[0.25]KSP Interstellar (Magnetic Nozzles, ISRU Revamp) Version 0.13

[AndreyATGB]

You have to be careful with many kspi parts, they're models look great, but they aren't the best functional models.

I think the correct term is mesh, the models don't match the mesh. Most obvious example is the microwave receiver which is practically a cube unlike what its model may have to say about the matter.

[Donziboy2]

You have to be careful with many kspi parts, they're models look great, but they aren't the best functional models.

Actually sounds like an IR problem, I have had issues in the past with IR going crazy or part not returning to there last saved position.

[NeoAcario]

I shudder to think about how the budget will effect my beamed power network. I imagine 3.75m fusion reactors will be hella expensive. Right now I have 3 in Kerbostationary orbit, one in a 300km orbit, one on the surface a few km from the KSC, and now a 3.75m fusion reactor up there too.

Bye bye beamed power.

Do what I do. Float one just off the coast of KSC. I mean JUST off the coast. Like 1m. All I do is occasionally deliver Lithium with a rover and KAS. I've got a 5 cluster with the bare minimum part count that never stops.

2 great things about floating a power station:

-Can reduce part count by launching wheels off with radial decouplers

-Can spin your own heavy water with Sci Labs (or not, if you want to reduce part count / cost even more)

~Steve

[DaveStrider]

Do what I do. Float one just off the coast of KSC. I mean JUST off the coast. Like 1m. All I do is occasionally deliver Lithium with a rover and KAS. I've got a 5 cluster with the bare minimum part count that never stops.

2 great things about floating a power station:

-Can reduce part count by launching wheels off with radial decouplers

-Can spin your own heavy water with Sci Labs (or not, if you want to reduce part count / cost even more)

~Steve

i tend to be rather cheaty when it comes to building things on kerbin, simply because it doesn't make sense to put a power station on wheels and drive it to it's location. instead you build it where you want it. so what i do is i strap a rocket to the power plant and cheat gravity and fuel, then i fly it (slowly so as not to break it in the atmosphere) far away. for example i have a 12 reactor power plant sitting on the runway island.

[NeoAcario]

i tend to be rather cheaty when it comes to building things on kerbin, simply because it doesn't make sense to put a power station on wheels and drive it to it's location. instead you build it where you want it. so what i do is i strap a rocket to the power plant and cheat gravity and fuel, then i fly it (slowly so as not to break it in the atmosphere) far away. for example i have a 12 reactor power plant sitting on the runway island.

Uhmm... just build it in the spaceplane hangar... flat. Drive it up the cost 2.5km and go slowly into the water. Kick off the wheels... done.

This took forever though... took me a long time to design an orbital station that could fuel everything, wasn't TOO big, and was way low on part count. Down to only 58 parts (before fuel tank I need to design for delivery to and from Minmus).

I tossed on a few more mods right before I built it. FAR doesn't mess around... and TACLS should make things a bit more interesting.

Not really having any problems with DRE. I can easily brute force land with my intense Antimatter Infrastructure. After I build my new Minmus Mining Base with TAC... I think I'll try and build a new space plane to work with KSP Interstellar and FAR.

It was a fun diversion having to rescue my 20 Moho Science Base Kerbals before they starved...

At least now I know what to spend this 100k science on: Upgrade CPU Cores for new science base(s) on Moho/Eeloo.

~Steve

EDIT:

CRAP! It just occurred to me... I'm going to have to stop using disposable AM reactors + Thermal Nozzles as lifters! Ugh! Bring it on, 0.24!!

Edited July 11, 2014 by NeoAcario

[Alcari]

so, just a quick question from a noob to KSPI

How the hell do IR sattelites work in kerbal orbit? I've got some deployed on my station, right on top of filled, powered crystats. there's also a science lab and mobile processing lab, which are manned and powered. What am I forgetting?

[BigD145]

Satellite and cryostat tank have to be connected node to node. That should be it.

