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Clipperride

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Everything posted by Clipperride

  1. I've played KSP on and off for a couple of years now, but always struggled getting the game to run smoothly on my aged laptop. With everything turned down to minimum, it could just about chug along. Having long since given up the dream of having a nice gaming PC, I took the plunge and went for a PS4 for my 50th birthday. I've really enjoyed some of the games (namely Witcher 3, Cities Skylines, MudRunner and AC: Origins) but missed the mental workout that you get from KSP. So, when I saw the Enhanced Edition had arrived on the Play Station Store, I crossed my fingers and bought it straight away. I've started afresh in my favourite game mode - Science. No angry customers when things go a little off plan and as much tax payers money as my Space Program needs. I've just completed my first Mun Fly-by and I have to say I'm rather pleasantly surprised. The controls are never going to be as intuitive as the traditional keyboard and mouse but after only a day's play, I was able to do everything I wanted to and, more to the point, didn't do anything unintentional. It's nice to see the game a little more like how it's supposed to look. With the better textures and shadows (beyond my previous laptops abilities) you get a much better sense of height above the ground. Sure, I'm going to miss the wonderful Better Burn Time mod, but at least I'm back in the game.
  2. I found the answer whilst playing this evening. I'm so used to hitting the "M" key to toggle the map view that I completely forgot there's a button at the bottom left of the screen you can click on to return to the view of your vessel! Hope this helps some future gamer
  3. Hi all, After an enforced break from KSP, due to the lack of a laptop/PC to play it on, I was delighted to see the new port to PS4 has been released. As an aside, so far I'm impressed. The radial control menu's take a little getting used to, but I'm surprised how easy it is to do things after being used to the keyboard mouse combo. The only thing I can't work out how to do; in order to choose the option "Warp to next maneuver node" you have to be on the map screen. Once you start the time warp, is there any way to switch back to the main view, or do you have to stay in map view? It's not a major issue, but I do like to watch my target getting closer as I travel! Regards Clipper
  4. Downloaded the PS4 version last night and, so far, so good! The mouse and keyboard shortcut method is always going to be easier to use for a complex game like KSP, but I must say I'm liking the radial control menu's and find that I am getting used to them quite quickly after only trying out 2 tutorials. So far I have been able to fly several basic missions and did everything I wanted to. I've loved KSP for some years now and despite its modest system requirements, having made the leap to a console, I don't have easy access to a machine that will play KSP smoothly. If I can play once again, plus do it whilst in a comfy chair and in front of a large screen, I'll put up with a slightly quirky control system.
  5. That saves me asking. I got a PS4 for my 50th birthday recently and was hoping to play KSP on the console as my laptop strains under the pressure. Glad to hear that there is a new port in the pipeline and I look forward to seeing it on the PS Store here in the UK.... eventually!
  6. The team working on the articles included Fred L. Whipple, Joseph Kaplan, Heinz Haber and Willy Ley along with Wernher von Braun. It's interesting to compare the figures in the articles to the actual launch vechiles that followed. Of course, von Braun et al were working on the assumption that a space station would be used as a stepping stone to the Moon.
  7. Apart from being a rocket scientist, Wernher Von Braun was also an excellent publicist. He managed to sell the idea of going to the Moon to the American public. For those interested in reading the original series of articles published in Collier's Magazine between 1952-1954, scans of the magazine are available for download. Fascinating stuff! Enjoy
  8. I love the "natural relationship" between parts in KSP. A perfect example from today was my newly designed Kash Kows Tourer which is destined to fleese wisk passengers around the Mun and back. The main power is the newly unlocked Twin Boar LF engine. It needed a touch more fuel to place the transfer stage into LKO, so I radially mounted 4 x FL T800 tanks and, worried about the extra weight, I bolted on a Hammer Solid Fuel Booster to the bottom of each. Imagine my delight in discovering that the LF tanks drain in almost exactly the same time as the SRBs burn out. So with one set of radial decouplers, I can dump them all with a single tap of the space bar and head for the Mun. Love it!
