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

[Lotabeer]

I've been nosing around this awesome mod lately, and that magnetic nozzle thing might win me over completely. Now, I've got a couple questions after some limited playtesting, some of which may come form me not understanding the mod completely, so if anyone feels like answering, that would be sweet:

-Is it / will it ever be possible to power more than one set of engines from the same reactor? With the increasing T/ vs Isp options, the ability to carry both sets around without duplicating parts would be sweet. I guess that's more of a question for Fractal.

-Am I doing something wrong, or is water a bit broken right now? I don't seem to be able to extract it, neither on land nor water...

Also, some surface-attached drills to complement the 2.5m inline refinery would be nice additions, you could separate extraction and processing. In any case, whether Fractal thinks that is a good idea or not, can someone direct me in modding some open-source part to work for that purpose for personal use? If it doesn't infringe any license, of course, but I'm guessing it wouldn't.

Rune. Great job, hope to see it getting better!

1.) I doubt so. Fractal seems to really like the idea of reactor space being a limited resource and not having a single ship to meet every need until really late game at least.

2.) ISRU options seem a bit buggy/in flux right now, with Fractal saying he's trying to revamp the menus and such. No personal experience with water though, sorry.

3.) I'd try Karbonite. I dont know much about mods but I'm pretty sure it's open source and uses the same ORS architecture that fractal developed for KSPI, so it makes sense in my head that it's drills would be an easy port. Link: http://bobpalmer.github.io/UmbraSpaceIndustries/

Cool news about the changes to fusion, Fractal. I'm underwhelmed by magnetic nozzles since I never really was a fan of any of the low-thrust/high efficiency options and sort of fail to see how this will be much different than using a fusion reactor with He3 to power a generator and thus plasma (except without the option to use beamed power), but I'm sure it will be tweaked to be unique and I may be totally wrong and learn to love it. I am however stoked to hear about other tweaks to fusion power, what with fixing He3 (will the cryostats still auto-evaporate even when powered whenever He3 is used as fuel in a reactor?) and all. Glad to see you're still pumping out the good stuff!

Edited October 5, 2014 by Lotabeer
Added link

[Lotabeer]

These parts are so rickety. It is nearly impossible to build any vessel without using struts.

Wanna give an example of this? I've had no experience where KSPI parts are any less solid than other addon or stock parts. I have the sneaking suspicion you are just building craft that require struts to begin with, then blaming the parts, in which case get over it and use struts (they exist for a reason).

My spaceplanes fly true. Consider KJR and B9's SN struts.

Side note: KJR doesn't reinforce joints anymore unless you're messing with the config file manually. The stock game does what it used to do. Now all it does is slow physics loads when coming out of warp or loading a craft (which is still invaluable!).

[nh5316]

Does anyone know away to get the Interstellar Tech tree to work properly in 0.24.2 Science Sandbox Mod? (I know this has been asked before but I can't trawl through 1173 pages to find it) Thanks in advance!

[Rune]

1.) I doubt so. Fractal seems to really like the idea of reactor space being a limited resource and not having a single ship to meet every need until really late game at least.

2.) ISRU options seem a bit buggy/in flux right now, with Fractal saying he's trying to revamp the menus and such. No personal experience with water though, sorry.

3.) I'd try Karbonite. I dont know much about mods but I'm pretty sure it's open source and uses the same ORS architecture that fractal developed for KSPI, so it makes sense in my head that it's drills would be an easy port. Link: http://bobpalmer.github.io/UmbraSpaceIndustries/

Cool news about the changes to fusion, Fractal. I'm underwhelmed by magnetic nozzles since I never really was a fan of any of the low-thrust/high efficiency options and sort of fail to see how this will be much different than using a fusion reactor with He3 to power a generator and thus plasma (except without the option to use beamed power), but I'm sure it will be tweaked to be unique and I may be totally wrong and learn to love it. I am however stoked to hear about other tweaks to fusion power, what with fixing He3 (will the cryostats still auto-evaporate even when powered whenever He3 is used as fuel in a reactor?) and all. Glad to see you're still pumping out the good stuff!

