Why is the Kerbodyne Adapter chipped and scratched?

[Pecan]

...while we have broken aerodynamics, wobbly monstrosities full of struts, asparagus staging and more.

BAUI: Please explain what is less aerodynamic or effective about asparagus staging than a boring, tall, thin thing with some boosters around it? Or are you just repeating cliche?

There are two plausible arguments against asparagus which I have heard so far - part count (a purely KSP artefact) and conservation of angular momentum. So, just because current Earth technology can't do it, what do you have against it?

Edited April 16, 2014 by Pecan

[Stargate525]

BAUI: Please explain what is less aerodynamic or effective about asparagus staging than a boring, tall, thin thing with some boosters around it? Or are you just repeating cliche?

Nothing in the current drag model. In real life... Throw a lawn dart, then throw a dishpan. See which flies better.

[Pecan]

Nothing in the current drag model. In real life... Throw a lawn dart, then throw a dishpan. See which flies better.

Nothing valid to say? Asparagus looks the same as boosters, it's only the fuel lines that are present/different.

Well done, I think that's the first double-BAUI.

[Stargate525]

Nothing valid to say? Asparagus looks the same as boosters, it's only the fuel lines that are present/different.

Well done, I think that's the first double-BAUI.

I was assuming by asparagus you were talking about more than one ring set. The wider your rocket, the more drag it experiences. That, and the fact that there is not and probably will never be a way to move the volumes of cryogenic oxygen needed to support side-stage feeding like we can get with those simple little yellow tubes. I'm sure Ferram could give you a nice long run-down on it, if you asked him.

Back onto the topic at hand, I don't have a huge problem with the scratches; the half length 1.25m tank has them too. though personally I'd prefer paint chipping to the scratches; make it look well-worn, not damaged.

[Pecan]

Much better, thank you for the time [seriously, I'm not being sarcastic]. No, my asparagus staging rarely goes beyond 3 stages (symmetry 2 so 6 boosters) as I want efficiency and aesthetics/aerodynamics at the same time. Yes - actually shifting the fuel is certainly an issue and *cough* 'unlikely' with just little (massless in flight) fuel lines. Drop tanks have been in use since before WWII however, and the Falcon Heavy is intended to use cross-feeds from the booster stages so the fact of fuel-lines is established (not necessarily wrapped around a rocket though, that'd introduce spin). Unfortunately, people sneer 'asparagus' without making the comparison with similar-shaped but differently-staged designs; BAUI (Because Asparagus Is Ugly) is neither necessarily true, nor a thought-through concept. Incidentally, from using asparagus in almost all my ships I have converted to serial and parallel staging over the past week or so, thanks to the ARM parts. Half of them look worse (subjective judegement obviously) and all of them perform worse but not by enough that asparagus is worth the part count and build difficulty in what is meant to be tutorial sequence.

[SRV Ron]

You will find that many of the KSP parts have handling damage on them. It is par for recycled parts.

[vidboi]

I apologise to C7 in advance, but I really don't think the modelling and texturing on the new parts is very good at all. The modelling is very chunky, it lacks the crisp lines of the other parts of the game. For example, compare the new booster engines with older engines such as the LV-T30 and the skipper. The new engines are much lower res, the engine bells are thicker with the insides not corresponding to the outsides and the exhaust pipes just look very low poly. The fuel line down the side of the new large tank looks very rough, especially compared to the orange tank. I guess the texturing was done to make the parts look worn and slightly poorly made, but it just comes out looking amateurish. The tanks especially annoy me with their blurred paintjobs and off centre markings (the black/white stripes are rotated 2.5 degrees from the centre, incredibly annoying for lining up parts). It's kind of like comparing the old space centre with the new one. Next to the fantastic parts by B9 and Claira Lyrae they just don't quite live up to spec. Then there's the new KR-2 engine which is beatiful, and seems to have taken up most of the effort in this project. Only problem is it's pretty inefficient and makes my slower laptop lag just by mousing over the part in the VAB. Really I think all the new parts do need a little TLC to make them really good.

Edited April 16, 2014 by vidboi

[Endersmens]

...but I really don't think the modelling and texturing on the new parts is very good at all The modelling is very chunky, it lacks the crisp lines of the other parts of the game. For example, compare the new booster engines with older engines such as the LV-T30 and the skipper. The new engines are much lower res, the engine bells are thicker with the insides not corresponding to the outsides and the exhaust pipes just look very low poly. The fuel line down the side of the new large tank looks very rough, especially compared to the orange tank. I guess the texturing was done to make the parts look worn and slightly poorly made, but it just comes out looking amateurish. The tanks especially annoy me with their blurred paintjobs and off centre markings...

I would like to point out that a lot, and i mean a lot, of people on here had been shouting "Squad! release it now! I want it now! we don't care how bad it is! Hurry up! You aren't going fast enough! Why can't you just release it already?" Now I know that you may have never said anything like that, and i mean no offense to anyone who did, but squad was under a lot of pressure, and they were getting rushed by the community. Honestly I think they did a fantastic job given the circumstances. Yes, the parts may be a little low res, but don't blame squad for that. It probably would've taken them another week (idk random guess) to polish the rest of the textures and make them pretty, and they probably didn't want to keep us waiting, especially after all the complaints about how long it took. I'm not saying you're wrong, because you aren't, and I'm not looking down on you, i'm just saying cut squad some slack. They sure as heck deserve it.