Dire_Squid

Ya know, I actually HAVE thought of Exo-planetary "Air" intakes... MIND YOU, this is more science fiction than science fact (but also remember that Jules Verne DID predict submarines, jet planes, and rockets LONG before they were invented, and he was a fiction writer. ). My thoughts, however, either could have partial air or, logically, use no "air" at all, but instead find ways to utilize the atmospheres, beit finding ways to burn atmosphere at the molecular level via convection-based intake (thoughts for Eve atmosphere usage, being thick and dense, being heated and 'boiled' to something thinner and possibly more manageable), or using some means to ionize the atmosphere that enters the intake (Duna's thin atmosphere). So yes, to repeat, this IS more science fiction than fact, but the parts have some means of ability balance, in-game. The FIRST being: "You are unable to use them in Kerbin-like oxygenated atmopsheres... or in space"; that's right, they won't work on Kerbin (or Laythe, for that matter) or in space, which adds to the challenge of getting them to atmosphere planets. The second... I WANT to say that, since the technology isn't perfect, that I want to imagine that these molecular-converting intakes create a LOT of heat, and are prone to overheating and exploding if used recklessly, for long bouts of time. A third being that they aren't as efficient as traditional oxygen-based intakes and engines (complimenting the whole heating up thing); probably chewing through fuel faster than typical Jet engines and intakes. Mind you, this is a VERY LOOSE idea I have, and it's more science fiction than science fact (and most likely, realistically, these ideas are mere "fanciful quackery")... but I am VERY willing to go over ways that my ideas could be tweaked to be more believable (if at all: Like I said, I know my idea is glorified sci-fi). If you feel my ideas are more impractical then a "Solar-powered Ion-glider", hey, you're more than entitled to spit out the facts. My idea is not totally grounded in fact... but with the right tweaks could make it more believable (for "quackery").

I wasn't talking about just wind on Eve. I also meant lightning (THAT was what worries me the most. Last thing a player needs is that their craft/base getting blown up, because of being struck)!

Hmmmm... Clouds? Yeah. Weather? Maybe NOT! I mean if Squad were to implement storms and weather that genuinely affected your crafts, that would make flying to, say, Eve (which I'm sure we here all know is analogous for Venus), even less likely than currently desired (and few are ok with flying to Eve, as is... I'm one of those bizarre few who do like Flying to Eve).

Yesterday: Did a 6-tourist Contract, get them in orbit AND have a Mun Flyby! The whole thing totaled to a reward of over 500 thousand Funds! My eyes were all "CHA-CHING!! CHA-CHING!!", Especially since the craft I made totaled only a TENTH (50 thou) of that total amount of accumulated tourism Fund-swag! And yes, I got them ALL successfully in orbit AND with a flyby, and a safe landing.

Still, I felt that it got WAY more power and force than logically figured. ESPECIALLY since I had very little fuel left, and the orbit wasn't all that eccentric. Actually, it was all-in-all a low orbit. I have to agree that it had to have been a bug. I mean, it went from 2500 m/s to 5000+ m/s. That's... VERY insane. lol

Unfortunately, I didn't save screenshots since I panicked, buuuut... after I successfully rendezvoused with a low-orbit pod orbiting Kebin, I punched in a maneuver to re-enter, f course. When I was trying to reenter into Kerbin's atmosphere, I kinda altered the orbit a TINY bit, radially. It made the entry point notably shallower (around 57,000-59,000 +km, instead of the initial 30-thousand). THAT wasn't the bug. What WAS, however, was that my orbit began to radically increase instead of decrease the moment I got into the upper atmosphere (and I was using my Monoporp to attempt to slow my entry speed, while being locked onto the retrograde), and my speed ramped up from 2,500+ m/s to.... get this... 5,000+ m/s, while I entered the atmosphere; I was surprised my lander didn't explode. Anyways, the orbit grew and grew until it ended up leaving the SOI and showing that I was headed in the vicinity of Moho. If this wasn't Career Mode, I would've kept it. But I can't help but wonder whether I somehow accidentally made some sort of bizarre slingshot maneuver while I was attempting to re-enter Kerbin... if did I encounter some strange bug? Discuss. XD

What I did? Refining my skills with doing Rendezvous and related things... including getting two new Kerbals in Career Mode (considering I'm NOW getting the hang of it thanks to the Training exercise, after owning the game for 2 years, that's a HUGE personal accomplishment).

