[WIP][1.3.1] North Kerbin Dynamics - Nuclear Bombs and Heavy Ordnance Pack (and other things) v0.84b

[Thatdude253]

That would be a good idea, but the only problem is while the projectile goes through the atmosphere The Kraken will come and destroy EVERY vehicle near it.

Yeah, this is pretty much it

[harpwner]

That would be a good idea, but the only problem is while the projectile goes through the atmosphere The Kraken will come and destroy EVERY vehicle near it.

well, Technically Speaking

everything would be fine if I did one of two things:

one: warned you to never be switched to it when it launches

two: give it a 0 physics significance (basically it'd be physics-less... I think that solves the krakensbane thing but maybe isn't too good with payload realism)

[harpwner]

0.6 is still in a bit of a limbo phase, don't know where RGBPeter went... worst comes to worst I will have to texture the new stuff myself as placeholder

on a sidenote, most of the stuff is ready to go, just a few bugs to fix and... well still have 6-8 new parts to make depending on my own will to do them.... Just hang in there!

[Angstinator]

I would like to inquire whether the feasibility of the Casaba howitzer, an anti-spacecraft weapon carrying low-yield nuclear shaped charges, has already been discussed - a quick search suggests otherwise, but I cannot currently free up the time to read through all fifty-six pages of this thread.

[harpwner]

I would like to inquire whether the feasibility of the Casaba howitzer, an anti-spacecraft weapon carrying low-yield nuclear shaped charges, has already been discussed - a quick search suggests otherwise, but I cannot currently free up the time to read through all fifty-six pages of this thread.

It is feasible, very much so in fact... however the limitations come in different forms.

First off, there appears to be no real design for the howitzer itself, which does mean I can make it however I want... but I usually like an outline (still, I can do that)

Secondly though, I'm currently thinking through how I can handle this... A laser weapon may be the best path (since there are 3 gun types)... I'll have to take a good hard thought on functionality before I really make the decision

[Angstinator]

From what I seem to be able to tell, the primary unique feature is its mode of operation: apparently, it launches the charge to a predetermined safe distance from the vessel - through a small explosive, a rocket motor, or compressed gas - and then detonates. I do not know if this can be replicated in any way, although I do hope so - I would like to be able to bring anti-spaceship weapons to bear that are heavier than the stock HE-KV missile, and hopefully not as much of a pain to target as a railgun or Genie (which also suffers from a dreadfully short range, relatively speaking.)

The visual design will most likely reflect the mode of propulsion, that is, a relatively ordinary turreted gun for chemical and gas, while rocket suggests that the howitzer itself is actually a launch tube and each shell needs to be added separately as with missiles already included in the mod (which would make targetting interesting; I cannot tell whether the HE-KV targetting system can be modified to allow a shell to detonate if and only if facing the target directly.)

At its most simple, the appearance of such a weapon would be a tube with a hole in one end and a lack of hole at the other.

[ckirky]

sorry to sound like a noob but i can hardly get any weapons to hit the target. how to target with scud?

[harpwner]

From what I seem to be able to tell, the primary unique feature is its mode of operation: apparently, it launches the charge to a predetermined safe distance from the vessel - through a small explosive, a rocket motor, or compressed gas - and then detonates. I do not know if this can be replicated in any way, although I do hope so - I would like to be able to bring anti-spaceship weapons to bear that are heavier than the stock HE-KV missile, and hopefully not as much of a pain to target as a railgun or Genie (which also suffers from a dreadfully short range, relatively speaking.)

The visual design will most likely reflect the mode of propulsion, that is, a relatively ordinary turreted gun for chemical and gas, while rocket suggests that the howitzer itself is actually a launch tube and each shell needs to be added separately as with missiles already included in the mod (which would make targetting interesting; I cannot tell whether the HE-KV targetting system can be modified to allow a shell to detonate if and only if facing the target directly.)

At its most simple, the appearance of such a weapon would be a tube with a hole in one end and a lack of hole at the other.

The issue lies within what you just suggested, having something launch first and then explode is impossible without removing the turret component... then it hits the only theoretical area, may as well let it be a single shot blast kind of deal.

