Project Explorer (Babylon 5) Deep Space Vessel

[Urwumpe]

I'd absolutely welcome anything you have to offer, and would gladly maintain it going forward.

OK, I'll look at it tomorrow.

 

[n122vu]

UCGO Testing

Update - UCGO implementation progressed very rapidly this evening. Now at the point of defining cargo slots, as well as docking ports, in the main hangar bay. Current plan for distributing cargo/docking ports is as follows:
Main hangar (largest):
10 docking ports (support for 10 atmospheric shuttles)
40 UCGO cargo slots (4 beside each docking port)

Upper (shuttle) hangar:
12 docking ports (support for 12 crew shuttles)

Lower (fighter) hangar:
24 docking ports (support for 24 Starfury fighters)

I am assuming there is no limit to # of docking ports per vessel. If someone knows of a limit please share so I can update plans.

Attached is pic of an XR2 "landed" in the main hangar bay with some UCGO cargo. Testing alignment of the docking port/cargo slots.

 

[Urwumpe]

One question: Do you plan with combat or do you just want to peacefully drive around?

If combat, I'll leave provisions for that in the Thunderbolt, I have the Babylon 5 Wars table-top rules here, they make a pretty good reference for the combat capabilities.

 

[n122vu]

One question: Do you plan with combat or do you just want to peacefully drive around?

If combat, I'll leave provisions for that in the Thunderbolt, I have the Babylon 5 Wars table-top rules here, they make a pretty good reference for the combat capabilities.

For now I have no plans for combat capabilities. Not to say I wouldn't add such in the future, but for now, my focus is releasing Explorer for peaceful exploration.

 

[Urwumpe]

For now I have no plans for combat capabilities. Not to say I wouldn't add such in the future, but for now, my focus is releasing Explorer for peaceful exploration.

Ok, then I'll just leave that behind.

 

[n122vu]

Just watched the beginning of B5 Season 2 Ep 4 - A Distant Star, to get a good look at the Explorer class ship from the show. As the Cortez came through the gate, I noticed something right away that I need to correct. The Rotating Crew Structure, or gravwheel, is spinning the wrong direction in Orbiter. Will correct this in the next upload.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I took the Cortez to Mercury earlier today. She moves fast in a straight line, that's for sure. I felt as if I were driving my old '71 Cutlass again, really fast, but can't corner for beans.

My "turnaround" to make orbit around Mercury had to start long befor I was inside the Mercury SOI, even still I felt as if I was going to overshoot. I'm going to try something with a bigger gravity well tonight if the wife'll let me stay up a little late.

So far, this ship is pretty awesome. I don't get into the habit of flying the really big ships around (Arrow and James Cook are as big as I want to fly), but this ship is starting to make me think differently. Nice job!

 

[n122vu]

Awesome! Glad you're having fun with it. Although, if you think she flies like a wet goose now, try docking six XR2s in the lower bay and then let me know what you think

UCGO Support is currently in development, and I think it's going to work out nicely. Still need to define bay docking ports and cargo slots. Will have to wait until at least Thursday though for further work. Felt ill all day and just sat down at the laptop to do a little more research before bed.

Thanks for the feedback!
n122vu

**EDIT** Just curious, how much acceleration did you push her with in a straight line when you went to Mercury? Found this earlier when looking for more info. It's from the link I posted on page 7 of this thread:

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Explorer can reach a top acceleration of 2 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.25 G for any extended trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies. Because the Explorer is mostly unshielded from the effects of radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles (It is not completely unshielded), the explorer is not operated at speeds exceeding 20% of the speed of light; However, No captain has ever brought up to that speed.

 

[n122vu]

@Urwumpe - Does B5 Wars contain any data for the Kestrel class shuttle? Specifically I'm looking for the wingspan. I'd like to place the docking ports for 'landing' in the bay realistically spaced apart (in case I or someone else gets the wild hair to develop the Kestrel class later on). I know it is around 29 meters in length based on a couple Internet sources, but I have yet to find wingspan info.

