Exploring the ocean

[justDerrick]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=865920688

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a5je4qt2jz0y8i5/AADdjWCldSkeAqs-5TCBalfSa?dl=0



I've had a blast getting a submarine to work and exploring the ocean, I'd like to share some stuff with yall, and maybe get some advice and pointers to some mods that would make exploring the ocean a little less boring...


you may want to check out this mod. (sadly, it's one of the few Ocean-oriented mods I could find. )

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/155040-122-ballast-and-nuclear-submarine-parts-mod/

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460773

So, starting out and I'm pacing my self here becasue I know there is only 1 biome in the oceans on Kerbin.... and I dont want to earn all my science on the first trip. so my plan if, I've got some detachable pods on my submarine, I'm going to swim out and around and drop these things and get an idea of the depth of the ocean floor (yeah, I know I could just google it)

and thats the plan. This sub here is actually my 6th iteration, and I think I've got most of the major problems solved. One problem is Bouancy, see below and the other big problem is batteris and anything with a low tolerance will get damaged (i'm using maybe 20 different mods) and a damaged fuel tank will leak fuel and a damaged battery will get a reduced charge capacity.



http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460815

first thing with bouancy, is getting the sub to not rise or sink, and there are SEVERAL control methods you can do this with. for instance, I got my propellors in wierd places, this is so I can control pitch with my engines, it's a little complicated, but If I lower the thrust on my center propelllor, then I will rise, and if I increase the sub will start to go down.

I've got some winglets, to act as my water planes and the "thrusters" in from that mod above which are basically modern submarines thrusters.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460844

heading down, and around 900 meters, its pretty dark

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460878

this is my 6th sub, and my plan here was to meet up with a previous sub and transfer the crew.... but Im up against a problem I cant find a solution for yet... my Kerbals are way way too boyant and as soon as they leave the sub...

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460897

a close up of my final ocean floor bouy pod. I'll name the whole sub, "Ocean Depth 1066" or something and release the pod.... it's got a small ballast tank on the bottom to keep it on the floor. Heres the solution to one of my problem, that being the damaged batteries. Batteris seem to get damaged just by being in the water.... but, put them inside that storage tank and they dont get wet.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460977

the first problem with "hooking up" is that I didn't have the bouancy on the other sub set right and it started to drift off.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863051010

here is an early ocean pod design, with a kerbal, I though I could walk around the floor a bit... but i shot up, like 3 m/s as soon as I let go of the pod. You can see some damage on the bottom tank, thats from the pressure, not from crashing on the bottom. because, with the bouancy you can set your vertical speed, and you want the same speed you want landing on Kerbin or anywhere else.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863460949

it took like 7 minuets to rise from the ocean floor to sea-level... 1066 is the deepest I've found yet. I need to figure out some way to put a ton of mass in a kerbals inventory

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863461032

81 meters to the sub... and this kerbal is not going be winning any world 100 m swimming competition.... so slow.



While doing a search for underwater stuff in KSP, I noticed that every single thread that came up had a post where someone mentions that KSP is a SPACE game, and not an underwater ocean game... (such persons, I beleave have never REALLY explored their planet, like they've never gone mountain climbing on those hills just to the north of the space center)... so that is out of the way, and everyone knows that I am aware that KSP is a SPACE game. that said.


Sylvia Early, I think thats the name of the famous ocean explorer, I'm going to rename one of my kerbals, soon as i figure out how to alter that.

[justDerrick]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863672224

my new mk7 sub.... but I cant figure out how to get the winch to work the way I want it to...

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863672034

maybe 10 mins into the trip, I noticed some parts on the sub started to get hot an eventually exploded... turns out one of the struts somehow got attached to the propeller prop and thats what caused that.

Managed to drop off a couple more pods, despite the malfunction.

I find Mechjeb2 essential for subs.. I can set the heading, do some slight adjustments to pitch, via the mechjeb SAS, bouancy and engine speed. on the right, notice the "vertical speed" thats the essential part. using slight bouancy adjustments, I can get the vertical speed to near zero.... but since my props are off-set from the center of gravity adjusting my speed will also raise or lower my pitch

then I can go away for an hour while the sub travels to a different part of the ocean and I can drop some pods there.


I had to give it a shark fin
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=863672181

[George Kerman]

Too bad there's not a like button for posts here..

