Xenon Bigger Containers

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'm talking about proven designs that have completed nontrivial missions, not some hypothetical ships. This ship completed my first successful Moho landing:

http://jltsiren.kapsi.fi/ksp/0.23.5/moho-apollo/screenshot22.jpeg

12 ion engines, 60 xenon tanks, almost 40 tonnes, and almost 4600 m/s of delta-v in the mothership. The mass of the drive unit is 13.9 tonnes, including 1.6 tonnes of batteries. A single nuclear engine would have given 2.5x the TWR and 50% of the delta-v for the same mass. Doubling the number of xenon tanks to 120 would have increased the delta-v to 8100 m/s without affecting the TWR noticeably, while a nuclear engine would have produced 3500 m/s for the same mass.

That 8100 m/s is more than enough to compensate for the low TWR, especially considering that the real delta-v is much higher, after the lander has burned its fuel. The high part count of ion-powered ships is pretty much the only reason I'm still using nuclear engines in transfer stages.

Then, like I said before (twice), be sure to check out Near Future Technologies. Also, forget about the PB-ION as it is now, because as it is now it's been buffed to high heaven. NFT is balanced against the old stats of the PB-ION, and brings those stats back. Mostly because proportionally scaling the new electric engines to the new PB-ION stats would make the electric engines a universally superior choice for everything without an atmosphere.

[Jouni]

Then, like I said before (twice), be sure to check out Near Future Technologies. Also, forget about the PB-ION as it is now, because as it is now it's been buffed to high heaven. NFT is balanced against the old stats of the PB-ION, and brings those stats back. Mostly because proportionally scaling the new electric engines to the new PB-ION stats would make the electric engines a universally superior choice for everything without an atmosphere.

Near Future could be a good mod, but it takes KSP to a wrong direction for my taste. Instead of hypothetical technology implemented with game balance in mind, I'd like to see more realism in the game. I want ion engines that use 10x more power and generate 1000x less thrust, but with the ability to execute preplanned burns during time warp.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Near Future could be a good mod, but it takes KSP to a wrong direction for my taste. Instead of hypothetical technology implemented with game balance in mind, I'd like to see more realism in the game. I want ion engines that use 10x more power and generate 1000x less thrust, but with the ability to execute preplanned burns during time warp.

That's, however, not a direction KSP itself is heading in. It's also far beyond a mere parts mod, and has been a requested feature (in stock or mod) for quite some time now. So, given the circumstances, NFT is quite a good mod.