A bunch of parts I'd like to see in the game:

[thereaverofdarkness]

Here is a list of fairly basic parts that I have repeatedly wished were available stock so that I could put them on my rockets:

(I like stock parts, I refuse to get addons because I cannot trust that they won't mess up my game)

* fuel tanks with only oxidizer (small ones, varying sizes), so that I can design my rocket/jet craft to have less excess fuel

* more small and xenon tank sizes like the mediums and larges, also the large in-line RCS tank needs a smaller version. I hate having to put on two radial tanks just because the in-line is either too big or uses a medium mount size

* a half-length type-1 fuselage with fuel and also a structural version -- there are currently no structural parts that size other than the LT-200 fuel tank

* a very large girder segment shaped like the Eiffel Tower so that I can make a girder tower that can stand on its own without using insane part counts

* small fins, like the AV-8 but much smaller -- and big fins, about the size of the delta wing but with a large control surface area like a canard

* a bright wide-field light that I can use to light up my base without having 15+ lights using up all my processing power -- and a very narrow-beam light that can shine out a few km, for landing perhaps

* laser altimeter that would both give me a reading on its distance to the ground and would make a tiny red dot on the ground

* a dual-stage parachute with drogue and regular, for smoother parachuting when using only one chute -- or make it so I can attach a drogue onto the top of a regular chute

* large and small jet engines -- small for tiny SSTO probes, large for single-engine SSTOs with larger payloads, because single-engine is just so much easier!

* small rocket engine between the size of the small rockomax and the ant engine, maybe about 5-8 thrust (seriously the ant is too weak, also has terrible thrust to mass ratio)

* large and small atomic and aerospike engines, especially large atomic because the mediums don't couple very well (they explode when activated)

* propellers

* medium (3x3) and large (9x9) static solar panels along with right triangle versions of these and the original for both better shaping and fewer parts use when coating things in panel

* right-triangle versions of structural panels

* small radial decouplers

* large rover wheel. At current there are two mediums and an extra-large. I often want something bigger than the mediums but the huge ones are just far too big for anything I build.

* a 2-seater in-line cockpit like on fighter jets, with pilot in front and copilot in back, which has a small mount on the front and a mark-2 fuselage mount on the back -- or just any cockpit supporting mark 2 would be great

* a small-mount command pod that seats 1 Kerbal, with absolute minimum specs (very brittle, almost no torque or electricity storage), and it probably bulges out a bit -- for the lulz of course, or possibly useful somehow

* a robotic probe command pod that's bigger and heavier but comes with stronger torque and a larger battery -- mostly to save on parts and make building probes simpler, I'd use it for making space station modules so that each module wasn't carrying fifteen excess parts with it, to keep station part count low

Also I'd like to request that you consider removing the thrust-vectoring from the Rockomax Mainsail. Not only does it seem out of place on such a large engine built entirely for maximum thrust output, but it causes the engine to buckle on the launchpad (or is that some weird bug?). Also it's weird that the LV-T is the only standard bell engine without thrust vectoring. I think the max thrust variant of each size (that being the mainsail, LV-T, and small rockomax) should lack thrust vectoring. But that's just me.

Edited September 2, 2013 by thereaverofdarkness

[shand]

What version of the game are you playing? it isn't 0.21 thats for sure.

Just a quick of the top of my head:

theres the radial xenon tank now too. also 3 sizes of RCS tank including the narrowest size (is that 0.675m?)

Large fins can be made by putting control surfaces on the back of delta wings. easy.

therse the radar altemetre in landing can cockpits if you care to use them.

The larger probe body (RC-L01) exists and satisfies your request except it doesnt have a large battery - try using it with the large battery (z-4k) if you want more electric storage

The mk2-to-size-1 adapter will help you fit the mk2 cockpit to a mk2 stack.

propellers and parachutes and other aero requests will be sorted after the next aero improvement (in the works, eventually)

[thereaverofdarkness]

I am playing 0.21.1. Yes there is a radial Xenon tank but it's about the same size as the in-line. There are three in-line RCS tanks and if you read what I wrote, you would see that the problem I have is with the largest one. It uses the large mount size and is entirely too big for most of my purposes. I want a large mount size RCS tank that's flatter like the 4K battery.

The reason I don't want to attach a battery and torque wheel to the probe core was mentioned above: trying to save on part count for physics reasons. The large probe core (which is what I usually use) has appallingly low torque and electricity storage. I don't ask for much, but 0.5 torque and 15 electricity is practically nothing. It takes very little more mass to add 20 torque and 100 electricity storage. I don't understand why the probe core can't be given 5 torque and 50 energy storage.

