[Tuning changes in 1.6]

10 hours ago, Snark said:

In that case, why would anyone ever use it?  Ever?  It would have nearly the worst Isp of any LFO engine in a vacuum, and not much in the way of thrust, either.  Heck, a Swivel would beat it (higher Isp, higher thrust, much lower on the tech tree).

As @Aegolius13 points out, KSP is a game, significantly simplified from IRL, and game balance matters.  So if you tweaked the Wolfhound as you describe, then what reason would players ever have to use such an engine in their designs?

Having historically accurate rocket parts suited to replicating the Apollo/Saturn V in function and appearance is a good enough reason to me, in a pack which is supposed to be a historical pack. I think the best game balanced Wolfhound would probably be around 370 s and 120 kN. Still overpowered by far for kerbal-scale apollo, but much better. Depending upon its cost and mass, it could still find a niche like that. The thrust is the most annoyingly high part of the wolfhound to me, that it literally beats an actual upper stage engine.

[Tuning changes in 1.6]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

The Wolfhound and the Skiff are not balanced properly. The wolfhound represents the Apollo SPS, an AJ-10 variant. It should have a specific impulse around 310 s in vacuum, certainly no higher than 360 s. Even more, its thrust should be around 150 kN. The Wolfhound, unlike almost every other part, is at full scale compared to its original version, so 150 kN is actually enough for it. (The rest of the engines are about half scale). The Skiff meanwhile is a J-2 analogue that (when clustered five-fold) can't even lift the S-II stage with payload fully fueled. If any engine should fulfill the role of heavy, high-isp vacuum engine, it needs to be the Skiff.

So yeah, the nerf to the Wolfhound is a step in the right direction, but it just isn't enough. It's still an absurdly powerful engine for what it is meant to represent, and in an historical parts pack I think that really matters.

 

EDIT: Despite appearances, the Skiff is NOT an asl engine, it's based on the vacuum-optimized J-2 engine from the upper stages of the Saturn V.