[1.1] RLA Stockalike 13.4 [25 Apr]

[passinglurker]

Yep just discovered this with some quick tests. The multinozzle block properly drains resources with use, but only actually thrusts in one direction . Still....can we get some pretty RLA models for linear ION RCS?

At that point why not just re-scale the ion type2 engine and make it surface attachable?

[a__gun]

At that point why not just re-scale the ion type2 engine and make it surface attachable?

Almost everything in this mod could just use a rescaled stock part. New models make mods much better. I did however do exactly as you suggested though when testing if the RCS module could be made to use elctricity: rescaled the ion engine, made it surface mountable, stripped out the engine module and added the RCS module.

[hoojiwana]

Unless I misunderstand you, surely the Vernor engine does this already :

Could you not just change LiquidFuel and Oxidizer to ElectricCharge and XenonGas respectively, and then tweak the ratios and power obviously.

Bi propellant stock RCS works fine if it's just in one direction, like the Vernors. I don't know if ModuleRCSFX fixes this, would certainly be a great addition to it if it doesn't.

He said multinozzel not just linear rcs ports.

Yep, single nozzle works just fine, multinozzle does strange things. I did try out 4 single nozzles on one part but that didn't work either.

ModuleRCSFX does fix this, but I'm not keen on introducing dependencies for a part pack.

Yep just discovered this with some quick tests. The multinozzle block properly drains resources with use, but only actually thrusts in one direction . Still....can we get some pretty RLA models for linear ION RCS?

As soon as the functionality is in stock, Xenon/EC RCS will be added to Stockalike. Though not Ion ones though!

At that point why not just re-scale the ion type2 engine and make it surface attachable?

I did however do exactly as you suggested though when testing if the RCS module could be made to use elctricity: rescaled the ion engine, made it surface mountable, stripped out the engine module and added the RCS module.

This could be a nice project for someone not familiar with modding to try out, though it's not as simple as just changing the config. You'd need to add a rotated transform to the part in Unity, though it might be possible for someone to use MODEL{} to put an Ion model on one of the stock RCS parts.

Give it a go!

Almost everything in this mod could just use a rescaled stock part. New models make mods much better.

Absolutely, config edits are simple enough anyone can play around and make what they wish but using the same models for multiple parts could get confusing. Plus new art assets always introduce a nice bit of variety as well as new pretty things for people to look at. I absolutely love looking through people's screenshots and seeing my parts on their vessels, and I'm sure every other part maker is the same! There's even one screenshot I like in the album in the OP, anything I particularly like will end up in there.

Probe parts is still on the backburner (and my mouse broke this week) but I have been very busy working on something I'm sure you guys will absolutely love, here's part of it:

[passinglurker]

is it... a new quadcoupler?

[Chezburgar7300]

An upper stage engine?

[BFGfreak]

A stovetop?

[Virtualgenius]

Its a 4 can beer holder of course

[BudgetHedgehog]

I'm more curious as to why it's linked to Tantares Space Tech.

[passinglurker]

I'm more curious as to why it's linked to Tantares Space Tech.

0.o

he's right...

[NathanKell]

Because it's a mount for RD-107/108? Or perhaps more usefully, RD-0108 (Block M, IIRC).

[hoojiwana]

Virtualgenius is the closest guess so far.

12.1 is out with a few very minor fixes, apparently the LV-Nc never had the correct spelling in it's manufacturer! Everything else seems okay in 0.90 from my brief look, if you guys spot any glaring issues PM me or better yet post here about it. Thanks!

KerbalStuff link back up soon!

[NathanKell]

I now must recuse myself from guessing.

[hoojiwana]

The KerbalStuff page has now been updated with the new version, so go grab it!

11D122

[Dazpoet]

Created an account here just to tell you how much I love your boosters, they've proven just enough for many of my experiments and have a very competitive pricing!

[Lechuza]

I am having the weirdest problem with this mod. Even without any overheat the parts are exploding, not the engines themselves, but whatever is ontop of it explodes!

[hoojiwana]

Created an account here just to tell you how much I love your boosters, they've proven just enough for many of my experiments and have a very competitive pricing!

Pricing took a little while to figure out, but it's great to hear it's working out for you!

