[1.12.5] Bluedog Design Bureau - Stockalike Saturn, Apollo, and more! (v1.13.0 "Забытый" 13/Aug/2023)

[Rory Yammomoto]

13 hours ago, VenomousRequiem said:

Spoon-base Alpha. Spoon to the moon. Tandem rockets 

why thank you. very eloquent. that is a very subtle and mature observation.

[Wahgineer]

@CobaltWolf, shorter SM's are definitely a priority over 3.75m decouplers.

Edited October 6, 2016 by awsumindyman
Posted on mobile. 'nuff said

[Rory Yammomoto]

3 minutes ago, awsumindyman said:

@CobaltWolf, shorter SM's are definitely a priority over 3.75m decouplers.

seconded. we don't have any other 3.75 parts that need it. I can think of a theoretical 375 cm rocket, but we don't have one yet where we cannot make do with the S-IVB interstage or the stock decoupler..

Edited October 6, 2016 by Rory Yammomoto

[minepagan]

1 minute ago, awsumindyman said:

@CobaltWolf, shorter SM's are definitely a priority over 3.75m decouplers.

Agreed. We can make do with stock.

[CobaltWolf]

So, I thought I'd be able to get the Blok III SM done just mapping it to existing textures, looks like no cigar. I think what I will do is include it in the release like this, and then when I do the mission module (which will require starting a new texture sheet) I'll redo the texture without breaking craft files. Any objections?

Also in the image, @cxg2827's APAS. Probably needs some slight texture tweaks to fully fit BDB but it's pretty close already. You can see now part of my reasoning for making the nose of the Apollo fit together the way it does; the top surface of the parachutes is 0.9375m.

[Wahgineer]

@CobaltWolf, cool. The SM looks pretty good the way it is, and I hope you're still considering the alt-colored Apollo capsule(s) with different crew capacities.

[CobaltWolf]

14 minutes ago, awsumindyman said:

@CobaltWolf, cool. The SM looks pretty good the way it is, and I hope you're still considering the alt-colored Apollo capsule(s) with different crew capacities.

Way ahead of you. Quick first pass, just changed the color of the panels. It will need more than that; since certain things (dark detailing) show up more than they did on the gray, while other things (light detailing) show up less. But just to give y'all an idea. The CM will be a separate part, the alternate textures for the parachute parts will probably just be B9partSwitch. We'll need that anyway if we are using cryogenic fuels for certain engines.

Edited October 6, 2016 by CobaltWolf

[Rory Yammomoto]

29 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Way ahead of you. Quick first pass, just changed the color of the panels. It will need more than that; since certain things (dark detailing) show up more than they did on the gray, while other things (light detailing) show up less. But just to give y'all an idea. The CM will be a separate part, the alternate textures for the parachute parts will probably just be B9partSwitch. We'll need that anyway if we are using cryogenic fuels for certain engines.

I think it needs to be more cream-coloured, like the colour of old PC cases. I like the cream of the Skylab CM in this picture:

(its also my favourite colour)

Edited October 6, 2016 by Rory Yammomoto

[komodo]

With CRP bundled, I don't know if we do actually need b9partswitch. It's not a horrible thing to have in any case. 

I seem to recall the module that handles heat shield charring being extended into a general color/tinting/thing. Assuming I didn't hallucinate this, I wonder if that can be abused here somehow.

Otherwise, I like the look you have there. The donated docking port fits right in!

edit to add: the plan of a temporary texture pending a new sheet sounds great, particularly as you said, it won't break crafts. 

Edited October 6, 2016 by komodo

[CobaltWolf]

2 hours ago, komodo said:

With CRP bundled, I don't know if we do actually need b9partswitch. It's not a horrible thing to have in any case. 

I seem to recall the module that handles heat shield charring being extended into a general color/tinting/thing. Assuming I didn't hallucinate this, I wonder if that can be abused here somehow.

Otherwise, I like the look you have there. The donated docking port fits right in!

edit to add: the plan of a temporary texture pending a new sheet sounds great, particularly as you said, it won't break crafts. 

I'd rather have more than just a couple tanks that can be used for the hydrolox. And there are some other things I'd like to do with it, if we have it anyways.

I don't know anything about that module.

[sp1989]

The module manager you included has a Nian Cat Easter egg. I remember when module manager did that like two years ago. Did you include a very old version of MM or did he put that cat back in? The version you included is 2.7 that seems old lol.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

17 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Was able to crank out some goodies for you guys tonight, including some surprises. More below the break...

This looks super good, and so does apollo. Love that you're doing smaller SPS/SM variants. Both the light and dark CM look fine from here, but I think the service module is a bit dark if you go with the latter. 

4 hours ago, Rory Yammomoto said:

I think it needs to be more cream-coloured

NO. Apollo as flown on lunar missions had a polished aluminum finish, it was silver.  I'd post reference photos but they're everywhere. 

