Logan.Darklighter

One concern I have is - how does all the new Radar, Laser Locks etc, affect the ability of AI Pilots in standby mode to react to incoming threats? Used to be you could put an AI Pilot on a runway, engines ready to go, in standby and guard mode, and if "Team B" comes within the threat/loading range, the AI would take off and attempt to engage. Now, with bombs and missiles that can target at longer ranges - even effectively outside physics loading range, how do you set up AI pilots to react? Do you link them to an early warning Radar on the ground or something?

I imagine it's not hard to guess what MY biggest request would be. But seriously - the Eagle has still been functional in Sandbox mode for a long time. The parts still work (haven't tested them on the latest version of KSP, but I bet they still work) but it's not a true functional mod since you can't access it on the tech tree in career mode. Along with any needed bug fixes in general, it's needed integration into the tech tree in a BAD way ever since that feature came out. (Also the parts need prices in the new monetary system.) I'd say check out the Interstellar mod for inspiration as to where the various pieces of the Eagle mod should be on the tech tree. I imagine the cockpit pod would actually be the first thing available rather early. But the rest of it - especially the engines - is likely going to need to be placed much later. Incidentally, have you noticed that Nuclear Rockets in stock no longer use oxidizer? You could reconfigure the main fuel tank in the truss to only have liquid fuel and increase the effective range on the main engines. On the other hand, I think the VTOL rockets would be standard rockets needing Oxidizer. But I have an idea, there. Place about 3-500 units of oxidizer in the landing leg pods! What do you think?

So tough it can survive a Wave Motion Gun shot! (Already rated but I think MRS gave it the correct rating. ) - - - Updated - - - 10/10 Don't care if it's a "slow boat" to the Outer Planets and back and almost technically NOT a ship. But I wish I was living on one right now. I wish we had the opportunity to visit at least. Maybe our great, great, great, great, great, great grandchidren might have a shot. And then they'll look back at the 20-21st Century in bewilderment that our culture reached for space, and then decided to stay in the crib another couple of centuries. *Sigh*

J: "You DO know that Elvis is dead, right?" K: "Elvis is not dead. He just went home."

HA! I was thinking the SAME THING!

It depends on what you're talking about - classic original series or the 2199 Reboot. I'll answer for both of those just in case. In regards to the original classic Yamato (1974-1983) then the answer is -mostly- no. The animation style was simpler then and less detailed because everything was HAND DRAWN on acetate! The kind of detail you get in the new series is only possible because of the aid of computers - even if they've taken pains to make it LOOK very much like the original style of animation. But that's why there's hardly any detailed insignia or flags shown in the original series. PARTICULARLY flags! Do you realize how much money you'd be practically throwing down the drain to pay an animator to animate a flag waving in the breeze and keep the design on said flag consistent? Even for just a few seconds? 20 frames per second. Show that flag for 5 seconds and you have to have 100 hand done cels made of that flag. Now think about BEING that guy who (theoretically) had to do that? And believe me - there were some anime productions where they HAVE done that kind of detail! As someone who's done a fair amount of art in his life, let me tell you, I'm getting hand cramps just THINKING about that... Gah... There was a classic white "anchor" symbol painted on the side of the hull below and slightly aft of the pulse laser turret banks above the red "water line" that was similar in design to the versions seen on Captain Okita's (and other Captains) black "peacoat" style jackets. This was also when the white stripes were painted onto the main guns barrels. The Yellow anchor in the above designs is very similar in design to that old anchor by the way - and is yet another callback to the original series design cues among many that endear the new series to us old grognards. ) That painted anchor design (and the gun stripes) was added in the movie "Be Forever Yamato" and carried through Yamato Series 3 and Final Yamato. There was some fan speculation that the addition of the anchor and stripes was to prevent the animators from re-using animation from earlier series - such as the classic "Yamato cruises past the camera" shots. Particularly since the design of the Yamato and the techniques for animating it had changed subtly. Fans would've noticed even without the new additions to the Yamato - so the theory goes that the producers mandated the change to discourage the animators from even THINKING about it. But I hesitate to call it a true logo or something suitable for a planted Flag. The anchor by itself with no other reference is pretty generic. Now as for the 2199 reboot - they added a LOT of insignia bits everywhere! Uniforms are more detailed, often with mission patches or squadron patches. There are well-defined flags and proper insignia in use and they are used consistently. (They even went back to an old episode of the original series and extrapolated the official symbol and flag for the Gamilas in the new series based on a design for a medal pinned on General Domel's (Lysis) chest by Desslok that only appears for like 1-2 seconds of time!! I don't remember seeing that design anywhere else in the original series, but the producers of the new show decided that if they were going to have a symbol for the Gamilas then by god it was going to be based on SOMETHING from the original series no matter how hard they had to hunt to find it! Now that's dedication to the original concept!) Ahem... anyway. That's why when looking for insignia or flags from Yamato you're much more likely to find stuff to use from the new series. And as for the Yamato herself? In fact there are a couple of them, both worn as mission patches on uniforms. (Links to cleaned up versions of both designs here and here. ) But I didn't include them in the designs above because they were -ironically, considering my above notes- a little too specific to Yamato herself. One even has the silhouette of the ship on the patch, so unless you're actually building the Yamato herself in KSP, why would you want that particular design? If you really want one, I could make one from those designs. Not difficult. But that's the reason I didn't include them in my posts above. Anyway - that's probably WAY too much answer to a simple question. So I apologize, but I kind of reflexively grab any excuse to fan geek on Yamato.

