[0.16 ish] The Truss Pack - Rugged parts for any eventuality! *2.0 NEARING RELEASE!*

[Leicontis]

Just had another idea to suggest - some sort of non-decoupler radial trusses, to make it possible to have secondary stacks around the main stack, but with some separation rather than tight to the side of the ship (I know that would be a bad idea in practice, but the Kerbals don\'t strike me as the type to let practicality get in the way of aesthetics...).

No rush, and there are probably a few parts from other packs that could serve, but figured I\'d put the idea out there.

[Sherbetlemons]

Ok, well, I might as well show you all the fruits of today\'s labour.

That\'s three new modules there, and there\'s another one not shown (basically just a thing similar in size and shape to the truss pod but a strut/hab module thing)

Yes, the shield is textured AWFULLY. I\'ll change the colour at least before any kind of release.

The rotating bit (made with sarkun\'s MultiJointPart plugin) doesn\'t have a rotating collider as of yet, not sure if that\'s yet possible, so the bit that moves is physics-less.

(Aegrim, I watched sunshine again today, is it obvious? )

[Leicontis]

Do you have any idea how much drool people are trying to mop out of their keyboards because of that post? ;P

[OtherDalfite]

Sunshine is one of my favorite movies, glad to see someone is finally making a pack for it.

[erkha343]

KANEDA, WHAT CAN YOU SEE? =P

[Sabactus]

Is there a way to increase the strength of the linkage between the different segments? I built a big ass vehicle out of your pack but I can\'t throttle up as high as I\'d like.

[Sherbetlemons]

I\'ve been trying, but it\'s really an issue with unity. I don\'t know whether it will or can be addressed. I find that lifting the vehicle off of the pad using, say, some radial decouplers, stock tanks and my links (and adaptors as feet?), and then putting the first stage engine in the same stage seems to help a bit with issues like that on the pad. I would imagine drag contributes a lot, so with docking, launching smaller sections and assembling in orbit might help overcome this a bit. I\'ll tidy the nodes up so they attach closer for the next time I release, which will help with wobble.

[rustymcclintock]

I really like this pack for building satellites and stations, not so much ship\'s. maybe add in more ship flavored aesthetics?

[Stoormer97]

I like the way it makes my ships look!

[Sherbetlemons]

Well, the difference between a ship and a station is small

But I was planning on doing a/some lander/s that fit in with the \'aesthetic\', maybe a few more cylinders and curves. And the launch vehicle will be done as soon as I get the hang of radial decouplers =P

[Naiba]

Brilliant pack, so many crazy possibilities!

Are you going to be putting in any truss parts with built-in fuel lines?

[rustymcclintock]

Well, the difference between a ship and a station is small

But I was planning on doing a/some lander/s that fit in with the \'aesthetic\', maybe a few more cylinders and curves. And the launch vehicle will be done as soon as I get the hang of radial decouplers =P

not true, at least not for some. A ship can look exatly like a station and still be a ship but I mean less white, plastic looking square parts and more sleek industrial designs.

[Aegrim]

Ok, well, I might as well show you all the fruits of today\'s labour.

That\'s three new modules there, and there\'s another one not shown (basically just a thing similar in size and shape to the truss pod but a strut/hab module thing)

Yes, the shield is textured AWFULLY. I\'ll change the colour at least before any kind of release.

The rotating bit (made with sarkun\'s MultiJointPart plugin) doesn\'t have a rotating collider as of yet, not sure if that\'s yet possible, so the bit that moves is physics-less.

(Aegrim, I watched sunshine again today, is it obvious? )

jebus!

Make it bigger!

[rustymcclintock]

I had just made a 'sunshine' ship reference in another topic and I thought it looked familiar!

[Naiba]

To be honest, I\'d much rather be able to make a close aproximation of the nightingale from supernova

[Sherbetlemons]

Hmm, I was thinking a bit more Icarus 1/2 and Venture Star than the Nostromo or a Charon, but I get what you mean. The Nostromo is meant to be atmospheric (correct me if I\'m wrong...), so that adds a different spin on things...

As for the Charon, well, the technology and construction infrastructure available to the Caldari State might be a little above what\'s on hand for the first interplanetary jaunt for the residents of Kerbin ;P

On thing I was going to add pretty soon was panelling; simple, lightweight panels which attach radially, giving more of a , and possibly double as decouplers. I\'ve got \'truss\' radial decouplers working, as well as a decoupler/adaptor/shroud, so a launch vehicle is very much \'in the pipeline\'.

