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

[barfing_skull]

Two things, about features that are doing something peculiar. Namely, nothing. Per some recommendations, I installed Toolbar. I now get the Thermal Helper in VAB, but the button doesn't do anything. I think my vessel is over-cooled, but I'd like to have some figures on that.

Secondly, I've got a fueled antimatter reactor, but it's not doing anything. It says it's activated, but runs at 0.00%. It's connected to an electrical generator. But it doesn't add to the available power, as noted in the screen. The vessel also has a small fission reactor and 2.5m fusion reactor. I was hoping to be able to quick-charge my Alcubierre drive, which in this instance isn't fully charged.

What am I missing?

Cheers,

-BS

[Atrius129]

Two things, about features that are doing something peculiar. Namely, nothing. Per some recommendations, I installed Toolbar. I now get the Thermal Helper in VAB, but the button doesn't do anything. I think my vessel is over-cooled, but I'd like to have some figures on that.

Secondly, I've got a fueled antimatter reactor, but it's not doing anything. It says it's activated, but runs at 0.00%. It's connected to an electrical generator. But it doesn't add to the available power, as noted in the screen. The vessel also has a small fission reactor and 2.5m fusion reactor. I was hoping to be able to quick-charge my Alcubierre drive, which in this instance isn't fully charged.

What am I missing?

http://i.imgur.com/QRyuZ6b.jpg

Cheers,

-BS

Hard to tell what is wrong. There's really no such thing as too cool. Sometimes there are weird stack flow issues with AM but it looks like the tank is in the same stack as the reactor. I can't tell but is there also a fusion reactor on that thing? If so, the gene may have defaulted to Direct Conversion which the AM reactor won't be able to use.

[Jarardo1]

Two things, about features that are doing something peculiar. Namely, nothing. Per some recommendations, I installed Toolbar. I now get the Thermal Helper in VAB, but the button doesn't do anything. I think my vessel is over-cooled, but I'd like to have some figures on that.

Secondly, I've got a fueled antimatter reactor, but it's not doing anything. It says it's activated, but runs at 0.00%. It's connected to an electrical generator. But it doesn't add to the available power, as noted in the screen. The vessel also has a small fission reactor and 2.5m fusion reactor. I was hoping to be able to quick-charge my Alcubierre drive, which in this instance isn't fully charged.

What am I missing?

Cheers,

-BS

The thermal helper only shows up in the VAB. You aren't seeing anything there?

Antimatter reactors won't burn fuel or create energy unless it's needed. If you start charging the alb. drive it should start kicking out some power.

I meant to post this a few pages back but forgot. Here is a pic of one of my warp tugs. I have another with Vista engines which is pretty much exactly the same except the engines. I use the micro receivers to charge the alb drive and power the engines unless I'm somewhere really remote without microwave power. The 8 gigs of power from the AM reactor give a pretty pitiful thrust on the plasma engines, but is more than enough for 2 vista engines.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Jarardo1

[Jarardo1]

Interesting idea about warping near the sun. I'm not quite sure what you mean by a similar trajectory, though. Similar to what?

Hmm....I had the nozzle hooked directly to a fusion reactor, one of the larger ones. It's certainly possible the charged particles aren't enough, I'd have to experiment a bit I suppose.

Haven't tried the microwave yet. Figured I'd get familiar with the other stuff. I'm assuming from what I've read the idea is to get some microwave power stations in orbit (around Kerbin?) then equip craft that venture further out receivers so they can use that power?

Thanks again,

-BS

For using the Sun to match velocities with target: Look at target planet in the map, see what it's velocity is and note the direction it's moving. You want to be going the same speed in the same direction before you warp to it. Warp to the sun and let it pull you in the direction the target planet is moving until your vertical velocity is the same as it's velocity. Horizontal velocity seems to be really crazy when near the sun so I think you can ignore it. Sometimes it takes a few jumps.

Then when you get to the target planet you might have to warp around it and use it's gravity to speed up or slow down a little. I try to warp to a spot around it where my velocity relative to the planet will put me in an orbit. Jool has very powerful gravity so you can use it to change a lot of velocity, dres or something really small just takes too long.

