HX1-URC Generator balancing with NFE and Kerbal Atomics

[Ununtri]

Hello everyone,

So I've been running multiple mods for a while and, for better or worse, they often have different mechanics that make them run (like KSPI-E and NearFuture together). Through quick learning and copy-pasting, I've been able to create my own patches so that everything stays balanced, even if mods don't support it by default (i.e. KerbalAtomics+NFE patch MRS Quad-Nuke, so that it runs on atomic fuel and hydrogen).

This is where i run into HX1-URC generator from B9 Aerospace HX Parts. By default it functions as a massive RTG, producing 560 Ec/s. I was thinking about adding a decay to it through decaying RTGs NF patch, but I've come to realise that 18 ton RTG is a nonsense. So I've been thinking about patching it with NFE+KerbalAtomics configs. However, this generator currently is 4x heavier than MX-5 Hermes from NFE, but outputs merely 11% of its power.

So there's my question: do you have any suggestions for how to properly balance this part using these two mods? Should I massively increase energy output or amount of fuel, or maybe just leave it as an RTG? If possible, I would like to avoid patching it with KSPI-E, because its config is significantly more complicated than NFE (thus increases number of variables and makes balancing harder)

Anything might help, so thanks in advance

[Nertea]

Feel free to have a look at the balance specs for NFE, if you want to go that route.

Reactor	Ingame Name	Size	Pack	Heat Generation (kW)	Efficiency	Power Generation (kW)	Waste Heat (kW)	Cfg Heat	Fuel Capacity (u)	Burn Rate (u/s)	Lifetime (K.Yr)	Normalized Fuel (days/u)	Fuel Efficiency (kJ/micro u)		Dry Mass (t)	Mass Scalar	Reactor Mass (t)	Fuel Mass (t)	Unfuelled Mass (t)	Total Mass (t)	Radiator Mass (t) [Stock]	Radiator Mass (t) [High-Temp]	Power Ratio (kW/t) [Stock]	Power Ratio  (kW/t) [High Temp]	Radiator Mass [Stock]	Radiator Mass [High Temp]	Fuel Storage Cost ($)	Reactor Cost ($)	Reactor Cost Ratio ($/kW)	Fuel Cost ($)	Total Cost ($)
MX-0 'KerboPower' Fission Generator	reactor-0625	0.625	NFE	210	28.57%	60	150	7500	11	0.000000239085	5.00	193.64	250.96		0.0301675	1	0.133	0.12067	0.164	0.284	0.15	0.09	138.19	162.21	35%	23%	275	8500	305	9515	18595
MX-1 'GARNET' Fission Reactor	reactor-125	1.25	NFE	1200	33.33%	400	800	40000	65	0.00000141278	5.00	32.77	283.13		0.1782625	1	0.889	0.71305	1.067	1.780	0.80	0.46	155.03	178.78	31%	20%	1625	42500	251	56225	100601
MX-2S 'Prometheus' Fission Reactor	reactor-25	2.5	NFE	5500	36.36%	2000	3500	175000	280	0.0000060858	5.00	7.61	328.63		0.7679	1	4.444	3.0716	5.212	8.284	3.50	2.00	169.72	194.48	30%	19%	7000	202500	226	242200	451926
MX-2L 'Excalibur' Fission Reactor	reactor-25-2	2.5	NFE	7000	42.86%	3000	4000	200000	400	0.0000086941	5.00	5.33	345.06		1.097	1	6.667	4.388	7.764	12.152	4.00	2.29	185.74	207.79	25%	16%	10000	302500	220	346000	658720
MX-3S F.L.A.T. Fission Reactor	reactor-375	3.75	NFE	5000	40.00%	2000	3000	150000	350	0.0000054338	7.00	8.52	368.07		0.959875	1	4.444	3.8395	5.404	9.244	3.00	1.71	163.35	182.51	25%	16%	8750	202500	257	302750	514257
MX-3L 'Hermes Fission Reactor	reactor-375-2	3.75	NFE	12500	48.00%	6000	6500	325000	770	0.000016736	5.00	2.77	358.51		2.111725	1	13.333	8.4469	15.445	23.892	6.50	3.71	197.42	217.34	21%	13%	19250	602500	215	666050	1288015

It all starts with deciding how much power you want it to produce. Then, you calculate up the amount of heat the thing produces by choosing an efficiency. Typically the larger, higher tech things are more efficient. You also need to choose the amount of fuel stored in the reactor and the burn rate. The burn rate and fuel amount are calculated more or less so that the target amount of years the core last is 5, and so that more advanced generators get a few more kJ/microU than the others.

Once the amount of fuel and the power ratings are chosen, it's a simple formula to calculate the dry mass, which is basically power output*constant + fuel amount * constant. Same with cost

[Guest]

If you're willing to mess with an experimental mod, one thing you may try is making it a fusion reactor, using Far Future Tech. IMO, its visuals are much more fitting for something like that.

[Ununtri]

12 hours ago, Dragon01 said:

If you're willing to mess with an experimental mod, one thing you may try is making it a fusion reactor, using Far Future Tech. IMO, its visuals are much more fitting for something like that.

I actually haven't heard about this mod before. It looks like a really nice, more stockalike and user-friendly substitute for KSPI-E. That being said, I'm generally reluctant to installing mods outside of CKAN. Main reason for that is because I'm running version 1.2.2 so that I can use the mod Interstellar Adventure Revived (that was dropped in 1.3.1 and I didn't find a good alternative ever since), and managing old and deprecated versions for 100 mods without a tool is a real pain.
Also from what I can see, the first version of this mod is for KSP 1.5. As far as I know, most mods that introduce their own parts and mechanics without majorly overhauling current ones work on older versions rather fine. That being said, it would also require and update of all the dependencies and I'm partially worried about that.

However with all that in mind, I'll take a close look at it and see if I can use it for my solution. But with Nertea being awesome enough to give me balance specs, I'll probably make my 1st attempt with just NFE

[GrandProtectorDark]

On 6/4/2019 at 1:55 PM, Ununtri said:

I'm running version 1.2.2 so that I can use the mod Interstellar Adventure Revived

That's not really a good reason to stay in 1.2.2 and miss out on all the new content and mods.
But If you really want to use IA-R in 1.6/1.7, then I can tell you how to fix it.

Edited June 9, 2019 by GrandProtectorDark