Updated Bobcat Ind. Jool V - Balance help needed

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

I'm trying to update the Jool V parts pack for .23 since it seems to be abandoned by Bobcat Industries. It was originally made sometime around .18 iirc, the screeshot gives you some idea how old it is. I know other mods add comically large SRBs and massive 3m tanks/engines but I always like these and thought it would be a fun way to learn. Also, most of the other mods add a ton of parts and I know for me at least, I don't need all those engines and structural pieces, pods and the rest clogging up my VAB menus and eating up RAM. Two 3m engines, two tanks, a massive SRB, 3m decoupler and a 3m - 2m adaptor is plenty for everything I've needed to do. The standard stack (everything below the 2m decoupler) can put 50 Tons or about 1.4 orange tanks into a 100km Kerbin orbit all day long.

I've never done anything in the way of modding but by looking at config files for stock parts I'm stumbling my way through. I've gotten the parts working by wrapping the "Part {}" brackets around the whole file but now I'm trying to figure out what values to add for the new parameters and how to balance whats already there. There are three main parts I'm trying to figure out the balance for. The SRBs, the first stage engine and the second stage engine. I've added all three to the "Very Heavy Rocketry" TT node but I'd like some feedback on the other values I've chosen or have yet to chose. To that end, I organized all the stock engine data into this spreadsheet and invented a single metric (engine factor) to compare the performance of engines since it can be hard to keep track of all the different parameters. My version of the engines have a higher EF than any of the stock engines but they seem to be in line with the trend of larger engines having higher and higher EFs (see the graph)

If you want to try the parts out you can find them, a subassembly of the standard stack and test ship here

[stupid_chris]

I'm not sure what license Bobcat has on those parts, it would require investigation before free redistribution like this

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

I'm not sure what license Bobcat has on those parts, it would require investigation before free redistribution like this

How would I go about contacting him or her?

[stupid_chris]

How would I go about contacting him or her?

He has a forum account. PMs always work. Else I believe his license is in one of his threads, they're just scattered a little.

EDIT:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/20860

CC-BY-NC-ND means you can redistribute the files but cannot modify them. That means you'll have to contact him for the permission indeed.

Edited March 18, 2014 by stupid_chris

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

He has a forum account. PMs always work. Else I believe his license is in one of his threads, they're just scattered a little.

EDIT:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/20860

CC-BY-NC-ND means you can redistribute the files but cannot modify them. That means you'll have to contact him for the permission indeed.

I have PM'd Bobcat and will await his response before proceeding

[BobCat]

Feels free in usr this parts.

[wasmic]

Remember that average ISP is practically useless - judging an LV-N from its sea level isp is meaningless, as it's designed as a vacuum engine. Can't you just use the stats that it has by default?

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

Feels free in usr this parts.

YAAAAAAY

Remember that average ISP is practically useless - judging an LV-N from its sea level isp is meaningless, as it's designed as a vacuum engine. Can't you just use the stats that it has by default?

It's not quite meaningless. For most engines other than the LV-N it gives a reasonable middle value. I suppose I could list the Isps at 1 atm for all of them since this a first stage engine but i think its fine the way it is. Anyway, the reason I moved away from the default value is because it originally had an Isp similar to the aerospike which seemed a bit too high.

So, any thoughts as to the values I have currently?

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

In light of the KLAW update, I'll probably abandon this since the new parts almost exactly supplant what I was working on.

Oh well