What new parts could the game realistically use?

[Wanderfound]

Well it isn't more powerful than the 2.5m engines.

Go try to make a large Munar-surface-and-back rocket with 1.25m parts only. It's going to be pretty beefy and probably have a lot of booster stages to shed getting to orbit

Eh? This is going to depend on your definition of "beefy" and "a lot", but this is my current early/mid-career Mun/Minmus ship:

...and that's a two-seater designed to hit several biomes per trip with fuel to spare, carrying unnecessary luxuries like RCS, backup solar and a probe core. Pare it down to the bare minimum and you could leave off half the boosters. The Thuds are mainly there for gimbal value (necessary for finless FAR rocketry); it would work without them if you added a few SRBs for launchpad kick.

A single 1.25m stack will get you to orbit, but if you want to put a crewed mission on the Mun it should take at least a few boosters. A Saturn V was quite a lot bigger than the Mercury rockets.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Wanderfound

[Fiddlestyx]

A proper engine cluster for the MK3 shuttle.

[arq]

A 2.5m nuclear rocket, modular Mk3 wings, fuel type-tweakable fuel tanks, a 0.625m and maybe 2.5m jet engine, some in-flight-addable version of struts (can't re-secure a part in a cargo bay or strut an assembled space station) and fuel pipes, possibly a (weak) electric propeller for low-altitude atmospheric flight, and an intermediate-sized solar panel would all be good in my book.

[Jouni]

The game needs bigger SRBs with long enough burn times. The small ones we currently have are good for providing an initial TWR boost, but they're useless as actual launch stages. We can't build rockets like Ariane 5, STS, or SLS, where solid boosters do the actual lifting, while the core stage is more like a second stage with some extra fuel.

[Two]

I would love to see some automation tools at high research levels. For example an automated ascend system, a velocity-stabilizer (you basically enter a set velocity and it keeps that).

[KAP1985]

the things I think it could use

>intigrate Atomic Age mod

>2.5 meter Nerv

>2 man 1.25 meter capsule

>boat parts

>"lego like" big wings

>maybe 3.75 meter command parts

>electric propellers

>bigger jet engines

[Rithsom]

I think a 2.5m turbofan engine and a 2.5m RAPIER would be nice additions. The turbofan can have about the same performance as the current Basic Jet Engine, and the 2.5m RAPIER can have about the same performance as the 1.25m RAPIER. We wouldn't need to make engine clusters for SSTOs anymore (though that does seem to be less of a problem in the current version).

I also support the idea of 2.5m SRBs, and perhaps a bigger nuclear engine.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Rthsom

[TimePeriod]

SOME BETTER WINGS PLEASE

Because seriously, my eyes are cringing from looking at that.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Red Iron Crown
One line of ginormous font is plenty.

[MGCJerry]

Read the first couple pages... Great suggestions, but here's my list...

* 4 Props. 1 Big, 1 small. Electric and LF versions.

* Airbags for dropped probes. Or Kerbal shakes

* Loading ramp for MK3. I like that idea, and stronger MK3 connections

* Radiators.

* FAT version of the wing parts, and stronger joints between wing parts and/or more wing selections.

[waterlubber]

Something between a Mainsail and a Skipper-great for career where it's either low TWR and losing the Skipper midstage or high TWR and excess cost/DeltaV

Radiators.

2.5m SRBS

Inline O2-10

.65m NERVA - PorkJet made an excellent one

[Feradose]

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo19/TimePeriod/2015-05-25_00003_zpsrmwp8e9o.jpg

SOME BETTER WINGS PLEASE

Because seriously, my eyes are cringing from looking at that.

.... what is this and where is the craft file?

Also, ksp really needs that big modular wings, and an art pass to make mk1 mk2 and mk3 parts blend more

Edited May 25, 2015 by Red Iron Crown

[Windspren]

1.825 parts to fit the gap between 1.25 and 2.5m parts.

[Norcalplanner]

At the risk of being a fanboy, I think the devs should look really hard at what NecroBones is doing in his mods - MRS, SpaceY, and Fuel Tanks Plus. In addition to all the great 5m parts in SpaceY, there are a whole bunch of other great parts: 2.5m SRBs, 3.75m probe cores and reaction wheels, a 1.25m engine between the LVT-30 and the Skipper, a 2.5m engine between the Skipper and the Mainsail, a stackable low power 3.75m engine, and various adapters, both with and without internal fuel tanks. MRS provides the Quad-nuke 2.5m engine, 3/4 length fuel tanks in each size, and lots of great 0.625m SRBs, jet engines, and fuel tanks. Fuel Tanks Plus offers 1.5 length tanks in each size, tanks that are half the height of most existing tanks (my favorite is the 2.25 ton 2.5m tank, perfect for my LEM ascent stage), and fueled nosecones. Seriously, he makes 75 percent of the mod parts I use, with Nertea and Porkjet rounding out the rest.

