[WIP]Escape Pod Mod - REKT development thread

[DStaal]

Playing around with things a bit - the probe cores aren't fully functional in 1.1.3.  Not that they need to be, just that it means my test in my current game didn't work very well.    An early Christmas present has meant I can get some stuff going in 1.2, but I haven't set up that yet.

The mk1c works fine - though it took a full hour and a half of game time to freeze my test Kerbal.  (Half an hour to cool down, an hour to generate the EC needed.)  Timewarp *does* work with it though, so it's not completely unbearable.  But it is something to note if you feel like evacuating your entire crew into Deepfreeze capsules.

It would be nice if the mk1c had some interactivity - I'm not sure what's being planned.  At the moment it has no IVA, and no indication of what state it's in.  Most Deepfreeze capsules tend to 'frost over' when they freeze - that window/door would be ideal for that.  (And the light above it would be nice to tie into indicator lights to give current status, if that's possible.)  None of this is a problem, of course, it's just some niceties that could be added. 

[steedcrugeon]

On 15/12/2016 at 6:54 AM, DStaal said:

Playing around with things a bit - the probe cores aren't fully functional in 1.1.3.  Not that they need to be, just that it means my test in my current game didn't work very well.    An early Christmas present has meant I can get some stuff going in 1.2, but I haven't set up that yet.

Ah this is the bit i needed help with balancing the most. hopefully you'll get to play around with that soon.

On 15/12/2016 at 6:54 AM, DStaal said:

The mk1c works fine - though it took a full hour and a half of game time to freeze my test Kerbal.  (Half an hour to cool down, an hour to generate the EC needed.)  Timewarp *does* work with it though, so it's not completely unbearable.  But it is something to note if you feel like evacuating your entire crew into Deepfreeze capsules.

I have been doing to work on this, I have managed (provided the pod is not the root part during construction) to get the initial stored EC of the pod to be 3000 (which is the requirement for freezing) even though the maximum is set to 50. The principle being that you can do one freeze of the Kerbal after you have been jettisoned form the parent vessel but you will be unable to thaw out on your own. You would need to be 'claw' attached to another vessel or similar to thaw them out. 

Th pod would still operate as a normal Cryo pod when it's attached to the mothership.

On 15/12/2016 at 6:54 AM, DStaal said:

It would be nice if the mk1c had some interactivity - I'm not sure what's being planned.  At the moment it has no IVA, and no indication of what state it's in.  Most Deepfreeze capsules tend to 'frost over' when they freeze - that window/door would be ideal for that.  (And the light above it would be nice to tie into indicator lights to give current status, if that's possible.)  None of this is a problem, of course, it's just some niceties that could be added. 

I am still trying to get the Animations to work (I have been instructed on how they need to be setup and the naming conventions etc, its just getting everything to play nicely together is tricky. The IVA is part of this as well, the Cryopod will have its own IVA but I need to get the animations all playing together nicely first.

The indicator lights meshes are already present on the model, I just haven't set them up to illuminate yet.

[DStaal]

5 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

Ah this is the bit i needed help with balancing the most. hopefully you'll get to play around with that soon.

I got it going in a sandbox in 1.2 - though obviously I need to understand something about Commnet, because I couldn't get it to work on the launchpad with an antenna with Commnet on.  (Only had partial control - no translation command, which is what you need.)  I'll see if I can get a couple of use-cases put together, but it may end up waiting until my weekend.  (Monday-Tuesday.)

5 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

I have been doing to work on this, I have managed (provided the pod is not the root part during construction) to get the initial stored EC of the pod to be 3000 (which is the requirement for freezing) even though the maximum is set to 50. The principle being that you can do one freeze of the Kerbal after you have been jettisoned form the parent vessel but you will be unable to thaw out on your own. You would need to be 'claw' attached to another vessel or similar to thaw them out.

Interesting.  I was starting to work on a patch idea that had a solid-fuel run generator that could be kicked in for the initial freeze.  (The idea being it ran the exhaust through a gas turbine generator instead of using it to generate thrust.)  Obviously the generator couldn't be refueled and could only be run at full output, which I thought was an interesting mechanic.    Either way - good to hear you have a solution besides 'sit in timewarp with the ship focused for an hour.'  Driving Kerbals crazy is fine.  Driving players crazy is another issue. 