[Alcari]

Satellite and cryostat tank have to be connected node to node. That should be it.

interesting... I have that exactly, yet I don't seem to be getting any science... could it be RealSolarSystem messing with the orbits or something? It SAYS i'm getting 0.5 science/day, but i'm not actually getting it. Doesn't matter if the station is in focus or not.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Alcari

[ABZB]

try checking that lightning bolt-symbol button thing for the megajoule use - maybe something is drawing to much power?

also, try changing the liquidhelium resource's flow mode to all_vessel, like xenon or monopropellant, that may help (I think I recall that fixiing *something* for me back in .23)

as far as I know, the heights above surface remain constant... I am not totally sure what happens to antimatter collection though - I assume that those fields are stretched out over the larger 2-sphere, although they may remain at the same absolute height above the surface...

[Entropius]

Question: Will we ever be able to extract uranium from seawater?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_mining#Recovery_from_seawater

If I'm going to have to make ocean-craft for extracting lithium from oceans, why not uranium too?

Also, is there perhaps a way to hack a cfg file to enable this right now without waiting on an update?

[BigD145]

interesting... I have that exactly, yet I don't seem to be getting any science... could it be RealSolarSystem messing with the orbits or something? It SAYS i'm getting 0.5 science/day, but i'm not actually getting it. Doesn't matter if the station is in focus or not.

*Many mods do not mix. Your mileage may vary.

Any mod that requires or deals with specific distances is flat out going to break with mods like RealSolarSystem.

[WhiteWeasel]

Silly question, but I need a refresher on my nuclear physics: Does uranium emit more radiation in the reactor, and why?

[JeffreyCor]

interesting... I have that exactly, yet I don't seem to be getting any science... could it be RealSolarSystem messing with the orbits or something? It SAYS i'm getting 0.5 science/day, but i'm not actually getting it. Doesn't matter if the station is in focus or not.

I have the same problem and seen posted on this thread further up there is a known bug that the IR Telescope doesn't work, ie it does not provide science as it should (like the science lab does).

[Scootaloo]

And another odd glitch or incompatibility has reared its head. Between KSPI and TAC Life Support.

Ok so I have a functioning fusion reactor on a ship to Moho, powered with a DT Vista engine. Plenty of life support, plenty of electric charge. But suddenly I got the message "electric charge depleted." I came out of warp (time warp, not KSPI warp drive warp), and it filled up again, so I went back into warp, only to be interrupted with the message "[X Kermin] died of air toxicity".

I know megajoules are different from electric charge, but don't reactors refill electric charge too? If I have a fully functioning fusion reactor attached to a generator (it didn't shut down and drained power, the reactor was running up until the moment the kerbals died), how could I have lost electric charge? Are fusion reactors an unreliable source of electric charge? Is the electric charge they provide somehow different from the electric charge provided by panels, and not recognized by TAC Life Support?

Like literally there's no reason for it to do this. Waste heat was in limits, too.

This isn't the first time I've had electric problems related to this combination of fusion reactor and DT Vista. It seems the problems come up when fusion reactors are paired with DT Vista engines. I don't know what it is, but any ship with a DT Vista attached seems to drain massive amounts of electric charge. Like literally it will start on the pad with drained batteries (a problem I had when launching the drive sections into orbit...this fusion reactor/DT Vista combo has become my workhorse). When I edited in enough power to start the main engine of the first stage (S3 KS-25x4), it still wasn't providing enough electric charge to refill the rapidly draining batteries, and the rocket died again. Like it was draining electric charge on the order of 25 units a second. Oddly it stopped when I cycled the beamed power receiver inside the fairing.

Now, when I first launched a fusion reactor as a beamed power station (using a thermal rocket instead), I had no power issues. So it seems the DT Vista drains electric power instantaneously, even though it doesn't use electric charge in and of itself.

Anyone else had this glitch?

TL;DR - Fusion powered ship with DT Vista engine, both functional, loses all electric charge and kills the kerbals due to TAC Life Support.

Do I have to shut down the engine completely between burns? Does leaving the engine active, even with no throttle, make it drain power?

Edited July 12, 2014 by Scootaloo

[NeoAcario]

In case you folks are like me and don't often read the rest of the forums.... check this official KSP Video:

0.24 can't come fast enough

~Steve

EDIT:

I've sudden lost all urge to play until 0.24 releases....