Well, that I know. I've manually shut the gimbal off, and turned the limiter to about 45%, but you've got a more solid point on brining it own to 20%. OMG, THESE MAKES ALL THE SENSE!!! I could use it in 0.90 just fine, but now it makes SO MUCH SENSE that this is a vaccuum engine (I know it reads those stats in the VAB/Hangar, but I've just gotta get it in my head to intuitively know these things, like how I LOVE how nuclear engines worked excellently on Minmus, in terms of push and fuel efficiency, when getting to that low-grav hunk of mint ice cream). I may need to have to add struts to the rover, inside the fairing. That COULD be my integral issue, because the rest of the rocket is strutted enough where wobble is unseen, otherwise. Perhaps if I unlock the gimbal of the Mainsail engines attached to the "boosters", and lock the gimbal of the Mammoth... and then there's the issue with adding more reaction wheels. I have two Medium-sized wheels on the rover, itself, and one big one located inside of the fairing, underneath a Rockomax decoupler... I know in 0.90, too many reaction wheels would ruin my day because the internal torque would build up and make the ship wobble "internally" (for those who've used Roverdude's Starlifter reaction wheels... you'd know EXACTLY what I'm talking about). ... and then there's that. I'm thinking the payload MAY be the culprit.

Well, I most likely put too many tanks or the Rhino to take, but a good amount for the Mammoth.

AH! Cool! So I AM learning this... even if I took longer, than others.

Liiiiiike setting the Gimbal to 0 and then shooting it up all the way? A shame because I LOVED using the Mammoths for my "power engines" for super-heavy craft. Rhinos USED to be good, but now they seem to have become underpowered (took about 20 seconds for the craft to SLOWLY lift... like "2 meters a second" lift. rofl).

I usually tend to avoid setting planets as targets, and I'm not terribly sure if it's been improves in 1.0 or 1.0.2... but I can somehow guess less with how and where to plan rendezvous..ss...sss... with those top and bottom nodes that align the moment you've got an encounter. Either this is a new improvement, OR I'm just slowly learning new tricks in KSP! Either way, I think I MAY use Mechjeb less and less.

I've seen that the Mammoth seems to be more powerful now, in 1.0.2 (trying to create a Duna Rover, inside of a fairing, attached to a stack of super-heavy tanks, and two jumbotank "boosters" (using the Mainsails as engines, gimbal turned off). However, I see that the gimbal for the Mammoth engine eventually begins to wobble, STRONGLY: making the rocket wobble, and I eventually see the rover eventually clip outside of its own fairing (it stops the moment I turn the gimbal off). I haven't gotten it down to a science, but the wobbly gimbal seems to be a BIT more controllable once I set the gimbal limit to 45, or less. I am unsure how bad the wobbly gimbal acts in a vaccum, atm.

From what I've seen, you need to be VERY careful when deploying parachutes, upon re-entry, as well as how your ship is positioned. I've had... small crafts wrench themselves apart because they were falling too fast and were upside-down WHEN I deployed the chutes. Also, seems heatshields somehow make your crafts fall FASTER (I couldn't deploy my chutes because it was falling at 200 m/s in the LOWER atmosphere AT THE OCEAN... I lost Val, man... I! LOST! VAL! ).