There is a good section on the github wiki that shows what you need for a micro power network. I use 3 ground stations 3km from the space center, beaming about 40 gigs or power to help takeoffs. It's good to have around 70 gigs in orbit around Kerbin. Then you can start launching trans sats to other planets that you are going to do a lot around. Depending on how the planets are aligned right now I have around 100-200 gigs around Kerbin or Jool, or any planets that are close to those. And 60 gigs beaming at Eve. Any planet you are going to land on needs at least 3 relay sats around it. I put them farther out than is suggested on the wiki, it's easier to keep them aligned and less hassle if they drift a little. Like 1000km from Kerbin.

Not the best picture but this is a trans sat with 2 large fusion gens using uncharged particles. It beams about 60 gigs. Most of those big liquid tanks will break away, it's on it's way to Eve. It has 2 relay sats attached that will also break away. So the power sat plus the relay sats will be the 3 around eve. It uses some of the super huge radiators they dissipate a lot of heat but don't store as much as the normal huge ones. So it has a couple of the normal huge ones too.

- - - Updated - - -

so im having a bit of trouble.

for some reason i cant get any antimatter. i have a collector station with 32 collectors on at 900km orbit of kirbin. my storage tanks are powered and set to charging and my collectors are saying they are producing 3.98 mg of antimatter per day and yet after 3 days i have zero antimatter. anyone tell me what ive done wrong? or is this a bug?

screenies of the station:

http://imgur.com/21yPjfY

http://imgur.com/WJ1LmQB

http://imgur.com/SLEF7Yk

Are those arms with the collectors connected by docking ports? Not sure if it's still true but I remember reading that it won't transfer through a docking port with the ship un-focused. I do know the tanks don't need to be connected to the collectors. The rate per day is based on a 24 hour solar/Kerbol day.

Here is a pick of a Jool beamed power station. It can only collect enough AM to beam about 10 gigs of power persistently so not really worth it.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Jarardo1

[barfing_skull]

Hard to tell what is wrong. There's really no such thing as too cool. Sometimes there are weird stack flow issues with AM but it looks like the tank is in the same stack as the reactor. I can't tell but is there also a fusion reactor on that thing? If so, the gene may have defaulted to Direct Conversion which the AM reactor won't be able to use.

Yes, the antimatter container is in the same stack as the reactor. There's a 2.5m electric generator in between. Yes, there's a fusion reactor buried deep in the middle of the same stack, right above the antimatter container. The relevant parts of the 2.5m central stack, bottom to top, go: AM Reactor -> Generator -> AM container -> Fusion Reactor -> Generator. The AM reactor has 3 radial lithium tanks attached, and the fusion reactor has 3 radial duterium/tritium cryostats attached.

I'm not sure what direct conversion is, and how or why it might affect this. The wiki doesn't seem to mention it. I'd like to have the fusion reactor for mid-power purposes, and the AM reactor for quick-charging the Alcubierre drive. Is this fusion/AM arrangement not possible for a working AM reactor?

Cheers,

-BS

- - - Updated - - -

The thermal helper only shows up in the VAB. You aren't seeing anything there?

Antimatter reactors won't burn fuel or create energy unless it's needed. If you start charging the alb. drive it should start kicking out some power.

I meant to post this a few pages back but forgot. Here is a pic of one of my warp tugs. I have another with Vista engines which is pretty much exactly the same except the engines. I use the micro receivers to charge the alb drive and power the engines unless I'm somewhere really remote without microwave power. The 8 gigs of power from the AM reactor give a pretty pitiful thrust on the plasma engines, but is more than enough for 2 vista engines.

No, nothing shows up in the VAB when I click the Thermal Helper button. The MegaJoules button works (at least at launch and beyond), but not the Thermal Helper in the VAB.

I've tried turning on and off the charging for the Alcubierre drive, it doesn't make any difference to the AM reactor. Oddly, the fusion reactor seems to always operate at 28%, either charging or not.

Sounds like I need to figure out the best way to get whole lot of power to the plasma thrusters. Multiple ways to do that it seems - microwave, antimatter, large fusion reactors....

Cheers,

-BS

[barfing_skull]

For using the Sun to match velocities with target: Look at target planet in the map, see what it's velocity is and note the direction it's moving. You want to be going the same speed in the same direction before you warp to it. Warp to the sun and let it pull you in the direction the target planet is moving until your vertical velocity is the same as it's velocity. Horizontal velocity seems to be really crazy when near the sun so I think you can ignore it. Sometimes it takes a few jumps.

