Fair-Game

[PB666]

So after playing hard mode for awhile I have come to the following realization.

KSP for the most part has a pretty good parts selection. And a hefty number of adapters.

I added parts I made to my latest install and parts I desperately thought I needed.

1. Size1 to 1/2 transition fuel tank, very useful

2. Size2 to 3 Aerodynamic tanks, 3 different sizes.

3. Satellite core with a better reaction wheels and built in battery and solar panels.

4. Long size2 tank that transitioned to size1

I modded these

1. Poodle to size1, and increased ISP to 470 (Centaur FL10-B-X), Atm curve adjusted accordingly, reduced thrust in accordance to size.

2. Basic rover wheel, reduced size and moved to early game.

These are some of the things I think are fair game but haven't made yet:

1. Satellite core described above, but with MechJeb built in. (one reason I haven't done this yet is I frequently use to controllers, one pointing up and the other pointing down in the final stage because of design limitations)

2. The current thermonuclear engine has a rather feeble ISP, its hardly worth swapping a ISP 470 for the nuke. Need a bigger engine with ISP above 1000.

3. The ION drive is feeble.

4. Needs a better solar extensions, seriously the current solar panels are nothing but frame-rate theives, better to mod a small panel, increase its mass and output than use those kraken fodder. Im thinking here a solid plate on top of a truss much like the MGS.

OK so here are my ideas:

VASMIR like ion drive basically a tank, two circum-axial RF generators, the acceleration unit and a nozzle, 8000 ISP. Since Xenon is expensive and Argon is actually used I was thinking about using LF as Propellant.

Centaur like 3 engine upper stage tank-engine combo with a payload mounting system (including the fairing).

Centaur like 9 engine upper stage combo for size2 loads.

Science core- A science facility built to be operated by the pilot. It would be a cockpit and science lab in one. complete with a basic set of solar panels, reaction wheels. Designed to be coupled to VASMIR. The core would run for 6 months but would need to be resupplies every 6 months with whatever to keep running. All data transmissible to earth.

Single component telescope - Not a pitch together something, but a Hubble variant.

Ungrade telescope variants. What ever you want, high frequency, low frequency, polarization, cosmic radiation, exotic particle, dark matter interacter (lol).

Telescope Packager. This would be a mounting platform for serviceable telescopes, complete with parallel facing docking ports of various sizes to mount experiments such as Gamma-ray observatory or Cosmic ray detector.

Asteroid Intercept tool. The current tool is basically a free flux device. This device would intercept an asteroid and attach itself by drilling a hole to its center of gravity and then orient the asteroid to its center of gravity down the central axis of the tool.

Lander Science Core. The problem with the current mobile processing lab is that it is passive science unit. We need a lander unit that is capable of drilling and processing samples and only once the samples are processed then are the processes samples and data returned to earth. This unit could be manned or unmanned. There could be a layers function, for instant drilling for 1 minute yields 1 layer, 1 hour 2 layers, 1 day 3 layers, 1 week 4 layers, 1 month 5 layers, Each layer adds the same amount of science as 1 surface sample.

offkerbal telescope core. This seems to give the mun a purpose to stay, a core telescope part that can be appended to build more and more massive scopes capable of a small amount of rotation but very much higher degree of resolution than a space telescope.

Not on my fair game list-

Resonance drive - not proven

Warp drive - not possible

Solar sails - speculative.

Fusion reactors - too preliminary

Lithium-chlorine-hydrogen tri-fuel engines or any engine that produces more than 500 ISP.

In space fuel extractor - nope.

EM drive - not efficient enough.

Im trying to come up with ideas of parts to make.

What do you think that the game is missing in terms of space parts.

[Thomassino]

I think what we need is MK3 plane cockpit (heavy lifter subsonic planes and replicas with space shuttle cockpit? Nah) and MK3 hypersonic cockpit for spaceplanes...

[PB666]

I think what we need is MK3 plane cockpit (heavy lifter subsonic planes and replicas with space shuttle cockpit? Nah) and MK3 hypersonic cockpit for spaceplanes...

Like a C5a cockpit? Are there any RL examples of a MK3 supersonic cockpit. Wouldn't the Concorde fall into the size2 catagory.

[KerikBalm]

1. Size1 to 1/2 transition fuel tank, very useful

2. Size2 to 3 Aerodynamic tanks, 3 different sizes.

I don't know about 3 sizes, but I often mod the adaptors to carry fuel, so that they are tanks with a 9:1 mass ratio like the rest of the tanks

1. Poodle to size1, and increased ISP to 470 (Centaur FL10-B-X), Atm curve adjusted accordingly, reduced thrust in accordance to size.

