Digging around the configs I've found the rhino has been seriously nerfed, it now produces 1000 thrust down from the 2500 it previously made. Its now weaker than a mainsail, costs more, and weighs 30% more. It is more efficient at vacuum and heats up less though, but the description still mentions it being a lifting engine, which it is not as it has terrible thrust at sea level and being heavier loses out to the mainsail significantly. I of course bumped it back up to 2100 thrust and increased the heat to 200 because why not :p
Now since I have USI Kolonisation stuff installed I'm modding ore so you can't make fuel from it, that will require the URI fuel converter and liquid water. Ore will replace metallic ore in the USI stuff, also since I don't have interstellar I can't make uranium for these groovy reactors, so I'll mod uraninite to work in the reactors, also i'll change the USI nuclear engines to use uranium as well as the LH2.
I think I'll leave the enriched uranium and depleted uranium, mod something to convert uraninite or depleted uranium into enriched uranium.
Will you be sharing these awesome-sounding changes?
Will do, for the sake of not breaking stuff I'll be putting the changed parts into a separate folder, deleting the old equivalent parts would be recommended but not entirely necessary.
I kind of forgot about the engine test stand and went off to watch 'a million ways to die in the west', so they now have all reached equilibrium.
Control; Engine= 1787.1 degrees, Tank= 1778.3
With panels; Engine = 1026.4, Tank = 1011.9, Panels = 855.9 (Panels have a 1200 degree breaking point)
Double tank; Engine = 1589.2 degrees, Tanks = 1578.1
And the 1/10th size tank; Engine at 74.5 %= 1928.5, Tank = 1925.8 , this one heated up slightly more, maybe from radiant heat as the other tanks got hot? Also the Girder underneath hit 1807 degrees and the 1x1 panel underneath that is at 1448 degrees, under this is an octo strut at 787 degrees.
I will revise my earlier dismissal of the effectiveness of solar panels, they make a significant difference, however the mass requirement is absurd.