[1.2.2] Realistic Progression Zero (RP-0) - Lightweight RealismOverhaul career v0.53 June 12

[autumnalequinox]

15 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Check out Felbourn's latest series, he goes to great lengths to explain why tiny kerbals are flying crafts 60% too large. 

I'm in the planning phases of a new game too, might fast forward a bit and start in the start In the near future to work around this. 

I'll have to check it out.  Typically in my stock games I give myself a bunch of science points to start so I start in roughly modern times and make a play for the future.  I go with the idea that I'm either a United Space Agency of sorts or a Multinational Space Launch Corporation.  I drop in old launchers I developed as "legacy systems" from different nations.  I do like the historical element of Rp-0 and how tech gets better and more reliable. I got KSCSwitcher and I'm thinking of putting my new launch center in the middle of the Pacific, there's this tiny island I forgot the name but it seems like the kind of thing an eccentric gazillionaire would set up a personal space agency on.  I'll timewarp a bit and maybe give myself a tiny boost of science and I'm thinking of going with the idea that this guy/gal is running a sort of "shadow" program in the background of the Space Race, acquiring spares (at high markup) from the U.S., Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and so forth, as well as picking up "retired" astronauts (for a massive increase in pay, and mostly to train hopefuls that didn't make it in other programs).  This person has the goal and drive to do things far beyond the capabilities and will of the nations in question, and they make money by developing new launch systems/concepts/and tech to sell back to the nations the hardware came from.  

So it won't be so much about "being the first" as being "the first private individual/corporation/evil genius".  This way I can wrap my mind around all the mismatched hardware.  Of course Mr/Mrs. X has the best and brightest engineers on the planet to fit Russian Engines to U.S. launch systems and Russian Space Station parts to U.S. Spacecraft parts, etc etc.

Screw it, I'm going to call it the X-Program.   Maybe I'll actually keep track of/post this thing for once instead of just keeping my own secret notes.

[C3nturionsparta]

for some reason the HG 55 dish is not available to me anymore. Its fine for craft that already have it on but i cant place it on new parts - its grayed out with "part model requires entry purchase" which is already done!! i dont get it as i had this dish last week????

 

KSP V 1.1.3

Edited July 21, 2016 by C3nturionsparta

[winged]

19 minutes ago, C3nturionsparta said:

for some reason the HG 55 dish is not available to me anymore. Its fine for craft that already have it on but i cant place it on new parts - its grayed out with "part model requires entry purchase" which is already done!! i dont get it as i had this dish last week????

 

KSP V 1.1.3

I noticed that there are two HG 55 dishes both with the same name in my installation. Something is clearly wrong.

[ClLaw]

Go to the Space Center screen, bring up the Filter Extensions settings and check the Hide Unpurchased Parts. This will make the HG 55 available to use. If you want to purchase other new parts then you'll have to either uncheck this setting or go to the R&D building and purchase them there.

There is some sort of duplication issue too which I think comes from when you keep going to the R&D building to purchase the dish again only to find you still can't use it. You only need to purchase it once but to have the use of it you need to check that setting I mentioned above.

Edited July 21, 2016 by ClLaw

[MatBailie]

Me again, sorry   Is the following scenario normal?

Three stage rocket.  Central stage with a 2m avionics, 2 liquid boosters each with 2m avionics, 2 solid boosters each with 1m avionics.

As each stage goes there is ample total avionics for total control.

However...  When the solids burn out and I stage their decouplers, all of the other engines "stop" and I get an "no more ignitions remaining" message.

• I still have full control of the vessel
• The throttle is still 100% and I did not see it drop to 0%
• All of the engines are still activated
• But none are burning and have no ignitions remaining

The install is standard plus a few GUI mods (I'll dig out the full list and the log file if/when required - is the best option to post a drop box link?).

 

EDIT:  (Additional Test Configurations)

If I move all the avionics to the central stage, jettisoning the boosters does Not cause any other engines to shut down.  It just means the central stage ends up carrying avionics for nearly 400t of rockets, when it only weighs about 50t.

