What new parts could the game realistically use?

[Linear]

Large LV-N, Propellers would be nice and robotics.

[Joonatan1998]

-Liquid fuel tanks for NERVAS

-Larger SRB

-Hinges

-Propellers, but balance to not make Eve too easy.

-Larger "hub" part for space stations

-Maybe new science experiments, but must be different from the old ones, not just "go to place and click, collect data and return." (An experiment where you must return the part to kerbin for example)

-Maybe larger NERVA-engines

[Roderik]

.Ballast tanks for building submarines to explore the oceans of Laythe and Eve.

First we need real water

[KerikBalm]

I agree with the many things suggested, namely:

1. 2.5m LF-tanks (for NERVAs)
   
2. Hinges/telescopic beams/etc - To make spacecraft with unfolding parts like real ones.
   
3. Electric prop and/or ducted fan engines - to fly at Duna/Eve
   

Also, I want to see some big SRBs. Like Space Shuttle or SLS ones. The ones that can lift huge payloads and provide good launchpad TWR to big rockets. Not sure about small ones since what we already have is quite small. Even kickbacks don't do much for really big rockets.

Thankfully, 2 out of 3 of these things are really really easy to implement with just text file editing... which also means it wouldn't take much work at all for them to become stock.

The LF only tanks could use a reskin to be visually distinguishable (assuming they aren't the same part, but with something like that fuel switcher mod).

The ducted fan engine-> I just use the basic jet from .18. The basic jet has had an art change... so the old one is free to be used.

Handling the intakes is a bit more clumsy - as they need to supply a different resource than IntakeAir - but you don't want 2x the drag (although you can put 2 intake modules on the same intake, and then just close the one for the type you aren't using... but this is a clickfest when using multiple intakes.

I find it best to use seperate intake parts... which means either they're not visually distinguishable, or you have to use an old part model (of which, there's the old ram, circular, and inline intakes)

[Tw1]

I don't think you guys are completely getting the point of this thread. Yes, KAS would be nice, but KAS isn't needed. I'm talking about parts that fill obvious shortcomings in the current lineup, like the flatter 2.5m tanks.

As an example, we desperately need a 2-man 1.25m command pod. We've needed it ever since we got Kerbal roles and 'rescue from space' contracts.

Tbh, idk about either of those parts.

I can't really imagine too many situations, unless you were attempting to do something very specific where you'd need something thinner than this:

Plus, wouldn't a 2 man 1.25 meter tank be redundant?

Might as well stack an inline Mk1 cockpit, or Mk 1 landercan, under your first pod, depending on needs and tech unlocked.

Sometimes a vehicle will look a little silly, but if you're willing to sacrifice some efficiency, that can be reduced.

I don't mind that some combinations do look a bit odd- it makes the good ones stand out more.

Plus, if every part perfectly matched the look every other part, all craft would look the same, and rather dull.

-

-Maybe new science experiments, but must be different from the old ones, not just "go to place and click, collect data and return." (An experiment where you must return the part to kerbin for example)

This is what I want, but I'd want ones suited to more through ground exploration, rather something else to return to Kerbin.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Tw1

[Xannari Ferrows]

I agree with the many things suggested, namely:

1. 2.5m LF-tanks (for NERVAs)
   
2. Hinges/telescopic beams/etc - To make spacecraft with unfolding parts like real ones.
   
3. Electric prop and/or ducted fan engines - to fly at Duna/Eve
   

I'd imagine the hinges part would wreak HAVOC on any struts you attach to it. That'd be another cool thing; retractable struts. Each one has a minimum and maximum length, and you can choose to lock it in place when you feel the need for stability.

You look familiar...

Edited June 15, 2015 by Xannari Ferrows

[archnem]

I don't think you guys are completely getting the point of this thread. Yes, KAS would be nice, but KAS isn't needed.

I flat-out disagree with this. Yes, maybe we don't really need full KAS functionality (harpoons, winches, electros), but we most certainly DO need hoses.

As an example, we desperately need a 2-man 1.25m command pod.

One person's "desperate need" is another's "useless part". I don't think of this as "desperate" but it sure would be nice to have, if only for aesthetics. Two mk1s stacked on top of each other just looks...bad.

Edited May 25, 2015 by archnem

[Venusgate]

.625 "wingtip" LF tanks.

fins that fold flat

fuel dump valve

umbillical style docking ports.

[Majorjim!]

0.625 Jets would be amazing. Considering you can buy coke can sized jets in reality I say its realistic.

[Kuu Lightwing]

I'd imagine the hinges part would wreak HAVOC on any struts you attack to it. That'd be another cool thing; retractable struts. Each one has a minimum and maximum length, and you can choose to lock it in place when you feel the need for stability.

You look familiar...

Strut problems can be solved somehow, but folding parts would really improve options for, say, fitting stuff into fairings.

Also, what do you mean "I look familiar"?

[Xannari Ferrows]

Strut problems can be solved somehow, but folding parts would really improve options for, say, fitting stuff into fairings.

Also, what do you mean "I look familiar"?

Kinda like how Manley fit two nuclears into a fairing, though at the expense of some wobbliness.

Didn't you once ask about the Oberth Effect on one of his videos?

