CaptRobau

It's a great idea, I'll grant you that. It would help immensely with making orbital flights more useful (now you can just get all the science from with a suborbital hops, as you only need a few seconds to get science). Sadly this doesn't seem to be possible without a custom plugin, which is something I can't do. Also I think there's no way to make Cupola's get more science without them being a separate kind of experiment. This means that you'll be able to do a Crew Report with a normal pod and one with a Cupola and they'll be counted as different. That's too big of an exploit to keep it the way it is. The only way to get around that is to have Cupola's do Crew Reports and something like an Observation Report that gets you the extra bit of science that will make Cupola's more useful. So instead of a Crew Report worth 5 and a Crew Report (Cupola) worth 8 as it's in ALPHA 1, it'd be something like Crew Report (5) Observation Report (3). So instead of a total of 18, it's now 10 as I originally intended.

I haven't changed how normal Crew Reports work, so that's the same as 0.23 does it. Although due to the way the Cupola is set up, it might be possible to do a Crew Report with a normal pod and one with the Cupola and it'll count as completely new. I'll see if I can close that exploit.

This mod attempts to correct many of the flaws found in the current implementation of the science system. In a nutshell: it makes science gathering with unmanned more practical, makes the science lab a bit more useful and returning science to Kerbin is no longer the only viable option. Crew & EVA Reports The base value of both types of reports has been dropped a bit. This was done so that a certain area isn’t fully ‘scienced’ on the first try. This means you can either transmit the data and collect the remainder then or you can have another spacecraft pick up the remaining science. This also makes often visited places like low Kerbin orbit a bit more interesting, as there might still be some small bits of science left. The most important change is that Crew Reports in low orbits are now biome specific, while EVA Reports no longer are. This removes the annoying get-out-of-the-pod-click-on-EVA-report-and-climb-back-in and replaces it with something that works a little more intuitive. Ideally I would’ve changed the transmission efficiency of EVAs to 100% as well, as it’s the same sort of information as Crew Reports, but at the moment EVA Reports can’t be edited as well as other experiments. The same goes for Surface Samples, whose 50% efficiency I’d lower if I could. Experiments All the experiments now have a base value that is around ¾ of the science cap, to achieve the same effect as the Reports. The experiments have had their values changed the most, to create a more logical increase in reward vs. the amount of data it has to send (and thus how much electricity it costs). The small experiments also transmit at 100% now. Gravimetric or temperature data are after all just numbers, which can be easily transmitted. This gives also more use to probes, as they now have more science to gain from experiments that they can perform. It also cuts down on the necessity to bring all spacecraft back for maximum science. The Temperature Scan now also works in outer space. Mobile Processing Lab To make the Lab more competitive with returning experiment results back to Kerbin, the transmission boost has been raised from 1.5 to 5. To make the science lab a bit more difficult to haul around, the mass has been increased to that of two Hitchhiker pods (which are about the same size as one Lab). The Lab now also has an interior, that of the Hitchhiker. There's now place for four Kerbals, although only two are still necessary to enable the Lab's function. What do these changes accomplish? -The Science Lab is now worth the effort: a bigger transmission boost makes it a good alternative to returning science to Kerbal -Transmission is no longer automatically the worst option: the transmission boost and the increased data scalars for the experiments mean that transmission will be the better choice in more situations -Orbital missions are now more necessary: biome-specific crew reports in near orbit makes an orbiter a better choice than a suborbital craft -Unmanned missions now have less disadvantages: more science can be transmitted, making probes a good alternative to manned missions Comments (critiques, suggestions, etc.) are also always welcome. Download: Dropbox - Alpha 3 Older Versions: Dropbox - Alpha 2 Dropbox - Alpha 1 Changelog: Alpha3 -Added the ScienceDef changes to the ModuleManager file -The Temperature Scan now works in outer space as well -Balanced Antenna parts -Changed the Lab's crew capacity and changed the IVA to the standard Hitchhiker one -Raised the data scalar for the Mystery Goo and Materials Bay to 0.5 -Also increased their data scales (how much Mit they have to send) Alpha 2 -I basically started from scratch with this, as the setup from Alpha 1 wasn't working very well Credits: Somnambulist - for helping me with ModuleManager stuff The CFG file // Rebalanced the antenna in weight, interval and resource costs @PART[longAntenna] { @MODULE[ModuleDataTransmitter] { @packetInterval = 0.8 } } @PART[mediumDishAntenna] { @mass = 0.025 @MODULE[ModuleDataTransmitter] { @packetInterval = 0.4 @packetResourceCost = 20.0 } } @PART[commDish] { @mass = 0.05 @MODULE[ModuleDataTransmitter] { @packetInterval = 0.2 @packetResourceCost = 40.0 } } @PART[sensorAccelerometer] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 1 } } @PART[sensorBarometer] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 1 } } @PART[sensorGravimeter] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 1 } } @PART[sensorThermometer] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 1 } } @PART[avionicsNoseCone] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 1 } } @PART[science_module] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 0.5 } } @PART[GooExperiment] { @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment] { @xmitDataScalar = 0.5 } } // Now carries four and has an interior, but still only needs two Kerbals to operate it. Increased the transmission boost at the cost of heigher weight @PART[Large_Crewed_Lab] { @mass = 5 @CrewCapacity = 4 INTERNAL { name = crewCabinInternals } @MODULE[ModuleScienceLab] { @dataTransmissionBoost = 5 } } // SCIENCEDEFS @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[crewReport]] { @baseValue = 3 @scienceCap = 5 @biomeMask = 23 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[evaReport]] { @baseValue = 6 @scienceCap = 8 @biomeMask = 7 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[mysteryGoo]] { @baseValue = 10 @scienceCap = 13 @dataScale = 1.25 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[surfaceSample]] { @baseValue = 30 @scienceCap = 40 @dataScale = 5 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[mobileMaterialsLab]] { @aseValue = 24 @scienceCap = 32 @dataScale = 2.5 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[temperatureScan]] { @baseValue = 6 @scienceCap = 8 @dataScale = 1 @situationMask = 63 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[barometerScan]] { @baseValue = 9 @scienceCap = 12 @dataScale = 1.25 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[seismicScan]] { @baseValue = 15 @scienceCap = 20 @dataScale = 5 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[gravityScan]] { @baseValue = 20 @scienceCap = 22 @dataScale = 2.5 } @EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[atmosphereAnalysis]] { @baseValue = 18 @scienceCap = 24 @dataScale = 10 }

