[1.0.4] Arkas 0.2.1 - A Thick Atmosphere on a Desert World - 17 Unique Biomes - Cloud Support Added!

[CoriW]

Merciful Kod, this looks great! It looks so good that I'll probably make a youtube video of it.

Though, how about the clouds? Does this mod have E.V.E support?

This mod currently does not have clouds / E.V.E support, though it is planned.

[The White Guardian]

This mod currently does not have clouds / E.V.E support, though it is planned.

Is it alright if I make a few cloud maps and an E.V.E config in the meantime?

[Voculus]

This planet is too cool! I have to admit, I edited the CFG file to give it a breathable atmosphere, so I can tear across the dunes in jets. My only suggestion is that the sky should be a bit brighter. It's dark, like Duna's, and doesn't make you think of it being hot. Otherwise, it's great! Time for some aerial and wheeled exploration!

[Eskandare]

This planet is too cool! I have to admit, I edited the CFG file to give it a breathable atmosphere, so I can tear across the dunes in jets. My only suggestion is that the sky should be a bit brighter. It's dark, like Duna's, and doesn't make you think of it being hot. Otherwise, it's great! Time for some aerial and wheeled exploration!

Actually I made a mod for for the use of Thermal Nuclear aircraft engines like those developed in the '50s. The MASAMUNE is the turbine/ramjet and nuclear rocket hybrid.

[CoriW]

Is it alright if I make a few cloud maps and an E.V.E config in the meantime?

Absolutely, that would be fantastic. If you do a good job maybe I could include your clouds in the OP as a separate download? (Crediting you for them of course)

This planet is too cool! I have to admit, I edited the CFG file to give it a breathable atmosphere, so I can tear across the dunes in jets. My only suggestion is that the sky should be a bit brighter. It's dark, like Duna's, and doesn't make you think of it being hot. Otherwise, it's great! Time for some aerial and wheeled exploration!

I actually do agree quite a bit with the sky being too dark, I'm definitely going to look into making it a little bit brighter.

[123nick]

is this compatible with OPM, trans-keptunian and new horizons combined?

[FungusForge]

I haven't even visited this planet yet, but just looking at it in the map view is amazing. It looks like I'm actually looking at some alien world. However it has made the stock worlds seem like giant, boring marbles in comparison.

[CoriW]

is this compatible with OPM, trans-keptunian and new horizons combined?

Alright so I installed all 3 Mods mentioned onto my testing install. Everything loads up fine and no orbits even come close to overlapping with Arkas' orbit, so based on that I can say that it should be compatible with those mods.

I haven't even visited this planet yet, but just looking at it in the map view is amazing. It looks like I'm actually looking at some alien world. However it has made the stock worlds seem like giant, boring marbles in comparison.

Happy to see that you like it. On the note of the stock worlds seeming like giant, boring marbles, I think that most planet packs have that general side effect.

[More Boosters]

Would you consider changing the atmosphere to an oxygen one?

[CoriW]

Would you consider changing the atmosphere to an oxygen one?

If I had some sort of scientific reason why there would be oxygen in Arkas' atmosphere, then yes. But I've yet to figure out what would cause an extremely hot desert planet with no visible signs of any sort of life or water to have any useful concentration of oxygen in it's atmosphere.

[123nick]

Alright so I installed all 3 Mods mentioned onto my testing install. Everything loads up fine and no orbits even come close to overlapping with Arkas' orbit, so based on that I can say that it should be compatible with those mods.

Happy to see that you like it. On the note of the stock worlds seeming like giant, boring marbles, I think that most planet packs have that general side effect.

thanks for testing it.

[The White Guardian]

If I had some sort of scientific reason why there would be oxygen in Arkas' atmosphere, then yes. But I've yet to figure out what would cause an extremely hot desert planet with no visible signs of any sort of life or water to have any useful concentration of oxygen in it's atmosphere.

Oxygen does not have to be useful for something or someone to be present in an atmosphere. If a planet formed in an area where oxygen is present, the eventual atmopshere will probably contain oxygen.

There is another way for oxygen to form inside an atmopshere: electrify water, and it'll split into Hydrogen gas and Oxygen gas. A heavy thunderstorm on Arkas could easily free some oxygen. Next: how could there possibly be water on Arkas? Simple: water isn't, but water-vapor is. And if watervapor wasn't on Arkas when it formed, after billions of years at least one comet would've hit Arkas. It doesn't matter if the comet reached the surface, what matters is that comets are usually full of water.

Still, all of this does not mean that oxygen must be present in Arkas' atmosphere. Look at what happened to planet Venus: evidence suggests that Venus used to have oceans of water, but the incresing heat due to the greenhouse effect caused the oceans to evaporate. Nowadays there is no water present on Venus, neither on the surface nor in the atmosphere.