If I then add extra avionics to the solids (keeping all the avionics on the central stage that allowed things to work) I get the odd behaviour again.

It's as if jettisoning Any avionics Always causes All engines to "stop", even if at all times there were sufficient avionics aboard.

I'm unsure if this is intended, a bug, or a feature.

 

EDIT:  (Further observations)

As above, if I have avionics on any of the boosters, when they are jettisoned any burning engines flame out.

But any engine that had not been burning can be ignited.  So I tried only igniting my central sustainer stage after separation of the liquid fueled boosters.  Excellent, now the central stage can be measurably lighter by not carrying so many avionics.

However, if I do that I loose all gimbal control on the engine.  The RCS work, I can activate antenna, run experiments, and otherwise have full control, except that the engine won't gimbal any more.

That doesn't appear to be the case with vertical stages, only when I jettison side mounted stages.

Edited July 22, 2016 by MatBailie
Additional tests

[autumnalequinox]

Question:  Is the unique RP-0 option in KCT involving base science/per year working?  I've ran through a few years and have yet to see a bump in science (I even sunk a few points into it).  This is a very unique option and as a long time user of KCT I was very intrigued by it.  Not sure if this is a KCT issue or it's just a placeholder (I saw on the tutorial it basically said to ignore it).  If it was intended I may simply set some KAC alarms and give myself the science manually.  I figure it would work as a good baseline of "global progress" to keep my program from stagnating if I have a series of bad test flights (oh yes that has happened already).

[Varamin]

After I just updated my install through CKAN, I've noticed that KSP complains about missing parts in my save, specifically the RO-RD-253 engine. I have tried creating a fresh install with just KSP 1.1.3, with RP-0 installed through CKAN, and I can't find the RD-253 anywhere in the tech tree anymore. Does anyone else have a similar problem, or is that user error?

[Meshugenerd]

On 22.7.2016 at 3:58 PM, autumnalequinox said:

Question:  Is the unique RP-0 option in KCT involving base science/per year working?  I've ran through a few years and have yet to see a bump in science (I even sunk a few points into it).  This is a very unique option and as a long time user of KCT I was very intrigued by it.  Not sure if this is a KCT issue or it's just a placeholder (I saw on the tutorial it basically said to ignore it).  If it was intended I may simply set some KAC alarms and give myself the science manually.  I figure it would work as a good baseline of "global progress" to keep my program from stagnating if I have a series of bad test flights (oh yes that has happened already).

I thought that upgrade just sped up the rate that technologies in the tech tree were researched after being purchased with science?

Edited July 25, 2016 by Meshugenerd

[autumnalequinox]

3 hours ago, Meshugenerd said:

I thought that upgrade just sped up the rate that technologies in the tech tree were researched after being purchased with science?

Ohhh ok just like regular KCT.  That makes sense (reg KCT uses a per/day system).

Thought it would have been cool to have a baseline level of science.  I dug through the formula trying to figure out how it was done.  Thanks for clarification.

[EliasDanger]

37 minutes ago, autumnalequinox said:

Ohhh ok just like regular KCT.  That makes sense (reg KCT uses a per/day system).

Thought it would have been cool to have a baseline level of science.  I dug through the formula trying to figure out how it was done.  Thanks for clarification.

Stock KCT has two upgrades for tech branch, one for how long it takes to research and one that gives you base amount of science per day. In RP-0 that second feature is disabled, and all you can upgrade is how long it takes to research nodes.

[NathanKell]

@Varamin You need the latest RO (11.3) to go with the latest Ven's (1.9.5).

 

@autumnalequinox that's just because the research rate is so low at the start it's best measured per year rather than per day. As you add more points to research, eventually you'll have a high enough rate it'll show per-day.

[Varamin]

12 hours ago, NathanKell said:

@Varamin You need the latest RO (11.3) to go with the latest Ven's (1.9.5).

Yes, CKAN updated now, I can confirm that all is working fine. Sorry to have bothered you with this.