Some other good ideas could be -Watching an unmanned tug docking with its orbiting payload, and taking off once docked. -A hypersonic jet flying over the Ice Caps on Kerbin (I know, not "space" related, but I've seen it and it's kind of an awesome sight, at 20,000+ meter elevation). -A satellite/probe orbiting Eve, with a view of both the light and dark sides. -a lone Kerbal walking on Minmus, followed by a nice, high jump (bonus points if Kerbol can be seen above the horizon). Not walk, stop, and jump; walk AND jump.

Didn't so much do this "today", or even yesterday; But I think back to the Munar Pole Contract I had, for Seismic Study... and.. seeing Kerbin in a fixed point in the "sky" while even the Sun moved like it should've... it was freaky and mesmerizing, man. Like something out of a dream.

I... can't use my F12 (it's responsible for my WiFi connection... aka it turns it on and off).

I suck at Rendezvous with other crafts (I use MechJeb as a crutch), and advanced docking (but I can use H and N like a pro). ... AND I can't intercept a single smegging asteroid without MechJeb, either (I hate asteroid-based contracts, especially since I have no idea what constitutes a "newly discovered" asteroid.... I'd RATHER get an asteroid I tracked previously).

I like Laythe the way it is... It's like Europa, but in "beach" form. Tylo... I never explored (I may need to clear out my add-ons before 1.0 happens... I'm gonna miss my Duna Station, and my beginnings of my Minmus Base)... but I once DID dream of a Kerbal exploring a semi-volcanic moon. "Atmosphere" was orange red, as was the lava.

Make a Mun Base (when contracts call for it). Make a Mimnus Base (because dem hills and flats need to be explored). Make a Duna Station AND a Duna Base (and make sure Jeb, Bill, Bob, AND Val are in it). Make space planes that double (to an extent) as rockets. Mine the new resources for 1.0.

Uhhh, you forget the Lab Module, which ALWAYS puts a damper on my plans (last time I landed on Minmus in Science Mode, before Career Mode came about, I landed the KSP equivalent to a "Bouncy Castle" of a rocket-lander (seated 7, but was ridiculously tall). AWESOME! Now THAT is a base! Yeah, I have a horizontally-placed vertical stack winch and a connector port (one each, on either side). I figured those would count. The piping will only come to play when I launch a "Karbo-refinery Probe" to refuel the connected ships (partly inspired by Cupcake Landers' "Today, We Kethane" vid). ANYWAYS, thank you all for giving me the insight and foresight to do this proper (and awesome). (I just wish I knew how to upload screenshots without using imgur, once it's done).

Look... this is the last time I'm going to bump this. I intend to give at least TWO of the crafts a Docking Port (to fufill the contract), but I set up the first craft with a Vertical Stack Winch (set up horizontally), on one end and a Connector Port on the other end (will probably set up some pipe ends with the next one). Since they "dock" when plugged in... do they count in making multiple crafts into an outpost?

So... I wouldn't get that with the Winches/Ports (which DOES come with the "docked" option)?

I was HOPING to be clever, but I'd prefer getting some insight and foresight before doing what I'm about to do: I need an Outpost on Minmus, requiring to be able to hold 6 Kerbals, plus at least one docking port and wheels. Is it possible I can "assemble" an outpost using more than one craft (through stock, Karbonite, and KAS parts) to make this outpost? I KNOW it'll be expensive, no doubt, but it'll be fun exploring Minmus with multiple crafts, while they're slowly drilling for Karbonite, and a "lab truck" drives to different Biomes OR I have a lander fly up to flat summits of highland hills... (p.s. I'm at the Great Flats, RIGHT BY a hill with a plateau, lel).

What I did yesterday (night): FInally didn't wimp out with Mechjeb on Career Mode (since I couldn't get Rendezvous Autopilot, yet), and used the Maneuver Planner to, step-by-step, work out the maneuvers to rescue the orbiting Kerbal, with my Rescue LFO Spaceplane... Also I sent a station to Duna, and will TRY to send a rocket to retrieve an Asteroid... which I hopefully won't mess that up.