  9. Misaligned wheels will still prove "interesting" on the runway but otherwise things seem fine on the runway. The SAS code update is a wonderful thing. All that swinging about back and forth when you click, say, the hold prograde symbol has gone for all but the longest craft with limited control. It's been ages since I did a short burst of time warp to stop craft wobble. A New(ish) Save Continues We are up to 42 launches from KSC with the Kash Kow Mun Tours "Pathfinder XL" being the most common site on the launch pad. The twin contract Satellites to the Mun mission worked out well with the bonus of pretty good comms coverage. Hopefully, another contract will let me add a third satellite whilst making a profit from the launch.
  10. After the KSC shutdown over the holidays, it's back to "work" for the fab four. My new save is going well and Kash Kow Tours is earning good money flying tourists to Mun orbit as well as Hi-G orbital flights of Kerbin. We even launched our first Satellite to fulfill a contract and piggybacked some science and communication link to add value to the mission.
  11. The concept for a > Mach 10 plane has a strangely familiar look to it! Skreemr Supersonic Jet
  12. You miss a day on the Forums and there are more good reads than "likes" allow you to acknowledge! Sorry if yours is one of those. A New Save.... Day One - 15 flights in all, upto and including the first 2 tourist + pilot sub-orbital flight, several landmark achievements for KerbalKind and much testing of random items on the launch pad to pay for a few building upgrades (Mission Control, Launch Pad and VAB). I even built a little science buggy and got a 167 science points grubbing around the complex. As soon as I have fuel lines unlocked, the sky (well, Minmus) is the limit! And a Happy Christmas to everyone in KSP land everywhere.
  13. Yep! I had to resort to that method when I added the vast amount of Liquid Fuel a contract required for no good reason (I wonder if they're drinking the stuff?) Today: I started a new game! I always restart most games multiple times and KSP is well suited to it. Another career mode game with the standard settings for things like money, science, heating etc but with indestructible buildings (after the unmentionable incident in an previous play through) and action groups always allowed because it saves aiming the camera at fiddley bits. I'm taking a more role play approach this time
  14. Part One The Vexatious Astroid As the class A astroid I have been tracking for a while was getting close to Kerbins SOI, the upgraded Astroid Hunter was launched with its shiney new total control probe core. A few launches were declared simulations as KSC struggled a little getting the correct launch angle. Once on the way the Hunter executed a couple of small correctional burns and met Astroid PUG 223 at the edge of Kerbins SOI. Capture went well and a burn was planned at Kerbin periapsis to bring the rock into orbit. Fast forward and the probe core is as dead as a dodoo. The solar panels had been obscured by the Astroid and the batteries had gone flat. The stunning real simulation ended with design modifications to the Hunter. Next launch and capture went well although it took more small burns to match orbits. We approached from the sunlit side and again set a node for periapsis. I had 2 green ticks for, capturing an undisturbed astroid and for keeping steady for 10 seconds. As soon as I popped out of time warp the "undisturbed astroid" tick vanished. Grrr. Game cheating = revert and out of time! Part Two The Dilemma I've achieved my goals when I started this save. My first career mode game, an un-crewed trip to Duna in Year 1 and a complete tech tree. On one hand I fancy starting again with the more "role playing" approach, but then again, instillations like Complication Point has my blood sweat and tears ingrained in their structure. What to do? What to do. . . ?
  15. Ahhh, I see why I was at cross purposes with @foamyesque above. And that explains why Galileos' experiment was at such odds with our subjective expectations of how things behave. Cheers
  16. Didn't Galileos' experiment show that two objects of equal area but different mass (he used also used spheres in his experiments as they present the same profile regardless of orientation) do accelerate at the same rate as they head for their different terminal velocities? "Four hundred years ago--or so the story goes--Galileo Galilei started dropping things off the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Cannon balls, musket balls, gold, silver and wood. He might have expected the heavier objects to fall faster. Not so. They all hit the ground at the same time, and so he made a big discovery: gravity accelerates all objects at the same rate, regardless of their mass or composition" at least until you get up to the size of moon's and planets. See - https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/06may_lunarranging Not that it's especially important to the modelling of the speed of sound at altitude!
