Supplies - notthebobo/USI-LS GitHub Wiki

Updated for v0.9.0.0

This page has the following sections:

Overview
Storage
Recyclers and Converters

Overview

Supplies, or Nutritional Organic Meal Substitute (N.O.M.S.), are the abstraction of everything you consume to live: oxygen, water, food, etc. They are carried in containers and can also be created by converting other resources.

The other resources involved in using Supplies are:

ElectricCharge, a stock game resource
Mulch, a byproduct of Supplies consumption. Excess Mulch is thrown overboard (destroyed) if you do not have a container to hold it
Fertilizer, used to produce more Supplies when combined with Mulch.

Kerbals consume Supplies and convert them directly to Mulch while using ElectricCharge.

A single Kerbal ...	Per Second	Per Hour	Per Kerbin-Day
Consumes `Supplies`	0.0005	1.8	10.8
Producing `Mulch`	0.0005	1.8	10.8
Using `ElectricCharge`	0.0100	36.0	216.0

A single Kerbal consumes 0.0005 Supplies per second, which is 1.8 Supplies per hour, or 10.8 Supplies per Kerbin-day, producing the same amount of Mulch.

Kerbals require 0.01 ElectricCharge per second which can be the major life support limitation in the early game, particularly before solar panels are available. At 0.01 ElectricCharge per second, a single Kerbal will exhaust a Z-100 Battery Pack in about 2.8 hours. Note that Kerbals only consume ElectricCharge when they have Supplies available to eat. (They need the electricity to operate their coffee makers, bagel toasters, microwave ovens, and refrigerators.)

Kerbals can go 90 hours without Supplies without incident. After 90 hours, bad things happen. In the default install, they become tourists - they will stop working, will not EVA and they will not command the ship. This is sometimes referred to as 'being grouchy' or 'striking'. Once provided Supplies, they'll return to work. By default this includes exceptional veteran Kerbals (Jeb, Bill, Bob, Valentina - those in orange suits). This and the penalties for running out of Supplies can be configured: See the configuration page for details.

Additionally, on Kerbin, Kerbals will not strike if below 25km altitude. They will still consume resources but will happily keep working. Assume they find some berries to eat if they run out of food. No need to manage Supplies for ground bases on Kerbin and low-flying atmospheric craft on Kerbin.

Quick Reference for how many days :green-apple:Supplies will support a single Kerbal

`Supplies`	Kerbin Days
100	9.3
500	46.3
4,500	416.7
15,000	1,388.9

Storage

Suppliesare carried in USI-LS containers. They can be added to your vessel at launch, or attached later using the Kerbal Attachment System (KAS) and Kerbal Inventory System (KIS) mods.

Part Name	`Supplies`	`Mulch`	`Fertilizer`	Attachment
Life Support MiniPak (Supplies)	100			surface mount
Life Support MiniPak (Fertilizer)			100	surface mount
Life Support MiniPak (Mulch)		100		surface mount
Life Support Tank (1.25)	500	10		inline mount
Life Support Tank (2.5)	4,500	150		inline mount
Life Support Tank (3.75)	15,000	300		inline mount
Fertilizer Tank (1.25)			500	inline mount
Fertilizer Tank (2.5)			4,500	inline mount
Fertilizer Tank (3.75)			15,000	inline mount

Recyclers and Converters

To extend your Supplies, you can use two types of modules: Converters and Recyclers.

Converters create new resources from other resources. USI-LS supports two conversions.

USI-LS Non-o-matics convert Fertilizer and Mulch into Supplies
The KSP stock Convert-O-Tron 125 converts Ore found on other celestial bodies to Fertilizer (which is called ISRU, In Situ Resource Utilization). Though this is inefficient, it can allow you to create new Fertilizer, decreasing or eliminating the need for resupply.

Recyclers, on the other hand, reduce the per-second consumption of Supplies by Kerbals, extending the existing supply. Recyclers are listed in 'Efficiency' and 'Capacity' values, meaning they will reduce the consumption of Supplies by the efficiency value for up-to the capacity number of Kerbals. Kerbals beyond the capacity value are not effected and consume Supplies at the regular value.

USI-LS uses three converters, two recyclers, and one ISRU from a combination of USI-LS and stock game parts. Additional recyclers, producers, and ISRUs are available if MKS is installed.