothing else, and got a whooping 450 m/s of Delta-v. A chemical upper stage would have been half the size and given me ten times as much Dv, for one tenth of the cost. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here.

The parts list in my VAB is now full of tanks carrying all sorts of strange fuel types, but I don't know the advantages or drawbacks (or requirements/compatibility) of any of them, so I find myself sticking to what I know works: Liquid Fuel + Oxidizer, and engines from Stock, KW Rocketry, or SpaceY.

I mean, Interstellar looks wonderful, but it's all so ... daunting. Is there any good documentation out there? A how-to or let's play that tells you when to use what, with some practical examples? Scott Manley's excellent LP was great in that regard, but the version he played seems pretty obsolete today. Most guides I've found gives an overview of how the parts work, but not how you should use them. Any help out there? Thanks a lot in advance!

You will have to spend at least several days studying this mod. It's nothing you can do. Since Interstellar offers cutting-edge experimental technology, you should learn about their principles and how they work in real life. 

To do this, you can read this online magazine in your free time. You will not find documentation on this mod there, but some knowledge will definitely come in handy for a future game with KSP-I. In addition, you can right there knit several ready-made drawings of spaceships.
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/
In your particular case, you used the nuclear movement to take off from Kerbin. Do not do that. The best way to enter orbit is to use conventional chemical rocket engines. Almost all KSP-I engines are designed for interplanetary flights from orbit to orbit.
At the expense of fuel - everything is simple here. 1. For nuclear engines, use liquid hydrogen but a lot of liquid hydrogen (since it has a low density) 2. For fusion engines (if required) also use liquid hydrogen as a working fluid. 3. For electric rocket engines, use the following fuels: hydrogen, sodium, cesium, xenon. Each fuel has a different specific impulse and thrust.
Liquid ammonia can be used as a substitute for liquid hydrogen for nuclear rocket engines, but you will lose a specific impulse. The calculation comes from the fact that ammonia can be obtained using ISRU. Therefore, in some cases, the use of ammonia makes sense (it also does not "boil" and has a high density). But look here according to circumstances.
Hydrazine is used for RCS engines as well as the best fuel for the ATTILA electric arc engine.
The remaining types of fuel and working fluid can be used for their intended purpose where it is really needed. Perhaps as a transition product for processing at ISRU.
As I said - the same Nitrogen is needed to create ammonia in ISRU.

Edited June 28, 2020 by OOM

[Codraroll]

1 hour ago, OOM said:

In your particular case, you used the nuclear movement to take off from Kerbin. Do not do that. The best way to enter orbit is to use conventional chemical rocket engines. Almost all KSP-I engines are designed for interplanetary flights from orbit to orbit.

To clarify, that was what I did. I built a conventional, chemical rocket to send a nuclear-powered probe to orbit. Once I had a circular orbit of around 100 km, I disconnected the chemical stages, let the reactor take over, and ... pushed the probe into an elliptical orbit before running out of fuel. Given the size of the probe, I had kinda expected more. 450 m/s of Delta-v wasn't much when I could easily have gotten five times that out of a similiar-sized upper stage powered by a Poodle.

Then again, I suppose I could have given it a bigger fuel tank. Maybe the power of nuclear engines is only really seen when building really big ships.

[OOM]

2 hours ago, Codraroll said:

To clarify, that was what I did. I built a conventional, chemical rocket to send a nuclear-powered probe to orbit. Once I had a circular orbit of around 100 km, I disconnected the chemical stages, let the reactor take over, and ... pushed the probe into an elliptical orbit before running out of fuel. Given the size of the probe, I had kinda expected more. 450 m/s of Delta-v wasn't much when I could easily have gotten five times that out of a similiar-sized upper stage powered by a Poodle.

Then again, I suppose I could have given it a bigger fuel tank. Maybe the power of nuclear engines is only really seen when building really big ships.

If you had nuclear engines like NERVA \ LANTR \ Thermal Nozzle + Reactor then nothing surprising. You just took not enough liquid hydrogen, it needs a lot, unlike stock "liquid fuel". Therefore, if you need less than 4000 m/s Delta-v then the use of nuclear engines does not make sense.
Therefore, you are most likely right, to unlock the potential of nuclear engines is possible only on large and medium-sized ships.
The exception is a traveling wave reactor a nuclear engine. This tiny nuclear engine weighs very little and produces 4 kN of thrust. This is great for small space probes and does not require a lot of liquid hydrogen to achieve effective Delta-V

Edited June 28, 2020 by OOM

[OOM]

For reference. To obtain 8000 m/s using a traveling-wave nuclear engine (160 kg mass) per 1 ton of dry weight, 2.7 tons of liquid hydrogen are needed. As you can see, the tank with liquid hydrogen is very large against the background of the rest of the details of the spacecraft.