Why the water vapor disappeared? That requires some basic knowledge of atoms. You see, the hotter an object is, the faster the atoms it's made of move. The higher the temparature, the faster atoms move. In the center of the Sun, of example, it's so hot that the atoms slam into eachother, and on Venus it got so hot that the watermolecules moved too fast: Venus' gravity couldn't stop them, so the water disappeared into space.

So, in the end, it depends on Arkas' gravity and temparature, and how many comets there are in the Kerbol system. No, that Squad didn't add a comet so far doesn't mean there are no comets in that system, most systems out there have at least ten comets. Systems with no comets at all are extremely rare. In case you're wondering: our solar system has billions of comets.

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Absolutely, that would be fantastic. If you do a good job maybe I could include your clouds in the OP as a separate download? (Crediting you for them of course)

It's fine with me if they are included in the OP. It's made for your mod, after all.

[CoriW]

Oxygen does not have to be useful for something or someone to be present in an atmosphere. If a planet formed in an area where oxygen is present, the eventual atmopshere will probably contain oxygen.

There is another way for oxygen to form inside an atmopshere: electrify water, and it'll split into Hydrogen gas and Oxygen gas. A heavy thunderstorm on Arkas could easily free some oxygen. Next: how could there possibly be water on Arkas? Simple: water isn't, but water-vapor is. And if watervapor wasn't on Arkas when it formed, after billions of years at least one comet would've hit Arkas. It doesn't matter if the comet reached the surface, what matters is that comets are usually full of water.

Still, all of this does not mean that oxygen must be present in Arkas' atmosphere. Look at what happened to planet Venus: evidence suggests that Venus used to have oceans of water, but the incresing heat due to the greenhouse effect caused the oceans to evaporate. Nowadays there is no water present on Venus, neither on the surface nor in the atmosphere.

Why the water vapor disappeared? That requires some basic knowledge of atoms. You see, the hotter an object is, the faster the atoms it's made of move. The higher the temparature, the faster atoms move. In the center of the Sun, of example, it's so hot that the atoms slam into eachother, and on Venus it got so hot that the watermolecules moved too fast: Venus' gravity couldn't stop them, so the water disappeared into space.

So, in the end, it depends on Arkas' gravity and temparature, and how many comets there are in the Kerbol system. No, that Squad didn't add a comet so far doesn't mean there are no comets in that system, most systems out there have at least ten comets. Systems with no comets at all are extremely rare. In case you're wondering: our solar system has billions of comets.

Hmm, interesting... Though I would imagine that with the low gravity (0.708g ASL) and high temperature (450 Kelvin ASL) any water vapor in the Atmosphere would be long gone... I would like to turn on oxygen, but I still can't see it being possible for Arkas atmosphere to have enough oxygen in it for a jet engine to function properly. Maybe it would have a small concentration -- but surely nowhere near enough for a jet engine.

[nalfz]

Oxygen does not have to be useful for something or someone to be present in an atmosphere. If a planet formed in an area where oxygen is present, the eventual atmopshere will probably contain oxygen.

That the atmosphere will contain some oxygen is a reasonable assumption, but that it will contain enough oxygen to sustain a combustion reaction isn't quite so certain

Mars, for example, contains an extraordinary amount of oxygen (by mass, I think it might be the most abundant element in the crust, like earth, but don't quote me on that), but the problem is that oxygen is far too happy to bond to things to stay free in the atmosphere without a constant, large scale process liberating it from other atoms, like photosynthesis on earth or the radiolysis of water by jupiter in the case of europa

Here's the composition of martian soil just to look at how much oxygen is tied up in the crust

[The White Guardian]

That the atmosphere will contain some oxygen is a reasonable assumption, but that it will contain enough oxygen to sustain a combustion reaction isn't quite so certain

Mars, for example, contains an extraordinary amount of oxygen (by mass, I think it might be the most abundant element in the crust, like earth, but don't quote me on that), but the problem is that oxygen is far too happy to bond to things to stay free in the atmosphere without a constant, large scale process liberating it from other atoms, like photosynthesis on earth or the radiolysis of water by jupiter in the case of europa

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/PIA16572-MarsCuriosityRover-RoverSoils-20121203.jpg

Here's the composition of martian soil just to look at how much oxygen is tied up in the crust

I know, Martian soil consists primarily of metals combined with oxygen. Also, I did not say that the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere would be enough for jet engines, I only said that it would be possible for oxygen to be present in the atmosphere.

[The White Guardian]

I think I got something for you!

http://imgur.com/VOLjBEh

(Yeah, a link. I have quite a lot of trouble with embedding Imgur images, sorry)

I had an unused texture of orange clouds lying around, so I decided to write a simple config and give it a go. This is the result.

Note: the aurora's and atmospheric glow are from Astronomer's Visual Pack: Edge of Oblivion and the thunderstorms are from Astronomer's Visual Pack: Interstellar V2.

Edited September 21, 2015 by The White Guardian
Got rid of a typo

[FungusForge]

I want those clouds. I really want those clouds.

I want to know if you added dust storms, though. Arkas seems like a dust storm kinda world.

