(.90) Stanford Torus 0.6.1

0.6.1

Both SpaceDock modules are now Extraplanetary Launchpads (if you have that mod installed)

0.6 update

.90 broke the old hangar extender.   I devised a way to resize the torus so that it can be worked on!.  Here's how it works.

Start with a torus hull.  You'll see it show up in the editor all big.  Right click the hull and choose Editor Mode

This will shrink the hull down so that you can edit it easily.

Any part you add to it will be rendered in the shrunken size

This except struts.  Struts now work on the torus to tie down parts you don't want kraken-ing to pieces.  I recommend doing this.  In the editor you'll see station sized struts.  You won't be able to re-edit them after saving.

Before you save your torus make sure to deactivate the editor mode (so the torus is normal size).  If you save the small size torus it will not be recoverable when you build it.

Other changes:

• The mass accelerator part is still in here but it took on a life of it's own.  If you have the new mass accelerator you'll have to remove the old one from the stanford torus parts folder.

0.5 Update:

• New Part:  Netherdyne Ultima 23 solid rocket booster:  The Ultima 23 adds a SRB to the list of engines that you get out of the very heavy rocketry line.  It is essentially worth 7 of the Large SRBs you're used to using and comes in a 3 meter diameter part.
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Balance changes:

• The Small Station Cargo Bay now has a 400000 rocket part capacity and a 2000 metal capacity.  This reduces the overall material capacity by half but makes the part easier to use for launching.
• New Small Station Fuel Cell with the same model as the cargobay:  Houses 3x the capacity of the large Kerbodyne tank.

Other changes

• The 1200 meter Torus hull has had its model optimized for mesh colliders.  Most of the core part colliders are now convex hull enabled.  The extra mirror section on the outside is also removed.  These optimizations will make the model load faster and physics activate faster and more safely.  Major geometry and hardpoints remained as is.  The grass texture on the outside is now a rock texture to more accurately match what might actually be built in a torus (it would take a lot of seed and water to do grass in the torus.  The water no longer has a mesh collider on it.
• The Station Habitat Module is now a convex hull to allow it to work on a Stanford Torus without glitching the Extraplanetary Launchpad build for it.  The center still shows as open but you can no longer put things inside of it.  The hatch is also moved to the top.
• Station Fuel tank now has a mesh collider.

0.4 update:

• Stanford torus hull is now 8000 tons instead of 10000 to reduce build time.
• Stanford Torus Hull now projects a structural integrity field around it.  Vessels within 2km of it are not allowed to go on rails.  Any parts attached to the station have breaking force, crash tolerance, and break torque amplified to improve station stability.
• New Cargobay part to store 75000 metal and 500 rocket parts.  This part should make launching a ship with metal to a torus build site easier.  Part is the equivalent of 7 large metal bins from EPL.
• Particle accelerator experiment now requires the correct amount of data (1500) to process the experiment.

0.3 update! Lots of new parts in this update.

Laser smelters:  Smelt your ore on orbit with 70% of the power requirement of a normal smelter thanks to the power of lasers.  There's one for karbonite too.

Large solar panels:  Large fixed solar panels remove the need for many small unfolding panels on a base or Stanford Torus.  These were done one for aesthetics and two for reduced polygon/collision count that comes solar panels to keep your base's time running in realtime rather than bullet time.  They come in a 2x4 meter size and a 18x30 meter size.

Mass accelerator

Now that you have the power use it!  The mass accelerator is a gigantic electromagnet that uses a pulse of electricity to launch a payload.  Park a payload under the ring (red is up), and arm the accelerator.  The accelerator will move the payload into position assuming the gravity is weak and the payload light.  Once it is in position fire the accelerator.  You can tune the accelerator's power output up to 250 kilo-newtons.  There is also a networked unit which allows you to setup a chain of accelerators for increased thrust duration.  Watchout for Newton's third law!

0.2 update!  

New progressive science experiments.  These experiments use resources and run for a while.  The long term experiments yield better science output than normal experiments.  

• Long duration goo experiment:  See what happens when you leave the goo exposed to space for a while.
• Biology lab:  Launch a few plants, expose them to Minmus's soil and see what happens!
• Psychology Experiment:  See what happens when you lock 2 unsuspecting victims...err subjects in a tank for a long while.  
• Orbital supercollider: See if you can discover a Jeb boson, the thing that keeps destroying our rockets!  Launch this massive experiment (or build it on your stanford torus) and see what you get.  This one requires electricity to use (of course)

New extraplanetary garage:  With my support for Extraplanetary Launchpads comes the new Extraplanetary Garage.  This part facilitates building rovers off world.  Design the rover in the spaceplane hangar.  Make sure not to move the first piece of it and build away from the doors in the hangar.  Then the build the rover at the garage on site.  This part requires the Extraplanetary Launchpad mod installed.

