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[0.23.5] Spherical and Toroidal Tank Pack (Updated 05/02/14) (New download link)

Talisar

By Talisar
in KSP1 Mod Releases

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Talisar

Talisar

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Ahem...

n9h5.png

I figured out how to make them modular, so the hubs are interchangeable, or you can add a special attachment point to anything you like the toroid to surround. Thoughts? (aside from textures, I just slapped on old style ones for now)

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Talisar

Talisar

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All looks good :)

Got to be ready for testing soon...

Funny you should mention that... :)

Mediafire Link for testing

I should mention that due to the thinness (is that really a word?) of the hubs the nodes are almost on top of each other. The easiest way I've found to add the tanks is to build your rocket adding the hubs where you want the toruses (torii?), and only add the torus after you have parts placed on either side of the hub. At that point, the only available place for the torus to attach will be the center one designed for them.

Edited by Talisar
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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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Funny you should mention that... :)

Mediafire Link for testing

I should mention that due to the thinness (is that really a word?) of the hubs the nodes are almost on top of each other. The easiest way I've found to add the tanks is to build your rocket adding the hubs where you want the toruses (torii?), and only add the torus after you have parts placed on either side of the hub. At that point, the only available place for the torus to attach will be the center one designed for them.

It's perfect. It's exactly what we talked about... I could kiss you (no homo).

So... how about making final names for the files so I can start using them in my ships? HURRY!!!

Only one concern... how strong are they? I worry about them flexing or shearing with such thin / small connections. Does it weaken the structure only connecting to a single point?

~Steve

EDIT:

One caveat... although I'm not sure you can do anything about it...

We can't connect more than one tank to a node. I guess that's something you can't get around with the game code? Or is it possible to say put 2-3 connection points on the each hub in case we want to layer the rings?

EDIT:

NVM.. that would look terrible since the pipes are different thickness and different widths apart... which can't really be fixed without looking horrible on the smaller toroidal tanks.

Edited by NeoAcario
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Talisar

Talisar

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They actually seem to be pretty sturdy. That demo ship that I posted the demo of had no struts at all and I yawed it around quite a bit to check the integrity. There was some wobble, but not nearly as much as I expected. Enough that it would be very sturdy with minimal strutting, I think. I'm going to work on a halfway decent texture before I completely finalize the pack for release, but I think I'm getting the hang of it so it shouldn't take long.

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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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Great... now I need to redesign my orbital fuel stations...

From this:

screenshot11.png

To this:

screenshot13.png

2 Things -

1> I think I might want to use the 11.25m Kethane Sphere for my station core now.

2> I love you, but stop slacking and make this stock for the mod! 4 hubs, and then 4 size Toroidals per fuel! I need to make my new station!

~Steve

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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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I have a task for j00!!!

Do the same thing with sphere tanks! 4 hubs... 4 size tanks for each fuel. DONE! No more need to make those silly mk2s with the bigger hubs!

GET TO IT!!

Cause I really want to use an 11.25m sphere with a 2.5m hub!

~Steve

P.S.

If you're getting the hang of modeling with a stock appearance... let us see more pics? ^.^

EDIT:

and FYI... I'm fine with the single additional part for this kind of flexibility. I think most people would be. Speaking of part count on the craft... that is.

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Talisar

Talisar

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I have a task for j00!!!

Do the same thing with sphere tanks! 4 hubs... 4 size tanks for each fuel. DONE! No more need to make those silly mk2s with the bigger hubs!

GET TO IT!!

Cause I really want to use an 11.25m sphere with a 2.5m hub!

Lol' date=' I love the enthusiasm. I gave this a shot, but this resulted in VERY unsturdy connections. I think it's because of the mass of the full tanks (it was much more noticeable in the larger ones).

If you're getting the hang of modeling with a stock appearance... let us see more pics? ^.^

Here's what I've come up with so far:

lxg8.pngtv8m.png

I'm pretty happy with the spherical as it is now, but I think I need something to add a little more detail lengthwise along the toroid, and maybe move that bolted plate a bit so it's not completely centered. I still think a minimalistic approach will be best, so I don't plan to go crazy with it. As a side note, I grabbed that base color directly from the FL-T400 Fuel Tank and just scuffed it up a bit, so it's pretty stockish.

Also looks like you shrunk the diameter of the torus ring a little.... which you reflect by removing fuel. Theif... went from 1350 Liquid to about 1150

I am very sneaky. I shrunk that tank to a 6m large diameter, but I made up for it by giving you another tank with a 9m large diameter. :cool:

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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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You mentioned that attaching the hubs to the spheres was unstable... so there's no way to make it so when two specific parts connect they basically become one? Either in code or in so that their node connection is infinitely strong?

