Son of Hicks

The parts look and function great, but the prices are insane in 0.24; all the parts need a price rebalance for career mode.

This is exactly what I was looking for in a weapons mod: mouse aim! Great job on the mod so far, I hope you continue with it. Another thing to think about is incorporating how the Skillful Weapons mod increases the physics load distance so you can engage targets from up to 100km away.

My most unexpected failure happened after I placed a brand new orbital fuel station and remote tech communications array in Kerbin-stationary orbit and sent the first kerbals to man it. As soon as the crew module got within the 2.5km load limit the entire station exploded. Reload after reload, and it kept happening. It still worked as a communications array as long as I didn't look at it. It took me a month before I figured out that the game had copied the station in the exact same spot as the original, and whenever physics loaded it insisted that the two stations simply could not share the same volume of space, which led to the violently explosive separations.

I downloaded the zip file from your wiki and the modules still sink in, though no longer explode. Your connector tunnels and cubes work fine, though.

Great mod. this is what was really needed to flesh out KSP for me. Bug report: The MKS Kerbitats from the zip in the first post sink half into a planet and explode if dropped from any height.

So I've been following this for a year or so. First off, great mod. It brings an incorrigible smile to my face every time I brachistrone to Jool. But the extra textures have never worked in any version for me; every time I unzip the OrionTexturePackv1 and merge the its game data folder to get TurboNisu's beautiful art into KSP, the pusher plate won't shoot bombs and I just fall off the launch clamps. Can anyone help me?

Before I made the OP, I made sure to check the the part in the KSP VAB as well as the wiki to see if the process was explained. It was not. Heck, I still lost 90% of the science for that Duna mission because I didn't know to transfer science by kerbal before cleaning the science part, thinking (erroneously) that "processing" the science in the modular lab did that already. This is like slamming my lander into the Mun over and over again before my first successful touchdown; like getting my first interplanetary transit encounter; like my first interplanetary aerobreaking maneuver. Totally FUBAR. It's a new learning curve, which is ultimately why I like campaign! It gives me the opportunity to do amazing things with unique restrictions that I don't get in sandbox. I'm still going to use the mobile lab, low part count is as important a quality as low mass, even with the "disastrous*" learning curve. *the mission was unsuccessful due to the lack of science, but the crew made it safely back to Kerbin, so "disastrous" not "catastrophic".

It's weird reading posts defending the "no documentation, it takes too much time" stance, as the game is already documented by Squad. Every progam of even moderate size needs comments to tell other programmers on the development team what it does; indeed, every game feature is documented before it is programmed to make sure the programmers are on the same page. Now that documentation is probably in Spanish, but that's OK; even a hilariously garbled online translation is better than, well, nothing.

I was uninformed and very upset when I posted. I'm still upset, now at my own stupidity for not testing the rig on Minimus. But I hit on another thing in the OP; as long as you need to go to 5 or fewer places on you interplanetary voyage of science, take this: Each masses 0.65t, 0.68t with six other radial instruments.

So, yeah, I totally wasted my life. I will never use this part again; what a waste of everything! I don't know what I thought it was going to do, but I specifically brought one to Duna in campaign. I attached it to my interplanetary drive ship and everything. The idea was that It would "process" the science modules of my reusable lander, and honestly I thought that was it. Turns out "processing" a science module is a 3.5 ton albatross that adds "+15%" to the science transmitted, and the science modules are still dead weight and useless for the rest of the mission! I was going to take the interplanetary stage back to Kerbin anyway so the kerbals could go home, and now the entire mission and two days of real life are scrapped because now I'm at Duna and there is no more science to be done! Damn it, THAT WAS THE ENTIRE POINT! If there was any documentation on the part or on the WIKI I could have just passed on it, and put 5 dockable science capsules for 5 different landings for a grand total 0.475 tons LESS THAN THE MOBILE PROCESSING LAB! It's just so.... worthless...

I have an IDEA! I'm gonna totally skip an asteroid across the Mun/minimus by putting it in a fast, shallow orbit and having it skip into orbit and strike continuously, forever...

I can lift anything to LKO. You know those multiple hundred ton space stations that people build in orbit? I send them up in one piece and send it up in one boost. If you need something boosted, PM me and we'll work something out. I'm also a master at docking. I try not to use RCS anymore and just flip around burn the main rocket motor.

