[1.0.2] NovaPunch 2.09. - May 6th - 1.0 Compatibility Update

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

How about upsizing the whole rocket? Lets say... the upper part has a diameter of 2m (instead of 1m) so that it can house a lander in

My size suggestion would be...

First stage: 4.5m base, 4m top

Second stage: 3.5m base, 3m top

Third stage: 2.5m base, 2m top

Decoupler sizes are not shown because it\'s obvious already.

I guess 2m is enough to house landers with a standard retractable landing gear.

This will definitely make it a dedicated parts pack due to the unorthodox sizes. The original would have used .75 sizes, but I\'ve replaced it with .5 due to Silisko Edition Alpha.

[Tiberion]

Took me a minute.. you\'re talking about the N1, ya?

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Took me a minute.. you\'re talking about the N1, ya?

yup. sorry forgot to specify it

how\'s my size suggestion?

[Tiberion]

Well, the interstage decouplers don\'t change diameters top to bottom, they\'re straight, the bottom of stage 2 would be the same as the top of stage 1

So probably 3.5->3.0 | 3.0 -> 2.5 | 2.5 -> 2.0

2m sounds right for the shrouds around the L3 section.

I\'d probably do a mockup with simple cylinders in Blender to test, wouldn\'t be too hard.

Just finding time..

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Rechecked it already. You\'re right, the shrouds have no diameter changes.

3.5m - 2m sounds plausible already

[mossman]

So, Tiberion. Would you consider making a 1.75m to 2m decoupler shroud? As I\'ve stated previously, it\'s currently possible with the current parts in the pack to have a 1.75m stage connect to a 2m stage - But the current 1.75m decoupler is fairly ugly and adds a good deal of unnecessary length and mass to the launch vehicle in question.

Also, I\'ve noticed that the decouplers have been fairly underpowered since a recent update.

[Zhatt]

I just downloaded the pack a bit ago, and I noted an error:

Part NP_1.75m_short_fueltank_HH78ab has a crash tolerance of 10, which I assume should be 160.

It\'s a small change, but I was wondering for a while why my ship kept splitting in half on assent.

Other than that, it\'s a great pack.

Edit:

My ship is still splitting in half just as it exits the lower layer of the atmosphere. I tried increasing the crash tolerance of part 'NP_2m_1.75_adapter' (HH-90908 Adapter) to 160, but it still keeps happening. The ship is attached; try it out yourself.

Edit again:

I found out what it was. The large fairings at the top of the ship create so much drag, that it was crushing the ship together with the amount of power I was giving it. It\'s really cool that this is simulated, but it took me a while to figure it out. I can launch with the same ship, I just don\'t engage the liquid engine at the same time as the solid booster. Now it\'s slow enough that it doesn\'t get ripped apart by drag.

[Tiberion]

Good catch, Zhatt, I\'ll tweak that crash tolerance; and those fairings should have been zero drag. Those old fairings are gone (being repurposed) and the new ones should work better.

I\'ll finally show you what I have been working on lately, it took way longer than I wanted, but its down now say hello to the Odin Orbital Transport Vehicle (OTV):

It\'s a self-contained orbiter with a service module; suited for Kerbin-orbit tasks such as space station crew runs or serving as a CSM for a Mun mission.

It\'s built on the original SIDR pod I posted a while back, with a bunch of small parts to make it fully functional. It can make a powered landing, though you\'ll have to land on the docking strut that is on the bottom (had zero luck making tiny landing legs) but you can also jettison the service module and make a water landing in the pod.

I am not gonna add it to the main NP pack, though its fully compatible; I have a test version so I can get some feedback on how it flies.

Fuel levels

RCS levels

RCS Power

Land-ability

Ease of orbital maneuvering/rendezvous?

Edit: OdinOTV released, find newest version on front page

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Gonna try to get the next NP version out really soon; got some work left:

Edit decoupler ejection forces across the board

Add 1.75m aero-decoupler

Add 1.75-2m Decoupler shroud

The old Sundaypunch fairing is gonna be a 1m housing for Odin and such, with half-adapter to jump up to 1.75

A smaller copy of the solar panel for the Odin (or lander, or whatever) as the new one from Slug\'s pack is.. large.

