[WIP] Interstellar Journey

[Darkday560]

The Kerbal Interstellar Journey

This mod is a Work In Progress, meaning it is not yet finished. If you know me from other modding games, you will know I don't commonly release sneak peaks until 3 weeks before addon launch.

TKIJ(The Kerbal Interstellar Journey) is a giant mod that is planned to massively increase the map POV and zoom length as well as add the ability for Interstellar flight.

You may be thinking that Interstellar flight is basically unreal and impossible in KSP because of it's time warp, and the lack of infinite resources without using cheats, but we are going to work around that problem.

You can either take forever to travel to other stars, or you can send rovers and planes into planets to search for alien devices. Here is a list of the current alien devices below, and how to obtain them. (Anything starting with A- is considered alien technology and can help you reach stars quicker.) (Alien Planets have a larger abundance of these modules)

A-"Colonial Seed" : The A-CS is a large device able to be found half submerged on Kerbin's beaches. If the player manages to find the A-CS, they can be very creative in pulling the module onto land, as it is very strong and has 5 layers of box-spring styled armor. The module has an interior in which kerbals can walk around in to access so called "Seed Pods". If the player figures out how to get the module into space (requires an SSTO VTOL or other creative design) and can supply it with electricity, the lights and pods will be usable. The player can then launch a large seed-shaped pod (about the size of 3-4 Kerbodyne Tanks) out of the side of the module. The pod is built with 2 layers of bouncy armor to provide a cushion for the guts of the pod on landing or crash landing, and has enough seats to store 6 kerbals. It also is very fuel-efficient if you haven't used any of the module's fuel systems while getting it into space, and if you can find a straight line all the way to laythe or jool, it can successfully travel all the way to jool or laythe and still have enough fuel to cause the pod to drop into atmosphere. This module has a docking port on the front of it so you can attach it to your ship.

A-Queen Ant Tank : The A-QAT is quite literally a big armored bean shape similar to the A-CS that essentially makes your ship look like it has a Queen Ant's rear end. This module can be found in the Kerbin deserts, floating in extremely low orbit around the sun, or on one of Laythe's islands. If the player can find this module, it has a docking port on the front. The inner of the module is filled with fuel tanks, RCS tanks, fuel lines, and struts with a large rockomax engine mounted on the back of the module, slightly sticking out. It also has an angled docking port on the top that provides a space for another A-QAT model to refuel the ship.

So far these are the only modules found in the solar system at the time. More will be added. Alien engines, fuel tanks, armor, etc will not be accessible through the VAB or SPH.

Gene Kerman will contact your ship the moment you connect with an alien module and say:

"Ever since we began sending un--manned probes into space and started looking toward the stars, we have had a theory that our species came from aliens and evolved to suit our planet. We now know this is true. We can begin to look even further into the stars and unlock this alien technology."

This mod provides 2 new stars and a total of 16 new planets.

Star 1: Sun (Home Star) (Kerbin Solar System)

Star 2: Sol (Terran Solar System)

Star 3: Proxima C (Centauri Solar System)

Below I will list the planets of the stars. Alien planets will not be named in order to keep secrecy of possible Easter Eggs, and instead will have a made up name.

Kerbin Solar System: Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna, Dres, Jool, Eeloo

Terran Solar System: SwiftP-45, ME-S1, BP-16, RP-17, GP-2, RNPL-1, IG-U1, BBP-N2, IP-P2

Centauri Solar System: ABB-1 (Only known planet to be released at this date)

This is all I'm releasing for now. This is a big project I've been planning for over a year and I started in November. Basic textures and object models are being created, as well as a friend working on expanding the playable universe to a realistic amount to fit all 3 planets in at realistic lengths. It is only me and a friend working on this project. If you wish to help, email me at [email protected]

THANKS!

[CalculusWarrior]

Wow, this has to be one of (if not the) most ambitious mods I've seen! Good luck to you!

[Thomas988]

Over a year of planning, eh? Wow! This sounds awesome! Are there any pictures of this mod available currently? I'm sure people would be very grateful to see what you're getting at.

[Darkday560]

Wow, this has to be one of (if not the) most ambitious mods I've seen! Good luck to you!

Thank you. If you want to try and help me and my friend send me an email.

