SingABrightSong

There are images in the KerbalX pages, but I was running out of available effort and didn't bother embedding them in the forums. I'll make a note to go back and edit some images in.

Greetings, kerbonauts! I've accumulated a sufficient amount of designs that I believe it is prudent to put them all in one place. Henceforth, I present to you Brightsong Development, where I shall consolidate information on my current craft and also post future developments. Before I start, I would like to give a very special thanks to @Rune, whose SSTO and Surface Base designs were in large part the inspiration for my own craft. If I mention that something is designed to fit into a cargo bay, chances are it was made with his SSTO fleet as the first consideration. And without further delay... Modular Mobility The initial offering for the modular mobility section is the Kentipede, a rugged mobile base. I have personally driven it off the edge of the Dres canyon and ridden it out completely intact. No word on the Mohole yet; It seems that my launch vehicle can no longer survive physics initialization, interrupting plans to test it there. Nonetheless, should you be able to haul it to orbit, each module possesses provision for landing, with aerospike engines, parachutes, and a fuel reserve. Kentipede modules are built out of Mark3 cargo bays, so they will not fit into them for obvious reasons. KerbalX Next up is the Katerpillar. While just as capable in terms of onboard facilities as the Kentipede, the Katerpillar is designed to fit into a Mk3 cargo bay, so it lacks the sheer ruggedness and the ability to self-deploy. It resembles earlier prototypes of the Kentipede, but boasts a much lower part count, as well as regular module length. so extant deployment solutions are much more feasible to use. The wheels were, of course, an issue, but I discovered that they still work even if attached at an angle. If you have an open-ended cargo bay, say, one with a ramp at the end, it can even drive itself out after decoupling. Quite satisfying to pull off. KerbalX After designing a base to fit in a Mk3 bay, the obvious next step was to design one for Mk2. Thus was born the Krawler. No driving out for this one, I fear, but it is rocket-powered, due to the necessity of using landing gear instead of motorized wheels. Thus, if your Mk2 spaceplane has to deploy it before landing, it is theoretically possible to land under its own power on, say, Gilly, though it is recommended that you just flip the cargo bay in the SPH. It lacks the power, of course, of its older siblings, but is still capable of research and ISRU operations. KerbalX And of course, the logical extreme of the preceding process is to make something that fits into a Mk1 cargo bay. Enter the Kreeper. There is not actually a Mk1 cargo bay in stock KSP, however, and the 1.25 Service Bay is too small and fragile to be much use in this scenario, so instead I used the Structural Fuselage as my design guide. There are very few 0.625m modules in stock KSP, therefore making an actual *base* was out of the question, but if you staff it with an Engineer kerbonaut it should be capable of gathering science indefinitely in any rocky environment, provided it doesn't explode on the way there. KerbalX That concludes the initial offering for Modular Mobility, but I have several concepts I wish to explore. Modular seabases? Modular aircraft? I'd look into modular orbital bases but I think that's already kind of standard. Landers, however... Miscellaneous Inspired by the "experimental aerospike" from the comic book series Atomic Robo, from which it draws its name, the Tesladyne is a "light chemical SSTO", that, while not of much utility, has proven quite fun to fly. It's design is not, in fact, based off its inspiration, but was instead an attempt to see how tiny and tidy I could make a Mk2 SSTO. I deemed it a success after making it to orbit and back intact, but I am not a very good SSTO pilot so chances are the veterans around here can do better. Any similarity to designs by a certain dropship dealership is purely coincidental KerbalX And that's it, for now, but I do expect that I shall continue to experiment, and at least some of those experiments will likely end up here. Brightsong Development: Did somebody order a bright idea?

Ah, I've been waiting a long time for an update from this thread. And it was not a disappointment. The Centaur is of particular interest to me; could it be deployed on an interplanetary mission? Say, to deploy your Base-In-A-Box to Tylo? As for payloads, there are of course the usual suspects. Comms satellites, station components, and fuel tanks. I do believe, however, that I could come up with some more exotic payloads... Ah, there's one. Crew transfers are a payload not often considered, but one of certain importance. Carry a crew cabin to orbit, then transfer the cabin, crew and all, to a deep space transport. Brake at the destination, and transfer the crew to a dedicated lander, to man a remotely-assembled surface base. Another payload type I might like to see is for surface missions. A standard design of manned or unmanned rover to be deployed in your standard cargo bay. And while I currently have the market cornered on modular mobile bases, my own Kentipede MkV serves best in a more ruggedized niche(how rugged? I drove the thing off of the edge of the Dres canyon and landed it intact at the bottom! It's not rated for the Mohole, but that's more because the newly-included expendable launch and transfer stages can only get it as far as Laythe), I think you would be able to come up with something that would fit into your existing design standards(including an actual usable part count). Definitely planning to try these all out, at least as soon as my attempt at a 10x/SMURFF career crashes and burns(pun not intended).

