MDBenson

There is also the point that, although with stock aerodynamics it's of limited practical use, it does allow you to make custom rockets that look awesome, that's very important for me It also has a lower part count (especially for larger fairings) and is more stable and secure than the KW or Novapunch fairing systems. You have to put a decoupler between the fairing base and the item. On most real rockets the fairings are jettisoned in the upper atmosphere to provide the drag to pull them away cleanly, but the payload is left attached to the rocket until it finishes it's orbital ascent. Simply use a stock decoupler above the fairing base and attach your payload on top of that. A couple of the mod parts kits like KW Rocketry and NovaPunch have some nice looking light-weight decouplers that make a nice alternative to the stock ones which IMHO are very ugly (esp. the 2.5m one).

I've had multiple instances of the auto-staging screwing up. Sometimes it'll go beserk and stage multiple stages and the rocket basically falls apart because it sets off multiple decouplers and engines.

Ah, okay, so that was just for the staging calculations. I see It actually works better than just that, it has the side-effect of you being able to use fuselage sections and have tubular, non-ejecting fairings for in-line stages which I know some real rockets use. That's actually quite funky, it allows for quite a few secondary payload configurations below the crew module on my rockets which will benefit some of my build-in-orbit programs. Excellent. Your work is so well thought out (when I actually understand it ), e-dog, thanks

I see... so the TOP node ejects the UPPER payload when the fairings separate but the lower node (on the fairing base) stays put and requires a decoupler? I think I understand now...

Picked up a couple of minor glitches with the Interstage fairing piece and the electable fairing parts. - If you use the fuselage parts for the interstage (i.e. so they aren't ejected on stage sep as in some rockets) the separation can fail if you use the magic stuts. I think they are stuickling to the next stage? Turn off magic struts and it all works fine. - If you use electable fairing parts for the interstage, the interstage decoupler seems to decouple the paylod when ou detach the side fairings, EVEN if you put the interstage decoupler action in a later stage from the side fairing ejection. I can do more testing if required, I had both come up while testing my Saturn V replica. I have several other mods loaded and I don't know if they are affecting it. Also, lander aero-shells, I know you are working on them but I await with baited breath EDIT: Scratch the first one, it seems to work okay now

According to Wikipedia, the J-2 second stage of Saturn V ignited at 42miles which isn't in vacuum. I dunno if that has any bearing on matters? I'm guessing, tho, in KSP you'd be nearly out fo the atmosphere by the time you ignited it, unless you were carrying some SERIOUS payload.

Wow, they look awesome

Either you are having a rye joke or you just don't have any patience.

I've been meaning to ask if you intend to put in an style inline 5m 5-engine block that can be used as a second stage ala Saturn V SII Stage engines (J-2 x5)? IT'd knock the part count on a large rocket down a bit, I think

Alter how experimental packages work Experiments such as the Mystery Goo canister, Material Sciences module etc. should have a limited number of retries, and also a chance to create a destructive result that results in reduced science data and no more retries. This would make it more realistic from the POV that an experiment can potentially fail, and also has limited repeatability. Add Science Data Recorders Instead of relying on the science part itself to record data, instead use the capsule or computer, or add a separate part in the tech tree, that allows you to record data to a buffer. As science progresses the buffer will be upgraded to carry more data (maybe have a 1.25m then 2.5m version?). More advanced capsules will also be able to record more data. You would be able to stack recorder parts, maybe in addition to the capsule itself, to store more data on long or complex missions. Kerbal Trainable Skills As well as research, you would be able to spend small amounts of Science Data points (or maybe credits when you add an economy) to train Kerbals to return better science data, suggested skills might include: Mad Professor - skill reduces chance of experiment failing, and prevents all experiments failing first time. Small chance to produce Breakthrough (-10% Failure Chance, +1 Great Success, +5% Crit Chance) Steady Hands - allows an experiment to be repeated more times and reduces the chance of failure. (-30% Failure Chance, x2 Repeatability on any experiment) Hammer Time - Geology skills for collecting surface samples on Surface EVA. Better identify rocks and return more valuable samples. Small chance to stumble over Breakthrough sample. (+1 Geology, +5% Crit Chance) Big Skies - Better observation and recording skills for Space EVA. Allows observations on EVA to return better science data. Small chance to spot something awesome from orbit. (+1 Observation, +5% Crit Chance) EDIT: 'Stupidity' rank would also play a part in how often a crew failed or broke an experiment. Obviously the list is far from complete, but the idea is there. Each Skill could have 3 levels that unlock when you complete a science tier from 2 upwards, meaning a well trained Kerbal would become a valuable mission resource you won't want to kill by accident! I understand the system is only in it's early stages and any of this may be implemented down the line, if so it's good news Suggestions for some instruments: Remote Sensing Module - Unmanned module similar size to the OKTO satellite flight control module. Takes photos (visible available as default) and readings of the planet and sends weather and climate science data back via antenna. Serves as a small but continuous source of science data, requires manual operation from a ground uplink (so you can't launch a huge network, leave them running and cheat the game, basically) Has the following upgrades (only 2 can be fitted at once): IR Lens Kit - Allows Infra Red pictures Radar - Your friendly atmospheric (i.e. rainfall etc.) radar Radiation Monitor - Monitor for Kebolar Flare radiation and alsp search for the illusive Van Kerban radiation belts Kerbol Observatory - Monitor and record data about the local sun There are lots more possibilities.