It isn't as much about "a single ship fits all" as it is about getting a bigger set of options. For example, once I make orbit I can switch my thermal rocket from LFO mix to liquid-only for more isp at the expense of T/W, and that's cool. But I can't power really efficient electrical engines from it, which would be the same thing only both more heavy and efficient. Come to think of it, perhaps with electricity this actually works already, since it gets mediated with a RCS-like stock resource like electricity (good thing to test in my next game session!), but anyhow, the upcoming mag nozzles would bring up the same issue: I have to put two reactors in order to get thermal power from one and charged particles from the other? Just saying it would be nice if the reactor resources flow was a bit more flexible regarding thermal power and charged particles.

As to the resource issues, I understand this is a WiP, but perhaps a heads up is nice, or somebody can tell what I'm doing wrong (it's not the easiest mod to learn, that's for sure) before I submit a bug report that might very well be wrong. I'll try Karbonite for parts, I think I know what modules to copy over from KSPI, but you know, once I've broken it further I'll ask again how to fix it ^^'.

Rune. The only bad part about KSPI is a slight lack of consistent and cool part models.

[Fractal_UK]

It isn't as much about "a single ship fits all" as it is about getting a bigger set of options. For example, once I make orbit I can switch my thermal rocket from LFO mix to liquid-only for more isp at the expense of T/W, and that's cool. But I can't power really efficient electrical engines from it, which would be the same thing only both more heavy and efficient. Come to think of it, perhaps with electricity this actually works already, since it gets mediated with a RCS-like stock resource like electricity (good thing to test in my next game session!), but anyhow, the upcoming mag nozzles would bring up the same issue: I have to put two reactors in order to get thermal power from one and charged particles from the other? Just saying it would be nice if the reactor resources flow was a bit more flexible regarding thermal power and charged particles.

There is a system in place in the code to allow heat to be pumped around the ship - the module is FNThermalHeatExchanger. It caps the temperature quite low, so you can't pump superheated material around your spacecraft. It basically just serves as an attach point for thermal rockets and generators and receives its power from reactors which don't have to be co-located. The only problem is that I don't have a model for it so it doesn't exist in the mod itself.

As to the resource issues, I understand this is a WiP, but perhaps a heads up is nice, or somebody can tell what I'm doing wrong (it's not the easiest mod to learn, that's for sure) before I submit a bug report that might very well be wrong. I'll try Karbonite for parts, I think I know what modules to copy over from KSPI, but you know, once I've broken it further I'll ask again how to fix it ^^'.

I'll check out the water issue. I know there was a problem with this in version 0.12.1 but I thought it was resolved now.

Rune. The only bad part about KSPI is a slight lack of consistent and cool part models.

That's probably because, unfortunately, I lack any artistic talent. By and large, the bad models in KSPI are made by me and the good ones have been provided by other people.

[sober667]

i just thinking about that mod could exploit magnetism but i though about superconductivity like quantum levitation or quantum locking ( so we could some fun ground based devices) and yes some models and textures could be a litlle bit preetier ( for ex inline radiator)

[RoverDude]

3.) I'd try Karbonite. I dont know much about mods but I'm pretty sure it's open source and uses the same ORS architecture that fractal developed for KSPI, so it makes sense in my head that it's drills would be an easy port. Link: http://bobpalmer.github.io/UmbraSpaceIndustries/

CC 4.0 NC-BY-SA So go nuts and grab/reuse our parts and textures and rehash them with attribution. Also - we're on an ORS fork (along with SCANSat and the Resource Overlay addons), though the PNG maps are compatible (the resource definitions are not compatible by design to prevent collisions and weirdness), though UndercoverYankee has done an awesome job with a community comparability pack that makes a few compromises and brings the bits back together (and for the record, I applaud that efforts and would welcome any mutual dialogue regarding interop, similar to what I had with Wave and KSPI-L)

I also have a very nice generic radial drill based on the smaller BahamutoD augur (with a more stock-alike texture and some model adjustments) that if anyone wants, including Fractal, just ask. It is also under a CC license for that asset.

