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Hotel26

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Posts posted by Hotel26

    Who's the Oldest Active KSP player?

    in Kerbal Network

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    2 hours ago, panarchist said:

    Honestly you should get extra kudos for predating the Space Age.

    Hey, I guess I did.

    I will tell you what the best thing about being this old is...

    ...one Monday morning, the whole school all being gathered into the assembly hall to watch, live, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface -- and being 14 at the time: which means I most vividly remember the whole experience and all its excitement.

    I will add that my country at that time also predated color TV (1975).  :)  So we were pretty lucky to see it at all.  (Not that the transmissions were in color; just that technology was backward there then.)

    And I predated TV in my country (1956) also.

    LET'S MAKE KSP GREAT AGAIN!!!

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Nazalassa said:

    Suggestion: the source must flow!

    Precisely.

    Bring back Felipe.

    Fire all the fans full of ideas but no code.  "Community input", so-called, should be via code with pull request.

    Nothing good has ever been done in the computer industry "by committee".  Nada...

    Wishful thinking?  Sure, but so refreshing and so very well-earned after five years of listening to the "cargo cult" wail for KSP2.

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    Overnight, I took a break from playing KSP (!!) and wrote a small Python program to 'cleanse' various add-on MODULEs from craft, in transit through my Export directory, destined for KerbalX.

    It means that I can keep e.g. AtmosphericAutopilot, RasterPropMonitor, MAS and SCANsat installed but purge traces of those before publishing vanilla craft to KerbalX.

    The recently-installed SCANsat was the add-on that pushed me over the edge.

    Spoiler

    To wit, a MODULE such as this, inserted by MAS, simply gets removed: 

        MODULE
    {
        name = MASFlightComputer
        isEnabled = True
        flightComputerId =
        shipDescription = 1:H 2:V 3:R 4:antenna F:HORZ R:VERT
        stagingEnabled = True
        EVENTS
        {
        }
        ACTIONS
        {
        }
        UPGRADESAPPLIED
        {
        }
    }

     

     

    What are the most important things you've learned about playing KSP to pass on?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    There are two things I don't like.

    1. The first thing I don't like is clutter.  For a long time, I cursed KSP because occasionally when I returned to the Tracking View, it would light up ALL the various craft types by default and show LOTS of clutter, especially relays buzzing everywhere.

    I would turn them all off except the type I was particularly looking for.  Occasionally, when exiting the Tracking View (via the exit door) rather than e.g. switching to a ship, I would turn off that last type selection I had lit, so that everything was clean & tidy for the next use.

    Well, that was the problem: KSP figures it is useless (and perhaps confusing) to have no types lit, so it helpfully? then lights them all for you.  Curses, KSP!!  :)

    So now I just leave something like EVAs lit, because there are very few of those in progress.

    2. The second thing I don't like is programs that make "useful assumptions and then (silently) take unilateral actions" -- such as the above.  Double curses, KSP!!  :)

    I was indeed very happy when I solved this mystery, though.

    Kayak Club

    in KSP1 Challenges & Mission ideas

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    Just posting this one for posterity, as well.  (Not a landmark, since I'm giving the coordinates.)

    0.25S 27.7E

    Diamond Lake is easy to miss.  The surrounding grasslands are elevated 600m higher than it.  Discovered it on an equatorial ASR sweep for spent boosters and the like.

    nZ2TB4M.jpg

     

    Does anyone else feel like terrains aren't explored enough in this game?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    I recognize both those places, the first at 110W on the equator is the staging point for deorbit to KSC for many approaches.

    The other one is further West at the shore of the land mass that contains 'Dessert Airfield'.  A little south outside the view of that shot, is another patch of submerged  terrain, like an underwater island, where the water depth is only about 4m deep, as I recall.

    But you've asked a good question.  Go take a look at e.g. Kayak Club to scratch your itch further...

    Deorbiting and landing on specific islands on Laythe

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    [Caveat: I am no expert on Laythe as I have never deorbited there. [1]]

    In a similar situation, I would run this craft in orbit above Laythe in my 'Lab'[2] world and devise and tune a 'clockwork' landing.  You simply deorbit one at a known longitude and see where it comes down.

    Then cheat & repeat, adjusting the deorbit location until you can 'follow the numbers', which is a 'clockwork' landing.

    In addition, I often use an approach in which the deorbit simply lowers the PE above a certain location to a certain altitude.  For example on Kerbin, targeting a landing at KSC, 50km above 110W (retro performed opposite at 70E) because 50km is the lowest altitude one wants to fire the final retro (PE:-280 km) and then revert to prograde direction for flight.

