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Skyhawk Kerbalism - v0.1 (ALPHA RELEASE)


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Hi everyone - CessnaSkyhawk here! I've been promising Kerbalism support for the Skyhawk Science System for quite a while, but never really expanded on it, at least until now that is... I feel comfortable enough about the amount and quality of work done to release an initial alpha for testing. Similarly to the original SSS release, these alpha releases are NOT recommended for actual gameplay as they are incomplate and may have bees. Instead, there available for people who are either interested to see what I'm working on or who would like to help playtest and find bugs/errors/balance issues for me. I'm not going into a huge depth about all the features right now, as theres a lot, but here's the general gist of what's set right now

  • A full custom Kerbalism LS profile with semi-realistic mass rates and resource ratios (eg, one kerbal eats one unit of food and two of water a day) designed to make it easy to plan 
  • A full breadth of science experiments balanced around the Skyhawk Science System, including support for BDB
    • On top of this, I have included many experiments which give you reasons to continue putting early-game science parts on late probes, and to encourage realistic "extended-missions"
    • There are also multiple "drip-feed" experiments which reward you for maintaining satellites, infrastructure, and bases for long periods of time.
  • A fully-remade ISRU system with realistic rates to force interesting decisions about propulsion choices, and with support for the SSS resource suite
  • Multiple profiles to allow for solar systems with different day lengths (currently only stock 6hr days/426 day years and JNSQ 12hr/365 day years, but more are planned)
  • and more!

Requirements

  • Bluedog Design Bureau
  • Skyhawk Science System (must be latest version)
  • Kerbalism (BUT NOT KERBALISM CONFIG!!!!!!)

 

Download

 

 

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  On 5/18/2022 at 7:39 PM, RKunze said:

@CessnaSkyhawkare you interested in alpha test reports for this in career mode, or is it too early yet?

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They'd certainly help, but as mentioned in the main post, I would not recommend using it in careers you actually care about - it's still got a lot of bugs and unfinished parts, and is still liable to have save-breaking changes

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Breaking News - Dawn of the Space Age - KSA launches its first rocket with mixed success
by Halwig Kerman

It is literally the dawn of the space age: 6:00 am, with the sun just rising over the horizon on the wide plateau where the rocketry research and launch facility of the newly founded Kerbal Space Agency ist located. SR-1 the first rocket to be launched by KSA — is sitting on a "milkstool"  style launch pad at the launch site directly east from the assembly building, waiting for the countdown to finish.

At 6:01 on the dot, the solid fuel booster ignites and the rocket lifts off the pad on a column of fire. Slowly at first, then faster and ever faster, tilting slightly to the east. In mere seconds it is gone, high in the sky, speeding toward the distant harbor facilities. Only a huge cloud of smoke remains, drifting slowly towards the mission control building and dispersing in the early morning breeze.

According to Gene Kerman from mission control, the mission was a resounding success from an engineering standpoint. SR-1 proved to be aerodynamically stable, reached a peak altitude of 6408 m above sea level and a top speed of 591 m/s, and finally splashed down into the ocean as planned after traveling 38.5 km eastward from the launch facility in only one minute and 47 seconds.

The scientific mission, however,  was less successful. The plan was to gather detailed telemetry data in flight and send it back by radio, and to recover a mysterious experiment only referred to as the "sounding rocket payload" after splashdown in the ocean.

But the first part of the plan was not only hampered by severe technical limitations (according to an anonymous engineer at KSC, "the puny internal antenna built into the ESRAC would need more than an hour to transmit it all, and slapping on a more powerful external antenna does no good because of them darned interferences"), but the telemetry report failed to transmit any useful data at all because there was no onboard means to store the gathered data and queue it up for transmission.

And the second part of the ambitious scientific plan vanished in a huge plume of water as the SR-1 slammed into the ocean at well over 200m/s and was completely destroyed in the process ("told 'em to put a parachute on it if they want to recover anything, but there is nary a single one of those anywhere to be found around here", the same anonymous engineer was heard to mutter). 

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Edited by RKunze
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  On 5/18/2022 at 10:14 PM, RKunze said:

Breaking News - Dawn of the Space Age - KSA launches its first rocket with mixed success
by Halwig Kerman

It is literally the dawn of the space age: 6:00 am, with the sun just rising over the horizon on the wide plateau where the rocketry research and launch facility of the newly founded Kerbal Space Agency ist located. SR-1 the first rocket to be launched by KSA — is sitting on a "milkstool"  style launch pad at the launch site directly east from the assembly building, waiting for the countdown to finish.

