Kethane Station Discussion

[Sidestrafe2462]

how did you build the gear gun?

 

[zekes]

I built a sister ship to Liberty to balance her capabilities. The Liberty has refueling and VTOL ability but lacks range and weaponry (two Antiship missiles is not a lot of firepower). So to escort her I built the Sentinel.

 

(Here are the downloads for both:
Sentinel: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ou4eajmchm90cy3/Sentinel Class Scout Cruiser.craft?dl=0
Liberty: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o6pfbiheupqgwmo/Liberty Class Heavy Scout Cruiser.craft?dl=0)

With twice the range of her sister, Sentinel has of 4,000 m/s d/v as well as 4 Antiship missiles and 12 I-beam railguns. She loses the VTOL capability of the Liberty but with her range and firepower she can stay up and guard her sister when refueling, who also has the stores to take ore up and fuel her sister if need be.

A winning Pair.

Edited May 13, 2017 by zekes

[NotAnAimbot]

6 hours ago, Sidestrafe2462 said:

how did you build the gear gun?

 

Edited May 13, 2017 by NotAnAimbot

[Spartwo]

Gen 8 and the military submissions are replaced.

[Sidestrafe2462]

thx aimbot

[NotAnAimbot]

About that gear gun...

I've kept doing some tests, and have gotten pretty good results on the Aegis.

The ship mounting the weapon

Shot penetration point

Damage done

As you can see, it pretty much neglects armor when it hits and wipes out a major part of the interior. The actual aiming and reloading process takes some time, but is quick to learn.

Pros:

Plenty of damage

Can pen pretty much any armor

Cons:

Long aiming/reloading, vulnerable during reload

Has to be aimed visually (targeting doesn't work since the projectile hits a little bit above the target when using SAS)

 

So, in light of this, I'm asking @HatBat and @ScriptKitt3h if I should keep developing the weapon. My concerns are that it may be too much of a trouble to aim during an episode, and that it may cross the "OP line" mentioned in the submission post.

Here's the craft if anyone wants to test it. Aiming is done by going into the cockpit and placing the target on the junction between the lowest white and red parts of the commutron. Firing is done by extending the gear and undocking the attached ammo. Three reloads are carried, and can be attached to the firing port after retracting gear.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnk0l0b9gmorza9/MDL SH-125K.craft?dl=0

Edited May 15, 2017 by NotAnAimbot

[Halban]

@NotAnAimbot I likely couldn't see myself using it in the show. It's a cool concept but strays a bit too close to exploit for my liking; given that it's only feasible due to KSP's limitations.

[Greymangames]

Finally updated my OP with new craft. Man this took too long.

SR-71 Reconnaissance Aircraft

 

 

BT-7 Heavy Assault Tank

 

BT-8 Long Range Artillery

 

Master File and Ground and Air Files have been updated as a result.

Not sure what else to say here...

[NotAnAimbot]

Also gonna update my OP in a while. 

AV-1 Tiger attack VTOL

F-6 Longbow interceptor

[Mycroft]

Soooo i went to the drawing board and came up with this lady:

Spoiler

Spoiler

(For some reason the other spoiler only lets me have so many images in it so here's the rest)

 

What do you guys think of her? Would this ship have a chance of acceptance if submitted? She has 23 twin I-Beam shots, 16 medium guided I-Beam tipped missiles, and 4 large guided I-Beam tipped missiles. Oh and 658 parts weighing 285 tons. A tad over the limit I know. But I'm kinda hoping her firepower will make up for that.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Mycroft

[JTpopcorn]

1 hour ago, Mycroft said:

Soooo i went to the drawing board and came up with this lady:

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

(For some reason the other spoiler only lets me have so many images in it so here's the rest)

 

What do you guys think of her? Would this ship have a chance of acceptance if submitted? She has 23 twin I-Beam shots, 16 medium guided I-Beam tipped missiles, and 4 large guided I-Beam tipped missiles. Oh and 658 parts weighing 285 tons. A tad over the limit I know. But I'm kinda hoping her firepower will make up for that.

 

Part count is a bit high, but capitals have been used in the series before.

Personally, I'm not sure how I like the look of the missiles mounted on the outside of the hull, but I do really like those I-beam pods.

 

PS. Throw all your pictures into a single Imgur album and embed that. That way you don't need spoilers at all.

[Mycroft]

2 minutes ago, JTpopcorn said:

Part count is a bit high, but capitals have been used in the series before.

Personally, I'm not sure how I like the look of the missiles mounted on the outside of the hull, but I do really like those I-beam pods.

 

PS. Throw all your pictures into a single Imgur album and embed that. That way you don't need spoilers at all.

Yeah if this was in the series at all, it would be a capital ship for sure. I'm glad you like the pods. They were a last minute thing and took it from 450 parts to 658 . I kinda didn't have a better place for the missiles I mounted on the outside and I wanted an "armed to the teeth" look so they went out there. 

 

BTW those pictures are all part of an album already, I just wanted to have them in the post itself so fewer redirects were needed.

