samstarman5

Had a rescue on the Mun contract, but landed way off the mark. Figured I could EVA over, refresh the tanks in whatever capsule the castaway was in, and bring both back to the lander with EVA. Just as I get in sight of the capsule, I see it proceed to drop and explode, leaving the castaway kerbal standing out on their own. Definitely a mission gimmick, to be sure. Otherwise the stranded kerbal would have been killed. That being said, I got close enough to switch to the stranded kerbal, had them EVA to the lander. Then I turned on infinite fuel and brought back the kerbal I sent out to meet the stranded kerbal, and went home. No more kerbals stranded on a surface for me.

That you know of.

If you read the rest of my post you would know the answer to that.

That's one reason I love VIP and Tourist contracts. They are decent money and very open-ended. I had a couple set aside, one for a suborbital hop on Kerbin, and the other for a pass of the Mun. I took both up in the same craft. The one just wanting the Kerbin hop got a lot longer trip than they bargained for, but they did pay up. Apparently tourists and VIPs also count towards body count on stations and bases when those missions require a set number of kerbals. At least, that's what I heard but from what I have seen thus far, seems very likely. More bang for your buck. If you can't keep them around after their contract is completed, then no reason to feel bad getting more work out of them while you have them.

It would be interesting to see if oblation could be applied to the game. For one thing, as it is now, it really is totally unnecessary to have a launch complex at the equator except to have an easy launch to the Mun. It costs the same to launch from the South Pole as it does from the KSC. Of course, I speak of taking the change of gravity into account with oblation, and not just the shape of the planets. Changing how the planets are shaped is one thing, factoring in the differences in gravity is a whole other ball of kittens. For those wondering, oblation is the world being flattened by its spin, kinda like what happens to an M&M when you squeeze it. This causes gravity at the equator to actually be measurably less than at the poles. It could be said the easiest way to lose weight is to move to Brazil. This is why the ESA has about the best launch complex thus far in French Guiana. Now, you can't really see it with the Earth as it isn't spinning fast enough and it is a terrestrial world, but it is actually very apparent with Jupiter and Saturn. Moreso with Saturn, so just seeing photos of Saturn will help you fathom what's going on. Unfortunately, right now anyway, that is as much lesson as I can provide. Why oblation plays a part in molniya orbits is something another more-read person would have to share. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Manley actually did a bit on it. I will be reading on it myself, but I leave you with the opportunity to do so yourself. As a wise man once said, "I could tell you, and you would be told. If I let you discover it, then you would know." I'm rather fond of that saying.

It's rather cool to think that KSP is to rocket engineers what the Sims is to architects. A cheap platform to put rough drafts of a design together on. More or less what an outline is to an author.

That's fine if you are on a mission within the Kerbin system. However, skipping a day for clearer weather can cause you to miss a launch window for Duna, Eve, or anything beyond. Not everyone plays with the idea of throwing on as much fuel as they can. That sounds like a change in gameplay to me. Not to mention when playing career eats up time left for those missions to be performed. It was in the wiki, not sure if it still is, that weather was on the table for adding to the game. But that was a while ago when the game was still early access and when the original devs were onboard. As things are now I am actually not expecting it to be incorporated unless they decide to use one of the mods. At this point I'd prefer to just have clouds and other atmospheric effects for some nice aesthetics, but to leave weather which can affect flights out of it. Harvester never seemed to want a true hardcore mode where you can actually lose the game, and weather would be something to lead to that.

Schiaparelli would have liked to have known.

The Oregon Trail 2.0

I like Minmus because it is easy to get to, even easier than the Mun, but it also sits on the proverbial ski ramp. With more stable additional navigation nodes, it is easier to plan out a gravity assist using Kerbin to get into interplanetary orbit with even a boost to Duna or Eve to boot. That makes sending tanker craft to other planets cheaper as well. It may just be time to get a sign made, "Minmus Truck Stop- The best greasy spoon in the system. Ask about our Mint Sorbet"

Oh, they fly. They just cease flying when they cease missing the ground. Viva la narcosis! A little vascular bubbly for your flight, sir?

I definitely agree, and have to ask, Why rush for mod updates? Those pushing to get the mods updated aren't seeing the forest for the trees. There is so much new content in 1.2 that really should be explored first. Some of those mods might not even be relevant anymore. If you honestly care more for mods to a game than the game itself, then you don't care for the game much at all. I hate the thought of modders giving in to spoiled brats, but this might be a good time for the modders to just take their time before getting their updates out. The brats can either find something else to do, or actually take the time to explore the new game update itself.

