[1.11.x] Some Very Alien Stuff - an assorted assembly of alien accessories

[ktosiu]

Inspired by the great works of our most prominent KSP modders, for the last few weeks I've been semi-secretly toiling away at a bunch of parts of my own. With enough content (and courage) to warrant a development thread, I present this mod under the working title of Some Very Alien Stuff (SVAS).

Not surprisingly, the focus of this add-on is kerbalkind's discovery and utilization of various bits and bobs of alien origin. As of now, it is planned to depend on Angel-125's magnificent "Blueshift", as it reuses some of its assets, resources and anomaly spawning mechanics.

 

Present Status of Mod is: Highly Experimental

 

FULL ALBUM

Currently available:

Tetrahedron Scout Ship
A variation of the Blueshift's Tetrahedron Anomaly; a two-seat, all-in-one part, controllable alien scout vessel. No IVA model. Uses WaterfallFX for its visuals (hull glow and exhaust). Powered by Blueshift's Graviolium (attitude control) and Electroplasma (very efficient non-atmospheric reaction engine). No RCS thrusters. Spawns as a rare class A space object/anomaly on a fly-by trajectory around a random body. Seize it while you can. There's not much else to it though, as this was a proof of concept intended to gauge my ability to get anything done in Blender and Unity. IMPORTANT: Dock with the anomaly (via a claw or a manually attached docking port of your choice) before boarding to convert it from a SpaceObject into a standard vessel lest the Kraken may disapprove!

^{Alien Scout orbiting Kerbin}

More images of the scout: https://imgur.com/a/6cidRE6

Alien Excavator
A surface attached alien drill. Small, light and efficient (200%/300%/300%), neither affected by heat nor generates any. Its planetary harvester runs on Graviolium and Electroplasma but comet and asteroid modules are (afaik) hard-coded to Electric Charge. Best mounted on an extendable arm. Beam and funnel made with Waterfall.

^{Beam-based drill}

Alien Powercell
A surface attached infinite source of Electroplasma to power the various alien gizmos. The hotter the surroundings, the higher its efficiency. Features a cliche animation (nothing says 'alien' more than a set of rotating rings) and a glowing blob of Waterfall effects.

^{A powercell on a floating pedestal}

Tetrahedron Modular Ship
An extension of the scout concept, this one has bits of mesh sliced off as separate parts for user customization. On a side note, aligning surface nodes on a triangular pyramid is not fun if you hate math.

^{Modular Scout Ship with active Excavator Pylon}

Alien Pylons
Attachable parts for the modular core: Blueshift FTL drive, Powercell, Antigravity generator, Excavator.

There are also some other experimental/debug parts included but they should be hidden from view by default.

 

In the works:

Alien Fabricator
An automated part printer. Requires one of the mods allowing for in-situ part creation (Simple Construction, Sandcastle soon and potentially OSE). The only way to produce new alien parts.

Alien Tractor Beam
Functions as a standard grappling claw but spurts Waterfall visuals.

Alternate Chassis for the modular core:

^{The result of "You discover Blender tutorials. Your blending skill increases by 2.3%".}

Plans, ideas and general direction:

• intended as overpowered endgame content for crazy fun and/or storytelling
• part names, prices, tech and resource requirements are far from intended values and subject to change
• alien parts should not be available in vab/sph, the only way to obtain them is through exploration and salvage (leveraging Blueshift's Anomaly Spawning system) or the Alien Fabricator
• ordinary (non-alien) parts should not be attachable to alien vessels
• add moar parts (isru, thrusters, alien death/heat ray, toggleable forcefield/collider, aerodynamic shell generator, alien themed fluff/fun props) and vessels!
• IVAs for the vessels rather unlikely?

 

I'm relatively new to KSP modding (had a short stint in '16 but didn't progress very far). I have some coding and modelling experience but only as a hobbyist. Your constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged. Currently struggling at texturing to the point of passionately hating it. Hopefully for now, you will accept all materials as passable placeholders. Also if you happen to know a good tool for procedural textures with emphasis on hard surfaces - let me know. Generally I need something to cover for my utter lack of graphical sense and partial color blindness . And if you'd be willing to detail your workflows, that'd make me additionally happy. Just keep in mind that "I hand paint all my materials in mspaint.exe" is advice too exotic for me to follow.

Downloads:

Releases: https://github.com/Zorbaq/SVAS/releases

Source: https://github.com/Zorbaq/SVAS

Dependencies: Blueshift, Waterfall, Module Manager

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by ktosiu

[Spaceman.Spiff]

This is AWESOME!

[Angelo Kerman]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I definitely encourage you to learn Blender or another 3D modelling package to create some models for your mod. It looks like you have some creative ideas.

[Souptime]

must... download...

[ktosiu]

First experimental download now available - https://github.com/Zorbaq/SVAS/releases/tag/v0.1.7788

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by ktosiu
Oops :)

[Raptor22]

6 minutes ago, ktosiu said:

First experimental download now available - https://github.com/Zorbaq/SVAS/releases/tag/v0.1.778

Error 404 on the link.

[ktosiu]

2 minutes ago, Raptor22 said:

Error 404 on the link.

Fixed!

[Souptime]

yoink

[Guest]

Nice! The drill especially is a great idea and more pyramids in the game are always welcome. Look forward to seeing the in development parts.

[Revilo2601]

The question is: is this still in development? I consider the idea as great.