[0.21] Hooligan Labs - Airship, Submarines and More

[pfpants]

So I tried out the "beta" version with the scale set to 1... I tested the various envelopes with the mk1 lander can. The larger envelopes (hecto, cirrus) can get it up, but I can't imagine building anything more than a few tons and getting it to lift off the ground without building it in a VAB/SPH without a ceiling. It would require quite a few envelopes stacked together and I doubt they'd fit in the hangars as they are now.

[Sun]

I have an airship floating above Jool and it's inside Jool's atmosphere. I want to do other missions while the airship stays in one place. Unfortunately, KSP DOESN'T LET ME SAVE WHILE IN ATMOSPHERE AND IT DOESN'T LET ME GO BACK TO THE SPACE CENTER!

[Hooligan Labs]

Have you tried touching the ground with a KAS anchor? There is a "solid" surface to Jool. That is how I did my Jool Bungee Jumping video.

[Benie]

Do you have to have something under the launchpad? I need one that is flat to the ground so rovers can get on it.

This would be used on Duna.

Edited July 7, 2013 by Benie

[KhaosCorp]

Do you have to have something under the launchpad? I need one that is flat to the ground so rovers can get on it.

This would be used on Duna.

Kinda need a little something under it, just so you can run fuellines into the pad itself. This is just how the launchpad module works. Easy work around for this is to make your rovers able to bunny-hop off the pad. The little 'ant' engines are great for this.

[Benie]

I was thinking with using RCS Thrusters. Wouldn't they be enough in Duna's low gravity (not as low as the Mun, but you know what I mean)?

[KhaosCorp]

As long as the rover is not to heavy RCS should work just fine on Duna.

[Hooligan Labs]

Do you have to have something under the launchpad? I need one that is flat to the ground so rovers can get on it.

This would be used on Duna.

Have you attempted placing the pad upside down?

Wait, bad idea. You would then need a really wide structure to keep it off the ground.

[Zaeo]

I have a idea...a Wonderful Idea...

instead of this craziness known as launchpads, we have a Rover Hanger...Basically, you can launch ships from it, but anything that flies...well, not recommended to attempt flight. It would be a box, or a dome, or a WE you want it to be, with walls and a ceiling, with a gap to let rovers off the "Pad". I think an Aircraft hanger or even the bunkers on the island runway would be a start for inspiration.

Why, you might ask, would you want such a thing? Simple...Variety!

[Benie]

I support the idea above. It can serve as a staging area for rovers on planets.

[KhaosCorp]

I have a idea...a Wonderful Idea...

instead of this craziness known as launchpads, we have a Rover Hanger...Basically, you can launch ships from it, but anything that flies...well, not recommended to attempt flight. It would be a box, or a dome, or a WE you want it to be, with walls and a ceiling, with a gap to let rovers off the "Pad". I think an Aircraft hanger or even the bunkers on the island runway would be a start for inspiration.

Why, you might ask, would you want such a thing? Simple...Variety!

Had the thought already =P But at time of this post Im 11 days in learning how to mod, so I dont make things so fast(been trying to make an envelope for HL but it always looks like a poop or a rocket...). Been working on some other launchpad parts too(posted in the EL dev thread with models).

I still think the HL pad is the best option atm. Farnsworth made some good looking ones...but these look great too, and can be made more stable on the ground.

All that having been said....as a worshiper of chaos I wholeheartedly support the upside-down LP idea.

Edited July 10, 2013 by KhaosCorp

[not-a-cylon]

a follow up to a post I made a while ago: my suborbital payload bearing balloon! I finally worked out the kinks and managed to save 20km safely above the ground!

yes, that winch is extended at least 20km

[KhaosCorp]

a follow up to a post I made a while ago: my suborbital payload bearing balloon! I finally worked out the kinks and managed to save 20km safely above the ground!

yes, that winch is extended at least 20km

Um...wow!

I had horrible luck with winches over 2ish km long. How on earth did you get it so long without explosions and stuff flying through Kerbin??

Though my testing was a bit diffrent...was trying for a pipeline...Im thinking maybe i overlooked something now.

[not-a-cylon]

Um...wow!

I had horrible luck with winches over 2ish km long. How on earth did you get it so long without explosions and stuff flying through Kerbin??

Though my testing was a bit diffrent...was trying for a pipeline...Im thinking maybe i overlooked something now.

Well the pipeline is a different case:

1. You have 2 objects docked on the ground 2km away- the game will freak out trying to figure out where the center of mass is.

2. The game doesn't freak out with my contraption because there is only one point of contact with the ground: the anchor part which drags along the ground, preventing explosions.

My pipeline solution was using the Lazor mod and attaching rovers with a bunch of fuel transfer lazors at various points so I could pump resources around the planet. Took a while... I'm not sure if driving the resources was quicker at times. The way to combat the slow transfer was to attach many many more lazors. The designs conflict with my low part count paradigm though. I'd post a screenshot of my kethane and ore pipeline system on the Mun, but my old save file got bugged out.

