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Wayland

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Posts posted by Wayland

    [1.1] BDArmory v0.11.0.1 (+compatibility, fixes) - Apr 23

    in KSP1 Mod Development

    Posted

    7 hours ago, theonegalen said:

    @Wayland

    Yeah, most warheads cause destruction by propagating an overpressure wave against the target (blast damage). Such a wave has to have a medium, or a material to transmit through. No air pressure, no overpressure, no blast damage. Even a nuclear weapon would be quite a bit less effective in space combat, because without the blast wave, all one is left with is a lot of undirected radiation. But when the explosive is actually in contact with it's target, as in your fourth test, it now has material to transmit it's blast wave through. :)

    Of course, most warheads at least have shrapnel caused by the bomb case disintegrating, and many also include shrapnel from additional material packed into the warhead, but armored vehicles could likely defeat such shrapnel, and I'm not sure if BDA models that kind of shrapnel damage anyway.

    The kind of weapons that would be effective in actual space combat would be high-velocity kinetic energy weapons (bullets or projectiles without warheads), suicide drones, terawatt lasers, or other directed energy weapons, among others.

    1) Unless something changed with how damage is simulated, BDArmory causes damage through thermal radiation, overheating parts and causing them to explode. This is a reasonably accurate stand-in for the the high-energy radiation from nuclear weapons used in space... Except for the fact the behavior in space doesn't seem to match what would be expected from inverse square law determined thermal radiation.

     

    2) Nuclear weapons would be quite effective in space, due to said high-energy radiation output causing significant thermal and ionizing radiation output, not to mention impulse-shock from the rapidly vaporized material. See:

    Nuclear weapons in space.

    Physical effects calculator for nuclear weapons in space.

    3) Kinetics are great when they hit, but require a direct physical impact. Nukes give you up to several miles of "close enough" which turns misses into kills, and also the potential to destroy multiple targets with a single warhead (especially useful against swarms of kinetic kill vehicles).

     

    4) Lasers are quite limited in maximum range for any objective lens size which can be considered practical. They are little more than point defense weapons unless they are absurdly large.

    [1.1] BDArmory v0.11.0.1 (+compatibility, fixes) - Apr 23

    in KSP1 Mod Development

    Posted

    Encountering some odd behavior with the Small High Explosive Warhead.

    I'm trying to use it in space, which I guess it isn't designed for. But here's what's going on:

     

    1) Tried repeatedly to use it in a ship-to-ship setting with some relative velocity with its target in space. Warhead is very close when I set it off. Nothing happens to target, but missile (warhead carrying vessel) is destroyed.

     

    2) Figuring maybe it was a lack of warhead power in space thing, I tested it with increasingly crazy power/blast radius settings in the part config... No change in results.

     

    3) Okay, maybe it just doesn't work with significant relative velocity? So I park the warhead 5 meters from the target and set it off. Again, target is completely undamaged but warhead vessel is destroyed. Keep in mind this is with a blast radius of 1000 meters and power of like 1200 at this point.

     

    4) Maybe it just doesn't work on other vessels at all? So I use RCS to position warhead literally touching the target... but this time when I set it off the target IS destroyed. Debris everywhere.

     

    5) Okay, so maybe it only damages things basically touching it? So I set one off on the launchpad... Nope, it destroyed half of the KSC... I guess it behaves differently in air than space?

     

    Anyway, maybe it's supposed to work that way, but I wish I had something that worked in space.

    [1.1] BDArmory v0.11.0.1 (+compatibility, fixes) - Apr 23

    in KSP1 Mod Development

    Posted

    All that you suggested is implemented already, you should try messing around with guard mode :)

    I have messed with guard mode. Unless I am missing something, it appears to only be capable of targeting vessels with weapon managers. Ideally I would like to be able to manually cycle through all targets in physics range.

    If there are more features, they are not intuitive. Is there documentation on such features I can read?

    "Cycle targets" key.

    in KSP1 Suggestions & Development Discussion

    Posted

    The issues I encounter that make me want this key are as follows:

    1) In certain docking situations, the target is sometimes lost. It would be faster to simply hit a key, rather than take the time to bring the mouse to the target and click. This is especially true when using a key mapped joystick.

    2) Certain complex terrestrial operations (related to kolonization), involving multiple vehicles and modules, could REALLY use an ability to quickly cycle targets. Simply finding the target by name rather than look for it in a field of a bajillion modules would be really nice.

    "Cycle targets" key.

    in KSP1 Suggestions & Development Discussion

    Posted

    It would be quite helpful in complex docking operations and... Like, a million other situations.

    I keep finding myself in situations where I really want this key to exist.

    Obviously it would be annoying if this key cycled through every object in the system. But the only times I want this feature are with objects nearby. Maybe have it only cycle objects that are loaded/not on rails?

    Pretty please...

    [1.1] BDArmory v0.11.0.1 (+compatibility, fixes) - Apr 23

    in KSP1 Mod Development

    Posted

    First, MUCH thanks for creating this mod. It is the bestest thing ever.

    Secondly, a question... Is there any chance you might someday be willing to reconfigure the laser such that, instead of immediately doing damage, it heats up the part it hits?

    This would be much more realistic for space, as that is closer how the laser would actually work. It would also allow, realistically, for thermally robust parts to survive better.

    Also, any chance of damage/heat effect on target reducing with distance? This would be realistic for both the guns and the laser.

    Again, MUCH thanks for making this mod. I'm very happy with it as is. Just throwing ideas out there.

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