As to the resource issues, I understand this is a WiP, but perhaps a heads up is nice, or somebody can tell what I'm doing wrong (it's not the easiest mod to learn, that's for sure) before I submit a bug report that might very well be wrong. I'll try Karbonite for parts, I think I know what modules to copy over from KSPI, but you know, once I've broken it further I'll ask again how to fix it ^^'.

Rune. The only bad part about KSPI is a slight lack of consistent and cool part models.

Yep, see UndercoverYankee's work for some examples - MKS also already has a water drill built in

[Rune]

(snip)

Thanks for the info! That "heat pump" (or "heat exchanger", but pump sounds more descriptive) sounds just like what I had in mind, only implemented in a way that makes sense (actually, it could work like a fuel pump, model and placement rules included). And while I'm in suggestion mode, some kind of active cooling of the pipes may perhaps be required to handle the more extreme versions running molten metals and such plausibly ingenious RL proposals (I love the way your mod handles the slippery frontier between plausible and implausible sci-fi tech), bringing yet another electric drain on the system, so you pay in mass and power draw for the versatility you get, plus "upgradability" options.

And you know, if I had any modelling skills, I would put them at your disposal like, right now. This mod is awesome! I'm pretty sure tons of people will think the same, and perhaps the few that can actually model and texture cool things will keep on adding new ones and revamping old ones and making it even better.

Rune. Thanks again for the hard work behind it!

[oktav]

I am having issues with the plasma engines... When they are on there are no graphical effects.

I just tried with a minimal setup (Toolbar,KSP Interstellar) and still i can't get any particle out of it

[ABZB]

I agree with the USI thing - I MM'ed for myself the karborundum engines to thermal turbojets (and +parted to MPDs) becuase the models are so awesome

[Bluq16]

Is it possible to breed Tritium using Fusion reactors and produce more of it than you use? Im trying to make Tritium using only fusion reactors and when I use only one it works fine, since the reactor breeds 0,64/day and uses only 0,60 a day. The problem is when using more than one reactor, all the reactors say that breed more than use but in real is not producing any Tritium and the Lithium almost dont change.

[AfailingHORSE]

I have been getting crashes from the interstellarToolbar.dll. Granted I am running the 64 bit version of the game and I have a million and a half mods, but this the first thing (or one of the first things) loaded.

Edited October 5, 2014 by AfailingHORSE

[sober667]

with my instal is something a litlle bit wrong in Tokamak i have no deuterium helium and tritium storage anythink

i had before waves 11fix but i deleted everythink

[Fractal_UK]

with my instal is something a litlle bit wrong in Tokamak i have no deuterium helium and tritium storage anythink

i had before waves 11fix but i deleted everythink

I removed all the storage except for lithium. You should carry your fusion fuel separately.

[sober667]

I removed all the storage except for lithium. You should carry your fusion fuel separately.

oh i didnt noticjed that in Chengelog.

would be nice to have some contrakts too

[Lotabeer]

oh i didnt noticjed that in Chengelog.

would be nice to have some contrakts too

The 12.0 change was pretty big and had to fix a lot of things in a big hurry to make it compatible with 24.2, so the log for it wasn't very descriptive. The contract system as-is is very new and kinda boring imo. Part costs for some KSPI parts are off by a bit too, to be balanced in the future I'm sure. For now it seems like Fractal is working on new parts/fixing and developing resources and menus. My recommendation is to play on Sandbox for now, if you want to build anything too far outside of stock. In my Career game i hit a point where if I was going to keep doing cool KSPI missions, I was going to have to spend a huge amount of time sending silly contract missions to random places I'd already been to fund it.

[xfrankie]

.... I was going to have to spend a huge amount of time sending silly contract missions to random places I'd already been to fund it.

