[0.22] Extraplanetary Launchpads Legacy Thread

[The Destroyer]

This should be interesting.

I just realised for a setup to make INFINITEEEEEEE ROCKETS (Almost)

1: Get Kethane+ this

2: Setup massive kethane base with launchpad

3: Mine kethane, convert, store.

[Majiir]

Is the augur supposed to be animated doesnt seem to be on mine + cant get Kethane drills to mine ore when i try putting the above modules in the cfgs it breaks them and they wont deploy

small minor cfgs looks like this is it correct??

Why are you modifying the Kethane drill? You don't need to modify Kethane parts to make this mod work.

[Krisism]

@Majiir, just to clarify (if he's the same as me at least) - one of the dev builds released recently for EL required that we took the kethane modules and put them on other parts in order to take them all off the launchpad. Since then Skykooler has released an update that had parts and didn't require the manual changes anymore. I think there are still quite a few people caught between. (I personally used the external kethane drill and compact sensor for ore parts as well). For these people, my guess is they have the legacyanimator module on drills instead of the kethaneextractoranimatedlanded module. (I made this mistake as well). I think it's all working for me now - all that's left is to dream big

Where can I buy you both a coffee? (They require micro-donations for Mods so we can send you energy drinks and licorice!).

[BrutalRIP]

my issue is auger that comes with this mod is not animated or for me at least. its always deployed no matter what i do ..still works but doesnt spin or retract so i was trying to use the kethane one instead (running epl v2.0)

[Majiir]

@Majiir, just to clarify (if he's the same as me at least) - one of the dev builds released recently for EL required that we took the kethane modules and put them on other parts in order to take them all off the launchpad. Since then Skykooler has released an update that had parts and didn't require the manual changes anymore. I think there are still quite a few people caught between. (I personally used the external kethane drill and compact sensor for ore parts as well). For these people, my guess is they have the legacyanimator module on drills instead of the kethaneextractoranimatedlanded module. (I made this mistake as well). I think it's all working for me now - all that's left is to dream big

I may be misunderstanding you, but just to clarify: KethaneDrillAnimatorLegacy is, well, a legacy animator. It's only for the original Kethane drill and shouldn't be used on any other part. The KethaneExtractorAnimatorLanded module lets you use any old part as an extractor, and it simply uses the vessel status (whether it's landed) to determine whether the extractor can harvest resources. The KethaneDrillAnimator module powers the heavy drill and supports animations, particle effects, ray casting for ground, the works. It's definitely the best of the three, but it's complicated to use. Details are in the documentation. The EPv2 auger uses the ExtractorAnimatorLanded, but I've been discussing the DrillAnimator with skykooler and making enhancements so it's suitable for his use.

Where can I buy you both a coffee? (They require micro-donations for Mods so we can send you energy drinks and licorice!).

I cold brew, myself. Iced coffee year round! (On a serious note, donations are a tough issue because it's hard to put a value on someone's contributions to a project. But I digress...)

[Malcolm]

I downloaded and tried the latest version. I confirm the presence of a bug in it, I have described in this post, as well as errors in the runway config.

[Krisism]

(On a serious note, donations are a tough issue because it's hard to put a value on someone's contributions to a project. But I digress...)

What yourself and the other modders have contributed to the community is enormous, and while it is generally because you wanted to - I'm just saying it's made my personal experience better. I've easily had several hours of added entertainment as a result. It'd be cool to have a tangible yet small way to really show appreciation - even something as small as buying your next coffee

Edited June 21, 2013 by Krisism

[skykooler]

That is correct, the augur is not animated yet. I need to get that figured out in Unity.

[mostlydave]

Is there some instructions or a quick start guide out there somewhere for this? iTools awesome and I want to try it out but I have no idea where to start after installing the mod

[Krisism]

Is there some instructions or a quick start guide out there somewhere for this? iTools awesome and I want to try it out but I have no idea where to start after installing the mod

@mostlydave, Not sure what iTools you're referring to. This is a thread for the Extraplanetary Launchpads Mod.

Speaking of this great mod - now that I have all the parts working I'm looking into making it a bit more realistic in the numbers. To share some of the quick info I've learned and how you can implement it:

1) Common ore deposits on Earth range in iron concentration - with a low end typically being 25-35% and the high ends (known as Direct Ship Ores) are closer to 65-70% iron. The higher grade irons are rarer, and though there is a lot of savings in refining something with less waste - the waste in higher grade deposits tends to be more expensive to dispose of. Until we have a way of defining different deposit concentrations, I think it's more realistic and better for the mod to use a lower value. Personally, my conversion efficiency from Ore to Metal is 33%, and I mine Ore at 0.01 (though this seems to fast). To change your efficiency, open up your part.cfg file for the Smelter/converter part and look for this:

MODULE

{

name = KethaneConverter

SourceResource = Ore

TargetResource = Metal

ConversionEfficiency = 0.33

SourceConsumption = 0.1

PowerConsumption = 10

}

It's quite self-explanatory. Change your conversion efficiency to whatever you want and I recommend setting a low value for source-consumption too. Ore refining is not a quick process!

