[Concept/WIP] The Tales of N.A.N.A - Chapter 1: The Fifth Scientest.

[kimiko]

I've been cooking around with Contract Configurator a bit in an attempt to make a bit of a storyline for myself to spice things up a bit. Although I'm not sure if this will ever make it into a fully fledged add-on, I thought I'd share it for testing, as well as some experiences trying to make it (from a non-programmer/designer perspective).

The story revolves around an organization known as N.A.N.A. and its pursuit of science as a mean to protect Kerbin. More can be read in the agencies description at the Mission Control... Or by expanding the text bellow.

20XX K.D.: After the discovery of a mysterious, non-kerbal-made object outside the Kerbal Space Center, many started contemplating the idea that Kerbals were not alone in this universe. Although there were no apparent evidence of hostility, some became paranoid and concluded that it is better to be prepared for the worse, and the Nuclear Aerospace and Nutritions Administration was formed (rumoured to be named after something radioactive the funders had for breakfast).

During the same period, scientists at BD Armory had discovered that overheating rocket parts would cause them to rapidly disassemble. As there had been an ongoing problem with aerospace traffic(read: crashing into old rockets), the discovery was soon commercialized into special equipment for clearing congestion. The management at N.A.N.A quickly adopted this technology as they realized that this could be used to disassemble possible hostility (which was more an excuse for playing with explosives). Thus, the BD Armory and Nuclear Aerospace and Nutritions Administration agreement was established, as they pledge to become their biggest business partner. Many now refer to this as the B.A.N.A.N.A agreement.

To present day N.A.N.A is the forefront in investigating extra-kerbin activity as a mean to keep Kerbin safe.

There are currently 6 main missions (contracts) and one side mission, involving exploration, transportation, protection, and lots of lots of air combat (uh yes somehow all the action takes place in the air... for now .. queue Kenny Loggins!). PS: If you're not into Kerbals being overly explosive, this is probably not your cup of tea..

Its current dependencies are:

Contract Configurator

BD Armory

Module Manager

Tweakable Everything

Smart Parts

The two latter ones are temporarily, and serves as a "quick fix" to some of the "shortcomings" in Contract Configurator and BD Armory (which probably will be changed in future releases of the respective add-on).

You can download the contract pack here. None of the dependencies are included so you have to use the links above to get them.

WARNING: This is a concept creation and work in progress. I strongly recommend that you download this for testing purposes ONLY as there is no way telling what could happen with your save-games!

Using Module Manager parts are added using copies of stock parts so it should have no impact on memory usage.

This includes Structural Panel with higher maxTemp (to protect you from kinetic energy) and various multi-usage parts for "enemy crafts" and story-related items. Also, none of the Smart Parts parts (uhuh) are necessary, only the plug-in.

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As for the reason I put everything here as a concept/wip and not a proper release (etc.). I am not really sure were I am going with this. It started out as merely testing out Contract Configurator and making some sort of scenario with exploration and action. Maybe someone will find it inspiring, or my experiences (further down) useful for creating better things (yes please) and share it (yes yes!). Personally, I have grand ideas of escort missions, boss battles (Aero Figther style), base/colony building and defence, obstacle course flying (Star Fox style) and exploration of the universe to find the truth! Lastly, I hope that the bahamutoD and nightingale could check out the the stuff bellow (ahaha).

Also, if you do try it out, please don't hesitate to share where I have done mistakes and how things can be improved!

First off I would like to say that Contract Configurator is really easy to learn and start using with its detailed documentation, everyone should give it a try and make make some kind of story driven scenario! (kudos to nightingale!). In fact I was thinking that maybe I could try turn this thing into some kind of crowd-sourced story mode, but that remains to be... thought about.

As for things that I would like to see improved, I would defiantly say that the VessleSpawn behaviour could use some tweaking to properly spawn things from the SPH. It seems that it only supports spawning vessels upwards VAB style, e.g. a rocket. I used a "dummy" probe pointed upwards as a root part to bypass this issue. However, two issues arise trying to make everything work in automation, when I try to spawn in "enemy" vessels.

The first issue is to automatically (I.e. without user input) have the vessel change to a probe facing forwards (SPH style) after the vessel have spawned in safely. A workaround can be devised by enabling "control from here" to be used with action groups (only works for docking ports) using TweakableEverything. Then use the "Fuel action group trigger" from the Smart Parts to trigger an action group with "control from here" (on a docking port facing forwards) as soon as the craft has loaded. This was combined with the "Timer action group trigger" to delay everything in case everything hadn't properly loaded.

The second issue is z-axis (I think) rotation. In the VesselSpawn behaviour you can define latitude, longitude and altitude, but not heading. This means that the vessel seems to spawn in a (seemingly) set direction (185 degrees I think). The issue was solved by rotating the entire craft around/underneath the "dummy" probe, I mentioned earlier, in the SPH.

