[0.15, PARTS] Mk2 Stock Parts (Alpha 0.2 "Released")

[Thobewill10]

This is an indev parts pack full of stuff for interplanetary travel, like ion engines and stuff.

Here\'s some pics.

I suck at most things, like cfg editing, balancing, visualizing, and writing, so any suggestions are appreciated (especially on the balancing and part descriptions front).

It uses the MuMechLib plugin (for the variable engines), and the PowerTech plugin. Those and Maraz\'s DynaVolt solar panels are bundled with the pack.

To install, place the contents of the 'Mk2 Stock Parts' folder into your KSP directory, overwriting whatever\'s in there already. I will do my best to keep this pack updated with the latest versions of the plugins involved.

This is a possible parts pack (read: unlikely) done in the style of the stock parts. The parts themselves will be balanced against stock and be designed primarily with interplanetary travel in mind, which is currently implausible with stock parts. All I have so far is concept art, but I hope to get into 3ds Max this weekend and make some basic models.

Ideas and suggestions welcome.

[TerranCmdr]

Liking the concept art, and I\'m pretty excited about bolt-on external tanks. For some reason I just really love external tanks.

[Thobewill10]

Yeah, i modelled up the ion engine today and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out emmissive maps (so i can get a cool blue glow). Not there yet. Also, I\'m rubbish at textures, so those will take a while.

EDIT: Added picture of ion engine

[GabrielG.A.B.Fonseca]

That\'s very nice man, you should keep going on this. Also, ask NovaSilisco to see if he can help you with the textures...

[Thobewill10]

He\'s a very busy man, and I\'ll need to learn sometime. I\'ll work on it a bit over the weekend and practice my texturing. I\'ll leave the fancy new part tools for afterward.

[Thobewill10]

Redid my UV mapping and the emmissive map. Now to texture.

[Ferrit]

Redid my UV mapping and the emmissive map. Now to texture.

Ooooh shiny! Me like

[Millst0ne MK II]

This is great man! I hope you get it all working. You\'ll have a download from me

[Thobewill10]

This is great man! I hope you get it all working. You\'ll have a download from me

Thanks man. As I\'ve said, I\'m a complete n00b, so it might take a while, but this is designed, as corny as it sounds, to be a learning experience, with some hopefully cool benefits

I should have at least the ion engine and the 1m Xenon tanks done. Then i\'ll need to write a plugin for this different type of fuel, but once that\'s done i\'ll release just that.

[Thobewill10]

Finished the texturing. Now to figure out emmissive animations and normal mapping

[Anariaq]

Finished the texturing. Now to figure out emmissive animations and normal mapping

Looks fantastic. What kind of fuel is the ion engine use? and what power output will it have?

[RC1062]

Finished the texturing. Now to figure out emmissive animations and normal mapping

That is one nice looking engine!

Hmm... Is it possible to change the funny heat glow on the stock engines? \'Cause if it was to glow blue...

[Thobewill10]

@Anariaq: Thanks. I\'m going to make some Xenon fuel tanks next. For starters, I\'ll just use a MuMech variable engine, but as time goes on, I\'ll write my own plugin that requires a source of electric power (i.e. solar panels for inner solar system stuff) AND the xenon tanks. As for power output, it\'ll be very weak, but highly fuel efficient, designed for long burns.

@RC1062: That\'s the idea. The blue glow you see there is an emmissive map, separate from the main texture. I just need to figure out how to make that work in game.

[Thobewill10]

Minus the emmissive map and config edits, the 1m ion engine has been fully imported into the game

Here\'s a shot comparing it, stylistically, to the stock engines. The blue glow is temporary until i figure out how to do the emmissive animation

[Thobewill10]

Working on cfg balancing it. I\'m thinking 2 units of thrust (way over what real ion engines do, but for the sake of playability) with 0.0030 burn rate. If it had the same efficiency as the larger engines, it would be burn rate of 0.08 for that amount of thrust, and i think that 25 is a reasonable estimate for how many times more efficient than a chemical rocket these are.

[Thobewill10]

Okay, I\'ve modeled up the xenon tanks (1 m x 1 m and 1m x 0.5 m) in blender.

And with the ion engine attached.

0.5 m

1 m

I\'ll UV and texture these tomorrow, hopefully.

[RC1062]

Are you planning to run them on the different fuels?

[Maraz]

This add-on looks very promising!

@Anariaq: Thanks. I\'m going to make some Xenon fuel tanks next. For starters, I\'ll just use a MuMech variable engine, but as time goes on, I\'ll write my own plugin that requires a source of electric power (i.e. solar panels for inner solar system stuff) AND the xenon tanks. As for power output, it\'ll be very weak, but highly fuel efficient, designed for long burns.

There is much work being done on Electric Energy, Solar Panels, etc... not to mention the ZO2 plugin (Kerbals still ned ZO2 for their long journeys!). I encourage you to contact the developers (Alchemist, Kreuzung) so that each plugin can work with the others. This will make things much easier for players and part developers.

Maraz

[Thobewill10]

Are you planning to run them on the different fuels?

Eventually. I don\'t know a lick of C#, so that\'ll all come after. In the meantime, the Xenon fuel is much lighter than the LH2/LOX combination, lighter even than the spaceplane fuel, but there\'s less of it

This add-on looks very promising!

There is much work being done on Electric Energy, Solar Panels, etc... not to mention the ZO2 plugin (Kerbals still ned ZO2 for their long journeys!). I encourage you to contact the developers (Alchemist, Kreuzung) so that each plugin can work with the others. This will make things much easier for players and part developers.

Maraz

Thanks. Once I get around to plugin coding, I will do that.

[RC1062]

Eventually. I don\'t know a lick of C#, so that\'ll all come after. In the meantime, the Xenon fuel is much lighter than the LH2/LOX combination, lighter even than the spaceplane fuel, but there\'s less of it

Thanks. Once I get around to plugin coding, I will do that.

You could rig it so it doesn\'t work in the atmosphere.

[Thobewill10]

You could rig it so it doesn\'t work in the atmosphere.

That\'s a good idea. Not sure how to go about that, but that seems reasonable for balance issues.

[Thobewill10]

Ok, I finished texturing the 1x1 m Xenon Fuel Tank. About to do some ingame tests.

[thorfinn]

Liking the concept art, and I\'m pretty excited about bolt-on external tanks.

Yay! MARSPROJEKT!

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/vonn1952.htm

No, seriously, it would be great to a larger set of spherical tanks in a similar style, following more or less this design:

The 'xenon tank', scaled up and with a couple of radiation signs on it, would seriously look like a Orion pulse unit magazine to me

As for the specific impulse of ion propulsion fuel, it\'s around 5000 seconds, so it\'s just about 10 times more the unrealistic liquid fuel we have... (Isp should be slashed about 40% to match LOX/Kerosene)

[Thobewill10]

Oh, thanks for those figures. I\'m trying to get a balance between playability (not 25 minute long burns) and realism here, so the input\'s much appreciated.

As for orion, a while ago, I was considering making one, and even modeled up an engine (well, shock plates). Didn\'t know what to do about the plugin, so I abandoned that. Maybe I\'ll pick that up again later. It had a 3 m attachment point, with a four meter total diameter.

And finally:

Looks pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself.

[Thobewill10]

You were right about it looking like an Orion propellant magazine