2) Metal to rocket parts - how do you measure this in reality? There are so many possible alloys or other things used in rocket parts that this has to be somewhat of a stretch. In general though, I think the actual conversion efficiency from metal into rocket parts would be very high, leaving little waste metal. The time it takes to make them is another story though - and this is where I think some realism can be applied. By setting a high conversion efficiency (say 90%) and a very low source consumption, we can produce rocketparts efficiently from metal, it just takes a long time. I'm going to now test with the SourceConsumption value for metal set to 0.03 (roughly three times as long as ore-metal conversion).

Anyways, just thought I'd share the values. If you're looking for something a little more realistic to use

[KhaosCorp]

In reality it does not take that long to make things out of metal. I have a press in my shop you put mold blocks into, then a piece of sheet metal, press a button and 3-5 seconds later that sheet metal is shaped to the mold blocks. Mine can only do mild steel, 6ga. maximum thickness, but same company makes one that can do the same down to 2ga. tempered steel. Pipe and such can also be made rather fast via extrusion.

While I would agree with most your information about ore extraction and refining, I think you have some very misguided notions about metal working and fabrication in general. Once the 'ore' is 'metal' it wouldn't take that long for an automated factory to make parts.

edit: a perfect example of what I'm trying to say is a modern day automotive factory. They certainly don't make metal there, its purchased from a smelter or wholesaler(I get my metal from TexasSteel, a local smelter). The factory then takes that metal and makes it into various part, then assembles those parts into cars. And its not a slow process really, granted I wouldn't call it fast, but it certainly does not take a long time at all.

Edited June 21, 2013 by KhaosCorp
show your work eh?

[skykooler]

In reality it does not take that long to make things out of metal. I have a press in my shop you put mold blocks into, then a piece of sheet metal, press a button and 3-5 seconds later that sheet metal is shaped to the mold blocks. Mine can only do mild steel, 6ga. maximum thickness, but same company makes one that can do the same down to 2ga. tempered steel. Pipe and such can also be made rather fast via extrusion.

While I would agree with most your information about ore extraction and refining, I think you have some very misguided notions about metal working and fabrication in general. Once the 'ore' is 'metal' it wouldn't take that long for an automated factory to make parts.

Rockets have a lot of different parts though. On the Saturn V, for example, only things like screws and bolts were mass-produced; most things had to be created manually.

[Gojira]

How do you get Kethane to detect custom resources?

[Krisism]

Rockets have a lot of different parts though. On the Saturn V, for example, only things like screws and bolts were mass-produced; most things had to be created manually.

That is precisely it - not easy to mass produce rocket parts but again its somewhat speculation because they would never just use pure iron parts. They need alloys that are lighter/more durable - but until we have multiple InputSource on the kethane plugin that's not a possibility (but that would be pretty sweet to create alloys!). I agree it's not a science on this one - but having it take a bit longer helps make the process feel more realistic in a sense and personally I enjoy it as an addition to this already great mod.

[KhaosCorp]

Cars have a lot of parts as well. And the reason why a lot of stuff created for space is not mass produced is because they never need so many of them. NASA don't use the same stuff on every rocket like KSP does =P You have to think of the cost it takes to create a machine to mass produce parts. You would need millions upon millions of the same part for automated mass production to be viable cost wise. Even if its a simple part like a bolt...you ever priced a machine that makes bolts? They are not cheap, not even a little.

Just more food for thought, either way this is still 2nd best mod ever, im sure you will figure out values that flow with gameplay

[skykooler]

Cars have a lot of parts as well. And the reason why a lot of stuff created for space is not mass produced is because they never need so many of them. NASA don't use the same stuff on every rocket like KSP does =P You have to think of the cost it takes to create a machine to mass produce parts. You would need millions upon millions of the same part for automated mass production to be viable cost wise. Even if its a simple part like a bolt...you ever priced a machine that makes bolts? They are not cheap, not even a little.

Just more food for thought, either way this is still 2nd best mod ever, im sure you will figure out values that flow with gameplay

That's true, but in order to mass-produce all the parts you'd need for a rocket you'd need a lot more than a little workshop. You'd need a whole factory, and that would take an awful lot of Mainsails to get into orbit.

[Krisism]

That's true, but in order to mass-produce all the parts you'd need for a rocket you'd need a lot more than a little workshop. You'd need a whole factory, and that would take an awful lot of Mainsails to get into orbit.

