Thunderbolt

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Introduction

In blackrack's True Volumetric Clouds, storm lightning is primarily a visual effect. Thunderbolt adds interaction on top of that: when a vessel is under a lightning-capable cloud layer, bolts may strike the craft, with optional part destruction. Without EVE / volumetric clouds, an atmospheric mode is still available — it uses each body's sea-level density relative to Kerbin (denser → higher chance, thinner → lower); airless bodies never strike.

Damage can be disabled in the difficulty settings if you only want the visuals. A shared lightning-rod module is also provided for parts and Kerbal Konstructs static towers — nearby strikes are diverted to the rod with high probability, but not with absolute immunity.

Gallery

Recommended

Thunderbolt runs on its own. These mods improve the experience:

• True Volumetric Clouds —— Cloud-synced strikes via ThunderboltEVE.dll; tested on v5.

Installation

Drop the folders from the archive's GameData into your game's root GameData directory. BlastFX is bundled in the archive for the fireball when lightning destroys a part; you can delete GameData/BlastFX if you don't need it. Please note that this destroy effect is not perfect yet.

Eligible Vessels

A vessel may be struck when all of the following are true:

• It is loaded (not packed/unloaded) in Flying / Pre-Launch / Landed / Splashed / EVA
• It is on a body with an atmosphere, and below the atmosphere top
• A lightning-capable volume-cloud layer is above it (coverage and lightning frequency meet the difficulty thresholds)

EVA kerbals can also be struck; their kill chance is kept separately low (adjustable in difficulty settings).

For Modders

Part

MODULE
{
    name = ModuleThunderboltRod
    attractRadius = 400
    divertChance = 0.92
    attractPriority = 2
    // tipTransform =
    // tipOffset = 0, 0, 0
    // canBeDestroyed = false
    // destroyChance = 0.05
}

Kerbal Konstructs Static

MODULE
{
    namespace = Thunderbolt
    name = ModuleThunderboltRodStatic
    attractRadius = 800
    divertChance = 0.95
    attractPriority = 3
    // tipTransform =
    // tipOffset = 0, 20, 0
    // displayName = Lightning Tower
}

Credits

Thanks to @CharonSSS for the banner and screenshot images.