[1.4.5] Universal Aeronautics and Space Systems(UASS): Parts Pack: T.R.A.P engines. (1.1.1)

[Kerbalstar]

                                                            

It's a busy day at the Space Center as the new T.R.A.P Engines arrive from General Universal and Kerbal-Tech. These engines were predicted to have a much better performance at a higher altitude than previous engines. Jeb's test flight was scheduled for the next day. This gave the engineers only half a day to mount the three new engines on three identical planes. 

The next day Jeb goes on his test flight, testing the "Mouse T.R.A.P" engine. Jeb reports that the engine is performing as expected at high altitude. Jeb tests the other two engines successfully.

This is a mod which adds three new engines: The Mouse T.R.A.P,  the Bear T.R.A.P, and the Rhino T.R.A.P. The engines all have the same model, that of the stock Rapier engine. The way they work is by having better performance at low altitude, at the cost of using more Intake Air, and better performance at higher altitudes by using more liquid fuel, but less Intake Air. These modes automatically switch, but you can also manually switch the modes. The engine switching works pretty much like the Rapier engine. 

I made the actual changes to the .cfg files, creating this mod, but the idea was all my friend @Lucast0909's. He's given me permission to publish this mod, and he says that I don't need to credit him, but as we all know, the idea is half of the mod.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          My idea for version 1.1.0 of this mod was to use the variant switching introduced in KSP 1.4 to enable you to have more than one model for the engine. The idea is that you can have the model of the Rapier, or say the Panther, even the Swivel, picking the look that works best for your plane. However, I found out that that is not possible. I will try to learn to model, to give these engines better textures.

I think these engines are tech tree and cost balanced, but please let me know. Please give me any feedback you have.

 If anybody has a better name for the mod, please tell me.

License: Unlicense 

Download: Spacedock

Edited September 10, 2018 by kerbalstar
Fixing version number.

[Kerbalstar]

Update: It looks like using the part variants is going to be harder than I thought, that might have to wait a little bit, but never fear! Version 1.1.0 of the mod is now slated to include different models for each of the engines!

[MaverickSawyer]

Soooo, it's an engine that works really well at high altitudes and airspeeds?

[Kerbalstar]

43 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Soooo, it's an engine that works really well at high altitudes and airspeeds?

Yup!

[Kerbalstar]

So after some looking around in the Add-on development forum, it seems that you can't change models with part variants, sadly. So, it's up to you, the users, to decide. Keep the Rapier model, or change some of the engines to different models?

2 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Soooo, it's an engine that works really well at high altitudes and airspeeds?

Er... Sorry, it's a set of engines, and not high airspeeds, per say, just high altitudes.

[MaverickSawyer]

18 minutes ago, kerbalstar said:

Er... Sorry, it's a set of engines, and not high airspeeds, per say, just high altitudes.

Ah. So they're not OP for SSTOs, then. That's good.

[Kerbalstar]

1 hour ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Ah. So they're not OP for SSTOs, then. That's good.

I don't think that they are, no.

[Lucast0909]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:04 PM, MaverickSawyer said:

Ah. So they're not OP for SSTOs, then. That's good.

Ehh... They're kind of OP if you're playing in sandbox mode. I tested the Rhino with an SSTO of mine and had to totally redo the flight plan for reaching orbit because the aircraft was going to fast and started overheating from aerodynamic drag.

That being said, the cost of these engines (for career at least) likely makes up for their ridiculous stats: The SSTO I tested the Rhino with costs 2,078,033; 2,000,000 of that is the two Rhino engines.

A few tweak suggestions:

Drop the price on the Rhino to between 15,000 and 20,000 (The current cost of the Rhino would give even the US military second thoughts) (actually it probably wouldn't)

Increase the thrust in the Bear's HighAtmosphere mode to around 250 (The difference between the Bear and the Mouse when both are in HighAtmosphere mode is currently negligible)

Other than those minor things, the mod is awesome! Will definitely use it extensively on future SSTOs and Hypersonic Spacecraft.

[Kerbalstar]

Version 1.1.0 is out. 

Changelog:

• Changed model of the Bear T.R.A.P. to the model of the J-404 "Panther" Afterburning Turbofan.
• Changed model of the Rhino T.R.A.P. to the model of the J-X4 "Whiplash" Turbo Ramjet Engine.
• Changed the Bear T.R.A.P's High Atmosphere Engine max thrust to 250.
• Changed the cost of the Rhino T.R.A.P from 1,000,000 to 17,500.

Please note that that last change is not in the changelog of this release, I forgot and will fix it in the next release.

Also, @Lucast0909 is the friend who gave me the idea! Thank him for giving me the idea to create this wonderful mod!

[The Minmus Derp]

Me Very Much Likey. @kerbalstar

[Kerbalstar]

1 minute ago, The Minmus Derp said:

Me Very Much Likey. @kerbalstar

Thank you, @The Minmus Derp!

[JoE Smash]

I have always used this mod since when I started playing......HOWEVER since I started playing I have had an issue with my save files getting filled with hundreds of copies of part = fuelTank in the section where it lists the parts you have unlocked with science. Also my tech tree slowly gets filled with hundreds of copies of the picture of the Fuel Tank 400 which is the part you have for some reason duplicate added with this mod.

I know next to nothing about modding or programming, but even so I'm not sure that it is a good idea to offer copies of stock parts with mods and leave them with the same part name. I think this is what is causing my save game to get filled with numerous copies of the fuel tank 400 part.....

[Mecripp]

You really don't need a lot of the stuff you have in the download as half the parts aren't even looking in your fold for them so there just spare textures loading see 

	MODEL
	{
		model = Squad/Parts/Engine/jetEngines/turboJet
	}

This is look in Squad folder and parts and so on and on for the MU and textures

The only odd ball is the fuelTankT400