The return of the DeltagliderIII (DGIV)

[toadtal]

I was just wondering whether or not in the new dg will electric power be limited... ie apu now runs on a limited fuel source so it is nessecary no monitor your energy
consumption on long duration missions therefore requiring you to turn off certain systems like your docking port or maybe even your main engines when not doing
course corrections. please note, this IS NOT A feature request, i was just courious if this will be included, the only reason i ask is that i remember reading several posts a
while back mentioning that this would be a cool feature.

[DanSteph]

I'll think about it, but main problem is:

People may want to make 15 days trip but many other may want
to make a trip to jupiter, a solar system tour etc etc.

For now DGIII is in certain manner and easy ship to fly.
Adding another limited ressouce may add to the complication...

Dan

[toadtal]

well, when it comes to the limited aspect of the apu fuel why not make it modifyable like everything else. ie the fuel and air supply

[DanSteph]

Still thinking about that...

-----------

Maybe too much realism ?

Notice it's not my fault if one do dumb things





Dan

[Dan M]

About how this looks

[Dan M]

and

[Cairan]

DanSteph wrote:
I'll think about it, but main problem is:

People may want to make 15 days trip but many other may want
to make a trip to jupiter, a solar system tour etc etc.

For now DGIII is in certain manner and easy ship to fly.
Adding another limited ressouce may add to the complication...

Dan

Ok I've given some thoughts to this problem... What if you implement two kinds of APUs... Chemical ones and nuclear ones...
For mission departing Earth, the nuclear APU would need to be offline not to spur radiation around, just like it's deadly to
open the canopy on any other planet than Earth. So the code is already in there somewhere to check for that...

Then, once in orbit, the pilot can switch from the resource-limited chemical APU to the less-limited nuclear APU. Still
limited however, by the total output possible based on the fuel decay. A nice logarithmic function with an half-life of 5
years would be great, as it would mean that any travel beyond Jupiter or Saturn would need Power Saving from the player to
reach the goal with enough reactivity left for operation, return, whatever.

It's a little like the Shuttle you know... Those hydrazine APUs are not kept running the whole time... And beside, having to
evacuate some of that waste nuke heat actually makes the radiator deployment more than an esthetic step on long trips, but a
necessity!

[DanSteph]

Other problem is place on panel, consistancy of panel buttons (one power on top other powers things on bottom
panel etc etc, strange) and last but not the least, ease of use. DGIV even with much button is simple to operate yet.

Ergonomy is important, on top panel power is easy to understand because of button place, line, text etc etc...
to do a nice power managment it would need that I redo completely all the panels or do some bad
and complicated add.

Dan

[Cairan]

DanSteph wrote:
Other problem is place on panel, consistancy of panel buttons (one power on top other powers things on bottom
panel etc etc, strange) and last but not the least, ease of use. DGIV even with much button is simple to operate yet.

Ergonomy is important, on top panel power is easy to understand because of button place, line, text etc etc...
to do a nice power managment it would need that I redo completely all the panels or do some bad
and complicated add.

Dan

Yes indeed... Ok, so maybe simply have a "behind the scene" change from chemical APUs to nuclear ones when you switch the
engineering model from "short duration" flights to "long duration" ones? Simply having an APU fuel mass consumption orders of
magnitude lower would do the trick...

[DanSteph]

Retro and hover Thursters now have door, on panel you can set the door to CLOSED (no thruster available) OPEN
or AUTO. In auto mode when you press numpad key "-" to get retro for exemple, first the door open automatically
then only you get the power. When power not in use anymore the door close. (of course with system message and
sound
and the door close/open really fast)

Unlike standard DG door have right animation axe, and door have tickness (not flat).
I reworked also all the door of DGIV to have thikness (gear door, nose etc etc) because
it's a bad saving of poly, for only 100-200 you get much more good looking than flat door.





I think this incoming release deserve the "DGIV" name after all

[Cairan]

Nice!!! Are you going to code into that beast that leaving the retro / hover doors open during reentry leads to a Bad Day?

Obviously the leading edges need to be smooth during reentry or else... well... Columbia comes to mind.

[DanSteph]

Cairan a écrit:
Nice!!! Are you going to code into that beast that leaving the retro / hover doors open during reentry leads to a Bad
Day?

sure, planned... tomorrow... 6 am here

Dan

[Cairan]

The only thing missing to that spaceplane is a copilot to read out the checklists!!!:wor:

[reekchaa]

Very Sexy purple thrusters!
And this *break up* for bad reentry... It instantly changes to a dozen or so random burning shapes, or does
each piece actually correlate to a piece of the DGIV ?  ...And survivors?
I can't believe you created something so monumentally bold and unnervingly exciting & tense!  

[Cairan]

Hmm... you know, if those hover doors have dynamic pressure limits just like the landing gear does, it changes the flying
procedures a lot... Having to slow down to near stall speed before opening those and having to close them not long after
getting the landing gear up on departure will make transition between horizontal and vertical flight... interesting!

[DanSteph]

Cairan a écrit:
Hmm... you know, if those hover doors have dynamic pressure limits just like the landing gear does, it changes the
flying
procedures a lot... Having to slow down to near stall speed before opening those and having to close them not long
after
getting the landing gear up on departure will make transition between horizontal and vertical flight... interesting!

Not a bad idea, I'll see...

Dan

[DanSteph]

Hover door And programation done:



work same as retro door, in auto when you press thrust first door open
then you have thrust. Thruster goes down a bit when door open.

Those door impact flying abilities so better to keep them in auto in atmosphere
(mean no thrust=closed) you must also close them before reentry or you'll burn up.
Check vessel state  will remind you about those doors.

Dan

[Quantum Burrito Meal]

I have a small request for the DGIV; I don't know how hard this would be to program, but I have been experimenting with
making scenarios, and it would be nice to be able to break a button by, say, setting its state to -1 in the .scn

Just a thought.

[DanSteph]

You can do that with 1.
state is "red" you must push it again to clear error.

But a real broken button is not that intteresting...

Dan

[Quantum Burrito Meal]

I knew that, I've been mucking around with the .scn files a lot

I meant to like stop someone from using that button, to simulate a broken generator, life support, etc. But it sounds like
you don't think it's worth it, and I can take that

[reekchaa]

I donno.. there's nothing funner than going out to buy groceries but the car won't start, so you get underneath and
bang on your rusty old starter & take it out and recondition the brushes in acetone... then find the brakes don't work
so you bleed each wheel and squirt brake fluid all over your face, and then pull out leaky fuel lines and replace them
since you damaged them diagnosing other stuff... and then you have to put it all back together with a butter knife.  
THAT would be pretty fun.

[Demon]

Dan, what do you think about the Generator of an emergency situation in new version? For example, left or right engine
failure… .



Post Edited ( 12-21-06 19:36 )

[darkvoid]

Demon wrote:
Dan, what do you think about the Generator of an emergency situation in new version? For example, left or right
engine
failure… .

I also think this is great. A little "program" that randomly, in a certain period of time, could generate a failure like MS
Flight simulator.



Post Edited ( 12-21-06 21:36 )

[FordPrefect]

Man, that looks really beautiful. Normally I am a die hard fan of historical/realistic spacecraft, now I believe the DG-IV
will be the first deltaglider I'll take to orbit. Great work DanSteph! Oh, and thanks for your email with those hints about
the plug-in problem / .3ds to mesh converting problem I had, still have to try out your suggestions. Cheers!

[DanSteph]

You welcome

Dan