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

[Jivaii]

Haha, I'm getting ready to repurge my mods, and reinstall the ones I use/want to expand on, but I've got 60 something mods running atm, and it's getting to the point of crashing alot.

This one, I soo want to expand on and keep playing with cause there's so much to do with it.

[Donziboy2]

Yes, Hyperedit has a bad habit of breaking the warp drive, I have had issues when testing similar to you.

[Jivaii]

Oh, I have other issues, like hitting the ram cap. Sucks having 32 gigs of RAM, and KSP crashing at 4 gigs.

[agentexeider]

Yes, Hyperedit has a bad habit of breaking the warp drive, I have had issues when testing similar to you.

I'm already working on creating an integration into Kethane, currently, my Inter Planetary cruiser runs on a fusion reactor and fusion thrusters which burn deuterium to create conventional thrust, I have modded the Kethane converters to have a Deuterium conversion. I am thinking of having a deuterium-> anti-deuterium (anti-matter) converter, using the star trek ratio of 10:1, unless I come up with a better one.

What I am currently trying to understand is exactly what resources are in the system and produced by what. As I currently understand it, Antimatter powers the AM reactor which produces heat energy which in turn feeds the Electric generator which turns heat into electric charge and MegaJoules, which for the purposes of this mod are two separate things.

what I need to know is, WHAT produces the Exotic Matter that feeds the warp drive?? is it the AM reactor or the Electric Generator, or does the Warp drive produce it itself by being fed energy?

is the start of this energy system the Anti Matter, in which case all I need to do is start there with a Deuterium/AM converter.

I would like the mod maker to chime in on this if at all possible.

-Æ

[DaveStrider]

What I am currently trying to understand is exactly what resources are in the system and produced by what. As I currently understand it, Antimatter powers the AM reactor which produces heat energy which in turn feeds the Electric generator which turns heat into electric charge and MegaJoules, which for the purposes of this mod are two separate things.

what I need to know is, WHAT produces the Exotic Matter that feeds the warp drive?? is it the AM reactor or the Electric Generator, or does the Warp drive produce it itself by being fed energy?

is the start of this energy system the Anti Matter, in which case all I need to do is start there with a Deuterium/AM converter.

I would like the mod maker to chime in on this if at all possible.

-Æ

The warp drive itself converts MegaJoules into ExoricMatter, all it needs is to be powered. So you can power it with nuclear/antimatter reactors with a generator, or using the microwave reciever part.

Reactors use fuel to produce ThermalPower (nuclear reactors have a full supply of fuel inside them, while antimatter reactors need external storage) Thermal power can then be used in thermal nozzles to produce thrust, or in generators to produce Megajoules (thermal power can only be used if the part is next to a reactor). Megajoules can be used by the science bay, DT Vista engine, the MPD thruster, and the Warp drive. MegaJoules work identically to the stock electric charge, so it should be familiar to you.

[Fractal_UK]

what I need to know is, WHAT produces the Exotic Matter that feeds the warp drive?? is it the AM reactor or the Electric Generator, or does the Warp drive produce it itself by being fed energy?

is the start of this energy system the Anti Matter, in which case all I need to do is start there with a Deuterium/AM converter.

ExoticMatter is produced by the alcubierre drive, it takes in Megajoules and produces ExoticMatter, the conversion factor is exactly 0.001. In other words, it takes 1GW of power to produce 1 unit of Exotic Matter.

To your question about how long it takes to charge to be able to go a particular speed, it's impossible to answer because it depends upon your ship. The heavier your ship is, the more ExoticMatter you need to travel at a particular speed so the conversion factor there isn't fixed. Typically though, antimatter reactors will charge warp drives fairly quickly, to the point that you only need a little bit of time acceleration to get a useable amount of ExoticMatter. Nuclear reactors will take a long time to charge them though, often that can require a minute or two at max time acceleration (probably roughly similar to a typical KSP interplanetary mission).

The start of the energy system is the initial fuel, which is either antimatter, uranium hexaflouride (UF6) or, maybe, solar power if you're using a microwave transmitter/receiver.

Out of interest, why do you particularly want to convert Deuterium into Anti-Deuterium? In reality, trying to make one anti-Deuterium is probably much much harder than just creating two Anti-Hydrogens (which would have the same energy).

[agentexeider]

Out of interest, why do you particularly want to convert Deuterium into Anti-Deuterium? In reality, trying to make one anti-Deuterium is probably much much harder than just creating two Anti-Hydrogens (which would have the same energy).

In the case of the mod, it's just the name because I plan on converting Deuterium from Impossible Innovations to Anti-matter, in terms of reality, Anti-Deuterium is more stable and is less likely to spontaneously pop out of existence like Anti-hydrogen does, there has been some debate as to why this is, some have said that the neutron weighs down the atom and keeps it from flying apart, others believe it to have some kind of stabilizing effect on the strong nuclear force.