Well the dust trails aren't stock in KSP proper. But they are a new addition to the Kerbal Foundries set of wheels, tracks and anti-grav repulsors. I highly recommend them. As for the cars, I'm betting he used the mod Burn Together on some of that, at least to get things set up for some shots. Though obviously when the cars are doing DIFFERENT things, or fighting each other, he must've been taking control directly. Then there's the Texture Replacer custom mods for the Kerbals he must've used, as well as either Kerb Paint or directly tweaking the texture colors on parts etc, etc... In one comment he made in the KF thread above, he mentioned he ALSO used Ubiozur Welding on some of the larger vehicles to cut down on part count, but he was probably still recording at a slow framerate and speeding it up! No matter how you look at it, the dude's got an insane amount of patience and talent. Check out his other vids on Youtube and you'll see what I mean. - - - Updated - - - Oh - in regards to something I said above about Github. I may personally not like using that site for the UI, but I understand it's one of the better sites on the developer end to post mods because you can update "hotfix" updates more easily. CKAN also accesses it and will use the latest version of a mod posted. So I'm definitely not saying don't use it. If you feel it winds up as the best way of updating your various mods, then go for it. Just PLEASE, if you do, register and update them with CKAN so I can use THAT interface instead of Github directly!

How the heck is this stock? It looks like a mod... *PEERS CLOSER and ponders a bit... * Holy CRAP!! I see how you did that! Lights for the ports... fairings... DUDE! That is GENIUS!! And beautiful work! The only thing missing is the "feather" system on the wing. Fortunately stock KSP aero is pretty forgiving. But I'd be tempted to mod it with just IR Robotics to have a hinge for the wing section and see if it would actually function the same way in the game as in real life! I wonder how FAR would treat it? Still gobsmacked... Wow. That's just SPOT ON! Have some rep, sir!

Also - register your mods with CKAN. Despite some hiccups here and there, I've found that application to be invaluable in keeping track of my mods and what I'm using, as well as keeping up on updates to mods. Glad to see you're back! Edit: I think the site with the least headaches in upkeep on the developer end might be Kerbalstuff. That's what I've heard anyway. Though for the player, the advantage of using Curse is that if you're looking for an older mod for an earlier version of the game, it keeps archives of mod versions. So say you're still running a .25 gamesave, and you want to find a version of a particular mod that's compatible with that version, look up the mod on Curse and then check the earlier game and mod versions. Also - some mod makers use Github for mod uploads. But I DESPISE using that site, the UI there is confusing as HELL!! All of the above is why I've taken to using CKAN primarily, then if a mod isn't showing up there, looking for it on Curse or Kerbalstuff. - - - Updated - - - Oh and BTW Devo? Since you're Aussie, you might get a kick out of this.