Balance updates

• Stanford torus parts are moved to Meta Materials technology
• The Stanford Torus hull is 3000 tons lighter.
• Science station part is moved to Advanced Exploration
• Updated costs for .24 contract system.

As a suitable endgame for KSP the idea struck me to explore the logistics of building a Stanford Torus in Kerbal Space Program.  I bring this mod to you as the result of that exploration.  Parts included with this mod:

•  Stanford Torus Hull: a 1200 meter diameter hull for your Stanford Torus station.  Includes grassy outer area
• Station Science Module: This Science module allows a full return on science transmitted after processing it.  It should be the benefit of your orbital city to not have to return your experiments all the way to Kerbin to analyze them.  It can be deployed to a surface.  The exterior hull is a holographic projection.
• Station Habitat module:  With living space for 36 kerbals this dormitory features beds, a mess hall and a snack bar.  It can be deployed to a surface.
• Station fuel tank, kethane tank, karbonite tank:  Store fuel for ship refuelling and kethane or karbonite to process for fuel.  Tanks have 850,000 unit capacity
• Cargo bays:  metal, ore, rocket parts, batteries:  Store parts to make ships at the station and electricity for the station.
• Docking bay:  This large 50 meter diameter attachment connects to the attachment points on the top and bottom of your stanford torus to provide a place to attach docking ports.  There is a small disc in the center for attaching mooring clamps for cruisers and smaller bays on the sides for small ships.
• BiodomeFarm:  A large farm enclosed in a biodome. The farm is 100% self operating (as kerbal astronauts tend to kill plants they come in contact with).  Primarily designed for Stanford Torus stations but may also be deployed to surfaces.  (decorative until I eventually integrate with TAC life support)
• Station Forest Module:  Put some trees in your stanford torus.  (decorative until I integrate with TAC life support)
• Surface mountable Clamp-o-tron Sr:  What was originally mistaken for an industrial manhole cover was found to be a Clamp-o-Tron sr with hard points added to it for surface mounting.  Useful for docking modules and attaching new parts to a station.
• Spacedock module:  A large dock with parts storage that can be used as a core for an orbital launchpad.  Mounts on the center of a Stanford Torus.
• Holographic Extraplanetary Launchpad:  After destroying several ore shipments and launchpads when the launchpad couldn't handle the load this was made to facilitate launching huge ships off world.
• Inline Goo module:  One of Netherdyne's interns got hit with this when it fell off the back of a truck.  The goo canister is the same material as found in the surface mount modules we already have.  Seems it's manufacturer got tired of balancing goo packs on science probes.  Any leaking in the inner-tube is perfectly normal.

Some other mods will be necessary to make this experience possible:

• Extraplanetary launchpads - necessary for building the torus in orbit
• Kethane -  Necessary for fueling ships on surface bases that provide resources for this project
• Karbonite - a new alternative fuel to kethane which can't be depleted (makes for easier delivery ship builds)
• FSHangarExtender http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65747-0-23-5-Hangar-Extender-v1-1?highlight=FSHangarExtender   - Necessary to actually build and populate your Stanford Torus. 
• ActiveTextureManagement - recommended for systems with limited memory or lots of mods
• Bahamuto's drills and EPL parts:  These increase the dramatic experience for mining and making parts.

Construction tips:

If you follow the analysis of what would actually have to happen to build a Stanford Torus you'll find yourself doing the same things in KSP to build this one.  At 13000 tons she'll take an infrastructure on the surface and in orbit to complete.  Here's an outline of steps you'll need to take to build a torus:

1.  Deployment:  You'll need a ship and a station capable of deploying a Stanford Torus.   With Extraplanetary Launchpads I strongly recommend using Progressive builds and also tweaking the productivity of parts.  If you use the science module or habitat module from my mod in your construction station I've already provided those productivity tweaks for you.  The habitat module is the easiest one to launch off kerbin.  I recommend boosting the productivity 100 fold.

2. Resources:  The primary resource you need to deliver is rocket parts.  The best way to get that is to establish a base on a nearby moon or small planetoid to launch raw material from.  This is how it would be done in real life anyway.  When establishing your base I recommend you find an ore and kethane pocket that are close to each other.  This allows you to use liquid fuel in your ore delivery vehicle.  If you can't find one you'll have to ship fuel in from other parts of the rock you put your base on.

3.  Base building tips:  Use landing gear on every piece of equipment that will go on the base.  This prevents the base kraken from consuming your base whenever you build something.  The flatter the terrain you put the base on the better.  You should also try to make sure it lands on an ore field.  This will make loading up your ore shipments easier.  You can build trucks to get kethane from a nearby kethane field.

4.  Deployment station tips:  Just like in real life you'll want to have a recycling bin on the station.  This makes delivery as easy as flying the ore carrier straight into the recycling bin.  All of the resources onboard are recycled to be used in your station.  Your deployment station will need: rocket part production, smelters for ore (unless you deliver metal) and enough storage to contain it all.