At 6:01 on the dot, the solid fuel booster ignites and the rocket lifts off the pad on a column of fire. Slowly at first, then faster and ever faster, tilting slightly to the east. In mere seconds it is gone, high in the sky, speeding toward the distant harbor facilities. Only a huge cloud of smoke remains, drifting slowly towards the mission control building and dispersing in the early morning breeze.

According to Gene Kerman from mission control, the mission was a resounding success from an engineering standpoint. SR-1 proved to be aerodynamically stable, reached a peak altitude of 6408 m above sea level and a top speed of 591 m/s, and finally splashed down into the ocean as planned after traveling 38.5 km eastward from the launch facility in only one minute and 47 seconds.

The scientific mission, however,  was less successful. The plan was to gather detailed telemetry data in flight and send it back by radio, and to recover a mysterious experiment only referred to as the "sounding rocket payload" after splashdown in the ocean.

But the first part of the plan was not only hampered by severe technical limitations (according to an anonymous engineer at KSC, "the puny internal antenna built into the ESRAC would need more than an hour to transmit it all, and slapping on a more powerful external antenna does no good because of them darned interferences"), but the telemetry report failed to transmit any useful data at all because there was no onboard means to store the gathered data and queue it up for transmission.

And the second part of the ambitious scientific plan vanished in a huge plume of water as the SR-1 slammed into the ocean at well over 200m/s and was completely destroyed in the process ("told 'em to put a parachute on it if they want to recover anything, but there is nary a single one of those anywhere to be found around here", the same anonymous engineer was heard to mutter). 

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Thanks for the heads up and for the narrative to go along with it - makes reading bug reports much more fun.

This is a classic example of me realizing there is an issue and then forgetting to fix it - I had meant to add in an early-game parachute for exactly this reason (should be called "Osiris Recovery Chute" or something like that, but then apparently failed to do that. Just pushed an update onto the git repo that should solve that issue. Same deal with the storage space - I had meant to code in a special hard drive for sounding rocket control cores, and then never did it. 

As for the experiments both being present, that is intentional - SK takes a different tack in regards to experiment configurability than standard Kerbalism. All probe cores only have the standard telemetry report, meaning additional science instruments are needed on most probes (unless they come with other science experiments built into them, like in some BDB probes). This was done to encourage people to actually use all the really nice science instruments that BDB has, rather than just using the probe cores to do all the heavy lifting as they sometimes ended up doing in stock Kerbalism, and also to allow it to play nicely with the tiered experiments that I do instead.

Edited by CessnaSkyhawk
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Hi everyone - I've got a quick balance question I'd love to hear people's thoughts on.

Right now, Science Labs serve two functions - they can either be used for converting samples into transmissible data, or for a selection of science experiments for a variety of different situations (one each for things like orbit, landed, and splashed down, etc). I'm thinking of changing this to something different to give them more utility. There would be three different ways you could use them: General Studies, where they can process samples into data, and also perform a general science experiment that produces a low amount of science  anywhere(like 10 a year at Kerbin, increasing as you go to more distant planets, and can be done either in orbit or landed (slightly more science for being landed)) but is effectively infinite, "Projects", which have specific requirements but give lots of science (two that currently exist are the Lunar Radiotelescope Array and the Colonial Feasibility Demonstration), and a "Sickbay", which has a lot of built in things like Radiation Decontamination Units and Stress reducers to help make bases more viable. Most of the current experiments would then be offloaded to other parts (Off-World Observatory to a telescope, Plant Growth Study to Greenhouses, etc). I think this would be more interesting than the current system

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One suggestion I would make is to increase the EC capacity of the BDB probes (or really all of the probes tbh), especially the early battery powered probes. Kerbalism removes the hibernation mode, and the early battery powered probes just don't have enough to be very useful. The early Pioneer probes only have enough EC for about 6 hours, which is not enough to reach the Mun, their intended target. In the past, when I was messing with my own Kerbalism configs for BDB, I just multiplied the EC capacity by 6 and that seemed to give them a pretty decent battery life without lasting too long.

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  On 5/20/2022 at 4:26 PM, CessnaSkyhawk said:

Hi everyone - I've got a quick balance question I'd love to hear people's thoughts on.