[Codraroll]

36 minutes ago, OOM said:

If you had nuclear engines like NERVA \ LANTR \ Thermal Nozzle + Reactor then nothing surprising. You just took not enough liquid hydrogen, it needs a lot, unlike stock "liquid fuel". Therefore, if you need less than 4000 m/s Delta-v then the use of nuclear engines does not make sense.
Therefore, you are most likely right, to unlock the potential of nuclear engines is possible only on large and medium-sized ships.
The exception is a traveling wave reactor a nuclear engine. This tiny nuclear engine weighs very little and produces 4 kN of thrust. This is great for small space probes and does not require a lot of liquid hydrogen to achieve effective Delta-V

See, that's exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. Is there any sort of "How-to-KSP Interstellar" out there? Every resource seems to quickly bury itself in the nitty-gritty details about how the technology works, but not how it relates to the career mode gameplay of KSP. The Atomic Rockets website is great fun, of course, but I feel it goes in the opposite direction of what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for what sort of alloys would be needed to create an inertial fusion containment chamber or how xenon poisoning affects the power output of a nuclear reactor.  I'd just like to know where to find a little bit of advice on what parts one should focus on unlocking, how to use them, and what to expect from them, within KSP. Not theoretical considerations about their inner workings in real life, which is what all guides on the subject seem to burrow into.

[OOM]

4 hours ago, Codraroll said:

See, that's exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. Is there any sort of "How-to-KSP Interstellar" out there? Every resource seems to quickly bury itself in the nitty-gritty details about how the technology works, but not how it relates to the career mode gameplay of KSP. The Atomic Rockets website is great fun, of course, but I feel it goes in the opposite direction of what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for what sort of alloys would be needed to create an inertial fusion containment chamber or how xenon poisoning affects the power output of a nuclear reactor.  I'd just like to know where to find a little bit of advice on what parts one should focus on unlocking, how to use them, and what to expect from them, within KSP. Not theoretical considerations about their inner workings in real life, which is what all guides on the subject seem to burrow into.

 

I don’t even know in which direction to move. Almost all engines / reactors have their pros and cons. But, probably, I would recommend using the very first MIF fusion engine, in which lithium balls are used as “fuel”. It has good thrust, 5000 specific impulse, low power consumption and a small amount of heat. I think a ship with a MIF fusion engine would be ideal for faster interplanetary flights with crews of up to 6 Kerbals.

Edited June 28, 2020 by OOM

[AntaresMC]

@jhook777 has great tutoorials on YT. There is also a Discord if you wanna ask specific things.

[Sixer]

When using a Hex ISRU processor and it runs out of Uraninite  to process,  the hex processor starts to Move ( bumping up and down ) my Mun base , this stops when i turn off the processor ( while it moved the base a 100 meters from where it was landed.)

Help me Obiwan kerbin , your my only hope.

[AntaresMC]

On 7/19/2020 at 12:36 PM, Sixer said:

When using a Hex ISRU processor and it runs out of Uraninite  to process,  the hex processor starts to Move ( bumping up and down ) my Mun base , this stops when i turn off the processor ( while it moved the base a 100 meters from where it was landed.)

Help me Obiwan kerbin , your my only hope.

Its probably just a kraken with no much more to do. Probably something similar to the thrust you get by moving fuel while your ship rotates.

Maybe MOAR STRUTS solve it.

Edit: Obi-Wan Kerman*

Edited July 22, 2020 by AntaresMC

[helliwolf]

Is there a compatibility issue between this and CryoTanks/NearFuturePropulsion?

 

I've finally decided to install KSPIE and now all of my tanks that used to hold LH2/O can only hold LH2 or Oxidizer, but no option for both, which breaks some of my craft, which no longer have oxidizer and therefore can't be flown

 

EDIT: Oops, I see there is a support thread. I will post the question there instead.

Edited July 30, 2020 by helliwolf
Wrong place for querstion. Plz delete if possible

[ZKWS]

Will this work properly in ksp - 1.10

[EatenOrpheus30]

I don't know where else to ask this so I'll do it here.

