Been mucking about in this for a while, Career mode got really fun and challenging, since I couldn't just default to the usual Kerbal strategy of Spacetape and Boosters. Just finished attempting a second Mun mission, since my first was more a frantic attempt not to crash into it after I misjudged some distances. So I present to you; The Multi-Purpose Kerbal Lander (Version 2)! Asparagus staging for the first six, then just a quadlet of Nuclear Engines for landing and general manouverability, I can actually fly to Duna on those nuclear engines alone, I just haven't yet figured out how to land there. Anyway! Go into orbit okay, that main engine had more than enough kick to circularize too! Then came the Mun burn, that all worked too! Staged it just right so that stage would crash into the Mun, gotta keep space clean, after all! Then I actually performed the best landing I've ever managed. (Although that's not saying much. I've put half a dozen more craters in the Mun since I started.) Braking Burn to set it down, then... Landed! Unfortunately, a mechanical error led to the Rockets firing unexpectedly, while I was able to regain control and brake the craft before it crashed into the ground, the force of impact did relocate the engines from their original positions on the craft. So Jebediah is stuck there till I can fly something else out to land near him and bring him back. Plus the 300 odd science he's got with him. I got a bit too excited with the fun of getting another craft to the Mun and landed neatly to remember to take all of the screenshots, which is a shame, because KSP does have some beautiful moments in it sometimes.
Nuclear engines shouldn't be used with such small fuel tanks. Switch them out for the rocketmax 48 and your'll shave 8.6 ton of your landers mass and lower its centre of gravity. They're less efficient but that's more than made up for by weight savings.
I prefer the larger fuel tanks purely because I often run smaller tanks out of fuel on landing, I'm rather bad at getting the burns right so I don't waste Delta V, so carrying excess into space with me doesn't bug me too much, nor does the high center of mass. There is a SAS unit in there along with the capsule, so there's enough torque to counter just about anything the physics engine can throw at it that won't just tear the craft apart. I accept I could manage more economical solutions, but I live and die by the old Kerbal motto of "More Boosters and Spacetape!" Plus it's a fun challenge to try and land a nuclear engine on it's butt on the Mun, since they're so unspeakably prone to shearing off, which was how I lost the three on the most recent attempt; skidded the arse-end along the surface of the Mun and pulled them off. As for the Ascension stages; those are simply seven Skipper engines, since I've not got mainsails unlocked in the Tech Tree, although I think the 'Sails are overkill for all but extreme thrust scenarios, since they're terrible for fuel lifetimes.
I want to buy this game but I'm afraid that I'll never see daylight again, lose my job and my wife and end up an unwashed glassy-eyed troglodyte hobo living on benefits and junk food in a basement somewhere, occasionally mumbling: "'sokay honey... I can stop anytime I want... I just don't want to right now, 'sall...". I have seen addiction, and its name is Kerbal Space Program.
Yeah but you know how to deal with addiction..... .... ...right? KSP is the bomb, I highly, highly recommend it.
Entray Kerman on the surface of Duna, doing Science! Just don't tell his wife and kids there's no return trip planned...
Tech tree complete! Probe to Jool and its moons worth thousands of science! Just realized I totally quoted myself instead of editing.
SSITS (Shooting S*** Into Space) Inc has decided that it is finally ready to send a mission to Duna. Chief Crash Du...Test Pilot Jeb Kerman is reported to have said "We choose to travel to Duna within this week, and do other things, not because it is easy, but because there is a lot of lovely science points out there!"*. *Or at least that's what we think he said; it sounded a bit more like "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee".
Didn't realise there was a threat about this! Currently I have 4 Kerbals orbiting the Sun after an experiment to see how many rockets I can actually attach to a command module. The answer is a lot.
Single nuclear engine fueled by an FL-T800 and FL-T400 fuel tank for the majority of the burn to Jool and between its moons. Rockomax 48-7S with a FT-L100 fuel tank (the combo seen on my Duna lander above) on the probe itself for final adjustments. The probe was an OKTO2 with a Science Jr. to which all other science devices, antennas, and solar panels were radially mounted. Lessons learned for the future would swap the two 2x3 solar panels for a single Gigantor XL solar panel mounted opposite the goo container. The launch stage consisted of a single Mainsail with two orange tanks, then four orange tank+Mainsail combos asparagus staged around it. This got it well beyond launch, and was powerful enough that the FL-T400 could be swapped with a second FL-T800 to grab a bit more delta V. I should also admit that the trip didn't include Bop since its orbit was so inclined, and only visited the high orbit of each moon (got encounter, transmitted like a madman, escaped influence). Surprisingly, once you're on an encounter with Tylo it's super easy to hop between moons. You can typically make a simple burn so that your escape back into Jool's orbit launches you right into a Vall enounter, then repeat to launch into a Laythe encounter. EDIT: Picture added, slight changes made. New arrangement of instruments to accommodate larger solar array, FL-T400 changed to 800, solid rocket boosters added because... they're basically free delta V! Should be able to get orbital science from any celestial body, or multiple depending on where you go. Just not designed to return after landing.
The Kerbal, more power is better: slight design flaw, i had to come home (landing legs & bad flight plan ? better lander....) next time
Swapped out the probe from the rocket above, and replaced with a space plane. After testing designs for stable re-entry I've come across something to send to Laythe! Currently en route to leave the Kerbin system. Made it! Flew all the fuel out of it and attempted landing. You can guess by my choice of screenshot how that turned out. Mission Report: Launch was uneventful, maneuvering such a large craft is always a bit tedious. The nuclear engine made it all the way with fuel to spare, it was left on during re-entry to provide stability (moves the center of mass forward, while adding more drag in the back) but this didn't seem necessary. Entry into Laythe's wasn't without incident: an error with action groups caused only a single jet engine to activate, sending the plane into a flat spin from which it safely recovered. The onboard LV-909 was unused, and the fuel from the onboard FT-L800 was used to power the jet engines. The approach to land was smooth, but ultimately resulted in failure as the slope of the shore was steeper than was thought at a distance. Lessons Learned: The large reaction wheel on the lifter stage needs to return. Placing the space plane's reaction wheel so far back improves balance but is detrimental to handling in space unless the probe wheel is disabled. FT-L800 can safely be replaced with FT-L400+Mk1 Fuselage or FT-L400+Mk2 Cockpit. Double and triple check action groups!