  17. Being a bit of a sucker for punishment, I accepted another contact to further expand Complication Point on Minmus! A second Lab and yet more accommodation in now on the launch manifest.
  18. Shouldn't empty and full tanks (assuming they are the same size) fall at the same speed? I'm thinking about Galileos' proof by dropping balls of the same shape but different mass from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and, of course, the Apollo 15 "Hammer and Feather" experiment. The tanks would have the same acceleration, but different momentum.
  19. Today's flights were cancelled, due to a Granddaughter with a nasty cold. Normal service will resume now she is back with her Mum & Dad.
  20. Thanks again for the swift answers. KSP is so detailed in so many ways!
  21. At sea level, Mach 3 is around 1021m/s but by the time you get to 60,000ft or 18,288m it's down to around 885m/s. Does KSP model this change when it comes to the performance of jet engines that vary thrust depending on your velocity?
  22. After completing that awkward expansion contract and renaming then evacuating Complication Point, I did some fun contracts. - A Mun orbit and trip out of Kerbins SOI with tourists and a 2 star scientist in the updated, smaller and cheaper to run Kash Kow Sun Tours launcher. - Jeb tested a couple of Juno engines at 4,000m in his little Pizza Runner. Capable of Mach 1 before it's over the water at KSC. Results showed the Juno's didn't bring much to the party. - Val and Elvis went to Minmus to rescue another scientist and bring back an empty mid sized, 2.5m fuel tank. I was a little lucky with that one as they came down at sea and the original Ka Klaw parachutes were just enough to slow them down. It would have been a different story had they landed on a mountain range! Plus, for the first time ever, I'm just two 1,000 point nodes away from a full tech tree in Career Mode. The Minmus and Mun orbital labs have more than enough experiments waiting to be processed to earn the points.
  23. After all the problems I had completing the contract to increase the size of Minmus "Hut" base, it has been renamed "Complication Point"
  24. It was my sloppyist mission to date! I overlooked parts on the original expansion and, as you say, should have put some Vernier's or similar on the third part. I think I'm going to start making check lists for si ilar projects in the future
  25. I had to do something I dislike in KSP today My "house rules" allow a revert to launch/VAB or Hanger when things go wrong as well as making frequent saves under the name "rover" when driving, but I don't usually revert to a previous save unless something corrupts the file. However, after adding the expansion to the Minmus "Hut" base and deploying the drills, I did a couple of other missions this morning, before returning to process the ore into the required liquid fuel. I loaded up KSP again this evening and thought "That's odd. I was sure I had 80+ rep rather than 77". I went to the tracking station and Minmus Hut was gone. Just vanished off the face of Minmus - along with Jeb, another 3 star pilot and a 3 star engineer. I guess the thing shook itself to pieces whilst my attention was on other things. I had to go back to last night's save and loose out on those completed contracts!?! I spent 3 Minmus days mining and refining and worked out I was only making ~200 units of LF per day. So, this evening was spent adding a third module (imaginatively named Hut 3) with the remaing 8 full LF tanks needed to complete the contract. That turned out to be more work than it should have been too. The non-aerodynamic lines of the module used up way more fuel during ascent and required gaining a lot of altitude before turning to the East, so another refuelling tug was needed to top it off before heading to Minmus. I landed about 1.5 km away from the main base and went to drive her into position. The module just hopped about a bit and stayed put. I was going to hit "revert" when I realised that the way I had attached the wheels meant 2 were driving/steering forwards and 2 backwards. Changing the motor and steering directions solved that issue. Breaking too hard and leaving the SAS on as I got near my goal resulted in the thing doing a cartwheel and loosing 2 radiators (needed if I decide to drill again) 2 solar panels and an antenna. Fed up of the whole contract by now, I managed to right the thing with SAS, realised that was what caused the crash, turned it off and finally got it to dock with the other two modules. The profit margins on a million+ root payout wasn't what I had hoped for, but at least it's finally done and we made some money in the process (and Jeb isn't dead anymore!) Launch Summary Original Base - Expansion Module - 3 x Refuelling tugs to get it to Minmus - Crew Ship - New expansion module - 1 x tug to get that to Minmus.
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