Here's a few more for you guys. These first 3 are insignia that appear in Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (rebooted Star Blazers from circa 2012 or so) UNCF Cosmo Navy Flag (United Nations Cosmo Force) A more generalized "shoulder patch" or roundel indicating the same as the above. This one's pretty cool. This is the symbol that appears on the tail section of the Cosmo Zero intercept Fighter Here's another Starfleet Insignia in case the usual versions are a little too peaceful for you. Heh... And lastly, I am darkly amused to find the Drax Enterprise Corporation Logo! For all you secret megalomaniacs out there.

(I hesitate to use the "Artwork" tag, because none of this is MY artwork. But nevertheless I can't think of any better tag to use) Hello all! I started out this morning by looking for a Battlestar Galactica Colonial insignia/roundel for use in converting to a flag (For use on my Viper). And... heh. Well it kind of snowballed from there... I was like... Ooh! What's this over here?! I can use that! Oh that one too! Whee!!! Ahem. Anyway. Having converted these all to the proper size, format and file type for use as flags, I decided to share them with you all. Just copy/paste directly into the Squad Flags folder in Game Data and you'll be good to go! NOTE: I got these images pretty much straight from google image searches. But I started noticing after awhile that many of them were coming from the same source. A guy who does cleaned up designs and logos over at Deviant Art who goes by the handle of Viperaviator. Go give his Deviant art site a look, won't you? He does fantastic work! Corellian Shipyards (Star Wars) Starfleet Logo (Star Trek) Moonraker Alliance Special Forces N7 Logo (Mass Effect) Imperial Flag (Star Wars) UN Spacy Roundel (Macross) International Rescue Logo (Thunderbirds) Alpha Moonbase (Space 1999) Eagle Pilot Logo (Space 1999) S.H.A.D.O. Logo (UFO) Gamilon Flag/Crest (Yamato/Starblazers) Zeon Flag (Gundam (Various) - this design came from the movie Char's Counterattack) Cylon Empire (Battlestar Galactica) Colonial Roundel (BSG) Battlestar Galactica Roundel Battlestar Galactica Roundel (Alternate) Black Aces Insignia Squadron Insignia (Battlestar Galactica) Designed by Viperaviator based on the real world squadron of the same name. Star League Flag (The Last Starfighter) SMS Logo (Macross Frontier) Earth Force Command (Babylon 5) Federation of Planets (Star Trek) Captain Harlock's Pirate Skull and Crossbones (from various works by Leiji Matsumoto)

Lots of people have made Colonial Vipers (myself included) but has anyone ever really attempted a Cylon Raider? I mean a classic old-school original series one? Surely the Vipers need something to square off against, yes? Well, I've been looking into it. It's not quite ready for prime-time yet. Still has some bugs to iron out. But it FLIES LEGIT! BY YOUR COMMAND! (Insert "wom wom" eye sweep noise")

A lot of your videos are of wild crazy stuff that isn't practical at all. I'm not saying that's BAD, mind you. Your stuff is a lot of fun to watch and you REALLY think "outside the box". A lot of times I'll watch one of your videos and catch myself thinking (between the bouts of laughter ) "I didn't know you could do that!" But THIS... this is giving me IDEAS. This could actually be of some REAL use! For example, if this could be scaled up into a platform that other craft could LAND ON, that'd be awesome. Also - there's the possibility of resource mining on the oceans of Laythe or even Eve to consider. Imagine a Karbonite gathering re-fueling station that a craft could land at or dock with.

Oh... my... god... I'm hoping to see a 3 Barrel main gun mount in the future (if you're not already designing it!) Holy crap, I may yet actually be able to build THIS at some future point.

BTW - With the full basic structure of this Battlestar now put together, would you believe it's only coming in at 322 parts? I mean - something THAT HUGE... wow. Mind you - that's without all the little extras like weapons, ammo, docking ports, a few extra struts here and there etc. So in the end I fully expect that if I can get it in to orbit (or build it there with Extra-Planetary Launchpads) that the final part count will be around 550-700 parts. All things considered, that's actually not bad!