 

Edited October 6, 2016 by Starbuckminsterfullerton

[Rory Yammomoto]

20 minutes ago, sp1989 said:

The module manager you included has a Nian Cat Easter egg. I remember when module manager did that like two years ago. Did you include a very old version of MM or did he put that cat back in? The version you included is 2.7 that seems old lol.

2.7 is the very latest version. the Nyan cat must've been @sarbian's message to stop bugging him about 1.2.

(BUT IT WON'T WORK ON ME! I HAVE AN INDEPENDENTLY RECOMPILED VERSION!)

Edited October 6, 2016 by Rory Yammomoto

[CobaltWolf]

32 minutes ago, Starbuckminsterfullerton said:

This looks super good, and so does apollo. Love that you're doing smaller SPS/SM variants. Both the light and dark CM look fine from here, but I think the service module is a bit dark if you go with the latter. 

NO. Apollo as flown on lunar missions had a polished aluminum finish, it was silver.  I'd post reference photos but they're everywhere.

The Skylab Apollos had a matte white finish, which is what I'm using to differentiate the later 'station' variant of Apollo, which seats 5.

@thread Any ideas on how to balance that? Heavier, obviously, but what else? I can't take out all the mono and batteries. Shame that the stock game doesn't model living space at all.

[Wahgineer]

 @CobaltWolf, maybe remove SAS, or leave it disabled by default. Have @Jso (or whoever writes your plugins) set it up so that the orbital module enables SAS?

[Rory Yammomoto]

5 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

The Skylab Apollos had a matte white finish, which is what I'm using to differentiate the later 'station' variant of Apollo, which seats 5.

@thread Any ideas on how to balance that? Heavier, obviously, but what else? I can't take out all the mono and batteries. Shame that the stock game doesn't model living space at all.

later in the tech tree.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

6 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

The Skylab Apollos had a matte white finish, which is what I'm using to differentiate the later 'station' variant of Apollo, which seats 5.

@thread Any ideas on how to balance that? Heavier, obviously, but what else? I can't take out all the mono and batteries. Shame that the stock game doesn't model living space at all.

Didn't realize you were making more than the one. Still, better to match one of the whites/light greys in the current palette than cream. 

Can you balance it with cost? I think weight/No. of crew is probably most of the balancing you need, additional crew became much more valuable when they split them up into pilot scientist etc.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Starbuckminsterfullerton

[pTrevTrevs]

13 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

The Skylab Apollos had a matte white finish, which is what I'm using to differentiate the later 'station' variant of Apollo, which seats 5.

@thread Any ideas on how to balance that? Heavier, obviously, but what else? I can't take out all the mono and batteries. Shame that the stock game doesn't model living space at all.

I would suggest having less ablator in the heatshield (no need for a lunar-capable shield when returning from LEO), but since stock reentry is so pitiful as is, it almost wouldn't make a difference in the game.

Making the thing significantly heavier is probably the way to go, you just have to make sure a Saturn IB can still lift it.

[CobaltWolf]

Just now, pTrevTrevs said:

I would suggest having less ablator in the heatshield (no need for a lunar-capable shield when returning from LEO), but since stock reentry is so pitiful as is, it almost wouldn't make a difference in the game.

Making the thing significantly heavier is probably the way to go, you just have to make sure a Saturn IB can still lift it.

The heatshield is a separate part already, and you can adjust it's mass by lowering the amount of ablator - it works pretty well as an abstraction of the thickness of the heatshield.

[komodo]

I rather like the nyan, but I digress...

tech tree and weight might be all we can do in stock...

probably the only thing else is a fuel cell as I took it out of the block 3 block 3 SM doesn't have one. Or, even moar battery space.

it might be a thing that only comes into its own with one of the life support mods. Hmm. Tricky...

[Wahgineer]

@pTrevTrevs  It can't be too heavy, you still have to account for the mass of the SM and Mission Module.

[Drakenex]

@CobaltWolfa little update, AJ-60A would be nice , I know, totally off topic, ignore if you want!

[CobaltWolf]

1 minute ago, Drakenex said:

@CobaltWolfa little update, AJ-60A would be nice , I know, totally off topic, ignore if you want!

Going to at some point!

You could do Delta M, Delta II, probably some others that I've posted like INT-20 and INT-21.

[Drakenex]

Just now, CobaltWolf said:

Going to at some point!

You could do Delta M, Delta II, probably some others that I've posted like INT-20 and INT-21.

Will Do!

[Daelkyr]

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

@thread Any ideas on how to balance that? Heavier, obviously, but what else? I can't take out all the mono and batteries. Shame that the stock game doesn't model living space at all.

Just a very small but heavier would be my suggestion. (ETS Block III+ moved a lot of the ELCSS to the mission modules.) Farther back on the tech tree and more expensive would be good balancers also. Really, as others have said, the Block III+/MM won't make as big an impact without TAC-LS, USI-LS, or Kerbalism. But with them, it those parts become amazing.