[WIP] Nert's Dev Thread - Current: various updates

[Sudragon]

3 hours ago, sh1pman said:

Oh no, please don't abandon MkIV, it's such a great mod! There aren't many balanced wide-body spaceplane mods around, and MkIV is the best. What's the problem with it?

Yeah! You can't hum the Thunderbirds theme to just any mod y'know!

[Nertea]

Hate working on my other mods these days. Lots of demanding requests!

Trying to work out a balance for this mod. Not that these can be considered balanced against anything else, but within the mod everything should have a niche.

	NSWR	Z-Pinch	Thermal Fusion	IC Fusion	Cat Fission	Cat Fusion	Thermal AM	Pure AM
TWR	2.5	0.5-1.5	1-4	0.5-2.5	2.5	0.5	0.5-3.5	3-15
Isp	5,000	10,000-20,000	20,000 - 125,000	25,000 - 200,000	15,000	60,000	5,000 - 50,0000	150,000 - 5,000,000
Response Speed	Instant	Medium	Medium	Slow	Fast	Fast	Instant	Instant
Power Needed	Low	Medium	Medium	High	Low	Medium	Medium	Medium
Radiators Needed	Medium	Low	Medium-High	Medium - High	Low	Low	Medium	Extreme
Size	2.5m	3.75m	2.5m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m
Antimatter Use	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Low	Low	Medium	HIgh
Fuel Costs	Medium	Low-High	High	High	Medium	High	Low	Low
Fuel Notes			Cryogenic	None/Ablative	Ablative/AM	Cryogenic/AM	Cryogenic/AM	Cryogenic/AM
Fuel ISRU	Smelter	Smelter	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/Smelter	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU
Notes		Two models	Two models, one variable length	Two models, one ablative	Ablative		Dual Mode	Variable length
Summary	Best high thrust engine, small footprint	Medium-level low complexity fusion engines, simple to use, one high thrust/low impulse, the other opposite	Higher complexity, high performance fusion engines, cryo fuels need support equipment, He3 is expensive. Best versions need tons of radiators	High performance fusion engines, simple to use, replace Z-pinch functionally	Entry-level AM engine, simple concept, ablative nozzle adds challenge	More power per unit of expensive fusion fuels than other early fusion	First instant-response high performance engine, dual-mode (low TWR and high TWR)	Challenging engine due to large size, heat production, need for AM

I think this creates good niches. The only large overlap is the Z-Pinch and Inertial engines, which isn't bad. Interested in thoughts and inputs. 

I am going to add "refurbish ablator" to the nuclear smelter in the future. Could become a new part eventually, but for now it'll just be very, very inefficient in turning Ore into Ablator.

Also, I finally thought of a decent set of mechanics for fusion reactors, so that might happen. Tradeoff vs fission needs to be good but not too good. Using D/He3 fusion means they would be very expensive to run. As an advantage there should be dynamic power generation scaling and instant rampup. 

[Stevie_D]

I'm a big believer in trade-offs for ksp parts, so i'm totally onboard with the fusion v fission idea. 

[helaeon]

Some ideas for fusion vs fission:

Fuels being reasonable to buy in the VAB (due to factories and such on Kerbin) but very painful or annoying to ISRU. Such as needing materials from various biomes, maybe not available on a given world at all. The opposite also works to encourage building of bases to obtain fuel. I do think it should be one or the other though, you invest in infrastructure up front for fuel later (and with time) or with funds now.
I've been using the fusion reactors from DSEV, and the big advantage usability wise is on-demand power fuel use rather than being always on. I think they're far too light though. So certainly on board with the dynamic power generation. I do like the mechanic of needing a certain amount of EC just to start them (or maybe an instantaneous loss of fuel if you don't keep it running at some trivial maintenance level?)
Not sure on mass. Fuel should certainly be lighter, maybe the reactors too, but possibly burn through that fuel per unit at a high-ish rate so if running full out you'd need to refuel more often. Or, more of the mass is part and far less is fuel so unlike the fission reactors putting in less fuel doesn't get you much. Maybe a larger mass of radiators should be required even if the reactor itself doesn't have more mass?

Just some thoughts to maybe help things along. Whatever you think is best, is best.

