[1.12.X] Tantares - Stockalike Soyuz and MIR [16.1][28.05.2024][Mars Expedition WIP]

[Deltac]

And so it begins....

Woot, Another new page!

Edited March 12, 2019 by Deltac

[trooperMNG]

I haven't been around for a while, as I stopped playing like 2 years ago switching to X-Plane 11. I tried to go back to the game a few months back but the magic just wasn't there. I just want to thank the amazing @Beale for all these years of fun, it's awesome you are maintaining this mod that I consider one of the pillars of this community.

Grazie per tutto e buon lavoro!

[Zorg]

So i recently learned about the Sodruzhestvo (Alliance) rocket which was an attempt at fostering some collaboration between former soviet republics in the 90s (In particular Khazakh and Ukraine). If I understood the information correctly it was to be an alternative to Angara.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sodruzhestvo.html

It basically consisted of a Zenit central stack and different configurations of liquid boosters that were structurally like Zenit boosters but fitted with RD180 instead of RD171.

Of course there is no RD180 in Tantares since it hadnt been used in a Russian rocket so we had to "re-import" it back to Russia courtesy of BDB . The Centre core is powered by a Tantares RD171

Another Beale cross

We have a Zenit 3rd stage and the optional Blok D for high energy orbits and interplanetary transfers.

[Tyko]

@Zorg those pix are gorgeous!!! What visual mods are you running? and...which plumes are those?

 

[Zorg]

3 minutes ago, Tyko said:

@Zorg those pix are gorgeous!!! What visual mods are you running? and...which plumes are those?

 

Thanks! This is Galileos planet pack (so clouds, terrain etc are all the high res GPP ones) with EVE and Scatterer of course.

KS3P with Orbital Phoenix's config.

Planet shine with a very high vacuum ambient light level and thats it.

The plumes are all from RealPlume, applied by included configs in Tantares.

[Tyko]

14 minutes ago, Zorg said:

Thanks! This is Galileos planet pack (so clouds, terrain etc are all the high res GPP ones) with EVE and Scatterer of course.

KS3P with Orbital Phoenix's config.

Planet shine with a very high vacuum ambient light level and thats it.

The plumes are all from RealPlume, applied by included configs in Tantares.

Thanks! Is that the Dev version of Scatterer or last November's release (0.0336)

[Zorg]

Just now, Tyko said:

Thanks! Is that the Dev version of Scatterer or last November's release (0.0336)

0.0336, no major issues in my rescaled game so far. I didnt know there was a new dev build available. Will check it out.

[Beale]

5 hours ago, Zorg said:

So i recently learned about the Sodruzhestvo (Alliance) rocket which was an attempt at fostering some collaboration between former soviet republics in the 90s (In particular Khazakh and Ukraine). If I understood the information correctly it was to be an alternative to Angara.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sodruzhestvo.html

It basically consisted of a Zenit central stack and different configurations of liquid boosters that were structurally like Zenit boosters but fitted with RD180 instead of RD171.

Another Beale cross

We have a Zenit 3rd stage and the optional Blok D for high energy orbits and interplanetary transfers.

Really beautiful! The BDB engines are great.

It is surprising what can be built with these Zenit parts but I guess that is a plus  Gives me some ideas to expand it for sure.

 

Final Question

Reaching the very last bits of the Polyus, the final part of the craft is the protective shell that covers the p̵̧̨̫͓̓a̶̪̔̍͐͛y̸͓̜͇͚͘l̸͖͈̩͍̽̈́̈́o̶̼̠̬̐͛̒a̸̢̅̿̚ḑ̵̨̦̌͆̌. You can see it in these pictures:

There are three ways to do this:

With fairings

The most simple and straightforward, but doesn't look the best and you cannot attach anything to that.

With decoupler / shroud thing

A little more complicated, and you still could not attach anything to the sides as the shroud is collider-less (But you can attach to the end cap, and it has a node).
Is this too single-purpose?

This of course allows me to create a nice texture for this part (vs. fairing).

With standalone 'shroud' part

I'm not really in favour of this, because it has seemingly limited use, essentially the same as the above image but the shroud is a part on its own.
The one benefit is this could maybe allow for the shroud to have colliders and allow surface attach. 

I don't really like this idea because at a certain extent the part has no function - We can't do fairing like aerodynamic covering (I think?!) so that removes most good purpose of this being a standalone part.
If there is a way to do aerodynamic this would shoot way up.

 

 

SO!

What do you prefer, why do you prefer it, and what would you do with such a part? Really interesting to hear.

 

And finally, GitHub, to play with these:

And onto the future...
I have a gut feeling the next thing to improve will be the Soyuz rocket, any objections?

Edited March 13, 2019 by Beale

[golkaidakhaana]

6 hours ago, Beale said:

What do you prefer, why do you prefer it, and what would you do with such a part? Really interesting to hear.

If I'm honest, I prefer the shroud above all else because using a fairing would look ugly and a dedicated part does feel too limited of use to be justified.

6 hours ago, Beale said:

And onto the future...
I have a gut feeling the next thing to improve will be the Soyuz rocket, any objections?

I object!

I find that the Soyuz rocket performs very well in 2.5x rescale and still looks great X years on and I'd honestly prefer to see entirely new parts like a voskhod retromotor.

[Zorg]

I also think the decoupler shroud is the most elegant solution. It gives options for the player and can be made to look nice. Definite no to the fairing.

[unclepirog]

9 hours ago, Beale said:

What do you prefer, why do you prefer it, and what would you do with such a part? Really interesting to hear.

