[WIP][1.8.x] SSTULabs - Low Part Count Solutions (Orbiters, Landers, Lifters) - Dev Thread [11-18-18]

[Jimbodiah]

That's what you get for adding a Brazilian launch site. That is just asking for it!

SSRSS is waiting on Sigma to update for their scaling, and I guess Kopernicus as well now. Seeing as there is a gravity hack now, you could just make RSS and hack gravity to get an SSRSS analogy with the same setup.

[JoseEduardo]

well, at least the rocket didn't blow up on the pad and kill 21 smart kerbals, so there is a significant advance

[mechanicH]

7 minutes ago, JoseEduardo said:

well, at least the rocket didn't blow up on the pad and kill 21 smart kerbals, so there is a significant advance

There will be no progress.....AT LEAST one Kerbal has to die

 

[JoseEduardo]

I was talking about smart kerbals, not regular sacrifice goats kerbals

[Jimbodiah]

A smart Kerbal... that's an oxymoron.

[RedParadize]

I had some other idea for rigid centrifuge, I will work on them after work and post some render. @Shadowmage If you are not interested its all good, I do it mostly because its fun. I would not want to kill your fun in the process!

[mechanicH]

http://imgur.com/KnU2zdE

http://imgur.com/a84Jzlu

 

here some eye kandy ... just for fun

Edited November 2, 2016 by mechanicH

[RedParadize]

7 minutes ago, mechanicH said:

http://imgur.com/KnU2zdE

http://imgur.com/a84Jzlu

 

here some eye kandy ... just for fun

It might be a good idea to allow same ship collision solar panel...

[mechanicH]

Ya that was my fault,  i didnt pay attention to how the solar panels deploy until after it was in orbit.  

[Shadowmage]

18 minutes ago, RedParadize said:

It might be a good idea to allow same ship collision solar panel...

I've actually been thinking of adding toggles to the solar-panel module that would disable the sun tracking for a given set of pivots (primary, or secondary; one control for each where both are present on a part).  Would allow for the MST part to still be used for multiple panels without the multi-axis tracking bit.

I'm not really sure where else the 'disabled tracking' would be useful, but I remember hitting a couple points in my builds where I could have used a deployable-fixed panel.

[Shadowmage]

General development update:

Lots of config work this week.  Lots and lots of it. 

• Have split off the DOS, COS, HAB parts that were created through patches into their own config files.  Creates a bit more overhead, but makes it quite a bit easier to differentiate things on a per-part basis.
• Lots of cleanup on the stats/balance/resources on DOS, COS parts.  HAB are still a bit undecided (mass, resources, crew #, etc), but should have something in place for the next release.  Mass and resource volumes for the DOS and COS parts should be at their initial balance point though.  Cost and tech-tree placement are still WIP, mostly pending some research time (cost) and feedback (tech-placement).
• Reworked the preliminary USI-LS patch for DOS parts, created one for COS parts, and have started on the setup for the HAB parts.  Very much WIP, but I've got a spreadsheet setup for easy and accurate balance calculations, so shouldn't be too hard to tune them to where they need to be.
• Centrifuge parts are being split off from the HAB series, into their own series (ST-CFG).  This is a WIP, and will still be for the next release.  As the models for them are finished up they will be moved/renamed to their final setup.
• Added inverted-adapter support to lots more parts, still a bit WIP/ongoing as I'm sure I've missed a few spots that could use them.
• Removed the 'prototype' tags from many of the not-so-prototype parts (DOS, COS, HAB, DSP, MST).  Balance on them is not yet final, but they shouldn't be receiving any more game/craft breaking changes (that I'm aware of... always room for surprises).
• Merged in quite a few PR's from Jimbodiah for various fixes and updates to match stock behavior and expectations for several parts (comms/transmitter/categories).  Thanks for the help!

Sadly no pics/etc as it is some very boring work.  Was hoping to do a mid-week pack and release of this stuff, but the work continues.  Apparently quite a bit of this stuff was in bad shape and in need of cleanup.  Next release should be much more usable as far as balance goes.

[mechanicH]

http://imgur.com/a/A6w0P

 

OK one last one,    creative juices are flowing, and i need to share it with you wonderful people.   

[blowfish]

1 hour ago, mechanicH said:

http://imgur.com/a/A6w0P

 

OK one last one,    creative juices are flowing, and i need to share it with you wonderful people.   

Nice!  Can I ask why a space station needs 3 booster engines though?

[mechanicH]

1 minute ago, blowfish said:

Nice!  Can I ask why a space station needs 3 booster engines though?

TWR..... dam thing was so heavy and difficult to maneuver. I needed some extra power just to make simple orbital maneuvers. Obviously i didnt set them up for max power output, they are a bit DE-rated (4000 Knt per engine would rip the whole thing apart). But now that i think about it , i should have used something else, those things are meant as a lifter stage. It was one of those (SURE WHY NOT) moments  

[Jimbodiah]

You need moar radiators!

[mechanicH]

1 minute ago, Jimbodiah said:

You need moar radiators!

Im just gonna go with the best response here "JEB MADE ME DO IT"

 

[RedParadize]

I wish we would need radiator for almost everything. As in real life.

[mechanicH]

i

ITS ALL MINE.....MINE I TELL YOU!!!!!

[Jimbodiah]

You could patch in a module to create a little heat in habs etc.

I've patched radiators to consume Coolant so I have something to do with my station by needing to resupply it. Checking on the possibility for science labs to consume ResesrchKits for the same reason and some balance (even at 1x science rate it is still too easy).

[tater]

Life support adds a son to resupply. I suppose LS should really generate some heat, too, actually. EC use should generate heat as well, really. Perhaps zero bailiff tanks could generate heat (they're just heat pumps, really). 

Is there a mod that addresses heat in general right now?

[Jimbodiah]

You mean generating heat or removing it?

[tater]

29 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

You mean generating heat or removing it?

We have various radiator parts, I was thinking that adds it... like the fact that any crew compartment needs to be a healthy temp, and that kerbals should make heat, too. As should their electronics. And solar loading, etc.

Right now what requires radiators? ISRU and maybe big NERVAs?

[Jimbodiah]

Reactors (USI or NF), drills, but yeah, hardly anything.

[Shadowmage]

Well, I built these little bits today (x-short COS module, airlock adapter):

Sadly, having airlocks-on-adapters does not seem to work out-of-the-box.  Investigating hacks/workarounds, but it is NRE'ing deep in the stock code, and I have no idea what is null, or really anything about the code.  Going to try digging into it, but unsure if I'll be able to solve it or not.  So airlocks on adapters = a big maybe.

What happens is as you EVA from the hatch, an initial NRE occurs as soon as the Kerbal appears.  The kerbal is uncontrollable and the log is continually spammed with errors.  FlightEVA.onGoForEVA() is where the error is occuring, but as that method doesn't even have any input parameters I have exactly zero information on what the problem is or could be.

If I had to guess (and apparently I do...) I would wager that there is some cached field somewhere for the airlock transform that isn't getting updated/set properly when the part initializes.  Going to do a bit of poking and investigation, possible API scraping, hoping to find a field that looks airlock related.

 

The X-Short COS module will still be available (even if airlock adapters don't work out), however will only be available in the HAB variant, and only has capacity for a single crew member (subject to balance changes).

 

[tater]

What's the point of an extra small COS module from a gameplay POV? Given the use of the same textures, etc, could you throw a hatch on it, and treat it as an airlock part? Then we get the nice looking part that also has a hatch (the awesome parts means that my stations are getting bigger, not smaller, anyway  .