Thanks,
n122vu

*EDIT* closest thing I've found so far is this:
http://www.comet-miniatures.com/index.php?zone=29&
Model which is 9" long with a 13" wingspan.

Using that ratio, and a rough length of 29 m, I come up with around 42 m for the wingspan.

I think I will start out placing the docking parts 2 x 2 in the bay, 46 m apart, which would allow a Kestrel-class shuttle about 4 m clearance in the bay from the wingtip of the next shuttle.

**EDIT** My math was confirmed here, though only off by 3/4 m:
http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-B5-Ships/Earth_Atm-Shuttle.htm

 

[n122vu]

I decided to place the docks for the Kestrel atmo shuttles around 74 m apart in all directions, and still had plenty of room for rows of 3, with a total of 12 docks in the main hangar for atmo shuttles. Attached is a screenshot of a fleet of 12 XR2s landed in the bay. The XR2 is almost a full meter longer than the Kestrel class, but the Kestrel has about a 23 m wider wingspan.

Next on the to-do - add 40 UCGO cargo slots in the main hangar

 

[Urwumpe]

@Urwumpe - Does B5 Wars contain any data for the Kestrel class shuttle? Specifically I'm looking for the wingspan. I'd like to place the docking ports for 'landing' in the bay realistically spaced apart (in case I or someone else gets the wild hair to develop the Kestrel class later on). I know it is around 29 meters in length based on a couple Internet sources, but I have yet to find wingspan info.

Not in there, but I can tell you what the acceleration is relative to the Explorer (Twice as much, unless you overpower the thrusters of the Explorer). Also there is a Wiki that contains similar data (26m length).

http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Kestrel_Class_Atmospheric_Shuttle

 

[n122vu]

Not in there, but I can tell you what the acceleration is relative to the Explorer (Twice as much, unless you overpower the thrusters of the Explorer). Also there is a Wiki that contains similar data (26m length).

http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Kestrel_Class_Atmospheric_Shuttle

Thanks. I've been to that wiki before. Good source of information. I've seen two sources now that actually put the Kestrel at 29 m length. Since the difference is only 3m, I think I'll leave the docks as they are regardless.

I hope to add the UCGO cargo slots this evening, though watching episode 1 of When We Left Earth has inspired me to download 2006P1 and the Mercury and Gemini add-ons, so I may be busy with those instead Gotta still have fun orbiting in between developing...

 

[Urwumpe]

I hope to add the UCGO cargo slots this evening, though watching episode 1 of When We Left Earth has inspired me to download 2006P1 and the Mercury and Gemini add-ons, so I may be busy with those instead Gotta still have fun orbiting in between developing...

LOL, I also have the DVD box here, great stuff, but I currently do some other joy stuff - playing with making the Thunderbolt (or better, the B5Fighter superclass) poll Joystick and buttons directly...for example permitting to switch to translation mode by just holding the pinky switch.

 

[Urwumpe]

Update: work towards getting a first version of the Thunderbolt released this night, have already gathered such a long todo list in the code, that I get the feeling it would be nice if I keep on developing this one for a while.

The main idea is to make this one a generic module for all Babylon 5 small craft (Fighters, Shuttles, Breaching Pods), so it is possible to create a few more vehicles with the same features. Input files would be using JSON syntax, I just like using this because it is pretty light-weight. Theoretically, the generic module code could also be extended to support the big vessels, but I refrain from this because of two good reasons: It would sabotage n122vu's project and also make it much harder to get into the many different details of the various ships. And the control interface is designed for fighter-like vehicles and not really for big ships. It might feel right on a White Star, but badly wrong on a Explorer or a Bin'Tak (The big evil Narn dreadnought). Not to speak about a Shadow vessel which would be nowhere like a spacecraft, but more like a Tim Burton movie in your head.

Not sure if I will keep the full fun of the joystick extension, while it works, it is basically a bypass to the Orbiter engine. AFAIR, there is a API to FlyByWire which could be maybe a better way to work with the joystick. Currently, it is just a crude hack. The code could permit making every vessel class have its own joystick configuration that can be edited by the player. it would be a small edit currently to also support two or more joysticks at the same time, but only the focus vessel polls the joystick.

