parts [1.12.x] Sounding Rockets! Start small. Dream big!

[thorfinn]

In FAR they are very powerful, in stock much less due to the souposphere. The Isp figures are quite modest in fact, it's just that mass ratios are good and going straight up isn't THAT difficult. If you want to depress performance across the board to force stock sized rockets in FAR (or whatever other ratio), there is a special mod by Ferram for that.

[ManaaniWanderer]

Figured out the issue, something in Universal Storage is causing the issues.

Edit: one-by-one adding of the various parts of Universal Storage didn't replicate the issue, think a to-small battery might of caused a false-positive.

Edited December 19, 2014 by ManaaniWanderer
Further testing

[Malah]

  Nitrous Oxide said:

From the looks of it, you'll need to add a new entry in one of the RemoteTech configs... I just used the "RemoteTech_Squad_Probes.cfg" and threw the following at the end:

@PART[SR_NoseCone]:FOR[RemoteTech]{
    %MODULE[ModuleSPU] {
    }

    %MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]    {
        %TechRequired = start
        %OmniRange = 3000

        %TRANSMITTER {
            %PacketInterval = 0.3
            %PacketSize = 2
            %PacketResourceCost = 15.0
        }
    }
}

%TechRequired is normally "unmannedTech" for the built-in omni, but I kind of think by the time you get to that node in the tech tree... well then you should be launching actual rockets and probes...

Anyways, I *think* you might be able to throw that somewhere in the SoundingRockets folder, but I'm not too familiar with how KSP or RemoteTech handle any of that... so yeah...

Edit: might make sense to scrap the transmitter function entirely for these, since they don't actually have any electric charge...

Hello, thank you to have done this, I make a small improvement on what you have done.

// RTSoundingRockets
// This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
// All the code from RemoteTech is in GPLv2

@PART[SR_NoseCone]:HAS[!MODULE[ModuleSPU],!MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[UmbraSpaceIndustries]:FINAL
{
	%MODULE[ModuleSPU] 
	{
	}
	%MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]	
	{
		%TechRequired = start
		%OmniRange = 100000
		%TRANSMITTER 
		{
			%PacketInterval = 0.3
			%PacketSize = 2
			%PacketResourceCost = 15.0
		}
	}
}
@PART[RTPassiveAntennaTech]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[RemoteTech]:FINAL
{
	@TechRequired = start
}

With this the Sounding Rockets can:

- be used without the need to unlock the unmannedTech node because Sounding Rockets is useful at the start of a career.

- communicate to 100 km (we doesn't need the Reflectron DP-10 to go in the high atmosphere which is unlocked at the flightControl node).

Edited December 19, 2014 by Malah

[guto8797]

I found out why the rockets are actually performing better than what I was expecting.

They are huge. I was thinking that a single stage one would be 2kerbals height, but the science package is the same height than a capsule, so the rockets are actually huge.

[RoverDude]

The smaller stages are about 2 kerbals high.

Here's one with a Kerbal for scale and a comparison to a 1.25m rocket

And a RL one with Human for Scale...

[eddiew]

These things are so dinky and adorable I must have them for my 20% science playthrough - another RoverDude can't-live-without mod!

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

is the probe compatible with remote tech?

[JeffreyCor]

No, it takes it as being local controlled when used with RT

[lordkrike]

Jeb says he really likes the sounding rockets as they are.

It took 16 SRM-S.

I think perhaps the issue is that they have realistic TWRs (nothing else in Kerbal really does) and that Kerbin is so extremely small compared to earth that orbital velocity is just so much lower.

Edit: that is, of course, presuming one thinks there is an issue. I think they're fun as-is.

Edited December 19, 2014 by lordkrike

[westamastaflash]

Is the launch stick supposed to stick into the ground??? I put it in my rocket attached to the side and the rocket just falls over on the lvl 1 pad.

[thorfinn]

  Quote

that is, of course, presuming one thinks there is an issue. I think they're fun as-is.

So true

westamaflash: no, unfortunately the ground is just a surface as usual... they will touch it with their tips. You might want to build a stick tripod to get a precise angle (they won't break easily)

[Nitrous Oxide]

  xXIndestructibleEVAXx said:

is the probe compatible with remote tech?

  JeffreyCor said:

No, it takes it as being local controlled when used with RT

Uh, we literally just posted a config for RemoteTech on the last two pages... lol.

|

|

v

  Malah said:

Hello, thank you to have done this, I make a small improvement on what you have done.

// RTSoundingRockets
// This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
// All the code from RemoteTech is in GPLv2

@PART[SR_NoseCone]:HAS[!MODULE[ModuleSPU],!MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[UmbraSpaceIndustries]:FINAL
{
	%MODULE[ModuleSPU] 
	{
	}
	%MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]	
	{
		%TechRequired = start
		%OmniRange = 100000
		%TRANSMITTER 
		{
			%PacketInterval = 0.3
			%PacketSize = 2
			%PacketResourceCost = 15.0
		}
	}
}
@PART[RTPassiveAntennaTech]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[RemoteTech]:FINAL
{
	@TechRequired = start
}

With this the Sounding Rockets can:

- be used without the need to unlock the unmannedTech node because Sounding Rockets is useful at the start of a career.