[ETM]

Heyo, Don't know if I am posting this the correct way or not.

I downloaded RP-0 today along with RO and RSS, and for some reason I can't accept contracts (aka. I can't click the accept button on the contract pane) while I enable RP0 contracts from the Contract Configurator settings panel in-game. However, when I disable the RP0 contracts, I can accept the contract (before it eventually disappears altogether from my contracts list). I can accept contracts from other contract packs, just not the ones from RP-0. Any idea how to fix this?

[Aelfhe1m]

52 minutes ago, ETM said:

Heyo, Don't know if I am posting this the correct way or not.

I downloaded RP-0 today along with RO and RSS, and for some reason I can't accept contracts (aka. I can't click the accept button on the contract pane) while I enable RP0 contracts from the Contract Configurator settings panel in-game. However, when I disable the RP0 contracts, I can accept the contract (before it eventually disappears altogether from my contracts list). I can accept contracts from other contract packs, just not the ones from RP-0. Any idea how to fix this?

I think it's an issue with Contract Configurator that @nightingale will need to look at. When RP-0 starts a new career it auto accepts the six initial milestone contracts. But CC now has a 6 contracts limit for 1 star contracts (at first Mission Control level) and there are no free slots left over to manually choose the first launch and Kármán line contacts - despite the heading showing 0 out of 6 contacts accepted.

[nightingale]

1 hour ago, Aelfhe1m said:

I think it's an issue with Contract Configurator that @nightingale will need to look at. When RP-0 starts a new career it auto accepts the six initial milestone contracts. But CC now has a 6 contracts limit for 1 star contracts (at first Mission Control level) and there are no free slots left over to manually choose the first launch and Kármán line contacts - despite the heading showing 0 out of 6 contacts accepted.

Thanks, that sounds like what is likely happening - I forgot to exclude the auto-accept contracts when deciding whether to enable/disable the accept button.  I'll get that fixed up and released ASAP (sometime tonight).

[Estebanium]

I have no idea what I did wrong, but I only have propeller engines if I start a game..

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/448490901514670964/1A0317BEAB540663491CD632C60D728089E0737E/

[Aelfhe1m]

1 hour ago, Estebanium said:

I have no idea what I did wrong, but I only have propeller engines if I start a game..

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/448490901514670964/1A0317BEAB540663491CD632C60D728089E0737E/

Nothing wrong there. The progression in RP-0 is tiny sounding rockets (or planes) first then gradually bigger rockets.

In your engines list you've got the aerobee rocket engine (first entry) for sounding rockets (with a small procedural fuel tank usually) and the Tiny Tim SRB (last entry) to give it a bit of an initial boost.

[gemini4]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but would it be possible to have satellite contracts for satellites of specific mass? I really enjoy building heavy-lift launch vehicles for satellite contracts, but have little incentive to do so when the contracts available only require specific science instruments, power generation, an antenna, and basic avionics. In addition, the base "Position satellite in a specific orbit of Earth" contract offers little incentive in the later game when its rewards pale in comparison to others offered. I'd love to see that problem remedied. Thanks for considering my request. 

[nanomage]

3 hours ago, gemini4 said:

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but would it be possible to have satellite contracts for satellites of specific mass? I really enjoy building heavy-lift launch vehicles for satellite contracts, but have little incentive to do so when the contracts available only require specific science instruments, power generation, an antenna, and basic avionics. In addition, the base "Position satellite in a specific orbit of Earth" contract offers little incentive in the later game when its rewards pale in comparison to others offered. I'd love to see that problem remedied. Thanks for considering my request. 

To avoid the necessity to add lead ballast to your sattelites to achieve specified weight, it would be really neat if contracting agencies actually provided you with (semi-)complete sattellites to orbit as undivisable parts of specified mass and dimensions, posessing some or all of requested properties (so, sometimes self-propelled or sometimes not, or requiring external power or not).  Assuming models for them can be found somewhere and rescaled as required.

Once you get those things flying, you can think of future contracts to service or deorbit them (in 1 piece, that is).