Edited July 12, 2014 by NeoAcario

[Donziboy2]

And another odd glitch or incompatibility has reared its head. Between KSPI and TAC Life Support.

Ok so I have a functioning fusion reactor on a ship to Moho, powered with a DT Vista engine. Plenty of life support, plenty of electric charge. But suddenly I got the message "electric charge depleted." I came out of warp (time warp, not KSPI warp drive warp), and it filled up again, so I went back into warp, only to be interrupted with the message "[X Kermin] died of air toxicity".

I know megajoules are different from electric charge, but don't reactors refill electric charge too? If I have a fully functioning fusion reactor attached to a generator (it didn't shut down and drained power, the reactor was running up until the moment the kerbals died), how could I have lost electric charge? Are fusion reactors an unreliable source of electric charge? Is the electric charge they provide somehow different from the electric charge provided by panels, and not recognized by TAC Life Support?

Like literally there's no reason for it to do this. Waste heat was in limits, too.

This isn't the first time I've had electric problems related to this combination of fusion reactor and DT Vista. It seems the problems come up when fusion reactors are paired with DT Vista engines. I don't know what it is, but any ship with a DT Vista attached seems to drain massive amounts of electric charge. Like literally it will start on the pad with drained batteries (a problem I had when launching the drive sections into orbit...this fusion reactor/DT Vista combo has become my workhorse). When I edited in enough power to start the main engine of the first stage (S3 KS-25x4), it still wasn't providing enough electric charge to refill the rapidly draining batteries, and the rocket died again. Like it was draining electric charge on the order of 25 units a second. Oddly it stopped when I cycled the beamed power receiver inside the fairing.

Now, when I first launched a fusion reactor as a beamed power station (using a thermal rocket instead), I had no power issues. So it seems the DT Vista drains electric power instantaneously, even though it doesn't use electric charge in and of itself.

Anyone else had this glitch?

TL;DR - Fusion powered ship with DT Vista engine, both functional, loses all electric charge and kills the kerbals due to TAC Life Support.

Do I have to shut down the engine completely between burns? Does leaving the engine active, even with no throttle, make it drain power?

EC loss during warp is a known bug with KSP itself. You can alleviate it with having solar panels, rtg's and extra batteries.

[Lightwarrior]

Also after adding another power source (rtg's, solar panels, or even better tiny fission reactor) it is good idea to shutdown fusion reactors (and other KSPI parts like transceivers) during timewarp. It will solve the problem without adding lots of batteries and save fuel.

[WaveFunctionP]

And another odd glitch or incompatibility has reared its head. Between KSPI and TAC Life Support.

Ok so I have a functioning fusion reactor on a ship to Moho, powered with a DT Vista engine. Plenty of life support, plenty of electric charge. But suddenly I got the message "electric charge depleted." I came out of warp (time warp, not KSPI warp drive warp), and it filled up again, so I went back into warp, only to be interrupted with the message "[X Kermin] died of air toxicity".

I know megajoules are different from electric charge, but don't reactors refill electric charge too? If I have a fully functioning fusion reactor attached to a generator (it didn't shut down and drained power, the reactor was running up until the moment the kerbals died), how could I have lost electric charge? Are fusion reactors an unreliable source of electric charge? Is the electric charge they provide somehow different from the electric charge provided by panels, and not recognized by TAC Life Support?

Like literally there's no reason for it to do this. Waste heat was in limits, too.

This isn't the first time I've had electric problems related to this combination of fusion reactor and DT Vista. It seems the problems come up when fusion reactors are paired with DT Vista engines. I don't know what it is, but any ship with a DT Vista attached seems to drain massive amounts of electric charge. Like literally it will start on the pad with drained batteries (a problem I had when launching the drive sections into orbit...this fusion reactor/DT Vista combo has become my workhorse). When I edited in enough power to start the main engine of the first stage (S3 KS-25x4), it still wasn't providing enough electric charge to refill the rapidly draining batteries, and the rocket died again. Like it was draining electric charge on the order of 25 units a second. Oddly it stopped when I cycled the beamed power receiver inside the fairing.