Then when you get to the target planet you might have to warp around it and use it's gravity to speed up or slow down a little. I try to warp to a spot around it where my velocity relative to the planet will put me in an orbit. Jool has very powerful gravity so you can use it to change a lot of velocity, dres or something really small just takes too long.

There is a good section on the github wiki that shows what you need for a micro power network. I use 3 ground stations 3km from the space center, beaming about 40 gigs or power to help takeoffs. It's good to have around 70 gigs in orbit around Kerbin. Then you can start launching trans sats to other planets that you are going to do a lot around. Depending on how the planets are aligned right now I have around 100-200 gigs around Kerbin or Jool, or any planets that are close to those. And 60 gigs beaming at Eve. Any planet you are going to land on needs at least 3 relay sats around it. I put them farther out than is suggested on the wiki, it's easier to keep them aligned and less hassle if they drift a little. Like 1000km from Kerbin.

Not the best picture but this is a trans sat with 2 large fusion gens using uncharged particles. It beams about 60 gigs. Most of those big liquid tanks will break away, it's on it's way to Eve. It has 2 relay sats attached that will also break away. So the power sat plus the relay sats will be the 3 around eve. It uses some of the super huge radiators they dissipate a lot of heat but don't store as much as the normal huge ones. So it has a couple of the normal huge ones too.

Okay, the velocity thing makes sense with moving relative to the sun. Seems like it just takes a bit of practice.

One sort of related thing...and this probably revolves more around navigation skills. When I first warp to a planet, I often end up in a position that's not ideal for either the orbit or the velocity I'd like to achieve. I can use the warp drive to jump to a new point, but it's difficult to tell which direction on the navball to follow to get to that point. Possibly I just need to understand this better, but my guesses as to which direction to point the vessel are only a vague, and often wrong, approximation. I think if I could set a target somewhere in empty space that lies in the direction I want to warp, I could figure it out, by pointing at the target and heading target prograde. Sadly, I don't think I can set an arbitrary target that's not an object. So within the SOI, navball 90 degrees down is directly at the planet, 90 degrees up is directly away, and the navball equator represents a plane that's perpendicular to the line connecting the vessel with the planet, I think. Beyond that I get somewhat lost, and when I'm not that lost (trying to figure N/S/E/W along the navball equator, or moving away from the equator) it doesn't seem to go quite where I want.

I'm playing with a rudimentary microwave network. RIght now I have 4 fusion satellites around Kerbin at 750km. Seems to work for getting power to Jool.

Cheers,

-BS

[Jarardo1]

Yes, the antimatter container is in the same stack as the reactor. There's a 2.5m electric generator in between. Yes, there's a fusion reactor buried deep in the middle of the same stack, right above the antimatter container. The relevant parts of the 2.5m central stack, bottom to top, go: AM Reactor -> Generator -> AM container -> Fusion Reactor -> Generator. The AM reactor has 3 radial lithium tanks attached, and the fusion reactor has 3 radial duterium/tritium cryostats attached.

I'm not sure what direct conversion is, and how or why it might affect this. The wiki doesn't seem to mention it. I'd like to have the fusion reactor for mid-power purposes, and the AM reactor for quick-charging the Alcubierre drive. Is this fusion/AM arrangement not possible for a working AM reactor?

Cheers,

-BS

- - - Updated - - -

No, nothing shows up in the VAB when I click the Thermal Helper button. The MegaJoules button works (at least at launch and beyond), but not the Thermal Helper in the VAB.

I've tried turning on and off the charging for the Alcubierre drive, it doesn't make any difference to the AM reactor. Oddly, the fusion reactor seems to always operate at 28%, either charging or not.

Sounds like I need to figure out the best way to get whole lot of power to the plasma thrusters. Multiple ways to do that it seems - microwave, antimatter, large fusion reactors....

Cheers,

-BS

Ah good glad you mentioned direct conversion. Direct conversion is for using a generators charged particles, only charged particles. There is an amount of..I think charged and thermal power displayed in the vab when looking at a gen, and it's different depending on the fuel type you are using sometimes in different reactors. It will be something like .2 charged particles and .92 thermal or something, it's not something that needs to add up to 100. AM only produces thermal, so a direct conversion gen won't produce any power from it. Direct is good for something like AIM or a fuel type with lots of charged output, because the gen can turn more of that into electricity(has a better efficiency). Most of my ships just use the thermal. You can right click a gen in the vab and switch type from solid state(thermal power) to direct conversion.

