Tutorial:Monopropellant Money Exploit

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Intro

This exploit can create infinite money using the fact that Ore costs 0.02 Spesos per unit and Monopropellant is worth 1.2 Spesos per unit. 1 unit of ore can be converted to 2 units of monopropellant in an ISRU Converter.

Prerequisites

  • You need to have "Advanced Science Tech" (level 8) unlocked in the tech tree to get access to the Convert-O-Tron 250.
  • You want to use a high-level engineer to speed up the conversion process.
  • Initial capital of 25,000 Spesos to build the refinery
  • Optional: have "Adv. Fuel Systems" (level 6) unlocked for access to Large Monopropellant Tank.
  • Optional: have "Experimental Aerodynamics" (level 8) unlocked for access to Mk3 Monopropellant Tank.
  • Optional: have "Experimental Science" (level 9) unlocked for access to Large Ore Tank.

Process

  • Build a refinery that starts with empty monopropellant tanks and full ore tanks. The refinery uses Convert-O-Tron 250 to convert stored ore into monopropellant (no drilling necessary).
  • Launch the refinery with an engineer on board to speed up conversion.
  • Start monopropellant production in the ISRU converter.
  • After the conversion is complete, recover refinery for 100% value.
  • Profit!

Example refinery build

Core (can be multiplied to scale to larger refineries):

Additionally you need once per refinery:

Performance of this example:

  • Time taken for conversion (with 0 star engineer): about 3 and a half hours
  • Time taken for conversion (with 2 star engineer): about 1 hour 20 minutes
  • Time taken for conversion (with 5 star engineer): about 40 minutes (example does not produce enough electricity to run continuously)
  • Profit per run: 3,386 Spesos

Refinery design considerations

The time it takes to convert all the ore in the refinery depends on the initial amount of ore, the level of the engineer on board and the number of converters.

Hours until finished = ([initial ore capacity] / current ore use per second) / 3,600

If you add more ore and monopropellant tanks, the refinery can run longer before you need to recover it. If you add more Converters, the refinery will produce monopropellant faster and make more money per hour.

Note that the conversion factor is 1 ore converted into 2 monopropellant, you need to size the tanks accordingly. E.g. 1 Large Ore Tank full or ore will require 4 empty Large Monopropellant Tank to hold the produced monopropellant.

Do not use Convert-O-Tron 125 because it does not convert efficiently and you will waste ore.

Each running Convert-O-Tron 250 requires power and cooling.

Cooling: 1 Large Radiator per Convert-O-Tron 250 should suffice for cooling. Attach it to the tank next to the Converter.

Energy: consumption depends on the level of engineer you use. You can use Fuel Cell Array instead of solar panels to save space and run around the clock. This will reduce the profit margin slightly compared to solar. 2 Fuel Cell Arrays per Convert-O-Tron 250 should suffice for up to a 4 star engineer. If you run on fuel cells, remember to add a rocket fuel tank. If you create a large installation, set some of the ISRU to convert LF+OX instead of monopropellant; this allows the use of a small shared rocket fuel tank. This tank might get hot and require extra cooling. One LF+OX converter can provide enough fuel for 11 additional converters.

The refinery will block the launchpad or runway from where it is launched. You can mitigate this by putting the refinery on rover wheels to drive it from the runway or launch it from Island Airfield or another alternative launch site.