Long Standing error on Mk1-2 Command Pod

[Runescope]

When is the rotation of the Mk1-2 Command Pod going to be fixed so that it's ladder lines up with EVERY OTHER PART THAT HAS LADDERS?

I can rotate it in the game, but it throws off the rotation calculation, so when I want my ship rotated 0 degrees to line up with a space station, it's always WAY off and I have to eyeball it

I hate eyeballing it.

[StahnAileron]

As a work around, have you tried rotating the docking ports to align the ladder sections? I mean, it would be more convenient to have that aligned for consistency, but I can imagine several workarounds (rotating the docking ports and/or the other parts to align with the pod in the SPH/VAB first versus figuring it out in-situ.) If I recall, didn't docking ports receive a rotation alignment setting in 1.1 or so?

On the other hand... What are you doing with stations that require you to EVA and need/want to use ladders? (Personally, I try to keep EVAs to a minimum if I can help it.)

[Wjolcz]

It's meant to resemble the Apollo capsule, that's why it is how it is.

But I agree. Would prefer to have a Dragon V2-esque kind of pod instead of Mk1-2

[Ultimate Steve]

40 minutes ago, Veeltch said:

But I agree. Would prefer to have a Dragon V2-esque kind of pod instead of Mk1-2

Although Dragon 2 wasn't a thing yet when 0.17 was released.

I would like the mk1-2 ladder realigned. However, it would break a lot of existing crafts.

[Wjolcz]

1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Although Dragon 2 wasn't a thing yet when 0.17 was released.

Well, actually the DragonRider (now Dragon 2) was announced in 2010 (Mk2-1 was added in 0.16 in 2012). It's just that the final look of it was still not certain. And yet RAPIER is in the game even though the SABRE engine was not even built.

I know it's kind of silly to compare an SSTO engine to a manned capsule, but would be nice to see some fresh manned command parts in the game.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Veeltch

[klgraham1013]

Whether the Dragon was out or not, a little forethought would have shown the gameplay problems with an offset hatch.

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

17 hours ago, Runescope said:

...EVERY OTHER PART THAT HAS LADDERS?...

You kind of forgot all of the spaceplane cockpits.

Anyways, fixing the hatch on the Mk2 cockpit isn't as easy as it sounds. It would probably require a redo of most of the pod. If you take a look at the inside there's a kerbal sitting right where the hatch would be moved to line it up. I'll go take a look at the internal view again but as I recall there's not much of another place for the kerbal to be moved without his/her head being stuck inside something. The inside would have to be completely redone, and that sounds like a lot of work for what amounts to (imho) a minor inconvenience

Edited October 8, 2016 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[Red Iron Crown]

I'd rather they relocate the ladder on the other stuff to match the Mk1-2 pod, to be honest. Having ladders at one of the cardinal points interferes with RCS thruster placement sometimes.

I do agree that they should all be consistent, at whichever position.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

Can this be done with a simple MM patch, if I recall correctly default rotations can be done in MM.

 

edit- I forgot the navball would be messed up then, crap...

Edited October 9, 2016 by Waxing_Kibbous

[Wjolcz]

30 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

I'd rather they relocate the ladder on the other stuff to match the Mk1-2 pod, to be honest. Having ladders at one of the cardinal points interferes with RCS thruster placement sometimes.

I do agree that they should all be consistent, at whichever position.

You can easily deal with the RCS ports getting in the way though. Simply putting the 4-way RCS block on top of the 1-way one (the spaceplane one, forgot what it's called) works more than well.

Also if there was a new pod added it could have built-in RCS nozzles that actually work, so they wouldn't get in the way.

[Alshain]

17 hours ago, Veeltch said:

You can easily deal with the RCS ports getting in the way though. Simply putting the 4-way RCS block on top of the 1-way one (the spaceplane one, forgot what it's called) works more than well.

Also if there was a new pod added it could have built-in RCS nozzles that actually work, so they wouldn't get in the way.

So your solution to the problem is clipping parts together?  That won't be an acceptable solution for many people, I think you know that.  I would personally prefer they just added 5 way RCS ports and 45 degree angled RCS ports and then I just wouldn't care about the blasted pod anymore.

Until they do, they should leave the only good command pod design alone.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Alshain

[Wjolcz]

2 hours ago, Alshain said:

So your solution to the problem is clipping parts together?  That won't be an acceptable solution for many people, I think you know that.  I would personally prefer they just added 5 way RCS ports and 45 degree angled RCS ports and then I just wouldn't care about the blasted pod anymore.

I only said how i currently deal with this problem. Until we get a proper 5-way RCS port it's the only way to deal with things like symmetrical hatches and ladders. I actually do think that having a 5-way port would be way better than clipping the two together.

2 hours ago, Alshain said:

Until they do, they should leave the only good command pod design alone.

Not saying they should get rid of it, but would also like to have some more diversity in command pods for spacecraft.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Veeltch

[Alshain]

@Veeltch Sorry I guess I misunderstood.  I thought you were saying they could change the pod because the clipping solution exists (which I personally do use that solution, but not everybody will)

[Wjolcz]

Just now, Alshain said:

@Veeltch Sorry I guess I misunderstood.  I thought you were saying they could change the pod because the clipping solution exists (which I personally do use that solution, but not everybody will)

No worries. I don't hate the Mk1-2. I just avoid using it.

[Alshain]

I only completely dislike it's mass.  But the RCS ports are a more concerning lack of diversity than even the command pods.  It induces difficulty, and not the fun kind.

[Wjolcz]

Actually, I just did a mini "research" and it seems like the hatch on the Apollo capsule was right in the middle and above astronauts' heads. It's the number 3 on this picture:

But yeah, I agree that until we get a proper 5-way RCS block the ladders would probably get in the way.