Kerbal Space Program, Revisited.

[xthetenth]

The kerbals are already green, you'll hardly notice a change.

I've got to say though, I would murder for a campaign mode so I could do BARIS style shenanigans.

[PeZook]

This game already is what BARIS wanted to be

Anyways, campaign mode isn't that far off now - they even have the button for it implemented, and seeing as all the major features needed are in already...

[CaptHawkeye]

Contaminating vast swathes of the pristine homeworld of Kerbality? Totally worth it!

I was actually thinking the other day with all the running rocket engines i've jettisoned back into the planet I must have killed as many Kerbals down on it as I have in its skies.

They better just start living in bunkers. Because I can't stop science.

[PeZook]

Version .18 allows you to do all the fun explodey parts of the program using unmanned probes, which certainly saves the lives of a great many brave comrade Kerbalnauts, even if it does little to alleviate the (entirely necessary for the greater glory of Kerbalkind and SCIENCE!) casualties on the ground.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Kerbal Space Program - We do what we must, because we can!

[Marko Dash]

so....

i'm having some trouble with the patcher, so i can't test yet.

how rigid are the docking-connected ships? could you conceivably dock enough long thin ships end to end to ring the planet?

[Dave]

Make sure you've downloaded the latest patcher, it should be the first one with a version number on the home screen.

Docking joints are firm but flexible.

No, I think the vessel physics simulation mode has limits in the "couple of kilometers" range.

[TimothyC]

how rigid are the docking-connected ships? could you conceivably dock enough long thin ships end to end to ring the planet?

No. You can't dock a ship to itself (which is what you would need to do to ring Kerbin).

[ryacko]

I can't help but imagine that halfway through, the physics system will go awry, and the half-completed ring will spin around and into Kerbin, destroying much of your precise work.

[CaptHawkeye]

You can't make an omelet without cracking a few planets. :V

[Imperial528]

I made some space station:

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4136 ... hot268.png

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3633 ... hot272.png

The ship that just docked with it is to get the crew home. After I figure out how to do things like transfer fuel and crew through the ports.

[TimothyC]

I made some space station:

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4136 ... hot268.png

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3633 ... hot272.png

The ship that just docked with it is to get the crew home. After I figure out how to do things like transfer fuel and crew through the ports.

Resource transfers are via an alt-right click IIRC, and crew transfer is via EVA.

[TimothyC]

Spoiler

After a suborbital drop (which I didn't think to take pictures during), and a drive over the surface , our intrepid kerbanauts arrived at something



The sun Kerbol was setting and the lighting was getting worse.



"Quick! Turn on the lights!" was the radio call back to the DEMV Mk 5, affectionaly called the ANT.



The Solar-electric powered Rover's lights flickered on, and in doing so, secured that this night they would be sleeping in the shadow of the pyramids.



Staying the night here would be alright for now however, as they had a lot to study
.


They were going to need more scientists however.

The title does not contain spoilers as the existance of *something* in the desert was confirmed by one of the devs prior to the release of 0.18

[PeZook]

Alas, my Kerbals shall soon undertake the great voyage beyond the sea to investigate the MYSTERIOUS ANOMALIES in the Kerbin Desert. They shall take this



Behold, the QM-1 PENETRATOR transport drone! It is capable of delivering and airdropping a two-man electrical rover to...well, we hope it's "anywhere in the world".

[Imperial528]

I made some space station:

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4136 ... hot268.png

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3633 ... hot272.png

The ship that just docked with it is to get the crew home. After I figure out how to do things like transfer fuel and crew through the ports.

Resource transfers are via an alt-right click IIRC, and crew transfer is via EVA.

I found a helpful video tutorial. Oddly, crew pods actually do have the same buttons, they just do nothing. Planned feature?

[TimothyC]

I found a helpful video tutorial. Oddly, crew pods actually do have the same buttons, they just do nothing. Planned feature?

I think they have said that it is planned, just not right now. It's like all of the EVA stuff they want to eventually do (like strut placement).

For those who were addicted to MechJeb, version 1.95 with 0.18.1 compatibility was released a few hours ago. I have not tested it yet, but reports are good.

[PeZook]

So, I checked out the MYSTERIOUS DESERT ANOMALY by flying an airplane there and airdropping a rover: and while it's a good thing now that you actually can build aircraft with ranges greater than 50 kilometres, flying them is still iffy (controls are way too sensitive) and, above all, really boring.

I wanted to fly another crazy aircraft there and pick up the rover's crew, then fly back home, but I think I'll just go full rocketry, fuck aircraft

[Imperial528]

Anyone else had the docking misalignment glitch? It killed my space station.

[xthetenth]

So, I checked out the MYSTERIOUS DESERT ANOMALY by flying an airplane there and airdropping a rover: and while it's a good thing now that you actually can build aircraft with ranges greater than 50 kilometres, flying them is still iffy (controls are way too sensitive) and, above all, really boring.

I wanted to fly another crazy aircraft there and pick up the rover's crew, then fly back home, but I think I'll just go full rocketry, fuck aircraft

Airplanes are cool but frustrating. I got a design together for a plane that was doing around Mach 3.3 when suddenly one of the engines decided to fall off. That was less than optimal. I tried earlier to get a plane together to be a first stage, and it kinda worked, but not well enough to justify further experiments.

[PeZook]

They take A LOT of testing, and it quickly gets frustrating, because you spend so much time just fiddling with them instead of actually doing stuff. Doesn't help you can't warp beyond x4 in atmosphere, so getting anywhere is just amazingly boring. Using a rocket makes more sense in every instance.

[PeZook]

Also: airplanes are very dependent on exact placement of aerodynamic parts because of drag issues, but the editor really isn't outfitted for that: there is no way to know how air will flow around your plane other than to take it for a spin.

[xthetenth]

Rockets make even more sense now that you can cut chutes so if you want you can be an utter toolkit and use them in lieu of landing gear, so you can fire them out over the target, pop the chutes, pop gear, land, pick the guys you want to pick up up and then cut the first set of chutes and go home.

[TimothyC]

Rockets make even more sense now that you can cut chutes so if you want you can be an utter toolkit and use them in lieu of landing gear, so you can fire them out over the target, pop the chutes, pop gear, land, pick the guys you want to pick up up and then cut the first set of chutes and go home.

You can also repack the chutes if you can get a kerbal next to them. Just EVA right near the parachute mounting and then click on the mount and select repack.

[Imperial528]

News from the Final Frontier!

Since 3m parts are often unstable, I made a new profile and made a 1m station. This was also an attempt to fix the docking glitch, but it took 1.8.1 to do that.

Station core after the docking of a solar module, with the ever enthusiastic Jeb:



Next, we did a test for a very important thing, relating to our next design:



You indeed CAN dock more than one port together at the same time. Which allows giant spaceships.

And now, the next addition to the station, the start of a fuel depot:



As you can see, it is also designed for dual docking. I also mucked up and forgot to put more power storage on the final stage, so I only have three minutes to dock after detaching the RTG.

[CaptHawkeye]

Docking actually strikes me as pretty critical if you want to reach other planets in the star system one day. You simply can't construct a starship of practical weight and fuel carrying capacity on Kerbal.