How do I go interstellar without using wormholes? I don't mean engine wise or anything but mechanics wise. When I leave the the SOI of Kerbol, my trajectory disappears so i can't plot a maneuver node or anything. This is my first time using any interstellar mods so if there's a better place to ask this, or somewhere that explains all of this, please let me know.

Edited August 8, 2020 by EatenOrpheus30

[sacredbacon]

On 8/8/2020 at 3:28 PM, EatenOrpheus30 said:

I don't know where else to ask this so I'll do it here.

How do I go interstellar without using wormholes? I don't mean engine wise or anything but mechanics wise. When I leave the the SOI of Kerbol, my trajectory disappears so i can't plot a maneuver node or anything. This is my first time using any interstellar mods so if there's a better place to ask this, or somewhere that explains all of this, please let me know.

In a nutshell, how I do it is leave Kerbol SOI and keep on traveling until I get captured by the other star's SOI. Once you are captured, you can plot a maneuver node, but make sure you do it ASAP, as every hour adds to the dV needed to make the course correction. Once you're there, you will have to make a combination of braking and course correction burns to reach your final destination, that is, if you want to do it in a brachistochrone type manner. Once you become familiar with the mechanics of brachistochrone trajectories, you can learn to combine the two together, correcting your course as you're braking.

My transfers are high dV though, to the order of 18 mil m/s, so I don't know how you would do this maneuver in a lower dV vehicle. Maybe just cross you fingers that you get captured? 

Make sure you have Better Timewarp mod. Once you leave Kerbol's SOI, you are locked to the fourth timewarp rate. Customize the "hyperwarp" options in Better Timewarp to get around this. Lastly, in the cheat menu (alt+f12) you must turn on "ignore max temperature". There is a bug where your entire ship will overheat rapidly and explode while in interstellar space.

I actually made a video about this a couple weeks ago, not a textbook example, as there are some errors, and quite a long video, but here it is if you want a raw gameplay demo: 

 

Hope this helps

Edited August 9, 2020 by sacredbacon

[EatenOrpheus30]

5 hours ago, sacredbacon said:

In a nutshell, how I do it is leave Kerbol SOI and keep on traveling until I get captured by the other star's SOI. Once you are captured, you can plot a maneuver node, but make sure you do it ASAP, as every hour adds to the dV needed to make the course correction. Once you're there, you will have to make a combination of braking and course correction burns to reach your final destination, that is, if you want to do it in a brachistochrone type manner. Once you become familiar with the mechanics of brachistochrone trajectories, you can learn to combine the two together, correcting your course as you're braking.

My transfers are high dV though, to the order of 18 mil m/s, so I don't know how you would do this maneuver in a lower dV vehicle. Maybe just cross you fingers that you get captured? 

Make sure you have Better Timewarp mod. Once you leave Kerbol's SOI, you are locked to the fourth timewarp rate. Customize the "hyperwarp" options in Better Timewarp to get around this. Lastly, in the cheat menu (alt+f12) you must turn on "ignore max temperature". There is a bug where your entire ship will overheat rapidly and explode while in interstellar space.

I actually made a video about this a couple weeks ago, not a textbook example, as there are some errors, and quite a long video, but here it is if you want a raw gameplay demo: 

 

Hope this helps

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[FreeThinker]

Version 1.25.23 for Kerbal Space Program 1.8.1 -1.10.1

Released on 2020-08-22

• Compatible with KSP 1.8.1 - 1.10.1
• Added high altitude scanning for Uraninite and Mopedantte to Gamma Ray Spectrometer
• Added Advanced Nuclear Power as a requirement for unlocking Fusion Power for CTT
• Balance: Increased science cost for High Tech Nuclear (both Fission and Fusion) Reactor and Engine Technodes
• Balance: Decreased science cost for medium and high tech non-nuclear Technodes
• Balance: Changed tech requirement Particle Accelerator Centrifuge Ring to High Energy Science
• Balance: Changed tech requirement Cyclotron Particle Accelerator to High Energy Science
• Balance: Changed tech requirement Antimatter capture and production tech requirement to Scientific Outposts
• Balance: increased efficiencies for Diode Laser Array
• Balance: lowered orbital scanner max scanning high for non-stock resources

Edited August 22, 2020 by FreeThinker

[TomfooleryYT]

I'm having issues with the regolith drills. Despite being on regolith hotspot and drills engaged, I'm not gaining any regolith, making fusion pellets isru bases completely pointless. Please Help!