But less effective, because the probe can't interpret the stuff that it's photographing or recording like an astronaut could. This would both make probes more useful for science gathering and still give manned missions an advantage.

It's quite light for it's size. It's about as tall as two Hitchhiker pods, but doesn't weigh as much. Should weigh close to 5 tons, but only weighs 3.5.

IRL, this engine would run on monopropellant. Deep space probes generally use monopropellant thrusters/engines for maneuvers with about the same thrust/Isp due to the simplicity and low requirements. Making it monopropellant would make it more efficient, because that fuel is lighter than LiquidFuel/Oxidizer.

I'd rather have a simplified version of RemoteTech 2 or a more advanced version of AntennaRanges as stock, because if you make some communication parts get your more science than it will almost always be the one that gets chosen over the other. And the antennas are not that large that their mass differences require completely different spacecraft/launchers. A system where antennas have ranges and antennas can act as relays (without all the advanced stuff of RT2, like line-of-sight) would allow for much more choice. You can design a lander around a big antenna, or you can have a separate orbiter carrying the big antenna and a lander with a small antenna relaying through the big one.

It's a shame that I never came across this mod before, looks awesome. Hope 0.23 won't break it. Would second JeffreyCor's idea of adding simple relays. Because now there's no choice. Go there, you need that antenna. If you have relays you can choose to either build a lander with a whip antenna (easier to use than the bigger ones) and an orbiter with a dish, or you can build the lander around the large communications array but at the advantage of not needing a separate orbiter.

That video of the underwater suit testing made me realize that a company should start offering fake EVAs in a pool like that. Turn off the lights, paint the sides of the pool black and put screens on the bottom showing Earth from orbit. Put a few modules, etc. in there (hollow ones of course) and design a space suit just for underwater (the real deal would use actual space suits). Probably would be very expensive to make, but it'd be a hell of day out.