Also, I am going through and adding the NP_ prefix to ALL parts; so the next version WILL invalidate old .craft files; I should have got it done when the craft files were wiped in previous KSP versions, but it needs to happen now.

Oh well, half the fun is building them, right?

[Zhatt]

Hey Tiberion,

I just tried lowering the wall and cone fairing drag way down, but I still get the issue. It always breaks between the 2m to 1.75m adapter and the 1.75m stack decouplers (both sizes). I can get the same thing to happen on the NovaPunch Heavy that comes with the pack, but it\'s harder to make it happen.

As for the Odin module, it looks awesome! I\'m particularly fond of the module itself and the heat shield. That\'s an ingenious setup you have there too.

I noted one big issue trying it right now; the lower RCS thrusters don\'t quite work. While transiting horizontally they fire the wrong direction. This causes the craft to pitch or yaw, but in the opposite direction from the animation shows. Also while rotating the lower RCS kind of just sputter in three different directions. Vertical translation works and looks just fine.

A few small things bug me. The fuel tanks hold nearly half the fuel as a stock small tank, but are a 20th the size. I\'ll have to experiment, but if you\'re just doing orbital maneuvers, you really don\'t need that much power. I could nearly return from a moon landing with that. I also find at full throttle the huge plume coming out of a tiny capsule a bit odd. Along the same lines, it\'s hard seeing that huge parachute fitting in that tiny package. The ASAS I think works well, since it\'s just a computer from what I understand.

The other thing is a bit more personal, but I\'m not fond of highly custom parts. If there was a way to make them widely useable in other applications without altering your look too much, that would be great.

All in all, a great craft. Looking forward to the updated pack.

Edit:

I used the below parameters on the fuel tanks which was enough to de-orbit from 1,500 Km.

fuel = 50

dryMass = 0.05

fullExplosionPotential = 0.225

emptyExplosionPotential = 0.02

This is 1/5th of the small stock fuel tank. I tried it at 1/10th and I couldn\'t de-orbit from only 1,000 Km. So it looks like you do need about 50 to 150 units of fuel to do anything useful.

[madmat]

The OTV looks AWESOME and works a treat. It\'s very nimble,I like that. Shame about the little legs not working out but i\'ll make do. It fits the launcher like a glove.I have a new fav..Great job

[Tiberion]

So, on the CSM tanks, I made the little core tanks small enough to allow the thrusters to snap around them, but that was more to make KSP play nice (it doesnt care for tiny colliders)

The intent is that the whole Service module is designed as a unit, with the internal space filled with propellant/fuel tanks and an access tunnel through the very middle

Somewhat like the ACTS, though obviously in a different configuration: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/acts.html

I\'m not sure on the fuel level yet; I want it to be able to serve as CSM on Mun missions, which basically means retroburning into munar orbit, waiting while the lander (which is renamed Thor) does its thing, and then make a return burn home.

So I guess its main uses of fuel:

Orbital achievement burn (after launch, once its booster drops off in a near orbital trajectory)

Burn(s) to intercept space-station for resupply/crew or other space craft (think Ares-style intercept for Mun mission, with the lander launched on a separate heavy)

Munar retroburn and orbiting and return-to-kerbin burn

Re-entry burns and landing burns

Obviously not all of those ever on a single mission. I\'ll see how much fuel it uses for a full munar mission, I\'m sure there is room to load less full, I was being conservative for the tester.

Okay, back to work on the NP final touches today.

[mossman]

Add 1.75-2m Decoupler shroud

Thank you.

[Tiberion]

1.75m Aero decouplers:

1.75m -> 2m Stage decoupler:

(that looks pretty swell, doesn\'t it?)

[Olsson]

I have a few questions:

What is the service module for?

What is docking good for/how do you do it?

[Tiberion]

service module is just a general term for part of a spacecraft that contains fuel, computers, supplies, etc; a lot of the things that the crew pod needs to survive.