[Railgunner2160]

Greetings hooligan, Are there any plans to include dirigible style section envelopes now that we have the new controls?? I was thinking of how they built them, each gasbag/Frame being built and tied together. There were several dirigibles that needed extra lift, they just cut them apart between gasbags and added extras. The way I imagine it being would be about 3 "core" parts, the nose frame, the gasbag frame, and maybe a tail frame with tailfins but no control surfaces....

[KhaosCorp]

Greetings hooligan, Are there any plans to include dirigible style section envelopes now that we have the new controls?? I was thinking of how they built them, each gasbag/Frame being built and tied together. There were several dirigibles that needed extra lift, they just cut them apart between gasbags and added extras. The way I imagine it being would be about 3 "core" parts, the nose frame, the gasbag frame, and maybe a tail frame with tailfins but no control surfaces....

I have actually made several attempts at this. The end product being a seamless 'zepplin' shape with the superior trim control multiple envelopes give you now.

But.....I have been modeling less than 2 weeks, and every attempt comes out looking kinda like cat poop.

[Railgunner2160]

@KhaosCorp, Well if you look at the dirigible without the skin then the gasbags do sorta resemble cat poop, however each gasbag has a framework around it, and the skin is stretched over it. I've used the KW Rocketry tanks and they show the endcaps of the actual tanks inside the shell, and even joined to other tanks,so long as they are the same size the tanks blend seamlessly, maybe take some inspiration from that to try and make the seamless shape you're after???

[Hooligan Labs]

a follow up to a post I made a while ago: my suborbital payload bearing balloon! I finally worked out the kinks and managed to save 20km safely above the ground!

yes, that winch is extended at least 20km

Fantastic! Honestly, I think this is even more realistic than what JP Aerospace is attempting in real life.

I have actually made several attempts at this. The end product being a seamless 'zepplin' shape with the superior trim control multiple envelopes give you now.

But.....I have been modeling less than 2 weeks, and every attempt comes out looking kinda like cat poop.

Keep at it Khaos! Don't feel like you can't draw on crazy sci-fi. I do so without almost any appology.

Just Google "Futuristic Blimp"

[Feralcus]

Out of curiosity, would be out of the question to add rigid body airships like the "Hindenburg"(although without the swasticas)? Or the American versions? What about this, "Air raid balooons on the mun!? Eh?

Or if you want to stay with futuristic, what about the "Iron sky" airships?

Appologies if this has been asked before..

Regardless I still love this mod, cant wait till sqaud snaps ya' up and all this gets added to vannila..

[Decent Weasel]

Hey, recently downloaded this mod (I flipping love it) and I wanted to ask if anybody's tried gravity-powered designs.

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-gravity-powered-aircraft/

The concept is basically "build a glider that can become lighter-than-air and thus launch itself. Repeatedly."

All the sites online see it as environmentally friendly, but my motivation was a ship with functionally unlimited flight time.

Since I didn't want an aircraft that was limited to an onboard fuel supply or tied to kethane-rich surface regions, I first tried something electric, but the FireSpitter engine took more power (and hence, massive nuke reactors or acres of fragile solar panels) to work than expected, so I gave the gravity-powered option a try.

Since I'm a doofus noob and don't know how to add pics, the recipe is as follows: one small lander can, some FireSpitter airbrakes, a MechJeb module, four canards arranged symmetrically around the can, and two dodecahedrons - one each on the top and bottom of the can, to keep its center of lift neutral in relation to its center of mass. (Add a couple ladders out the sides of the hatch if you want to get out and then climb back in.)

Turns out my design didn't need wings (since it already had lifting gases) and was able to fly forward whether rising or falling. I used Nyrath's Orion to catapult Jebediah to Eve and he grinned the whole way; I'm currently trying to put together a similar craft that can fly on Duna (>0.00 buoyancy - weight in 0.042 atmospheres - this is kinda hard).

Full disclosure - I'm not using any realistic aerodynamics mods, so I'm not sure how legitimate my designs really are!

EDIT: I don't think this is an infiniglider, properly - it will stagnate if it hits an altitude where buoyancy - weight = 0. I did run into some that would break mach in level flight if I used 4x warp, and knew I had something wonky there.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Decent Weasel

[Kimberly]

I just had a mildly crazy idea: how about parts that can be adjusted to lower your buoyancy? Pontoons that take on water, for example. You could use them to sink a ship below the surface of the ocean without needing an inordinately heavy craft.

[Benie]

Like a sub? Oooh, I'd love that.

[Kimberly]

Yeah, I was thinking of submarine and submerged bases...most parts currently have a buoyancy that's way too high, so you need to use engines to push a craft under the water, which is kind of ridiculous...some very low-buoyancy parts would let you sink, while still letting most parts float.

[not-a-cylon]

commenting so I can agree with the posts above! it would make kethane mining operations on Laythe waaay easier!

[Van Disaster]

There are some really old submarine parts around which do somewhat work, they'll need a fair bit of searching to dig out though. I was going to attempt one that worked with a pair of engines which converted water to a superdense "ballast" liquid & back again, but I never got round to it. It'd probably work better with a custom dll rather than abusing the default electrical output module for engines like I usually do ( or alternatively you could probably rig it with the Kethane mod ).