Get the Kerbal Joint Reinforcement mod. Makes craft much more rigid, meaning struts become less of a necessity for normal designs like this one.

There are different kinds of simulators. Flight sims are about mastering flying various craft. They often have objectives/missions. KSP is like that, but also has elements of building sims such as SimCity. Those rely on interacting systems (industry attracts people with jobs, but also makes an area less desirable through pollution, etc.). Those games generally don't center around objectives or missions. This means KSP can't just be about missions, nor can it not be entirely without it.

At the moment NuclearFuel doesn't flow or transfer. RTGs can't be turned on and off IRL, so that's why I didn't design 'em that way. You can do easily change that though. Just find NuclearFuel.cfg and change flowMode = NO_FLOW transfer = NONE to flowMode = ALL_VESSEL transfer = PUMP

I only do CFG edits, but hoojiwana has the Power Generation mod that adds a lot of RTGs. I could ModuleManager an addon that adds NuclearFuel to those RTG, once I have some more time on my hands.

Squad has talked about Reputation points for 0.24, which will reward you with points for doing first like above. I don't know how the system compares to yours though.

ARM? Also the NuclearFuel represents the decaying radioactive isotopes in the reactor rather than the fuel rods themselves. Fuel rods stay about the same weight, it's just the radioactive energy from them is depleted. As such NuclearFuel has no weight, like ElectricalCharge.

Really? Always find it very easy. It's just RCS block, then main chute on the RCS block node, then the drogue chute on the main chute node and finally the nosecone on the RCS block node.

Don't know Only thing you can do to fix this is refresh this thread every minute for a day

1. Are they? Must've missed the news about hundreds of drones falling from the sky. You're probably more likely to get by one of tens of thousands of cars, trucks or bikes in your city than you would from the perhaps a few hundred drones flying around. 2. Normal people don't shoot things out of the sky, especially not in the city where most of these things would be operating. And camera's would solve most crime problems. Only hacking could be a problem, but electronics will always be vulnerable to that.

NuclearFuel is a mod that changes the way the nuclear parts (the LV-N and the RTG) work. It introduces a new resource, which simulates the radioactive decay that powers the real-life version of these nuclear parts. This gives both parts a limited lifespan, which were real-life drawbacks of the technology, introducing an extra challenge to the game. Parts: RTG Like the Pioneer and Voyager probes, the RTG will now eventually run out of electricity-producing radioactivity. It doesn’t represent the declining power output that real-life RTGs have, because that’s impossible without a plugin, but it does gives the part a limited lifespan. An RTG will now produce power for 8 in-game years (or 2920 days). LV-N Atomic Motor The LV-N differs from the RTG in that it doesn’t decay over time. Its nuclear reactor is more complex. Only when the engine is firing does the NuclearFuel start to deplete, the rate of which is based on the throttle. In return, the LV-N now outputs three times as much (15 e/s) ElectricalCharge at full throttle. The engine has enough NuclearFuel to make ten round-trips to the Mun, a performance similar to those of a planned real-life nuclear thermal rocket (the LANTR to be specific). Download: DropBox mirror License:

Looking really good Frizzank. Could you perhaps change the Titan ICBM SAS Navigation System into a command pod? Not only was it the brains of the Titan ICBM (the small MIRV Core that you made a probe body is from a Peacekeeper missile), but it would also allow an unmanned version of MOL as seen below. EDIT: Also does the equipment bay open on both sides individually, or only as a whole?

Looks amazing. A bit limited though, as you can only place it at the end of a stack. A radial version would be awesome.

What would be the use? It's harder and less efficient to reach than a station in low Kerbin orbit.

Open Broadcaster Software. It's designed for streaming, but with a bit of tweaking you can get high-res video without much impact on FPS (just Google record and name). Plus it's free.

Almost every Crew Report blurb is about observations of the terrain, etc. outside of the pod: EVA Reports on the other hand deal more with how the EVA feels (the gravity, the surface texture, etc.): IRL you'd do a lot of experiments inside the spacecraft, but in KSP this is all externalized through the science parts that you place on the sides of your ship.

Thanks a lot!