[1.12.x] Freight Transport Technologies [v0.6.0]

[Viragos]

On a side note to that I've been having the insta-fill glitch with my mining rigs and I think I may be onto what the cause is. I need to do some more testing to be sure though.

So after a little more experimenting on the side of a hill on Minimus, I think the cause of the insta fill bug is bounce related. Basically from what I can see the Drills all only work when landed and in low-gravity the ship bobbles back and forth between a very low orbit and landed. I think that is behind it because if you anchor/damp (Not 100% sure which one causes the fix) it doesn't insta fill. Fix would be as straightforward as including the anchoring module into the drills so it activates when you extend the drill (I cant code at all or I'd test it directly by modifying the code)

[Astraph]

The clever thing would be to use MKS's proxy logistics and have your drilling platform on the water, with a refinery and docking/transport mechanism on the beach.

Thanks for the tip. Although I do admit I've never tried the logistics hub before... Will make an experimental installation and see how it works Just to confirm my understanding - I need the logistics hub only on the source vehicle, or on the receiving one as well?

[BaseDrifter]

You only need one logistics hub to transfer to and from all vessels within that planet or moon's SOI.

[RoverDude]

So after a little more experimenting on the side of a hill on Minimus, I think the cause of the insta fill bug is bounce related.

Actually was tied to warping - but if you want give the latest experimental version on dropbox a swing and attempt to repro in case I missed an edge case.

Thanks for the tip. Although I do admit I've never tried the logistics hub before... Will make an experimental installation and see how it works Just to confirm my understanding - I need the logistics hub only on the source vehicle, or on the receiving one as well?

Neither You just need one.

[Viragos]

Already got it, and Ill see if I can reproduce it for you.

[Astraph]

OK, I'm officially too dumb for Logistics Hub... I've put a Karbonite-filled craft on the airstrip (to simulate the refinery) and a Logistics Hub with a control unit and an empty Karbonite tank on the launchpad... But when I click on the Hub and try to create a transfer, nothing happens :/ Do I have to put the Hub into orbit first? My guess was that it's be kinda illogical, to ship capsules of Karbonite into Eve orbit and then drop them back to a target ship several clicks away from the refinery ^^'

[RoverDude]

OK, I'm officially too dumb for Logistics Hub... I've put a Karbonite-filled craft on the airstrip (to simulate the refinery) and a Logistics Hub with a control unit and an empty Karbonite tank on the launchpad... But when I click on the Hub and try to create a transfer, nothing happens :/ Do I have to put the Hub into orbit first? My guess was that it's be kinda illogical, to ship capsules of Karbonite into Eve orbit and then drop them back to a target ship several clicks away from the refinery ^^'

For starters this will not work on the launchpad - you have to be in a launched state. Start with that, let me know how it goes.

[Tangle]

Uhhh... Is there a reason that the nukes on a ship with necessary liquid hydrogen and a reactor are so inefficient?

[RoverDude]

Uhhh... Is there a reason that the nukes on a ship with necessary liquid hydrogen and a reactor are so inefficient?

Define inefficient, as compared to what?

[Night Lone]

RoverDude, DARN YOU! It took forever, and a LOT of kerbal's lives, to get this thing into orbit without cheats of any kind!!

I had 4 rather large liquid fuel boosters to help it get up there. I don't know how you can possibly make something really big, and get into orbit without destroying the space center in the mean time! (radiation or crashing)

[RoverDude]

Here's mine

You can see the jettisoned last launch stage in the pic. Key is to launch dry, and accept that the launchpad is toast.

[Tabris]

or build in orbit

[Night Lone]

or build in orbit

.. Theres no docking port for these pieces...

Also, thats 64 long hard docking (65 pieces) to go thru each time.

Unless you're talking about EPL, which I'm thinking about getting with the Karbonite mod config; but still unsure

[Mischief]

Hey boss, can you look at the numbers for making liquid H lighter?

While playing with builds I found out I can get way more dv using stock KR-2Ls and LFO than the super-nukes.

Not saying tweak the nukes as that could be seen as unbalanced. Just make their unique fuel lighter so they are still preferable to an LFO setup for deep space transit.

[somnambulist]

Hey boss, can you look at the numbers for making liquid H lighter?

