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KSP2 EA: Radiation


Vl3d

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Mr. TumblingPidgeon seen in the images has a very long truss section. It should also have radiators instead of structural panels, but never mind. The interesting thing is that the circular shield is separate from the nuclear generator. Also considering past remarks about the dangers of radiation coming from fusion engines... it seems that there will be a new (maybe harmful for kerbals) radiation mechanic in the game. How do you think it will work? Will it be similar to Kerbalism LS radiation system.. with kerbals having a limit before getting sick or worse?

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I noticed the lack of the radiation icon aswell.

I'm leaning towards radiation being a thing in the Interstellar update in a few months, and right now having it do nothing.

What seems to be a "shield" is just one of the vanilla adapters that's recolored, which already exists in KSP1.

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From what we've seen it doesn't look like we'll have to deal with radiation at Early Access launch. The radiation shield on this craft is just an adapter positioned to look like a radiation shield. Given that we've seen a radiation indicator in the VAB in older screenshots and very large radiation shield parts on interstellar vessels, I think it's very likely that radiation mechanics will be implemented in the future, just not for EA launch. Also, as you mentioned, the structural panels positioned to look like radiators are a bit odd. Either nuclear reactors don't generate much heat (unlikely) or this craft is going to overheat soon after being cheated into orbit for a cool shot (more likely). Given they weren't used here, I don't think we'll be seeing procedural radiators at EA launch either. All the Early Access footage we've seen has just used the KSP 1 style radiators. I would expect both of these things to come with the interstellar update, as they are critical to building massive interstellar craft. I do love the tumbling pigeon style and the use of ion engines, but I think this craft is for show and not for function.

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Just now, MARL_Mk1 said:

I noticed the lack of the radiation icon aswell.

I'm leaning towards radiation being a thing in the Interstellar update in a few months, and right now having it do nothing.

On the other hand, we've already got nuclear generators and some of the ships we've seen have their habitats placed far away from the generators. Not to mention removing radiation now entails making players design their vessels now around a danger they can't predict for when radiation does appear.

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Just now, Bej Kerman said:

Not to mention removing radiation now entails making players design their vessels now around a danger they can't predict for when radiation does appear.

Good point.. the fundamental mechanics should be included in the EA first release.

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We've seen other ships using this kind of reactor without a shield other than just fuel tanks, so maybe it just only gives off a bit of radiation, enough for either a bunch of LH2 or a Rockomax brand adapter and the inverse square law to take care of.

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Will Dres have a moon? - KSP 2 Discussion - Kerbal Space Program Forums

Note also the second reactor in the generators tab of the VAB, which is two sizes larger. What we've seen in action isn't yet at the upper limit of radiation considerations, and that limit will only go up more once fusion drives start getting added.

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1 minute ago, obney kerman said:

We've seen other ships using this kind of reactor without a shield other than just fuel tanks, so maybe it just only gives off a bit of radiation, enough for either a bunch of LH2 or a Rockomax brand adapter and the inverse square law to take care of.

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Will Dres have a moon? - KSP 2 Discussion - Kerbal Space Program Forums

Note also the second reactor in the generators tab of the VAB, which is two sizes larger. What we've seen in action isn't yet at the upper limit of radiation considerations, and that limit will only go up more once fusion drives start getting added.

Alright. Are you basing this off anything? AFAIK "small" reactors still give off enough radiation to be dangerous if the hab is anywhere but the opposite side of the vessel.

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1 minute ago, Bej Kerman said:

Alright. Are you basing this off anything? AFAIK "small" reactors still give off enough radiation to be dangerous if the hab is anywhere but the opposite side of the vessel.

That's true, fair. I was just saying that in the two cases we've seen, the reactor is on the opposite side of the vessel, with a lot in between it and the crew, either in terms of space or just fuel tanks. It's possible that there just hasn't been a need for full-on massive shields like we've seen on interstellar ships yet.

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46 minutes ago, obney kerman said:

We've seen other ships using this kind of reactor without a shield other than just fuel tanks, so maybe it just only gives off a bit of radiation, enough for either a bunch of LH2 or a Rockomax brand adapter and the inverse square law to take care of.