3.75m fission reactor, generator, microwave transmitter (to keep reactor at 100%), lithium tank, D-T tank, He-3 tank, some fuel pipes, capsule or drone for control...

start reactor, set transmitter to 100%, enable Tritium breeding, timewarp while on launchpad for ~100 days, recover everything for full price AND a several hundred-thousands worth of tritium (the Helium tank is there just to catch some bits that decay, the primary money source is still trit.)

rinse and repeat for unlimited money

it is a little cheaty, but allows you to not spend stupid amounts of time doing stock missions over and over and 100x over again, just to then be able to launch one vessel... you do this two or three times and you're good to go

the only problem is that the reactor will start to lose its power due to Actinides bulid-up, which slows down breeding rate significantly, so you might wanna recover it even before it breeds the full tank

[Plusk]

I am having issues with the plasma engines... When they are on there are no graphical effects.

I just tried with a minimal setup (Toolbar,KSP Interstellar) and still i can't get any particle out of it

Im experiencing just the oposite, engine is shut down, yet animation looks like its throttled up 100%. Any thoughts?

[Aghanim]

I removed all the storage except for lithium. You should carry your fusion fuel separately.

I'm was going to post a bug report about missing deuterium until I found this

[Fractal_UK]

Im experiencing just the oposite, engine is shut down, yet animation looks like its throttled up 100%. Any thoughts?

That would be the expected behaviour if the plugin failed to load properly since visual effects in KSP are always turned off unless actively disabled by plugin code.

The lack of visual effects for the plasma thruster could be caused by low power input, the effects scale by current thrust rather than current throttle.

[kalrand]

I've just spent a half an hour googling this thread and others, and couldn't find the answer to this question...

I launched a satellite with the IR Sat on it into a Kerbin orbit of about 80km. There was plenty of power and two of the helium cryostats. Despite turning on the IR Sat, and running the experiment for a while, it didn't seem to generate any science.

Am I missing something here?

[oktav]

That would be the expected behaviour if the plugin failed to load properly since visual effects in KSP are always turned off unless actively disabled by plugin code.

The lack of visual effects for the plasma thruster could be caused by low power input, the effects scale by current thrust rather than current throttle.

thanks, it's not that, ill rproduce it and see with the logs, I can reach 80kN of thrust and not even a minimally visible light coming out...

with some tests I can see it also relates somehow to the delta-v. If a rocket is being boosted and uses a plasma thruster it lighetns up a little bit but as soon as the boosters are detached, even if the thrust is not changed the color fades away immidiately

Edited October 6, 2014 by oktav

[Woodstar]

3.75m fission reactor, generator, microwave transmitter (to keep reactor at 100%), lithium tank, D-T tank, He-3 tank, some fuel pipes, capsule or drone for control...

start reactor, set transmitter to 100%, enable Tritium breeding, timewarp while on launchpad for ~100 days, recover everything for full price AND a several hundred-thousands worth of tritium (the Helium tank is there just to catch some bits that decay, the primary money source is still trit.)

rinse and repeat for unlimited money

it is a little cheaty, but allows you to not spend stupid amounts of time doing stock missions over and over and 100x over again, just to then be able to launch one vessel... you do this two or three times and you're good to go

the only problem is that the reactor will start to lose its power due to Actinides bulid-up, which slows down breeding rate significantly, so you might wanna recover it even before it breeds the full tank

That's way more trouble than just editing the persistent file.

[Plusk]

@ kalrand

My best guess is, that with LKO science multiplier its going to take much longer than that to generate any science. Also make shure cryostat holds Liquid Helium-4 not 3. Im gonna launch (hopefully) one this evening, and see for myself.

[kalrand]

@ kalrand

My best guess is, that with LKO science multiplier its going to take much longer than that to generate any science. Also make shure cryostat holds Liquid Helium-4 not 3. Im gonna launch (hopefully) one this evening, and see for myself.

I ran it for something like 200 days (granted, the focus was on another craft, so that could be a thing). It had the right Helium, I didn't explicitly check, but the tooltip thing that came up on the satellite part said everything was fine.

What's a better Kerbin orbit to get more science? 1000km? 10,000?