Mk 3 Pod redo

[Z3R0_0NL1N3]

The Mk3 Pod is weird because of its asymmetry. It needs to be retextured, plus it needs a heat shield. This could be modelled onto it, or made as another part.

[tetryds]

What is so wrong with the MK3 Pod?

It's my favorite pod, and the assymmetry allows me to place 4x symmetric boosters without locking up the hatch...

[Eric S]

Bigger problem with forcing the MK1-2 pod to have a symmetric hatch/ladder location is the positioning of RCS quads. Unless you want to lose about 30% of your RCS thrust, the quads have to be placed at the compass directions of the craft, which looks wrong if you're running a ladder down one of those directions, and if you use any parts that have hatches in line with the ladder (hitchhiker or lab modules, for example), this can lead to you accidentally placing a quad over a hatch, rendering the hatch unusable for egress from the module.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

I'm pretty sure that the circles on the front/rear of the pod are actually going to be hatches at some point - once this happens, the side hatch will probably get removed.

[tetryds]

I'm pretty sure that the circles on the front/rear of the pod are actually going to be hatches at some point - once this happens, the side hatch will probably get removed.

I'm not sure if it will get removed, but might become less important yes.

[Eric S]

I'm pretty sure that the circles on the front/rear of the pod are actually going to be hatches at some point - once this happens, the side hatch will probably get removed.

On the hitchhiker module? I see a few problems with that.

First, it means your hatch isn't accessible via ladder, unless you're moving the ladder too, which puts you right back in the same position.

Second, for optimal use, RCS quads are placed at 90 degree intervals, and guess what, those windows are 90 degrees away from the hatch, so they're still going to get hit.

Finally, why would they replace windows with hatches? If they were going to do that, they probably would have done so before they took the time to set up an IVA view for that part.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

On the hitchhiker module? I see a few problems with that.

First, it means your hatch isn't accessible via ladder, unless you're moving the ladder too, which puts you right back in the same position.

Second, for optimal use, RCS quads are placed at 90 degree intervals, and guess what, those windows are 90 degrees away from the hatch, so they're still going to get hit.

Finally, why would they replace windows with hatches? If they were going to do that, they probably would have done so before they took the time to set up an IVA view for that part.

I was referring to the 3-kerbal pod, not the hitchhiker.

However, having rethought, all the pods and cockpits should probably have hatches that lead directly into space, even if they also have hatches to other connected spacecraft parts. Once life support actually makes it into the game, there would be a reason to have dedicated airlocks, which would be less wasteful of oxygen than hatches going straight into space.