Kerbal Space Program, Revisited.

[Jub]

Welp, now I want to build a helicopter-carrier. That carries a smaller plane and launches it. Too bad it's pretty much impossible to figure out how to stabilize it in air once you lose control, since then I'd want to land on it too

Can MechJeb keep a helicopter hovering?

[Napoleon the Clown]

Thanks to Scott Manley of YouTube, I now know a method to attain lightspeed in a reasonable timeframe. It does require the use of infinite fuel, but whatevs.

There's a new monopropellant rocket added by .24, which doesn't add mass. Command pods contain a small amount of monopropellant. Pick the lightest manned pod you can and slap on this new engine as much as you dare. While each of these engines has pitiful thrust, they have zero weight as far as the game engine is concerned. Meaning, the thrust to mass ratio of your vehicle is only limited by what your computer/the game engine can handle. It isn't excessively difficult to build something that can accelerate at 150g.

Oh, right. I don't think I've seen anyone mention that 64 bit support has been added by .24. Previously, only the Linux version had that.

[Jaepheth]

Was returning from Minmus when I ran out of fuel.
Apoapsis around 5 million meters
Periapsis... 59,000 meters

So the orbit is decaying, but very slowly.

What did I do?
Well, I had my Kerbal literally get out and push.
I oriented the ship to face retrograde and then used the pilot's EVA thrusters to push against the engine base at apoapsis.
Each EVA session lowered the Periapsis altitude by several thousand meters.

I thought the EVA thrusters would eat up monopropellant from the command module, but apparently it just refreshes each time, meaning it's a slow but unlimited fuel supply.
Which means I won't have to send rescue ships for manned vehicles stuck in orbit anymore

[Lagmonster]

That is arguably the most Kerbal-appropriate in-flight command decision ever.

[Steel]

I thought that was fixed in the last patch?

[Napoleon the Clown]

Thing that works in Kerbal Space Program (but not real life): Making your encounter with a return trip to Kerbin pass within about 17 kilometers. Very deep in the atmosphere. There's aerobraking then there's... that. I was on a trajectory that would have sent me well beyond Duna's orbit had I missed Kerbin. No delta-V spent on braking.

Okay, in real life I'd probably have torn my ship into itty-bitty little pieces or hit the ground at several thousand miles per hour and THEN torn it to itty-bitty little pieces. Or maybe skipped off the atmosphere. But it works in KSP an that's what matters.

Actually, the only reason I even planned an encounter that goddamn close in the first place was to see how much velocity I'd lose by hitting the atmosphere like that. It was all of it.

[Marko Dash]

with the FAR mod the ship will tear itself into pieces if to much strain is place on the parts (too much speed or g forces), with the deadly re-entry mod you would also have to worry about heat or thing start to explode.

[TimothyC]

0.25 is out. I've heard there are new explosions with the buildings.

[HMS Sophia]

0.25 is out. I've heard there are new explosions with the buildings.

Also they've integrated most of a mod called SP+ (Spaceplane +), adding new, prettier mk2 parts. Including cargo bays. Which is nice.
Of course, 0.25 also comes with a shitload of new bugs. The strategies have turned career into a pointless exercise in picking the right strategy, setting it to max, and getting all the science in exactly one, or maybe two test contracts.
I'm a little disenchanted with 0.25, if you couldn't tell. Still enjoy the game, but this one was very much not worth the hype.

[TimothyC]

0.25 is out. I've heard there are new explosions with the buildings.

Also they've integrated most of a mod called SP+ (Spaceplane +), adding new, prettier mk2 parts. Including cargo bays. Which is nice.
Of course, 0.25 also comes with a shitload of new bugs. The strategies have turned career into a pointless exercise in picking the right strategy, setting it to max, and getting all the science in exactly one, or maybe two test contracts.
I'm a little disenchanted with 0.25, if you couldn't tell. Still enjoy the game, but this one was very much not worth the hype.

Yeah, and the x64 version of 0.25 is so unstable, you have mods that are not going to support it. And the OSX version is now built on a different version of Unity.

[HMS Sophia]

Yeah, and the x64 version of 0.25 is so unstable, you have mods that are not going to support it. And the OSX version is now built on a different version of Unity.

I saw about the mods, didn't know about OSX. Hopefully the next few updates will include building unity 5 into KSP.
One thing is they're planning on released a dev. plan from now until 1.0 soon. Which is nice.
All I want is optimisation. I'm struggling with this game now

[Enigma]

I am not very good at this game. lol Too much thinking involved. I would love to be able to lock on to a moon or planet and have the ship fly towards it. As is, I seem to keep sending my ships either into deep space or become space debris. Too bad the kerbals don't have parachutes on them so I can have them go EVA, fly back to Kerbal and use their 'chute to land.

[HMS Sophia]

I am not very good at this game. lol Too much thinking involved. I would love to be able to lock on to a moon or planet and have the ship fly towards it. As is, I seem to keep sending my ships either into deep space or become space debris. Too bad the kerbals don't have parachutes on them so I can have them go EVA, fly back to Kerbal and use their 'chute to land.