The Thunderbolt supports UMMU (maximal crew 2), and has attachments for up to six "basic fighter missiles" (I use the table top stats and not the guess work from the homepages, which ranges from six to ten). The player always sits only in the pilot position, if you have a second astronaut onboard, this one acts as navigator/WSO.

There is also a variant of the Starfury around, the Badger, which has a rear gunner position and support for 8 basic fighter missiles.

Just some nice-to-know:
In the TT rules, at least 10 such missiles would be needed to badly damage a Explorer, 30 missiles more would be at least needed to completely destroy it (assuming good luck). Every flight of Thunderbolts has maximal 6 x 6 = 36 missiles.

 

[n122vu]

Update: work towards getting a first version of the Thunderbolt released this night, have already gathered such a long todo list in the code, that I get the feeling it would be nice if I keep on developing this one for a while.

Sounds good. Can't wait to take her for a flight. No problem letting you maintain your own work

I like the generic module concept. Should make it easy to populate the B5 universe more quickly with different vessels. Already having to refrain myself from starting on Kestrel class or another before I finish the Cortez.

Once I have the Cortez in a decent place and first release is out, I may actually turn my attention on Babylon 5 station or Agamemnon next.

 

[Kendo]

I have a AN8 and a MSH file, all textured, of the Starfury. ( I converted it from 3ds.) Just waiting for permisson to use. As soon as I hear from the Author, it,s all yours.

 

[Urwumpe]

Once I have the Cortez in a decent place and first release is out, I may actually turn my attention on Babylon 5 station or Agamemnon next.

I'll just do anything that I get meshes for. I can maybe produce a Narn Frazi mesh with my skills, but I doubt I could even make a Vree flying saucer look properly.

I can add support for the big ships pretty quickly once the fighters work well. A Minbari Sharlin Cruiser mesh would be nice, it is one of my favorites and the same mesh can actually be used for producing 4 vessels...

The Grey Sharlin (would just need a different texture)
A Shargoti Battlecruiser (more weapons and armor, same hull)
A Sharlin War Cruiser
A Sharaal War Cruiser (predecessor of the Sharlin, same hull).

But I also wouldn't complain about a White Star, though I suspect, nobody will really like it, if I implement it properly. :lol: (It has a strong power deficit, can't fire all weapons at once, but it is really an agile ship, it can in the Table Top even outmaneuver a wing of heavy fighters)

The simplest would be the Shadow vessels: Most of them have just two weapons, though very flexible and powerful ones.

 

[n122vu]

An interesting discovery - was using Universal Cargo Deck to try and place one of BrianJ's spotlight vessels in the hangar. Apparently there is a limit of 999.99m distance on all placement values, which means I can't use UCD in any of the hangars on the Explorer, since they are all about 1500m from the center of the mesh. So, I'm left wondering, is this a limitation that also would apply to Payload Manager, or is this an Orbiter limitation in general? Because when trying to use that z coordinate in an attachment point, it appears it reads the X and Y coordinates correctly, but does not process the Z coordinate, so the spotlight is attached near the grav wheel, which sits right around center-mesh.

 

[Urwumpe]

An interesting discovery - was using Universal Cargo Deck to try and place one of BrianJ's spotlight vessels in the hangar. Apparently there is a limit of 999.99m distance on all placement values, which means I can't use UCD in any of the hangars on the Explorer, since they are all about 1500m from the center of the mesh. So, I'm left wondering, is this a limitation that also would apply to Payload Manager, or is this an Orbiter limitation in general? Because when trying to use that z coordinate in an attachment point, it appears it reads the X and Y coordinates correctly, but does not process the Z coordinate, so the spotlight is attached near the grav wheel, which sits right around center-mesh.

Shouldn't be a problem in Orbiter, why don't you test it yourself by using some code of your own. I never had a project that had more than 500m distance between CoG and attachment yet.

 

[n122vu]

I intend to test it this evening. Going to code some attachment points and try to place a spotlight or two to see what I can come up with.