I am having the weirdest problem with this mod. Even without any overheat the parts are exploding, not the engines themselves, but whatever is ontop of it explodes!

Some of the engines run a little hot (like the Spinnaker) so if you cluster them on something you might get some heat problems. Could you post a quick screenshot of the problem? What other mods are you running?

[Streetwind]

For my current (.25) career save, i tried my hand at tweaking the RLA electric engines to be in line with Near Future Propulsion. Thought I'd just post the MM config here, maybe someone will find it useful. The config should only trigger if both RLA and Near Future Propulsion are installed. Probably. Theoretically. I'm not fully sure how the dependency checking syntax works, would appreciate if someone could give the configs a look-over and slap me for any obvious errors But at the very least, they do load for me in my save that has both mods present.

They're are statted up as tier 1 engines, since that tier has very few engines in it by default, and they're supposed to sit in the same node as the PB-ION. The ION Type 2 was made into a super-lightweight, super low output thruster for the tiniest of probes. I briefly considered messing with scale/rescale factors, but then I realized that I know nothing about them so I left it alone The Resistojet is a thermal rocket and thus xenon gas is a really poor choice of reaction mass when something proper is available, so it now runs its primary mode on Near Future's LiquidHydrogen resource instead. The arcjet retains its primary mode xenon propellant, since it's actually ionizing it, and xenon is very suitable for ionizing. Both the arcjet and resistojet get the usual 5% balance target penalty for being multi-mode engines, and the monopropellant mode is a little bit weaker than the primary mode on both of them (as it normally is in RLA, except now it is less pronounced).

@PART[RLA_ion]:FINAL:NEEDS[NearFuturePropulsion,RLA_Stockalike]
{
	@description = A tiny engine with tiny thrust and tiny power requirements, best suited for tiny probes and satellites. Having such a low amount of thrust may seem a turn off at first, but the incredibly high efficiency is generally considered a fair trade off.
	@mass = 0.14
	@MODULE[ModuleEngines]
	{
		@maxThrust = 0.7
		@PROPELLANT[ElectricCharge]
		{
			@ratio = 10.065
		}
		@PROPELLANT[XenonGas]
		{
			!resourceFlowMode = DELETE
		}
		@atmosphereCurve
		{
  			@key = 0 4720
		}
	}
}

@PART[RLA_resistojet]:FINAL:NEEDS[NearFuturePropulsion,RLA_Stockalike]
{
	@description = An electrically powered heating element creates thrust through thermal expansion of propellant. Due to the simplicity of the thruster, it can be used with both monopropellant and liquid hydrogen. Also makes a fine if expensive kettle, although drinking heated propellants is not advised.
	@mass = 0.21
	@MODULE[ModuleEnginesFX],0
	{
		@maxThrust = 5.0
		@PROPELLANT[ElectricCharge]
		{
			@ratio = 6.378
		}
		@atmosphereCurve
		{
  			@key = 0 820
		}
	}
	@MODULE[ModuleEnginesFX],1
	{
		@maxThrust = 2.9
		@PROPELLANT[ElectricCharge]
		{
			@ratio = 21.189
		}
		!PROPELLANT[XenonGas] {}
		PROPELLANT
		{
			name = LiquidHydrogen
			ratio = 1.0
			DrawGauge = True
		}
		@atmosphereCurve
		{
  			@key = 0 1580
		}
	}
}

@PART[RLA_arcjet]:FINAL:NEEDS[NearFuturePropulsion,RLA_Stockalike]
{
	@MODULE[ModuleEnginesFX],0
	{
		@maxThrust = 3.1
		@PROPELLANT[ElectricCharge]
		{
			@ratio = 25.8655
		}
		@atmosphereCurve
		{
  			@key = 0 1370
		}
	}
	@MODULE[ModuleEnginesFX],1
	{
		@maxThrust = 1.8
		@PROPELLANT[ElectricCharge]
		{
			@ratio = 12.8275
		}
		@atmosphereCurve
		{
  			@key = 0 2630
		}
	}
}

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

i tried my hand at tweaking the RLA electric engines to be in line with Near Future Propulsion. Thought I'd just post the MM config here, maybe someone will find it useful.

