MU NX-Series Stock Warship Pack

[ScriptKitt3h]

Hello! This is a full release of my all-stock, "NX"-series collection of KSP spaceborne warships. There's roughly 20 or so (including a non-NX vessel I included for kicks), and some have variants with altered weapon loadouts. These ships are all meant to function in various roles in KSP space combat, be it as orbital defenders, long-range scouts, or simply very shiny missile-toting hunks of metal and composite.

While yes, none of the ships in the pack come with launch vehicles attached to them (and some without a "drydock" setup of support structures for spawning on the runway), most of these ships should be able to be launched into LKO via strap-on or custom-built boost systems. If that's not your thing (or if the part count would be too high for you), there's always Hyperedit. 

In terms of utility, some of these vessels are quite capable of pulling double-duty as colony ships, cargo haulers, or carriers for smaller vessels. Their main purpose, however, is indeed stock, Turn-Based KSP ship-to-ship combat, so any non-combat usage of these vessels is not covered by MU warranty.

Imgur Album of the majority of the ships in the SPH with stats readout visible (once album embedding is fixed I'll embed it):
http://imgur.com/a/ytaKI

Link to the pack's Dropbox folder (if it breaks, let me know) All these ships reside in the SPH:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qzzqf0zcsg8in3f/AADbTF0_CKJzkY0oaL8qJDI2a?dl=0

Enjoy.

 

 

I almost forgot to mention, the pack also features the NX-H Helios, a unique and versatile vessel I created for @HatBat's excellent KSP machinima series Kethane Station. If you've got some time on your hands, go give it a watch on his YouTube channel. 

EDIT:

Spoiler

 

Since I realized that I forgot to mention this- most of ships have a probe core embedded inside the center of their structural-part "skeletons". To properly fly them, you may need to right-click on the core and use "control from here". Some ships, however, will be equipped with forward-facing pods or docking ports that serve well as an alternate control point. In addition, the weapons on these vessels are ALL missile-based. Some are dumbfire (such as the i-beam rockets on many of them), others are guided, like my widely-equipped 1.25 meter Anti-Ship Missiles, stock weapons designed to destroy other armored vessels made from stock parts at intermediate ranges (making them overkill for ships with little-to-no armor plating). Some of these missiles can even be utilized for orbital bombardment on some worlds...

Also, the small, detachable probe cores on a few of the ships are meant to be utilized like chaff or flares for confusing guided missiles in orbital combat, but in the context of multiplayer KSP. This means that for the purposes of the only current way to "battle" in KSP as of now (turn-based, via pictures and save file swaps), these function as "decoy" probes, confusing players attempting to attack the vessel from afar, or players who want to close the distance on the ship quickly.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by ScriptKitt3h
Added some necessary info.

[Spartwo]

They're here! 

 

Also; damn that new avatar/logo is gorgeous!

Edited July 28, 2016 by Spartwo

[ScriptKitt3h]

2 hours ago, Spartwo said:

They're here! 

 

Also; damn that new avatar/logo is gorgeous!

Thanks, it's the Settlement Defense Front logo from that forthcoming CoD-in-space game, Infinite Warfare. I felt it looked pretty good from a minimalist styling standpoint.

I'd be lying to say IW's trailer ships and The Expanse Season 1 haven't given me plenty of inspiration for ship designs on top of the various sci-fi games and bits of concept art I've got on my PC at the moment.

EDIT: I just realized you also may have been referring to the flag/logo associated with the "MU" in regards to the ships, in that case @HatBat was quite kind in helping me out by making it.

Edited July 29, 2016 by ScriptKitt3h

[ScriptKitt3h]

Just a quick heads up- I will be possibly adding new NX-series ships to this in the not-too-distant future, so when I do I'll update the imgur album, possibly some of the screenshots in the OP, and update the download folder in Dropbox (as well as the corresponding folder link in the OP).

[Spartwo]

On 7/29/2016 at 1:05 AM, ScriptKitt3h said:

Thanks, it's the Settlement Defense Front logo from that forthcoming CoD-in-space game, Infinite Warfare. I felt it looked pretty good from a minimalist styling standpoint.

I'd be lying to say IW's trailer ships and The Expanse Season 1 haven't given me plenty of inspiration for ship designs on top of the various sci-fi games and bits of concept art I've got on my PC at the moment.

EDIT: I just realized you also may have been referring to the flag/logo associated with the "MU" in regards to the ships, in that case @HatBat was quite kind in helping me out by making it.

No, the Settlement Defence Front one. I've recently grown a disliking to curves, currently playing around with my own.

 

I also see some Millennium falcon in here.