But I\'ve said before, I haven\'t done textures yet. I don\'t know much about them, and will need to get up to speed at some point.

[Shadoed1]

Is there anyway to add some kind of panaling that is coloured white so we can just place to make ships a little more well aestheticly pleasing, yet they weight nothing?

[Sherbetlemons]

That was what I was gonna do

[Lazurkri]

if the overall aesthetics of the Truss Pack is supposed to be ships that look like they were assembled in Micro-Grav and never meant to really enter a atmosphere (Which is the impression I get), could you add in more 'utility' modules like Hydroponics modules, Cargo containers, stuff like that?

Plus also, I cannot seem to get your Ion Engine to work. Or rather, the engine works, but despite me attaching up to 8 of the solar panels to the battery sections, I cannot get the batteries to ever recharge.

[Sabactus]

My one request is the increase in linkage strength. 1.5 g\'s sustained acceleration shouldn\'t cause catastrophic failure in an interstellar vehicle

[Sherbetlemons]

I haven\'t made or released any Ion engines :S

I think you\'ve got the wrong pack, perhaps it was the \'deep space parts pack\'? it seems to have some pretty shmexy ion engines in it if I remember...

I was planning on adding things like that at a later date, thanks for the suggestion!

And linkage strength is out of my control I\'m afraid (AFAIK). It\'s the engine itself. My parts ARE a little \'loose\', and I\'ll make sure to tidy that before the next release, which should help somewhat. Was you failure occurring in atmo? if so, it\'ll be mostly drag, and assembly in orbit with docking will help. If not, then it\'s worse than I thought :S

[Sabactus]

I haven\'t made or released any Ion engines :S

I think you\'ve got the wrong pack, perhaps it was the \'deep space parts pack\'? it seems to have some pretty shmexy ion engines in it if I remember...

I was planning on adding things like that at a later date, thanks for the suggestion!

And linkage strength is out of my control I\'m afraid (AFAIK). It\'s the engine itself. My parts ARE a little \'loose\', and I\'ll make sure to tidy that before the next release, which should help somewhat. Was you failure occurring in atmo? if so, it\'ll be mostly drag, and assembly in orbit with docking will help. If not, then it\'s worse than I thought :S

Oh no I mean that I\'ve got fuel tanks breaking away from each other. The engines are secure. I\'ll be in orbit and accelerating to break orbit and the fuel tanks will separate from one another.

[Lazurkri]

I haven\'t made or released any Ion engines :S

I think you\'ve got the wrong pack, perhaps it was the \'deep space parts pack\'? it seems to have some pretty shmexy ion engines in it if I remember...

I was planning on adding things like that at a later date, thanks for the suggestion!

And linkage strength is out of my control I\'m afraid (AFAIK). It\'s the engine itself. My parts ARE a little \'loose\', and I\'ll make sure to tidy that before the next release, which should help somewhat. Was you failure occurring in atmo? if so, it\'ll be mostly drag, and assembly in orbit with docking will help. If not, then it\'s worse than I thought :S

*Slams forehead into desk* yes, shit, sorry, wrong pack with regards to the engine thingie.

I have some more suggestions for modules:

Cryo/Stasis Pod

Laboratory module

Weapons Pods (Missile, Gun, or Energy weapon)

Small craft Hangers (Fighter, Shuttle, the pods from 2001 that sorta thing

[Naiba]

Maybe a set of 6-sided, more triangular, structurally sound looking truss parts would be seem a little more ship-like rather than the space-maximising octagonal ones, also, are you going to be making drop (side-mounted) tanks with some form of radial decouplers?

*more triangular looking (6 sided) truss segments would look something like this:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/159/6sidetruss.png

Of course... that\'s a 'stupid high polly' version.

[Sherbetlemons]

Hexagonal trusses like that do indeed look pretty darn nice, especially the one in the image. But I think I might wait till \'truss pack 2.0\', or at least after I\'ve added more parts, got the hang of texturing, and tidied the existing trusses up a bit.

And I\'ve got the hang of radial decouplers, so I\'m going to do a few of them, in different lengths (heights, I suppose), the smallest being suitable for drop tanks.