CobaltWolf

@damonvv any stealth mountains?

They're an improvement but still not as nice as I'd like them to be.

I think of Delta (and in general, 1.5m as a size class) as Med-Lite edging into true Medium by the time you reach Delta 2, Atlas as Medium, and Titan as Med-Heavy edging into true Heavy with Titan IV. Atlas V is probably Med-Heavy yeah. I think Atlas has trouble keeping up with the other LVs because the balloon tanks preclude using most strap-on arrangements, other than recreating the IRL Atlas 2AS. I think Atlas should probably have a performance edge (balloon tanks, higher ISP engines, cryo upper stage) over single stick configuration Titan, and the strap-on Titans should be a significant cost jump but with significant performance. Also worth remembering that IRL costs were a big driver, and engineers tended to focus more on cutting down missions and payloads to fit on smaller, cheaper launchers rather than always designing for the biggest thing available. I know you didn't want this to be all about cost but I think cost is going to be one of the main differentiators. Something worth noting if you're struggling with the 9x (well, 3x3x) booster symmetry for Delta, is the placement is in increments of 40 degrees. So holding shift to get the fine snapping (5 degree instead of 15) lets you easily place them in the correct lateral position. The little struts on the bottom should line up vertically with the little holes on the engine housing. Credit for the standalone fairing ring for the Delta must go to @PickledTripod, he made the edit to the original part and sent me the model wrapped up in a bow. I would like to be able to have a longer variable length interstage but the design (ie, texture) of the Delta K interstage precludes doing that easily. I'm not sure if there's an easy solution to that. Worse yet, there's going to be another 1.5m interstage added for IUS that is also short. Maybe it will look cool combined with the Minotaur interstage and one of them can just have its staging disabled? Also, re: Thor update because you brought it up, I'm going to be experimenting with doing smaller texture atlases for some of these new parts, with the hope that I will be less wasteful if I choose to add variants like I did for the Peacekeeper stuff. For ex having only a couple fuel tanks on a texture sheet so they can have multiple paint jobs (Delta Blue for the Thor tanks so that the 70s and 80s Deltas can be recreated? Having a correct black Able stage for Vanguard? etc) without a ton of unused space. That's in comparison to my previous technique of putting entire families on giant texture atlases, which then wind up going 70% unused in variant textures because only a fraction of the sheet needs to change. That of course assumes people want more paint variants in the future. Similarly, I'd like to be able to offer switching for the Titan solids between having black stripes and all white, stuff like that. If I can have different historical paint schemes with a minimum of additional overhead (it's not like Squad cares about efficiency anymore...) and additional time, I'd like to try and do it. The manual has been moved to our wiki over on Github but doesn't have full coverage yet (partially because Jso doesn't want to make the pretty pictures for stuff that's going to be replaced soon)

I honestly don't know, but my hope is I'll be able to do enough preplanning (and maybe be more public on what I'm working on before I start unwrapping etc so people can offer more input and suggestions) that the parts will be as flexible as possible (think like the extra switches on the new Minotaur parts). Trying to make sure that, for example, the Able tank represents Vanguard-Able, Thor-Able, Atlas-Able, and the early Delta upper stages is going to be a challenge because there's so much variation. One of the issues that has resulted from the lack of proper research on the older parts is things were based very specifically on one version or another without giving enough thought to the other potential uses (another example would be the old Star-31, which was based only on the Redstone-Sparta and then had to be bashed into working for Scout). (To answer your specific question, yeah it should be totally possible to have both of these engines include 0.625m, 0.9375m, and 0.625m>0.9375m shrouds) I don't want to add four hundred new parts for this stuff, especially because researching this stuff is hard (the only thing that's really easy to research is the Saturn family, even Titan GLV gave me trouble finding good reference material and that's easily the second most well documented historical rocket) and there's not a lot out there. I recently signed up for NASASpaceFlight.com's L2 section and there was some illuminating material there that I cannot share (it's paid content) but will definitely help guide development. There will probably be two "Ablestar" type fuel tanks since there was a pretty significant stretch during the early Deltas. I might have to do an SSPS type tank (the kind used on the late pre-Delta 2 Deltas and the Japanese N-2 rocket) since there was a TON of late 70s to mid 80s proposals that used it. It was studied extensively as an upper stage for Atlas, Titan and even the Space Shuttle. I'd like to do a 1.5m cryo tank for a like Centaur-Jr. type upper stage for Thor/Delta. The Thor tanks will be redone with an eye towards making sure the various IRL variants can be built more accurately, but no promises that it will be perfect. The various decouplers, fairing bases, and probably even some of the adapters will be made into more generic parts, to make the mod more prune-resistant (basic parts won't be embedded in random folders and texture sheets). I'm really excited just since the old versions of these parts were particularly affected by poor planning and generally bashing out a lot of parts with poorly made or stretched textures. Another preview - here is a quick sketch I made a little bit back of a new 0.625m fairing base, the mating ring in the middle is 0.3125m. And here is a new 0.3125m probe decoupler, inspired by the old AIES decoupler. The idea is it will have a little animation and the little pusher plate provides a gentle spring-loaded shove to separate the delicate payload. In any case, all that is months out so I haven't been able to give tooooo much thought and planning to it. Once this upcoming release is out (By the way, looking for screenshots using the new parts!! ) the Titan stuff will move to my primary development PC, and all this other stuff will enter full pre-production and planning. Honestly, having to look at those low-quality early game rockets is probably one of the reasons I haven't been able to get back into a career save all these years, so maybe I'll be able to enjoy that too. Oh, in case anyone noticed that I haven't listed it for revamp, the Diamant (Rosuette) rocket will likely not be in BDB much longer. I honestly have no energy or focus to spare revamping it, but fortunately @Well is making a new one for his awesome KNES mod. From what he's shown me so far the detail and quality is already far higher than mine. ( @Well if you want to share a screenshot that would be awesome!)