Edited July 30, 2016 by Spartwo

[ScriptKitt3h]

1 hour ago, Spartwo said:

No, the Settlement Defence Front one. I've recently grown a disliking to curves, currently playing around with my own.

 

I also see some Millennium falcon in here.

Yup, I'm assuming the NX-15 especially? The YT-series ships from Star Wars (and other vessels following a similar design philosophy) are all very eye-catching IMO, and oddly enough I hadn't intended for the NX-15 to actually resemble it- however, due to the structure of the ship's propulsion setup, skeletal frame, and the necessity of having the modular weapon platform be front and centered for easy reloading and firing led me to shape it the way I did. In the end, that's a good thing in my book.

[ScriptKitt3h]

Alright, so I've indeed been working on more NX-series ships, the first of these new vessels being the NX-21 Kalash, which, just like it's infamous namesake, is designed to be an efficient, reliable, and effective mass-produced weapons system.

The NX-21's equipped with a single LV-N nuclear engine (with an overall ship+ammo wet mass of roughly 45 tons), a modest amount of LF fuel (longer-range voyages are possible via adding droptanks to the side ports), and a forward-facing 1.25m missile tube pre-loaded with 1 ASM Evo V2 guided warhead, and 1 unguided Flea SRB missile (equipped with a steel piercer tip). Coming in at just under 310 parts in the default configuration, this makes it a very attractive vessel for players with lower-end machines, or who desire more efficient, smaller-sized ships of the line to utilize in combat.

The Kalash and a version with pre-equipped droptanks can be found in the download folder now, by following the link in the OP.

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by ScriptKitt3h

[Iago]

I really have to get into warship building again

[ScriptKitt3h]

I've made yet another NX-series ship, the NX-22 Anubis (people who've watched The Expanse will know my inspiration to an extent).

It's a mass driver ship, equipped with (1) linear accelerator gun, and 5 rounds of ammo (each round being a pair of 1x1 steel plates fired like high-velocity shrapnel). However, as with nearly all cannon ships, timing when firing is key, and not timing your shots just right will lead to subpar results. The sides are equipped with twin XL docking ports for add-on modules or droptanks, and the twin LV-N nuclear engines provide a healthy TWR to compensate for the main gun's recoil. It's got a decent amount of LF, and plenty of fuel for the main gun, so if need be you can easily repurpose spare LF from the gun's LF+O tanks as emergency LV-N fuel.

Download is available in the dropbox folder for all the NX-series ships; the link to that is in the OP.

Edited August 1, 2016 by ScriptKitt3h

[Frozen_Heart]

Need to have a look at that mass driver ship. Haven't built one in a long time.

[Spartwo]

Heat transference is down significantly so no more exploding rounds.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Spartwo

[ScriptKitt3h]

2 hours ago, Spartwo said:

Heat transference is down significantly so no more exploding rounds.

Yeah, I couldn't really use even SRBs or i-beam missiles due to the explosive heating until recently when it got reduced a bit.

2 hours ago, Frozen_Heart said:

Need to have a look at that mass driver ship. Haven't built one in a long time.

As I mentioned in my post about the NX-22, timing is VERY important with mass driver ships as of now, since if you don't get the shot pushed out by the thruster juust right, it'll go off course, jam, or not fly out fast enough.

[panzer1b]

Nice job script, i really like your new ships (they obviously look much nicer then my stuff ).  Only problem i see is that the pat count on some is a little overkill and makes battling against an enemy with a high part count impossible, heck its even somewhat laggy when brought near a 250 part ship.  Here is my experience testing them (and a few tips that i think could improve your designs at the end).   All tests were done using my 2 standard weapons, Tripedo-M ASM (fired from 2km) and SRM-6M (fired manually from a centralized mount on the SK-CRV-III).   Sorry about the wall of text but i like to give detailed reviews (with alot of pics).

The NX-1 and NX-2 share a fatal flaw which can be used to 1 shot vaporize them with ibeam style weapons (or anything that allows pinpoint fire and gives you a few shots).  The central girder is exposed in teh spot where the weapons bays are located, a centralized mount which allows you to accurately aim individual shots usually leads to this being severed and the ship is separated in half.  The NX-1 is also somewhat vulnerable to a mobility kill although achieving this with either ibeams or ASMs is not reliable.  Both ships are actually very hard to kill with a phasing style ASM since you need to hit the core girder, a small target (and with teh amount of lag both create its pretty much a gamble, sometimes the ASM doesnt do jack, sometimes it tears a chunk out, rarely splits the ship though.  That said, almost every time it takes 4-6 ibeams to achieve a kill which means i have to empty an entire SRM-6 into it.