Originally posted by Derrick Moore:

81 meters to the sub... and this kerbal is not going be winning any world 100 m swimming competition.... so slow.

Would you, if you had a freakin astronaut suit on?

[Chibbity]

I find seafloor driving rovers to be much more efficient and useful than actual submarines.

You can power them by solar power (Yes, it still works even deep down where it's dark.) Then drive around as much/as deep as you want.

Not that there is much to see down there.

[justDerrick]

Originally posted by RoofCatA:

all cool. Unfortunately there is not much to do down there yet and movement speed in water is as enjoyable as flying Xenon ;)

I'm getting about 25 m/s, which is over 40 knots, I think... pretty OK speed for a non military sub... my data is out of data...... but... I think the military subs go 60 knots? (well a sub can go as fast as friction allows, since it aint got a "hull speed" and usually wont tip over (user error not withstanding)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864218595

but compared to orbital speeds, it's well below a percentage of a snail's-crawl

[justDerrick]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

I find seafloor driving rovers to be much more efficient and useful than actual submarines.

You can power them by solar power (Yes, it still works even deep down where it's dark.) Then drive around as much/as deep as you want.

Not that there is much to see down there.

no there is not.... no "scatterers" or anything really of interest.....

something of interest to real world and KSP was this BBC artical I was reading of 1970s pollution being found now in the mud of the deep ocean.. and .. if I were to do a mod, I think I'd start there, with some real-world style ocean experiments and research.. plus that seems the easiest to do...

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Derrick Moore:

no there is not.... no "scatterers" or anything really of interest.....

If you are prepared to fiddle with the configs to improve performance, KSPRC adds underwater vegetation. I don't think people ever realised this and it's actually a big part of what makes KSPRC such a system killer. It's quite a sight without editing anything.

Of course, you can do it yourself (add underwater scatter) with a bit of Kopernicus knowledge.

[justDerrick]

http://www.kspr.com/ Branson.... ?


here is the right one.. it add.. well just some details to the ocean floor as far as I can tell. and I mean "texture" detail only.. no kelp or sea shells so far...


http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/69702-112-ksprc-renaissance-compilation-artworks-remake-v-07-pre-release-3/

thats an awesome image of "Leon Kerminici"

[justDerrick]

and this mod... i'm going to try all these out together.. So far the RSVP mods seems to be "half" working, playing around with the various files right now..... but here is also a good mod for an "oceanic" compilation, Maritime hulls and what-not... also it is UP TO DATE, yay

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/142142-12x-the-maritime-pack-v019-deep-diving/

[Manwith Noname]

Yeah, KSPRC takes a fair bit of tinkering to work properly. You'll need to replace all the mod dll's and in certain cases remove conflicting config files.

[justDerrick]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=865920688

I made a new logo flag for my ocean adventure. it means it's now actualy a "mod" I"ll put a link up top to my Dropbox with it on, if anyone wants it. Take it, if you want it, its not mine, I cant claim any ownership to any of it.

The logo is a complete rip of NOAA's but.. NOPE was the best I could come up with, and everytime I hear "nope" I'm reminded of one of Etalyx's youtube videos ob Mideevial Engineers my kid and I watched (so my kid goes NOPE NOPE NOPE in Etalyx's voice and it cracks me up.. so thats the background) But I wanted to convey the tinieness of people compared to the ocean and how threatening the deep dark can seem to us... etcetera.. it's a kinda dark parody...

the white silouette of a kerbal was inpsired by that black image of a lone kerbal admist the blackness of the ocean depth in the screenshot above.. oh, and that dark blue shape is justa copy of NOAA's just flipped. so free to use, if anyone wants it.

any critiques? of it?

next step.. maybe writing some science stuff? um, any writers out there who have at least a little love for the ocean and a sence of humor and would like to do some writings... deep sea science stuff. (I could really use a writer, becasue as you can read, I tend to ramble on and use poor grammer AND punctuation!, etc

I.m going to see what I can do, but my dream mission (kinda complicated) would be... Coral Reef Reclaimation.. maybe taking some debris that fell off a spaceship, picking it up, moving it to a spot and dropping it to the ocean floor, where it will become an aritficial reef.

but more so than missions, I"d like to try and make the Ocean floor a little more interesting.. doing research on scatteres etc...

[Deizelpunk]

I made some undersea bases and some austetic subs, not very functional tho.