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I like the concept.  Science labs tend to be a bit of a catch all currently whereas I agree they would benefit from more niche roles.  The Projects lab could have limited slots but support many different experiments that could perhaps only be switched by delivering "new science kit" to the lab.  The kits could be a single part (e.g. science storage capsule with "stuff" in it) or require specific parts attached to the station/base before they become available (e.g. "black hole observatory" experiment needs a telescope fitted) - allthough that might create a painful network of interdependencies to maintain.

It would be nice to have more progression in the various labs available in BDB (and stock).  For example, early Mercury lab can only do a couple of projects, but not General Studies whilst GMSS labs are more versatile but commensurately more expensive.

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  On 5/20/2022 at 4:26 PM, CessnaSkyhawk said:

Hi everyone - I've got a quick balance question I'd love to hear people's thoughts on.

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Same opinion as @Friznit here - I like the concept as well. Especially the part of offloading the experiments. Fits in well with what you are already doing, and I think it is a great motivator to actually use all these nice BDB parts (for my test career, I'm already trying to decide which of the early satellites I'm going to launch first, even if I just got my second sounding rocket off the pad).

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@CessnaSkyhawkShort technical update from testing: I had one MM error and one MM warning from SkyhawkKerbalism.

Reason for the warning is a simple typo in Support/Bluedog_DB.cfg, there is a duplicated ":" in the MM patch for bluedog_RTG_SNAP19_Quad.

The error is a bit more complicated:

[LOG 22:20:35.454] Applying update SkyhawkKerbalism/System/ScienceRework/ScienceDefs/LabExperiments/@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE:HAS[#name[Greenhouse]]]:NEEDS[FeatureScience]:AFTER[SkyhawkKerbalism] to SkyhawkKerbalism/Parts/Greenhouse/kerbalism-greenhouse.cfg/PART[kerbalism-greenhouse]
[WRN 22:20:35.458] Cannot find key CrewCapacity in PART
[ERR 22:20:35.458] Error - Cannot parse variable search when replacing (%) key crew_operate = #$/CrewCapacity$

I'm not quite sure what you intended for the greenhouse, but for now I fixed/worked around the problem by explicitly setting CrewCapacity = 0 in Parts/Greenhouse/kerbalism-greenhouse.cfg so that the patch in System/ScienceRework/ScienceDefs/LabExperiments.cfg finds the variable.

Do you want PRs for either or both of the problems?

In addition, I currently have a B9PartSwitch warning:

Initialization errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch (moduleID='meshSwitchExtension') on part bluedog.Pioneer.SNAP19 subtype 'Extension'
Could not find matching module

But I am not sure what the cause for this is or even if it is actually triggered by SSS/SkyhawkKerbalism and not a bug in BDB itself. Any ideas?

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  On 5/26/2022 at 2:10 PM, RKunze said:

@CessnaSkyhawkShort technical update from testing: I had one MM error and one MM warning from SkyhawkKerbalism.

Reason for the warning is a simple typo in Support/Bluedog_DB.cfg, there is a duplicated ":" in the MM patch for bluedog_RTG_SNAP19_Quad.

The error is a bit more complicated:

[LOG 22:20:35.454] Applying update SkyhawkKerbalism/System/ScienceRework/ScienceDefs/LabExperiments/@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE:HAS[#name[Greenhouse]]]:NEEDS[FeatureScience]:AFTER[SkyhawkKerbalism] to SkyhawkKerbalism/Parts/Greenhouse/kerbalism-greenhouse.cfg/PART[kerbalism-greenhouse]
[WRN 22:20:35.458] Cannot find key CrewCapacity in PART
[ERR 22:20:35.458] Error - Cannot parse variable search when replacing (%) key crew_operate = #$/CrewCapacity$

I'm not quite sure what you intended for the greenhouse, but for now I fixed/worked around the problem by explicitly setting CrewCapacity = 0 in Parts/Greenhouse/kerbalism-greenhouse.cfg so that the patch in System/ScienceRework/ScienceDefs/LabExperiments.cfg finds the variable.

Do you want PRs for either or both of the problems?