LH2 is great at blocking radiation so this is definitely possible. The fake radiators and fake shadowshield is probably just a stylistic thing, its a small nuclear reactor, its very possible it doesnt produce enough radiation or heat to justify one + We may not be getting shadowshields for early access.

 

I hope they didn't cut radiation from EA release and honestly doubt they did, its a part of spacecraft design I was looking forward too. Its certainly possible they tucked the radiation button away, the VAB UI we saw the radiation button in was very messy so I wont be surprised if a lot of the buttons got pushed into a pull out menu that's opened/closed through that arrow button.

1 hour ago, Bej Kerman said:

Probably in here somewhere

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Edited by Strawberry
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One of the big things KSP 2 will do is make massive vessels accessible. Making behemoths with dozens of km/s of dV shouldn't require you take a class in tolerating physics delta and Kraken attacks anymore, plus timewarp, non-impulsive nodes and reactors will give players a much, much bigger incentive to use ion drives for things besides probes.

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They may have removed radiation in the process of development which would make me sad. The center of radiation button was nearby the center of mass button, if the center of radiation image only shows up when a spacecraft has a part that makes radiation, then it would make sense for it to pop up here. The video was cut off right as the nuclear reactor was attached so its possible that the radiation button just didnt slide out yet, but its definitely possible they removed it somewhere along the line.

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1 hour ago, Strawberry said:

They may have removed radiation in the process of development which would make me sad. The center of radiation button was nearby the center of mass button, if the center of radiation image only shows up when a spacecraft has a part that makes radiation, then it would make sense for it to pop up here. The video was cut off right as the nuclear reactor was attached so its possible that the radiation button just didnt slide out yet, but its definitely possible they removed it somewhere along the line.

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Or they removed it for now and will add it back later. 

They did tell us what we're getting at EA is essentially Sandbox with everything from KSP 1 and a little more of course. Doesn't make much sense to have radiation in a sandbox mode. 

Edited by GoldForest
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8 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

On the other hand, we've already got nuclear generators and some of the ships we've seen have their habitats placed far away from the generators. Not to mention removing radiation now entails making players design their vessels now around a danger they can't predict for when radiation does appear.

They also didn’t guarantee 100% save continuity through EA. Obviously if you want to experience science mode functionality and progression you’ll want to start a new save. Colonies and resources may also introduce concepts that wouldn’t previously be accounted for. Seems like for folks that wanted to use high radiation drives but already had a fleet of vessels with nuclear reactors right against crew modules you could just toggle off radiation effects in difficulty settings until you started a new save. 

Edited by Pthigrivi
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I was debating making a post about this topic earlier, I really hope they didn’t decide to cut radiation effects during that later phase of development because that was one of the new features I’m most excited for. Although they may just be holding it back for when they implement the more energetic engines.

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The VAB doesnt show any center of radiation button when radioactive engines are on a ship, I highly doubt that we will get radiation on release considering there's no indicator. Itd be weird to toss in radiation midway through development and make a bunch of older ship designs irrelevant but I hope they do, radiation is a great way to change how you consider building spaceships and it also promotes making big reusable nuclear spaceships which is very fitting. If its only fusion drives that produce noticeable radiation and not fission drives then that's survivable but still disappointing.

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On 2/16/2023 at 3:23 PM, MARL_Mk1 said:

I noticed the lack of the radiation icon aswell.

I'm leaning towards radiation being a thing in the Interstellar update in a few months, and right now having it do nothing.

What seems to be a "shield" is just one of the vanilla adapters that's recolored, which already exists in KSP1.

People have been using those as token radiation shields since Brotoro’s Long Term Laythe series.  I’m one of the people hoping for radiation and life support, and given the sheer ambitiousess of the game, I’m kinda optimistic…

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My impression is that a properly designed 238PuO3 design RTG needs only 2.5 mm of shielding. And it has that by default in the casing.

 

Orion type engines get enough sheilding by default from the pusher plate and bomb mechanism and distance.

 

I think NERVE Reactors are the ones that they thought were a risk but can't remember how.

 

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