Ah, Take 2? They may be known for Rockstar Games, but I know them for Firaxis. Shows what my niche is, I suppose, but if people are concerned about mod support or DRM, I say they have nothing to fear. *ponders about a KSP/SMAC crossover*

Since Flying Tiger is no longer doing the port, I suppose they've been De-ported?

Upon further inspection, it seems that the Magdalena's drive pods not working was my fault. I had attached them in the VAB, but they were node-snapped to the rear end of the docking ports rather than, you know, the docking end. Actually attaching them properly yields no problem. I had to scrap putting the HL-20 into a cargo bay, as they don't quite fit in most orientations. Instead, I've gone for a modular girder construct. I think it's a fitting aesthetic for an emergency evac. In other news, you may have seen my Kentipede mobile base. I've designed a transport for it, but it includes a modified version of your Cupola Tug as a means of assembling the payload for landing. Should I end up publishing it, would I be able to redistribute your work, or should I direct users to obtain it from you?

Huh. Well, thanks. More images incoming, then!

I know *that*. What was happening was that the "Insert into post" button wasn't working for some reason. It's working now, strangely, so have some images.

New Von Braun looks good. Something that comes to mind, though, is the HL-20 escape pod. The VB 11 can carry 18 kerbals, 19 with a Cupola Tug attached, but the HL-20 seats only four. You'd need four of them to be able to evac only most of its capacity, which would leave no room for docking anything else. Do you use some sort of pod bay? I'm attempting to design one myself at the moment. Trying to make one with doors, because reasons. In other thoughts as regards your craft, I notice that the Lackluster still uses its pre-fuel-priority design. Were there not plans to update that? I also notice that the Drive Pods included with the Magdalena seem to be broken(that is, not drawing LF through the tiny docking port), though that could just be a mistake I made when installing them.

Hmm, there should be an Imgur album on KerbalX. Would you like me to embed some of the images here? I should be able to do that. ETA: Nope, can't embed images from Imgur. You'll have to click through to KerbalX if you want to look at pics.

Some of you may remember my mobile base, the Kentipede. While I had made a thread for the earlier versions, the forum software advised me that I should start a new topic due to its inactivity. Just as well, as this version of the craft is a complete redesign. The last Kentipede update was a change in wheels to fit into the mark3 fuselage system. In this version of the Kentipede, it *is* a mark3 fuselage itself. This new brings a massive improvement to performance and durability. The modules are now all the same size, and look quite a bit nicer thanks to the excellent work of PorkJet on the the spaceplane and shuttle parts. This should make it much easier for you all to mix and match to your heart's content, and it allows systems to be deployed that carry a single module at a time, a fair compromise between the MkIV's portability and the MkII's durability. Without having to fit the wheels into the cargo bay, I was free to use the Rovemax M3 wheels, which have an insane impact tolerance differential steering, and a high ground clearance. I also added retro-rockets, parachutes, and lights to every module, to ensure a safe touchdown on most bodies(They are not sufficient for deorbiting maneuvers, so please bring a rocketcrane). Do note that, as before, a launch vehicle is not included(I myself am using a modified version of one of @Rune's General Lifters), and neither is an interplanetary transport(I recommend another of Rune's works, the Magdalena) If anyone is interested, an Imgur album and the craft file can be found on KerbalX

Looks good from what I can tell. I look forward to making my own Kerbal-Stayputnik missions.

With the focus on proper localization, I feel that it would be prudent to inform you that the proper word tense for that is "slain". In any case, that LM has pushed the expansion from a "Might buy" to a "shut up and take my money!"

*Grabs the new Von Braun* Glad to hear that your craft has such excellent performance. Good work. Now I just need to boot up KSP again... I noticed that you posted in the expansion announcement thread. With the understanding that you do plan to purchase it, should we expect to see craft from you incorporating the added parts? I do intend to purchase it, myself, but for others who do not, would you continue to maintain non-DLC craft in the event that DLC-added parts outperform the extant components in your designs? Perhaps these questions should wait until the DLC is actually released, heh.

I'd forego the recoverability on these ones. "Cheap" means "a long time", and these ones don't look like "A long time" is in their mission profile. I'd probably be using them in case something needs to get to space NOW.