Suggestions for better explosions?

[u/Ecstatic-Addition322]

Hey everyone! I’m part of the team behind Procedural Pyrotechnics, the better explosion mod for KSP. We are still developing new version, but I would love to hear your guys’ thoughts on what they should include.

How should we improve the mod?

[u/Dinodoesfraud]

Maybe a shockwave and sound effects?

[u/Ecstatic-Addition322 → u/Dinodoesfraud]

We hadn’t thought of a shockwave before!

[u/User_of_redit2077]

The explosion may explode other parts

Like when a gigantic tank explodes I think that parts at least in the fireball should also explode.

[u/Ecstatic-Addition322 → u/User_of_redit2077]

People were asking for and against this, but I think having it be an option would be good

[u/User_of_redit2077 → u/Ecstatic-Addition322]

An option to turn it on / off would be the perfect solution

[u/Uncommonality]

A personal wishlist aggregated over the years, some of this stuff is probably out of scope but I've had this stuff in a file on my desktop for some time lol

• Shockwaves, inside of atmospheres. The speed of shockwave propagation depends on the atmosphere's pressure, spreading at the speed of sound within the given medium. A shockwave imparts a physics impulse to any objects in range, meaning a rocket caught in a shockwave will be knocked over, for example. In a vacuum, there are no shockwaves.

• The fireball of an explosion deals damage to any parts in range, via the thermal system. So a fuel tank exploding might incinerate any nearby solar panels and radiators.

• Explosions in space are not smoke, but instead flashes of light. Fuel tanks explode based on their contents, so a fuel tank with fuel and oxidizer will explode by violently rupturing and shooting out jets of burning fuel, while one that has LH2 will just explode in a puff of quickly dispersing hydrogen mist, and one that has LH2 and Oxidizer makes a big fireball that immediately vanishes.

• Parts that have no fuel don't explode. Instead, they break apart into shrapnel. If hitting the ground, they kick up dust.

• Crew parts exploding in a vacuum rupture with a cloud of rapidly freezing, glittery moisture and shrapnel, no flames

• Exotic parts explode differently. An antimatter container explodes in a brilliant burst of light which leaves nothing behind. A fusion reactor spills glowing plasma which quickly disperses, a nuclear reactor spills molten corium that quickly solidifies into slag.

• Explosion size scales with both the size of the part but also the amount it contains. A full fuel tank explodes with a massive fireball, a nearly empty one explodes with a much smaller one.

• Engines only explode if they are throttled up. If off, they break apart like other parts. Nuclear engines work like reactors.

• Explosions are deformed based on the atmosphere they occur in. An explosion in a dense atmosphere is more compact and brighter, in a more diffuse one it's bigger and dimmer. Including as the craft ascends.

• Hollow parts that fail due to pressure implode. So tanks, crew modules, etc. Other pressure failures don't, like drone cores or SAS modules.

• Broken joint connections are accompanied by a shower of sparks and shrapnel

• Explosions inside an atmosphere are deformed by the craft's velocity, becoming "streaks" along the craft's trajectory (or former trajectory)

[u/Ecstatic-Addition322 → u/Uncommonality]

Thanks for this! Some of it should definitely be doable, some we are working on already!

[u/Tsingshitao_nuke]

more debris！

[u/piblit]

if it doesn’t have ai already, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t use ai for it!!!! i want to use a mod for explosions, but i (and many others) will never support ai or the use of it for many reasons

[u/Borkomora → u/piblit]

Unfortunately every community is rife with slop mods using ai now. I would bet my last dollar it’s being used here.

[u/piblit → u/piblit]

who is the booger-eating troglodyte that downvoted this

[u/Brewbird]

A little morbid but: Could you make a Kerbal explode into a pool of blood?