Making History Parts

[Enorats]

So, I just got home from work and I'm messing around in the sandbox looking at all these new parts. Curious what others are thinking about them so far.

To start off - the engines. Immediately, it seems to me that the Mastadon should have just outright replaced the Mainsail. It's essentially identical in just about every way. Slightly lighter, slightly lower thrust, less efficient - but very slight differences. the Cheetah and Bobcat are just 1.875m versions of the Terrier/Swivel.. useful, but nothing terribly exciting or gamechanging. The Skiff and Wolfhound certainly are though! These two are quite different from anything else we've got, especially since they can be compacted down and used with rockets of multiple sizes. That Kodiak though? It's a 1.875m engine (with fairing) or 1.25m (without).. and it's essentially a clone of the Reliant (but worse in just about every way). Yay?

When it comes to pods, I love the MEM and Gemini. The russian pods though.. umm.. how do I put this? They're identical? Not loving that.

The structural, payload, and coupling parts are all absolutely amazing. I've used BDB's apollo parts forever, and I can see these being a serious contender as a replacement. Love how flexible the pieces are with their hollow interiors, and I can't wait to start designing all sorts of nifty things with them. One note though - I'd really, REALLY have loved to have an option regarding explosive doors vs a reusable hatch. I love the apollo service module's hollowness, but I can see instances where I'd prefer to have a door that can close again like BDB's version. The inflatable airlock is extremely unique. I've not seen anything like it before in mods, and I can certainly think of a few old designs that could have made use of it.

Now - the rest of this I'm rather confused by. This is a "making history" expansion - with many of the parts seemingly dedicated to the most historic launch vehicle of all - the Saturn V. Trouble is, many of the important bits of a Saturn V rocket are entirely missing here. There are no interstages - not much of a problem for some stages, as the engines have fairings built in.. but many of those interstages on the S-V also have diameter changes. These engine fairings don't have that option, meaning we're left awkardly putting in old fairings.

The old launch escape system doesn't work at all with the new conical storage piece that seems meant to go on top of the new capsule, and that storage piece also doesn't really work at all with any of the parachutes aside from the smallest one. That parachute leaves a Mk1-3 pod falling at nearly 12 m/s.. faster than I'm generally comfortable letting things land, as it breaks most parts. I'm not sure what the thinking was on that one. Docking ports also don't work with this piece - it'd have to connect right where the parachute would go, and forget anyone using Connected Living Space (not that they really have to work around mods I guess). Again, this is just something that BDB handled far, far better - It would have been nice to see a stock version of their parachutes, essentially mk2-r radial chutes that can be placed in the "slots" of the cone.. and a larger diameter top of the (shorter) cone to allow for docking port placement. This was how Apollo did it, and how the Orion capsule is also designed.

The engines don't match up with the S-V at all either. The wolfhound is obviously the service module engine, the Mastodon is obviously the F-1. The Skiff seems to be the only J-2 candidate.. but it's far too weak for that role. The real J-2 had ten times the thrust of the CSM engine.. here, the wolfhound has greater thrust! Though, now that I've tested it.. perhaps it would be better to say that the Skiff is too weak (five of them make for a workable but weak S-II stage, while 1 of them is just incredibly weak as an S-IVB stage) and the Wolfhound is just far too strong for its role as a CSM engine. There's also no 3.75 to 2.5 adapter for the MEM to go in - fairings are the only option for this. It works.. but it's not nearly on the level of what the BDB mod achieves.

When it comes to game balance.. my S-V just made Mun orbit without ever touching the S-IVB stage. Granted, it's missing the MEM (as I was too lazy to build one atm while testing this).. but I think there's still enough leeway that the S-IVB stage could be entirely dropped from the design and still do a Mun or Minmus mission. Guess people can take that how they will.. some might want a bit of forgiveness I guess, but it seems like if these parts were meant to recreate a S-V balanced for a KSP Mun mission then the balance isn't quite right.

All in all, I suppose I have mixed feelings regarding this expansion. Some of the parts I love, some I'm on the fence about, and a couple I'm just not liking much. Many I was expecting to see are simply missing entirely though, which is probably the most disappointing part of the whole thing. I had hoped from something akin to a stock version of the BDB mod pack, which does essentially what this expansion set out to do.. but a whole lot better, and far, far more thoroughly (down to including parts for probes I've never even heard about).

[maestro]

I like the new engine blocks that let you decide how many engines u want under it. Will be nice to try out.

[Nimir-Raj]

I've only had a quick look this morning, but I am liking what I've seen.

My only little niggle is that the new parts aren't in their own category in filter (or have an icon) to make them easier to find. Sure the parts with variants are easy to spot, but not all of them do.

[X-SR71]

I can't comment on how accurate the new parts are.

All in all, the engines do feel somewhat balanced with existing parts. I was hoping for that. Wouldnt want a DLC with OP engines which completely replaces what we have in the base game. Even the Wolfhound with its awesome 412 ISP is balanced with its weight of 2.5t vs 1.75t of the Poodle.

The M.E.M. kind of throws the balance out of the window. It replaces the Lander Can Mk2, with less mass, but same space for 2 kerbals, while still providing monoprop, RCS, and built-in fuel! It doesnt have a reaction wheel, but even if you add one you'll still be at much lower mass. Also, can someone explain to me why there are 2 attachment nodes under the M.E.M., and it's impossible to attach to the outer one?

The Structural Tubes seem unbalanced too. Any one of them have the same mass. Also, you can use a very short variant or the longest variant, and both will have the same mass too! Looks cheaty to me.

I think the Mk2 pod looks ugly and would rather have it look more like the Mk1.

The Soyuz capsules are too good reentry capsules. I can drop from Minmus straight to Kerbin in a 40k periapsis and burn just 1 unit of ablator. If I drop straight down and not worry about G-forces, then it's like 0.15 units spent. I imagine you can drop straight from Duna to Kerbin and not worry about heat with these babies.

[maculator]

I too noticed that the parts are like a IKEA version of Saturn V, some small bits are missing so there isn't really a way to put it together not looking strange....

But my biggest concern is that there are absolutly no parts for the N1. Sure it was a fail but I always wanted to see it fly, at least in a video game. KSP could've just done that.

[Frostmonster184]

yea i can see it too. I was some what sad that they call it a history pack and don't include the real Apollo docking probe or the l.e.ts. But they also dont have Soyuz or mercury capsules. while im still gonna buy it ill prob just go back to 1.3 and use bdb.