[Nertea]

19 hours ago, helaeon said:

Some ideas for fusion vs fission:

Fuels being reasonable to buy in the VAB (due to factories and such on Kerbin) but very painful or annoying to ISRU. Such as needing materials from various biomes, maybe not available on a given world at all. The opposite also works to encourage building of bases to obtain fuel. I do think it should be one or the other though, you invest in infrastructure up front for fuel later (and with time) or with funds now.
I've been using the fusion reactors from DSEV, and the big advantage usability wise is on-demand power fuel use rather than being always on. I think they're far too light though. So certainly on board with the dynamic power generation. I do like the mechanic of needing a certain amount of EC just to start them (or maybe an instantaneous loss of fuel if you don't keep it running at some trivial maintenance level?)
Not sure on mass. Fuel should certainly be lighter, maybe the reactors too, but possibly burn through that fuel per unit at a high-ish rate so if running full out you'd need to refuel more often. Or, more of the mass is part and far less is fuel so unlike the fission reactors putting in less fuel doesn't get you much. Maybe a larger mass of radiators should be required even if the reactor itself doesn't have more mass?

Just some thoughts to maybe help things along. Whatever you think is best, is best.

I kinda went the opposite way with the first one, because He3 is hideously expensive. However, I'm reluctant to create large processing chains because the KSP resource system ain't great. I like having the option, but building too much gameplay around it creates a lot of repetition. 

The rest, yeah, pretty much what I'm thinking.

• Reactor needs a startup charge to enable (something close to equal to its generation for in 10 seconds)
• Shutting down the reactor requires another charge to get going.
• Reactor constantly consumes fuel when on at a low level (~10% of top-end consumption)
• Reactor automatically spools up and down to deliver required power
• Reactor stocks only a small amount of fuel (which is light), enough for less than half a Kerbin year at full power
• Easily add more fuel tanks for more lifetime
• Available in 2.5 and 3.75m footprints.
• Max power levels 2-5x similar to largest NFT reactors
• Comparable efficiency and mass to largest NFT reactors when they are fuelled
• Significantly more expensive than NFT reactors

 

 

[Nertea]

Two more completed engines, whoop dee doo!

FX need some tuning though.

[Jimbodiah]

Is 1.1 the latest test release?

[Nertea]

3 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

Is 1.1 the latest test release?

Yes, I'm kinda hoping to have another by early next week though.

 

[Nertea]

Worked a bit on the metallic hydrogen engine...

And with tank, which I've rescoped to one tank in 2.5, 3.75, 5m sizes. Match with other LH2 tanks to use it.

And lastly I did a lot of work on the animations and FX for the ICF engines...

 

[Spaceception]

Love seeing all of this development These parts look stunning.

[The Destroyer]

Yep. Nertea always makes such good models.

[StarStreak2109]

Another must-have coming up the horizon!

[FreeThinker]

On 17-7-2017 at 8:42 PM, Nertea said:

Hate working on my other mods these days. Lots of demanding requests!

Trying to work out a balance for this mod. Not that these can be considered balanced against anything else, but within the mod everything should have a niche.

	NSWR	Z-Pinch	Thermal Fusion	IC Fusion	Cat Fission	Cat Fusion	Thermal AM	Pure AM
TWR	2.5	0.5-1.5	1-4	0.5-2.5	2.5	0.5	0.5-3.5	3-15
Isp	5,000	10,000-20,000	20,000 - 125,000	25,000 - 200,000	15,000	60,000	5,000 - 50,0000	150,000 - 5,000,000
Response Speed	Instant	Medium	Medium	Slow	Fast	Fast	Instant	Instant
Power Needed	Low	Medium	Medium	High	Low	Medium	Medium	Medium
Radiators Needed	Medium	Low	Medium-High	Medium - High	Low	Low	Medium	Extreme
Size	2.5m	3.75m	2.5m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m	3.75m
Antimatter Use	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Low	Low	Medium	HIgh
Fuel Costs	Medium	Low-High	High	High	Medium	High	Low	Low
Fuel Notes			Cryogenic	None/Ablative	Ablative/AM	Cryogenic/AM	Cryogenic/AM	Cryogenic/AM
Fuel ISRU	Smelter	Smelter	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/Smelter	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU	Scoop/ISRU
Notes		Two models	Two models, one variable length	Two models, one ablative	Ablative		Dual Mode	Variable length
Summary	Best high thrust engine, small footprint	Medium-level low complexity fusion engines, simple to use, one high thrust/low impulse, the other opposite	Higher complexity, high performance fusion engines, cryo fuels need support equipment, He3 is expensive. Best versions need tons of radiators	High performance fusion engines, simple to use, replace Z-pinch functionally	Entry-level AM engine, simple concept, ablative nozzle adds challenge	More power per unit of expensive fusion fuels than other early fusion	First instant-response high performance engine, dual-mode (low TWR and high TWR)	Challenging engine due to large size, heat production, need for AM