Plasma engines have their uses, they are great for takeoff and landing on planets that have an atmosphere, because you can use scoops to replenish the fuel(argon) when on the planet, and argon has a much higher thrust output(and lower ISP) than liquid in a plasma. Micro power is good for these landers because you don't have to carry the power source.

For the warp tug, I really don't like the plasma engines. When warping somewhere remote, I have sometimes only gotten 30 thrust out of each engine(with liquid) because they need so much power. Vista's just take 2.5 gigs each, and will also each produce 1100 thrust with just that much power(if you don't push the throttle all the way they actually use the same power, and just have higher ISP). Whatever you are going to tug will to rendezvous with the tug though if it's carrying Kerbals, because neutrons or something from the vistas will kill Kerbals that are within 2.3km that aren't attached to the ship when the engines are active.

For aiming when warping, mechjeb + lots of ships around planets help. I played through in career, so by the time I got the alb. drive I had ships around about every planet. You can target a ship that is in the direction you want to warp, then use smart A.S.S and target>+target. Also the rendezvous planner has a "get closer" node creator which will make a node that points directly at your target, then you can use Smart A.S.S. to point at the node. So you might have to eyeball it until you get some ships in orbit around the planets you're warping too.

For the VAB issue, are you using Boris's patch and .90? And is it a clean install? For instance, if you installed Fractals .25 version then put Boris's over it you might have some problems. If you have a clean install please take a pic of your gamedata folder and post it.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Jarardo1

[barfing_skull]

Ah good glad you mentioned direct conversion. Direct conversion is for using a generators charged particles, only charged particles. There is an amount of..I think charged and thermal power displayed in the vab when looking at a gen, and it's different depending on the fuel type you are using sometimes in different reactors. It will be something like .2 charged particles and .92 thermal or something, it's not something that needs to add up to 100. AM only produces thermal, so a direct conversion gen won't produce any power from it. Direct is good for something like AIM or a fuel type with lots of charged output, because the gen can turn more of that into electricity(has a better efficiency). Most of my ships just use the thermal. You can right click a gen in the vab and switch type from solid state(thermal power) to direct conversion.

Plasma engines have their uses, they are great for takeoff and landing on planets that have an atmosphere, because you can use scoops to replenish the fuel(argon) when on the planet, and argon has a much higher thrust output(and lower ISP) than liquid in a plasma. Micro power is good for these landers because you don't have to carry the power source.

For the warp tug, I really don't like the plasma engines. When warping somewhere remote, I have sometimes only gotten 30 thrust out of each engine(with liquid) because they need so much power. Vista's just take 2.5 gigs each, and will also each produce 1100 thrust with just that much power(if you don't push the throttle all the way they actually use the same power, and just have higher ISP). Whatever you are going to tug will to rendezvous with the tug though if it's carrying Kerbals, because neutrons or something from the vistas will kill Kerbals that are within 2.3km that aren't attached to the ship when the engines are active.

For aiming when warping, mechjeb + lots of ships around planets help. I played through in career, so by the time I got the alb. drive I had ships around about every planet. You can target a ship that is in the direction you want to warp, then use smart A.S.S and target>+target. Also the rendezvous planner has a "get closer" node creator which will make a node that points directly at your target, then you can use Smart A.S.S. to point at the node. So you might have to eyeball it until you get some ships in orbit around the planets you're warping too.

For the VAB issue, are you using Boris's patch and .90? And is it a clean install? For instance, if you installed Fractals .25 version then put Boris's over it you might have some problems. If you have a clean install please take a pic of your gamedata folder and post it.

I think that's a 'bingo' on the direct conversion thing. Clicking on the generator indicates the type as 'direct conversion'. Not sure if I need to use a different generator type?

I've played with the Vista's before, but I think I probably didn't have enough power to fully power them. Somewhat disconcerting when I run out of MegaJoules and then only 2 of the 3 engines work. Tends to send the vessel tumbling.

Sounds like with the ships, the fastest way might be to get a bunch of smaller vessels as targets, in distant equatorial orbits. A lot of my problems in aiming are because I'm well below or above the planet's solar orbital plane.

I'm using .90 but haven't done anything with Boris's patch. Guess that's probably the first thing to try, once I locate the patch. I don't have Fractals. I've done a clean install a few times recently, due to some issues with another mod. Then I've reinstalled the mods I want.

Thanks again,

-BS

[barfing_skull]

Boris's patch did it, I can see the Thermal Helper. Also, I saw that in the VAB you can change the type on the generator from direct conversion to solid state.

