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

[Jodderwock]

Riiiight, now I get it, I hadn't considered solar orbital velocities, just that of my ship. Thank you very much for explaining that. I really do love the mod - great work; it adds a lot of fun to an already fantastic game.

And thanks Scotius - I'll keep that in mind!

[Ashtoruin]

Pretty much yes. I use Kosmos panels too on my Space power plants.

Aton power plant can generate 1.3 Megawatt of power (1300 Megajoules) in Kerbin's orbit. In a couple of days i will have two Atons in low Kerbol orbit, which should give them huge boost to generated power (it better be worth all that fuel it took to get them there ). And you need only Microwave Receiver dish on your craft to get power. Remember: Megajoules can power warp drive and plasma drive (and Vista, but you'd need a LOT of incoming power to get 1.5 Gigawatt this engine requires), for thermal nozzles you need thermal power, which is generated by reactors.

Could I possibly get the ship file for that so I Can look and see what I'm doing wrong then? It doesn't seem to matter how many of the solar panels I put on, they never start making MJ

[Scotius]

I could post .craft file, but i used parts from couple of mods - so you'd have to install them too for ship to load. Did you put Microwave Transmitter dish on your power plant? Only then it will transfer power out. Also ship with Receiver must have unobscured line of sight to power plant (and it must be in sunlight to work). So far i have five Atons in keostationary orbit spread equally around the planet. This way i always get some power wherever my ship with receiver is.

[Ashtoruin]

I could post .craft file, but i used parts from couple of mods - so you'd have to install them too for ship to load. Did you put Microwave Transmitter dish on your power plant? Only then it will transfer power out. Also ship with Receiver must have unobscured line of sight to power plant (and it must be in sunlight to work). So far i have five Atons in keostationary orbit spread equally around the planet. This way i always get some power wherever my ship with receiver is.

I actually had the Science Labs equipped to the powerplant, so I'm going to go ahead and guess that it only creates MJ when Transmitted?

Edit: Also, could you make power relay satellites where they both receive power and transmit it back out again? or would that bork the game?

Edited September 30, 2013 by Ashtoruin

[Jasmir]

Sorry to say this, but your picture is totaly wrong. (Or let's say better: It count only the deltaV between the both locations in)

Due the high mass of jool, it's much easier to go from _anywhere_ in the kerbol system to jool than maybe do the Kerbin<->Duna Jump you illustrated. Jools huge gravity helps you to get the vector you want very easy. And in the most times, you don't need more than 3 warps.

(In fact: If someone brings out a good visualization of vectors of your craft in the mapmode, you can use Kerbol itself as a "vectormachine" and reach _every_ planet very easy with the warpdrive. In this case, you barely need any kind of "conventional" propulsion. (Landing and docking would be the leftover for that))

[popeter45]

can you convert mega joules to stock electricity?

[Fractal_UK]

Sorry to say this, but your picture is totaly wrong. (Or let's say better: It count only the deltaV between the both locations in)

Due the high mass of jool, it's much easier to go from _anywhere_ in the kerbol system to jool than maybe do the Kerbin<->Duna Jump you illustrated. Jools huge gravity helps you to get the vector you want very easy. And in the most times, you don't need more than 3 warps.

(In fact: If someone brings out a good visualization of vectors of your craft in the mapmode, you can use Kerbol itself as a "vectormachine" and reach _every_ planet very easy with the warpdrive. In this case, you barely need any kind of "conventional" propulsion. (Landing and docking would be the leftover for that))

It isn't wrong, it is designed to show the proper warp trajectory to follow, what trajectory will result in minimal delta-v expended to get captured at the destination. The fact that it's easier to use some tricks to get captured when you get to Jool is beside the point, the better the trajectory you use the less messing about you need when you get to the destination.

And no, there isn't a way of converting megajoules into electric charge but I can't foresee any need for such a thing. Everything that produces megajoules also produces 1000 electric charge.

[Scotius]

I actually had the Science Labs equipped to the powerplant, so I'm going to go ahead and guess that it only creates MJ when Transmitted?

Edit: Also, could you make power relay satellites where they both receive power and transmit it back out again? or would that bork the game?

Science Lab requires 5 Megawatts to work - you'd need an enormous amount of solar panels to generate that much power in Kerbin's orbit. It would be easier near Moho. And you need Transmitter or Receiver dish to convert MJ into electric charge and vice-versa. Unfortunately there is no way to retransmit power as of now. Craft with Receiver will get power only from power plants is "sees", and only if they do transmit energy actively.

[popeter45]

one last thing

do planets block power transmitters? (can i power a kethane miner with a power collector the other side of kerbin)

[Jivaii]

Sorry to say this, but your picture is totaly wrong. (Or let's say better: It count only the deltaV between the both locations in)

Due the high mass of jool, it's much easier to go from _anywhere_ in the kerbol system to jool than maybe do the Kerbin<->Duna Jump you illustrated. Jools huge gravity helps you to get the vector you want very easy. And in the most times, you don't need more than 3 warps.

