Woomerang launch site

[StarStreak2109]

Hello,

I quite like that there is now a possibility for other launchsites in the game. However I am quite shall I say underwhelmed by the lack of love this new launch site got. I would have liked it to look a bit like Baikonour or so. Instead there is just a metal platform in the middle of nowhere. Okay, KSC is also in the middle of nowhere, but at least one can imagine that it is part of something bigger. Not with this "thing" called "Woomerang launch site".

Squad, please do something about this... A bit of additional artwork shouldn't be that much trouble...

Edited March 14, 2018 by StarStreak2109
Corrected title

[James Kerman]

I believe the new launch pad is called Woomerang.  There is a real launch site in South Australia called Woomera (now defunct) and this is what it looks like:

[StarStreak2109]

I stand corrected...

[pizzaoverhead]

6 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

I believe the new launch pad is called Woomerang.  There is a real launch site in South Australia called Woomera (now defunct) and this is what it looks like:

There's a little bit more to it than that:

Check it out on the map too:
https://goo.gl/maps/vbSRHTCQVny

[James Kerman]

7 minutes ago, pizzaoverhead said:

There's a little bit more to it than that

There was in the 70's but not anymore.

[Nikolai]

26 minutes ago, StarStreak2109 said:

A bit of additional artwork shouldn't be that much trouble...

I agree with your desire for more detail at Woomerang, but I find this comment to be interesting given the number of revisions to the artwork of KSC and the bugfixes needed to keep it operating the way people expect as they explore it in the history of the software.

'Course, I don't know the first thing about creating the kind of artwork we're talking about here, but these lead me to believe that it's kind of a big deal.  Maybe they'll add onto it in future releases.

[StarStreak2109]

1 minute ago, Nikolai said:

I agree with your desire for more detail at Woomerang, but I find this comment to be interesting given the number of revisions to the artwork of KSC and the bugfixes needed to keep it operating the way people expect as they explore it in the history of the software.

'Course, I don't know the first thing about creating the kind of artwork we're talking about here, but these lead me to believe that it's kind of a big deal.  Maybe they'll add onto it in future releases.

Woomerang wouldn't have to have the same functionality as the KSC, since you still access all the functionality via the "old" KSP main screen. I am really only talking about adding a bit to the artwork, to make it look a bit more credible and interesting.

[Nikolai]

1 minute ago, StarStreak2109 said:

I am really only talking about adding a bit to the artwork, to make it look a bit more credible and interesting.

Oh, no doubt.  It's my experience as a software developer, though, that people outside the industry asking for a small thing that shouldn't be too much trouble really don't know what's actually involved -- and, of course, one person's "bit" is another person's "far too little to be interesting, and they shouldn't have bothered".    I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth here.  Players have been asking for a second launch facility for years, and now we have one.

[pizzaoverhead]

There's some more information on Woomera here.

This video should be required watching for anyone planning to make early tech level Kerbal launch sites
https://www.honeysucklecreek.net/supply/WRESAT/WRESAT_Images/WRESAT_launch.mp4

Here's the payload being transferred to the launch site for instance:

 

[Foxster]

I'm glad someone has pointed out the likely connection to the UK's space program that was run out of Woomera, rather than the site has anything to do with Russia. 

[Delbrutis]

Funny thing is they already have the site "I think" ? Did the old KSP Easter egg disappear in one of the new versions or is it still around? I haven’t looked in so long . I'll have to make that something I do while testing the new DLC . The art assets for a new launch pad and a runway were already in place . I think they pretty much chose the Woomerang site for the launch inclination . Still I would like to have seen the old one for variation . Hopefully over time the mod developers will figure out how to port all those great extra sites and artwork over to the new system . And we will get a lighter weight Kerbal Constuct's .

  

[basic.syntax]

Its just... a launch site.  I can imagine it to be like the Space Shuttle's mobile crawler-transporter, which took a full year to get to that location after we clicked "go to Launchpad;" but we are spared the eternity of waiting for it to get there  

KSC should stay KSC and be the "menu screen" where we access all the rest of the game's features.

Squad has been making do with a handful of artists; perhaps with the income from this expansion they will be able to afford to expand again, and create even more world-art to flesh out the game. (Still waiting / hoping for KSC "Tier 0.")

[MythicalHeFF]

I think they should have made KSC 2 the alternate launch site. I mean, it’s just.. there. Been there since almost the beginning, most people forget it even exists..  Already has a VAB and tracking station, so no work would really need to be done to the buildings themselves.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Jack Joseph Kerman

[Lord Cochrane]

8 hours ago, James Kerman said:

There was in the 70's but not anymore.