[Frostiken]

-EVERYTHING mentioned so far except the stock tweakscale, that is too cheaty for me.

Stock tweakscale should be limited in how it can be used but there's still very much a demand for it, especially amongst aero parts and structural parts.

[Geschosskopf]

* Mk2 SAS, battery, decouplers, and shorter RCS tanks

* A 3.5m version of the 909 or Poodle

* A 2.5m or Mk2 sized mono RAPIER for Mk3 spaceplanes, to avoid spamming the existing RAPIER

* KAS-style fuel pipes for refuel on the ground more elegantly than using the Claw and with less bother than struggling to align docking ports

* Terrain mappers like in SCANsat

* All the DMagic Orbital Science instruments (including the associated contracts)

* Optional electric motors in the aircraft landing gear, for better taxiing.

* A medium-sized rover wheel.

* A radially mounted probe core to help with the vertical-to-horizontal transition when landing rovers

* Boat hulls, pontoons, and rudders, preferrably with retractable, powered wheels in some of them (like Firespitter)

* Some sleeker, sexier lights of several types

* Pretty much everthing from Infernal Robotics

* 5-way RCS blocks

* Stack adaptors that hold fuel

* 5m rocket parts

* bigger sepratrons

[Aragosnat]

Propellers both liquid only on L/O.

Deployable launch pad & VAB that one can launch craft from another planet/moon. Also attacments that could make it almost like a mini KSC minus the ability to hire recuits. Also would not mind such places needing certain level of Engineers and Scientists to work properly, inorder to build crafts. Would require ore to use to replace the need for Funds.

Also a part the lets me debrief those nice Kerbals on other worlds so that they can gain Experiance without having to return them back to Kerbin everytime to get their experince up.

Docking ports that can be swapped out for another similar sized part, taking the two ports away, to build a lower part count station as well as rigid station/craft. Also maybe even the part the docking port is connected to.

Orbital ship yard that has to be sent up in pieces and works like the docking ports mentioned above. But, can only build existing designs.

Lander cans or other pods with their own built in engines mono or F/O, thinking of the tiny radial engines. Again this is to lower the part count as well as making so that the landers are nice and squat to prevent having tall landers that tip over very easily unless you have/abuse ungodly amount of reaction wheels or having to build it extra wide.

Side mounted L/O & Fuel tanks like the ones for monopropelent and act like they have a fuel line attached. I know some of the wing attachments have fuel in them which make them good for nukes as well as landing legs (as long as one remembers to add fuel lines to the part with the nuke). Manly for looks as well as gettng the center of mass lower down for landers without needing to add structual parts and fuel lines.

[Wesreidau]

2.5m Toroidal.

[Idrryl]

The ALCOR capsule with RPM is what I'd like to see. But apart from that, KAS and KIS would be nice.

[luizopiloto]

Robotic Parts... This game really needs stock robotic parts.

Balloon, Blimp Parts... Propeller/Rotor Blade engines... for Eve adventurers...

[PB666]

Geschosskopf wrote:

OP: * Mk2 SAS, battery, decouplers, and shorter RCS tanks

PB666: not only MK2 but MK3. I think a size 3 battery and Size3 SAS unit might be nice. Also a size3 RCS tank.

The reason I say this is on space stations that are built in space, long thin parts are kracken fodder. I use for example a size3 short tank (scale of T200 factor), on a lg docking port that I can remove and replace to supply. (because its not aerodynamic enough to launch into space). It is docked on both sides so I don't use up a docking port. But if the tanks are excessivley thin, then docking another ship only invites the kraken.

OP: * A 3.5m version of the 909 or Poodle

PB666: yep, definitely needed. Should be a three or four engine design. Ihave a scale mod of the poodle size3, 4, 5.

OP: * A 2.5m or Mk2 sized mono RAPIER for Mk3 spaceplanes, to avoid spamming the existing RAPIER

PB666: I suppose but I think this would be not commonly used, you should create a scale mod.

OP: * KAS-style fuel pipes for refuel on the ground more elegantly than using the Claw and with less bother than struggling to align docking ports

PB666: That would take all the fun out of it.

. . . . . .

OP:* A medium-sized rover wheel.

PB666: A wheel, period at Start game. it could be a wheel from a tonka truck.

OP:* A radially mounted probe core to help with the vertical-to-horizontal transition when landing rovers

PB666: Use mech-jeb. You can assign probe elements modules to other parts if you don't like MechJeb,

OP: * Boat hulls, pontoons, and rudders, preferrably with retractable, powered wheels in some of them (like Firespitter)

PB666: Like for landing on water.

OP: * Some sleeker, sexier lights of several types

PB666: Yes, lights are not aerodynamic they don't fit flush on the body and you have to tweek them.

.........