5 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

I am still trying to get the Animations to work (I have been instructed on how they need to be setup and the naming conventions etc, its just getting everything to play nicely together is tricky. The IVA is part of this as well, the Cryopod will have its own IVA but I need to get the animations all playing together nicely first.

The indicator lights meshes are already present on the model, I just haven't set them up to illuminate yet.

Good to hear - I kinda thought that might be the case, but I wanted to make a note either way. 

[ArkaelDren]

I think one of the choices a player has to make during an "Abandon" ship situation is, "Out in deep space, jump in Cryo, then pray they locate you" because its a last ditch deal.  So you shouldn't be able to Unfreeze your own cryo pod.

[steedcrugeon]

1 hour ago, ArkaelDren said:

I think one of the choices a player has to make during an "Abandon" ship situation is, "Out in deep space, jump in Cryo, then pray they locate you" because its a last ditch deal.  So you shouldn't be able to Unfreeze your own cryo pod.

I concur, that's what i'm aiming for and it's also why, unlike the other pods, this one comes with no in-built probe control.

[DStaal]

I'm not having as much chance to get into KSP as I thought this weekend, but I did manage one test - a cargo pod full of Supplies (the heaviest thing it could contain), a probe core, and a parachute.  (As well as a drogue chute on the side.)  About all I can say from that test is that it seemed to work; it was a fairly rushed test.  The one notable thing that happened: The landing happened at sea - at which point the cargo pod promptly sank until it collided with the seafloor at ~150 m/s.  Something will need to be changed there to make it possible to land in the water.   (I've thought about adding some floats to it for future tests - USI has some that I think should work.)

My one other comment from looking at things is that the combination of a cargo/KIS pod, the probe core, and the lander engine has a total of about 20 EC - which isn't going to last until landing basically anywhere, which means the lander engine won't fire.  I wrote up a modification that adds some EC storage to the engine, and will likely test with that.  (Part of the reason my first test was with the parachute over Kerbin - Parachutes can be pre-staged, and will release even without EC.)

[steedcrugeon]

After having found the fault in the RealChute MM patch i have been working in finishing the bonus part's IVA. Here's a shot of Mun from the cockpit:

[DStaal]

Sorry I haven't been getting into KSP much lately, I'm a bit behind on testing things...

I did do a quick test of my solid-fuel generator.  It worked, with two issues: First off, I couldn't find a way to make it so that the generator couldn't be stopped.  Not a big issue, but it bugs me.  Secondly: Deepfreeze in 1.2.2 seems to need to have all the EC available at start - the freeze process aborts if there's no EC, instead of continuing to charge the capacitors.

I didn't do much balancing, but here's what I tried:

	RESOURCE
	{
		name = SolidFuel
		amount = 30
		maxAmount = 30
	}

	
	MODULE
	{
		name = ModuleResourceConverter
		ConverterName = Turbine Generator
		StartActionName = Start Turbine Generator
		AutoShutdown = true
		INPUT_RESOURCE
		 {
			ResourceName = SolidFuel
			Ratio = 1.0
			FlowMode =  NO_FLOW
		 }
		OUTPUT_RESOURCE
		{
			ResourceName = ElectricCharge
			Ratio = 100
			DumpExcess = true		
		}
	}	

 

[steedcrugeon]

That's very useful looking module there @DStaal I may well have a play with it soon if i have no luck on the plugin end.

In the menat time i have been working on extending the OTAV range, show below is the WIP of the way I planned the OTAV to be used. Rather than the REKT decouplers of Adapters this have a more deliberated implementation:

[DStaal]

3 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

That's very useful looking module there @DStaal I may well have a play with it soon if i have no luck on the plugin end.

In the menat time i have been working on extending the OTAV range, show below is the WIP of the way I planned the OTAV to be used. Rather than the REKT decouplers of Adapters this have a more deliberated implementation:

Interesting.  I was thinking of them as a more advanced version of the mk1-A, for when you care about where you land. 

On the module: You're welcome to use it, but be aware that in 1.2.2 Deepfreeze needs all it's EC in one lump - you can't trickle-charge.  The initial thought on that was that you could feed all the EC into Deepfreeze over a few seconds from the turbine generator, but it looks like you need to have it all in battery storage, unless you can talk JPLRepo into getting trickle charging working again.  Also, my initial idea was to have it so that you couldn't shut down the turbine generator - but stock ModuleResourceConverter doesn't support that.  So if you want to include that, you'd need to sub-class and override.

