PDelta41

Okay, somehow I missed the part where you explicitly said "Here is a CSV file". I had copy-pasted it to notepad and was futsing with it before I realized that the items were nicely separated by commas, spaces and hard returns, and that I could save it as a .CSV and it'd be easier to play with (which I did). Then, this morning, I log back in, and boom! there it is, mocking me. Anyways, enough drama. I'll continue working on this over the next couple weeks; I just need to decide which parts go in which nodes. Right now they're all set to the same node, albeit in four parts.

Attachment points are controlled entirely in the cfg. The handles are funny, and inverting it might take some fiddly work, but it can be done. It's been a long time since I've spent any time with those, though.

Okay, I've got into this some, and have the initial framework coded. Do you have any idea which parts should go in which nodes? Or for that matter, a parts inventory so I can cross-check? Let me know your thoughts.

Hi Linux; I've been unable to find that patch so far. I have a couple more places to check, but it might be easier for me to create a new one. Let me know if you do decide to adopt this, and what you need in a patch.

Oh sure. I think you mentioned this when I started work on this little project. Career mode really doesn't have any appropriate nodes anyways. Even the Community Tech Tree doesn't make any that are really appropriate. The ones I've added should be decently balanced. In the coming months, I'll add a node for the hovercraft, too. I know a lot of mod-makers (especially the ones that do really neat parts) find career mode to be tedious at best; I enjoy career mode, and felt it was appropriate for naval stuff to have it's own branch. I suppose I could go in and MM part costs, but at this point, I think they're reasonable enough.

It doesn't redistribute any of your code, or parts. It just creates a CTT branch and nodes for them. Everything it touches, it does through module manager. Its only utility is in career mode, in sandbox, the changes aren't even accessible.

Hi all. I've finally got my CTT integration branch mod up. This will create naval tech nodes, and place Fengist's parts in them. https://spacedock.info/mod/1283/Community Tech Tree Naval Branch

Excellent! It is functional at this point, though I do want to tweak a couple of things. I'm okay at graphic design (those icons are about par for the course), but I'm a fair hand at .cfg files. At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to make it available. I suspect that it would be a mod, and as such, would need licence or copyright stuff. Do you manage any content? I could certainly use some help and/or advice, and would be happy to set up your tech tree icons in exchange.

I'm working on a Community Tech Tree nautical branch. Any interest in Career mode integration?

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the structural panels, ladders, stairs and such. They would certainly be last to be addressed. I'll take a look tonight and compile a list.

True, it would be rather unfortunate to have a ship capsize simply because it's used half of it's fuel. I'll take a look at it and see if there's a workaround, and get back to you on that. That's pretty low on my list, though. I'm still entertaining ideas as to how to assign price; my main thought is to base it off of weight and to compare completed ship cost to rocket cost. In the real world, they're both about $30/lb. I'll take a look at fuel tanks, engines, and command pods to get a good price/lb. I thought there were about 65 parts? Using MM callouts, that's not really that many to address; I have 9 tech nodes, I can create one item per node that references multiple parts. Cost will take significantly longer, but probably not more than a few weeks.

The changes would be to add the parts to appropriate tech nodes (dependent on Community Tech Tree) and to balance costs (both part costs and unlocking cost). Most of the parts would indeed be early career, though some of them (mostly submarine and aircraft carrier parts) run toward mid-career. The only other change I'm considering would be perhaps to turn off infinite fuel, requiring that ships be refueled or recovered/relaunched. (Kerbal UnRep, anyone?) Otherwise, I wouldn't touch functionality.

Is there any interest in adding career functionality to this pack? I'm putting together a Community Tech Tree naval branch, and I could add MM configs for your parts, if you like.

Is there any interest in incorporating a branch for ships/boats? Is that something that should be implemented by the nautical mods whose parts would be incorporated? I've created such a branch (and I'm still tweaking it, but it's in working shape) for my own career game, and I figured that others might be interested as well. Affected mods so far would be SM Marine and Fengists' Maritime Pack.

Well, boat parts really don't make much sense in any of the stock tech nodes. I use Community Tech Tree in my career games just because it adds depth and coherence, especially with modded parts. My branch just adds nodes appropriate to boat, ship, and sub parts; it is, however, dependent on CTT. I'll go ahead and look at the parts more closely, and create a MM config that'll price them in a way that is (by my best estimate) balanced. Most of your current focus on the Steampunk pack? Or are there others, as well?