It's pretty much the equivalent of towing a satellite and then detaching it in orbit. That is legit enough for me.

Where memory is a precious resource, removing it altogether is the better choice. Making a tweakable and having to load it even if you are not using it does take up memory. And by the looks of it(without going into that shared thread), it seems silly to have it anyway if it is just going to be hidden. Leaving it in the code is a nice gesture, however, for those who might wish to mod it back in. And those of us who don't care can enjoy having some RAM elbow room.

Always figured it was one of the mountains ringing the massive crater. I never fail to manage to come in over those during a career and it's nail-biting time from staring at the parachute icons to hoping the capsule doesn't roll to an explosion. One of them has got to be a close second, to be sure.

It would be handy as a communications node once you hit the point of interplanetary travel. If you don't prepare for it, then the odds go up of you rendezvousing with your destination with the sun between you and Kerbin. If you want something more than that, then setting up on one of the poles of Dres might be ideal.

There are things that can be a bit annoying, but I find my way past them. It doesn't have to be what can Squad do to fix this but maybe what I can do to overcome it myself.

Like you don't feel the temptation to. I would love a builder app myself, with some way to transfer it to the game to actually test and use it. I would find it likely such an app would definitely require a decent amount of memory, to allow for a vast span of creation. Whackjob stands as a testament to a player's willingness to go for the gold with a build.

Say kerbal telescope technology is sub-par for reasons of they just can't make a good mirror, so they have to actually get close to the worlds to see what they really are. That does make sense. Relevant Fun Fact: You can actually see Uranus(the planet) in the night sky without a telescope under the right conditions. It just wasn't seen as one until the 1700's mostly due to it not travelling as quickly across the night sky as the ones we knew from antiquity.

Evil Genius, Minecraft, and Skyrim.

He did state most of it was kept to himself. I don't know if it is still in the planning book, but it was once stated that it was planned that the planets would need to be discovered first and not seen right off in the map view. Whether that would require a space telescope or just time for the KSC to find each was never said, but it was a feature that does tie in with Nova's musings, and one I kinda hoped would happen. Rather like a fog-of-war kinda thing. At this point it seems likely to be a forgotten plan, which might be just as well.

Indeed. For those locations you spot from orbit that you find of particular interest, you can mark and then send an aircraft or ballistic jumper to with more precision than a rough guesstimate that you could only do before.

Well, nobody's saying you can't land on the Mun, gain some science, and then return it. For a satellite that isn't carrying anything like heavy kerballed modules, that wouldn't require much more fuel to accomplish. And you would still get credit for the orbital satellite mission. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing more with a mission than just what the contract specifies. I've taken advantage of tests that sent a craft into solar orbit by making it a fully functioning probe on the off chance I either manage a rendezvous with Eve or Duna, or just cross either's orbit for a future rendezvous. At the least, I can radio back the science and gain something off of that.

Just throwing in a sidenote to this, as it is a fine idea even to me who is quite hesitant in modding parts. Always, always, save a backup copy of the config file that you edit before making the changes. It's far easier to have a local backup than to have to download a new copy of the game if things go bad for you. Even the best websites, and Squad's is up there, will decide to do maintenance on their servers when you suddenly need to get a new copy. Always be prepared. Saying it was stolen is a bit overboard, especially as it is not an exact copy. 'Inspired by' is more appropriate and fair. Otherwise you are being very accusatory and inflammatory. Things that shouldn't be jumped to lightly. This is the KSP Forums, not Fox News or CNN.

I actually have zero problems with that sort of circumstance, as long as it isn't necessary to have the satellite for long term. Once you meet all the parameters, and I have yet to see one that requires completing an orbit, the contract is complete. Allowing the Mun to dispose of the satellite after? That's frosting on the cake. That sounds like an excuse to ride the satellite down and see the boom. Once you hit a certain point in your career, satellites are quite cheap compared to your overall income, especially compared to what satellite deployment contracts pay. It's a bit silly to worry about losing one satellite when you can follow up with another for maybe not even a tenth of what you got paid for the contracted one. Especially when you can piggy-back it with another mission. That contract you got with its timing? That's a rarity you should not pass up in taking advantage of. You get some nice spending money and a chance to put a new crater on the Mun. That's a win-win in my book.