[DStaal]

As and update: JPLRepo has said he'll look into the change in behavior on Deepfreeze.  So, if he can find the issue, trickle charging may work at some point in the future.

[steedcrugeon]

2 hours ago, DStaal said:

As and update: JPLRepo has said he'll look into the change in behavior on Deepfreeze.  So, if he can find the issue, trickle charging may work at some point in the future.

Hmm, that could undermine the 'one-shot' nature of the freeze, unless thaw still requires all the EC in one chunk. That could be a get round, I really need to look into learning how to write plugins...

[DStaal]

16 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

Hmm, that could undermine the 'one-shot' nature of the freeze, unless thaw still requires all the EC in one chunk. That could be a get round, I really need to look into learning how to write plugins...

True - I thought about that a bit.  But either you store 2000+EC at the start somehow, or you take it in via a trickle - one or the other has to happen for the freeze.  With it being able to trickle-charge, you can make the internal RTG *really* low powered, and make the thaw more trouble than it's worth, and use something like my turbine generator idea for the freeze, whereas we seem to be having trouble finding a way to only have the 2000 EC at the start.

[steedcrugeon]

Further development of the OTAV accessories (i have gotten a bit carried away):

Spoiler

 

[steedcrugeon]

Coming soon...

Spoiler

The 'Hub' inline 12 REKT pod decoupler, featuring individual decoupler nodes! This is a 2.5m Size part.

[MaverickSawyer]

Field report time!

I freaking LOVE the OTAV. It's so cute, it's almost criminal to stack it atop a rocket and fire it into the heavens. 

OTAV's main engine is powerful enough to punch it from the launch pad and carry it to supersonic speeds, so flight testing/training of how it handles on approach is quick and cheap. Also, adding a parachute for the final touchdown is highly recommended.

As for REKT, the parachute from REKT actually plays quite well with @akron's Landvermisser probe, though it was never designed for such I'm sure. 

[akron]

42 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

As for REKT, the parachute from REKT actually plays quite well with @akron's Landvermisser probe, though it was never designed for such I'm sure. 

This was planned and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

What planet/moon did you test it at? It may help when it comes time to do the planetary lander version of Surveyor. Shoot me a PM or post on the P+ thread so we don't hijack this one

@steedcrugeon Looking good! OTAV is a cool design

[genericeventhandler]

With the oatv, how are you supposed to land them with a 30m/s impact tolerance.  30m/s is below the stall speed, so the only way I can see it working is stalling it just above the ground.  I tried landing it 10 times and couldn't do it. I had to bail jeb out and use his parachute to get him home. I've now upped the impact to 100m/s and that works ok. 

 

[akron]

4 minutes ago, genericeventhandler said:

With the oatv, how are you supposed to land them with a 30m/s impact tolerance.  30m/s is below the stall speed, so the only way I can see it working is stalling it just above the ground.  I tried landing it 10 times and couldn't do it. I had to bail jeb out and use his parachute to get him home. I've now upped the impact to 100m/s and that works ok.

100 m/s is over 200 miles per hour. Seems rather high

[genericeventhandler]

4 minutes ago, akron said:

100 m/s is over 200 miles per hour. Seems rather high

When I've found out what my average landing speed, I'll lower it ;-) 

 

[akron]

2 minutes ago, genericeventhandler said:

When I've found out what my average landing speed, I'll lower it ;-)

Then again, this is KSP. Pushing the limits is life

[MaverickSawyer]

I added a small parachute casing to the top of OTAV, just aft and above CoM. Set it to deploy low and basically stall out just before you hit that altitude. Soft landing guaranteed.

[steedcrugeon]

Working on new textures for the existing models and sprucing up the mk1c a bit.

[ISE]

On 3/31/2017 at 3:15 PM, steedcrugeon said:

Working on new textures for the existing models and sprucing up the mk1c a bit.

 

On 2/21/2017 at 3:34 PM, steedcrugeon said:

Coming soon...

  Hide contents

The 'Hub' inline 12 REKT pod decoupler, featuring individual decoupler nodes! This is a 2.5m Size part.

 

On 3/31/2017 at 3:15 PM, steedcrugeon said:

Working on new textures for the existing models and sprucing up the mk1c a bit.

Ran out of likes, but looking amazing! 

 

+1 Like + 1 Like 

[RaendyLeBeau]

its great, like this idea !! i like very the textures of orange and yellow, rescue-pod.

Edited April 3, 2017 by RaendyLeBeau