~Steve

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a__gun

a__gun

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You mentioned that attaching the hubs to the spheres was unstable... so there's no way to make it so when two specific parts connect they basically become one? Either in code or in so that their node connection is infinitely strong?

~Steve

There may be some way to do this by exploiting the code used for struts (Basically build a strut into the part) but having never seen anyone do this I'd guess there is some obstical.

However, talking of making two parts into one... I believe the latest version of UbioZur's welder carries an in game tool to do just that :)

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Talisar

Talisar

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I was looking at Ubiozur's mod, and I think that will end up helping quite a bit. For the time being, I think that the spherical tank pack is in a good place now so I don't plan on making any major changes to it at this point (other than a texture upgrade). I may try and make a separate pack that is powered by plugins that allow changing fuel types/levels in the VAB eventually, but that is something to look at for the future. For now, I plan to get the toroidals texture finalized and cfgs for other fuels made up (I'm thinking LFO, Monopropellant, Kethane, and Xenon)and getting them packed for release, then I think I'm going to start playing with the command pods that were suggested a little earlier in the thread and/or the modular SEV.

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Talisar

Talisar

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That one sort of fell by the wayside as I found out how much I'd have to learn to make it work correctly (airlocks in particular). Working on that led to trying out spherical command pods, where I was able to figure out more about the process (with a lot of help from Sumghai and Lack).

I mostly stopped on that particular one because I didn't want it to just be a copy of my fuel tanks with a door stuck on, but it's something that I definitely want to take another stab at, as my modelling and (I hope) texturing skills are becoming more refined. I have actually thought about making a set of modular half-spherical station parts, so they could paired for utility. Maybe have a crew tank, a command module, a cargo hold, etc... I don't know if they'd be very useful for ships, but as station building blocks they may have a place. On the other hand, the KSP community is nothing if not inventive. I've seen many parts (including the simple ones I've made) put to uses in configurations that I never would have thought of myself.

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Talisar

Talisar

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Toroidal tank pack v1.0 is now up on spaceport, with download links for additional resources on the main post. That post has gotten WAY to big, so I plan to do a bit of cleanup on it once I can figure out how to embed imugr albums.

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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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Talisar... I'm cranky with you.

Because you stopped at 10.5 and didn't do the 11.25 like I thought you were going to... I can't fit 7.5m spheres inside the largest toroidal! For shame!!!!111oneoneone

Tell me again why you decided to go away from the standard 1.25m multiplier base? I really don't get the reasoning behind it.

EDIT3: Ok... I see exactly what you did. You used the 1.25m multiplier as a base for radii for the inner and outer edges of the torii. ie.. the Large has a 3.75m outer radius and 2.5m inner radius. I see what you did there.

~Steve

EDIT: You also forgot to make a regular liquid fuel download... but that's ok, I can just make it myself. Who the heck uses oxy anyways? pffft

EDIT2: Ugh... just noticed you gave the new toroidals appropriate dry mass. You do the calculation by surface area as I usually do? ...and you should consider cutting the hub mass in quarter. Yeesh

Edited by NeoAcario
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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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Thanks to NeoAcario, i have now fallen lov...i mean i have started to like very much on these balls...eh...spherical tanks, they just look so, um, funny, in a good way.

My heavy tanker is now a ball... :cool:

Well... less parts.. more centralized center of gravity... shorter length... less chance to hit things when maneuvering around other vehicles...

EDIT: Oh yeah, and least possible mass for most possible volume! Yay geometry!

I tell ya it's a win win. And Toroidals go great between them!

I store the vast majority of my fuel as kethane and just refine what I need. So... spheres of kethane.. 1 toroidal monoprop... 1 LFO (liquid and oxy in one!)... 1 Xenon.

What's not to like?!

~Steve

Edited by NeoAcario
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NeoAcario

NeoAcario

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Sorry to do this, Talisar... but your math is wrong on the Toroidal tanks (or my visual measurements are).

Comparing to a standard orange rockomax, which we all agree is the gold standard when it comes to fuel storage, we get these values.

http://ncalculators.com/area-volume/cylinder-calculator.htm

Rockomax is 1.25m radius and 7.5m tall

Volume is 36.8304m³

Surface Area is 68.75m²

LFO is 2880/3520

Dry Mass is 4t

http://www.endmemo.com/geometry/torus.php

New Large LFO Toroidal has a 3.75m outer radius and 2.5m inner radius

Volume is 24.095714m³

Surface Area is 77.106284m²

LFO is 1156.5/1413.5

Dry Mass is 6t

We can see just at a glance that the numbers don't add up.... but when we do the math it's very wrong.

LFO should be 1884.195/2302.905

Dry Mass should be 4.486t

(or whatever rounding you wish to do)

Sorry, Talisar... I love ya... but you're just pre-nerfing these new toroidals way too hard.

~Steve

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