    If I were approaching the skip problem, I'd certainly look at descending into the upper atmosphere for controlled aero-braking being tuned with a little thrust to allow the suborbit to decay, again: "by the numbers".

    You find out what that whole profile looks like in your Lab world view repeated experiments; then document it with the craft so that you can play it from the can at any time thereafter.

    [1] Yes, folks: Laythe is still in my future...
    [2] I run 'Lab' for development, test and experimentation and 'Orbit' for 'production'.

    Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

    in The Lounge

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    1 hour ago, Lisias said:

    "users will just have to get to used it. We feel the old way is distracting.".

    Arrogance.

    I got off Ubuntu back in 2012 when it "went all Microsoft" and (mostly) enforced its new and radically-different 'Unity' desktop UI.

    I had just got everything set up the way I wanted it.  A grand discussion began about how to "opt out" and Canonical had to eat some crow for its unilateral arrogance.

    But it was too late for me: I then knew what Canonical was and that it wasn't an "open source" company.

    I have been happily on Mint ever since.

    (Same thing with Skype, btw: I jealously guarded a pre-Microsoft version installation for years, while I still used it.)

    Who's the Oldest Active KSP player?

    in Kerbal Network

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    16 hours ago, RevanX_LSR said:

    Are you allowed to do some research and credit other people who are particularly old?

    Dunno.  I admit last Wednesday night when I suddenly got really curious about whether it is I[1], Hotel26, who should draw the sword Excalibur from... is the Oldest of Them All, I didn't think anything through very carefully.

    Can you do it without doxing, or otherwise embarrassing, anyone?  If so, have at it...

    [1] loud, booming, theatrical voice  :)

    The Kerbal Calendar

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    On 1/2/2023 at 11:20 AM, Kerbalsaurus said:

    I hope you enjoyed my Ted Talk.

    I really did!  (And the humor.)  It deserves the title.

    +10

    Spoiler

    Now all you need is weekday and month names.

    (E.g. Mohday, Evday, Dunday, Dredesday, Joolday and Eelday.  Months after well-known constellations, perhaps?...)

     

    Who's the Oldest Active KSP player?

    in Kerbal Network

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    @Kerbalsaurus recently asked "Who's the Oldest Active Forum Member?" and I thought: "well, that must be me: Rip Van Winkle".

    Turned out he meant something different -- but then I found I just had to know..

    So, "Who is the Oldest Active Forum Member KSP player?".  I am going to define old as "of decrepit age"; and active as meaning "plays KSP every week".  Don't really care whether you're active in the forum.  Just whether you can still command the Flight Director's desk at Mission Control...

    To play you just need to enter the year and (optionally) the month of your birth.  (Sorry, anyone under 18 is strictly excluded from participating.)

    I'll likely keep a leader board here of everyone weighing in who is older than me.  You can add a single-sentence comment to it, if you like.

    Everyone (over 18) is welcome to weigh in and maybe I'll make a histogram (of the youngsters).

    1. Don't feel shy about your age.
    2. No fibbing.
    3. Cheering: good.
    4. Jeering: bad.
    5. Same month/year counts as a draw.

    Notice I'm not promising to do anything (if it turns out to be too strenuous).  This is one of the things you learn when your life expectancy gets to be as low as mine: "conserve energy!".

    I proceed now, bravely, to the next post (merged) paragraph to get the ball rolling...  (and maybe now I can get some respect?!)

    Yes, we have a badge: ahrp8Pa.jpg  (for those as or older than me)

                                                             

    Hotel26, June 1955, "KSP is what gets me out of bed in the morning -- and keeps me late returning"

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    1 hour ago, Nazalassa said:

    On the middle side of the road

    Or to paraphrase an old Russian air force joke, "wheels down"...

    Spoiler

    After the Berlin Wall had come down, two retired air force pilots, one American and the other Russian, met in a Berlin bar.

    They started reminiscing about the bad old days.

    The Russian is talking about how bad the blizzards were in Siberia and how a dear friend of his was coming back from a training sortie in very bad weather and landed "gear up".

    The American says, "that's not so bad.  We say there are two kinds of pilots: 'those who have landed gear-up and those who will'."

    The Russian says, "it was bad for my friend, I can tell you.  He lost his life because of it."

    The American, shocked, says, "See, that's the difference between our countries: we don't execute people for making mistakes like that.  We just learn the lessons together and then move on and do better."

    The Russian replies, "No, you don't understand: gear up.  He landed upside-down."

    It's a reference to the very old Artificial Horizons, which had a horizon line but no coloration differentiating brown: earth and blue: sky...

     

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    The new Kitson SP Launch Point (75.7S 152.7E) undergoing trials...

    jNTql57.jpg    UihXX1U.jpg

    (Why is it always so dark near the poles?  Don't blame this on my photography!)

