Station Blueprint Kit Updated

With the release of Space Agency 1.9, the blueprint kit has been updated to include the new ion drives.  As with all the parts, these new parts are compatible with Commander Oz's SVG kit as well.  The link-able ion drive has a link icon so they can be identified on station drawings. 

You can download the blueprint kit.  It is an SVG file that you can edit in Inkscape (or any other SVG editor).

There are some parts that the blueprint guide doesn't have (like fairings) because they aren't typically used in Centauir Spacework's construction.  If you need to use one of those, here is a guide for how to convert parts from the Commander Oz style to the blueprint style.

1. Select an existing blueprint style part and copy it.
2. Select the Commander Oz part.
3. Ctrl-Shift-G
4. Ctrl-Shift-+ (the plus/equal sign on the keyboard)
5. Ctrl-Shift-V

1.9 Release Review

Here are the highlights of the 1.9 release of Space Agency:

• 2 new missions
• New ion drive station parts
• New Arianne 6 and PSLV rocket parts
• Draco Trunk bug fix.

Overall this is a great update: new parts, new rockets, new missions, and a key bug fixed.

New Missions

As usual, there are new missions to introduce the new parts.  I really enjoyed Mission 36.  In mission 36 you need to attach two parts, on of which is the new ion drive, to a test vehicle.   What I really liked about this mission was that you don't have easy access to one of the docking ports that you need to attach to.  The vehicle is parked so close to STA that even if you were to fit the part it, the tug would impact STA when it released the part.   This added a bit of extra challenge on top of the standard launch and attach parts style mission.

Mission 37 is similar to mission 36, but it uses 4 parts and includes the new linked ion drive parts.

New Ion Drive

I am very excited for both the new ion drive parts.  They are both small sized engines, which was one of the aspects that I was hoping for when the Mighty Joe Thruster was designed.   They also do not have atmosphere which was another key aspect of the Might Joe Thruster. 

Having the ion engine run off of power instead of fuel is a great way to add more variety to the game play.  If that weren't enough, the linkable ion drive engine allows you to fire multiple engines at the same time.  This eliminates one of the major constraints to ship design in Space Agency.  Because you could previously only fire one engine at a time, the engine needed to be located close to the center line of the ship to keep the thrust balanced.  Linkable ion drives no longer have that constraint because they can be fired simultaneously.

New Rocket Parts

Not one but two new rockets: the Ariane 6 and PSLV.  Both also include new boosters as well.  Centauri has started using the Ariane 6 body with the Airaine 5 boosters as one of the go to rockets for launch.

Araine 6

PSLV

Draco Trunk Bug

Very happy to see this bug fixed.  Now you can access the cargo inside of the trunk.  This means that Draco can now carry a huge 11 cargo.

Mighty Joe Thruster

Nooleus announced that that there will be an update to Space Agency tomorrow, and that we can expect a new engine in this update.  Everyone at Centauri Spaceworks is very excited for this update.

But before the update drops, Centauri designers would like to put out their idea for a new engine.  They have no idea if it is anything close to what Nooleus will release but it is something that would make ship building more interesting.

This is the Mighty Joe Thruster.  It is designed to be used on larger ships and stations that can support a stand alone engine module.  The Might Joe has two advantages that make it a great choice for an engine.

• It does not have any atmosphere.  This means you can mount it on any part and not get the annoying no atmosphere warning when looking at your station or ship.  
• It it fits in the width of a standard station module. This means it can fit in smaller places that other engines cannot.

These two attributes make it ideal for an engine on your next station or ship!

Trade Station Omega

First, an apology for no blogs last week.  Centauri Spaceworks has been diversifying into Tiny Space Program.  A significant portion of resources has also been devoted to developing an asteroid mining game.   And everyone in the Space Agency division decided to take their vacation last week.

Here is preliminary design of Trade Station Omega.  It isn't complete but it is close. The design doesn't have the locations of the oxygen gardens, med bays, and control rooms placed.  It also doesn't have the power calculations, but with 4 nuclear generators and 12 large solar panels it should be enough to power it.

It does have 4 major docking ports (the airlocks), 4 minor docking ports (modules at 90 degrees off off the air locks), and two high security docking ports.  That is a total of 10 docking ports for ships. 

What suggestions do you have for it?  Tweet @CentauriSpace.  Maybe your suggestions will make it into the final design.

July 4th Fireworks

In honor of the July 4th holiday, here are some Space Agency fireworks.  This video was recorded as the Crystal Voyager was being disassembled for parts.  Because most parts were overlapping, it caused an explosion when trying to undock.

Happy 4th of July!

Centauri Spaceworks Social Media Department

Welcome to the tour of the Centauri Spaceworks social media department.

Starting off on the right is the Twitter department.  You can tweet to them at @CentauriSpace.  This is Centauri's most active social media channel.  The team sends out updates of all new blog posts within hours of them being officially published.  On off days when there isn't a new blog post they scour the archives looking for some interesting facts to share or old posts to talk about.

The Twitter department is staffed with several eager go-getters.  It is the most active social media platform and very responsive to any inquiries.  Chances for a retweet are pretty high if you post a photo of something you created in Space Agency.

To the left on at a single desk sits Hans Shultz, the sole employee responsible for the Facebook page.  He is nearing retirement and has a large amount of vacation time to use.  Typically he only can be bothered to post notifications about new blogs.   If you message Centauri on Facebook, Hans might take a while to get back to you.  But that shouldn't stop you from liking and sharing the posts if Facebook is your preferred platform.

And last of all, behind a large stack of boxes is a folding table that is the makeshift desk of the the YouTube Channel department.  It is run by seasonal interns.  It only has a few videos and doesn't get regular updates.  The interns haven't been very good at making new content so basically the videos posted there are just supporting material for the blog posts or a tweet.

That concludes the tour of Centauri Spacework's social media department.  I hope you enjoyed hearing about the different channels and maybe discovered a new one or two.  Happy launching!