The Woomera test site is still in use, it was used this decade for testing of the Nulka missile decoy system and the Australian government recently announced a A$300 million upgrade of the site. 

[Darkstar616]

How do you launch from Woomerang? I thought it was only possible to launch from there with mission builder...

Edited March 14, 2018 by Darkstar616
Whoops

[DerekL1963]

31 minutes ago, Darkstar616 said:

How do you launch from Woomerang? I thought it was only possible to launch from there with mission builder...

There's a barely visible narrow little tab right under the "launch" button in VAB, clicking on it drops down a menu that lets you select the launch site.

Protip: The SPH also has one that lets you choose between KSC and the Island Runway.

[Foxster]

1 minute ago, DerekL1963 said:

There's a barely visible narrow little tab right under the "launch" button in VAB, clicking on it drops down a menu that lets you select the launch site.

Protip: The SPH also has one that lets you choose between KSC and the Island Runway.

I think you have to have "allow other Launchsites" turned on in Game Difficulty  in Settings for this to work. It seems to be off for pre-MH saves. 

[Darkstar616]

6 minutes ago, Foxster said:

I think you have to have "allow other Launchsites" turned on in Game Difficulty  in Settings for this to work. It seems to be off for pre-MH saves. 

Cheers, I didn't even notice it when I started a new game.

[klesh]

Yes, the launchpad looks really lonely all there by itself.  Give me a flagpole, some roads, a building or two.  Mods do a better job at giving me reasonable looking launch sites.

[TKO]

While I do feel it's totally awesome that there is now an alternative launch-site, I too agree that the site could do with a little love.  The old runway, and the Old KSC (still present in the game) have an extra building or two, and it adds so much to the immersion.  A hangar or VAB, a dirt track or two, and a single radar dish would make me happy.

Of course, I appreciate that this does take time to create and place well (even if parts are cloned from part of the new or old KSC) .. I'm just saying I'd like to see it there.  And once it's there, I'm sure I'll start thinking "wouldn't it be nice if there were another runway or VAB or two dotted about the globe?  How about some faux-cities?  A mun-base?  Naturally there would be a minmus-base too, why wouldn't there be .. and ..  

[pizzaoverhead]

I don't think it would take much more than what we currently to "sell" Woomerang as an actual launch site.  Check out this picture of another launch area at Woomera, LA-8:
 

We have a launchpad, we're just missing some support infrastructure. In this picture we can see some mobile offices and a tanker truck, all behind some concrete barriers. There are also some cars around. It all helps with world building. It says "this site is far from civilisation, and not heavily funded, but there's enough here to get the job done."

[StarStreak2109]

3 minutes ago, pizzaoverhead said:

I don't think it would take much more than what we currently to "sell" Woomerang as an actual launch site.  Check out this picture of another launch area at Woomera, LA-8:
[image snipped]

We have a launchpad, we're just missing some support infrastructure. In this picture we can see some mobile offices and a tanker truck, all behind some concrete barriers. There are also some cars around. It all helps with world building. It says "this site is far from civilisation, and not heavily funded, but there's enough here to get the job done."

See, that's what I'm talking about.

One other alternative is to have the modding community do it... But that is not why I buy a DLC. We have Kerbal Konstructs for that. And I also concede that the alternate launch site is of course not the main focus of the DLC. But as it is now, it looks like an afterthought, that was a bit neglected in the overall development effort. I do hope @SQUAD read this as well...

[JAFO]

23 hours ago, pizzaoverhead said:

Here's the payload being transferred to the launch site for instance:

 

Damn.. I haven't seen a pic of a Bloodhound missile in many years..

Thanks for the link to the video, too!

[klesh]

3 hours ago, pizzaoverhead said:

I don't think it would take much more than what we currently to "sell" Woomerang as an actual launch site.  Check out this picture of another launch area at Woomera, LA-8:
 

We have a launchpad, we're just missing some support infrastructure. In this picture we can see some mobile offices and a tanker truck, all behind some concrete barriers. There are also some cars around. It all helps with world building. It says "this site is far from civilisation, and not heavily funded, but there's enough here to get the job done."

 

This is exactly what I mean.   This is a “launch site”, whereas Woomerang currently is literally just a launchpad slapped in the middle of nowhere. 

[Bill Phil]

It'd be great, but it's a mobile launch pad of the type used in the Mission Builder, meaning that it's going to be minimal.