I'll see what I can upgrade the crew module, although it should've been super hard to get a good angle on it when it is in combat; i'll put some struts to firm up the command module. The thing about the SRB salvos is that they are upgradable to fit alternate mission profiles. On turning: use the RCS, it is there for combat turning. It is too big to use RCS for docking, and it has those powerful RCS thrusters to overcome its length; the ASAS/command pod torque is for combat rotation or non-combat positioning.

Guess where this thing just went. Go on, take your time; this one's a stumper.

Submitted for your fighting pleasure: The Kerbal Space Patrol Modular Cruiser D, as it is evidently Laythe capable! Yes, I am just as surprised as you. The Kerbal Space Patrol is a interplanetary organization dedicated to protecting shipping from predation of all kinds, but is against kerbals shooting other kerbals for basically any reason other than self defense. As space is really, really, really big, it has tacitly allowed space based corporations the use of deadly force in protecting their assets should the KSP be unable to render assistance due to the really, really big distances involved, as the because as space is (as said before) really big and patrolling its really, really bigness is hard. As long as it has good intel on the situation at Laythe, the KSP joins the fight on Spiritwolf's side, but the KSP is obligated to defend Hanlan's assets should Spiritwolf attack when a patrolling cruiser is nearby. For realz, I didn't think it could do it. Heck I did it wrong, missed my phase angle launch window, and still made it. The mid-course inclination correction. Yes, this is how I Laythe. Gently aerobraking at 18,802m. Nothing to see here; move along. Achievement Unlocked: Laythe Orbit.

I submit my Modular Cruiser D on the Side of Spiritwolf; The Kerbal Space Patrol and its Cruisers will forever fight for everlasting peace.

Oh Snap! I'll fix the messed up craft link when I get home. So sorry. And yes, the clamshells took several minutes of solid rotation until I got bored. As much as I would love to submit this to Macy, I haven't proofed it to Jool, and I won't do that in the near future.

So, this is it. This is the whole reason I started playing KSP so many months ago, what I have worked toward, and what I have mastered. Behold my greatest creation: The Modular Cruiser D: THE PITCH: The Modular Cruiser D is a fully modular interplanetary capable armored weapons platform designed to be both mission kill resistant by subdividing and distributing mission critical components across the vessel and strategically upgradable and reusable by having dedicated reloadable ordinance docking ports as well as fuel cross-feed capable docking ports of both regular and junior sized, configured in such a way as to allow damaged modules to be replaced in any space based theater of operation with either newly boosted modules or by consolidating undamaged modules from two or more damaged Modular Cruiser Ds into one or more undamaged vessels. THE HIGHLIGHTS: Parts: 257 (includes full armament) Total Mass: 120.19 tons Total Fuel/Ox: 2,914/3,562 units Total RCS: 600 units Armament: 8x centerline forward facing direct fire Reloadable SRBs fired in 4 salvos; 6x manually guided anti-fighter missiles. Armor: 2x Series 5 segregated, free-floating, replaceable "Clamshell" plate sections. Fuel Module: A forward keel connects 8 fuel cells to compartmentalize damage; forward armor panel doubles as dock for reloadable SRBs. Crew/Engine Module: The crew is protected by placing their compartment between the fuel module/SRB armament and battery/ rear keel, which connects 4 RCS cells with 5 Nuclear engines to compartmentalized damage. THE CRAFT FILE IS HERE, AND INCLUDES THE BOOSTER (536 PARTS). The operation of this craft is simple: Full throttle to orbit, gravity turn to 90o at ~10-15km, and press the space bar to jettison empty stages. SRB salvos are fired by staging. Anti-fighter missiles must be manually undocked, select the jr. docking port farthest from the ship and control from there, and thrust it like a rocket using shift/ctrl/x into something else at high speed. Fuel/ammunition tenders/stations may come in another post. The third image presented was took after I re-docked the cruiser to that floating clamshell armor section in the distance to prove that it could be done and document how much RCS it took. PRO TIP: fly the cruiser to the armor, not the armor to the cruiser, and DO NOT USE TIMEWARP; you do it by threading the docking port towers through the 1x6 meter gap between the engine armor cowls. I got it on the third try; it was the most thrilling maneuver I ever pulled off in KSP. And now I shall end this post with an artsy picture of the Modular Cruiser D high over Kerbin, eclipsing the sun.

