Bubbadevlin

Personally super excited about the painting and proc wings Both of those look so fun to play around with

Cool read and im definitely hyped for the new parts KSP2 will have What I am wondering about though is procedural parts. How are they looking? They were teased to be part of the game and would add so much possibility to crafts while keeping part count low. Just look at how much can be done with flags (basically procedural textures) My other question is more of an art one, but will the parts be more visually uniform? The visual style of KSP's parts has very distinct waves depending on when things were introduced. Parts can have very noticeably different shades of white or the metallic portions can reflect light entirely differently (look at the spherical fuel tanks vs the mylar skinned panels vs that probe core..) While this can be cool in the sense that each brand and lineup of parts is slightly different, it can be incredibly annoying if you are trying to mix the two together.

Pushing the limit time wise But here is my submission

Amazing, ty More references is always better when building a replica

Ok so more questions Is there any way we could get some sort of scale on those wireframe images? (or simply the size of the lander?) I haven't really been able to find the crafts size other than "2 meter diameter" on wikipedia - the source of which is a news article for 2018 - along with a picture of a presumably old design

DLC isn't considered stock? F The lack of DLC really limits what we can do in terms of accuracy of movement What's the rules on config editing or custom flag textures? Those can both add miles to the detail of a replica but would probs be in kinda a grey zone

Today in KSP i decided (foolishly) to try and launch a merged craft file of all the parts of my carrier I have done Made almost entirely of flags, the thing is fully stock and rn ~6800 parts. Thats WITHOUT the upper sides, majority of the deck, or superstructure... Im really not sure why i do these things, that alone took like 1.5 hours to load in fully In the process of combining subassemblies I also managed to get 3 kspedias .. somehow

I clip parts with almost every build but thats just tied to what i like to build. A significant chunk of stuff i do in the game is building replicas or just general visual builds. Apart from that i like to build things with stock mechanics or trying to push various aspects of the game to its limits. While i do agree that clipping too much can get dumb if its built for the sake of performance, at a certain point it actually becomes impressive dealing with the 100s of fuel tanks and parts all existing in the same place. Many KSP parts just have dumb dead space (like the 2m SAS wheel) while others end up making really bulky rockets because of the predetermined shapes that ksp parts have, so in general the practical clipping has never been a problem in my opinion. Furthermore, clipping for performance has never really bothered me either because if you are significantly clipping it would be for a goal of pushing KSP past what you would normally be able to do. At this point when KSP is pushed that far it is no longer about optimizing your rocket, its more about gaming around KSP's systems (cough aero cough). Even without clipping it would be like that, while clipping simply opens more windows into what is possible.

I dont really see how this is different from the space craft exchange in general... or for that matter kerbalX

Today in KSP i finished my flying supercarrier... https://kerbalx.com/Bubbadevlin/Coriolis-Class-Helicarrier

I suppose i have put more time into planes than rockets.. but its a pretty close call Alot of my game time is just static tests and mechanics stuff on the runway, so I wouldnt count that. I will say i spend nearly ALL my time in the SPH as opposed to the VAB. the SPH camera controls are just far far superior than the VAB for any sort of detailed or clipped together craft

Back in the day I made a kerbal statue with Kerbpaint.. It was pretty fun but also just so stupid

Damn. I never really considered the importance and usage of inter vessel collisions with single-craft joints... let alone people coming up with such a similar idea 4+ years later. I really like the designs and its great to see more evolution in KSP mechanics. Plus the tech is DEFINITELY well suited for things like flaps and gimbals Back in 2016 I had created a REALLY similar system, except that rather than using the new inter-part collisions as the guide bearing I used a decoupling shell. Because of the decoupling shell the joint basically had both the downsides of a traditional bearing as well as bendy tech, so it was really only ever used as a method of rotating engines on my Binary SSTO in order to keep them throttle able and as one single craft. (And yea, that was still in the era of landing gear bearings... man KSP builders have made such an improvement to mechanical things). Later I revisited the idea with my Binary 2, and redockable shell, but the design ended up being overly complex and convoluted. Other than that I only ended up using the idea as a the bearing for a tank turret (once again so that I could control both parts at the same time). Due to the need for a decouple-able shell (and overall larger size and complexity of bearings) the only real advantage the design had over a standard joint was the ability to control across it. Also have you guys tried strings of Ant engines as the spring? I found them to be one of if not the most flexable parts. If i put 10-20 in a spiral (like a clock spring) I was able to get the joint to turn 180 degrees + in either direction pretty easily Oh and i would definitely like to join your community of builders