That basestar is AWESOME, and I hope Macey uses it for Hanlan, cause it would fit so nicely - what with his main ship now looking rather like a Battlestar and all.

Just a quick post. More later. Got the hanger extender and have made some progress. The overall basic shape is looking quite promising.

You noticed that too, eh? Seeya Space Cowboy!

Thanks! The rover body is from the Lackluster Labs set of parts. I highly recommend them if you're making more "sci-fi" themed ships and such.

I'd love to see how a stock version works!

Heh. I think we both just started from a similar source. Have you seen how many Vipers there are over on Kerbal X? Do a search sometime, they all start to look very similar after awhile. Except for that one guy who made a Viper Mk 1 where he made the body shape out of two almost merged hulls in order to get the shape closer to the original. Very impressive. But holy jeezus the part count on that beast! I will fully admit to stealing... er... borrowing... the top angled fin element from you, though. I thought that bit was inspired and really worked very well indeed! Worth copying! Hmm. I find that even with the tanks as I have them set up, and with the drop tank, that if I don't dump some oxidizer on the runway that I wind up with too much. The drop tank is in fact all liquid fuel, BTW. No oxidizer in it. Also as I said above, the main reason for using the Drop Tank on the armed version is that it's just plain heavier. The un-armed prototype actually did get to orbit on its own. But I kept not quite making it and running out of fuel before circularizing when I was pulling those missiles, guns and ammo up with me. TL;DR - Heavier ship needs more fuel. In fact I do have fins on the nose! They're just inverted/clipped into the hull so they're not visible. It's a bit cheaty, but hey, whatever works. I managed to upload some images to imgur this morning. I intended to get around to posting them here, but got busy with other things during the day. Now's a good time to post and explain how I do things. I use TAC Fuel Balancer, (highly recommend it!) and here's what my fuel distribution looks like on runway spawn. You'll notice that the FL-T200 tank is empty of oxidizer. That's actually the middle connecting tank in the drop tank set-up. It's meant to be that way. I don't need oxidizer in the drop tank. Here's what I've been doing as my first step in pre-flight. Take one of the FL-T100s and dump it's oxidizer. Then... Set TAC to "Balance All" and it evens out the Oxidizer Distribution on all the tanks. (Except for that Drop Tank section, which I've set to "Transfer Out" so that it doesn't receive any.) Next, I move up to the Liquid Fuel section and set the two NCS Adapter Tanks and the FL-T200 to Transfer out and "Balance All" on the rest. That way the drop tank fuel is used up first. I typically wind up with the LF and O levels fairly close once in orbit with this set-up. Between 12-18% fuel left for orbital maneuvers. Not much, but enough to get to a tanker to top off with! Here's some other pics. I mentioned that I use a docking port rather than a decoupler because I foresee that having the ability to attach another drop tank in orbit might just come in handy. Here's a good shot that shows the connection. This one shows the most visible difference in the most recent update of BD Armory - these are the new chaff and flare dispenser ports. And here's the emergency Ion Engine activated, with solar panels deployed. It's not much thrust, but if you're out of propellant for the main engines, this may help you limp back to a rendezvous with a ship that can fuel you.

