How do I make things sink, without applying thrust, in oceans?

[Nuclear_Wizard]

I'm looking for a method to make a craft sink to the bottom of the ocean. It's to be part of a floating Kethane mining rig on Laythe, which drops a capsule to the bottom of the ocean to mine from the sea-bed. Any methods to achieve this, or mods that can do this would be great. I have the airships mod, but can't seem to modify it to get negative buoyancy to sink the ship.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Nuclear_Wizard

[Kimberly]

You just need to be really heavy. Try using a modified KAS anchor, make it weigh 80 tons or something crazy like that.

[Nuclear_Wizard]

I've thought about that, but then I'd have to haul an 80t anchor to Laythe, which I cannot imagine to be fuel efficient.

[Geschosskopf]

There's a thread in the Mission Reports section called "To the Bottom of the Ocean", which deals with exactly this issue. Give it a read.

[Nuclear_Wizard]

Thanks! That was an interesting read. The weird water physics, however, is making me lose hope in this mission being possible.

[Tiron]

Thanks! That was an interesting read. The weird water physics, however, is making me lose hope in this mission being possible.

I have heard from a friend who is fond of submarines on Kerbin that the density needed to sink is lower in 0.21 than previously... And it makes things less weird, I think he said.

[Kimberly]

I've thought about that, but then I'd have to haul an 80t anchor to Laythe, which I cannot imagine to be fuel efficient.

You could just modify it after you get to Laythe. I don't think it's cheating, if it makes the water behave normally; a 1-ton anchor should sink anyway!

[Geschosskopf]

You could just modify it after you get to Laythe. I don't think it's cheating, if it makes the water behave normally; a 1-ton anchor should sink anyway!

But the oceans of Kerbin ain't water. Remember, Kerbin is a tiny body relative to Earth but has the same gravity, so its density is off the charts. Because so much of Kerbin is ocean, a lot of this density comes from them. The liquid is so dense that it can't evaporate, hence no clouds, which is lucky or rain would sandblast all the continents down to bedrock and then probably erode that, too. There are no tides nor waves for the same reason. The oceans of Eve are definitely not even close to being water; per the devs, they're supposed to be molten lead (quite dense, of course), which is why they have that silvery metallic look. Laythe oceans are probably akin to Kerbin's, but they ain't water, either.

Bottom line is, don't expect Earth-like behavior from any of the liquids in KSP.

[Motokid600]

But the oceans of Kerbin ain't water. Remember, Kerbin is a tiny body relative to Earth but has the same gravity, so its density is off the charts. Because so much of Kerbin is ocean, a lot of this density comes from them. The liquid is so dense that it can't evaporate, hence no clouds, which is lucky or rain would sandblast all the continents down to bedrock and then probably erode that, too. There are no tides nor waves for the same reason. The oceans of Eve are definitely not even close to being water; per the devs, they're supposed to be molten lead (quite dense, of course), which is why they have that silvery metallic look. Laythe oceans are probably akin to Kerbin's, but they ain't water, either.

Bottom line is, don't expect Earth-like behavior from any of the liquids in KSP.

See this is why it would've been nice if the scale of the solar system was a little bigger. Atleast half as big as SoL.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Motokid600

[Geschosskopf]

See this is why it would've been nice if the scale of the solar system was a little bigger. Atleast half as big as SoL.

I disagree. KSP is about rockets, not boats. And the benefits of a toy-sized solar system are IMMENSE! The bigger the solar system, the more delta-V you need to go somewhere, the longer it takes, and the longer time between launch windows. All these things are the opposite of fun. Trust me, I played Orbiter, with its full-size solar system, off and on for decades, then dumped it as soon as I heard about KSP, because KSP is so much more fun. And most of that fun comes from the tiny solar system.

[Nuclear_Wizard]

You could just modify it after you get to Laythe. I don't think it's cheating, if it makes the water behave normally; a 1-ton anchor should sink anyway!

Hmm, that could work. I'll start messing around with some parameters, and hope I don't break everything.

Edit: I found a solution. I took the Hooligan Labs mod and made an "anchor" airship by modifying the small "cirrus" part. The main change was making the envelope volume parameter negative. I also removed the animation, so it didn't expand at all when activated, and increased the impact tolerance so it didn't break when it got to the ocean floor. It took some messing around to get the ship to sink, and hit the bottom at a reasonable speed, but it works wonderfully.

I have a Kethane oil rig floating on Kerbin, with a drill module (attached to a modified KAS winch) just over 1km under the water, filling up the surface tanks. Now, do get this monstrosity to Laythe. And also a seaplane and/or floating runway.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Nuclear_Wizard
No double post