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[WIP] Nert's Dev Thread - Current: various updates


Nertea

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1 hour ago, Nertea said:

At the moment, I do not feel like continuing work on FFT so I'm going to shelve it.

I just hope it isn't shelved indefinitely, but I can understand if your interested are elsewhere.
Welp, so far it still works, so that isn't too bad for me.

1 hour ago, Nertea said:

Development of new content in this thread is going to shift to a different mod, Near Future Exploration

But that does sound rather interesting.
A probe oriented Near future mod does sound like a cool thing. 
I'll be looking forward to that.

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@Nertea I also hope that it isn't a long term wait for inspiration to come back to this!

I feel that FF has always been a nice to have, but for career players so many places can be got to without getting to these parts.  But I think that for mods like Kerbalism and JNSQ, where radiation, stress and distance add difficukty doing the crewed missions to the outermost planets is only possible with the far future engines to get the speed and ISP.

Looking forward to the NF Exploration and your ideas for it. 

Peace.

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3 hours ago, Nertea said:

Development of new content in this thread is going to shift to a different mod, Near Future Exploration, which will be focused around better payload solutions for probes and other exploratory things.

This is so exciting! I'm really looking forward to this, since in KSP there isn't really any real experience of putting together space probes, they usually just end up looking like rocket stages with science experiments bolted on. Maybe you can support some DMagic science experiments as well as other, new experiments? And a Really Powerful Antenna would be extremely useful especially for wide-spaced planet mods like OPM and Whirligig World. Maybe even a laser comm for interstellar-scale transmission? Just a few ideas. Whatever happens, I'm sure this will be one of the first mods I install for any KSP playthrough. :D 

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6 hours ago, GregroxMun said:

This is so exciting! I'm really looking forward to this, since in KSP there isn't really any real experience of putting together space probes, they usually just end up looking like rocket stages with science experiments bolted on. Maybe you can support some DMagic science experiments as well as other, new experiments? And a Really Powerful Antenna would be extremely useful especially for wide-spaced planet mods like OPM and Whirligig World. Maybe even a laser comm for interstellar-scale transmission? Just a few ideas. Whatever happens, I'm sure this will be one of the first mods I install for any KSP playthrough. :D 

I'm always on the lookout for nice detailed concepts of cool antenna systems. I haven't found any that I love yet. 

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Payload systems would be a great thing for sure! I'm trying to transport rovers to Mun and Duna and it's a bit of a pain right now :/ But maybe big payload containers are out of the scope of NF Exploration? Either way more payload for probes sounds amazing too, alongside the possibility of science, antennas and other useful bits and pieces :D If I think of anything else that would be cool I'll suggest it. Your work is incredible so anything you release is always a must have! 

 

Edited by madindehead
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Something I thought about last night: More landing legs would be useful! I know you have one set in NFLV but there's an overall lack in the game :/ A wide set would be good. And something a bit longer too. Another good thing would be lander cans for small rovers - I guess like a garage. Could work with a probe core size maybe :/ 

Edited by madindehead
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6 minutes ago, madindehead said:

Something I thought about last night: More landing legs would be useful! I know you have one set in NFLV but there's an overall lack in the game :/ A wide set would be good. And something a bit longer too. Another good thing would be lander cans for rovers - I guess like a garage? 

This pack includes: (as of 0.2)

  • 3-Man Lander Can
  • 4-Man Capsule
  • Several sets of large landing legs (the "medium" set will handle Mainsails, and the "large" works with Mammoths).
  • Large radial and stackable parachutes
  • Long static ladders
  • Very long deployable ladders
  • Service bays / rover garages.

 

and two more landing legs here:

 

Edited by zer0Kerbal
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9 hours ago, madindehead said:

Something I thought about last night: More landing legs would be useful! I know you have one set in NFLV but there's an overall lack in the game :/ A wide set would be good. And something a bit longer too. Another good thing would be lander cans for small rovers - I guess like a garage. Could work with a probe core size maybe :/ 

This one has more legs suitable for big rockets

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10 hours ago, madindehead said:

Something I thought about last night: More landing legs would be useful! I know you have one set in NFLV but there's an overall lack in the game :/ A wide set would be good. And something a bit longer too. Another good thing would be lander cans for small rovers - I guess like a garage. Could work with a probe core size maybe :/ 

Unfortunately, KSP legs are, as my space mission engineering prof put it, "a real bear". I like making the models, but rigging them up functionally is some kind of dark art. I don't plan on doing any of these as part of this project.