[nalfz]

I know, Martian soil consists primarily of metals combined with oxygen. Also, I did not say that the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere would be enough for jet engines, I only said that it would be possible for oxygen to be present in the atmosphere.

Uhh

Okay then. You do realise the only purpose of the oxygen in the config file of a planet is whether or not jet engines can be used, right?

[The White Guardian]

Uhh

Okay then. You do realise the only purpose of the oxygen in the config file of a planet is whether or not jet engines can be used, right?

Yes. I merely gave a scientific reason why there could be oxygen in the atmosphere, though I did not say that there has to be enough oxygen per cubic meter for jet engines. I'll let the developer decide the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere: no oxygen, not enough oxygen, or enough.

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I want those clouds. I really want those clouds.

I want to know if you added dust storms, though. Arkas seems like a dust storm kinda world.

I agree with you, Arkas seems like a planet where dust storms would be common. I haven't added them yet. I'm currently studying Astronomer's Visual Pack: Edge of Oblivion, because that pack includes dust storms for Duna. Once I know at what altitude I have to put the clouds, I'll add sandstorms.

I'm also working on some extra cloud maps to create layering, and an optional cloud map that fully hides the surface from view to make Arkas a better Venus analog than Eve ever was. I'll soon take a few screenshots from the surface.

[FungusForge]

Yes. I merely gave a scientific reason why there could be oxygen in the atmosphere, though I did not say that there has to be enough oxygen per cubic meter for jet engines. I'll let the developer decide the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere: no oxygen, not enough oxygen, or enough.

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I agree with you, Arkas seems like a planet where dust storms would be common. I haven't added them yet. I'm currently studying Astronomer's Visual Pack: Edge of Oblivion, because that pack includes dust storms for Duna. Once I know at what altitude I have to put the clouds, I'll add sandstorms.

I'm also working on some extra cloud maps to create layering, and an optional cloud map that fully hides the surface from view to make Arkas a better Venus analog than Eve ever was. I'll soon take a few screenshots from the surface.

AFAIK in KSP oxygen is either on or off. So, if Arkas did actually have oxygen, but not enough for jets, then CoriW the Magrathean would have to set oxygen to false. However he could mention the minor presence of oxygen in science dialogs.

I've dorked around with sandstorms before, from what I've seen of AVP and Joe's pack is that you want them ~1200-2500m. However as I type this I am delivering a scansat to Arkas to get estimates of altitudes. Will return momentarily.

Edited September 21, 2015 by FungusForge
now redundant edit removal

[The White Guardian]

AFAIK in KSP oxygen is either on or off. So, if Arkas did actually have oxygen, but not enough for jets, then CoriW the Magrathean would have to set oxygen to false. However he could mention the minor presence of oxygen in science dialogs.

I've dorked around with sandstorms before, from what I've seen of AVP and Joe's pack is that you want them ~1200-2500m. However as I type this I am delivering a scansat to Arkas to get estimates of altitudes. Will return momentarily.

Thank you! I can't wait to hear those scansat results, they should give me a good idea of the altitude the storms need to be at.

[FungusForge]

It was a low-res scanner so everything was estimated to the nearest 500m, but I only managed to get a few rogue pixels on the big map to say 500m, so 1200m is definitely a safe floor. The shortest Super Volcano I managed to find registered 3500m, so the dust storms should go no higher than 3000m to be safe.

Personally I kinda want to see that whole space filled with dust storms, so the Super Volcanoes appear almost as islands across a massive swirling sea of dust.

[The White Guardian]

It was a low-res scanner so everything was estimated to the nearest 500m, but I only managed to get a few rogue pixels on the big map to say 500m, so 1200m is definitely a safe floor. The shortest Super Volcano I managed to find registered 3500m, so the dust storms should go no higher than 3000m to be safe.

Personally I kinda want to see that whole space filled with dust storms, so the Super Volcanoes appear almost as islands across a massive swirling sea of dust.

Thank you for those altitudes! It makes it a lot easier to write the script file.

I like the idea of the super volcanoes as islands in a dust sea, but a surface covered in dust storms is somewhat unrealistic. I'm making a few huge storms though, so your idea of super volcanoes rising above a sea of sand might actually come true. I'll also try to keep the storms out of the canyons: imagine driving a rover through a canyon with a thick blanket of sand passing over your head, that must be a pretty incredible sight.

I'll also try to make the storms as dense as possible, though not unrealistically dense. I'll try to make it like in CoriW's video in page 3 of the comments.

[FungusForge]

I'm making a few huge storms though

:​ D

Also happy to be of assistance.

Edited September 21, 2015 by FungusForge
The little kerbal smileys don't get huge.

[The White Guardian]

:​ D

Also happy to be of assistance.

Haha! What an exitement!

Sadly, I'm quite busy at the moment, so I'm afraid dust storms might have to wait 'til the end of the week.

Edited September 21, 2015 by The White Guardian
This stupid computer posted the message twice :{