Supplies - notthebobo/USI-LS GitHub Wiki

Updated for v0.9.0.0

This page has the following sections:

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.

Supplies Converters

Converter Image Source Mass Mulch Input (per day) Fertilizer Input (per day) Supplies Output (per day) Supplies to Fertilizer Ratio
Nom-O-Matic 5000 USI-LS 0.154t 2.592 0.2592 2.8512 11
Nom-O-Matic 25000 USI-LS .708t 12.960 1.2960 14.2560 11
Nom-O-Matic 25000-I USI-LS 1.52t 25.920 2.5920 28.5120 11

Fertilizer Converter

ISRU Image Source Mass Ore Input (per day) Fertilizer Output (per day) EleictricCharge Used (per day)
Convert-O-Tron 125 Stock 1.25 54,000 54 648,000

Recyclers

Recycler Image Source Mass Efficiency Crew Capacity
RT-500 Recycling Module USI-LS 0.10 60% 1
RT-5000 Recycling Module Stock 3.50 50% 4