Convair NEXUS - super heavy Historical Launch Vehicle

[TiktaalikDreaming]

7 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

That bigness and drag is why I mentioned the first stage needing a fairing   As it is designed as an SSTO even without a second stage.  As things are though it's obsenely draggy to the point of killing SSTO abilities.

As for adding more solid rocket fuel that's a decent idea.  I would say you can probably leave the retro rockets as is and just boost the impact tolarence to like 75 or 65 m/s as that's enough to cut it.  And I mean the Sea Dragon was designed for like a 100+ m/s impact and it's an equally huge rocket

What I'd love is a damage but not destroy mechanism. The heat shield was supposed to be a crushable structure. But I do need to tweak the general impact resistance of the craft. Especially the way it seems to explode through the middle and have the side panels flop down, just looks wrong.

[captinjoehenry]

1 minute ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

What I'd love is a damage but not destroy mechanism. The heat shield was supposed to be a crushable structure. But I do need to tweak the general impact resistance of the craft. Especially the way it seems to explode through the middle and have the side panels flop down, just looks wrong.

Yeah sadly there isn't really any good system in KSP for crushable structure other than to make it have massive crash tolerance.  And then if you do a water landing you need to have every part have massive crash tolerance or the whole thing implodes

[TiktaalikDreaming]

7 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

Yeah sadly there isn't really any good system in KSP for crushable structure other than to make it have massive crash tolerance.  And then if you do a water landing you need to have every part have massive crash tolerance or the whole thing implodes

And crash tolerance ignores whether the part is full of propellant or not. There's a lot of things that aren't exact physics simulations, but using what's available to get something approximating reality is half the challenge. Suffice to say I will be looking at the crash tolerance. Again, like the lack of fairings, it annoys me as well.

 

[captinjoehenry]

14 minutes ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

And crash tolerance ignores whether the part is full of propellant or not. There's a lot of things that aren't exact physics simulations, but using what's available to get something approximating reality is half the challenge. Suffice to say I will be looking at the crash tolerance. Again, like the lack of fairings, it annoys me as well.

 

Looking forward to the tuning!

Also the Nexus tank and heat shield cost 0 dollars when emptied of all resources which I don't think is quite correct   Mind you them being so affordable is nice and I don't think your quite at the cost balancing phase yet.

[linuxgurugamer]

39 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

Yeah sadly there isn't really any good system in KSP for crushable structure other than to make it have massive crash tolerance.  And then if you do a water landing you need to have every part have massive crash tolerance or the whole thing implodes

Take a look at Kerbal Krash Systems

[captinjoehenry]

5 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Take a look at Kerbal Krash Systems

It's a real neat mod but can it be applied to only 1 part in a mod?  As it seems like it's a universal change to the collision mechanics?

[linuxgurugamer]

51 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

It's a real neat mod but can it be applied to only 1 part in a mod?  As it seems like it's a universal change to the collision mechanics?

 he does have a section for modders, so you might want to take a look

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I'll take a look at kerbal krash systems. If I use it, I'll add support as a module manager thing that only takes effect if the mod is there. I generally try to make stuff possible even if my mode is the only one. So a [NEEDS].

[captinjoehenry]

First proper mission making use of the fantastic heavy lift ability

Containing 6 orbital relays for positioning in extremely high orbits 3 polar and 3 equatorial and 3 different landers.  Each of them within their own radia hanger.  Payload totaled around 100,000 - 150,000kg and the uperstage STILL has over 20,000 m/s of delta V using the high thrust mode

[TiktaalikDreaming]

Oh, yes, I've recently done some twr Kerbalizing balance on the first stage, which was actually a mess. Twr would have gone down but ISP up. The second stage hasn't really been kerbalized yet, so it's still scaled convair numbers. So suitable for a solar system that isn't squished. Delta v may shrink before the final cut.

[captinjoehenry]

27 minutes ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Oh, yes, I've recently done some twr Kerbalizing balance on the first stage, which was actually a mess. Twr would have gone down but ISP up. The second stage hasn't really been kerbalized yet, so it's still scaled convair numbers. So suitable for a solar system that isn't squished. Delta v may shrink before the final cut.

No shoo!  Real scale is best XD  Like seriously realistic numbers on these huge launch vehicles are my favorite part.  I was massively disappointed in the old Nexus and never ended up using it as kerbalizing it makes it so disappointing and small  

Or at least make sure to include an easy to get to realism mm patch as realistic sized / capacity super massive launch vehicles are by far the most fun  

[TiktaalikDreaming]

25 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

No shoo!  Real scale is best XD  Like seriously realistic numbers on these huge launch vehicles are my favorite part.  I was massively disappointed in the old Nexus and never ended up using it as kerbalizing it makes it so disappointing and small  

Or at least make sure to include an easy to get to realism mm patch as realistic sized / capacity super massive launch vehicles are by far the most fun  

There's guaranteed to be a RSS patch, basically resizing and taking away the Kerbal nerfing.  Usually I'd write those with a MM [NEEDS] so it takes effect if and only if RSS is installed, but that's easy enough to adjust.  The plan is also an RO patch for those who like their rockets to come with limited restarts and ullage issues.  Ullage already dealt with in the current second stage.

[captinjoehenry]

Just now, TiktaalikDreaming said:

There's guaranteed to be a RSS patch, basically resizing and taking away the Kerbal nerfing.  Usually I'd write those with a MM [NEEDS] so it takes effect if and only if RSS is installed, but that's easy enough to adjust.  The plan is also an RO patch for those who like their rockets to come with limited restarts and ullage issues.  Ullage already dealt with in the current second stage.

Awesome   More just interested in real world performance while still being kerbal.  Basically just the real world DeltaV and performance without any of the annoying real life problems  

[TiktaalikDreaming]

1 minute ago, captinjoehenry said:

Awesome   More just interested in real world performance while still being kerbal.  Basically just the real world DeltaV and performance without any of the annoying real life problems  

I can just sneak a MM patch in for that.  I already have to do the numbers so I can then adjust them.  I'll just fudge the file extension so it doesn't get loaded unless you edit it.

[captinjoehenry]

1 minute ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

I can just sneak a MM patch in for that.  I already have to do the numbers so I can then adjust them.  I'll just fudge the file extension so it doesn't get loaded unless you edit it.

That works for me.  You could also just include it in an upper level file called extras.  Like at the same level as game data.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

2 hours ago, captinjoehenry said:

That works for me.  You could also just include it in an upper level file called extras.  Like at the same level as game data.

Yes, and that's something I need to change with the github files. There is no such thing at the moment as at the same level as gamedata. Because I didn't think through things when starting the project.

[captinjoehenry]

30 minutes ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Yes, and that's something I need to change with the github files. There is no such thing at the moment as at the same level as gamedata. Because I didn't think through things when starting the project.

Yeah I think that'll be easy enough to fix and should resolve the problem of the releases number invalidating the cfg file path 

Also you might want to look into integrating or at least adding compatability with this mod 

and the retro rockets on the first stage as that's pretty much exactly what the mod is intended to help with 

Edited August 24, 2019 by captinjoehenry

[TiktaalikDreaming]

Updated revamp releases on github are restructured.  Both Nexus and TDAPS have a gamedata folder and then the mod folder.  Github always tags your zips with the version tag, leading to mangled folder names if you assume otherwise.  This also means I can add content that isn't expected to be installed as the mod, eg source files, craft files etc.

Nexus : https://github.com/TiktaalikDreaming/Nexus/releases/tag/1.9.0824b

2nd Stage Engine : https://github.com/TiktaalikDreaming/TDAPS/releases/tag/0.2.190824

 

I'll have a look into Comfy landings mod.  I remember seeing some of that a while ago, but didn't know it involved retro burn timings.  

[TiktaalikDreaming]

Fairing bases are started, although when they'll end up in game is another matter entirely.

[captinjoehenry]

15 hours ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Updated revamp releases on github are restructured.  Both Nexus and TDAPS have a gamedata folder and then the mod folder.  Github always tags your zips with the version tag, leading to mangled folder names if you assume otherwise.  This also means I can add content that isn't expected to be installed as the mod, eg source files, craft files etc.

Nexus : https://github.com/TiktaalikDreaming/Nexus/releases/tag/1.9.0824b

2nd Stage Engine : https://github.com/TiktaalikDreaming/TDAPS/releases/tag/0.2.190824

 

I'll have a look into Comfy landings mod.  I remember seeing some of that a while ago, but didn't know it involved retro burn timings.  

Yeah comfy landing automatically triggers retro rockets which should come in handy for this mod

23 minutes ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Fairing bases are started, although when they'll end up in game is another matter entirely.

The fairings look great so far   Espicially like the Nexus stage fairing but I was more expecting it to be more directly on the heat shield instead of on top of the interstage.  I mean it makes sense in retrospect but still I would have thought a fairing on the first stage wouldn't need the interstage /shrug

[TiktaalikDreaming]

1 hour ago, captinjoehenry said:

The fairings look great so far   Espicially like the Nexus stage fairing but I was more expecting it to be more directly on the heat shield instead of on top of the interstage.  I mean it makes sense in retrospect but still I would have thought a fairing on the first stage wouldn't need the interstage /shrug

The fairing needs to be lifted above the curve of the heatshield in some way.  Not only is this a re-use of that part, but considering I'm aiming at 200pixels/m, more importantly, it means re-use of the texture for the part.  As  it is, adding the two fairing bases is currently using an extra 4k texture (they share the space), but there's a lot of 4k textures already in the mod, as it often ends up being the smallest I can possibly fit things on to.  I'm a bit conscious that having all these massive textures is going to drive away anyone with limited ram.  All that said, part re-use makes sens from a rocketry and kerbal perspective as well.  The part is (ostensibly) already designed and tested.  And, although it's a fair bit taller than necessary, it does achieve that purpose of holding stuff above the heatshield.

 

PS: I spend a fair bit of time on some of these decisions, as I only get to my PC every now and then, and things peculate in my brain in the meantime.  I welcome any and all questions so I don't feel I wasted that thinking time. 

Forgot to say...  The fairing for the top of the interstage is inspired by the restock 3.75m fairing, and will get a similar look when I get around to the normal maps etc.  I'm going to aim at similar design elements on the top of the 2nd stage fairing, but clearly I'm also aiming at a central and 6 non-central stack nodes.  I'm not 100% sold on that yet, I need to add support structure and see how it looks then.

[captinjoehenry]

3 hours ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

The fairing needs to be lifted above the curve of the heatshield in some way.  Not only is this a re-use of that part, but considering I'm aiming at 200pixels/m, more importantly, it means re-use of the texture for the part.  As  it is, adding the two fairing bases is currently using an extra 4k texture (they share the space), but there's a lot of 4k textures already in the mod, as it often ends up being the smallest I can possibly fit things on to.  I'm a bit conscious that having all these massive textures is going to drive away anyone with limited ram.  All that said, part re-use makes sens from a rocketry and kerbal perspective as well.  The part is (ostensibly) already designed and tested.  And, although it's a fair bit taller than necessary, it does achieve that purpose of holding stuff above the heatshield.

 

PS: I spend a fair bit of time on some of these decisions, as I only get to my PC every now and then, and things peculate in my brain in the meantime.  I welcome any and all questions so I don't feel I wasted that thinking time. 

As I said it looks great and it makes a fair bit amount of sense just reusing the part to lift it off of the heat shield.  It just isn't as efficient as it could be which isn't a problem

Also I have no idea if this is even something that you can fix but for some reason KSPI has a cryotank mm patch and it messes up the Nexus' fuel tank removing the oxygen tank and making it just a single resource tank with hydrogen and other fluids from KSPI.  I'm pretty sure it's not a problem on your end as I wasn't able to figure out how to get around it myself messing with the CFG file but it doesn't seem to be a problem with other hydrolox tanks for some reason.  But I also don't really know at this point which of my mods add in stock hydrolox tanks with all the modular fuel tank like stuff I have

Edited August 25, 2019 by captinjoehenry

[TiktaalikDreaming]

8 hours ago, captinjoehenry said:

As I said it looks great and it makes a fair bit amount of sense just reusing the part to lift it off of the heat shield.  It just isn't as efficient as it could be which isn't a problem

Also I have no idea if this is even something that you can fix but for some reason KSPI has a cryotank mm patch and it messes up the Nexus' fuel tank removing the oxygen tank and making it just a single resource tank with hydrogen and other fluids from KSPI.  I'm pretty sure it's not a problem on your end as I wasn't able to figure out how to get around it myself messing with the CFG file but it doesn't seem to be a problem with other hydrolox tanks for some reason.  But I also don't really know at this point which of my mods add in stock hydrolox tanks with all the modular fuel tank like stuff I have

To be honest, I know nothing about kspi even though I know a lot of people use it. The gold standard way of dealing with this stuff is to ask for your module manager cache, but I've lost track of where it lives these days. It takes me twenty minutes to find the output log each time since they moved it. Knowing they moved it. What's wrong with /var/log/ I say?!

Also, and this is just general, I discovered the breaking ground dlc is in special on steam at the moment. I'm usually one of those people who say the game has provided thousands of hours and the dlc is a drop in the ocean, but buying a house and then trying to sell one after, with a bridging loan, changes your idea of sensible purchasing somewhat.

Anyway, this mod shouldn't change with that. I might revisit some things with the Mars lander. Later.

And... One fairing partly done and uploaded. Mostly so I can check things work before digging myself deeper into a hole.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I added a second "colour" to the shell piece.  I'm probably going to add a half black/white one so you can black n white stripe things up as needed.  Not going to go nuts adding lots of bonus 4k textures to bloat out peoples' ram use.

 

 

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I'm currently tidying up the TDAPS companion mod for release.  The intention there is to have it contain the second stage engines and other non-chemical-rocket propulsion systems for large craft.  So (like every other modder) I'll add a NERVA inspired solid core rocket and some other things eventually.  If KSP ever sorts out heat and I make sense of it, I intend to add radiators as well.  I'll be starting at least focusing on engines suitable for a Nexus second stage, and that wer at least conceptualized back in Convair days.

I'm kind of interested if people are after something that needs a resource to be managed.  I'm not thinking of making it something horrible, but a built in tank for uranium type of thing.  And then you can drop the mass of the engine by choosing less of it, but possibly running out, etc.  For the open cycle gas core, it'd be great to have it use extra for startup and shutdown, but without RO there's no mechanism for that.