    I just love it when I get a nice, tight seam.  "Amphibians go in.  Amphibians come out."

    Spoiler

    Does anyone happen to know which side of the road you are supposed to drive in the Antarctic...?

     

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    SPACE NEWS GAZETTE

    Working the drag shift at Mission Control 1d+ ago and a KAC message for an SOI change crossed my screen: "Kerbol -> Eeloo".    What?

    Blinked a couple of dozen times in rapid succession to revive my senses.

    A mission that started 3y 169d ago, which would put its launch date in early 2020[1]...

    A Zenith starter kit: with (L-to-R)  Mule tanker, ORB miner, some unidentified early prototype space station hub, Spider sky crane and an MP-propelled RA-100 for Meerkat call-home comms duty.

    nAnagl1.jpg

    Philfrid, Robrett, Bilbur, Barvis and Butthead Kerman on board[2], just auto-aroused from cryo-sleep.  "Hi guys; time to stretch for some calisthenics!".

    I still cannot believe it.  This is my first manned mission to Eeloo arriving.  I can't even remember what I was doing in early 2020!!  Can you?

    OK, Mission Control Handbook outlines a wake-up call; bio-signs validation; all-systems check; coffee pot engaged (and on the vessel, too!).  Then SMS messages to registered family members of all crew to let them know their brave loved ones have arrived at their destination/new home (and remind their names).  Busy, busy, busy.  (That unidentified space station hub is bugging me now.  Gonna have to go hang out in the archives for a while to figure out what it is; and how to power it up.)

    [1] started this current Orbit world in January 2018.  Really.  The no-warp rule enforces real-time by prohibiting any warp longer than 30m.  Regs clearly state: "find something else to do".[3]

    [2] OK, a couple of alert readers have written in to remark that there appears to be accommodation for only four Kerbals in the Zenith ship...  So I may have at least one stow-away in the crew complement?

    [3] which is why I am currently managing 932 flights.  Oy!

    Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

    in The Lounge

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    12 hours ago, TheSaint said:

    9. Across: Davos' famed foreign policy

    I would have guessed it was "you will own nothing and be happy", but that doesn't fit.

    Or "GREAT RESET", but the space doesn't match with 7. Down, for which I have "EXTERMINATE".  (I don't think the space would be legal, anyway, like everything that comes out of Davos...)

    So I guess it has to be EXTERMINATE.  Yeah, that works.

    Eeloo and Moho

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by Hotel26

    On 9/27/2023 at 12:18 PM, miklkit said:

    gravity assists are for the experts

    About this, you are perfectly correct.

    Spoiler

    [Obscure reference] similarly to when someone suggests the solution to your problem is 'regex', the correct response is 'then I would have two problems'.

    We all know Moho is difficult.  The key question is why is it difficult?

                                                                    

    In the standard interplanetary transfer, you leave your orbit when the transfer time matches when the target will arrive at the same place you do, when you arrive in the target's orbit.  (This is the "transfer window".)

    A consequence of this is that any inclination change must (very likely) be performed as a mid-course maneuver (without the aid of an Oberth effect).

    In the case of Moho's 7-degree inclination from the ecliptic, this inclination change is a major expense.

                                                                    

    Therefore, the strategy Laie suggests is to make the transfer, targeting not Moho, but one of its nodes, AN or DN.  The one at the lower altitude (nearer its PE) turns out to be more efficient in terms of matching orbital speeds of Moho and vessel, requiring a lesser burn for capture.

    Upon arrival at that node, a retrograde burn is performed to adjust the orbital period (for one more short orbit, something >102d), to synchronize an (inclined) encounter with Moho upon the next loop.

    This leaves one with the question of where to perform any required inclination change.

    The obvious, or default, choice is to perform the capture at Moho and then adjust inclination within Moho's SOI, at a much lower orbital speed.  If you intend anyway to land out of low orbit, you may not even have to bother with the inclination.

    The other choice is to include an inclination change in the transfer injection burn at Kerbin.  This can be done to quite easily lower the inclination differential to very nearly 0.  This might make ultimate rendez-vous with Moho easier, but would be a personal choice whether worthwhile or not.

                                                                    

    I think Laie's strategy reliably makes Moho a quite accessible target.  The chief (and only) disadvantage I see is that your arrival will include at least an extra 102 days for the rendez-vous sync orbit -- plus the Kerbin annual wait for departure (average 213d; whereas the usual Moho window would be every 102 days)  I feel this is offset simply by the good frequency of Moho opportunities.

                                                                    

    I have no doubt repeated a lot of the content in Laie's tutorial, but my slant is to compare his strategy with the conventional transfer.

     

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