Thanks! But I probably wont work on this thing much lol, it was built pretty much purely aesthetics. When KSP 2 comes out and there is an actual use for colony ships? Definitely.

Dam impressive man! I love the attention to detail. It nice to see a no compromises replica build of the N1. It has such unique shapes that KSP parts dont do a good job conforming, but this replica looks fantastic. I especially love how clean the fairings look.. I cant imagine how much fiddling it took to get them all the proper shape and size.

Bubbadevlin Presents The Laniakea Class Colony Ship KerbalX Link Development Process Back when 1.8 was released I was playing around with the new SRBs and decided to try and make something which utilized them as structural pieces. This colony ship is what I came up with. At 250 meters long and over 9000 tons it is the largest craft I have ever created in terms of size, and with a crew capacity of 2864 I think it it will fulfill its role. The ship features a command section at the front, with a large multi-floor viewing window setup. Two habitation rings with 72 Mk3 habitation modules in each ring. (sadly I was unable to use BG to get them to spin, the rings were simply too large). In between the two rings sits the craft’s large multi-antenna communication array. The ship also includes 3 docking bays each featuring a fully functional cargo SSTO (albeit a pretty mediocre one that I quickly built). The 8 fairings are designed to mimic large fuel tanks, but this being KSP they are simply empty. At the very back of the ship is the two large propulsion units, each of which have 36 vector engines, though these are thrust limited to prevent spontaneous combustion. This craft was created purely for aesthetics, and as such it is extremely impractical (who would have guessed). With a turn time of around 10 minutes and only about 1000 Delta V the real point of this thing is just to look cool. Flight Guide Dont try and make a launcher for this. Just dont. In my head canon this thing would be built in orbit from many parts. As such I simply always cheat it into orbit. If you are quick you can set its orbit before physics loads on the ground, but otherwise hack gravity to a minimum before launching. Other than that stage once for the main engines, and don’t stage again or the ship will fall apart. Lights turns on the lights, and action group 0 will set the control point to be inline with the ship

1.8 is a pretty good update IMO, but i think there is one update not included that should be: 1.0.5. While it wasn't a 1.X update, it still was very major (and was after 1.0). 1.0.5 was the update that added the different sized jet parts, overhauled quite a number of part models, added proper buoyancy physics, and overall added a lot of QOL improvements. But yea, it was technically a 1.0 patch so i would say 1.8 is the best other than that. As an English speaker the localization patches didn't bring much in my opinion, and as an almost exclusively sandbox player the comm-net didn't do much either. The maneuver and delta V stuff is really good QOL, but if i needed it in the past I would have just installed KER. The performance of 1.8 combined with the new SRBs are pretty nice in my opinion.

Today in KSP i finally finished my massive kerbal colony ship. With a possible crew count of 2864 and an overall length of 200m she is a big one. (Stock w/ DLCs btw)

Very amazing replica! Such clean lines considering its built out of the wing pieces. I especially like the colors/lighting you have with these pictures, it really adds to the replica