Thunderbirds are GO!! Mods: Adjustable Landing Gear B9 Aerospace Pack KW Rocketry Lack Luster Labs Magic Smoke Industries Infernal Robotics Mark IV Spaceplane System RasterPropMonitor Squad (stock) TweakScale - Rescale Everything! This recreation of Thunderbird 2 is capable of Mach 4 speeds at an altitude of 20,000 meters. Top operational ceiling is about 26-28,000 meters. Cruise range depends on the cargo carried. Typical cruising speed and altitude would be around Mach 2.5-3 at between 15-17,000 meters. I've TRIED to cause overheat. But TB2 just doesn't seem to care how fast she's going! Go ahead and push it to the limit! This cargo hauler can carry extremely large payloads around Kerbin. And it even recreates the piston jack legs of the original for unloading cargo from its ventral bay (sorry - no interchangeable pod system - YET. But Nertea, the maker of the Mark IV Spaceplane system has hinted he might try it in the future! Woot! Also - just to be clear - like the original, this is NOT a spaceplane. But I’m sure with some mod work it would be possible to make it into one. I should also note that the Yellowjacket VTOL Jets do not have enough power for this version of TB2 to be a VTOL craft. But the jets really do help it lift heavy payloads off the ground, and make Thunderbird 2 into a fine STOL vehicle. Caution when spooling up the jets with an empty payload bay, it will make TB2 start to lift and flip backwards. As soon as you see the weight come off the front gears, hit the switch for the main engines and use the throttle and control judiciously. Personally - I’ve managed to get TB2 to almost stand on her tail before cutting the lifting jets and she just takes off near vertically! She'll never be as nimble as a fighter, but she has enough control authority between powerful reaction wheels and control surfaces that she may surprise you! Yep - Jeb buzzed the control tower with the prototype. I have my own set of gear for securing a cargo inside the hold. But I’ve left the download version clean of parts so you can set up your own system. But if you’re looking to fly this craft to a remote location to pick up something like a rover or some other equipment, I highly recommend the KAS/KIS set of mods that allow Kerbals to store equipment and use add-on struts and winches for securing payloads that weren’t originally loaded in the SPH. (I also recommend an internal set of lights inside the bay for good visibility.) The pictures you see here of the rover being winched down from the cargo bay and rolling out? That’s exactly how the vehicle was loaded into the bay in the first place, so I know it can be done! Heh. A note on the fuel tankage. The rear tank is typically left empty. But depending on the load you're carrying, you may want to fill it with enough fuel for balance purposes. I've also left the monoprop in the forward parts for ballast. If you're carrying a really heavy load, you may want to dump it. Just be aware that performance may get a bit squirrely with no ballast, no cargo, and a really light fuel load. YMMV. Sadly, since most of the main structure is mods, I can’t use Kerb Paint to give it the proper Jolly Green hue. Sorry about that! Download the craft at Kerbal X. Enjoy!

Wow. Well that sucks. As it turns out, I did a bit of a rebuild on that section - just pulled the old parts and replaced them with the same parts, just fresh from the part selection. And the bug cleared itself. Very very strange.

I loaded up my Thunderbird 2 craft file (pics from earlier in the thread) and was going to make some tweaks before posting it in the Craft Sharing thread and Kerbal X. Loaded it on the runway, and... BOOOM!!! It broke apart! And F3 wouldn't even tell me what part had been destroyed! "BWAH???" After some messing around, several loads later and watching carefully when the thing disassembled, I finally saw which part was exploding. It was the Probe core. Huh... So I tried changing the order in which the parts were attached. Initially I had it thus - Cockpit, Probe Core, Service Bay, cargo bay etc. So I switched the probe core and the service bay. It took longer for the probe core to explode, but after about half a minute, explode it did. Bugger. So, I opened up the heat indicators in Kerbal Engineer to watch for heat build-up, since that's the usual reason for spontaneous exploding parts, and sure enough, some phantom heating is shooting through the ship, but centered on the Probe Core! Which as I watched, shot up from the normal temp range to Critical temp range in about 30-45 seconds, then went boom. Again - I want to stress - this is ON THE GROUND. On the RUNWAY. No engines running, no air friction. NOTHING. And it's heating up and exploding for no reason I can figure. So - anyone know what's up? Can I modify the .CFG of the probe core (and/or other parts) for a temp fix for this issue until Nertea figures out and fixes the mod? Because frankly, this kind of makes the Mark IV VERY hard to work with now, to say the least!

Another quick question - is there a possibility of a radar part that does not come housed in a nosecone or shrouded in a hull section? I've got at least one craft where the front end is an intake scoop, but adding another cylindrical section would throw off the balance of the craft and replacing a section that has fuel... well in this case it's so tight on fuel already that it's not really an option. I'd like it if there was a smaller part that I could choose to "clip" into an existing craft like that via a small girder segment - or alternatively, place in a housing that I create myself (either from fairings or armor plating). You have radar dish models, but they don't work with tweakscale apparently. (I could probably figure out a way to customize the .CFG to add that bit of code, but then I wouldn't be able to share the craft on sites like Kerbal X etc.)