RSS questions

[KerikBalm]

So I finally converted and installed FAR and RSS on an alternate save of KSP... and wow... getting to orbit is hard.

The SLS parts that seemed OP'd before don't seem so anymore. I was aware earlier that KSP parts are underpowered (mainly, the engines TWR is way too low, and maybe the tanks are too heavy)...

What are realisitic TWR ratios and Wet:Dry mass ratios for the tanks? (I guess the ISP is also too low for some liquid hydrogen-LOx engines)

I don't want to hyperedit or anything, and the mods arent very stable on my computer... I haven't made it to Mars/Duna, as my larger rockets invariably cause a crash at some staging event, and I don't even get to orbit.

As it is supposed to be the real solar system... have they adjusted the atmosphere of "Mars" appropriately to the point that at the lowest elecation the pressure is only 0.0087 atms... so that the only stock parachute that will deploy is the drogue (and if so, good luck decelerating in time if it deploys at a pressure of 0.007 and impact is at 0.0087 atms)

[Taki117]

So I finally converted and installed FAR and RSS on an alternate save of KSP... and wow... getting to orbit is hard.

The SLS parts that seemed OP'd before don't seem so anymore. I was aware earlier that KSP parts are underpowered (mainly, the engines TWR is way too low, and maybe the tanks are too heavy)...

What are realisitic TWR ratios and Wet/Dry mass ratios for the tanks? (I guess the ISP is also too low for some liquid hydrogen-LOx engines)

I don't want to hyperedit or anything, and the mods arent very stable on my computer... I haven't made it to Mars/Duna, as my larger rockets invariably cause a crash at some staging event, and I don't even get to orbit.

As it is supposed to be the real solar system... have they adjusted the atmosphere of "Mars" appropriately to the point that at the lowest elecation the pressure is only 0.0087 atms... so that the only stock parachute that will deploy is the drogue (and if so, good luck decelerating in time if it deploys at a pressure of 0.007 and impact is at 0.0087 atms)

You should probably take a look at Realism Overhaul otherwise you are going to need a massive amount of fuel and engines to get to orbit. (Orbital speed is about 9km/s) You should also take a look at RealChute which has an altitude deployment option (I'm not sure if it is configured for RSS, it should be)

[Jimbimbibble]

+1. You need to download a lot of mods to make RSS work. Get Realism Overhaul and the other required mods (real fuels, engine pack for real fuels + a lot of different engines, stretchy tanks, kerbal joint reinforcement, etc). It will take a while to figure this all out because you basically need to relearn the game. Good luck !

[Hodo]

I ran RO for a while, it just became to many mods to keep up with so I dropped it. But I did enjoy it.

I can tell you now that going full RO is a challenge and a half to get to orbit, it isn't impossible but it is difficult. I know I was doing it with an Ares V design rocket and it worked quite well for most light weight missions.

[KerikBalm]

Well, I can get to orbit with stock parts, and I even got to orbit with a LV-N upper stage that could likely take me to mars....

As far as I can tell, the LV-Ns are pretty realistic as far as TWR goes. I think I calculated before that each engine must be putting out at least 200 megawatts of thermal energy. I'm not quite sure what reactor outputs are, but that sounds reasonable, and from what I've ready about NERVA engines, they did get over 1:1 TWR, but it was still pretty low.

Anyone got an answer to the Duna "Mars" atmosphere density?

Did they just make the planet bigger, or has the atmosphere been changed as well?

I don't want to install too many mods, as I said, just RSS and FAR are already not behaving well on my computer.

I'd rather just do some text editing to tweak the TWRs and the mass ratios of the tanks to realistic levels.

[Hodo]

Well, I can get to orbit with stock parts, and I even got to orbit with a LV-N upper stage that could likely take me to mars....

As far as I can tell, the LV-Ns are pretty realistic as far as TWR goes. I think I calculated before that each engine must be putting out at least 200 megawatts of thermal energy. I'm not quite sure what reactor outputs are, but that sounds reasonable, and from what I've ready about NERVA engines, they did get over 1:1 TWR, but it was still pretty low.

Anyone got an answer to the Duna "Mars" atmosphere density?

Did they just make the planet bigger, or has the atmosphere been changed as well?

I don't want to install too many mods, as I said, just RSS and FAR are already not behaving well on my computer.

I'd rather just do some text editing to tweak the TWRs and the mass ratios of the tanks to realistic levels.

If you are just using RSS+FAR no duna doesn't change anything other than scale.

If you decide to run the full Realism Overhaul (RO) then Kerbin will become Earth, and each one of the planets will change into their real life counterpart. Which means Duna will turn into Mars both in scale and atmosphere.