Singularity Research Initiative - dev thread

[bs1110101]

Random thought: Why not have a mass driver as an alternative to the ion drive, seems like it would go better with the style of this pack.

[cziken20]

Just an idea - i see you have a futuristic designs too. What about a small ship that has huge power ak speed? Because right now the most powerful engines are big

[Itsdavyjones]

That is huge, hope it works well.

[Daemoria]

Thanks for pointing out non-ion electrical propulsion. A lot of potential exists there. Namely 'free' fuel from any surface you can extract materials from; thus the GLASS drive. Its got sparkles.

But what about ground based elctromag propulsion you ask? Now introducing the UHV linear rail, and the launch fairing that prevents the contents from spontaneously disassembling.

To move it around away from the launch pad we need to be a little creative. How about some sweet crawler action?

--

Itsdavyjones: are you referring to the mod as a whole, or that ship sketch? Because I hope both work out in the end too.

Seshins: I haven't really thought about colors too much yet. I think if I can get the firespitter texture swapper to work, i'll be using that to give users the choice. But i'll probably have a high visibility scheme (white/red/black). A muted military esq scheme (grey/silver/black) and maybe a specialized 'construction' scheme (high contrast orange, grey and white)

cziken20: I don't know of anything other than maybe an Alcubierre drive that would be fitting for your requirements of powerfull/high thrust/small. I dont really plan on doing FTL in this mod. I dont want to bite into Interstellar's territory. FractalUK has that section covered nicely.

-=-

Its the weekend again, so i've got time for modeling again. Concept doodles are fun and quick tho, so any ideas that you guys and gals(?) have, it's no sweat off my brow to draw them anytime. I'm liking the suggestions people are making, it'll only make this a better mod in the end.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Daemoria

[Boamere]

Thanks for pointing out non-ion electrical propulsion. A lot of potential exists there. Namely 'free' fuel from any surface you can extract materials from; thus the GLASS drive. Its got sparkles.

https://db.tt/6BlYol5W

But what about ground based elctromag propulsion you ask? Now introducing the UHV linear rail, and the launch fairing that prevents the contents from spontaneously disassembling.

https://db.tt/cX4ySjkZ

To move it around away from the launch pad we need to be a little creative. How about some sweet crawler action?

https://db.tt/HNGHvHuZ https://db.tt/MdyEFyuq

.

If you make a plane that looks like that (and the crawler) I will probably explode! WOW

Your ideas are great! especially due to the fact that you have a great attention to detail; all the little bits and lights on your concept art!

My only problem would be that it's probably going to take you half a million years to make all this stuff!

Also if you can make those ssto landers that fit in the hull of the interstellar ship i think I will never need another mod ever again XD!

Keep up all the cool ideas, stuff like this makes the game fresh!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Boamere

[Boamere]

(also idea)

Maybe a sci-fi centrifuge for interstellar space?

Like a gyroscope that spins with different wheel sections?

[Seshins]

i would very much like to see a "bridge" style cockpit - you know just a scaled down version of what you would see on your stereotypical Space Battlecruiser.

Also if these ships are going to be huge and require orbital assembly, some kind of Tug or similar would be excellent. Id love to see shipyard style construction at some point

[Hammer Tech]

the GLASS drive. Its got sparkles.

https://db.tt/6BlYol5W

the UHV linear rail, and the launch fairing that prevents the contents from spontaneously disassembling.

some sweet crawler action?

https://db.tt/HNGHvHuZ https://db.tt/MdyEFyuq

Oh my. Oh my oh my. If the finished mod looks anything at all like the concept art, it will be fantastic!

Seriously, I can't wait for this.

[Taki117]

I'm a tad worried that you're getting in over your head size wise. I'm all for the styling, but 6m is big, like really big. (Novapunch goes up to 5m and those are ginormous)

[BigFatStupidHead]

Well, I've always been keen for someone to model an Ionocraft. Anything that travels using electrohydrodynamic effects to fly just sounds sciency!

[Boamere]

I'm a tad worried that you're getting in over your head size wise. I'm all for the styling, but 6m is big, like really big. (Novapunch goes up to 5m and those are ginormous)

I disagree! (if it's built in orbit)

6m all the way baby!

[NoMrBond]

The SLS parts coming with the 0.24 and NASA Asteroid Mission pack are going to be ~7.5m, so 6m shouldn't be any problem (with the new multi-point joint system)

[Captain Sierra]

The SLS parts coming with the 0.24 and NASA Asteroid Mission pack are going to be ~7.5m, so 6m shouldn't be any problem (with the new multi-point joint system)

Wrong, unless there's some dev links I missed. I did the math, according to kerbal scale an SLS first stage would be 5.3m, so the devs will likely make it 5m to be a standard part size. Personally, I think that's a good enough size cap for KSP.

Sorry I've been away Daemoria. My week has been a mild form of hell. All this is just what I need. I'll write up a modularized jaw-drop post later (I'm about to drop off the grid for most of the weekend too on a planetside 2 binge).

[NoMrBond]

Wrong, unless there's some dev links I missed. I did the math, according to kerbal scale an SLS first stage would be 5.3m, so the devs will likely make it 5m to be a standard part size. Personally, I think that's a good enough size cap for KSP.

