[20/11/2014][0.25] FTmN Atomic Rockets

[nli2work]

sweet hexagons!

[Rassa Farlander]

Looking forward to it! Thanks for the effort!

[DGatsby]

Awesome stuff!

[m4v]

are hexagonal bells an actual thing or is just artistic license? IMO they look silly, but do it how you like.

[papics]

I think they look awesome no matter how much connection they have with reality!

[Kommitz]

are hexagonal bells an actual thing or is just artistic license? IMO they look silly, but do it how you like.

I don't think they're a real actual thing, but they're inspired by vintage speculative art & sci fi designs. They're probably no less practical than most of the other engine designs in the pack.

[Starwaster]

I don't think they're a real actual thing, but they're inspired by vintage speculative art & sci fi designs. They're probably no less practical than most of the other engine designs in the pack.

Well it would definitely be a little wasteful in the corners, but you could make the inside round and leave the exterior hexagonal cause it does look kinda cool. (kinda like Discovery in 2001 actually. Sort of-not really)

Or just ignore it.....

[Kommitz]

Well there's the rear of the array with the circular option installed. From the beginning I made the part with both the hexagonal and circular options to be switchable via one of the Firespitter plugin features (hopefully) in the hangar. I've got a couple of variations thought up for most of the engines. Will post some proper shots soon, I just get easily sidetracked working on particles and emissives because they're glowy

Edited August 12, 2014 by Kommitz

[Knobby]

Is it me or is there no actual download for the double nerva?

[Shad0wCatcher]

Oooohhhh purty. Also Hot. Also Radioactive (see hot).

[Kommitz]

Is it me or is there no actual download for the double nerva?

It died along with Kerbal Spaceport. RIP.

Here's a solitary WIP image of the FTmN 40 upgrade. Making it larger to go with a power increase.

As for the new balancing I'm planning I'll try and make a presentable little chart soon but the gist of it is that engines will all just use LiquidFuel with no oxidiser; the nuclear engines in KSP are good enough that the slightly worse tankage mass ratio doesn't matter too much. I'll probably include an optional modulemanage patch to bring the stock LV-N in line with this too, and optional, alternative patches to configure them all to run on LiquidHydrogen.

[BrianMcNett]

I don't think they're a real actual thing, but they're inspired by vintage speculative art & sci fi designs. They're probably no less practical than most of the other engine designs in the pack.

Watch 2001: A Space Oddysey. Hexagonal belled nuclear rockets abound in that movie.

[m4v]

but the gist of it is that engines will all just use LiquidFuel with no oxidiser

What about LF only tanks? my only concern with this is that there aren't many of them, unlike LF/OX tanks.

[Shad0wCatcher]

What m4v said; looks like I'll have to keep the old configs around since I'm not personally a fan of Hydrogen(analogue) only NTRs. Would much rather use Hydrolox(analogue) for the stronger TWR if those are the only two options. Personally I much prefer Ammonia or Methane / Methalox for density purposes since with Hydrogen you end up with so much tankage for any decent amount of DV when launching larger ships it gets to be rather pointless. Granted you won't have as much of an issue using stock configurations but that's been my experience using RF (and part of why I don't like using it anymore).

[m4v]

Note that my concern is more about "the only LF tanks I have are plane tanks" than whatever realistic fuel analogue is using, I'm not sure if I want to duplicate all the LF/OX tanks I have into LF versions.

[passinglurker]

Note that my concern is more about "the only LF tanks I have are plane tanks" than whatever realistic fuel analogue is using, I'm not sure if I want to duplicate all the LF/OX tanks I have into LF versions.

a combination of MM and firespitters fuel switch config nodes would let you have all the stock tanks swap between LFO and pure LF without adding to the part count

[Shad0wCatcher]

Which requires you to write your own configs for any mod-added fuel tanks as as far as I know firespitter only handles stock by default. And sorry m4v; my little mini-rant got off on something of a tangent there. Definitely agree with you with the wasted tankage on LF/OX tanks. You could however interpret that as the wasted space for "Hydrogen" due to its density though lol

[m4v]

a combination of MM and firespitters fuel switch config nodes would let you have all the stock tanks swap between LFO and pure LF without adding to the part count

oh that's good to know, I'll try it. In that case I have no concerns.

[Darth Lazarus]

maybe you shoul take a look at the Near Future Propulsion pack. Nerta did a little cfg patch witch works withe the modulemanager to turn every nuclear rocket engine from using LF/OX into Hydrogn only. this works with the stock nerva and many different modded nukenegines too like the ones found here. that could save some work

[Starwaster]

maybe you shoul take a look at the Near Future Propulsion pack. Nerta did a little cfg patch witch works withe the modulemanager to turn every nuclear rocket engine from using LF/OX into Hydrogn only. this works with the stock nerva and many different modded nukenegines too like the ones found here. that could save some work

Or for that matter, Real Fuels. Choices are Hydrogen, Methane, Ammonia and... maybe Water. I'm not sure that actually made the cut. Or the engine might have the config to support Water it's not available as a propellant....

Also available is an LiquidOxygen afterburner option.

[Temeter]

Only Liquid Fuel? I like it, that will make Spaceplanes much more versatile. B9 should do the job for spaceship LF-tanks.

[Starwaster]

Only Liquid Fuel? I like it, that will make Spaceplanes much more versatile. B9 should do the job for spaceship LF-tanks.

*cough*realfuels*cough*

No, seriously... it's a non-issue once you install RF. Or even MFT.

[Temeter]

*cough*realfuels*cough*

No, seriously... it's a non-issue once you install RF. Or even MFT.

edit: My mistake, you were talking about the tanks. Thanks, MFT looks interesting. I'll try that stuff.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Temeter

[passinglurker]

*cough*realfuels*cough*

No, seriously... it's a non-issue once you install RF. Or even MFT.

Its also a non issue as long as it remains optional I like not needing a tank the size of the big orange to do what a stock fl100 can do with the LV-N

[Starwaster]

Its also a non issue as long as it remains optional I like not needing a tank the size of the big orange to do what a stock fl100 can do with the LV-N

Yes but that's also an overpowered combination. Stock LVN or anything based on it is way unbalanced.