CobaltWolf

Well, since Redstone kinda ran away with it... sure. " The current Redstone engine is likely the oldest part in the mod, essentially unchanged since September 2015.

I am at a bit of a crossroads for what I can work on next. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. This is all stuff that I'm intending to do for this update one way or the other. Some notes - Corona would primarily focus on getting the return capsule and the associated hardware done. Might include getting the cameras done, I'm still not 100% committed to doing them. Probably also includes Biosat. I should have probably added an option for "weird Agena stuff" Mariner 10 and Pioneer Venus would both be larger scale payloads - they launched on Atlas Centaur in real life. OGO, Lunar Orbiter, most of Redstone, and most of the remaining Agena stuff are all modeled already. Redstone would include Juno 1 / Jupiter C / Explorer 1 / Sergeant clusters Nimbus would probably also include TIROS Juno would include Explorer 7, possibly also some of its other payloads. Pioneer 1 and 4 probably need to get redone as well. https://www.strawpoll.me/19037142

Is this how you're relaxing now that The Deer is done?

To continue responding, more just to add context. Yes, BDB uses a fork of Cryogenic Engines. Or it might have been coded independently for all I know. I don't code; that's stuff done by @Jso who has been having some IRL stuff go on for the last half a year or so. So I don't know too much about it. At the time, it made sense because we didn't want to have Cryogenic Engines / Tanks as a dependency. That meant that the functionality diverged a bit over time. I think I've spoken with Nertea before about externalizing Cryo Engines/Tanks functionality to a mutual dependency and adding more features like being able to use shades in depots, etc. But I don't think they went anywhere since we both were/are busy with other projects. As far as I know, the boiloff shouldn't be toggleable in the BDB tanks so any vestigial functionality getting patched on by CryoTanks would cause issues. I'd always planned on adding solutions for active cooling / active boiloff management to BDB (IVF systems, sun shade, heat pumps + radiators for replicating Ares from Voyage) but I've just never gotten around to them. So there currently isn't any way to manage boiloff for the BDB tanks, at least that I know of. However, like Zorg said, I don't think there's any tanks in BDB that would represent anything that could actively manage boiloff. They're all, relatively speaking, old tech that would predate active management. It never got finished, I decided I wanted to redo the LM from scratch before adding on to it, partially because the models and textures weren't set up very well for variants.

I think you just exponentially increased the already difficult task of launching a rocket of that scale.

Once you go bigger than a Saturn V I always start to wonder what kind of acoustic issues you'd run into.

@GoldForest as far as I know C-8 was the design for direct ascent Apollo and didn't factor into later Mars plans, which I'd also remark, didn't really get that far into the planning/outlining. You can't do a single launch Mars landing/return mission even with a C-8, especially if you're going all-chemical for your propulsion. IIRC the NAR MEM (which is one of the only designs post-Mariner IV) also uses... exotic fuels to make the numbers work. Some more payloads working their way down the pipeline... \

Probably, working on the assumption that KSP2 is good and I can reuse the existing models.

Well someone would have to buy me a subscription and hold me down long enough to watch it instead of spending all my free time on BDB. In any case, there IS already some alternate history Apollo stuff but nothing for landers / surface bases. I have several... Hundred reference images not to mention dozens and dozens of documents saved for alternate history Apollo and Saturn stuff. However, Apollo/Saturn expansions are on hold until the historical Apollo/LM/Saturn are revamped. Both to bring them up to current standards, and to be made with expansion in mind. And before I get to any of THAT, the early game stuff (being the oldest/worst looking stuff in the mod) needs to finish getting revamped and expanded. I'm honestly not planning on getting to them until KSP 2 comes out, unfortunately.

Good news everyone... I got it to land on my first attempt There's also a couple parts based on something that as far as I know, is called Mariner B.

Annnnnnd the Ranger Block 3 TV system was easy enough to take care of.

I assume that's in reference to the subsat thing? Yeah I really have no freaking idea how that could have happened..? I literally opened up a Unity scene, changed the name of a single transform (there were two sunCatcher2's and no sunCatcher6) and re-exported and then saw the scaling issue. I open the Unity scene back up and the XYZ scales on the subsat were all 100? I don't know how? And then apparently.. Pioneer 3/4 is there? That doesn't even live in the same Unity project ahhhhhhhh Have a Ranger Block 1 everyone... I think I can set up the electrostatic analyzer to be a 3-part experiment which is exciting!

Oh dear...

Oops... No idea *how* that happened, but it should be fixed, and I re-uploaded all the zips to the various DL sources

Uh. I guess tab? It doesn't really matter I think. Well, since we got 1.6.2 out... looks like this weekend belongs to Ranger/Mariner Stream going live!

Yeah I haven't quite figured out what's going on with Ranger Block II. I'm focusing on getting Mariner 2 cleaned up and in game (if only because I have the most documentation for that one) and then moving on to the Rangers in more detail.

I'm actually quite good friends with the author of Coatl Probes+, so I don't feel any real need to overlap with his content (despite the differences in art style over the years) Mariner 2 WIP - would people prefer I work on Ranger/Mariner stuff this weekend, or work on getting the 1.6.2 hotfix stuff done? It's basically a choice of what y'all want to have before December - Ranger/Mariner or hotfix. And some previews of stuff that's much less finished:

Ranger/Mariner Battery Pack Ranger/Mariner Midcourse Correction Engine Mariner 2 finished model I don't know what's happening anymore but this definitely isn't historical, not even a proposal hecc u Akron if I can't make surveyor ill make my own lander

This is perfection

Just wanted to remind everyone about @AlphaMensae's awesome Modular Launch Pads, which have been receiving a bunch of great historical towers and pad infrastructure with more to come!

Mercury goes in Engineering101 because there needs to be room for Gemini before Apollo. The vanilla BDB placement is a blend of historical (ie I dont wait to give stuff like RCS and probes where appropriate), gameplay (stuff like Delta and Titan IV getting placed before Saturn V) and just... Struggling with the fact that the tech tree is too damn small. So Mercury being that early y'know kiiiinda works historically, plus its a pretty primitive capsule. You're still using probes for the bulk of the work. I don't envy the task. I don't remember the count but we were certainly over 500 in 1.6 and there's a ton getting added in this current dev cycle. Please feel free to PM if/when you feel like tackling it, I can advise which sections of the mod to skip because theyre currently getting redone etc. Update for my homies: still innawoods. Filled a tag my first day, nothing the second, sitting in the stand for the start of my third. Trying to get a second deer for the freezer/ my grandparents. So sadly no time spent at the cabin keeping the fire going and working from my laptop. I'd still expect to see Ranger/Mariner to get in game next weekend. Also I think the list of 1.6.2 issues is big enough I cant ignore it anymore...

The forks stay extended. Just actuate the bolts on the ring port. The forks only fold to make them fit in fairings better.