(In fact: If someone brings out a good visualization of vectors of your craft in the mapmode, you can use Kerbol itself as a "vectormachine" and reach _every_ planet very easy with the warpdrive. In this case, you barely need any kind of "conventional" propulsion. (Landing and docking would be the leftover for that))

What I love is that you're telling the mod maker he's wrong. That is hilarious.

[Fractal_UK]

one last thing

do planets block power transmitters? (can i power a kethane miner with a power collector the other side of kerbin)

Yes they do but you can minimise the impact of that by having a satellite constellation in a high orbit of the planet.

[Ashtoruin]

one last thing

do planets block power transmitters? (can i power a kethane miner with a power collector the other side of kerbin)

From what I understand they require Line of Sight, so that wouldn't work if I am correct.

[Jivaii]

From what I understand they require Line of Sight, so that wouldn't work if I am correct.

Too bad we can't relay them.

[Ashtoruin]

Too bad we can't relay them.

I see what you did there, Also sorry for all the questions, but next question, Nuclear Reactors are entirely self contained, will they ever use up all the reactants, or will turning it back into fuel with a science lab always give a 100% return?

[Scotius]

I see what you did there, Also sorry for all the questions, but next question, Nuclear Reactors are entirely self contained, will they ever use up all the reactants, or will turning it back into fuel with a science lab always give a 100% return?

Re-conversion of uranium runs at 60% efficiency, i think - so yes, there will be losses. But do not despair! Our illustrious fun-provider Fractal is adding a centrifuge to Science Lab in next update. It will allow us to filter uranium from the water on Kerbin/Eve/Laythe and refuel our reactors.

[Ashtoruin]

Re-conversion of uranium runs at 60% efficiency, i think - so yes, there will be losses. But do not despair! Our illustrious fun-provider Fractal is adding a centrifuge to Science Lab in next update. It will allow us to filter uranium from the water on Kerbin/Eve/Laythe and refuel our reactors.

So if Im making a Space Research Lab then I would probably be best off using Antimatter, Next question, how efficient is using Science Labs to make Antimatter?

[Scotius]

Unupgraded 1.25 m nuclear reactor generates 25 MW of power - that's more than enough to power a Science Lab in research mode. Unfortunately antimatter production requires 5 GIGAWatts of power. Even biggest upgraded 3.75 nuclear reactor generates only 4.5 GW - so you'd need two to create antimatter. Basic 1.25 antimatter reactor can give 5 GW - but you are burning antimatter to get antimatter then.

[Ashtoruin]

Unupgraded 1.25 m nuclear reactor generates 25 MW of power - that's more than enough to power a Science Lab in research mode. Unfortunately antimatter production requires 5 GIGAWatts of power. Even biggest upgraded 3.75 nuclear reactor generates only 4.5 GW - so you'd need two to create antimatter. Basic 1.25 antimatter reactor can give 5 GW - but you are burning antimatter to get antimatter then.

And I'm guessing that at best burning Antimatter to get Antimatter would net no extra Antimatter and more than likely Cost Antimatter in the long run.

[Fractal_UK]

So if Im making a Space Research Lab then I would probably be best off using Antimatter, Next question, how efficient is using Science Labs to make Antimatter?

0.5% in terms of energy to equivalent mass produced. Trying to use antimatter to create antimatter is not a productive exercise.

[theSpeare]

Maybe you should add some sort of balance for stupid Kerbals - maybe give them higher AM production in labs? (PFFF AM is really just accidentally made anyway)

[Ashtoruin]

0.5% in terms of energy to equivalent mass produced. Trying to use antimatter to create antimatter is not a productive exercise.

I figured as much, Well, thank you all for answering all my questions thus far.

[agentexeider]

0.5% in terms of energy to equivalent mass produced. Trying to use antimatter to create antimatter is not a productive exercise.

You can Always use Kethane....

[Scotius]

I'm doing this: I've built two-part space station boasting two labs, bunch of Science Cores and big nuclear generator/reactor combo to power everything up. Then i've sent those two parts on the way to Moho, where they will be docked in low orbit and become Moho Research Station. In the meantime i'm sending Aton power plants to low Kerbol orbit in hopes they will provide enough power for MRS to run AM creation process. Hopefully i will gain enough antimatter to power ships returning to Kerbin. When i finish with Moho, i'm going to repeat the process with Eeloo when launch window opens (minus solar power plants, not enough sunlight on the dark, cold outskirts of the system ) When i will be able to upgrade my ships at decent rate, i'm going to build antimatter industry in Jool system.

[Ratata]

You can Always use Kethane....

lold so hard it hurts my insides.....XD thank you!

[Fractal_UK]

Using an antimatter collector in the right spot around Jool will generate a fair bit more antimatter than using a science lab with lots of power. The only advantage of the science lab over the collector is convenience, it can work anywhere, which can save you the hassle of shipping antimatter back from Jool.