Kerbal Collective Public Space Program Progress Report Finally, after heroic efforts by our brave kerbonauts, we achieved our preliminary goals of landing Kerbals on the Mün and on Minmus. We have a probe en route to Duna, and a couple of secret missions are also underway. Today's public report will first and foremost describe our latest mission to the Mün which was flown in secret in order to shield the observing public from possible consequences in case of a UDE (Unplanned Disassembly Event). This picture was taken from one of the VAB gantry cranes as the payload was attached to the rocket. Kurt Kerman (inspector, treasury dept.): This is looking very impressive, very impressive indeed. Tell me, how does it stay up there? Adam Kerman (engineer): Not by magic, that's for sure... hee hee hee. Through a very thorough vetting process three kerbonauts were selected for this most secret mission to the Mün, and as always only the best of the best made the cut. Here we join Jorley, Luke and Loley Kerman during their ascent. The payload was quite heavy so an extra ring of SRBs was needed in order to get the rocket to clear the launch Towers. At 4000 meters we have good separation of SRB boosters. Flight is steady. Ascension stage dropped, burning transfer stage to circularise our orbit. The following picture was taken from a non-existent orbital surveillance platform, and it was included in this report merely for its aesthetic qualities. Jorley Kerman: We have plotted a course for the Mün, standing by for the transfer burn. Geoffrey Kerman (mission control): Roger that Jor, have a good flight and we'll see you when you rotate back. Loley Kerman: What's that big, grey round thing that's growing in the viewport? Jorley Kerman: Ah, that would be the Mün my friend. Loley Kerman: That's the Mün? Then why is it not shining like it does when seen from Kerbin? Jorley Kerman: You didn't read the pre-mission information pamphlet, did you? Loley Kerman: Didn't think it was all that important, and instead focused on writing autographs. Jorley Kerman: Autographs? For whom? This is the secret Mün mission you know. Secret being the key word... Jorley Kerman: Burning for Münar orbit, flight. Geoffrey Kerman: Roger that Jor, we'll talk when you swing back around the other side. Geoffrey Kerman: Welcome back Jor, good to see you again. Jorley Kerman: Thank you flight, we have good orbit. Geoffrey Kerman: So we see. Uploading landing coordinates now, you may commence landing procedures at your command. Jorley Kerman: Roger that flight. We are starting our approach. Jorley Kerman: Horizontal speed killed. We are committed gentlekerbs, we will land this thing or die trying! Loley and Luke Kerman: Hang on! No-one said anything about dying whilst trying during briefing! Jorley Kerman: Relax, that hardly ever happens... Jorley Kerman: Touchdown! Flight, we have landed. Greetings from the Münar surface. Geoffrey Kerman: Roger that Jor. Proceed according to plan, and a massive congratulations from all of us at mission control. Jorley Kerman: Structure secure, external lamps on, science-y gear at the ready. Emergency escape pods look good - systems are green across the board. Flight, I hereby declare Kerbalkind's first extrakerbin habitat operational. Now all we need is mining gear and then we'll make this colony work. Geoffrey Kerman: Glad to hear it Jor. Now get some sleep; you guys have a lot of work to do in the coming few weeks. Meanwhile our expeditions for Duna are underway having travelled past the orbit of Minmus. END OF PUBLIC REPORT INTERNAL REPORT - ADDENDUM The following pictures and accompanying text were lifted from various conspiracy theory kerbwebsites. Somehow this information got leaked. Pasted information below.......................... What is the KSC (Kerbal Space Consortium) up to? Lately numerous unannounced launches have been spotted (a good few of which exploded on the pad, and even more exploded during ascent), and this time we even have pictures: Here, a large craft spotted in LKO burning hard to escape Kerbin's SOI. Where is it going? Who is onboard? At this point in time we can only speculate, but one thing's for sure: this is not public information, and that is a kerbaled mission. We can clearly see the large hitchhiker module stuck to a large stack of tanks and radial boosters. Next, also in LKO, this strange object was spotted. What is its purpose? Then there's this. We got lucky and obtained the following picture as this craft was launched, but it has since dropped off the radar. We only have this picture to confirm its existence. What is it? Where is it going? What is its purpose? We do not know, but we do know one thing; the KSC is not telling us everything!
Currently on sale at £13 or thereabouts. Sorely tempted though didn't realise it's in alpha stage. So, my question is, how stable and robust is the game folks? Many thanks. Cleggy.
I haven't built anything remotely decent...even a simple cockpit module attachet to a rocked goes arse over end almost instantly....I think my record is about 300m... that is as simple cockpit module attached to a solid fuel rocket... no input besides activating the rocket
Its stable. Your'll start seeing some freaky stuff or performance hits when vessels gets very large. As always the best thing to do is go to the forum and scan it to get the feel. 500 in the modding versus 20 in the support forum. Did you turn SAS on? I believe its T unless I remapped.
SAS Is indeed T...managed 400 ish meters before nosediving into a satellite dish almost 600 meters before it overheated and exploded seriously how on earth are you people in space is a mystery... I have had a couple of flights go skyward...but they all just move off flying up and go nose first into terrain ( apart from 1 gigantic rocket in sandbox that launched a man directly into the sun )