Get mechjeb, watch it do its thing, and learn from it. I learned most of what I know from mechjeb, especially in terms of rendezvous and docking. And then if you still struggle, just switch mechjeb on and have it plot your manoeuvres for you. It's a great help

[Grumman]

I'm liking what I'm seeing of the new parts. I already have KAS installed, so I'm looking forwards to building a big brother to my starfighters with a winch and internal cargo bay.

[Enigma]

I am not very good at this game. lol Too much thinking involved. I would love to be able to lock on to a moon or planet and have the ship fly towards it. As is, I seem to keep sending my ships either into deep space or become space debris. Too bad the kerbals don't have parachutes on them so I can have them go EVA, fly back to Kerbal and use their 'chute to land.

Get mechjeb, watch it do its thing, and learn from it. I learned most of what I know from mechjeb, especially in terms of rendezvous and docking. And then if you still struggle, just switch mechjeb on and have it plot your manoeuvres for you. It's a great help

Problem with that is that you can only get mechjeb right out of the bat if you're in sandbox mode. Other than that, you'll have to earn science points to get it......

[Napoleon the Clown]

Earning enough science for some of the mechjeb features is damn easy.

Protip: Take your little dude on EVA before launch and get an EVA report right then and there. Get him back in. Do a crew report. Take him out again and have him get on the ground and EVA report again and take a surface sample. Get him back in, so he stores all that delicious science. Get him to the grassy areas and do more SCIENCE! Return to capsule. Get him to the shoreline and do some more science. Return. Get him in the water. Even more science!

Oh, and use maneuver nodes in space. Mechjeb has features that unlock pretty early that make fine-tuning a much easier process.

[HMS Sophia]

Earning enough science for some of the mechjeb features is damn easy.

Protip: Take your little dude on EVA before launch and get an EVA report right then and there. Get him back in. Do a crew report. Take him out again and have him get on the ground and EVA report again and take a surface sample. Get him back in, so he stores all that delicious science. Get him to the grassy areas and do more SCIENCE! Return to capsule. Get him to the shoreline and do some more science. Return. Get him in the water. Even more science!

Thanks to the 0.25 update, each and every building in the KSC compex has its own unique biome for science to be earned from. yay!

[TimothyC]

I am not very good at this game. lol Too much thinking involved. I would love to be able to lock on to a moon or planet and have the ship fly towards it. As is, I seem to keep sending my ships either into deep space or become space debris. Too bad the kerbals don't have parachutes on them so I can have them go EVA, fly back to Kerbal and use their 'chute to land.

Parachutes for your Kerbals

[TimothyC]

Well I just did my first stock-parts asteroid capture (Stock parts + integrated mechJeb). I've managed to get it to a near-zero orbital inclination as well. Not bad for not playing four 10 months.

[HMS Sophia]

Well I just did my first stock-parts asteroid capture (Stock parts + integrated mechJeb). I've managed to get it to a near-zero orbital inclination as well. Not bad for not playing four 10 months.

I've had the game since 0.13.3 (I found a copy of that the other day actually) and I've been beyond Kerbin's SOI exactly once, and that was a probe mission to Duna

[Grumman]

For a recent contract, I built a 1.3 ton rocket to deliver a 0.4 ton payload to space. This had two amusing results. One, every action requires an equal and opposite reaction, so firing a 400 kilogram detachment manifold from a 300 kilogram rocket to complete the contract results in the rocket being flung spinning away in the opposite direction. Two, the rocket was so light and so cheap that even though it didn't have a parachute, I was still able to recover over 20% of the cost of the launch vehicle from what survived impact with the ground.

[TimothyC]

If you've got the X200-32 tank, that with an LV-T30 is an SSTO with a 900kg payload capacity. It's a lot over your dry mass number (3.25t + core and parachutes), but it is the smallest stock SSTO in the game (the -64 tank with a skipper can deliver 3 tonnes to LKO).

[Grumman]

I haven't managed to build an SSTO with the Mk 2 fuselages yet, but I have re-unlocked all the stuff for my SF-7s and done a legitimate mission with one, taking off horizontally to orbit, deploying an ion probe headed for Munar orbit and returning to land right on the KSC runway. It's expensive compared to the rockets, but being reusable or recoverable with 100% efficiency that's not really an issue until I crash one.

[HMS Sophia]

Me and a friend are running an AU US Space program on the KSP forum and on Tumblr.
That's the first satellite in space, and it's German. September 1957.
Yes, the world is very different, no I'm not looking into the background in any huge amount of depth. We're aiming for hyper-realistic space program, rather than hyper-realistic setting.
I forget whether I can post links here or not...

[Grumman]

I'm making good progress on my next spaceplane. It's based on the Mk2 fuselage with 2*RAPIERs and an atomic rocket, and I've successfully made it to orbit unladen and taken off and landed with a rover in the cargo bay. Once I've got it fitted with the usual amenities I'll send it up again, and hopefully on to Minmus.