Kerbal Space Program, Revisited.

[PeZook]

Wasn't Curiosity's used down to it being just too damn heavy to drop with parachutes and get a decent landing? It would be cool if they added dust effects for landings, though. Scorch marks, dust, shockwaves and Max Q effects would all add to the eye candy.

Three primary reasons were:

1. Weight of the rover itself, which precluded an airbag system, since they don't scale linearly, and a parachute because Mars atmosphere is too thin to allow you to use practical ones. MSL's drag chute was already pretty gigantic, and it wasn't expected to actually serve for terminal landing.

2. Weight limitations of the Centaur, which precluded a classic powered landing, since a big enough landing shell (think Lunokhod) would weigh just too damn much to fit.

3. Terrain: both airbags and a capsule run a chance of landing in rough terrain and being unable to deploy the rover ; The skycrane, on the other hand, could land MSL safely even on a significant incline! This actually combines with weight of the rover itself.

[Serafina]

Oh also, generic hint:
Use Action Groups
When building a rocket (or spaceplane), you can assign action groups by clicking on the icon slightly left of the middle of the top bar.
You get a list with various choices for action groups - staging, abort, brakes, gear, lights and numbers 1-9. Selecting them and clicking on rocket parts (basically anything that has actions associated with it) allows you to assign one or more actions to that action.

This has a variety of uses. You can easily unfold or retract a whole bunch of solar panels/antenna/docking ports with just a single press of a button, which is neat. But you can also toggle fuel flows or engines.

As a concrete example - when i build spaceplanes, i use turbojets to get to about 14000m, then switch to rocket engines. I usually use aerospike engines, so i also use some small radially mounted ones for steering.
First, i assign the turbojet engines to the "abort" action group (that red button that pops up left to the altimeter), but still use the "toggle" option (no reason to only use shutdown really). This allows me to prevent engine stutter when i run out of intake air.
Second, i assign the aerospike rocket engines to the "stage" action group. Simply by pressing my space bar, i can turn them on for a short while at the end of the runway to get a clear liftoff (5 seconds only), shut them off again, and turn them on when i switch from my airbreathers.
Third, i assign the radial engines to action group 1, allowing me some extra steering whenever i want or need it.

Manually operating all these engines simply couldn't be done fast enough, and unequal thrust would ruin any flight plan. Action groups are pretty much a necessity for any proper spaceplane.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Thanks, Serafina. I was curious as to how to use those options. Now I know.

[PeZook]

Oh I'd have quit the game in disgust long ago if I had to find each solar panel on my 150 ton space cruiser every time I wanted to toggle it

[Serafina]

Oh I'd have quit the game in disgust long ago if I had to find each solar panel on my 150 ton space cruiser every time I wanted to toggle it

That reminds me - are there any good ways to use lots of electricity?
Because in the end, you really never need more than a handful of solar panels, if that, to keep even a spacecraft with tons of accessories running. That's why i love the concept of Ion Engines (sucky that they may be in this game) because they are currently the only way to really use up lots of electricity.

[PeZook]

Well, rovers use up plenty, but no, there are no really power hungry thingies in the game right now.

[Serafina]

*sigh* If only Ion Engines were good for anything....
Well hopefully we'll get fancy stuff eventually.

Also, i finally managed to find a way to link my base modules properly. Basically, it's a I-I shaped thingy, moving in the direction of the I's, and with docking clamps at the ends of both of them. Works perfectly well for docking, and i can form my base into nice enough shapes with it.
Now i just need to improve my lifter to actually get it to Duna. Fortunately i designed it to be quite modular - though maybe i'll redesign it, my designs have much improved since then. That old launcher is still too wibbly-wobbly, and not in a good way.

[PeZook]

The ability to switch out payloads is a godsend, frankly. I don't have to spend hours rebuilding entire launchers anymore!

EDIT: Also, if you are only a bit of delta-v short, you can cut down the initial insertion orbit. I do all my heavy launches to 65km and then boost it up, saves plenty of fuel.

[Zaune]

*sigh* If only Ion Engines were good for anything....
Well hopefully we'll get fancy stuff eventually.

They're not bad for probes. And I have been meaning to experiment with some modding tools...

Also, I'm just going to leave this here:
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/sho ... -Boom-boom

[Admiral Valdemar]

For electrical usage, we could always get VASIMR, Serafina.

Orion and NERVA or Zubrin drives are certainly tasty. The idea of launching a whole station, lander and probe fleet in one go is tantalising. So long as it could withstand the forces.

[PeZook]

I have been constructing a ship that can bring one (1) comrade Kerbalnaut from the surface of EVE. It has been difficult.

However, Jeb was most enthusiastic about testing the prototypes.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Doctor Strangelove springs to mind.

[Vanas]

They're not bad for probes. And I have been meaning to experiment with some modding tools...

Also, I'm just going to leave this here:
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/sho ... -Boom-boom

This post is possibly the best thing I've ever read on those forums.

Hopefully we can get Daedalus' engine at some point. Because why cruise around on fission bombs?

[Admiral Valdemar]

So, my large Chinook launched SSTO won't take-off.

[PeZook]

Gloury to the mighty Kerbalistani space program! Hail to heroes of technosocialist spacelabours!

The stripped down, ultra bare-bones Eve surface return vehicle WORKS!



What's this, capitalist pigdogs? Is this the sound of your manhoods shrivelling? YES IT IS!

And the thing DANCES. It clawed its way to 95 km, and then just soared to a 780x780 orbit, altered its inclination by 35 degrees and still has plenty of fuel in the tanks.

Yes.

We're finally going to Eve!

[Vanas]

FUCK



Upsides: Goes up. Downside: turning.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Turns out you can't make skyscrapers fly too well.

[Zaune]

Might want to try lifting the parts separately and bolting them together in orbit.

[TimothyC]

Might want to try lifting the parts separately and bolting them together in orbit.

The advantage of Orion is that you don't need to do that.

The catch might be lifting off vertically and not adding any horizontal velocity until you are over 70km and using mono-propellant for directional control

[Imperial528]

Might want to try lifting the parts separately and bolting them together in orbit.

Those aren't really parts.

Those are fuel magazines for the Orion.

Vanas, why did you try to turn so low?

Hell my first Orion flight shot the Mun. Because it was there and I was traveling in a straight line.

[PeZook]

My God, please tell me you did NOT just give a bunch of nuclear bombs to the Kerbals!

[PeZook]

The catch might be lifting off vertically and not adding any horizontal velocity until you are over 70km and using mono-propellant for directional control

I'd suggest doing exactly that. Flying something with THAT much excessive power, you really have to think of it as less of a rocket and more, uh, I don't know what analogy to use because seriously nuclear bombs for propulsion

Anyways, think big. Huge sweeping orbits, massive changes in velocity, etc.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Yeah, the big advantage of NERVA and Orion/Dædalus, is being able to do direct ascent manoeuvres to the Mun and back. No need for any orbital messing, just point and go.

[Vanas]

Vanas, why did you try to turn so low?

Hell my first Orion flight shot the Mun. Because it was there and I was traveling in a straight line.

I didn't try to turn. I turned the engine on and it started spinning vertically upwards. The explosions you see below it are me frantically trying to keep adding 'up' to the velocity.

[Grumman]

I've finally managed to get one of my "funnies" into orbit. Using four tri-couplers, it has a small rocket suspended upside-down between six rocket engines, held together by struts. The side rockets get it out of the atmosphere, it flips around, then the little rocket inside separates and enters a stable orbit.

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