If these two things were to be addressed it would make it a lot easier to create action scenarios, especially in terms of ground based vehicle scenarios, colony/base spawning and of course action scenarios and combat.

Which brings me conveniently over to BD Armory, which is amazingly fun now that you can be chased down by A.I. pilots! I really hope that this will be expanded upon with land and space based pilots. Not to mention VTOL crafts! Currently, I am experimenting with kOS for my Aero Fighter/Star Fox-style boss battle and escort mission.

The first issue was to automate it all. You cannot (to my knowledge) toggle Auto Guard and Auto Pilot in the SPH/VAB, luckily they are available through action groups, so the same method as mentioned above can be used. Also, engines have to be staged manually, which is also available through action groups. Alternatively, it is possible edit the .craft files to have it all ready when the vessel spawns.

The second issue is not really an issue, but those A.I.s are ridiculously accurate with projectile weapons. A tendency to tear up everything that is suppose to be protected in seconds. Lots of quick-loading (haha). On the other hand I don't think they can use bombs (correct me if I'm wrong).

Another thing I realized was that adding too many parts to one specific vessel will cause all the other vessels to explode when coming into load range at 10000 physics range. This could be sidestepped by either reducing the amount of parts on said vessel or reducing the physics range significantly.

As I am a big fan of the whole survival concept I tried to use Module Manager to add the Weapon Manager module to every command part. This making all creations vulnerable (as well as using auto accept contracts for small surprises, encouraging constructing stationary defence). However it seemed to not work very well when adding more than one command module to a single vessel.

---

When it comes to trying to do story telling through Contract Configurator as a whole, the biggest downside would that most of the more "delicate" parts of the story (which can't be expressed through "in-game" visuals or mechanics) would have to be conveyed through text in a small window. I.e. "...after getting out alive, Jeb tries to kiss Val on the cheek only to realize they were still wearing helmets, and will always be wearing.." or "Do a barrel roll".

I felt a great need to have some sort of on-screen "pop-ups" with an image/comic strip and some text when reaching certain way-points. Something like...

...or...

...like those old school RPGs (insert fan art!). However I do admit this may be an entirely different add-on by it self, in terms of its scope in programming the functionality.

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Licences for the respective add-ons referred to in this add-on are dictated by their specific creators. Check the links above to go directly to the authors thread.

The licence for the original content in this add-on is: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The source code is provided in the download as is (there are no compilations and can be viewed in plain text).

If there is anything offending; intellectual property transgressions; or against certain rules or terms of service in anything above or concerning the add-on, please inform me ASAP.

Edited May 24, 2015 by kimiko
added some more experiences

[Joshwoo70]

Um sorry this for add on development this should go to fan works

[biohazard15]

Um sorry this for add on development this should go to fan works

This is a story-oriented contract pack, so it goes into add-on development, not in fan works.

@kimiko: Great concept! CC is there for a while, and I wonder why no one yet made a story-oriented pack. Although I won't download this (I don't use BDArmory, and I don't like the idea of turning KSP into 3D action), the concept itself is great. Now, if it was something exploration-oriented (for example, a NASA-themed pack using FASA and raidernick's US Probes and Skylab)...

[Wetapunga]

Oh this looks like it will be great

XCOM Kerbal edition

[kimiko]

Um sorry this for add on development this should go to fan works

On the flip-side, I'd say those doing fan works should come over here to create story packs! xD

This is a story-oriented contract pack, so it goes into add-on development, not in fan works.

@kimiko: Great concept! CC is there for a while, and I wonder why no one yet made a story-oriented pack. Although I won't download this (I don't use BDArmory, and I don't like the idea of turning KSP into 3D action), the concept itself is great. Now, if it was something exploration-oriented (for example, a NASA-themed pack using FASA and raidernick's US Probes and Skylab)...

Thank you. Yeah, I do realize that all this action is not everyone's cup of tea, but as you pointed out, it would be very nice to have any type of story driven/motivated contract pack as it would really spice up the game! With how easy Contract Configurator is to use I'd say everyone creating fan fiction should have a go!

The reasons there has not been any story focused add-on yet is probably rooted in the age old issue that technical adapt people will always be more technical oriented and artistic people will always be well .. artistic oriented (ahaha). The great clash of MSCs and MBAs.. I see it every day... even at a business level between "managers" and "leaders"...

I was hoping this would help close the "gap", and inspire more collaboration! : D

Oh this looks like it will be great

XCOM Kerbal edition

Interestingly, I never thought of XCOM while making this ... I'd say Mass Effect, Fifth Element and Indiana Jones was stuck in my mind for most of the writing. And of course a bit of 2001: Space Odyssey and Star Fox.... haha

[nightingale]

First off I would like to say that Contract Configurator is really easy to learn and start using with its detailed documentation, everyone should give it a try and make make some kind of story driven scenario! (kudos to nightingale!). In fact I was thinking that maybe I could try turn this thing into some kind of crowd-sourced story mode, but that remains to be... thought about.