I dont know, I suppose I'll wait to see what @ScriptKitt3h thinks before posting it to KerbalX....

Thought: what if on the missiles that are side mounted, I just use wing pieces behind them instead of those steel plates?

[JTpopcorn]

On 5/17/2017 at 9:43 PM, Mycroft said:

Thought: what if on the missiles that are side mounted, I just use wing pieces behind them instead of those steel plates?

 

That probably would look better.

[Sidestrafe2462]

can you tell me how to aim the gear gun properly? i know you have to aim low but how low?

[Sidestrafe2462]

And I can see the gear gun used as a type of weapon put on space stations or something or like a superweapon

like cerberus station's gun that shot down ships withut paynig the blockade tax or something

Without*

[NotAnAimbot]

2 hours ago, Sidestrafe2462 said:

can you tell me how to aim the gear gun properly?

You see the Mk16 antenna? The shell usually hits between the first white and red bands. Practice is the best way to get it right, so cheat up the SH-125 into orbit and shoot at stuff.

And you need to use the cockpit view (C) to aim

Edited May 20, 2017 by NotAnAimbot

[Mycroft]

@JTpopcorn 

I tried that and it worked quite nicley IMHO, plus it took me down to 602 parts so yay! Thanks for the suggestion!

[Greymangames]

So I need a bit of help here.

I've been designing and building this ship for some time, and the concept I've come up with works well, but the part count has gone up too far from anyone's liking. If i continue to build it as I intended to, the part count is going to exceed 800. I need advice on how I can construct this without being too part intensive.

 

So far, I haven't come up with anything besides ripping out part of the internal frame and leaving the front end empty, but it would only bring the part count down by around 20-30, and I've been planning on adding ablative shielding to the craft, thus driving the part count up considerably. 

 

BTW the Delta V stat is inaccurate here, as is the TWR. it was set on atmospheric when i took the picture.

 

EDIT: Internal Structure

Edited May 20, 2017 by Greymangames

[MiffedStarfish]

Hmm, that's a tough one. Do you have any pictures of the internal structure, as you can easily use as much uneeded parts on the interior as the exterior. Apart from that, I would cut the section between the hangar and the front missiles completely, I'm guessing there is only fuel inside it. One last tip: Don't be afraid to use mk2 and mk3 parts outside the hull, as they have 50.0m/s impact tolerance, which is acceptable for armour. This will save  you lots of parts, at the cost of slightly worse protection, which is a reasonable trade-off. Hope this helps! 

[Spartwo]

A few things I can tell. The missiles aren't going to do much good with the reaction wheels and probe core if they're dumb fire. That's maybe just 12 but something. You're using a lot of widened i-beams. Don't worry about the overlap if you're putting shielding over the hull. That could get rid of maybe 40. I don't see what that thing up top does because I see no weapons so make it smaller and you could cut down a fair bit. For its mass I can't see where you're getting 600 at only 180 from though in it's unfinished state. I'd have to get a better look for more trimmings.

 

EDIT: What Starfish said about the external tanks. Just be sure that nothing important is hanging off of the protruding tanks.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Spartwo

[Greymangames]

4 minutes ago, MiffedStarfish said:

Hmm, that's a tough one. Do you have any pictures of the internal structure, as you can easily use as much uneeded parts on the interior as the exterior. Apart from that, I would cut the section between the hangar and the front missiles completely, I'm guessing there is only fuel inside it. One last tip: Don't be afraid to use mk2 and mk3 parts outside the hull, as they have 50.0m/s impact tolerance, which is acceptable for armour. This will save  you lots of parts, at the cost of slightly worse protection, which is a reasonable trade-off. Hope this helps! 

Just updated it with the internals. Any ideas?

[Spartwo]

Change those batteries for power generation. We're not on a budget. drown that ship in RTGs. That's maybe 4. Those small trusses holding up the armor aren't needed. That's 15-30. I still say high partcount missiles. You can make the whole thing shorter by cutting out between the missiles and hangar. Lots of reductions there. A mk1 tank will carry more fuel than those rocket tanks That can make the whole thing shorter still. Even more reductions in mass too.

Nukes might not even be the most efficient engine you could use. Try swapping them when you're finished and see if there's an improvement.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Spartwo

[Greymangames]

Just now, Spartwo said:

Change those batteries for power generation. We're not on a budget. drown that ship in RTGs. That's maybe 4. Those small trusses holding up the armor aren't needed. That's 15-30. I still say high partcount missiles. You can make the whole thing shorter by cutting out between the missiles and hangar. Lots of reductions there.

The hanger is supposed to be filled with a new missile type that fired several dumb I beam missiles before impact. However it's quite part intensive, and they may be thrown away. Even so, they're still supposed to be filled with large missiles.

In hindsight i probably should have said that originally. 

[Spartwo]

Never said remove the hangar.

[Greymangames]

5 minutes ago, Spartwo said:

Never said remove the hangar.

ah, my bad. I quoted the wrong post.

 

Edit: Turns out I quoted the wrong post AND misread it.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Greymangames