I'll give it a go with the new setup.

Cheers,

-BS

[Atrius129]

I think that's a 'bingo' on the direct conversion thing. Clicking on the generator indicates the type as 'direct conversion'. Not sure if I need to use a different generator type?

I've played with the Vista's before, but I think I probably didn't have enough power to fully power them. Somewhat disconcerting when I run out of MegaJoules and then only 2 of the 3 engines work. Tends to send the vessel tumbling.

Sounds like with the ships, the fastest way might be to get a bunch of smaller vessels as targets, in distant equatorial orbits. A lot of my problems in aiming are because I'm well below or above the planet's solar orbital plane.

I'm using .90 but haven't done anything with Boris's patch. Guess that's probably the first thing to try, once I locate the patch. I don't have Fractals. I've done a clean install a few times recently, due to some issues with another mod. Then I've reinstalled the mods I want.

Thanks again,

-BS

KTEC generators convert heat into electricity. Direct Conversion genes convert charged particles produced by the reaction directly into electricity. Since a heat differential is not necessary to collect charged particles, DC genes are much more efficient. Heat is the only byproduct of AM reactions (in this game) while fusion reactors produce both charged particles and heat. This means that fusion reactors can use both types of generator, even at the same time.

To warp to a planet, simply set the body (celestial, ship, asteroid, etc.) as the target. This will show up in your nav ball. Point towards it, activate drive. Profit.

When you approach the target you will want to drop out of warp and set the lowest war speed. Continue making course corrections and jumps until you reach the target.

If it is a celestial you are visiting, you can use the body's gravity to gain/lose velocity. I usually try to get my velocity vector lined up as close as possible over the equator and jump to periapsis. Fast forward time to bleed off velocity. As you get further away the effect of gravity decreases exponentially. Assuming you want prograde orbit, point your ship almost directly at the planet, heading only a few degrees towards 270. You can line your view along the ship. You want to get as close to the planet as you can, without actually hitting the atmosphere. That is very bad. You also don't want to pass the periapsis while warping because any time spent falling towards the planet builds up velocity, at time when gravity is strongest.

It is essential to hotkey your drive's activiate/deactivate commands for this. If you use Action Groups Extended you can use action groups in map view!

[Jarardo1]

I'm using .90 but haven't done anything with Boris's patch. Guess that's probably the first thing to try, once I locate the patch. I don't have Fractals. I've done a clean install a few times recently, due to some issues with another mod. Then I've reinstalled the mods I want.

Thanks again,

-BS

Have you been using the download from the front of this thread we are in? I know .90 created a lot of problems for the microwave network using the .25 version of the mod. Here is Boris's port to .90:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104943-0-90-KSP-Interstellar-port-maintance-thread

[UnanimousCoward]

Have you been using the download from the front of this thread we are in? I know .90 created a lot of problems for the microwave network using the .25 version of the mod. Here is Boris's port to .90:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104943-0-90-KSP-Interstellar-port-maintance-thread

You may also want to take a look at this:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/111159-WIP-0-90-KSP-Interstellar-Extended-0-7-1

[barfing_skull]

Thanks all for the suggestions, things are working better now. Installed the extended mod, still need to try it out.

I built a microwave network, seems to work, with one problem. I have a small ship with 4 microwave receivers. The transmitters give it about 140GW of power near Kerbin. I need maybe 3GW. I know you can change the receivers manually to only receive a certain percentage of that power, but doing that manually is guesswork at the percentages, and will change according to distance, number of transmitters in sight, orientation, etc. Is there any way for it to automatically adjust the receivers so that it takes only the power it needs? I'd like to keep the ship from burning up without having to constantly fiddle with each receiver.

Cheers,

-BS

[Friedrich Nietzsche]

Hi,

can someone pls provide me with a working setup for the magnetic nozzles? I've been trying to get them to work for days now and i have no clue how to do this.

Thanks!

[FreeThinker]

Hi,

can someone pls provide me with a working setup for the magnetic nozzles? I've been trying to get them to work for days now and i have no clue how to do this.

Thanks!