Today I went to Laythe for the first time without the Orion drive mod. It was quite pleasant, dispite a few complications; yet it is those complications that make KSP so rewarding: to succeed despite unsuccessfully ditching a payload of 12 SRB missiles during my Kerbin ejection burn, causing the battlecruiser to tumble wildly in the middle of a crucial maneuver, and later the discovering of the proper periapsis to bleed off 8,500m/s of relative velocity by aerobreaking in Laythe's atmosphere, for interested parties the magic number is 17km, discovered after dozens of quick-loads. But it was worth it to say that I have a battlecruiser in a stable 100x100ish km Leythe orbit. Perhaps in a kerbal year or two I will send it some ammunition.

So I've done a lot of armor/weapons/ship testing, and I would like to provide a few tips gleaned from my research. 1. Any weak point compromises the armor shell. The Vanguard has a super weak point in the armor right next to its engine array, I'm talking about the 4 white aerospace wings that give the armor its angle. The 2x2 structural panel has an impact velocity of 80m/s, the wing is something like 8m/s. Any hit to that from anything stronger than a naked decoupler will strip the battle cruiser of a quarter of its armor shell. Every outer and structural part of your armor shell needs to have an impact tolerance of 80m/s. Which leads me to my next tip. 2. Make the exposed armor as small as possible to limit damage. The Vanguard has 4 large sections of armor that protect the bulk of its hull, but any hit to the above mentioned weak spot strips the vessel of a quarter of its armor. But it is worse than that: because the "section" is so large any hit that defeats the armor will also break off every piece forward on that section! To limit collateral damage to the armor shell, join as few pieces as possible together so a strike can only make a small, nigh untargetable hole two or at worst three panels wide. Anchor the panels to protected girders (or expose them and trust that their smaller surface area will evade hits) in small groups to limit damage. Speaking of size... 3. Smaller vessels are harder to hit; seriously, this cannot be overstated. Your armor shell will survive 100% of the shots that don't hit it. I admonish you to make your vessel as small as possible to achieve its mission for a variety of reasons: smaller ships are more accurate with weapons fire as they turn faster to track targets, accelerate faster, shorter stacks of ammunition "sway" much less than deep magazines of larger vessels, and most importantly present a small crossection to incoming fire. But making a small vessel won't help much if you forget this next tip... 4. Use weapons as reactive armor by placing them outside your armor shell. You will use less parts by armoring everything except the weapons, even if you double the number of ammunition stacks. The Vanguard armors its side SRB stacks, and uses over fifty additional parts to armor them. A better use of parts would be to only armor the central fuel tanks and command pod (and engine array, can't forget that), and mount two more stacks of ammunition above and below, and use 25 less parts. Having a large volume of ammunition encircling the hull acts as an extra layer of armor, which instead of guarding an empty void can be shot at something you want to go away. This is an important facet of... 5. Longer range barrages favor the vessel with the most ammunition. In space, ammunition is precious commodity second only to fuel, and not a thing which would be wasted. We want every salvo to not only hit, but at the very least mission kill the intended target. Even if the first salvo connects, rarely will it do the latter. If a vessel can turn and either accelerate or still has usable ordinance it is a threat of the highest order and cannot be ignored. It is so important to have enough ammunition to eliminate a hostile vessel. But deep magazines also have another benefit: you can choose to fire off shots further out and hope to disable your target from a great enough distance that it cannot accurately return fire, remember tip 3? Long range fire is also more destructive; rockets need enough distance to accelerate to a velocity sufficient to defeat armor. As long as we are talking about ammunition, don't forget about this next tip. 6. There are only two types of armor, neither of which will stop a SRB. Everything bigger than an SRB is overkilling the overkill and eating up part count. The minimum number of parts for a reloadable SRB is 4 (clamp-o-tron, blue stack separator, small SRB, clamp-o-tron; you can save parts by making "clips" of two or four SRBs with a clamp-o-tron at each end and blue stack separators between them, but the "inner" salvo will overheated and explode around ~1.5km. A 1x1 structural panel will prevent the over heat and still take up less space, but it uses the same number of parts), and it will consistently defeat a stack of 5 2x2 armor plate each spaced apart form each other, albeit inconsistantly (sometime all 5 are toast, sometimes the third and fourth, but that was with crazy spacing, it universally defeated a close laminate of 5 2x2 at 100m. My ship tests, where I wheeled an armored ship off the run-way and shot at it, gave interesting results: an SRB will defeat the first section of armor it passes through and what ever is under it out to ~300m, where it will then blow though the entire ship and leave a neat hole (remember tip 2?). I stopped testing after 5 because by then it was far too unrealisticly heavy to mount on a ship, as well as driving part count through the roof. However, an SRB is totally overkill, a military weapon designed to defeat plate armor, which will resist any lesser weapon, but that doesn't mean lesser weapons don't have their place. The best "light" weapon I've tested is a little three part 1m grey decoupler with two separatrons radialy mounted at 5o, 3 very light parts that can pop unarmored fuel tanks, with a chance to knock off aerospace armor, which can be defeated by a pocket I-beam propelled by 2 seperatrons. The reason I prefer the decoupler over the I-beam is that it weighs less and uses less parts to make a relodable clip. Guided munitions get their own paragraph. I am not a fan of guided munitions, personally I suck at getting them to impact a target, technologically I refuse to put probes stuff that I cannot allow to be hacked/jammed, physically they present a huge advantage to a local maneuvering defender who gets to enjoy a operational delay equal to twice my distance to them (light speed lag, them to the wewpon, the weapon to me, me back to the weapon), and they are the only way to get orbital mines to work (but which won't work in KSP because the physics load distance is 2.5km and the minimum velocity of vessels in opposite LEO is 5.2km/s, you will just never connect outside of Mech-Jeb and copious amounts of prayer). That said, probes are proof that forewarned is forearmed, especially if you can slam that probe into your enemy. Edit: Don't think that I'm ragging on the Vanguard. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and would not progress if nothing came before. It taught me so much about ship and weapon design; all my cruisers are derivatives of it.