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Over a year of planning, eh? Wow! This sounds awesome! Are there any pictures of this mod available currently? I'm sure people would be very grateful to see what you're getting at.

Thank you.

And I don't usually release screenshots, but as soon as I get another planet or star in the game, I will definitely upload screenshots.

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Also, I just got an email asking about how the 3 stars are going to orbit eachother or whatnot, and I'll give a public answer to it:

I may be wrong, but I think I will be able to copy and paste the current sun into a different location in the map to make 3 stationary stars. If I am wrong, I will make another sun orbit the current sun and maybe set the movement to 0, setting it immobile in the map.

I do plan on making the 3 stars slowly move around the map. This may cause some sort of funky planet-snatching effect if the planets get too close. I'm not sure, because in stock KSP you can send a ship out on an everlasting path away from the sun with no return, so only time and updated will tell. For now I just need to hope KSP doesn't update it's gravitational physics engine anytime soon.

[Thomas988]

Again, wow! This has got me excited! I personally love how multiple stars are handled in StarSystems, that being the current sun is remade into a black hole and the stock planets and moons relocated to a new, added-in recreation of the Sun which orbits the black hole.

As for the pics, don't feel obliged to add them, especially if you don't want to. It's just that so many new mod-makers will make an epic mod, but never make any pics for the release thread.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Thomas988

[nebuchadnezzar]

This should be in Add-on Development, not Releases.

[hm0119]

really cool sounding mod Are you going to use the already existing planet creation mods like KopernicusTech for the star systems, or create something from scratch?

[JeffreyCor]

while this does sound great, this is a wip and not released so should be in development rather than releases. Needs to get scooted over

[hab136]

>If the player manages to find the A-CS

Have you found some method to hide the ship from map view?

[1of6Billion]

Wait? Wut? Sounds ambitious. Good luck!

[TonyC]

Very interesting

Just one note : Please don't call our species "Terran". Just stick with "Human" please

[Red Iron Crown]

That's an ambitious plan for a mod, hope it comes off as well as planned.

Given that it's still in development and not released, I'm moving this thread over to Add-On Development.

[FreeThinker]

This sound like very abitious project. You want to combine both a biger universe and an adventure? sound like you try to do too much at once. It would require a team to pull that of, otherwise I fear this mod will never see the light of day, or get lost into oblivious after it's not updated.

[Nicholander]

I find this project very interesting... But, I have to agree, a bit ambitious.

[Darkday560]

really cool sounding mod Are you going to use the already existing planet creation mods like KopernicusTech for the star systems, or create something from scratch?

THere are alot of bugs in other Solar System mods, so no. I'm going to try to do something from scratch.

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Very interesting

Just one note : Please don't call our species "Terran". Just stick with "Human" please

I'm not a star treck junkie or whatever, but the name of our solar system is actually "Terran".

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>If the player manages to find the A-CS

Have you found some method to hide the ship from map view?

Like I said, we are only getting done with the textures right now, but I have a couple ideas.

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This sound like very abitious project. You want to combine both a biger universe and an adventure? sound like you try to do too much at once. It would require a team to pull that of, otherwise I fear this mod will never see the light of day, or get lost into oblivious after it's not updated.

That's why I am asking for people who would like to help to email me.

[lurkoholic]

I'm not a star treck junkie or whatever, but the name of our solar system is actually "Terran".

I'm pretty sure our solar system is just called the "Solar System" or "Sol System". According to a very reliable source, the Terran System is the Earth-Moon (Terra-Luna) system

If you don't mind me asking, what other games have you modded?

I look forward to trying this out, maybe with a Real Fuels config (the alien ships could run on Uup ).

[_Augustus_]

This mod is way too ambitious for one developer to make. Only two people have ever succeded in making full planets with PQS, and neither one has made it very stable.

I respect your ideas, but you really can't pull this all off.

[nebuchadnezzar]

Like I said, we are only getting done with the textures right now, but I have a couple ideas.

Textures for what? I'm trying not to be cynical, but for a mod as large in scope as this one proposes to be starting with the textures is working backwards. To me this says you don't fully grasp the undertaking of creating a plugin that can best the other "buggy" planet/system mods, not to mention the other aspects outlined in the op that would have to be done via plugins.