This branch is specifically for things nautical, so just maritime pack and vessel mover, in your case. I've also written MM configs for SM Marine parts, as well. It does add more tech nodes, hence, requires more science (hopefully your boats are helping with that). On the other hand, this is what CTT is for; decluttering tech nodes and making the tech tree a little more coherent. So I just created a branch to put boats and ships in.

At long last, I have returned. By way of apology, I offer a Community Tech Tree branch, if you're interested.

If anyone does continue work on this, I've built a Community Tech Tree patch that I can give them.

I had the same issue with the gangplank. The slider did indeed fix it.

More testing confirms that the center of balance is critical for a straight launch. Loading winches onto the otherwise stable seagull resulted in some nasty pitching. Also, how does one reload the catapult? (Bill and Jeb want to know...) Also, what are the plans for implementing rotation for these? They don't play nice with Infernal Robotics parts. (the one with orange wings is modelled after an SOC Seagull, and the monoplanes are are attempts at a SC-1 Seahawk)

Those are exactly the floats I was looking for. And yeah, the PBY idea was totally said in a wistful manner. It would take complexity of parts similar to Nazari's shuttles, I imagine, with specialized air frame and hull parts, and they'd be pretty useless for anything else. Further tests with the catapult have shown good results, with consistent (if overpowered launching). A new issue has cropped up with a new plane: if the root part is above or below the center of mass, the craft is given a nasty downward or upward (respectively) pitch. Right now I'm trying to figure out if I can sidestep that, so my craft isn't sent headlong into the runway or flipped like a coin. But definitely a thorny issue, and re-rooting to a docking port seems not to work at all. Also, saving as a subassembly isn't working, unless I re-root to the shuttle (which caused the coin-like backflipping mentioned earlier).

@TheSpeedyWanderer34: Most of the Hermes parts seem to work in 1.1.3. I'll try assembling one in orbit, and update once testing is done. Also, xxhansonmaxx, are you interested in modulemanager configs to make this compatible with Connected Living Space, Community Tech Tree, and USI Life Support? I created them for my own career game, and would be glad to share them.

Yeah, wheels seem to be a thorny issue right now. Squad's own wheels work, but it seems that a lot of mods are on hold while they wait for a wheel fix. (I'm waiting too, stock landing gear are just too limited for my needs). Unfortunately I have no real understanding of how wheels really work; I get the collision mesh and the physics aspects of suspension and suchlike, but I haven't used modeling software at all, so the animations, transforms, and other model-dependent details kinda escape me. Most of the float planes I want to make don't have wheels at all, or if they do, they're to the sides of the float, rather than extending straight down (A PBY Catalina seems to me a worthy project, if terribly ambitious). I'll be glad to test (and help with hacking configs) with the float if you do decide to work on it, and the on folding wings as well (and any other neat parts down the road) Results from initial catapult tests: Works well, so long as the catapult is attached to something BIG (launch clamps don't work). Some Firespitter engines (the biplane engine and procedural radial, at least) are not detected (they don't have fuel bars, so Squad may not recognize them either). The shuttle tends to rotate axially in the connector if launch is delayed, even with well-balanced aircraft. (more angular collision meshes may help. Maybe) Had to add a superfluous tailwheel to enable launch (Is a wheel plugin/module used to differentiate between nearby potential nearby kerbals and the aircraft to be launched?) Eventually, it may be advisable to allow the launch force to be scaled (it launches my SOC fast enough to occasionally tear parts off) Let me know if you'd prefer these reports in a different format, or pushed/pulled elsewhere. Also, I can provide screenshots if you'd like. One last tidbit, for an eventual FAQ for this part; "Make sure your aircraft actually flies before blaming the catapult. If your plane (or other launched object) tries to fly backwards, porpoises, or tumbles, it may have all the aerodynamic grace of an umbrella dragged backwards. Runway-launched tests are advised." (I changed cockpits, and now my tail surfaces aren't working. Firespitter parts are rather buggy right now.) Will continue testing over the weekend.

I'd like to help test. I need a catapult to launch a SOC seaplane, and this looks very much like it. Also, any suggestions on where I can find better seaplane floats (than firespitter or SXT) and small hulls (RHIB or pinnace)?

Why did Squad have to release 1.1 JUST in time for finals and term papers? Priorities, priorities. I think I'll go play for another 3 hours.