Lookin great! I love the paint scheme I really feel your pain with those spontaneous explosions, had them happen to me ALOT during the testing of my own Saturn V. For me I found that the spontaneous explosions were dependent on fuel level and not altitude or speed, making me think that it was the shifting of autostruts from one tank to another as fuel drained that was causing the explosions. (since i was building using autostrut heaviest). I even ended up putting in a fuel locked tank in the rocket, which did actually fix the spontaneous combustion on ascent.. but then i had about 3 rebuilds worth of rockets which spontaneously exploded after i decoupled them. Likewise never figured out the real problem behind that either, but my working guess was that the fairings were unloading slightly before/after the rest of the parts (since following the spent stage down caused no problems). I ended up having to rebuild the stage a bunch of times until it worked on all forms of autostruts as during the previous rebuilds it was only stable with autostrut heaviest. (other autostrut settings caused the craft to spontaneously explode on the pad). Then again, all these problems were with my 2k + ton behemoth so i am not sure how applicable the problems would be for you. TLDR; In my experiences never trust a craft that ONLY works on autostrut heaviest

I wish.. The 10-15 was an average, its around 3-5 when launching. Plus i have the physics delta set so that even if my game is running at an okish frame rate, the in game time is horribly slow

Thanks! The rocket wont work in RSS, there is not nearly enough Delta V for that Thanks for telling me about the link.. dam prepublished link

Bubbadevlin Presents: A 1:1 Scale Saturn V & Apollo Replica KerbalX Link "One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind" With these words - uttered 50 years ago to the day - the astronaut Neil Armstrong, and in turn mankind themselves, took the first steps on the moon. This craft is dedicated to that achievement, and the amazing spacecraft of the Saturn V and Apollo program that enabled such a journey Development Process This craft started 3 and a half years ago, when I first made a life sized Saturn V. At that time the size itself brought the incredible challenge, and the realism was less than perfect. Since then I have always planned to do an updated version, but never got around to it until now. In the time that has elapsed, KSP has evolved massively. New parts, (MH and 5m stuff) features, (Autostrut!) and bug fixes (fairings are now actually bearable to work with...) mean that what I had planned to be an update ended up being a complete rebuild of all aspects. New methods allowed me to focus less on just getting a working rocket, and more on the details. With 2500 parts the rocket is massive. The first stage alone uses 48 vectors to lift it off the ground, and the command module uses the F1 analog engine. Almost every aspect is highly detailed and custom built. The construction took probably 100s of hours, and it was an endeavor that I started 4 months ago with the creation of the LM. The main problem I had with the craft (and is probably half the build time) was the S-1C, which underwent 7 rebuilds to make sure that it both didnt explode in flight, nor once it was staged. Due to the obscene part count, lag was also an issue. On the full rocket every part movement or placement means a 5-10 minute load time. (I did build it in sub-assemblys, but those can only go so far). In flight i get about 10-15 FPS, but staging will likewise freeze the game. When the rocket exploded in testing the game would sometimes even freeze for 30 minutes or more (most of the time i would close the program and relaunch it if i noticed any problem with the ascent) Flight Guide Despite its size, this is a straightforward rocket, and the above album is of the full J class mission I preformed. However; despite the size, Delta V margins and TWRs are designed to be realistic to Kerbal scale, so wasteful piloting can leave you out of fuel. An important thing to note is that if BG (and 1.7.3) had come out earlier some manual aspects of the flight would be KAL controlled. Liftoff S-1C For the main liftoff, simply throttle up to full and stage. No launch clamps or fancy startup sequences were used due to the craft size. An important note is that the S-1C uses SRBs to make a larger plume, so keep the throttle at max throughout the first stage burn. A slight gravity turn near the end of the stage is recommended. Staging S-II After first stage cut off, simply stage again. This will activate the Ullage motors on the inter-stage and retro-rockets on the S-1C. Start the 5 J2 engines of the S-II by staging again, and then stage once more to release the inter-stage. Note: The Ullage motors are the RCS motors, so it is important to release the skirt before they burn through all of the craft’s monopropellent. Shortly after skirt separation stage again to release the Launch Escape System. Like the S-1C SRBs are used for plume, so maintain max throttle. The majority of the gravity turn occurs during the S-II stage, but be careful not to spin out due to aerodynamic forces. Staging S-IVB A large portion of the circularization burn is preformed by the S-IVB. After S-II cutoff stage again to activate the retros and then a second time for the ullage motors. Stage a third time to activate the main engine. After the ullage motors cut off, stage again to decouple them. Continue to burn with the S-IVB until you are in a stable parking orbit of ~80 Km. Significantly higher than that and you WILL run out of fuel in the S-IVB, and have to use the command module to finish the trans-munar injection burn. Trans-Munar Injection Burn To start the burn, stage again. This will activate the second set of ullage motors, and then throttle up the main engine. Burn until you have a clean Mun encounter, then stage again. This will release the LM cargo fairing. Stage again to decouple the command module. Re-dock the command module to the LM and then stage again to release the S-IVB. Preform and needed correction burns using the command module main engine. At this point press AG 0 to deploy the CM’s cargo bay and antenna. Munar Orbit Insertion Preform the Munar Orbit Insertion using the Command Module’s engine, make sure that the orbit is not larger than ~20 Km otherwise the lander will run out of fuel upon ascent. Like the real CM, mine has a very high TWR, so be careful. Munar Landing To begin the landing, transfer the crew over and undock the lander. (despite many hours of fiddling and it previously working, EVA from the command module is not possible). After separation, control from the docking port (rather than the tilted crew cabin) and deploy the landing gear using G. Note: It is very beneficial to lock the hinges of the landing gear in place before landing. Stage again to activate the LM’s engine, and land the craft like any other lander. Munar Ascent Once the kerbals are back in, simply stage (twice if rover is not used) to decouple and activate the ascent stage. Use this engine to orbit and rendezvous with the command module. Dock with the command module and transfer back over to it. Reentry For reentry, decouple the ascent module and leave it in munar orbit. Use the command module engine to exit the mun’s SOI and set up a reentry profile. The capsule has a heat sheild, so thermals should not be an issue. Decouple the service module before reentry by staging. During reentry staging once more will open the command module bay, and staging a second time will deploy the parachutes. Use AG 3 to cut the drogue chutes once the main chutes have opened. Unlike the real command pod, a splashdown is not necessary.

