FlyingPete

I wonder if you could set a time delay on individual parts in the staging sequence. So you could stage once, then automatically eject an interstage fairing, decouple the spent stage and then fire the engines. Or in whatever order you wanted.

I 'borrowed' a contract space station to flyby both Moho and Eve in the early game. The contract involved just a science lab, living cabin, batteries and solar power. I launched a boarding party in a 3-man pod with extra fuel and a poodle engine, docked with it and commandeered the station. Remember to add some science experiments to one part or the other. It worked well! If you have fuel left on arrival at Kerbin, feel free to put the station back where you found it, otherwise just abandon it and do an aerobraking reentry.

I like the concept! I tried something similar with drop tanks (with additional jet engines) hung under the wings of my orbiter. But if you're throwing parts away anyway, it's more efficient (time and cost) to build a conventional rocket.

I tend to go to the Mun first and do a couple of landings. By that point, basically the same ship can go to Minmus which is much more interesting. Even better once you establish a base which is much simpler with earlier tech than on the Mun.

Recovering a "Materials study from Interstellar Space" would be a huge achievement, and worth the bragging points (or reputation in-game). Should technically be possible by defining an upper altitude for "space high over the sun" More biomes in Jool would be a good addition and give a reward to the engineering challenge of designing a Jooldiver. Logically some area of Jool could be defined as "equatorial cloud bands" "polar storms" or "great green spot" without much difficulty, though a texture update would be needed. We can get a "crew report while flying over Kerbin's grasslands" etc so it should work.

I reckon a tuneable thrust curve could be implemented (even with only 3 or 4 points) though I'm not sure how the VAB interface would work.

How about a background Kerb in the R&D building?

I've never had much patience for spaceplanes. They're tricky to build, hard to fly, time-consuming to launch and land, and just not very enjoyable. They only really make sense for crew shuttles to LKO. Once the crew are there, they transfer to the real spacecraft to get where they're going. Reusable spacecraft are another matter. Vertical SSTO shuttles cost only fuel and maybe some heat shield material, and I've previously set up a completely sustainable transit system between Kerbin and Minmus. Single-stage rocket goes between ground and the LKO station, nuclear bus gets to Minmus station, and reusable landers go from there to the surface. The bus and landers refuel at Minmus station using Minmal ore-based fuel. Spaceplanes might make more sense at Laythe, where the lesser gravity would increase the useful payload.

I built a colony on Eve back before the aerodynamics overhaul. It made sense to go there and stay. I had a base, planes, a rover and fuel depot on the surface. Some other crew stayed in orbit to explore Gilly and eventually return to Kerbin. Eve to Stay

I like the use of the mk2 crew cabin! Looks quite neat up there, and more compact than the hitchhiker can. Station-based landers are my preferred method of exploring the Mun- you just have to resupply the station periodically with fuel. If you get into mining later, the spare tank capacity then comes in useful.

Some time ago I sent a probe to fly oast Moho, then on for an Eve slingshot for a cheap sundive trajectory. It's now Year 1, Day 70 again in this save, so time to go more ambitious. I had an unoccupied space station already in Kerbin orbit which I built for a contract. Living quarters, science lab and power- perfect. So the crew was launched in a command ship to dock with the station and reclaim it as the Mohoship! Add fuel, and the intrepid crew of four are on their way to the inner planets. Hopefully Kerlington won't notice I stole their station. I can get an Eve intercept after flying by Moho- will have to see if the crew can get directly back to Kerbin or if they'll have to fallback on the option of entering orbit of Eve. If we have to use this option, they'll have to rendezvous with a second mission at Eve.

We have in-game evidence of the existence of aliens- a corpse on Bop, and a monument on the Mun. Plus some artificial-looking spike structures on Vall. Single-celled life forms detected in Laythe's oceans would be a good addition, as well as maybe similar life in the seas of Eve.

"Mün" using German phonetics. Because that's how some Kerbals scrawled it on the crashed ship. So not quite "Moon" and not quite "Munn"

Construction of the base has begun with the first two modules. The lab module was sent first uncrewed, followed by the first habitat module, towed there by a crewed lander. Three unsuspecting tourists were sealed within, along with a scientist hitching a ride. Once the hab was landed (and the 3-kerb lander parked alongside) the hab was rolled into contact with the science lab. One of the scientists from the lander gathered local data, then boarded the lab. Thus completed the original base contract, and the tourist's agencies transferred funds for landing their clients on Minmus. Sorry, no refunds- take it up with Mort and the legal squad. Now just need a solar array/battery bank to cope with the lab's power demands.