 

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On 8/9/2019 at 8:58 PM, Nertea said:

I'm always on the lookout for nice detailed concepts of cool antenna systems. I haven't found any that I love yet. 

IMO, phased arrays look pretty neat, and are very different looking from the conventional pole and dish designs that are well covered by Restock and Restock+.

Spoiler

Iridium-NEXT-phased-array-antenna-panels

The series of orange hexagonal units here form the main phased array antenna on the Iridium-NEXT satelites.

image_gallery?img_id=175925&t=1338303163

GIOVE-B.jpg

And this is the GIOVE-B, with it's NAVANT phased array, the flat bit with all the circles on it.

 

Also, if you are looking for other ideas, I think it would be nice to have some scientific instruments that could be used as Scansat scanners. (Radar altimetry and biome imaging/mapping). I've always had difficulty cleanly integrating scansat's parts onto my satellites. 

Edited by TBenz
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11 hours ago, TBenz said:

IMO, phased arrays look pretty neat, and are very different looking from the conventional pole and dish designs that are well covered by Restock and Restock+.

  Reveal hidden contents

Iridium-NEXT-phased-array-antenna-panels

The series of orange hexagonal units here form the main phased array antenna on the Iridium-NEXT satelites.

image_gallery?img_id=175925&t=1338303163

GIOVE-B.jpg

And this is the GIOVE-B, with it's NAVANT phased array, the flat bit with all the circles on it.

 

Also, if you are looking for other ideas, I think it would be nice to have some scientific instruments that could be used as Scansat scanners. (Radar altimetry and biome imaging/mapping). I've always had difficulty cleanly integrating scansat's parts onto my satellites. 

I definitely want to make some remote sensing instruments as part of a mod. Don't know if it'll be this one, but as EO satellites are my day job, it would be really cool. There's some awesome things out there, like...

I looked into this a few weeks ago, even mapped out a part -> gameplay concept map

  • Radar Altimetry 
    • 2 models, one primitive, one newer
    • Similar function to the one in ScanSat now, low res terrain mapping
  • Multipectral imaging
    • Needs daylight
    • Wide FOV
    • Biome mapping, resource mapping
  • High resolution imaging
    • Needs daylight
    • 2-3 models
      • One based on the older Coronas, for history's sake
      • One based on the KH-11 because what's cooler than an HST pointed right at the earth
      • One based on a commercial platform, probably something from DG
    • Narrow FOV
  • SAR imaging
    • Doesn't need daylight, but needs more power
    • A few different models
      • Something X-Band (lowest FOV, lowest required power)
      • Something C-Band
      • Something P/L-Band (widest FOV, highest required power)
    • Terrain mapping 
    • Potentially an alternate model using C-band that includes resource mapping
  • Locational mapping (BTDT)
    • AIS antenna 

Would be fun... I'd love to couple this with a contract pack that would make a whole EO program experience viable, something that would create missions that rewarded all the things that we look for when developing these missions, like

  • Place sensor X into a specific orbit
  • Observe target Y with sensor type Y
  • Observe target Z with sensor type K within the next few hours
  • Etc

Yknow, things that would encourage understanding of SSO orbits, constellation design, etc. 

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1 hour ago, Nertea said:

[Lots of really cool satellite stuff]

That would be absolutely awesome. If not a Near Future Exploration thing, it sounds like enough to warrant a Near Future Satellites pack. :D

Also, I noticed that one of the bus shapes you proposed looked like it has a similar size and form factor to the OctoGirder parts from NF Construction. Is that a coincidence, or were you planning on having some of these new parts share dimensions with the OctoGirder line? There are already several useful OctoGirder parts that would be nice to be cleanly compatible with these new bus parts.

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2 hours ago, TBenz said:

Also, I noticed that one of the bus shapes you proposed looked like it has a similar size and form factor to the OctoGirder parts from NF Construction. Is that a coincidence, or were you planning on having some of these new parts share dimensions with the OctoGirder line? There are already several useful OctoGirder parts that would be nice to be cleanly compatible with these new bus parts.

It is indeed intentional and should be the same footprint. 

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On 8/14/2019 at 7:32 PM, Nertea said:

I definitely want to make some remote sensing instruments as part of a mod. 

[...very cool stuff...]

Would be fun... I'd love to couple this with a contract pack that would make a whole EO program experience viable, something that would create missions that rewarded all the things that we look for when developing these missions, like

  • Place sensor X into a specific orbit
  • Observe target Y with sensor type Y
  • Observe target Z with sensor type K within the next few hours
  • Etc

Yknow, things that would encourage understanding of SSO orbits, constellation design, etc. 