hmm... very cool man! I played around with this propulsion method a quite a while ago, but never got to any appreciable performance with it. It was my attempt at a new form of rotational propulsion, since electric props were still clunky and new. I always found the scanner to be far to slow for most practical applications, and if i tried gearing it too much the scanner would start to slip out of the housing. (though i bet that is much better with proper bearings and interpart collisions) Only things I ended up finding useful for is for steady, reasonable torque but RPM limited applications. To that end, i remember only using it in two vehicles that went beyond a rough prototype. The first (and why i originally tried to get this to work) was my second version of a stock walker . I used it because the scanner allowed me to have a steady torque and to keep the legs moving at a constant RPM, even as the load changed. Sadly the craft is completely broken due to the KSP wheel update. (It was using old style wheel bearings for the entire thing). Looking through the thread now, there are some pretty cool creations people made a while back with the tech. The other craft which used it was my old school paddle boat. I really only used the engine in there due to already having the sub assembly from the walker, and it was a painfully slow boat because of it. (though thinking about it im pretty sure that a higher RPM engine was causing the paddle wheel to explode) Like the walker, its also broken. After those crafts I ended up being much busier with things, and stopped playing KSP for a while. Afaik nobody else really pursued the idea, and pretty quickly stock electric engines improved well beyond the performance (and reliability) of a scanner. I also worked on the landing leg propeller thing, havent tested it with 1.7.3 inter-collisions though, and it was pretty buggy/annoying mess of a propulsion method to begin with. While it was possible to make very powerful motors.. they were extremely prone to spontaneous combustion (and for some reason that likely hood was tied to craft mass.. [just to give you an idea to how bizarre the thing was]). The absurd bugginess of landing legs is what ended up making the propulsion form impractical (in my eyes) and I never ended up making use of it beyond a cool test craft. Again afaik the only person to put the tech to use is @klond, who made some really cool micro helis and planes with it

Very cool! I love the detail on stuff, overall looks great. SO many fuel cells though, cant imagine how repetitive that must have been