I`d prefer standalone hollow physical part (some kind of one piece jettisonable cargo bay cover). The reasons is: 1) we can put something (i.e. payload), inside; 2) glue something outside on surface; 3) use it somewhere else (as cover/skycrane for lander for examle);

[TK-313]

13 hours ago, Beale said:

I have a gut feeling the next thing to improve will be the Soyuz rocket, any objections?

None at all!

P.S. This one is a big fan of the E-scaled version, even if it doesn't fit into the size grid precisely.

Edited March 14, 2019 by TK-313

[unclepirog]

4 hours ago, TK-313 said:

This one is a big fan of the E-scaled version, even if it doesn't fit into the size grid precisely.

Is it about scaling Soyuz parts up to 1.5m?

[TK-313]

1 minute ago, unclepirog said:

Is it about scaling Soyuz parts up to 1.5m?

The 3rd stage, to be exact, to bring it to the same proportions as the real Soyuz. The current iteration of the mod even has the right meshes (with an "-E" in their names), so nothing stops you from trying this version of the rocket. Last time I checked, @Beale was choosing between leaving the rocket as is (which causes the fairing look oversized) and upscaling the upper stage to 1.875 m (which, in my humble opinion, makes the stage look super oversized). The 1.5 m version, as it was said then, doesn't really fit the 1.25-1.875-2.5 m size line (1.875 being the exact "half" size), so it would retain its status of an optional version for fans of nicest looking rockets. Which I am

[unclepirog]

3 minutes ago, TK-313 said:

The 3rd stage, to be exact, to bring it to the same proportions as the real Soyuz. The current iteration of the mod even has the right meshes (with an "-E" in their names), so nothing stops you from trying this version of the rocket. Last time I checked, @Beale was choosing between leaving the rocket as is (which causes the fairing look oversized) and upscaling the upper stage to 1.875 m (which, in my humble opinion, makes the stage look super oversized). The 1.5 m version, as it was said then, doesn't really fit the 1.25-1.875-2.5 m size line (1.875 being the exact "half" size), so it would retain its status of an optional version for fans of nicest looking rockets. Which I am

Wish I knew about "-E" meshes earlier! In my campaign I've rescaled some Soyuz (and all of Vostok) parts with MM configs, replaced some others with procedural tanks and wondered, if Voskhod in 1.25m is even possible... three or two (with huge helmets) in such a small capsule. It would be awesome if 1.5m would be adopted by @Beale as one of common sizes in Tantares (as @CobaltWolf did earlier in BDB).

[TK-313]

7 minutes ago, unclepirog said:

It would be awesome if 1.5m would be adopted by @Beale as one of common sizes in Tantares (as @CobaltWolf did earlier in BDB).

It definitely would

[Deltac]

Zvezda launch and docking!

Also thought this soyuz launch was cool

 

[Beale]

4 hours ago, unclepirog said:

Wish I knew about "-E" meshes earlier! In my campaign I've rescaled some Soyuz (and all of Vostok) parts with MM configs, replaced some others with procedural tanks and wondered, if Voskhod in 1.25m is even possible... three or two (with huge helmets) in such a small capsule. It would be awesome if 1.5m would be adopted by @Beale as one of common sizes in Tantares (as @CobaltWolf did earlier in BDB).

4 hours ago, TK-313 said:

It definitely would

I will keep that 1.5 / size1p2 as an option for certain  

In fact, the new Soyuz will have  1.25, 1.5 and 1.875 then (with 1.875 being the default and 1.25 kept by popular demand).
I think the true best size would be 1.625, but that is not supported anywhere.

 (The comparisons). At risk of invoking the "feels more kerbal" excuse, I am a big fan of the chunky one for practical reasons, but options are nice.

 

54 minutes ago, Deltac said:

Zvezda launch and docking!

 

This is just so cool, I demand more  

 

 

More experiments!

Still looking for feedback on Polyus shells, I have created the standalone shroud part, which you can get on Github now!
This actually is a lot more versatile than I had imagine, when I think about it, and the advantages are pretty obvious.

The new part can be found under structural, the bottom larger node is a decoupler.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Beale

[unclepirog]

7 minutes ago, Beale said:

In fact, the new Soyuz will have  1.25, 1.5 and 1.875 then (with 1.875 being the default and 1.25 kept by popular demand).

Will they be separate parts, or alternate models as current "-E"-variants? Maybe parts mesh variants (stock variants, or B9, or whatever)?

12 minutes ago, Beale said:

I have created the standalone shroud part, which you can get on Github now!

Thumbs up!

[CobaltWolf]

I'm sorry

[benjee10]

19 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

I'm sorry

aren’t you sposed to be working on titan

[Deltac]

2 hours ago, benjee10 said:

aren’t you sposed to be working on titan

Z1 Truss

 

TKS crew vehicle

And TKS Corgo for heavy resupply

[DiscoSlelge]

2 hours ago, benjee10 said:

aren’t you sposed to be working on titan

[curtquarquesso]

20 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

I'm sorry

I'm breaking relative radio silence to voice my enthusiastic approval of this image. Well done.

[tjsnh]

22 hours ago, Beale said:

I will keep that 1.5 / size1p2 as an option for certain  

In fact, the new Soyuz will have  1.25, 1.5 and 1.875 then (with 1.875 being the default and 1.25 kept by popular demand).
I think the true best size would be 1.625, but that is not supported anywhere.

 (The comparisons). At risk of invoking the "feels more kerbal" excuse, I am a big fan of the chunky one for practical reasons, but options are nice.

You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this.