I don't think that's possible. Liquid H2 weighs what Liquid H2 weighs IRL. Besides Near Future is the canonical mod for Liquid H2, not anything of Rover's.

[Mischief]

I don't think that's possible. Liquid H2 weighs what Liquid H2 weighs IRL. Besides Near Future is the canonical mod for Liquid H2, not anything of Rover's.

Engine lighter, or more thrust then? Currently they're inferior to some stock engines for deep space transit, which removes the point of having them, and they are cool and a cool concept.

[RoverDude]

(Warning typing from mobile) they should provide the same DV ton for ton with stock nukes, my baseline being 6700 dv at 200 tons. Likely reactor is tossing them off, so a slight buff is not emiss.

Oh. And you're getting a 5m torch ship engine.

[Mischief]

(warning typing from mobile) they should provide the same dv ton for ton with stock nukes, my baseline being 6700 dv at 200 tons. Likely reactor is tossing them off, so a slight buff is not emiss.

Oh. And you're getting a 5m torch ship engine.

moar rockets - always needs moar rockets

[Sarda]

(Warning typing from mobile) they should provide the same DV ton for ton with stock nukes, my baseline being 6700 dv at 200 tons. Likely reactor is tossing them off, so a slight buff is not emiss.

Oh. And you're getting a 5m torch ship engine.

The problem with the new FTT Reactor is; it burns fuel pretty fast, its huge and heavy, and you can't refuel it. In comparison to the Near Future reactors that last about 5x as long, and take 1/4 the space up and 1/3 the weight and can be refueled with their only drawback being they need a single heatsink mounted on it. Because unless I'm missing something if you power a craft with the new FTT Reactor you basically say the ship has 1 in-game year and then you need to crash it into the moon because its useless at that point.

Also, yay new 5m engine.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Sarda

[dshriver]

The problem with the new FTT Reactor is; it burns fuel pretty fast, its huge and heavy, and you can't refuel it. In comparison to the Near Future reactors that last about 5x as long, and take 1/4 the space up and 1/3 the weight and can be refueled with their only drawback being they need a single heatsink mounted on it. Because unless I'm missing something if you power a craft with the new FTT Reactor you basically say the ship has 1 in-game year and then you need to crash it into the moon because its useless at that point.

Also, yay new 5m engine.

It's actually more like one year of run time for the engines. The best way to use the reactor is to only turn it on when you are firing the engines. Unlike the NFT reactors there is no cooldown or warm up time. It is an instant on/off. So add some other way to power your non-propulsion systems, like a RTG or batteries or a solar array, and only use the reactor when you are running the engines.

I recently launched a big collector ship gather gases from low Kerbol orbit. I used a bi-elliptical transfer so I needed 3 long burns. The first was my escape burn from Kerbin to push me out to Eeloo's orbit, then a 2nd burn at AP to bring my Kerbol PE down about 250km, then a 3rd burn at PE to bring my orbit down to collection altitude. A final small burn was needed to circularize at that altitude. Overall I burned the engines from less than an hour, so I have plenty of time left on my reactor.

-d

[howkong]

Uh, I am quite confused about the way of using "hover" "cargo throttle" and "normal throttle". A tutorial on this might be needed......

In all I can find on YouTube about this mod, the authors are either not noticing the "Hover" , or confused about it.

(BTW, is their a way to kill the horizontal speed while hovering? Just like the "Kill H/S" in MechJeb Translation... )

[RoverDude]

@Sarda - DShriver is correct. I'll double check masses and such, but mine should be comparable to the NFT ones. And if not in use don't leave them on - use secondary systems. There are also refuel options via KERT.

@Howkong - Author not authors And hover is a FireSpitter feature so hit that thread on how to use it, I expect they have the docs you need.

[howkong]

Uh, another question...

Is there any good ways to keep the balance of my FTT VTOL with a moving center of mass, which is caused by unloading cargo or consuming fuel?

[goldenpsp]

Uh, another question...

Is there any good ways to keep the balance of my FTT VTOL with a moving center of mass, which is caused by unloading cargo or consuming fuel?

I'd be happy with a flyable VTOL. I suck so bad at building apparently, or flying, or both.

[RoverDude]

Uh, another question...

Is there any good ways to keep the balance of my FTT VTOL with a moving center of mass, which is caused by unloading cargo or consuming fuel?

Other mods

Teaser stuff for the thread in general: