Squadcast Summary 2015/10/09 - The Nutshell Report

[KerbMav]

Following a suggestion that even my short version deserves its own thread - hear you are:

Not much new, most things are already known from Dev Tuesdays/posts, and I had no inclination to describe everything Maxmaps did on screen, so I will just add it here.

(Lets just say that he really has to remap his staging button ... ... and maybe he will find out about him attaching his fuel lines the wrong way in the last minute of the stream while building the next rescue vehicle ... )

Link to the recording here.

- Contextual Contracts, creating contracts targeting crafts already in space

- thermal fixes (Jool aerobreaking, Kerbals heating up on LKO)

- radiators and everything thermal has been reworked inc. ablative shielding

- RTG heat-production (Kerbal-Popcorning eventually possible!)

- lots of praise for NathanKell and his bug-hunting-powers

- PorkJet updating more old parts that may have looked great, but do no longer fit the new (Porkjety) look of the newer parts

- aerodynamic parts have priority, rocket parts may come later

- (52:15 min into the recording) Kerbal super-bounciness fix in 1.1 (possibly, more next Squadcast)

- all parts that are complete will be in 1.0.5, but he did not specify

- (28:25 min into the recording) surface sampling animation is done! Just being tweaked to match the sampled body colorwise - and waiting for more important updates to be done timewise. ("Has to wait a little bit" during "feature triage" - whatever time intervall that might mean!)

- Mun has no official pronounciation - until Harvester someday puts his foot down and declares one to be right - but the guys at the studio themselves use lots of different ways to pronounce it themselves.

- A fan sent Squad Kerbal dogtags, Maxmaps grabbed a skeleton Kerbal.

- 1.0.5 already in QA and nearer than the community might think

- 1.1 close, but not too close, but still in 2015

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited October 12, 2015 by KerbMav

[Dodgey]

I might actually find a use for the aerospike now that it can be mounted in a stack.

[EladDv]

Also please add that they are planning to create a substantive documentation to the ksp code that is available to modders

[Endersmens]

Please don't confuse the bottom right of the picture as 10 degree thrust vectoring, the picture is demonstrating that you can rotate the entire engine 10 degrees and it will still be mostly flush with the fuselage.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Endersmens

[Warzouz]

Ah yes, stackable aerospike !!! That's nice !

Thx for the report.

[magnemoe]

I might actually find a use for the aerospike now that it can be mounted in a stack.

You have a point, its a short engine who is a step up from the 909, almost a powerful as T30 and better vacuum isp. a bonus for high atmospheric isp so you can use it for a soft landing on kerbin the 909 and poodle is hopeless here.

[Whirligig Girl]

You have a point, its a short engine who is a step up from the 909, almost a powerful as T30 and better vacuum isp. a bonus for high atmospheric isp so you can use it for a soft landing on kerbin the 909 and poodle is hopeless here.

Yeah, the entire POINT of the aerospike is that the efficiency is nearly the same in space as in atmosphere, and it will be high in atmosphere. This should mean that they are the optimal Eve ascent rocket engine, but alas the current version in-game is an aerospike only in model, not function. Not only does it have a cripplingly low Isp anyway, its Atm Isp is not even close to its Vac Isp. I really can't imagine getting much use out of it. The only positive right now it seems is its shorter size, so it might be worth it as a spaceplane rocket if you're afraid of a tailstrike hazard. (planes like the Aeris 4A)

TLDR: The Aerospike needs an Isp buff, and it needs to have a high Atmospheric Isp as well as Vacuum Isp.

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

You know that there are higher-res pictures here, right?

Album by Porkjet:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Also, I can't wait to try these new parts! And a surface sample animation? I guess that's a nice touch. I also really like the texturing on these. Porkjet strikes again!

Yes, I am aware that last part made no sense. I'm rather good at not making sense. I mean, just look at my username!

[Hobbes Novakoff]

Wohoo! That old airscoop was basically the only part left with no nice Porkjettified model.

[Red Dwarf]

Nice detailing on the intake: "WARNING: This device sucks"

Man, I'm just super pumped for the updated parts. I need it

[Majorjim!]

Looks like I have to rebuild the nose of my X-37B..

[Scotius]

Ragdolling fixed? Does that mean no more body-sliding down the Minmus slopes for my Kerbals?

[Red Iron Crown]

Yeah, the entire POINT of the aerospike is that the efficiency is nearly the same in space as in atmosphere, and it will be high in atmosphere. This should mean that they are the optimal Eve ascent rocket engine, but alas the current version in-game is an aerospike only in model, not function. Not only does it have a cripplingly low Isp anyway, its Atm Isp is not even close to its Vac Isp. I really can't imagine getting much use out of it. The only positive right now it seems is its shorter size, so it might be worth it as a spaceplane rocket if you're afraid of a tailstrike hazard. (planes like the Aeris 4A)

TLDR: The Aerospike needs an Isp buff, and it needs to have a high Atmospheric Isp as well as Vacuum Isp.

The entire point of an aerospike is it does not lose as much efficiency away from its ideal ambient pressure, which I think the game models reasonably well as it has the second best atmospheric Isp and is tied for third in vacuum Isp (ignoring the non-chemical LV-N). How is that, in any way, "cripplingly low Isp"? An engine with more similar ASL and vacuum Isps is an engine optimized for sea level.

Regarding Eve, the aerospike is still king (along with the Mammoth). The Isp curves aren't linear and have more points than just 1atm and 0atm, you might be surprised at how the engines perform at Eve pressures. The Reliant tapers to 0.001s of Isp by 7atm, the Swivel to 0.001s of Isp at 6atm, so each of them are near zero thrust at Eve's 5atm; meanwhile the Aerospike is chugging along at 230s at 5atm (and still at 170s by 10atm, if you care to Jool dive).

[HafCoJoe]

Nice report . I'm interested as to the changes in size of the new radial intake model... If it's larger than it currently is it might make for an even better pontoon... - Love the model btw, though some people will have to redesign their crafts around it.

[magnemoe]

Ragdolling fixed? Does that mean no more body-sliding down the Minmus slopes for my Kerbals?

I hate that, on Mun its pretty realistic, you fall and roll and slide in slow motion compared to on Kerbin, the low speed make it far less dangerous you can still die if impacting too hard.

On lower gravity worlds speed slows down but also the time before you can control your kerbal.

let us use the jetpack to stabilize if no major forces act on them.

[Alshain]

Ragdolling fixed? Does that mean no more body-sliding down the Minmus slopes for my Kerbals?

Nah, more likely it means the perma-ragdoll effect that happens sometimes at random. Sometimes Kerbals just go Ragdoll for no apparent reason and can't be recovered.

[legoclone09]

I hope they don't fix Kerbals being possesed by the Kraken, we all love that.

[KerbMav]

Ragdolling fixed? Does that mean no more body-sliding down the Minmus slopes for my Kerbals?

Nah, more likely it means the perma-ragdoll effect that happens sometimes at random. Sometimes Kerbals just go Ragdoll for no apparent reason and can't be recovered.

Went back into the recording and stepped through it - twice ... might have been faster to just watch it completely once more ...

Someone asked about he "super-bouncyness" - the ragdoll-effect was an interpretation on my part and may or may not be what was meant. I added a few time stamps to the OP.

[NathanKell]

Gregroxmun, this isn't the first or the fourth time you've said that. Please stop spreading misinformation...

[Laie]

Yeah, the entire POINT of the aerospike is that the efficiency is nearly the same in space as in atmosphere,

Aerospikes are good, but not magic.

[katateochi]

Thanks for the report KerbMav! Stackable aerospike, oooo, shiny! Might even get used now!

Did they say which bugs have been fixed?

re the Kerbal ragdoll fix; I wonder if they will still be able to survive a helmet-first encounter with some fast moving ground.

Looking forward to these updates, I'm ashamed to say, it's been awhile since I've played

But they, almost without fail, release updates when I'm away so I think I know when it will be released

[KerbMav]

I'm ashamed to say, it's been awhile since I've played

Pah, I have servants like 5th and Scott to do that for me!

I too have not played for months, but my interest is still high - just wanted to get going with some other games too.

And it may well be until 1.1 before I start to kerbal again, but that is fine, because I know it will be waiting for me.

[Mat2ch]

Those engines. I want to eat them. Eat them now! Uhhhu!

[Whirligig Girl]

The entire point of an aerospike is it does not lose as much efficiency away from its ideal ambient pressure, which I think the game models reasonably well as it has the second best atmospheric Isp and is tied for third in vacuum Isp (ignoring the non-chemical LV-N). How is that, in any way, "cripplingly low Isp"? An engine with more similar ASL and vacuum Isps is an engine optimized for sea level.

Regarding Eve, the aerospike is still king (along with the Mammoth). The Isp curves aren't linear and have more points than just 1atm and 0atm, you might be surprised at how the engines perform at Eve pressures. The Reliant tapers to 0.001s of Isp by 7atm, the Swivel to 0.001s of Isp at 6atm, so each of them are near zero thrust at Eve's 5atm; meanwhile the Aerospike is chugging along at 230s at 5atm (and still at 170s by 10atm, if you care to Jool dive).

Hmm. I never actually looked at the Aerospike config. I stand corrected.

Why aren't all the points on the Isp curve shown in-game if it is not a linear curve?

EDIT: Well this is actually pretty embarrassing. For some reason I have four different Aerospikes in game. The first one is the one I've been complaining about. The second one is a copy of the first. The third one is the proper aerospike in-game as it should be, and the fourth one doesn't even have the engine module. My bad, I guess. Spreading misinformation is one of the things I can't stand. I feel really bad.

This might actually have ruined my day.

EDIT: It did.

Edited October 13, 2015 by GregroxMun

[Pthigrivi]

And now ye shall be ritually shunned. SHUNNNNN