[0.24.2] Wolf Aerospace - Perfectrons / L.E.S. Pack [11.08.2014]

[scottholio]

Sweet, looking great

[Guest]

Even if it doesn't look like it, I'm working guys.

Really.

Looking forward to this one!

[samcar304]

Any news on the Launch escape towers? we are all going to need them now we can pick our favorite kerbals to fly the ships

[PDCWolf]

Any news on the Launch escape towers? we are all going to need them now we can pick our favorite kerbals to fly the ships

I'm working with that, but I've also been doing this:

As you can see, those are the ones kizza42 requested.

[Rassa Farlander]

Awesome Perfectrons!!! Im looking forward to seeing how this develops with the other parts as well! Nice work!

[kizza42]

Those "Empujador's" Look great, Keep up the good work PDCWolf!

[mushroomman]

It's not dead! Yay!

Now I will give you infinite love when you release those newer seprotron things.

[PDCWolf]

+New release added to the OP. The perfectrons 2.

[MOARdV]

+New release added to the OP. The perfectrons 2.

Excellent! I can retire the sideways Perfectrons and start using Retrotrons. Although - no more "Gambler" Perfectron? The low-powered units were useful for separating lighter stages. I guess I will need to edit the config to create my own low-thrust Retrotron.

[PDCWolf]

Excellent! I can retire the sideways Perfectrons and start using Retrotrons. Although - no more "Gambler" Perfectron? The low-powered units were useful for separating lighter stages. I guess I will need to edit the config to create my own low-thrust Retrotron.

Retrotrons have low values by default, you'll need 2 or 3 of them to decouple a orange tank + rockomax 16 + engine combo. This is so that you don't need a smaller variable for smaller stuff.

The new perfectrons also share the same balance. You'll need 2 to decouple bigger lateral stages, and only one for the small stuff.

[betaking]

I'm excited for that launch escape system.. Especially if it could be made to like blend with sumghai's shroud.

[drtedastro]

H'mmm, the download on the spaceport seems to be broken.... is there a different link??

thanks.

[PDCWolf]

Had a major edit because the imagehost I used crashed or something and all my images dissapeared. I also released the new perfectrons and the first version of the L.E.S. pack

And yes the download on spaceport is fixed.

[Camacha]

Excellent. I was looking for a small pod LES, as I plan to run a safe space program.

[Guest]

Could you make the separation motors on top of the Soyuz tower operational? That would solve "decouple node" issues. Also, Apollo LES had RCS in the nosecone, for some reason hardly anyone remembers about that.

[PDCWolf]

Could you make the separation motors on top of the Soyuz tower operational? That would solve "decouple node" issues. Also, Apollo LES had RCS in the nosecone, for some reason hardly anyone remembers about that.

As far as my understanding goes, there's no way to make the separation motors work without plugins (because it would be like making 2 engines into a single one and the game can't understand what you are trying to do).

On the RCS issue, there weren't any RCS as far as I remember (In fact, RCS were nova's ugly solution to the issue, by making a 2-part escape tower composed of the tower itself and a nosecone with rcs capability)

The "Pitch control motors" were a series of solid motors that fired only when needed (If the abort was during the first seconds of the launch where the rocket is mostly vertical and thrusting up won't get you out of the way).

What it had, that mine does not, is self-deploying canards. I could do the animation part but the canards would have no use so I decided not to include them.

[Guest]

Right, it was the Orion LES that had an active attitude control. Also, the way to make separation motors work is to split the LES into two parts (a 3rd part, possibly radial, would work as a pitch control motor). BobCat did that in his mod, and it works. Also, canards don't do anything useful (not without a plugin), but they do look incredibly cool.

[wasmic]

Those LES' look very cool. But do they have room for parachutes? Wait, that doesn't matter, I'm using SDHI, so I can just use the Boost Protective Cover and Sumghai's parachute-dockingports.

[kiwiak]

For some reason i just cant use separation assistants.. I put them on my core fuel tank, but i cant attach any boosters to them.

[wasmic]

For some reason i just cant use separation assistants.. I put them on my core fuel tank, but i cant attach any boosters to them.

They're meant for use like sepratrons - they won't decouple anything.

[PDCWolf]

For some reason i just cant use separation assistants.. I put them on my core fuel tank, but i cant attach any boosters to them.

Like Wasmic said, perfectrons are engines that separate your stuff once you decouple it. They are not decouplers, they are separatrons. Anyways, something like a "Decoupler-separatron" hybrid could be made. I'll further investigate this.

Those LES' look very cool. But do they have room for parachutes? Wait, that doesn't matter, I'm using SDHI, so I can just use the Boost Protective Cover and Sumghai's parachute-dockingports.

Space inside the LES is something that will be in future versions. It was already suggested.

Right, it was the Orion LES that had an active attitude control. Also, the way to make separation motors work is to split the LES into two parts (a 3rd part, possibly radial, would work as a pitch control motor). BobCat did that in his mod, and it works. Also, canards don't do anything useful (not without a plugin), but they do look incredibly cool.

Personally, I see LES as a way to save on partcount and get a nice -thing- instead of 8 separatrons clipped together joined to a tower of cubic struts and then tethered to a command pod. I'm just aiming for part reduction here, so more complex systems are not something I'll look to in the immediate future. Maybe as a later addition to the L.E.S. Pack. But before all that, I want to finish what I promised (The other LES models, the radial engines, etc).

Once all that is done, I'll keep working with the SRB Pack.

[Zander]

@PDCWolf

Ive tried it and the models are very nice and thrust seems to be realistic but there is a very big realism oversight with your LES. They only work when the command module weight is centered. But real life command modules didnt have their weight centered. They were weighted on one side so that during reentry the bottom of the module would form a lifting surface that could be rotated with RCS to provide upward or downward lift to keep the proper reentry angle.

I weight all my command modules to one side like in real life so i can use FAR and DRE to do lifting reentries like the real apollo CM. But when i try your escape tower with this it just flips around in the air and then rips apart.

Can you fix it?

Also, can you include the sheath on your escape tower that covers the command module?

[PDCWolf]

@PDCWolf

Ive tried it and the models are very nice and thrust seems to be realistic but there is a very big realism oversight with your LES. They only work when the command module weight is centered. But real life command modules didnt have their weight centered. They were weighted on one side so that during reentry the bottom of the module would form a lifting surface that could be rotated with RCS to provide upward or downward lift to keep the proper reentry angle.

I weight all my command modules to one side like in real life so i can use FAR and DRE to do lifting reentries like the real apollo CM. But when i try your escape tower with this it just flips around in the air and then rips apart.

So the problem is off-center thrust. It can be solved by angling one of the 4 thrustTransforms either more or less vertical. The problem is which one. I will try to solve it, but you'll have to wait. You know, finals and stuff (South hemisphere).

Also, can you include the sheath on your escape tower that covers the command module?

The BPC on the Apollo-style tower is planned.

[wasmic]

So the problem is off-center thrust. It can be solved by angling one of the 4 thrustTransforms either more or less vertical. The problem is which one. I will try to solve it, but you'll have to wait. You know, finals and stuff (South hemisphere).

The BPC on the Apollo-style tower is planned.

But fixing that problem would introduce problems for all of us who don't use DRE and FAR. Maybe it should be a seperate download?

[therealcrow999]

You add engine on top of LES that when attivated it will cause the tower to turn and flip away from main rocket, this way a player doesn't have to control the turn.

Or you can angle one the engines on bottom slightly to left or right, this will cause the turn and flip. I think this would work better.