I like that idea Right now I use a 'RocketPart Workshop' which is basically a big tank with the converter module on it. You could however have different levels with different ConsumptionRate's and efficiencies. Perhaps a small workshop which is slower and a large factory (much harder to get there) that is more efficient. Good ideas guys! I'm going to make that now. What to use as a factory... hmm..

[Sathurn]

It Depends how far you want to take it. Right now I think people want just enough to build in space or the mun, without having to fight Kerbin gravity on launch. Without feeling like its cheating.

But you could have dozens of resource, engine parts, computer parts structural parts, ..... Each part would naturally need it own factory and resource. Doing that could be a very fun game for some.

[tazyload]

It Depends how far you want to take it. Right now I think people want just enough to build in space or the mun, without having to fight Kerbin gravity on launch. Without feeling like its cheating.

But you could have dozens of resource, engine parts, computer parts structural parts, ..... Each part would naturally need it own factory and resource. Doing that could be a very fun game for some.

I'm doing all I can to add steps to the refining process myself, for example as I'm using the Orbital construction mod which needs Spare parts I have tweaked the Smelter's config to make them, first I have to get ore, smelt it into metal then refine the metal into spare parts Trying to figure out if I can add any more steps atm xD

[skykooler]

I'm doing all I can to add steps to the refining process myself, for example as I'm using the Orbital construction mod which needs Spare parts I have tweaked the Smelter's config to make them, first I have to get ore, smelt it into metal then refine the metal into spare parts Trying to figure out if I can add any more steps atm xD

Well, you could always play NASA, who actually test parts before sending them up into space - so you could have spareparts and TestedSpareParts

[SchroedingersHat]

I'm doing all I can to add steps to the refining process myself, for example as I'm using the Orbital construction mod which needs Spare parts I have tweaked the Smelter's config to make them, first I have to get ore, smelt it into metal then refine the metal into spare parts Trying to figure out if I can add any more steps atm xD

Plastic from kethane, maybe split ore into metal and some kind of rock which you refine into silicon. Silicon, metal and copious amounts of power to electronics. Electronics, metal and plastic into rocketparts.

Well, you could always play NASA, who actually test parts before sending them up into space - so you could have spareparts and TestedSpareParts

That's a decidedly un-kerbal way of doing things.

[tazyload]

Well, you could always play NASA, who actually test parts before sending them up into space - so you could have spareparts and TestedSpareParts

Lol I would be worried if Jeb or Bill were running "Quality control" on the parts before construction xD I picture Jeb beating Bill round the head with a solar panel....."yep seems fine to me...." xD

[tazyload]

Plastic from kethane, maybe split ore into metal and some kind of rock which you refine into silicon. Silicon, metal and copious amounts of power to electronics. Electronics, metal and plastic into rocketparts.

This sounds good I might have a tinker with the three mods configs and see what I can do. Also I notice with most resource collecting mods (this one and Kethane at least) that you really only ever end up turning one thing into another, so making RocketParts need multiple resources aside from the power required to make them will add a little depth for me. I'm going to start working on getting Kethane to make Plastic now and then I'll tweak some hexcans or spherical tanks to hold it

Edit:

Got Kethane being converted into Plastic and stored in its own Hexcans

Edit 2:

Any ideas how I can get the Kethane converter or smelter to require more than 1 resource for a conversion? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

Edit3:

Got an answer to edit 2 in the Kethane thread, can't handle multiple resources yet but it is planned.

Edited June 22, 2013 by tazyload
Help me plz

[Srilania]

I keep running into prblems with the pads. with the + shaped one, I have to add drills, smelters, and all the trimmings, making it almost impossible for me to land it without some kind of cheat. But then the folding runway, it seems to be almost as impossible for me to get down, but once landed, ANY wheeled vehicle made on it seems to break, either the tires warping, exploding, or being totally weird, even when tested on Kerbal first. I'd love to see the Hooligan launchpad with the capabilities internally of the EL runway, or smaller, less obnoxiously difficult setups for building a good base with

[KhaosCorp]

I keep running into prblems with the pads. with the + shaped one, I have to add drills, smelters, and all the trimmings, making it almost impossible for me to land it without some kind of cheat. But then the folding runway, it seems to be almost as impossible for me to get down, but once landed, ANY wheeled vehicle made on it seems to break, either the tires warping, exploding, or being totally weird, even when tested on Kerbal first. I'd love to see the Hooligan launchpad with the capabilities internally of the EL runway, or smaller, less obnoxiously difficult setups for building a good base with

You don't have to land everything together. You can land smaller parts and then connect via docking ports or KAS cable. Also HL released the blast shield with EL compatibility.