I've used them in-game as hiring interview results- scientists need a low stupidity, and courage isn't that important. On the other hand, high courage and above-average stupidity are desirable in a test pilot. I also sent a mission to Duna once with twin landers; christened Courage and Stupidity.

I'd like to try a barebones mission to Eve, with a flyby of Moho on the way. I've sent a probe that way in a previous save- the flyby of Moho was at about 10km/s to landing was definitely out. Nevertheless, with a crewed mission it would be a good way to get orbital science of both Eve and Moho, plus plenty of research during the transit. Maybe the crew could meet with a crew return ship or fuel dump sent later to Eve directly. Any ideas for ship configuration? I don't have the nuclear engine yet so it needs to be fairly lightweight to save on fuel requirements. Most of my designs end up being overweight and inefficient. I'm thinking a piloted mk1 capsule, crew cabin and science lab to give my 4-Kerb crew somewhere to live, plus a science module up front with a materials bay, goo and thermometer. Aft would be batteries and solar arrays. Heat shield on the nose for aerobraking at Eve, so the solar arrays should be retractable inside the 2.5m cross-section. Don't forget the antenna! Propulsion for the main spacecraft will probably be a 'poodle' engine with skipper+boosters lower stage. Have I missed anything?

I can see some Kerbals trying this. So we need somewhere where the T/W of a Kerbal is <1 and the problem is solved. Thinking of another alternative- just exile them to the island airfield, where KSC can keep an eye on them. If they try to escape, deploy the large and explodey rocket you have nearby.

Anywhere that's out of the way and can't be escaped by a Kerbal's jetpack. So that rules out minmus and Gilly. Make sure your chosen site has no no other activity on the surface, lest a determined deportee hike to the other base and commandeer a ship. So you need somewhere that's either uninteresting or already fully scienced, and has no practical mining prospects. The airless wastes of Tylo is a good option if you've finished with it, or else dump them in the crushing pressure of Eve for a lower delta-v and maximum security.

Happy to help. P.S please don't thwart my attempts to hold tourists captive for all time I shall leave you marooned for all eternity on a dead planet- Khaaaaan Kerman

Have just done a quick test (in v1.3.1) by taking some tourists into orbit of Kerbin. Cancelled the contract in the tracking station, and the luckless tourists remained aboard! Not even your agency can save you from the ore mines of Minmus!!

I thing the 'reusable' method only really works if you have some space station infrastructure in place. So you can have Duna Station equipped with power, fuel storage, a science lab, crew facilities and a lander or two. Thus gets left behind for future missions to use.You could even leave a permanent science/mining crew behind and rotate them out with arriving/departing crews if you want to play that way. If you bring an improved lander with some future mission, the original can be relegated to use as a spare or an orbital shuttle. Whether this makes sense vs bringing expendable craft with each mission depends on how much exploration you plan to do and the dV requirements to get it there.

I'll just have to leave them in the hab module they arrived in then. You should be able to move them about by internal transfer- so allowing for tourists to move to e.g. a landing craft instead of having to haul the entire ship down. Can't remember when I last did a contract to try it.

I'm constructing a base on Minmus as part of a contract, with a facility capable of supporting eleven Kerbals. Now, I know you don't need to populate the base to fulfill the requirements, but I don't like having things lie empty. Rather than send Kerbonauts to the base, I thought I'd exile some tourists instead. There's a tourist contract available which does basically what I want- cash rewards for orbiting around Kerbin and landing on Minmus, plus further rewards for completion of the itineraries. I'll load them into a habitat module when I launch it, so it won't even cost me anything to send them there. The only thing I won't be doing is bringing the gullible fools home anywhen soon. The contract has a 12-year expiry, and only a small reputation penalty for failure. So, my funds should increase when each of the idiots colonists are stranded treated to an extended stay on Minmus, and by the time twelve years have passed I should have more than enough reputation to offset the penalty. Or I could just terminate the contract early- presumably they don't just disappear from existence at this point. Have I missed anything?

They're whatever is convenient, in whatever measure you like. So the currency is simply 'funds', research is measured in 'science', material gained through mining is a generic 'ore', and liquid fuel is just 'liquid fuel'. Whatever is is exactly isn't important.

This is true. "Throw more memory at it" solves the immediate symptom, but is not really a solution to a problem. The solution is to use memory more efficiently.