By the way, the ranges are NOT short, it's BD's fault! well, not entirely... if you go into the settings config in BD's folder then there's actually a max shot distance setting, which limits how far bullets can travel in general. Make it like 80,000 and you'll find my weapons have range! The setting is unnecessary too, because they are config limited anyway, so are the stock BD weapons.

sorry to sound like a noob but i can hardly get any weapons to hit the target. how to target with scud?

It's GPS targeted

[Angstinator]

Well, the Genie's short range is more because of its tendency to explode after a set range (about five kilometers of space travel, tested at orbit of 100 km, launched prograde), whereas the HE-KV packs a tracking system and much longer range.

As far as the one-shot idea is concerned, well, you are dealing with a shaped nuclear charge here that seems likely to utterly obliterate even the most sprawling of orbital stations; limiting it serves balance rather well.

Remains the problem of targetting unless it is thought of as missile, of course - I cannot seem to bring any fixed weaponry on target in space, but that may just be me.

(Space weaponry discussion is amazing. I must page Bahamuto and ask him if he would be willing to include RCS guidance to his missile module, or else add a heavier, longer-range orbital weapon, possibly with a new long-range space locking radar or lidar component.)

On a completely different subject, I assume you are aware that the Paveway IV appears to reject its advertised GPS guidance system in favour of a laser lock?

Edited November 13, 2015 by Angstinator

[harpwner]

Well, the Genie's short range is more because of its tendency to explode after a set range (about five kilometers of space travel, tested at orbit of 100 km, launched prograde), whereas the HE-KV packs a tracking system and much longer range.

As far as the one-shot idea is concerned, well, you are dealing with a shaped nuclear charge here that seems likely to utterly obliterate even the most sprawling of orbital stations; limiting it serves balance rather well.

Remains the problem of targetting unless it is thought of as missile, of course - I cannot seem to bring any fixed weaponry on target in space, but that may just be me.

(Space weaponry discussion is amazing. I must page Bahamuto and ask him if he would be willing to include RCS guidance to his missile module, or else add a heavier, longer-range orbital weapon, possibly with a new long-range space locking radar or lidar component.)

On a completely different subject, I assume you are aware that the Paveway IV appears to reject its advertised GPS guidance system in favour of a laser lock?

I thought I fixed the description O_o

it is supposed to be a laser guided bomb, it was originally GPS until someone told me that wasn't accurate.

[Angstinator]

Well, the bomb seems to be dual-mode in real life, allowing the pilot to select the guidance type depending on precision required.

[harpwner]

Well, the bomb seems to be dual-mode in real life, allowing the pilot to select the guidance type depending on precision required.

impossibru

sorry lol, but yeah I can't do that

[Angstinator]

I know.

What I'm saying is, it's really your choice what you want it to be.

(Although, laser-guided bombs are one thing that BDA is sorely lacking.)

Again, complete change of topic: Is an alternate firing sound of the railgun possible, given that we now know what they are supposed to sound like?

Furthermore, is it possible and/or feasible to remove the mod's parts from the utility category and give them their own? They tend to be rather hard to pick out among IR and the Maritime Pack. Yes, I know this is my own damn fault.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Angstinator

[harpwner]

I know.

What I'm saying is, it's really your choice what you want it to be.

(Although, laser-guided bombs are one thing that BDA is sorely lacking.)

Again, complete change of topic: Is an alternate firing sound of the railgun possible, given that we now know what they are supposed to sound like?

Furthermore, is it possible and/or feasible to remove the mod's parts from the utility category and give them their own? They tend to be rather hard to pick out among IR and the Maritime Pack. Yes, I know this is my own damn fault.

wait... they should be in the BD category ( I can't really remove from utility )

Also, as for the alternate sounds... well, I can do that though I don't really do sound design and such... so I'd have to use an existing one that doesn't sound like crap

which means I can't use the ones from the actual railgun test videos.

[Angstinator]

Curious that you can't, at least for vanilla BDA BDArmory Sorting managed that.

As for sound design, happy hunting, though I should assume that this particular electric droning is a rare find.

[harpwner]

Curious that you can't, at least for vanilla BDA BDArmory Sorting managed that.

As for sound design, happy hunting, though I should assume that this particular electric droning is a rare find.

The problem with categories is they are hard coded into the game... I'd have to make a plugin (which I've not really ventured into fully yet)

[Angstinator]

Ah, I see.

Best of luck with that venture, then.