Sorry I've been away Daemoria. My week has been a mild form of hell. All this is just what I need. I'll write up a modularized jaw-drop post later (I'm about to drop off the grid for most of the weekend too on a planetside 2 binge).

The SLS tank node size was described as 'the size of an orange tank with 6x orange tanks in symmetry around it', which makes it three 2.5m tanks across, or about 7.5m, even though that doesn't match 64% scale which people seem so fixated on

[Captain Sierra]

The SLS tank node size was described as 'the size of an orange tank with 6x orange tanks in symmetry around it', which makes it three 2.5m tanks across, or about 7.5m, even though that doesn't match 64% scale which people seem so fixated on

I remember that being said in the context of it's lifting power, not it's size. That would make the Orion, a four man pod, 5m across. Do you really think the devs would throw out their on scalar multiplier for this? Besides, 7.5m fuel tanks and engines would fill the VAB on the first stage alone. It would probably break the game physically, computationally, and balance-wise.

[NoMrBond]

I remember that being said in the context of it's lifting power, not it's size. That would make the Orion, a four man pod, 5m across. Do you really think the devs would throw out their on scalar multiplier for this? Besides, 7.5m fuel tanks and engines would fill the VAB on the first stage alone. It would probably break the game physically, computationally, and balance-wise.

Orange tanks don't have lifting power, they were talking specifically about the NODE{} size at the time, and how big node 3 would be (since 0 = 0.625, 1 = 1.25 and 2 = 2.5m), since the engine parts were not finished (you could briefly see a scaled mod (KWR Griffon-XX?) engine they were using as a stand in at the time).

The parts were only going to work because of the Unity physics update which would allow multi-point connections away from the origin on both ends rather than the current single connection with single sided offset-to-origin limitation.

The only way this is relevant to Daemoria's development is that 6m parts should be just fine (in 0.24), the other matters are not decisions that we can influence in any way whatsoever, they still couldn't/wouldn't/didn't make any announcements/confirmations about it on todays Squadcast either, maybe in HarvesteR's upcoming blog post?

[cziken20]

So, Daemoria ca you tell us WHAT sizes you wat to make? (6m isn,t too much or me, its like puttig one FLT-something 1.25 m tank on side of Novapunch tank )

[Krevsin]

Wow. This looks absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to see more.

[Whirligig Girl]

I would like you to consider this to be not only an alternate Kerbal space program, but instead an alterate species space program, with it's own planets. I'd be willing to create the planet system for a total conversion, and concept art should it be required. PM me for info if you'd like.

Edited March 1, 2014 by GregroxMun

[Whirligig Girl]

One thing I would like to stress, and I'm not sure from some of the sketches I've seen if this is or is not the case, but I believe it's important. I think you should be able to be just as creative and modular with these peices as the stock parts, by only using these and deleting the stock ones.

[SkyHook]

6m is too big. 5m is very large and overkill for many applications. Just my two cents though.

[Captain Sierra]

6m is too big. 5m is very large and overkill for many applications. Just my two cents though.

Actually, I did some calculations and 6m fits a 2.5m center stack with symmetry mounted 1.25m stacks with clearance. 5m doesn't quite and IMHO, that was the biggest failing of Porkjet's truss bay is that I couldn't fit my landers in it. 6m fits my landers with room to spare (for radial RCS and kethane drills!).

[Daemoria]

I would like you to consider this to be not only an alternate Kerbal space program, but instead an alterate species space program, with it's own planets. *snip*

I kind of want to keep the Kerbin system as is, for many of the same reasons why Squad didn't go with a procedural universe. I want experiences to be shared between players, and to be understand without having to research what exactly they accomplished. I want a Jool mission to be impressive, and not confuse people with a completely unknown set of planets with no common ground in the KSP community. Eh, it's not really clear the way I wrote it, I guess, but for now just know that a new planetary system isn't being planned.

*snip* I think you should be able to be just as creative and modular with these peices as the stock parts, by only using these and deleting the stock ones.

That's the intended goal.

Well, I've always been keen for someone to model an Ionocraft. Anything that travels using electrohydrodynamic effects to fly just sounds sciency!

I want to mess around with electromagnetic tethers for satellite/station altitude adjustment. Essentially free RCS while inside a certain radius of a SOI, thus faking a magnetosphere. That's a bit of a pipedream at the moment tho, due to me likely having to write up a custom plugin.

---

I think the 6m scale is going to be the largest I'm going to build a fully customizable set of pieces for. The lift stage motors can get to 9m in my notes, but that's just fuel and engines...not a whole maze of science parts/fuselage sections/etc. Even then that might be a bit overkill, but I'll see when I get to it.

6m provides such a large versatility of parts combinations for massive constructions, I really want to try my best to incorporate it into the late game tech tree if possible. The multi-joint system coming in the next major KSP release *should* help with the overal stability.

[Taki117]

For the Magnetosphere thing you could probably ask nicely and get the code from KSP Interstellar.

[Whirligig Girl]

Alternis Kerbol and the PlanetFactory mods all properly change the way missions work, but since it's known by enough people what the planets are and where they are, it still works. Procedural universe won't work because the universe is so big no one will EVER find an identical thing, but with Alternis Kerbol things are different but still relatable. And nevertheless, if you wont do this, I'll just have to get someone else to do it (cough)Mirrodin(cough)