Thanks!! Always good to see people with different ideas trying out Contract Configurator, and this is definitely the kind of thing I'd like to see more of!

As for things that I would like to see improved, I would defiantly say that the VessleSpawn behaviour could use some tweaking to properly spawn things from the SPH. It seems that it only supports spawning vessels upwards VAB style, e.g. a rocket. I used a "dummy" probe pointed upwards as a root part to bypass this issue. However, two issues arise trying to make everything work in automation, when I try to spawn in "enemy" vessels.

The first issue is to automatically (I.e. without user input) have the vessel change to a probe facing forwards (SPH style) after the vessel have spawned in safely. A workaround can be devised by enabling "control from here" to be used with action groups (only works for docking ports) using TweakableEverything. Then use the "Fuel action group trigger" from the Smart Parts to trigger an action group with "control from here" (on a docking port facing forwards) as soon as the craft has loaded. This was combined with the "Timer action group trigger" to delay everything in case everything hadn't properly loaded.

Known issue [#189]. I'll try to get a fix for this one as soon as possible (although it may not make the next release).

The second issue is z-axis (I think) rotation. In the VesselSpawn behaviour you can define latitude, longitude and altitude, but not heading. This means that the vessel seems to spawn in a (seemingly) set direction (185 degrees I think). The issue was solved by rotating the entire craft around/underneath the "dummy" probe, I mentioned earlier, in the SPH.

Makes sense. Raised [#214], although not sure when I'll get a chance to get that one done (may not be for a couple weeks).

When it comes to trying to do story telling through Contract Configurator as a whole, the biggest downside would that most of the more "delicate" parts of the story (which can't be expressed through "in-game" visuals or mechanics) would have to be conveyed through text in a small window. I.e. "...after getting out alive, Jeb tries to kiss Val on the cheek only to realize they were still wearing helmets, and will always be wearing.." or "Do a barrel roll".

I felt a great need to have some sort of on-screen "pop-ups" with an image/comic strip and some text when reaching certain way-points. Something like...

http://images.csmonitor.com/csmarchives/2011/11/ASTARFOX.jpg?alias=standard_600x400

...or...

http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/757/757644/legend-of-heroes-iii-song-of-the-ocean-20070123055511773-000.jpg

...like those old school RPGs (insert fan art!). However I do admit this may be an entirely different add-on by it self, in terms of its scope in programming the functionality.

I certainly could get something very basic going (in fact the Message behaviour that adds a message to the stock system actually used to pop up a dialog box - although I quickly realized that was a bad idea for most situations because I had it centered and blocking the view). I don't think I can offer much more than a text only dialog box - I don't think I'd be able to put time into anything more complicated.

Or another interesting possibility would be to somehow build some Contract Configurator integration to Historian, which would certainly allow you to go as crazy as you want. Then all Contract Configurator does is display a Historian layout for a given amount of time on a given condition.

Anyway, just throwing ideas out there, can't wait to see where this goes!

[nightingale]

In 1.2.1 of Contract Configurator SPH vessels now spawn with some sanity of direction. In the near future I'll add support for specifying pitch, yaw and heading.

[kimiko]

That is awesome!

Many thanks! Maybe there is hope for this contract pack after all! : D

[dbmorpher]

On the second contract I'm supposed to retrieve a cone.

Is that back at the pyramids?

And do I need to install KIS or is it like a part I have to take with the grabber?

[nightingale]

Haven't seen much activity in this thread as of late, but thought you might like a previous of the new feature that I'm working on for Contract Configurator 1.7.0....

[kimiko]

On the second contract I'm supposed to retrieve a cone.

Is that back at the pyramids?

And do I need to install KIS or is it like a part I have to take with the grabber?

Sorry, the thing is very much outdated and probably doesn't work properly, but yes, it is back at the pyramids (or ruins) and you can use the grabber, but KIS is better.

Haven't seen much activity in this thread as of late, but thought you might like a previous of the new feature that I'm working on for Contract Configurator 1.7.0....

http://i.imgur.com/94yVGud.png

That's amazing! Exactly as I had imagined and hoped it would be! Great stuff as always! : D

I've sort of fled the KSP scene until it becomes a bit more mod-friendly (quantity-wise, and stability-wise), hopefully 1.1 (the "real" 1.0 : P) will see to that. The story I have planned will require a great deal of mods, and the ability to load in a great deal of parts, which is close to impossible at the moment. In any rate, I may have to rewrite the D.E.F.L.E.C.T.O.R Shield Generator mod and the Tent mod for the Unity upgrade, which I intend to use in the story, so it should be perfect timing for a revival! : D