Reiver

That really does make the RAT-360 look like the Best Solution. Not sure how I feel about that. I'll have to fool around with them in play and see. If the RAT-1 and RAT-720 had proportionately better performance than the 360 at lower speeds, the drop-off would mean everything has a point... in the right circumstances.

Hey, thanks Is there any reason (presumably licencing?) these changes can't be integrated into the mod itself?

I've always been tempted to rig it so that 5 units of EVA fuel = 1 unit of MonoProp; or possibly a 10:1 ratio or the like. Not infinite, but more generous than "Whoops, you only get two refills". The trick of course is that Kerbals would start with a full tank, even if the Monoprop hits zero before they ever climbed out. That latter part is really important for not stranding Kerbals.

Awesome. What do the performance curves look like for these?

Is this an appropriate place to query whether it'd be possible to make drills radially attachable and removable by engineers? Some days, you just want to take a couple tools on the side of your lander in case things go horribly wrong. Failing that, a radially-mounted massless (1.0 definition) toolbox which is big enough to carry a small handful of equipment (Drills, bombs, maybe a fuel tank or Noms backpack) might do the trick. It'd be adorable when the Kerbals carry them around, too. Yes, you can give equipment to crew slots; this is for having the right tools on hand if needed when your Kerbal would normally be carrying out other equipment, letting Kerbals 'share' equipment more easily, or letting an engineer that didn't normally carry tools be able to collect them from a supply probe.

Awesome A small note on the utility of the suggested RAT-360: You can use it to maintain power on aero-braking probes when their solar panels had to be folded away. It's worth noting that this is also when a vehicles power drain can be highest (Because it'll frequently be aggressively using reaction wheels to try and control itself), so this could provide a great offset to needing spare batteries. I was trying to design a jool-diving probe just yesterday and realised how incredibly handy a lightweight high-speed optimised RAT would be... so now I'm even more impatient for this mod than ever.

Yeah, but that's Infernal Robotics. No harm nor foul, but I prefer my stuff a little more stockalike and preferably a straight-up part; IR can take a fair bit to keep updated and playing nice across versions.

... Y'know, shots like that make me wish there were some way to make a trailer hitch in KSP. So you could have fullblown wagon trains.

I'd thought this had already been done; if it hasn't, I second the motion entirely. I quite like the idea of the cheaper/tougher feet and the wheeled ones being compatible, so you can, eg, land the heaviest bits and then drive the lighter ones into position.

Neat

Hm. I can certainly see a method for diversifying them, if you wish: The RAT-1 is very similar to modern aircraft emergency power supplies. It'd be neat if it was drag-free folded down, if draggy when active. It'd produce power even at relatively low speeds, but have limits on higher ones - perhaps overheating and/or speed limits like solar panels and parachutes when open, so you'd not want to use it during re-entry or RAPIER-powered ascents. The RAT-360 solves the speed problem, but is heavier, and prefers speed entirely; it doesn't do well at low speeds. Use it to recharge on your way down (Or maintain power on that RAPIER plane), but be cautious of trying to use it for emergency power in landings! Then your RAT-6000 is the current does-everything (Fast, slow, speedproof, and power management to boot) but is expensive and heavy enough that you actually care. Great for big craft and serious auxiliary power, but not so much a backup option... I note in passing that yes, these are pretty similar to what you already do - it's just giving each one an explicit purpose whilst still drifting towards later models being 'better' as the tech improves. But at least then you've still got a perfectly legit use for the RAT-1, even if it's simply as a very lightweight emergency power for your landings that you never plan on needing... but might regret if you don't. It's the Kerbal way, of course. A nosecone one would be pretty neat. You mean a .6m cone, right? I have glorious visions of sticking it on the top of the OCTO cores of my aerobraking probes

I'll just be happy with single-peice SRBs that fit nicely against the fuselages. You often use SRBs when you need a kickoff at launch and primarily care about cost or part count, after all.

It looks like a one-seater, but we may yet be surprised...

You could simply let greenhouses extract Fertilizer from the ground, or something. I approve of 'terrestial bases can function indefinitely while space-based ones need resupply', but I'm also cautious of having too many extra-extra resources added when the fundamental goal is 'stuff on ground lasts forever, stuff in space doesn't'. I seem to recall debates over simply using 'ore' for a similar purpose. Please let them stay expanding in space - they look so cool as space stations! It's not like you couldn't do 90% of it with the little recyclers and Mk1 cabins anyway, so might as well let 'em grow big and pretty, right?

That model is gorgeous! Well done! That said, it's a little more apparent there that the textures aren't stockalike - do you plan to make them so, or are you deliberately making them different?

So, uh, if one were to want to install & use this... what hoops do we need to go through to get a minimally bugged version?

Engineer kerbals, of course!

Those look really good! Would you be interested in doing an inline from 1m to .6m? That way you could sneak a nose cone on, but be able to choose which nose cone... or perhaps something even more Kerbal-y. I've also had a longstanding wish for a conical nose that looks like the NCS nose cone, but has a tiny little cargo bay instead of fuel, and a Tiny node inside. You know, for those spare batteries and science kits and such. Too far out of scope, I suppose? Your stuff will be begging for noses!

Would you mind sharing how you rig up the .dll as/when you get started on it? I stalled out when I couldn't figure out where even to start on that bit.

Oh, this is neat. Now I can stop slapping batteries onto my spaceplanes just so they've got enough charge for glider landings. The RAT systems do sound a little like they are very much a 'each one is better than the last' progression - is this the case, or are there pros/cons beyond simple cost?

Excellent. I shall be slapping boosters onto rovers to test their parachute systems in no time! Just out of interest, just how hilariously does this thing break save games that were running prior to the mod being installed? I get the ever so subtle feeling this is the kind of mod that demands a standalone install.

Actually, that point reminds me - especially on rovers, it'd can be nice to have a corridor connector of some variety. But especially with the way Rovers tend to be a single row of the base parts, and frequently cupola'd or worse at each end, it can be hard to find a spot on the side of the vehicle that can fit a flexible connector 'flush' - could we have a structural part that doesn't have the landing leg spots? There's an interesting thought you pulled off beautifully with the cross-peice: Could the sides of the structural members be flush until a landing leg is attached on the side? You could have the node in its current spot and angle, but not have the sticky-out bit on the side until you put something onto it... or perhaps I'm being too clever for my own good? (Curious aside: Could you do similar for the connector pipes? A multiconnector that starts as a 'dead end' with five nodes, that add to make a tube/bend/crosspeice as parts are added to them? That would cut down on part clutter in the VAB a whole lot... but might be awful tricky. Worth asking!)

How are you doing the new profession? I've been trying to work out how to implement such a thing on and off for months.

Oh, wow. I love this. To confirm: The atmosphere and terrain is all straight-up Mars, right? I'm tempted to use this as a testbed for my next 1.1 martian base program; it'd sure be nice to test landing & rover systems without that pesky interplanetary travel part.

Man, I love these things so very much. Do you have any intention of providing interior lighting for them? Silly as it looks, I've a soft spot for the bright glass at night. A tiny thought I had the other day, which may be out of scope but I thought I'd suggest in anyway - I'd love to see a single-seat Mk2 cockpit. Similar to the Cobra, I suppose, but more streamlined in return for a smaller canopy. For those extra-fightery types.