[Fractal_UK]

In the case of the mod, it's just the name because I plan on converting Deuterium from Impossible Innovations to Anti-matter, in terms of reality, Anti-Deuterium is more stable and is less likely to spontaneously pop out of existence like Anti-hydrogen does, there has been some debate as to why this is, some have said that the neutron weighs down the atom and keeps it from flying apart, others believe it to have some kind of stabilizing effect on the strong nuclear force.

There is nothing to fly apart, an anti-hydrogen is just an antiproton with a positron to neutralise the charge. The antiproton itself has a stable lifetime far longer than the age of the universe and the positron is just as stable in a anti-hydrogen as an electron is in hydrogen. The only reason antihydrogen is hard to store is because when they escape the trap probabilistically, i.e. some atoms are just naturally going to decay out of the trap they annihilate with normal matter, which is the same loss mechanism as would exist for anti-deuterium.

As for the other thing, you should note that this mod also defines a Deuterium resource for the DT vista fusion engine - I have no idea what happens when two mods define the same resource but I'm guessing it isn't good. You'd probably be well advised to delete one of the resource definitions from one of the mods. The parts from both should then still work fine.

[Fractal_UK]

While I'm on the topic of Deuterium, I've added this option for the science labs. It's only available while splashed down but you can now activate a centrifuge. This is designed to be a centrifuge for seperating out light and heavy water, the heavy water is then (automatically) electrolysed to produce the deuterium we are looking for.

When you do this, you will finally be able to produce deuterium to refuel your DT vista engines!

[Hremsfeld]

^^^^ Awesome! How about Lithium, or am I missing something obvious?

Anywho, I got myself into a 50km orbit around Eeloo and did research for awhile. I eventually tried to retrofit the alcubierre drive, but hit "activate warp drive" by mistake. I received the "cannot activate warpdrive within the atmosphere!" message.

This persisted even after retrofitting.

Vehicle uses parts from this mod, B9, and MechJeb. Kerbal Alarm Clock, Chatterrer, and KLF are installed. Beyond that, I don't have any vehicle- or flight-affecting plugins affecting this ship. The nuclear reactor and electric generator had both been retrofitted already. The command pod is empty because those guys are in a lander on the surface.

[Fractal_UK]

^^^^ Awesome! How about Lithium, or am I missing something obvious?

I'm still working on how exactly I'm going to have that refresh.

Anywho, I got myself into a 50km orbit around Eeloo and did research for awhile. I eventually tried to retrofit the alcubierre drive, but hit "activate warp drive" by mistake. I received the "cannot activate warpdrive within the atmosphere!" message.

There is something funny about the maxAtmosphereAltitude property in KSP. I found that this property implied that Kerbol had an atmosphere extending massively beyond its actual size so had to just disable atmosphere checking for Kerbol, otherwise that would stop the warp drive working. I guess I'll use the same solution for Eeloo.

[agentexeider]

There is nothing to fly apart, an anti-hydrogen is just an antiproton with a positron to neutralise the charge. The antiproton itself has a stable lifetime far longer than the age of the universe and the positron is just as stable in a anti-hydrogen as an electron is in hydrogen. The only reason antihydrogen is hard to store is because when they escape the trap probabilistically, i.e. some atoms are just naturally going to decay out of the trap they annihilate with normal matter, which is the same loss mechanism as would exist for anti-deuterium.

As for the other thing, you should note that this mod also defines a Deuterium resource for the DT vista fusion engine - I have no idea what happens when two mods define the same resource but I'm guessing it isn't good. You'd probably be well advised to delete one of the resource definitions from one of the mods. The parts from both should then still work fine.

your correct in that they don't fly apart per se, they would decay into particle radiation, but like I said there is a debate as to why the neutron does this, but that is neither here nor there in regards to this mod.

If two or more mods define a resource as the same thing let's call them "A" then they will all treat "A" from one mod as the same as "A" from another mod, it simply is just a tag representing the resource that is used in the system.

For example, Kethane doesn't natively support Deuterium in it's resource file, but drop it in there, and add the appropriate entry to the converter and voila, Kethane-Deuterium. SO to answer your question it doesn't matter, since both resources are the same thing, the game treats them as one object.

What I am trying to accomplish is an end game for Kethane, which it doesn't have in terms of the fastest and final drive of it's progression, Majiir has a whole bunch of applications for Kethane except as an FTL fuel, or at least a precursor.

Your mod is great in that it has both a sense of progression, as it has different drive types, which yield different speeds and efficiancies, and even has a research progression, for the sake of providing improvements through research, which is also great.

The one thing it lacks really, is the resource that powers them, while the collector is good for just getting started, and the science station is good for creating ground based or at least station based resource production, it's not very efficient in terms of having it aboard a star ship, and to be honest it shouldn't be.

So what I am working on is to marry your mod to the kethane mod, I already have a huge Kethane infrastructure built out in my Kerbol system, everything from Kerbin ground based mining and refining operations to a large LKO Space station, to a mining operations on Minmus with companion space station in orbit. I have considered expanding to other planets but I have been waiting for someone to come out with an FTL mod to get me there.