I will, for one. You have succeeded where I have failed, since for whatever reason my own attempt could never handle the bimodal engines properly.

[Streetwind]

It's all in the proper enumeration of ModuleEnginesFX

While half asleep last night it occurred to me that I might as well give the ION Type 2 one of Near Future's fancy engine trails. Will add this later today. Probably. As time allows.

[ste1701]

I love the SRB upper stages! They are great with shuttle-launched satellites!

[Streetwind]

Well, here's what I love about RLA: the 0.625m parts.

Meet the Duna Discovery.

What is this mess, you might ask? Well, it's actually 9 individual unmanned spacecraft taped to a central truss structure using RLA's tiny radial decouplers. Each one has a RLA monopropellant tank, a RLA monopropellant engine, an OKTO2 core and some power and communications.

The Duna Discovery carries the following:

- Four RemoteTech commsats to build a communications network. Two for Ike, two for Duna. Each one has a dish to link back to Kerbin and an omnidirectional antenna for local comms.

- One Karbonite scanning probe.

- One MKS/OKS resource scanning probe.

- One SCANsat highres altimetry scanning probe.

- One SCANsat lowres altimetry and biome scanning probe, which also carries DMagic's orbital telescope and multispectral imaging platform.

- One science spacecraft capable of landing on Ike (on actual landing legs!), then taking back off again, flying to Duna, and landing on Duna as well (with parachutes and remaining engine power). Well, at least that's the plan anyway It carries a gravioli detector, a seismometer, a thermometer, a barometer, the atmosphere analysis nosecone and a magnetometer... which is basically everything I have that's transmittable* at 100%.

It's a complete unmanned exploration and infrastructure fleet all in one vessel... and it comfortably fits into a single extended 2.5m fairing. Only 46 tons, 152 parts, 202k funds - including the launch stage. Without RLA's tiny parts, this would not have been even remotely possible.

Ready for assembly, now with proper staging - KER gets confused and doesn't show it, but the transfer stage has over 4000 dV and thus more than enough to circularize, make the transfer and even maneuver around some in Duna orbit.

* I have MM-tweaked the science modules and experiments to make proper sense for this playthrough.

EDIT: okay, so I derped late last night and forgot to actually make sure there's fuel in the tank of the transfer stage, as I had removed it to check center of mass behavior. As a result, the launch stage needed a third tank and the whole rocket gained a few tons. But other than that, a test flight says she's perfectly good to go!

Edited December 28, 2014 by Streetwind

[FantasticTuesday]

Does anyone else think the large and efficient monoprop engines are bit flight-of-fancy? I tried hard to find any real-world examples that were over a few kN and 250isp, if someone know's better than me and can point me in the right direction that would be great.

This isn't a dig at this excellent mod, I just want to know if I'm being a bit overzealous by modding the cfgs on my install.

Meet the Duna Discovery.

I wish space agencies had the blank-cheque kind of funding so that they could pull of stuff like this. It would make cosmology a hell of a lot easier.

[passinglurker]

Does anyone else think the large and efficient monoprop engines are bit flight-of-fancy? I tried hard to find any real-world examples that were over a few kN and 250isp, if someone know's better than me and can point me in the right direction that would be great.

This isn't a dig at this excellent mod, I just want to know if I'm being a bit overzealous by modding the cfgs on my install.

I wish space agencies had the blank-cheque kind of funding so that they could pull of stuff like this. It would make cosmology a hell of a lot easier.

If I remember correctly realism was thrown out the window because the real perk of monoprop engines (multiple restarts and simple reliability) was not something that could be portrayed in kerbal without an extensive realism overhaul. So instead they were given better stats in order to give them a niche

[FantasticTuesday]

...realism was thrown out the window because the real perk of monoprop engines (multiple restarts and simple reliability) was not something that could be portrayed in kerbal...

Hah, I thought it might have something to do with that. I'll just tweak mine so that they are far cheaper than bipropellant engines.

[HawkW]

I'm having an issue where the textures for the RLA 0.65m fuel tanks aren't displaying properly. The parts are solid black when placed, and have large black areas in the VAB part catalog. Any idea what might be causing this?