In addition, I currently have a B9PartSwitch warning:

Initialization errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch (moduleID='meshSwitchExtension') on part bluedog.Pioneer.SNAP19 subtype 'Extension'
Could not find matching module

But I am not sure what the cause for this is or even if it is actually triggered by SSS/SkyhawkKerbalism and not a bug in BDB itself. Any ideas?

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I'm assuming you pulled directly from the git? If that's the case then that would explain them both - I'm currently about halfway through the lab rebalance, and both those are errors which are due to that, and should hopefully be fixed soon.

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  On 5/26/2022 at 4:53 PM, CessnaSkyhawk said:

I'm assuming you pulled directly from the git? If that's the case then that would explain them both - I'm currently about halfway through the lab rebalance, and both those are errors which are due to that, and should hopefully be fixed soon.

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Yes, I did pull directly from git. I'll just leave my changes in place for now (just to have MM write out a cache file - it won't do this if there are errors) and wait for your fixes (I don't think my changes hurt anything in the save, it will take quite a bit still to unlock the greenhouse).

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SR-2 Mission Report
Gene Kerman, KSA launch center, 1/9 08:10

T-17:34 rollout complete
T-17:04 ground based telemetry report completed, transmission in progress
T-10:00 launch rail configuration complete, launch angle set to 2° off vertical east
T-07:42 ground based telemetry report transmission complete (scrawled in the margin:  Look at that transmission time. That fancy builtin antenna is worse than useless on a sounding rocket. Suggest to the manufacturer to at least make it an optional module so we can rip it out - Bill)
T-06:00 pre-launch engineering checks completed, go for launch from engineering
T-04:00 pre-launch science checks completetd, go for launch from payload control
T-01:00 drop external connection, vessel on internal energy and control
T-00:00 ignition and liftoff
T+00:01 in flight telemetry report 1 and SRP experiment 1 activation confirmed
T+00:24 in flight telemetry report 1 finished
T+00:44 SRP experiment 1 suspended at 76.5% completion
T+00:44 SRP experiment 2 start at 18000 m ASL
T+00:44 telemetry report 2 activation at 18000 m ASL
T+00:48 engine cutoff at 22412 m ASL 1247 m/s 73° heading 90
T+00:48 payload separation activated by remote command
T+00:49 payload separation from booster confirmed by telemetry and visual observation
T+01:01 telemetry data indicates increasing payload rotation
T+01:10 in flight telemetry report 2 finished
T+01:46 SRP experiment 2 completed
T+01:57 in flight telemetry report 3 activated at 80000 m ASL
T+01:57 SRP experiment 3 activated at 80000 m ASL
T+02:21 in flight telemetry report 3 finished
T+02:56 telemetry data indicates stable payload rotation in flight plane at 2.2 rpm
T+02:58 SRP experiment 3 completed
T+03:03 apoapsis reached at 100535 m ASL
T+05:16 lost contact with probe, probably due to ionisation
T+05:21 reestablished telemetry contact, 16553 m ASL, 770 m/s, Heading 283
T+00:23 telemetry data indicates retrograde orientation and heavy tumbling
T+05:36 SRP experiment 1 confirmed resumed
T+05:32 Osiris Parachute Recovery System activated by remote command
T+05:44 parachute deployment confirmed 8354 m ASL 202 m/s, probe tumbling heavily
T+05:54 SRP experiment 1 completion confirmed
T+06:03 probe still tumbling, 4000 m ASL 154 m/s
T+06:37 full parachute deployment confirmed, 547 m ASL 86.1 m/s, probe stabilising and slowing down
T+06:54 probe confirmed stabilised at 200 m ASL 13.5 m/s
T+07:18 splashdown confirmed
T+07:18 telemetry report 4 activation confirmed
T+07:43 telemetry report 4 finished
T+07:50 initiating recovery operation
 

Appendix A SR-2 technical data
Launch Vessel: F3S0 "Shrimp" SRB, launched from MLS-1 "Milkstool" with attached launch rail
Payload: "Eaglet" SRAC, configured for Telemetry Report (storage space for 5 reports) and three sample slots for the SRP experiment
Recovery Subsystem: "Osiris" Recovery Chute attached to the SRAC below the detachable nose cone.

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Edited by RKunze
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Does Skyhawk Science System include support for things like near future suite? and do the ISRU systems have support for stuff like Cryotanks? The additional experiments in conjunction with this kerbalism config seem interesting, and I'm wondering if you consider it just a BDB profile for kerbalism or an all round upgrade.

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