[Acea]

Can't wait to see all those new parts:D

PS. I'm now maintaining C.A.L while LORDPrometheus is away, and you can find the new thread here

[Thatdude253]

Are we going to see the Exocet in this next update? And if so, GPS guided?

[NuclearNut]

It is feasible, very much so in fact... however the limitations come in different forms.

First off, there appears to be no real design for the howitzer itself, which does mean I can make it however I want... but I usually like an outline (still, I can do that)

Secondly though, I'm currently thinking through how I can handle this... A laser weapon may be the best path (since there are 3 gun types)... I'll have to take a good hard thought on functionality before I really make the decision

Well the design was a nuclear warhead on a maneuvering vehicle that would get within range of the target and then detonate. The advantage to a Cabasa Howitzer (CH for the rest of this post) is that it can direct the energy of a nuclear blast very well. So rather than having your 10 Kt bomb be wasted on irradiating it's energy every which way in space, you can focus most of that energy on a target, potentially a target far out of the range of a more conventional nuclear bomb. This would allow you to completely bypass most CIWS and AMM systems while still being absolutely devastating.

The warheads could, in theory, be used in two distinct roles, shooting enemy ships and bases on the ground, or shooting enemy ships and bases in space. The ground based one would probably be a cruise missile or an artillery gun with guided shells. The bomb would detonate when it reaches a point where the jet of hydrogen plasma will connect with the target, thereby bypassing any short range anti missle systems. In the case of the anti-space weapon, you can use your imagination, but you would probably have a bare bones NTR or hypergolic propulsion system with a nuke attached to the front.

So in other words, it would either look like a regular missile but with a narrow blast cone of a few degrees and extending a few miles, or something like the weapons described here.

I hope you found this helpful, and I hope you add one... for science of course.

Edited November 14, 2015 by NuclearNut

[Kagame]

Found a bug whenever I'm using the ATAMCS: My framerate drops about a gazillion percent and I keep getting spam of "Error: The hull has more than 255 polygons. Invalid." in my debug log.

[Angstinator]

The ATACMS seems to dislike me for an entirely different reason, which I suspect may be 1.0.5-related due to similar failures observed with various other guidance systems, from vanilla BDA to MechJeb: when launched (upwards), its guidance forces it to wobble rather aggressively and firmly ram itself into the ground after approximately one kilometer.

[harpwner]

Are we going to see the Exocet in this next update? And if so, GPS guided?

Exocet is coming in the next update. The actual exocet uses an active radar guidance (which BDA doesn't have, on top of lack of ground radar) so I am giving it anti-radiation instead.

Found a bug whenever I'm using the ATAMCS: My framerate drops about a gazillion percent and I keep getting spam of "Error: The hull has more than 255 polygons. Invalid." in my debug log.

whoa, that's a new one... ATACMS seems to have a history of being problematic, I'll see what I can reproduce.

The ATACMS seems to dislike me for an entirely different reason, which I suspect may be 1.0.5-related due to similar failures observed with various other guidance systems, from vanilla BDA to MechJeb: when launched (upwards), its guidance forces it to wobble rather aggressively and firmly ram itself into the ground after approximately one kilometer.

The ATACMS just seems to be all wrong, I'm gonna spend some times in configs in between modelling and see what I can fix

no promises though, the MGM-140 along with it's cap just seem to be the worst parts here, I may have to temporarily remove them if worst comes to worst

[Angstinator]

Well, I've been giving space-based weaponry some more thought, and here's one.

If project Casaba-Howitzer doesn't work out, what says you strap an RCS tank and guidance system to a 20 kiloton nuclear bomb?

It would be too heavy to carry a propulsion module, unlike the HE-KV, so it would have to be brought on an intercept trajectory by its delivery vehicle, and steer from there - preferrably over longer distances than the HE-KV.

This would also make deployment slightly challenging - lock onto a target (I believe the HE-KV, as of now, only accepts a target selected via legacy targetting), drop it, then turn normal or retrograde and burn like hell to get some distance on the intercept - on the dangerous assumption that the delivering vessel is not a "return optional" type of vehicle.

The prime advantage I see, however, is its ability to accurately hit ground targets on atmosphereless rocks, such as Mun bases.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Angstinator

[harpwner]

I must apologize everyone
but... Battlefront dropped
so... when I get home today I'm going to be playing that for hours
plus, the texturing wizard is not back yet... So 0.6 may be split into multiple updates if it continues like this