Little Planet pack WIP -Comments and criticism

[KerikBalm]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9md131s8elf5lgl/Kerik's Planets.zip?dl=0

Requires Kopernicus obviously

So I've thought about making a little pack of 3 "planets" that would fit in with the stock KSP system, or the OPM system... rather than make new planet textures from scratch, I shamelessly ripped textures from RSS... because ain't nothing like the real thing.

I'm just looking for suggestions on what needs improvement the most to make these of a reasonable quality.

The planets:

Rald - Duna sized planet (roughly 10% more massive than Duna)  60 degrees ahead of kerbin with the same SMA... ie a pseudo L4 point. As such it would always be highest in the sky when viewed from kerbin in the morning, and it should appear as a bright s low on the horizon as morning approaches... so it would be a heRald of the morning, hence its name.

Its based on mars, and has an ocean, green shores, and a thin (0.135 atms) O2 containing atmosphere. There's no real transfer window to it... just about any departure time is equally good. Its super easy to ascend from orbit with airbreathers. The atmosphere is about 67% denser than Duna's (the average MW is lower than Dunas, so its not 2x as thick despite 2x the pressure), and with only ~10% higher surface gravity, it is easier to land on chutes or do a horizontal landing... but powered landings are still advisable.

10 biomes, custom science reports for most instruments. Science reports are intended to suggest that the life has a common origin with Kerbin life - so cross contamination shouldn't be as worrisome... but still something to be avoided (and referred to in science reports)

 

Pact: a Pallas analogue... more eccentric and inclined than dres... keeps dres company... based on deimos from RSS. Its proportions relative to Dres are basically the same as the proportions of Pallas relative to ceres.

I'm not super happy with the heighmap's agreement with the colormap. Haven't made any biomes or custom reports... its probably more boring than dres... just harder to get to. Its a space potato where the astroid belt should be (assuming the KSP system is analogous with the real solar system)

 

Vot: a Vesta analogue. Its inclination relative to Dres' inclination (and LAn and Arg of Pe) are the same as/proportional to Vesta's relative to Ceres. Again... a single biome no flavor text space potato. Dres, Vot, and Pact together start to resemble our asteroid belt... Keep in mind that nearly50% of the mass of the asteroid belt is just Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas (throw in Hygeia, and its 50%). Uses phobos' height and color maps from RSS.

 

Rald is a fun "trainer" planet with no launch windows, low dV requirements, and very easy ascents.

Vot and Rald: just more challenging targets. I think if they were developed more they'd fit in well with the OPM mod, as they'd make the system more analogous ot our own.

 

*Edit* so as requested, and also because I bought a computer and no longer run KSP on a potato, I've started playing around with EVE and Scatterer.

So from up high, those areas look greenish... but maybe thats only when contrasted with the red... they seem to look like yellow sand up close - i'm not sure if thats always been like that, or if its scatterer somehow... anyway, I think I'm going to try and make those areas greener soon.

Yea... thats not green by the shores like intended... and somehow I've turned the atmosphere blue instead of pinkish...

Yea... needs more green, despite the color map looking pretty green already without scatterer

Perhaps it looks too much like kerbin now?

Edited July 17, 2016 by KerikBalm

[Red Shirt]

17 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

So I've thought about making a little pack of 3 "planets" that would fit in with the stock KSP system

Your lacking pictures and I am suffering with dial up speed internet for the time being. For those who have never experienced dial up - trust me it ain't pretty. Point is I haven't downloaded yet. I'm guessing Rald is Micromus renamed. You shared that one with me some time back. It is an awesome looking planet and fun to fly over and land on. As for the asteroid belt - that is something I have been contemplating using leftover moons from various sources to accomplish so I approve. I haven't looked in to how these things work but if custom asteroids could be used to spawn the remaining 50% that would be awesome. 

One thing - Rald needs wispy E.V.E. clouds.and dust storms.

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by Red Shirt

[KerikBalm]

27 minutes ago, Red Shirt said:

I'm guessing Rald is Micromus renamed. You shared that one with me some time back. It is an awesome looking planet and fun to fly over and land on.

Yes, with some slight changes to its color map, custom science reports, and an added line to the .cfg file so that with 1.1.3 the atmospheric pressure displays correctly in map view.

 

I'll look into clouds or something, so far I don't have such mods installed, so I'm hesitant to add them... but maybe I could just duplicate clouds for kerbin on rald.

I also got a hold of some Vesta height maps... and have tried those for vot... I suppose a 4th roid could be added to represent hygeia, the 4th largest asteroid.

[Vysionone]

@KerikBalm

Does Rald replace Minmus or Duna, or is it its own seperate planet?

[KerikBalm]

its its own seperate planet outside Kerbin's SOI, but co-orbital with Kerbin (at the pseudo L4 point)

[Vysionone]

@KerikBalm

Whenever I install it, neither Pact or Vot appear.

I deleted Rald because I don't want it. Does this affect the other planets?

Also, how do I install it?

Edited July 14, 2016 by Vysionone

[KerikBalm]

have you downloaded kopernicus?