Parts with Tweakable 'Sub Modules'

[Vectura]

Firstly, I am aware that this would be a major change, so something like this is unlikely to ever become a thing. And I think it is something of an alternative to generic 'upgrades'.

Basically, there would be a new gizmo in the editor, which would allow you to edit the 'sub-modules' of certain parts, namely stuff like engines and fuel tanks.

For engines, you would be able to choose things like nozzle type, maybe with a slider for different altitude efficiencies or something like that. You would be able to tweak the fuel flow, and the power the engine outputs, but this would have the effect of making it heat up faster. Extra things could be added, like an engine heat radiator so that it cools down quicker and heats up slower- but this would increase the drag.

Fuel tanks would have options such as the ratio of LF to O, and the wall thickness. Wall thickness would trade impact tolerance for fuel capacity.

Just a little suggestion I have thought of, oddly enough based on some of the ideas in other games.

[Murph]

Nozzle type swapping is highly unrealistic, if it was to profoundly change the characteristic of the engine. Rocket engines are a complete integrated and matched system, with fuel flow passing through pipes integrated into the nozzle, as a coolant, and limited by the size of that integrated pipework, before flowing to turbo pumps and pre-combusion chambers which need to be closely matched to the nozzle. They are not mix and match from a parts catalogue, but extreme precision and high durability engineering. Small variations might be possible, but would not really be worth the effort to implement.

You can re-engineer them, to produce a new derivative engine, such as the SSMEs (RS-25s) being re-engineered from re-usable to disposable (NASA's work to turn Shuttle tech into SLS tech, with a deep engineering design refresh of all components), with ultimately a significant reduction in cost, but that's really just a completely new engine which builds on the previous design and lessons learnt from it (i.e. it's not just swap out a few components ad-hoc, like fitting better carbs to a petrol engine).

Radiator on a rocket engine? Sounds like an ashtray on a motorbike, or a chocolate teapot, to be honest!

Much better and simpler to plug any significant gaps in the range of available parts, with new parts, and far more realistic.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Murph

[Vectura]

Just to note, by radiators, I mean a smaller alternative to stacking wings on engines, that is built in. An ashtray on a motorbike is fine if the bike is parked, and a chocolate teapot would make a nice snack

[Enceos]

Everything you mentioned about the engine nozzles is present in the Procedural SRB from the Procedural Parts mod. But it's a Solid Rocket Booster. I think using the same technique of tweaking they can make an LFO engine.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Murph, if I'm not mistaken MVac is mostly the same engine as Merlin 1D. The nozzle extension of MVac is cooled radiatively - there's no pips or tubes inside it, just a thin sheet of metal.

[Murph]

Murph, if I'm not mistaken MVac is mostly the same engine as Merlin 1D. The nozzle extension of MVac is cooled radiatively - there's no pips or tubes inside it, just a thin sheet of metal.

A quick bit of research suggests to me that transforming a 1D into a 1D-Vac has exactly the type of issues I mentioned. Yes, they are similar and related engines. No, they are not fully parts compatible (although they have some common parts), and you don't just swap the bell to convert from one version to the other.

Edit: Oh yeah, a thought on small radiators. I'm not saying that Squad's current model is perfect, but small radiators don't work in space (i.e. you can't reduce the size of your radiator), as they rely entirely on surface area pointed outwards, away from the vessel and any of its components. There is no air flow as used to enable heat transfer on inward facing surface area on terrestrial engine radiators. Or, let me put it another way, I think the LV-N is badly wrong, and it seems like it's the only engine which really needs a radiator right now. Its current behaviour in-game is totally at odds with the Los Alamos / NASA design, which was cooled by the fuel and did not require vast amounts of external thermal management. They need to fix the LV-N's configuration, not add radiators to the game â€â€.it shouldn't have any major thermal issues at all, as long as it's not pointing its exhaust at something or burning up in the atmosphere.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Murph

[Vectura]

I suppose with the LV-N, isn't all the heat meant to be going into the fuel?

[Murph]

I suppose with the LV-N, isn't all the heat meant to be going into the fuel?

Yup, that's a fundamental part of the NERVA design. The fuel cools the reactor, and the thermal energy gained by the fuel gets translated into useful thrust. I'm not suggesting that it should be "cold", but the current heat levels are really quite absurd, and you end up needing more wings on the upper/interplanetary stage of a rocket than a fairly big spaceplane. Even a Gigantor XL solar array can't keep a single LV-N cool on its own.