Your mod has opened other planets to me and I thank you for that, sorry for the grilling of the mechanics, but I was trying to figure out exactly where to hook it up.

I also wanted to ask if you have considered creating a jumpdrive and jump beacon mechanic to your FTL system, there was a mod on here not to long ago that was very very cool, it allowed you to put a jumpdrive on a ship, and use that drive to "lock" onto a distant beacon that you had sent up before hand using conventional systems to set up a jump network. that mod unfortunately stopped working somewhere back 0.19? i think, and have been looking for a replacement since.

But at the very least this mod creates an endgame for my space program, where it will end up having a viable FTL system that will give me something to do with all this Kethane and Deuterium.

in case your wondering, what I currently have is Kethane mining operation that shuttle Kethane to orbital refinaries, which convert the Kethane into Deuterium, Monoprop, liquid fuel and oxidizer, etc. and now thinking about adding another level where Deuterium will refine into Antimatter to power a warp drive. Well it's emergent gaming is what it is, since I didn't plan on it happening this way.

anyway, i have alot of ideas I would be happy to talk with you about, give me a PM or IM if you want.

Cheers

-Æ

[Hremsfeld]

I'm still working on how exactly I'm going to have that refresh.

Wiki says it's naturally occurring in brown dwarf stars, but there's no way to make that trip at all cost-effective...which leaves the usual sources, namely it being found in regolith/dissolved in seawater solutions.

Metallic asteroids are pretty much any metal, right? As in, one isn't less likely to be lithium compared to platinum, except for how common the elements themselves actually are, right? Dres might be a good source, like how the Mun is used for Aluminum. Other than that, Wiki says that it's common in brown dwarfs...but yeah, there's no way to make that a cost-effective trip.

[Conti]

For anyone who would like some dV calculation with this mod I have added support to the MechJeb multi-patch release, along with reverting the bugs we were having with the latest release from sarbian. More details and link to download in this post http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47317-MechJeb-2-Patch-test-bed-release-%28September-9%29?p=665413#post665413

[Captain_Doug]

Hello again I really want to use this mode, but I don't know were to put all the files. could someone please explain because anywhere that I have put it has bugged my KSP.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Read. The. Readme.

[Hremsfeld]

For anyone who would like some dV calculation with this mod I have added support to the MechJeb multi-patch release, along with reverting the bugs we were having with the latest release from sarbian. More details and link to download in this post http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47317-MechJeb-2-Patch-test-bed-release-%28September-9%29?p=665413#post665413

I tested the changes over the last few days and they work well. I would lose mechjeb functionality on all my vessels when I docked with those undocked changes, and some people may want mechjeb to continue to function even on undocked vessels

So, someone submitted an update that broke the build, which you reverted. While you were there, you added code to calculate the fusion engine's dV based on its current throttle?

[Conti]

So, someone submitted an update that broke the build, which you reverted. While you were there, you added code to calculate the fusion engine's dV based on its current throttle?

Not just the fusion engine, but any engine which uses Megajoules as a fuel resource. The reason the dV calculation will change is whenever the ISP changes, which on the vista is based on throttle, yes.

[Fractal_UK]

Hello again I really want to use this mode, but I don't know were to put all the files. could someone please explain because anywhere that I have put it has bugged my KSP.

It's just a case of unzipping the mod into the main KSP game directory. Once you've done that, go to the GameData folder, then there should be a WarpPlugin folder and that's where you should start seeing a whle bunch of other files and folders.

[Captain_Doug]

It's just a case of unzipping the mod into the main KSP game directory. Once you've done that, go to the GameData folder, then there should be a WarpPlugin folder and that's where you should start seeing a whle bunch of other files and folders.

Thank you so much. it now works and I can see what I can build

[zzz]

Well, I made some nozzle, nothing spectacular this time(something like cuted Skipper). Maybe next thing will be better.

http://www./?ez1yclitbiuiccq

Edited September 29, 2013 by zzz

[DaveStrider]

I like how all of zzz's parts have a grey-ish colour scheme, have you considered changing the nuclear reactors and the antimatter tanks to fit this scheme?

[Fractal_UK]

I like how all of zzz's parts have a grey-ish colour scheme, have you considered changing the nuclear reactors and the antimatter tanks to fit this scheme?

Obviously it's nice to have matching models but it's all down to whether replacing some of the existing models is something that interests zzz. Still, we currently do have some stock models so its probably better to get rid of them first, would be nice to get to a stage where everything is unique. We are at least getting close to that now thanks to zzz's work.

[Scotius]

Pretty enough for me, zzz Though on a second look...could you add some emissives similiar to a glow of hot radiators? I mean, these are thermal nozzles - hothothot!

[zzz]

could you add some emissives similiar to a glow of hot radiators? I mean, these are thermal nozzles - hothothot!

It have some emission when it hot. Similar to the stock engines.

Edited September 29, 2013 by zzz