Firstly, anything lithobreaking on Kerbin is moving, at best, 130m/s at impact. I have dropped ships from orbit too, with no thrust the whole way down, and have had the command pod and armor survive intact and the kerbals walk out. The engine array and central fuel tank became a crumple zone which , when combined with the armor shell, let the crew survive. But 130m/s is nothing and will not tell you how the armor behaves under weapon fire. Transfer the craft file in the hanger file (if it was not already built in the hanger, put the ship on wheels, and roll that thing off the runway a few hundred meters back then shoot at it with a precision weapon test rig. I like to do it in 100m increments out to ~2km That is the best way to determine armor effectiveness vs. weapon fire. I also do it to test weapons. Secondly, if you want a better test of whole armor effectiveness, lithobrake into the Mun. Quicksave and tune your decent velocity and try impacting at different angles. I thought Jeb's solution to everything was Moar Boosters.

My answer is simple, yet brilliant! Don't do that instead of doing that. Lithobreaking at ~100m/s will break up your ship, as the girders and panels are only good up to 80m/s, the only solution is to slow your decent to less than the break velocity through aerobreaking (good down to ~100m/s) and/or counterthrust (as long as the TWR is greater than 1).

Wanting to do an Apollo munar mission, I read up on it on the wiki, launched the mission, and failed miserably. Several times. Finally my first successful docking was over Minimus, where I learned that the trick is to be in a lower orbit and raise your apoapsis to intercept a ship in higher orbit, then accelerate to circularize. Later, I learned that you need to do 99% of all maneuvering with your main engines, and use RCS to fine-tune your approach inside the last ~100m.

The ultimate truth of the matter is that transporting a liter of fuel extracted from Duna to LKO uses less fuel than lifting a liter of fuel from KSC to LKO, the trade off is that it is a hassle and can only be done every launch window. Resource extraction will open up new and exciting gameplay, giving us reasons other than "LOL Roleplays!" To have a manned presence anywhere in the game. I look forward to the build where I can extract Blutonium, Fuel, and steel to manufacture and launch nuclear rockets from Leythe. Without sending everything there first. KSC and Kerbin should always have the advantage of buying parts and snapping them together in the VAB, becquse a full fledged economy and aerospace manufacturing industry already exists. As long as money is present (and it will always be needed to pay and train astronauts) KSC will always be integral and relevant after resources are introduced.