We've been entertaining the same idea, and collected some general information about how Earth/Sun observing missions are done (https://github.com/Kerbalism/Kerbalism/wiki/Dev-~-Satellite-Contracts) and even have a mod in it's infancy that, one day, should make it all happen (https://github.com/Kerbalism/KerbalismContracts).

Short term goal: missions that build on top of the Kerbalism radiation model, so that you'll have to "research" (= go and take radiation level measurements in different areas around a body) before the radiation belts become visible in map view. The next version of Kerbalism will have the features needed for that.

Long term goal: integration with the Kerbalism science system which, in essence, means that you'll have to provide resources (EC, coolant, ...) that are needed to run an experiment, and you need to worry about means of communication so you can send the results back.

Making this thing agnostic to Kerbalism and/or Principia would probably be possible - and we really could need some help with parts. Would you be interested in a cooperation?

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@Nertea I made analisis of the fusion engine to determine how they were balanced against eachother

Tech Engine Mass Thrust T/W Isp Thrust Power Energy Production
experimental nuclear propulsion z-pinch fission 30.32 512 1.72 9500 23.9 GW  
advanced fusion reaction z-pinch fusion 27.21 375 1.40 19350 35.6 GW  
advanced fusion reaction tokamak magnetic fusion 15 495 3.36 17900 43.5 GW 500 kW
exotic reactions inertial ablative fusion 18 512 2.90 22500 56.5 GW  
quantum reactions mirror magnetic fusion 32 1500 4.78 125000 920 GW 250 kW
quantum reactions inertial magnetic fusion 20 250 1.27 322500 395 GW  
               

I notice the tokamak magnetic fusio has remarkable high Trust tot Weight, mainly due to it low mass when compaired to other far future technology engine. COmpled with the engergy production of 500 kw this engine appears to be too light.

Edited by FreeThinker
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19 hours ago, Sir Mortimer said:

We've been entertaining the same idea, and collected some general information about how Earth/Sun observing missions are done (https://github.com/Kerbalism/Kerbalism/wiki/Dev-~-Satellite-Contracts) and even have a mod in it's infancy that, one day, should make it all happen (https://github.com/Kerbalism/KerbalismContracts).

Short term goal: missions that build on top of the Kerbalism radiation model, so that you'll have to "research" (= go and take radiation level measurements in different areas around a body) before the radiation belts become visible in map view. The next version of Kerbalism will have the features needed for that.

Long term goal: integration with the Kerbalism science system which, in essence, means that you'll have to provide resources (EC, coolant, ...) that are needed to run an experiment, and you need to worry about means of communication so you can send the results back.

Making this thing agnostic to Kerbalism and/or Principia would probably be possible - and we really could need some help with parts. Would you be interested in a cooperation?

I'm just going to make parts at this point, so I think the usual will apply - I suspect you will change the functions of them when Kerbalism is installed.

24 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

@Nertea I made analisis of the fusion engine to determine how they were balanced against eachother

Tech Engine Mass Thrust T/W Isp Thrust Power Energy Production
experimental nuclear propulsion z-pinch fission 30.32 512 1.72 9500 23.9 GW  
advanced fusion reaction z-pinch fusion 27.21 375 1.40 19350 35.6 GW  
advanced fusion reaction tokamak magnetic fusion 15 495 3.36 17900 43.5 GW 500 kW
exotic reactions inertial ablative fusion 18 512 2.90 22500 56.5 GW  
quantum reactions mirror magnetic fusion 32 1500 4.78 125000 920 GW 250 kW
quantum reactions inertial magnetic fusion 20 250 1.27 322500 395 GW  
               

I notice the tokamak magnetic fusio has remarkable high Trust tot Weight, mainly due to it low mass when compaired to other far future technology engine. COmpled with the engergy production of 500 kw this engine appears to be too light.

Maybe it is, but for the moment development is paused. I have plans to revisit and rework the plugins running the engines somewhat in the future. The.. far future. 

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22 minutes ago, Nertea said:

Maybe it is, but for the moment development is paused. I have plans to revisit and rework the plugins running the engines somewhat in the future. The.. far future. 

I don't understand. FFT looks quite good already , it perhaps just needs little tweaking and it could be released. Why the delay? Are there any major blocking issues that prevent a release?

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43 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

I don't understand. FFT looks quite good already , it perhaps just needs little tweaking and it could be released. Why the delay? Are there any major blocking issues that prevent a release?

Logically the same. Technologies of the distant future should be in the distant future. :sticktongue:

Edited by OOM
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