 

4

I guess you made a mistake with the Fuel cost of Pure AM (Antimatter) beeing "Low" , they should be "Extreme" or did you mean by fuel it propellant, in that case it should be ok, but I would recommend to change the name of the collumn, we down want people to confuse proelant and fuel

Edited July 21, 2017 by FreeThinker

[Nertea]

Not at all, AM is free in this mod. The difficulty in acquiring it is not cost - based

[Mekan1k]

My drool just shorted out a keyboard. DAMN these look fine~

[Mekan1k]

Actually, I just downloaded the most recent version off the gitHub, and now it won't load past fusionfuel-25-1. Why are there titles starting with '#LOC_FFT_'? Does that cause any issues?

Mainly because when I try to load it, Modulemanager gets stuck on fusionfuel-25-1. Anyone else have this issue, or know a fix?

Edited July 23, 2017 by Mekan1k

[Ralathon]

Probably because its a bad idea to use a 1.2.2 mod (Which is what the latest version of FFT is) in a 1.3 game.

[chateaudav]

On 20/07/2017 at 6:08 PM, Nertea said:

Yes, I'm kinda hoping to have another by early next week though.

 

Will this one be for 1.3 ?

[Mekan1k]

Since I have been watching your githhub, Nearta, I must ask, is 0.2.0 working for 1.3? As it is, I still love your part designs, and I cannot overstate this.

[Nertea]

On 7/23/2017 at 1:49 AM, chateaudav said:

Will this one be for 1.3 ?

Of course. 

2 hours ago, Mekan1k said:

Since I have been watching your githhub, Nearta, I must ask, is 0.2.0 working for 1.3? As it is, I still love your part designs, and I cannot overstate this.

When there is a release I will post it here. I forgot i didn't have an active dev branch and pushed the AVC file, excrements happens.

[Overlocker96]

My ISV Venture Star is taking shape thanks to this mod. Only propulsion section made, for now...

[GabrielG.A.B.Fonseca]

Nertea, how did you learn to make such beautiful models? (Lots of practice I assume, but hey, it's always nice to ask!) And also, how do you decide on where to put the piping and details when making engines? I've noticed that when I make engines in 3D, they are basically just DeLaval nozzles with a reaction chamber. The detailing you put on yours is what sells it! If it wouldn't be burden, could you show us a bit of your creative process in that regard?

Thank you very much for all the effort you put into your mods! Keep it up!

Edited August 1, 2017 by GabrielG.A.B.Fonseca

[Nertea]

20 hours ago, GabrielG.A.B.Fonseca said:

Nerve, how did you learn to make such beautiful models? (Lots of practice I assume, but hey, it's always nice to ask!) And also, how do you decide on where to put the piping and details when making engines? I've noticed that when I make engines in 3D, they are basically just DeLaval nozzles with a reaction chamber. The detailing you put on yours is what sells it! If it wouldn't be burden, could you show us a bit of your creative process in that regard?

Engine design flows out of the engine itself quite well. For a real engine it's quite clear. For a fictional engine I look at what the required inputs are, so what fuels do we need, and how the fuels get in there (turbopump, pressure-fed, etc). Next we should look at the way the reaction chamber should work, and how the nozzle is cooled. Then I draw inspiration from real engines to model those components. Turbopump types, ways of piping, etc. Really the parameters of the engine shape the look in a lot of cases. 

Ok so holy changelog batman. There's probably still a lot of bugs but I have to release this to start finding them!