The magnetic noozle needs to be connected to a reactor capable of generating charged particles (Dusty Plasma Reactor or FusionReactor) and reactor needs to be operational (fusion reactor also need megawatt power to operate)

[Friedrich Nietzsche]

The magnetic noozle needs to be connected to a reactor capable of generating charged particles (Dusty Plasma Reactor or FusionReactor) and reactor needs to be operational (fusion reactor also need megawatt power to operate)

Hi,

thanks for your help, but still no clue, what I'm doing wrong. I've sticked together (from top to bottom) a command pod, fuel tank, some Radiators, a fission reactor, a electric generator, the fusion reactor for the charged particles and last the magnetic nozzle. See screenshot http://i.imgur.com/Ujg9OwS.jpg

Can you give me a detailed description of a working craft or provide me a craft file please?

Thanks.

[futrtrubl]

Hi,

thanks for your help, but still no clue, what I'm doing wrong. I've sticked together (from top to bottom) a command pod, fuel tank, some Radiators, a fission reactor, a electric generator, the fusion reactor for the charged particles and last the magnetic nozzle. See screenshot http://i.imgur.com/Ujg9OwS.jpg

Can you give me a detailed description of a working craft or provide me a craft file please?

Thanks.

I think the problem is you are trying it in the atmosphere. Also be careful when you have 2 reactors attached to a generator, the generator only connects to one and it may not connect to the one you want.

[Wowfreakstar]

Hi every1!

So i wanna go to Laythe with my spaceship and land on a small island. From THERE i wanna collect water to refill my Water Storage Tank. (I use water to make liqued fuel with the ISRU from the interstellar mod). i know i have to be kinda close to the coast, but what items would i need to collect the water from the sea and back to the water tank? I know the ISRU on the water could possible do the work, but i wanna keep that on land. is it possible?

other ideas are welcome too

THanks alot for viewing my post.

[undercoveryankee]

Hi every1!

So i wanna go to Laythe with my spaceship and land on a small island. From THERE i wanna collect water to refill my Water Storage Tank. (I use water to make liqued fuel with the ISRU from the interstellar mod). i know i have to be kinda close to the coast, but what items would i need to collect the water from the sea and back to the water tank? I know the ISRU on the water could possible do the work, but i wanna keep that on land. is it possible?

other ideas are welcome too

THanks alot for viewing my post.

Out of the box, the only way to collect ocean resources is with one of the ISRU modules that can mine. If you're running one of the flavors of Interstellar that uses Water as its water resource, you can use anything from the Karbonite/MKS world to fill the tanks and then KSPI to process it.

[Wowfreakstar]

Out of the box, the only way to collect ocean resources is with one of the ISRU modules that can mine. If you're running one of the flavors of Interstellar that uses Water as its water resource, you can use anything from the Karbonite/MKS world to fill the tanks and then KSPI to process it.

ye i have the ISRU refinery. I need the water to make liquid fuel, so my spaceship never runs out of power basicly. :b but your saying that i can make water from other resources with other mods, like Korbonite/MKS? would be nice if u could make a list of all the items i need to make that happend from those mods plz. and also like how i do it. im a nub.

[Mangey Carl]

I am sooo getting this mod!

[gilflo]

It's very difficult to figure out how to build a spaceplane with interstellar KSPI, a spaceplane to fly to planet with atmosphere whatever it is, oxygen (Laythe)or not oxygen (Duna and Eve).

Wiki is not helping and it's also very difficult to figure out how to integrate reactor and generator with turbojet, thermal rocket nozzle and a propellant tank then switch from turbojet working with only atmosphere to propellant when

your thermal turbojet is loosing thrust. The thermal turbojet is working with reactor, generator and air intake through thermal nozzle, then how to toggle to the other propellant? Do I need fuel lines ? Is fission reactor still needed?

Not easy either to calculate DV generated and needed....DV=ln(Mstart/Mend)*Isp*g and we have no idea from the atmosphere mass burnt in the process.

Like Friedrich Nietzsche and Wowfreakstar detailed explanations of process would be appreciated

[royying]

How to increase the plasma thruster/ Magnetic Nozzles thrust?

I have a 2.5M fusion reactor and 2.5m power generator, those thrusters only gave very low thrust:(

[megatiger78]

does it work?

[undercoveryankee]

does it work?

There are serious reported issues with Fractal_UK's last release (0.13) on KSP 0.90. If you don't have a copy of KSP 0.25 handy, it is recommended to run one of the recently updated community versions of Interstellar. FreeThinker's KSPI Extended seems to be in the best shape at the moment.

Every maintainer makes slightly different balance decisions, so there's no "definitive" version right now.