Now, when I first launched a fusion reactor as a beamed power station (using a thermal rocket instead), I had no power issues. So it seems the DT Vista drains electric power instantaneously, even though it doesn't use electric charge in and of itself.

Anyone else had this glitch?

TL;DR - Fusion powered ship with DT Vista engine, both functional, loses all electric charge and kills the kerbals due to TAC Life Support.

Do I have to shut down the engine completely between burns? Does leaving the engine active, even with no throttle, make it drain power?

Fusion likes to be buggy during high warp. Wasteheat will spike or whatnot and turn off the reactors. It's rather annoying, you're best bet is to keep a close eye on your resources during warp and stop warp if the reactors decide to turn off.

I had more trouble than usual on my last dres mission.

http://www.twitch.tv/wavefunctionp/b/546098771?t=1h43m

You can see the reactor turn off when I go to warp. I have to manually restart them several times this mission.

Eventually I said %%%% it , since I had turned off all the major drains and just kept an eye on MJ capacity.

I had a lot of bugs that mission in any case. Even kerbin disappeared on me!

edit: Yes, you don't need parachutes when your ship has 40dv, 6+ TWR on demand and can refuel in just about any planet system.

I had to restart and apparently OBS didn't recording any video after that.

For those that I have been following along, that is the new prototype for the prometheus grand tour ship that I was working on. Probably going to add the flat radiators to it instead, maybe that will fix the waste heat issue during high warp. I could probably lose more fuel as well.

Edited July 12, 2014 by WaveFunctionP

[K3-Chris]

Is it true AM collectors don't collect AM on inactive vessels?

Edited July 12, 2014 by K3|Chris

[WaveFunctionP]

Is it true AM collectors don't collect AM on inactive vessels?

It does indeed collect AM.

[MarvinKitFox]

.... This was making me insane!......

I literally went the last two nights without sleep trying to figure this thing out .....

Your sacrifice is noted, and has saved me from the same..

My glorious multiple-reactor microwave-powered mothership will now be able to fly its plasma-drive microwave-powered lander as it should, instead of just causing me to rip my hair out every time I try to debug it.

[Donziboy2]

Is it true AM collectors don't collect AM on inactive vessels?

They work as long is the AM Tanks are not on the other side of a docking port.

[Makeone]

Fusion likes to be buggy during high warp. Wasteheat will spike or whatnot and turn off the reactors. It's rather annoying, you're best bet is to keep a close eye on your resources during warp and stop warp if the reactors decide to turn off.

I had more trouble than usual on my last dres mission.

http://www.twitch.tv/wavefunctionp/b/546098771?t=1h43m

You can see the reactor turn off when I go to warp. I have to manually restart them several times this mission.

Eventually I said %%%% it , since I had turned off all the major drains and just kept an eye on MJ capacity.

I had a lot of bugs that mission in any case. Even kerbin disappeared on me!

edit: Yes, you don't need parachutes when your ship has 40dv, 6+ TWR on demand and can refuel in just about any planet system.

I had to restart and apparently OBS didn't recording any video after that.

For those that I have been following along, that is the new prototype for the prometheus grand tour ship that I was working on. Probably going to add the flat radiators to it instead, maybe that will fix the waste heat issue during high warp. I could probably lose more fuel as well.

I have also noticed that spiking, but no major problems, though. My Dres ship was also powered by fusion, although powering thermal rocket. Only problem was that my lander couldn't dock back to the pusher tug as middlepart containing scansat satellite and impactor probe was sort of jammed on its position, oh well...

[NeoAcario]

They work as long is the AM Tanks are not on the other side of a docking port.

This is exactly why I only ever make AM Farm Stations that are 100% stack mounted.

Here's an example of my old, obsolete model... but it shows it best.

~Steve

IS 0.24 out yet? *twitch*

[WaveFunctionP]

So, apparently using the extractor can cause thermal nozzles to output uneven thrust.

http://www.twitch.tv/wavefunctionp/b/547050894?t=2h6m

Sorry for bad mic, noise gate was cutting my off for some reason.