Will this plugin allow you to transfer results from, say, a materials lab or Mystery Goo canister so you can run multiple experiments during the flight on one item and store all the data? Also, I dunno if anyone else mentioned it, but could you make this a part and put it in the tech tree somewhere as a 'Science Data Storage Computer' and make it available at, like, tier 3 or something? That way you can, as your research becomes more advanced, store multiple data sets from long flights from experiments that don't have their own storage.

I see what I did. There are 2 nodes at the top of the cover, very close together. It's quite easy to click the upper node to the docking port then accidentally click the LES tower to the lower node. Thus when you Abort the LES tower detaches and leaves the cover docked to the docking port... My bad! :\

It might just me, but since v1.1 I've found the top cover won't separate in flight even with it's wee SRBs? If I just seaprate the cover and fire the LES rockets it doesn't separate. I have to assign an Action Group to Decouple Node on the Docking Port part also. Maybe I might be building something wrong?

Hmm... I thpose so, yeah. There's actually really no practical reason to have an off-set docking port unless you happen to need to dock a Space Shuttle to it Either that or I could just use a Kuest with a docking port... or nab the PMA from the ISS pack.

This is AWESOME. Another great piece of work, sumghai! Now we have this, would it be possible to make something like the PMA for the FusTek station parts? Oh lordy, I've created a Monster!! Blending the best of KOSMOS, SDHI and BobCat's Soyuz... (with Solar Panels by Near Future)

I'd just like to say this mod is a go-to for me to do simulation runs of stuff in other planetary systems before the actual flight. Incredibly useful for development work and simulation-driven proofing. Thanks!

It's not, you need to copy the URL into a download manager and download it that way. If your download takes longer than a certain time on the Spaceport and you are only using a browser to download it will stop before it's complete and corrupt your download.

A SCOTT MANLEY VIDEO! I'm saved! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions

A SCOTT MANLEY VIDEO! I'm saved! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions

Okay, I apologise for being a dullard, I am no theoretical physicist or tech genius, it's true, but I do want to use this for some experiments. I've tried, but I really have no idea how any of this works. The documentation is full of lots of grand theories and techno-babble but has no clear, concise explanations really how to build each propulsion system and the different combinations you can use to power them. For me the accessibility of this mod its a little limited as people like me who don't grasp the theory can't really work out how to make it work in practice.

Oh boy, that looks tasty!

What would be super-awesome would be a list, possibly in the OP, of mods that support or add-on to kOS. Aside from that, great work, keep it up!

The KOSMOS and FuzTek Expansion station modules are pretty-much awesome space station modules, between them. KW Rocketry is about Rockets, so I'd prefer to see more awesome rocket stuffs The new stuff, especially the slopey Russian-style side booster tanks, are awesome

Oh, cool, they fixed it then, It was bugged and didn't work in 0.21 initially. Here's a crazy question: is there any chance of being able to change the camera's colour properties (to make it black & white, for example) and/or FOV in the config? I haven't looked into the config files yet, so apologies if it's been covered.

Seconded. Also, although I haven't checked back lately (I don't use Lazor anymore except for one install for the DSL Pandora mod) but I thought the Lazor docking cameras were broken in 0.21 and were disabled?