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All of the figure skating on TV lately from the Winter Olympics has me really excited about Newton's Third Law of Motion and the conservation of angular momentum.
It's not an overly exciting part, so to show off the new, telescoping piston in SimpleRockets 2, I threw together a silly satellite that's orbiting an Earth-like planet. It has four very heavy fuel tanks connected by a series of pistons. I got the satellite spinning with some RCS blasts and then I extended the fuel tanks to slow the rotation down. Retracting the fuel tanks increases the rotation speed, just like those figure skaters do with their meaty appendages.
To be honest, it wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be, but I had too much time invested in this post to abandon it. Maybe I needed some heavier fuel tanks or maybe some better ice skates.
The piston can be customized in several ways in the designer. It's range, speed, and scale can all be customized. It can also be set to cycle back and forth, respond to an activation group, and it can be wired up to any available input. It's a lot of fun to experiment with. Here are the current part details:
- Mass: 5kg to 212kg (11lbs to 467lbs)
- Price: $5k to $25k
- Retracted Size: 0.25m to 1.25m (0.8ft to 4.1ft)
- Extension: 0.05m to 3.3m (0.2ft to 10.8ft)
The angular momentum works
How can I make it so pistons/rotators extend when the part is activated, and retract when they are turned off?
I want to map the input to its activation state.
Thanks
Why do my pistons start out extended? I can adjust them with slider, but they wont start compact and then extend when I want them to
Can use this to create a boxing man!!!
hh
Poor KSP...
The physics look bueatful, the centrifical force that is shown... Smooth.
@henhen129 nice thing explosions are best
If the game was out, i would make piston powered rocket...
This game looks really exciting. But I have 1 question... will there be really big awesome explosions?
I like my meaty apendages, thank you
@RailfanEthan ok
@Diver no... I can confirm from experience
@AndrewGarrison, what did you hoped for, if this isn't exciting for you? Many developers can't create this, but you made it! Come on, it will success. motivation mode off
@RailfanEthan i Thought it always had arms.
@RailfanEthan guess so
There should be a crew for the ships.
succ
Also will there be satalites
AndrewGarrison will there be a way to make places in youre satalites where people can stay in the future
@RailfanEthan OK
Ooh
@PorkyClown3 ya you are right
Where is today's update? @AndrewGarrison
@MineGamer231 you'll survive, SP had no armament for a long time
@Diver moar success = moar moneeh, i imagine if you do sciency stuff it'll make money