the point of ion?

[panzer1b]

My biggest issues with them is the time burns take on heavier craft (and im not exactly willing to bring a massive array of them due to part count limits.

They are great for probes/satelites, or extremly small vessels. They also work quite well as a interplanetary transfer ring. Just make a ring with 6 or so ions, enough panels to guarantee itll work, and then dock a craft to it. While slow, 5 engines provide 10kn thrust, enough to move even 20 tons, given patience. Ive also recently tried them as makeshift droptanks to extend my range, use the structural pylon or whatever the decoupler thing is called, and then add a engine, 2-4 fuel tanks, and 1-2 giant solar panels. They make a nice way to extend your range, although they arent very good for fast burn needs.

[technion]

No landing on Tylo?

Bahahah.. no!

Interestingly, putting two ions on that lander, if you looked just at KRE, would convince you it was capable of a Vall landing. What that doesn't show you is that, even with the panels shown, it didn't have enough to run at full power for extended periods, and a second ion would need to be coupled with enough extra panels that you'll lose that ability to land on Vall.

[Heagar]

The nice thing about ion powerd crafts is that they only need a tiny ammount of fuel compared to a "normal" rocket engine. With it you can build very tiny crafts.

I had build an STTO - consited of a Mk1 Cockpit, one jet fuel tank and jet-engine and two ion engines with eight canisters of fuel each, if i recall it right. This craft could go to Duna and back or (one way) to Lathe.

The downside was that the burn times where about 90 minutes though...

[mdkendall]

Here's an example plane powered by one ion engine and one tank of Xenon. Dondred gets over 21km up and reaches 430m/s. He ends this particular flight with a swim, but in similar flights I have been able circle back and glide to a landing on the big island.

Bonus tip: when landing on one wheel, unicycle-style, coast to a stop; DO NOT BRAKE.

[Darkday560]

What's the point of those weedy little ion things?

And why do they use so much electric?

If you are doing a military rp, it is very great for spy probes to move around low-atmosphere to gather info, as long as it is very very very light,

[Axelord FTW]

Yes, I problem I just spent several days pulling my hair out over... and as of last night, abandoned the project. :/

Near Future has HUGE xenon tanks, among other things.

[Streetwind]

A word of warning on Near Future Propulsion - you cannot make ion glider planes when you have it installed, as it makes electric engine thrust and Isp scale strongly with atmospheric pressure (as they should). For in-space use and asteroid redirect missions, though, it's a great mod. And yes, the amount of Xenon you can get in the largest tank is ridiculous

[panzer1b]

Also, one thing ions do have nice, is that unlike rockets/ect, you dont have to worry too much about fuel. Provided you have enough electricity to power the thing at full power, the fuel useage will be negligible, and even 1-2 xenon tanks can get you to teh farthest reaches of the universe.