- communicate to 100 km (we doesn't need the Reflectron DP-10 to go in the high atmosphere which is unlocked at the flightControl node).

Put the code in SR_NoseCone.cfg or one of the RT configs (or a new config file, even).

Edited December 19, 2014 by Nitrous Oxide

[Positr0n]

  Malah said:

Hello, thank you to have done this, I make a small improvement on what you have done.

// RTSoundingRockets
// This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
// All the code from RemoteTech is in GPLv2

@PART[SR_NoseCone]:HAS[!MODULE[ModuleSPU],!MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[UmbraSpaceIndustries]:FINAL
{
    %MODULE[ModuleSPU] 
    {
    }
    %MODULE[ModuleRTAntennaPassive]    
    {
        %TechRequired = start
        %OmniRange = 100000
        %TRANSMITTER 
        {
            %PacketInterval = 0.3
            %PacketSize = 2
            %PacketResourceCost = 15.0
        }
    }
}
@PART[RTPassiveAntennaTech]:NEEDS[RemoteTech,UmbraSpaceIndustries]:AFTER[RemoteTech]:FINAL
{
    @TechRequired = start
}

With this the Sounding Rockets can:

- be used without the need to unlock the unmannedTech node because Sounding Rockets is useful at the start of a career.

- communicate to 100 km (we doesn't need the Reflectron DP-10 to go in the high atmosphere which is unlocked at the flightControl node).

I was just looking at the last few pages of this thread before running the new 0.90 with RemoteTech and Sounding Rockets combined. Thank you so very, very much for this fix.

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

  Nitrous Oxide said:

Uh, we literally just posted a config for RemoteTech on the last two pages... lol.

|

|

v

Put the code in SR_NoseCone.cfg or one of the RT configs (or a new config file, even).

So, just copy-paste the whole code in? I have no idea how to code

[Nitrous Oxide]

  xXIndestructibleEVAXx said:

So, just copy-paste the whole code in? I have no idea how to code

Yeah, just stick it at the bottom of SR_NoseCone.cfg in the 'GameData/UmbraSpaceIndustries/SoundingRockets/Parts' folder (that's what I did, anyways).

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

That's a kind of code called a Module Manager config or patch. Make sure you have the appropriate version of Module Manager and put that text into a text file (maybe call it something descriptive, like RT_SoundingRockets.cfg) somewhere in your GameData folder.

[almagnus1]

While the science from these are useful, there needs to be better integration into the contract system.

If I want to use these, I need to be able to turn a profit from their flight, other than just getting science from said flight

[RoverDude]

Did you look at their cost?

Their intent is as science parts not contract parts to help fill in early career science at a (very) cheap cost.

[Frostiken]

Am I supposed to be unable to steer them? Not using RemoteTech so that's not the issue.

Also these are lots of fun. I built a rocket that has all four science modules on it and use the little 'adapter' piece as a landing booster to bring the whole thing down intact.

[undercoveryankee]

  Frostiken said:

Am I supposed to be unable to steer them? Not using RemoteTech so that's not the issue.

Also these are lots of fun. I built a rocket that has all four science modules on it and use the little 'adapter' piece as a landing booster to bring the whole thing down intact.

Yes, they are supposed to be unguided. Any control will have to come from creative use of launch orientation and timing.

[PDelta41]

I got a contract to put the meteorological package on a satellite. Is there any way to keep that from happening? Also, I've been working on a module manager cfg to make these less OP with FAR installed. Do you have target max altitudes for the 1, 2, and 3 stage versions?

Edited December 20, 2014 by PDelta41
typo

[NihilRex]

  PDelta41 said:

I got a contract to put the meteorological package on a satellite. Is there any way to keep that from happening? Also, I've been working on a module manager cfg to make these less OP with FAR installed. Do you have target max altitudes for the 1, 2, and 3 stage versions?

Real Sounding Rockets dont leave atmosphere so easily as these do...

The Aerobee was an early rocket, with two stages and fins. The Aerobee could take a 68 kg payload to an altitude of 130 km. However, the Aerobees were LF\Os. Take a look at the Astrobee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrobee

[guto8797]

Thing is that these rockets have rather well balanced ISP's and trusts, but thanks to FAR givin them near to 0 drag and the fact that they are actually huge (put a science package next to a capsule and you will realize their real size) they get to space in a jiffy, using fins now I resort to having 2 scientific experiments in a single rocket

[A9p]

Using the Kerbal ISP Scaler set to 'FAR to Stock' preset seems to balance things pretty well, I think.

(Also these are very fun, thank you )

[westamastaflash]

Very strange - this appears to break with CKAN Crowd-Sourced science logs installed. I can't run any experiments. Removing crowd sourced logs and it works fine! Maybe it's something wrong with how CKAN is installing crowd sourced science, not this mod?