[DoToH]

Is this where I ask Squad yet again for a hose to do surface refueling?

^^This.

While I use KAS' ones, this is useful for players who don't want to use mods.

Driving claw rovers around and ramming them into fuel tankers is a bit "primitive"

[Gnawer]

Smaller hitchhiker can. Big one is way too big. Tourist/save kerbal contracts in career often require just one passenger seat. Using command modules for that is a waste, because they are heavy and carry lots of unnecessary equipment.

[TimePeriod]

As a few has stated above, a dedicated hose for refuelling.

A fairing which can be placed in-between two connection nodes on a rocket.

Proper space-tape

[FishInferno]

some kind of aerodynamic landing legs, like the ones on the Blue Origin rocket

[Red Iron Crown]

My most desired list (repeats some mentioned by others):

- A 2.5m LF tank with a mass ratio the same as 2.5m LFO tanks. Also, fix 1.25m LF tank mass ratio. Better still, let us change fuel types in tweakables.

- Heat pipes, insulators, radiators. The last two can be worked around with heatshields and wings, but the first is desperately needed.

- Cylindrical 1.25m lander pod. Could be a reshaped Mk1 Lander Can, because that thing doesn't fit in Mk2 bays. Stack to increase capacity.

- A Mk2 shaped intake, equivalent to two of one of the other intakes.

- 2.5m airbreathing engines and nuclear engine. Part count on big SSTOs and interplanetary ships is excessive.

- Procedural wings. Way too many wing parts, and they don't all fit together well. Clipping them leads to a z-fighting mess, and they only generate lift in one orientation.

[FishInferno]

oh, and also, make an interstage fairing actually connect to the parts above it.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Kinda like how Manley fit two nuclears into a fairing, though at the expense of some wobbliness.

Didn't you once ask about the Oberth Effect on one of his videos?

Yeah, like that for example. I think one can find many useful applications for things like that.

And, yeah, I did ask that once

[Xannari Ferrows]

Yeah, like that for example. I think one can find many useful applications for things like that.

And, yeah, I did ask that once

I seem to recall a certain challenge based around that... although most people missed the point and it was closed.

Interstellar quest, episode 2. Not to be a creeper or anything...

[Raptor9]

Throwing in my 2cents, cuz why not.

- Modules and parts optimized for surface bases (horizontal IVA's, utility/resource connectors like in KAS)

- Cargo/Tail ramps for Mk3

- Jet engine more powerful than Basic Jet Engine (J-33), but non-ramjet so it doesn't go into overdrive mode like the Turbo Ramjet engine (J-X4)

- Heat management parts

- More to do on EVA (again, KAS/KIS is a good example)

- And just for the sake of conversation, piece-able Mk3-sized wings like the Mk2 size from Space Plane Plus (now stock ) Either that or if the Mk3 wings need to be a single piece, a Mk3-sized delta-wing that's more like a XB-70 or SR-72 concept than a Space Shuttle replica.

- (Not a new part, but do the medium and heavy-sized landing gear need to be so tall?)

Edited May 25, 2015 by Raptor9

[Tw1]

Cylindrical 1.25m lander pod. Could be a reshaped Mk1 Lander Can, because that thing doesn't fit in Mk2 bays. Stack to increase capacity.

I've seen this idea pop up a few times. I like the Mk1 lander, with its chunky vacuum lander look, and flat panels to radially mount things, but do see the problem.

But, I'm wondering why a Mk1 inline cockpit wouldn't do the job here?

[Karriz]

My biggest wish is medium sized solar panels. Currently we only have the tiny ones, which look good on probes, and huge gigantors, which are clearly meant for space stations.

We don't have panels for medium-sized spacecraft, like what Orion and Dragon use.

Fission reactor and a 1m ion engine, in the very end of the tech tree. They should be really expensive, of course.

A horizontal surface base module would be nice, because the science lab IVA is vertical.

[robopilot99]

-radiators

-more power options for the outer planets like nuclear reactors or wind turbines.

-2.5 meter NTR

-refueling hose

-electric propellers

[Red Iron Crown]

I've seen this idea pop up a few times. I like the Mk1 lander, with its chunky vacuum lander look, and flat panels to radially mount things, but do see the problem.

But, I'm wondering why a Mk1 inline cockpit wouldn't do the job here?

The inline cockpit's IVA and ladder are very poorly oriented for landers.

[lajoswinkler]

2.5 m nuclear thermal engine, such as the stockalike KSPX's LV-NB which is basically two 1.25 m engines' power in one. Associated LF tanks, too.

Also, ability to create electricity using fission. Perhaps integrated into nuclear engines, perhaps as separate nuclear reactors.

And at last, useful radiators. No space mission can go without radiators. Even the real lunar rovers had them. They should be obligatory for reactors and perhaps even nuclear engines.

Magnetometer and, for its use, magnetic fields around planetary bodies.

Geiger counter and radiation fluxes around Jool, emanating from Kerbol, etc.

KAS/KIS style pipes/ports and struts.

Set of hinges.

2.5 m rotating thingy for centrifuges.

Sepratron II, something like KOSMOS ones. The ones we have now are too weak for larger stages.