Here is the Apollo Command and service modules:

Those two parts flew to the moon with the lander docked to the nose, the 2 men that landed get in the lander while one stayed in the Command module, and they landed on the moon. Later they return, redock and get back in the Command module and leave the lander behind. They return to earth using the engine on the back, and then leave the service module behind, landing in the ocean in the command module.

Now, docking isn\'t in the game yet, its scheduled for the 0.15 update. I am just planning slightly ahead.

---------

I should have a NP release done sometime tonight, hopefully you can test out 0.14.2 with it

[Olsson]

@Tiberion:

Yeah but does the service module have an actual purpose in game besides serving as fuel? Also for some reason upon leaving the atmosphere and turning off the engine I slow down that isn\'t according to the laws of physics if I\'m correct.

Also how does one use the Punch-Out Escape tower?

[Kryten]

When you leave the atmosphere and turn off the engine, gravity will still slow you down, unless you\'ve actually reached orbit.

[Tiberion]

The 'service module' isn\'t a module itself, its all of the parts below the capsule put together (the 2 tanks and the 4 engines and rcs blocks) which are modeled to form a single \'shape\'

So they serve the normal purposes, just in small sizes to make a single small orbiter.

Someday we\'ll have a plugin created that does allow for a \'service module\' which can hold both fuels, the computers, rcs and such in one part.

[Olsson]

Everything works great! It looks sweet though when I try to take off my rocket sways alot and goes side to side and it\'s very unstable standing at the start. I don\'t know how to make everything fly more stabile.

[Tiberion]

Since we didn\'t get a new version of KSP to play with this weekend, here is a little something to hold you over for the weekend;

NovaPunch 1.1alpha is now officially released! Get it from the 1st page

NovaPunch v1.1alpha

-Added the Odin Orbital Transport Vehicle as a separate download; See thread for details

-Added a significant amount of new parts from CaptainSlug\'s Assortd Hardware thread:

Payload Fairings in 1.75, 2 and 3 meter sizes

A set of radial boosters of various sizes and configurations

two new lander legs

a 1m aerospike engine

a 2nd 1.75m solid booster

tailcones and wingmounts

animated solar panel (non-functional)

a radial-mount parachute

-Animated the 2 existing landing legs

-Added 1.75m Aero-decoupler

-Added 1.75m-2m shroud decoupler

-Renamed most parts to have the NP_ prefix, old .craft files will be invalid, sorry!

-Tweaked the crash tolerance and breakingforce of the smallest 1.75m tank and the 2m-1.75m stack adapter

-New lander is renamed Thor Lunar Lander, tweaked to fit within the 1.75m fairing panels

-Tweaked all decoupler forces due to the change that occured in 0.14 (some may still be weak, point them out)

-Added some new craft files for examples

Important Reminders

This version requires 0.14+ to work; if you\'re on the demo you\'ll have to remove these three folders to load it: NP_Landingleg, NPThorLanderstrut, and NP_SolarCollector - they are animated parts using the new landerleg module. No plugins are required currently.

This new version MUST be installed cleanly; Remove ALL old NovaPunch folders. Old Craft files will almost surely be invalid too; You\'ll have to rebuild from scratch, sorry. Added NP_ prefixes to all part names, so it should be the last time (Fingers crossed!)

The old Sundaypunch 2m fairings are currently gone, replaced with the new fairings from Slug\'s pack. The old fairings are still being repurposed for something related to Odin.

[Lord_Stimpy]

Awesome, i needed to reorganize my mods anyway, and its great to have Slug\'s stuff already included this time.

[ultrasquid]

I miss the flare ball.

[ddavis425]

When I try to load the OdinOTV, it says that NP.OdinCapsule is missing. I\'m going to try re-downloading to see if that fixes it.

[Tiberion]

You need to download and install the separate Odin OTV parts in the 1st post; its a pre-release test version of the new capsule/orbiter

[ddavis425]

You need to download and install the separate Odin OTV parts in the 1st post; its a pre-release test version of the new capsule/orbiter

Alright, thanks, I just went with the link that was in your post