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Sinking isn't so hard anymore, but now it's also more perilous... This tiny yet powerful pair of mods, aimed at undersea engineers, does what no submarine/ballast plugin has done yet: It addresses the problem of all parts having maximum buoyancy and the same part pressure limit. ADVISORY: It may bloat your MM cache rather fast, as does Rational Resources. Depending on a modest array of characteristics expected of parts (primarily their categories, then certain keywords in their titles or certain modules or resources they hold) they are dynamically granted with buoyancy ratings. It becomes far easier to use normal Ore tanks as ballast, and adds to the sinkability of submarines powered by ballast plugin mods. How to use: Be mindful of the new stat ratio: average buoyancy vs mass. To keep things afloat, make sure that your ship contains more of parts that hold crew, are lifting surfaces, or are thermal category (the stock heatshields and radiators are pretty spacious and flat, and so, should be rather buoyant). And also make sure that your ship isn't very massive. Expect to sink at any time. Wings remain the most buoyant thing. The more you have, the more you float. Ore tanks are the least buoyant thing. The more you have, the faster you sink. (See screenshots) By default you'll always experience the first half of this mod: Rational Buoyancy. But to experience the second half, Rational Pressure, you must go into Difficulty Settings -> Advanced -> Turn on part pressure limits. If you plan to never use Rational Pressure, delete its config file and save your MM cache some weight. Included is a Cheat config that you can edit just 2 simple numbers in if you feel that the new buoyancy and pressure ratings are rather tight for you. Complementary mods or strategies that you'll want to prepare: Low-mass floatation devices and devices that enable you to thrust upward, to quickly shed mass, or to otherwise lift when splashed will become very important very fast. Lifting body science or resource return vehicles. Except for science labs, all science parts will very easily sink. Boats and subs of all sizes, even for the EVA kerbal as the kerbal can just barely float now in a stock game. Adding any mass (like life support) may cause him or her to start sinking. Known issues: My personal experience so far: your ship's average center of buoyancy may go anywhere now, and a submarine design may easily become heavy on one end with no regard to where the CoM or CoL are, so "buoyancy symmetry" or "buoyancy offset" may be a very important new thing to watch out for, and if possible, a mod will need to be made that can compute and show the ship's center of buoyancy. When you sink in lava... Recommended mods: KSP Ground Effect (not compatible with FAR). Any planet pack with abundant or exotic oceans. Includes special support for: Kerbal Planetary Base Systems Stockalike Station Parts Redux WBI Pathfinder (namely, its Castillo parts) DOWNLOAD :: SpaceDock :: GitHub License: MIT