Maybe there already is a mod that does something similar to any of it and can be made rp-0-compatible? i'd definitely like to give it a try, this seems to me like it would've been a wonderful mechanic.

 

[Nightside]

4 hours ago, gemini4 said:

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but would it be possible to have satellite contracts for satellites of specific mass?

...

 

31 minutes ago, nanomage said:

To avoid the necessity to add lead ballast to your sattelites to achieve specified weight, it would be really neat if contracting agencies actually provided you with (semi-)complete sattellites to orbit as undivisable parts of specified mass and dimensions,

...

 

Well, you could role play that the "lead ballast" is confidential code for "super secret satellite components" and that you, the lowly rocket designer don't need to know about.

But you might be able to actually make it work by making a satellite core part that could be filled with a special resource of "computer processor" or something like that instead of lead ballast. Then missions could require a randomish mass of processor power. Stock missions already require x units of ore in such and such and orbit, it would be easy to require a new resource.

[nanomage]

2 hours ago, Nightside said:

 

Well, you could role play that the "lead ballast" is confidential code for "super secret satellite components" and that you, the lowly rocket designer don't need to know about.

But you might be able to actually make it work by making a satellite core part that could be filled with a special resource of "computer processor" or something like that instead of lead ballast. Then missions could require a randomish mass of processor power. Stock missions already require x units of ore in such and such and orbit, it would be easy to require a new resource.

I really like it

so, a few new probe cores loosely called 'nth generation spy/military/research sattelite' would be scattered around the tech tree, that serve as both control unit for the sattelite and 'tank' for that new resource you described, be it 'processing power' or 'classified equipment' with tank capacity and probe dimensions increasing with tech level. Then contracts would appear to orbit a sattelite containing those parts and a specified amount of the resource, and we can have contracts to orbit anything from a tiny cubesat to 80-ton Polyus battle station.

Maybe even plug the stock 'test blahblahblah on a blah-blah-blah trajectory' contract mechanic here, so that the parts are only available when a contract is ongoing.

[Estebanium]

8 hours ago, Aelfhe1m said:

Nothing wrong there. The progression in RP-0 is tiny sounding rockets (or planes) first then gradually bigger rockets.

In your engines list you've got the aerobee rocket engine (first entry) for sounding rockets (with a small procedural fuel tank usually) and the Tiny Tim SRB (last entry) to give it a bit of an initial boost.

Ok, thank you. I will give it a try. I tried to build a plane, but I wasn't sure which wing I should use and most of my tests were going to explode. The aileron wasn't working very well, too minor changes. Is it normal that I have no science points at the beginning? I unistalled construction time, because I was not able to research something and now with a new game, I guess that I have to do some contracts first?

[nanomage]

1 hour ago, Estebanium said:

Ok, thank you. I will give it a try. I tried to build a plane, but I wasn't sure which wing I should use and most of my tests were going to explode. The aileron wasn't working very well, too minor changes. Is it normal that I have no science points at the beginning? I unistalled construction time, because I was not able to research something and now with a new game, I guess that I have to do some contracts first?

You have thermometer, barometer and bio sample at the start node, and probe cores can 'analyse telemetry' for early science.  That's a lot of science if you are not averse to grinding all those different launch sites.

[Nightside]

6 hours ago, Estebanium said:

Ok, thank you. I will give it a try. I tried to build a plane, but I wasn't sure which wing I should use and most of my tests were going to explode. The aileron wasn't working very well, too minor changes. Is it normal that I have no science points at the beginning? I unistalled construction time, because I was not able to research something and now with a new game, I guess that I have to do some contracts first?

Check these videos out, they really should be linked from the OP. Its really helping me in my first play through.

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by Nightside
more words

[Estebanium]

4 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Check these videos out, they really should be linked from the OP. Its really helping me in my first play through.

Yes I found it after I was fighting with the Sounding Rockets, I have not a better understanding of the progression and the start. I noticed that it looks a bit different for him, if I compare the content of his and my inventory.