NX-3 is pretty squishy to everything, but can sometimes troll with its very weird armor.  Usually dies to CoM core destruction (after which the entire ship just falls apart).  One interesting thing to note is that the section that holds the weapons and the crew pods survives more often then not unless it is manually targeted.  It would be very beneficial if you gave that small section its own dedicated LFO engines (like a pair of 48-7s) and that section could end up being useful after the main ship was obliterated by most stuff shooting at the CoM.  That said, occasionally survives a full SRM-6M or a tripedo.

NX-10 is squishy, vulnurable to everything and usually vaporized with teh 1st shot (and if not it almost always looses its engine).

NX-12 has troll armor, it can usually be vaporized by targeting the rear section although it almost always requires a full SRM-6 to wipe out.  ASMs are also a mized bag, usually takes 2 hits because the first may or may not actually hit the core girder (and if it doesnt it generally doesnt wipe it out completely.  That said, it is extremely vulnurable to mobility kills due to its single engine which can be taken out with as little as 2 ibeams or tripedoes at lower velocity.

NX-13 has bugged armor, occasionally survives a few hits but dies way too easily for its construction.  I suspect it has something to do with the missile that seems to be attached to the front but is actually floating in mid air.  Not really sure but it just dies too easily for this to be random, part root/connection bug of some sort?

NX-15 is pretty damn good imo since its not that easy to split and its very hard to destroy both of the sections that remain after it does get split.  I suggest making the engines connected to the sides instead of the central girder so that the halves can remain functional after the ship is split apart.  If you move the engines so they connect to the sides and perhaps add 1-2 more weapons to these sections then you will end up with a ship that is not only solid to begin with (yeah it can get split but its not too reliable and requires multiple hits to the core area) but actually remains a threat even after its been split in half.

NX16 is bloody insane.  Its basically immune to the SRM-6 with the only thing i can do at least some of the time is achieve a mobility kill by focusing the rear section and going for engines (i have NEVER disarmed it, and i have only split it once with 6 ibeams after like 30 tries).  That said, if im not spot on i can empty 6 shots into it and it will still have 1 engine fully functional!  As for ASMs, its generally solid, occasionally splits but its still very unlikely (or way less then most of the competition).  Only way to reliably kill this thing is using heavy torps (7-10t), or triple SRM-6 (there is not a single ship ive ever encountered that can take 18 ibeams and not be neutered to the point its useless).  Also, its basically free of any weakspots (besides the obvious engine cluster which is kinda unavoidable, though you did armor it to the point that even that doesnt die easy).  TLRD, this ship is one of the best armor wise ive ever seen since 1.1 came out!  Too bad the same cannot be said about the part count/mass, and its firepower is less then stellar.  If you could make a version of this that carries 2-4 ASMs you'd have the best warship on here...

NX-18 has issues with mobility kills as the rear is open enough to allow multiple ibeams right after the other to enter the engine compartment although otherwise its pretty solid.  Can get split by both ibeams and ASMs but this is not too often and really its achilles heel is the engine which seems to die way too easily, almost as easily as its little brother the NX-12.  If you can add some armor near the engines (or perhaps spread the engines out some) then itll be a good ship even if extremely laggy...

NX-19 is not bad at all but has one weakspot that is super easy to exploit with both ibeams and torps.  Shoot that giant docking port from directly in front and you are near guaranteed to wipe out primary weapons and have a good chance of doing alot of internal damage especially if ASM has shrapnel.  that said, there are 2 sections that seem to be quite well protected but have nothing inside them.  Its alot of mass that isnt doing anything, placing some fuel in the 2 front sides would be beneficial (or even some weapons firing out the front).

NX-20 is extremely easy to mobility kill, those engines are as good as fully exposed...  Otherwise the part count is so high that its hull is kinda hard to actually kill because of lag that seems to cause projectiles to shatter doing absolutely nothing to it.

NX-21 is fodder, very easy to split with both ibeams and ASMs.  Occasionally survives a hit but almost everything semi competitive that hits its CoM kills it.

NX-22 is surprisingly sturdy for the part count although it is very easy to neuter by shooting from the front by either killing the thruster or knocking off the ammo stacks (not exactly unexpected from mass driver based weapons).  Gets split with sustained fire to the CoM too but this requires multiple hits.

Helios has seen better days, but it is still not easy to vaporize with SRM-6 unless you empty the entire magazine into the engines or get a lucky hit on the root girder.  One weakness is that it tends to loose most of its armor plating to the first hit (the way its connected to the core is through 2 spots, both of which are easy to kill from the top/bottom.  Then with open internals its just a matter of good aim and firing enough shots to kill it.  Sometimes gets 1 shot obliterated but this is not common, happens more with ASMs then ibeams...