I know I can put control surfaces onto delta wings, but they give about as much control surface as a canard, while taking up two parts. Delta wings are only good for lift. Pivoting fins are very useful for keeping large rockets going straight.

I know there is a Mk 2 to size 1 adapter, and it looks stupid. I'd like to see an actual mark 2 cockpit so that mark 2 planes can look nice.

I did not know there was an altimeter on the lander modules. I'll have to look into that. Still, a separate altimeter would be so nice to be able to attach anywhere!

Edited September 2, 2013 by thereaverofdarkness

[Beeman]

I don't know about more intermediately sized tanks, radial or not...but at some point we're going to be able to manually fill our tanks with whatever we want. SO, you'll definitely be able to fill some tanks with only oxidizer.

A lot of what you suggested seems to be in the pipeline somewhere but much of it is probably very low priority. Lower than bigger career mode features, at least.

As for the spaceplane bits or wings or whatever, we'll definitely see all of the spaceplane parts get remade at some point. They're just old and don't really fit with the visual style of the game anymore. I think they're the oldest parts right now, actually. Been there since .15 without any major improvements or anything. So whenever we see an aerodynamic update, we'll most certainly see spaceplane parts get reworked too. Who knows what they'll include at that point. Might be crazy.

[MrJPenguin1]

Isn't this on the what not to suggest list? I mean, I know that he isn't technically asking for new parts and he actually described them but still.

[Fury6]

As for the gimballing engines, if you don't like your engines to vector then just lock the engine gimbals, simple.

Gimbaling has nothing to do with engine capacity, or for that matter the engines themselves. Rocket engines generally are not capable of vectoring their thrust (the ones you can kick that is, not the in-game ones), rather the vectoring is a function of the engine mountings. Engineers will either use fixed or gimbaled mounts according to the specific design requirements of the vehicle regardless of the type and capacity of engines they're using.

--

"Take-offs = landings... it's been an OK day"

[Fooblack]

Just a tip before this gets deleted, a lot of the parts you need can be fairly easily created yourself, if you haven't already. Just copy an existing part and make a few changes to the part.cfg. Or for example:

* fuel tanks with only oxidizer (small ones, varying sizes), so that I can design my rocket/jet craft to have less excess fuel

For this, a really easy way is to download Part Generator. Then, make a fuel tank with auto-oxidizer enabled, and enter in about how much extra jet fuel you're endign up with after your spaceplane makes it to orbit. Then, disable the auto-ratio and set the fuel to 0. You can specify the shape and, within limits, the size of the part, and the texture.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Fooblack
edit- mucked up the link

[thereaverofdarkness]

Thanks for the tips guys, but I did mean this more as a list of parts suggestions and less asking for you guys to help me find ways to do it myself. I can find ways to go around all of these, but I think they would be excellent parts to add to the current lineup. Also, I can't figure out how to use the radar altimeter on the lander cans, nor can I find evidence that any such device exists. Anyone else know how to use that thing?

[Space_Coyote]

If you want a personal opinion, I think the parts being made by sumghai should be included into the game.. Especially his Integrated Androgynous Common Berthing Modules .. These double as not only a docking collar for any stations or vehcicles, they can also be used as a means for exiting the vehicle or space craft (Too bad the Unity game engine hasn't been able to use more than 1 exit point.. cause if it could, can you imagine what people could do in space stations and other vehicles?)

So I say incorporate those into Kerbal Space Program...

Space_Coyote

[sumghai]

If you want a personal opinion, I think the parts being made by sumghai should be included into the game.. Especially his Integrated Androgynous Common Berthing Modules .. These double as not only a docking collar for any stations or vehcicles, they can also be used as a means for exiting the vehicle or space craft (Too bad the Unity game engine hasn't been able to use more than 1 exit point.. cause if it could, can you imagine what people could do in space stations and other vehicles?)

Not necessarily my parts, but to make docking ports in general to also have the ability to act as hatches. At the moment, my IACBMs aren't airlocks on their own - they simply have the ability to unblock any hatch that they are placed over.

I know of Wayland Corp's alleged Portable hatch, but delving into its CFGs reveals it is simply a flattened command pod with its own airlock (i.e. you need to transfer the crew into the imaginary pod first before exiting out of the portable hatch).