Far Future Technologies 0.2.0

•  KSP 1.3
•  KSP 1.3 localization support for all parts and plugin components
•  Updated bundled MM to 2.8.1
•  Updated bundled CRP to 0.7.1
•  Updated bundled B9PartSwitch to 1.9.0
•  CryoTanks is now bundled
•  Added DynamicBatteryStorage component to distribution for timewarp EC management
•  The PulsePropulsion plugin was merged with the main FarFutureTechnologies plugin for easier maintenance
•  Lots of improvements to UI components
•  Antimatter handling was improved:
  •  Antimatter is now visible and tweakable in the VAB
  •  Antimatter tanks now have "virtual" contents in the VAB, which are not carried to the pad, for compatibility with KER/MJ DV displays
  •  Antimatter loader interface now reloads the antimatter count periodically
  •  Added infinite mode to antimatter factory which sets factory capacity to the maximum (activate with CTRL+SHIFT+A)
•  Improved ModuleEngineHeatDisplay's performance and utility
•  Improved PulseEngineAnimator to be more flexible, support "initiation" animations and heat animations
•  ModuleAntimatterTank's timewarp compensation was removed (Handled in DBS)
•  Fixed antimatter tank only drawing power from itself and not the entire vessel
•  New ModuleChargeableEngine component
  • Engine must be charged by a flow of EC for some time before being activated at a customizable draw rate
  •  Engines using this method typically don't require as much EC during operation
•  New ModuleMultiLengthEngine component
  •  Engine reaction chamber length can be varied in the VAB
  •  Higher reaction chamber length gives better performance
•  New ModuleProfilingScanner component
  •  Replaces stock atmosphere scanner module
  •  ModuleProfilingScanner scans detect concentrations at the sensor but also direct a scanning beam in the direction of instrument pointing
  •  Running a scan opens a window showing the measured concentrations out into space at a player-defined distance
•  Z-Pinch engines received nicknames
•  Various changes to nomenclature of engines for better VAB sorting
•  Most engines fuel gauges were modified - EC no longer draws, and the two most "important" fuels are drawn
•  Reexported all engine plumes with correct layers and tags
•  Mass ratio of He3/D tanks was normalized to 6 (same as all cryogenic fuels in my other mods)
•  Rebalanced energy usage of all engines, typically now scales with thrust power (magnetic nozzle field strength)
•  Rebalanced heat production of all engines to typically lower values
•  Increased emissivity and max temp of most engines
•  Fixed small nuclear target tank containing 4000 pellets (reduced to 1800)
•  All fusion fuel tanks now require cryogenic cooling
•  Nuclear smelter now has an Ablator Refurbishment mode that can transform large quantities of ore into Ablator in-place
•  Increased visual pulse rate of Z-pinch engines by 25-33%
•  Casaba, MicroStar, Pleiades, Polaris engines now use the new ModuleChargeableEngine component
•  Cochrane engine completely rebalanced
  •  Uses new ModuleMultiLengthEngine implementation
  •  Engine reaction chamber length can be varied from 5m to 30m
  •  Higher reaction chamber length gives better thrust (linear scaling) and better efficiency (geometric scaling) at the cost of higher mass, energy usage (linear scaling)
•  Added JR-35B 'Jet' Tokamak Fusion Engine
  •  Chargeable engine
  •  Simple entry level thermal fusion engine using D/He3 and LH2
•  Added J-18 'Fresnel' Mirror Cell Fusion Engine
  •  Chargeable engine
  •  High efficiency thermal fusion engine using D/He3 and LH2
  •  Engine reaction chamber length can be varied in the VAB between 6m and 30m
  •  Higher reaction chamber length gives better thrust (linear scaling) and better efficiency (geometric scaling) at the cost of higher mass and thrust (linear scaling)
•  Added K-29 'Hammertong' Inertial Confinement Fusion Engine
  •  Chargeable engine
  •  Magnetic nozzle, very high specific impulse, lower thrust
•  Added K-49 'Stardust' Inertial Confinement Fusion Engine
  •  Chargeable engine
  • Ablative nozzle, high specific impulse, medium thrust
• Added 'Implausability' Metallic Hydrogen Engine
  •  High TWR, high impulse chemical engine
•  Added ST-4L3R Fusion Fuel Tank (3.75m)
•  Added ST-824 Fusion Fuel Tank (2.5m)
•  Added MH-4 Metallic Hydrogen Tank (2.5m)
•  Added MH-8 Metallic Hydrogen Tank (3.75m)
•  Reexported all normal maps for correct-ness
   

Oh, and a link to the download

Edited July 31, 2017 by Nertea

[MaverickSawyer]

Ooooh, shiny new release? I like.

[Trolllception]

This is great.  I think I need to start considering a way to have fun with a sandbox save.  It seems I never get to use the more advanced parts since gathering 20K+ science to unlock the last nodes is such a chore.  Nertea perhaps the chart you posted should go on the main page to help describe some of the engines and their benefits.  Congrats on the next release!