Overpowered, unless you then mod Kerbin to require >8,000 m/s to get to orbit, and the Burn to Jool to take 3x more dV than it does.

Btw, I couldn't find any source for a LOX engine getting much better than 450 Isp.

1. Satellite core described above, but with MechJeb built in. (one reason I haven't done this yet is I frequently use to controllers, one pointing up and the other pointing down in the final stage because of design limitations)

No, no part needs Mech Jeb, I don't agree with you at all that this is desperately needed.

2. The current thermonuclear engine has a rather feeble ISP, its hardly worth swapping a ISP 470 for the nuke. Need a bigger engine with ISP above 1000.

Much like the 470 Isp thing... No. 800 Isp is about the limit for Isp on a solid state LV-N. Its already OP, as the dV requirements in the kerbin system are about 1/3 that of the real life system... (somewhat offset by parts being unrealistically heavy) Why don't you ask for tanks with >20:1 mass fracton?

We don't need and shouldn't have a 470 Isp LFO engine, and even if we did, it would often still be better to go with the 800 Isp engine.

What the LV-N needs, is more thrust, not more Isp.

3. The ION drive is feeble.

Working as intended? it already has something like 10,000x the thrust it realistically should have.

4. Needs a better solar extensions, seriously the current solar panels are nothing but frame-rate theives, better to mod a small panel, increase its mass and output than use those kraken fodder.

I've never noticed solar panels being kraken fodder.

Not needed.

Since Xenon is expensive and Argon is actually used

Xenon is *really* expensive in this game. I would like other options such as the much less expensive Krypton, and the dirt cheap Argon.

I'd also like a vasmir type engine for larger size "ion" craft.

What we need are more (bigger) sizes of electric propulsion.

I also wouldn't mind a nuclear reactor for lots of power output.... instead of spamming RTGs (would also weigh much less than spammed RTGs, due to a higher ratio of power output/mass)

The rest... I don't want.

[Warzouz]

I'd like to have size 2 to 3 flat adapters for space stations. This big aerodynamic adapters are too big. But a "fuelled" version of those adapter could be nice for more compact size 3 launchers.

[Hagen von Tronje]

You'll be happy to find that Near Future already offers VASIMR engines that run on either/both argon and hydrogen (and LOTS of electricity), and are well balanced to be a lot of fun to use either with fission reactors or with capacitors also from NF (or whatever else you can think of for that much EC). They also sport even higher ISP than you asked for plus variable thrust settings with the obvious caveat that you must find a way to power those hungry engines!

As a rule of gameplay balance (if not realism), high ISP engines really should have some tradeoff, either difficult secondary requirements like tons of EC or heat management, very low thrust, or whatever. I personally am not interested in magically powerful engines, as this presents no design challenge to overcome, though to each their own enjoyment!

[Guest]

1. Poodle to size1, and increased ISP to 470 (Centaur FL10-B-X), Atm curve adjusted accordingly, reduced thrust in accordance to size.

This is totally overkill/OP for the toy solar system, the Poodle already has excellent isp and thrust for what it does. What makes KSP's nuclear engine work is that it has lower isp than the NERVA and is way too heavy for its thrust. That's what makes things work in the toy solar system, they're far too heavy and everything has isps and storable properties that fit an Aerozine 50/dinitrogen tetroxide fuel model (what the fuel's thermal properties are based on since KSP doesn't use a sensible volume measurement like the liter).

2. The current thermonuclear engine has a rather feeble ISP, its hardly worth swapping a ISP 470 for the nuke. Need a bigger engine with ISP above 1000.

The current nuclear engine is perfectly fine for the toy solar system and does the job well. it's not an end-game engine, it's another choice.

What do you think that the game is missing in terms of space parts.

Liquid fuel tanks that aren't obviously spaceplane parts and/or a fuel load switcher. Other than that, space systems are pretty good for stock, IMO.

Well, the two-Kerbal can needs a new model, preferably like the one from HGR, that one owns.

[CalculusWarrior]

Liquid fuel tanks that aren't obviously spaceplane parts and/or a fuel load switcher. Other than that, space systems are pretty good for stock, IMO.

I agree with this, a stock fuel system switcher a la Porkjet's mod would be stellar; I always feel bad leaving half the tank unused when building nuclear engine-powered rockets.