OP:* 5-way RCS blocks

PB666: yep. When you say 5 way that could mean pentagonal also, but I am sure you meant -x, x, -y, y and z orientations (when -z points in the direction of it mounting surface)

OP:* Stack adaptors that hold fuel

PB666: Wow so many already, you can make them on blender, I have made a bunch. I frankly think mine are better than theirs, I say this because when you use the size3 tanks and adapters you end up having a dead space if you don't use size three parts. It looks kind of half-ar$e.

OP:* 5m rocket parts

PB666: Mod.

OP:* bigger sepratrons

PB666: Mod.

Having finally manage to cover the rocket parts per say (spent most of the last few weeks cleaning out my parts and game-data directory and testing the drag issues, I would like to say to the dev team ---- well done.

The part I find most impressive are the fairings and the openable equipment enclosures. Amazingly you can use one inside the other. I did not find the rockets as unstable as other folks but I have been working on my aero parts for some time. I find there is a cost now for poor design and a reward for better designed and aerodynamic craft.

I am still finding myself having to get used to the new boosters. The good point is they appear to crash less into the launches, the bad point is that you have one more step to worry about in launch, because for smaller rockets (when you use 2 boosters) you will probably need to adjust down the thrust to avoid overspeed on less-well designed rockets.

What can be improved.

1. Telescoping mounts. Now with the nice fairings/ instrument bays it would be nice to have telescoping mounts for things like ion drives or test equipment. Even a rotating space station.

2. Wheels (more of them e.g. fixed simple wheels with no power early game)

3. More sophisticate roverbay. (although personally I never make rovers, bad habit from earlier versions where roving did not have much of a payoff)

4. Corner welds. Instead of tacky looking strut connectors it would be nice were we could weld corners at a cost per length. This would give a much stronger bond with lower breaking torque between pieces.

5. The RGS is a multifunction standout, but wouldn't it be nice if we had a standout (nacell) that was aerodynamic. If find myself at times needing to lower the flex on the upper stages of a launch and I end up having to shove a MGS out into space so that I can add strut-connectors between two peices that are not in each others line of sight.

6. As others have mentioned the recyclable off-world landers have a horizontal cross section that exceeds 3.75 meters across. The most stable landers are at least 5 M side to side, otherwise you end up burning power to keep a craft true and they will not stay true on worlds with heavy gravity. A one to four conversion plate would suffice.

-Solution 1 is to make a plate that has telescoping standout and landing struts.

-Solution 2 is to make 4 and 5 meter parts.

7. Size2 jet engine

8. Radiators . . . . . really . . . . . . . if an engine needs to be cooled there should be aerodynamic parts can be used to radiate. An alternative is a simple plate that does not conduct heat upward. Once a TNR is activated it will produce heat and that heat needs an effective means of dissipating, the expended fuel is extremely radioactive (thats why they keep spent fuel in cooling ponds at nuclear reactors). A better solution in vertical plates on the nozzle of TNR that can slowly dissipate the heat from the nozzle (I know this is oxymoronic since you want the exhaust to retain thermal energy until out of contact with the nozzle) and other parts of the engine.

9. Bases. One aspect of the base is that buildings are disconnected. It would be nice to have a expandable platform in which fuel depots, etc can be plugged in and craft with docking ports mounted on the bottom can dock. In 0.90 I tried this and the ship would never dock no matter how close I got the port. I would lower the landing legs and nothing would happend. It would be nice if the deck had a landing zone, if the four legs of the ship landed in all of four areas the deck would move the ship to center and a docking port would rise up and attach. You could have three types of ports.

10. Off-world VAB package. This would be also nice, could be installed and activated. Tranporting of materials to the factory would then allow one to build ships in space or off-world. #9 could be built as part of an off-world package assembly.

11. Asteroid that cannot be moved but are worthy exploration targets.

12. Telescopes and space observatories designed for LKE and HKE.

And I know I will get some complaints, 'all this is available in this add-on or mod', yeah I know.

[Spartwo]

Propeller. We've got simple fixed landing gear now, we really need a puller engine to go with it. Would make small survey planes far easier to construct.

This and a rotor. Spinning Tauruses!

[Robotengineer]

Tracks.

Propellers for beginning planes.

0.625m launcher parts.

1.25m cargo bay.

Other Parts.

[Wjolcz]

-Mk3 cargo ramp

-Electric prop

-Radiators

-Fuel hose

A rant edit about people suggesting LF-only tanks to be added as new parts: a simple tweakable for already existing tanks would be way better. No need to stuff the game with more unnecesary fuel tanks.

Edit 2: How about a Mk2 aerospike?

Edited May 25, 2015 by Veeltch

[Red Iron Crown]

And I know I will get some complaints, 'all this is available in this add-on or mod', yeah I know.

You probably wouldn't if you didn't, in the same post, shoot down a bunch of other suggestions because the parts are available as a mod or one can make them themselves.

[GoSlash27]

Heat exchangers/ radiators.

If we're going to deal with thermal issues, we should have a way to radiate it off.

Best,

-Slashy