All in all i really like these things, although i cannot say the same for the part count.  The NX-16 is the best hands down as it just WILL NOT DIE!  A few things that i see are very common with your builds are centralized engines.  While some ships have these armored quite well, there is basically nothing that can be done to actually keep a centralized engine from dying, so you are better off with 2 or more separate engines, all of which need to be targeted individually for a mobility kill keeping a single ibeam from accomplishing this.  Another thing you may want to consider in the future is to change from a XL girder based skeleton to one based entirely on ibeams.  Ibeams have a smaller hitbox and the exact same mass meaning the probability of killing a ibeam is somewhat less then that of killing a girder, not to mention they give you more room inside a ship to build with.  You dont have to make everything out of them, but at least make the vital center spine out of those and then build outwards in a similar manner to how your ships are already built.  It should offer somewhat better armor.  Other then that i think your new line of ships is solid, maybee try to cut some parts (as those are very high) too...

[ScriptKitt3h]

@panzer1b, I'll take a loot at that root part bug on the NX-14 (I think you might have mis-typed it as the NX-13, which never saw release as it was a failed prototype).

As for some of the ships (like the Helios and NX-1-through-3 designs, many of these vessels are based on aging hull designs from several KSP versions ago (thanks to a recent flurry of updates that have changed the game in many ways). As such, there's only so much one can do to update a ship while keeping it the same ship- along a similar tangent, I always try to balance a mix of durability, aesthetics, and utility in my ships, resulting in the mix of hull strengths and designs, as well as design complexities, that you see in the pack. That's why I made the admittedly somewhat weaker NX-21, to fill the gap of a more economical warship that still fit within my building style. I'll make sure to take your review into consideration for future NX-series vessels.

Edited August 14, 2016 by ScriptKitt3h

[panzer1b]

16 hours ago, ScriptKitt3h said:

@panzer1b, I'll take a loot at that root part bug on the NX-14 (I think you might have mis-typed it as the NX-13, which never saw release as it was a failed prototype).

As for some of the ships (like the Helios and NX-1-through-3 designs, many of these vessels are based on aging hull designs from several KSP versions ago (thanks to a recent flurry of updates that have changed the game in many ways). As such, there's only so much one can do to update a ship while keeping it the same ship- along a similar tangent, I always try to balance a mix of durability, aesthetics, and utility in my ships, resulting in the mix of hull strengths and designs, as well as design complexities, that you see in the pack. That's why I made the admittedly somewhat weaker NX-21, to fill the gap of a more economical warship that still fit within my building style. I'll make sure to take your review into consideration for future NX-series vessels.

Yeah that was a typo, just checked again and its a NX-14 vindicator.

In other news, im having ALOT of trouble getting the SC-112 into orbit without Hedit by using a launch stage...  If i remember correctly you said all of these vessels can be launched into orbit without hyperedit (and i dont even know WHY i took it as a challenge to launch the heaviest one ...

[ScriptKitt3h]

Just now, panzer1b said:

Yeah that was a typo, just checked again and its a NX-14 vindicator.

In other news, im having ALOT of trouble getting the SC-112 into orbit without Hedit by using a launch stage...  If i remember correctly you said all of these vessels can be launched into orbit without hyperedit (and i dont even know WHY i took it as a challenge to launch the heaviest one ...

I could've sworn I said most of them... oh well, the SC-112's more of a special ship anyhow. It's probably best for now for you to launch it up un-kerballed via Hyperedit or build it on-orbit via EPL. Sadly, due to the inherent aerodynamic quirky-ness of a large spacecraft not meant for atmospheric flight having a hull with LOTS AND LOTS of wing parts used in its construction, the game likes to makes ships like it be a pain in the rear to launch outside of a fairing (or even within, due to the large inherent mass of the ship itself).

In any case, best of luck utilizing the SC-112. It's my largest vessel to date, and at just shy of 1500 parts, it's going to be taxing on anything short of a super-powerful rig anyways (I get lag beyond usual levels when using it on mine).

[Joseph Kerman]

@ScriptKitt3h I have cracked you toughest ship, by the way. And with only one missile.

 

[ScriptKitt3h]

@Joseph Kerman, you do realize this thread dates back to summer of last year, yes? KSP's changed significantly since then and most, if not all, of my ships from back then are outdated.

Now, if others consider that ship strong in terms of armor, I appreciate the compliment(s). But I never alleged that any ship is 'invulnerable'- nothing is, given how some aspects of KSP's parts list (like fairings...) and physics simulation can be abused to break things.

Edited May 24, 2017 by ScriptKitt3h