Merged, repacked, and update pushed to Spacedock and Github. Thank you! So all I have to do is make sure I update that file with each release?

Titan refresh is already decently far along. Thor refresh, along with a refresh of Vanguard, Redstone, Juno, Able, Ablestar, and the early Delta models, is coming eventuallyTM. I actually already started pre-production on it as another time waster when I'm away from my home PC with all my active dev files. As a sneak peek, here's an early WIP of the Able and Ablestar engine refresh. I don't think it's the system scaling since performance is performance. Unfortunately cost is something that can't be easily modeled in KSP. There's a lot of stuff that matters IRL that simply isn't represented in KSP, for example the point mentioned in the end of that issue's comment chain about how much the cost of the Titans would increase if their very-expensive IRL propellants were properly modelled. Broadly speaking, I think the solution is to try and remember that in KSP, cost should increase with capability. I don't think KSP balance really supports efforts to reduce costs, which is why a Saturn 1C costs more than a Saturn 1B, etc. Solids obviously are the big exception to this, which is why Titan 3 is so good. I think it's also important to remember that all these rockets existed in a real life context, where there's a lot more going on that affects decision making. Pure performance is typically not one of the absolute prime concerns for a rocket design, and you have to remember that many of these rockets were competing and all being allocated their own little honeypots from people who had an interest in supporting their contractors. Think also of things like the pace of development back then - In some ways it's natural that a Titan 3 surpasses a Saturn 1's performance AND cost, because they simply had another half decade of experience and technology to work with. Don't forget also that most rockets IRL didn't have the legs, on a financial efficiency basis or otherwise, to go the distance, which is why they are long-abandoned historic rockets in the first place! We will always strive for interesting and enjoyable balance for the parts in BDB, but at some point it's inevitable that there are parts that are simply better than others. At the end of the day, I enjoy making this stuff and enjoy putting things together that might not always be the most efficient, but the most interesting. Since the Titan revamp is coming up, we'll have plenty of time to examine these parts and make balance changes when necessary.

Not at all! As the quoted user said, this current version works in 1.4.x, 1.5.x, and 1.6.x.

Sorry, I don't know either - perhaps @HebaruSan or @linuxgurugamer could mark compatibility for us? How could you attach it to the ground without tools?

I believe that pad is actually from @damonvv's unfinished Tundra Space Center, but the same thing applies - he sent me some preview stuff to use for screenshots for this release.

Alrighty! Surface Experiment Pack v2.7 Compatible with KSP 1.4.x, 1.5.x, 1.6.x Fixes for the new KIS/KAS syntax courtesy of @Friznit Available on Github and Spacedock, if it's not showing up on CKAN it should next time the bot scrapes or whatever.

Speaking of, er, Delta(c)... the Delta 2 update is finally finished! We're getting close to release, please anyone that has time check out the current Github master and try to help spot issues so fixes can be included.

Personally I'm more interested in seeing the French space program get the Tantares/Bluedog treatment, but that's just me. Now if only those lazy CRE devs would finish the British rocket families and what-ifs...

I added it, but my dev install is still on 1.5 so I can't test.

I hope some day. I keep running into artists block but I talked it through some people, have a clearer idea on how to finish it. But not for this update. I was wondering, it might be a good idea to try and include it in the point release along with any bug fixes we have to make, similar to how I added the AJ260 last time with some bug fixes.

You're right, it probably needs a flag. Didnt know about the orientation issue but I can see it in the screenshot. Sorry about the grayscale texture, no idea what happened there. We will need to do a balance pass when I get around to the rest of the parts. Y'know I dont know if we've ever taken LS mass into account with balancing. they don't actually ride in EVA. This part was originally made before BDB was as historically focused as it is now, so the goal was just to get closer to a proper size one lander can since the stock one is so oversized. Sounds useful! They arent actually on EVA in the pod though (as I said above) Good idea! Is that possible in stock? The hatch would be blocked though. good a reason as any to put one on top too maybe?

I don't have time to play with the mod, so a lot of bugs like that can slip through without me ever knowing! If there is anything that seems like it's not behaving right, please let me know - or better yet, log an issue on the Github so it doesn't get lost

Aww we love you too Pak <3

He did say they would use residual methane for active cooling

Noted and fixed! Updated lander can is on Github

I imagine it's hard to pick up white-painted aluminum foil at the supermarket

Uh, shout outs to @MaverickSawyer and @komodo as well for pledging to the Patreon! I've always been a little uncomfortable promoting it since I don't rely on it for income, but I greatly appreciate the support (and beer money... )

Shout out to @damonvv for supporting BDB on Patreon, and reminding me that I said in my subscriber message that I would give a personalized shout out on the thread upon request!

Very nice @Well, looking forward to seeing your Diamant!

So, I'm sick and tired of seeing those terrible old textures on that lander can. I looked, and I've been sitting on unreleased textures for it for two years. I messed with the texture a little bit more last night, and I'm going to push the new version in with this update.

Interesting, the question was prompted by the pair of YLR-91s (not 87s, sorry) here http://heroicrelics.org/stafford/engines-ylr-91-w-skirt/index.html