Comet Head (Revamp)

Classic version here

intro

A high-powered, Zenith-tier 'rocket' that has a massive frontal heat shield nose, ridicilous thrust, and all of the usual OP stuff.
This is a from-scratch revamp of a previous craft of mine from long ago, and though it's rather simple it packs a punch when needed, it can and will get you across really long distances quickly.

attachments

The download comes with four attachments, two passenger and two cargo, which you can attach to four folding pieces on the side of the Comet Head, which can be folded behind the craft using Slider 1.

The attachments are modular and can be connected using the StableAttachmentPoint parts, which have a red outline on them. Make sure you connect the attachments to eachother and the Comet Head using these — connecting them with the docking ports isn't stable enough.
I would only reccommend attaching one or two, as the modules are extremely flimsy even with stability modifier cranked up by a lot, and if possible, use time warp to prevent them from flopping around during acceleration. (this isn't a problem if you're going without modules)
The attachment points on the Comet Head are four-way symmetrical by default for equal weight distribution of the attached modules. If you want, you can break the symmetry of the attachment points and attach the modules however you want.

notes

As said above, the attachments are very wobbly, using them isn't reccommended.
The Hyperspeed and especially Ultra-Hyperspeed are extremely powerful, so be careful not to accidentally activate them and go flying off. UHS has a vizzy code that prevents it being activated within atmosphere and/or below 100 km altitude
Works best with heat and physical damage set to 0. However, it has practically infinite hitpoints and max temp so you should be fine even if you don't set the damage to zero
Probably isn't career compatible... i did set ignoreValidation to true for most parts so if you make all of them have that then you should be able to take it into career mode and cheese the hell out of it if you have enough money (or set the price scale to zero of one part to make it free, for the ultimate economy-breaking cheese)

controls

• AG1: Comet Head Main Engines toggle. ~300MN thrust in total, near instantaneous response time, and very big
• AG2: Comet Head Precision Engines toggle. Low thrust, just about enough to get it off the ground on non-insane gravity, but has a buffed gimbal for better control. As the name says, it's good for more precise orbital maneuvering.
• AG3: Comet Trail Generator toggle. Not lore-accurate, only here for the funsies. Emulates the exhaust of the old one's CHME's. Can get very bonkers in size.
• AG4: Hyperspeed toggle. Compact high-power JRX thruster.
• AG5: Ultra-Hyperspeed toggle. Compact high-power JRX thruster used for superluminal travel.
• AG6: Not bound to anything
• AG7: Combined Solar Panel & Radiator toggle for attachments. (AG is mistakenly named "unbound" in-game)
• AG8: Combined Solar Panel & Radiator toggle. 4x on Comet Head and 4x each per attachment. In-lore, solar panels are generally not frequently used due to the power output of logic breakers, but radiators are still crucial.
• AG9: RCS toggle. Can be a little finnicky to work with.
• AG10: Gyroscope toggle. Fairly fast rotation speed.
• Slider 1: Move upwards to fold attachments in. It's very slow and prone to wobbling even then. I reccommend using time warp to stop the modules after they have reached their end points as they will almost always overshoot.
• Slider 2, 3, 4: Not bound to anything
  

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lore/wiki

(DOES NOT APPLY TO INGAME VERSION)

"Comet Heads are simple in theory. Aero, controls, engines, in that order, from up to down, relative to the ground. It gets complex once you add on everything, but in the end, it's the same old recipe of speed, power, agility, and whatever other positive adjective you can use for a vehicle."

(Zenith)

The Comet Head is an unmanned Zenith-made superluminal-capable intergalactic spacecraft for the purpose of transporting passengers or cargo over long distances at high speeds. Its name comes from its large, aerodynamic heat shield that takes up a large majority of the entire craft and gives it the ability to operate in an atmosphere for re-entry and rudimentary sustained flight. Comet Heads have four mounting points for modular attachments that can house passengers and/or cargo, which are typically lifted seperately and then docked to the spacecraft. These mounting points can rotate to fold the attachments behind the heat shield, protecting them from heat during re-entry — while the nihilium that makes up both the Comet Heads' and the attachment's body can easily withstand such temperatures, the heat can still make the interior heat up, which can cause issues for passengers or certain types of cargo.

History

The Comet Head was developed in 2025 to travel between the Milky Way and the SDG-1 galaxy at high speeds while carrying an acceptable amount of passengers or cargo, while adhering to the Zenith's own doctrine of "every spacecraft should be at least minimally capable of atmospheric usage". The Comet Head's design was chosen to maximize aerodynamics without compromising carrying capacity — the interior of the nihilium heat shield has extra empty space, alongside the default systems, that can be filled with various equipment based on mission parameters.

Operation

Comet Heads are unmanned by default, however the interior has enough room to fit a full spacecraft control centre for Zenith to use, which also requires the installation of external cameras for visibility. In its standard configuration, the spacecraft contains digital mapping data of the Milky Way and neighbouring dwarf galaxies and nebulae as standard, with enough extra storage space to fill with maps of SDG-1, Andromeda, and other areas. Due to being developed prior to the introduction of the Wingman system, it only has simpler automated spaceflight, being capable of completely correcting any deviation from its trajectory but still requiring updates from Zenith if unexpected circumstances arrive.

2027 upgrade

All Comet Heads in 2027 were updated with a noncombative Wingman system after Zenith's victory in the battles with Nadir. This allows real-time trajectory correction and modification both by itself and by external commands from the cosmic entities. The original automated system was fully preserved, and is intended to be used as backup if the Wingman control fails.

Specsheet

• Name: Comet Head
• Development and usage
  
  
  
  • Manufacturer: Zenith Spacecraft Manufacturing
  
  
  • Produced: 128
  
  
  • Production year: 2025 - 2026
  
  
  • In service: originally 2026-2029, limited usage afterwards
  
  
  • Affiliation: Zenith
  
  
  • ID codes: ZEN-CH-1 to ZEN-CH-128
  
  
• Physical properties
  
  
  
  • Height: 83.2 m
  
  
  • Radius: 35 m (standard) 29.8m (removed attachment points) 26.1 m (removed fins and attachments) 217 m (with 2 attachments, folded out)
  
  
  • Weight: 300 t (standard configuration, no attachments)
  
  
  • Size Class: Medium
  
  
  • Body material: nihilium (type A, B, and C)
  
  
• Equipment
  
  
  
  • Engines: 4x RC-CHME + 4x RC-CHPE + 1x Hyperspeed M50A
  
  
  • 8x Logic Breaker
  
  
  • IFG (4x KrsRF and 1x JRX)
  
  
  • 5x OXY-GEN (4x each for attachments, 1x for main Comet Head — this is the minimum, as the usual setup features 2x extra of each (15x total) for backup/redundancy)
  
  
  • GYROSTAB and GYROCON of H2 configuration
  
  
  • TC4 tachyon-based communication system
  
  
  • 4x C-PVR combined solar panels and radiators
  
  
• Performance
  
  
  
  • Thrust Output: ~300 MN (CHME)
  
  
  • Speed Class: 7
  
  
  • Maneuverability Class: 5
  
  
  • Superluminal Class: 6