fourfa

For that problem (more control and precision) I use the mods Editor Extensions (allows any angle snap you like; I usually have 1 / 5 / 15 degree options active) and Part Angle Display (high precision readout of part angle, simple!)

I’ll just add - I’ve had situations where thrust was not obstructed while not steering, but was blocked when gimballed over while steering. That can seem to the pilot like an intermittent, hard to diagnose overheating problem. But yeah, no way to find out except trial and error. Maybe something like a static fire test, where you start engines but don’t release launch clamps, and try every combination of steering inputs

For me, a death in NCD is a reset. There's enough grind as it is without having to recover rep and cash from a fatality, and with enough practice you get through the marginally-safe reentry phase of play pretty quick. After that there's little risk

Great thread! There are a couple of simple mods that can help with this design challenge: I use these in combination to get 1 degree angle snap, and sub-degree angle read outs.

Claw them together in a graveyard orbit, build a new moon

I love the decouplers as canopy frames, looks so good

@InterstellarKev those are spectacular craft! thanks for sharing, really given me some ideas

You'll need to outlaw Zompi drives for this one...

Congrats!

My early NCD biome-collection phase got enormous mileage out of this: Highly steerable and very precise, and a lot of fun to fly. The Hammer booster lets you target like 10+ biomes (including splashed ones), a BACC even more

I wonder if there's a way to trick it, using a service bay and changing the open/closed state of the bay during the deploy animation, and catch it out. Or with advanced tweakables on, is there a 'deploy while shielded' option? sorry, I can't get in the game right now to check myself...

I have an idea for shenanigans... mount the base of the gigantor inside a closed service bay (or cargo bay, or closed fairing), and extend the panel - is it able to be shielded from drag and still collect EC?

This happened in the 1.11 update. Try jumping to break the ground glue, then starting using the jet pack once off the ground. Edit - oops, gotta check for page 2 before replying…

If the OP is on windows... (I'm going to assume, like the joke about crossfitters, vegans and tesla owners, don't worry, they'll tell you they're on linux) https://www.windowscentral.com/how-reverse-scrolling-direction-windows-10

I haven’t updated MJ from whatever version was working in 1.11; it’s working fine in 1.12 despite a pop-up warning on game launch. Perhaps there’s some module deep in one mode or another that needs updating, but rendezvous works just fine. No need to mess with dev versions

Max reentry heating is no big deal, I play that way at all times. It mainly affects SSTO launch profiles, not capsules, so very little difference in Caveman. In my experience all progression in NCD is slower to be sure - but where you really spend time with slower progress is in the late game where you've unlocked most of the critical techs but run out of easy science. Early game, each new mission type gets you new unlocks so it feels like there's always progress

I've been playing a lot with drag optimizations. I found you can shield whole RAPIER engine nacelles from drag with a fairing, hide the ugly fairing bases inside nesting fairings, hide a rear vacuum engine from drag, hide attitude control thrusters from drag, hide landing gear from drag... The most interesting to me was making an ultra-high temperature SSTO nose, from a heat shield and service bay. Heat shields with open attach nodes have *absurd* drag, to help capsules reenter. Make sure something is attached to the front node, then hide that thing in the service bay, and it becomes practically frictionless. Nose temp has always been my limiting factor for air-breathing SSTO speed - this has 3300K front-most tolerance on the heatshield, then 2900K on the service bay, then 2700K on the cockpit. This is temp-limited by the wings and V-tail at 2400K, not much more you can do about that...! Max airbreathing speed 1650+m/s with its max 45T/4U payload. It's by far the fastest cargo SSTO I've ever made, which means the rest of the burn to orbit can be done with significantly less propellant. https://kerbalx.com/fourfa/Sundiver-SSTO

There's also this: Of course it's good to learn things by yourself; however I've definitely learned things from watching how certain mods automate tasks.

I bet there's a grav-assist route that uses Mun-Eve-Jool to get to Eeloo with this. Lighter command module could help too

I found it was *very* marginal to get a Hitchhiker to orbit in actual practice. Like, juuuuust barely but you're definitely not taking it anywhere. You'd need docking to make it useful, but you'd be better off just skipping the Hitchhiker and launching and docking the useful things directly. Maybe it could be the core of a space station but without EVA that means leaving Bob floating near it and having to re-rendezvous him each time. I can't see it being worth the effort. Or - maybe you were thinking as a KSC-based rover parts transport? yeah, that could work

Another option for changing spacecraft attitude without reaction engines: magnetorquers Basically, the spacecraft can use a magnetic field generator to create a small torque relative to the planet's magnetic field. Obviously this depends on being IN a planet's magnetic field - so won't work in deep space or around many of the Solar System's celestial bodies that have no field to speak of.

How about: when collecting data from a Science Jr or Mystery Goo on EVA - if the kerbal is a Scientist, they automatically reset the experiment instead of waiting for the user to click the Restore button

Isn't this a two-year-old interview? From when Balsa was about to go the Early Access. PC Gamer seems to have just popped it to the top of the page for some fresh clicks I haven't ever played those - do they have the ability to design a craft from the ground up, in-game? I thought all the existing flight sims have more of unlock-new-craft gameplay, not a design/engineering mode

For years I've used this long-running thread with simple Module Manager patches for a number of issues (and of course there's Patch Manager!) For instance I always want fairings patched at default for more ejection force + use clamshell mode + turn nodes off + turn trusses off. Similar defaults for less decoupler/docking port force, radial decoupler crossfeed off by default, cabin lights consume EC, hibernate probe cores in time warp to auto, EVA lights on when starting EVA, and others. Other issues I consistently change in my games: my-default settings for plane landing gear (forward of COM: brakes 50%, friction control override 2.0, steering on; aft of COM, brakes 95%, friction control 4.0, steering off), landing gear lights on Gear action group not Lights, some attachment node tweaks (for instance the Mk7 nose cone always needs to be moved aft a tick) Making History has a bunch of just plain bugs that need patch-fixed. The ludicrous center of mass on the MEM lander pod, problems in the SM-25 service module, various drag cubes and drag shielding fixes that have been offered in the MH subforum Robotics could use a good bugpatch/default-action pass. For instance reducing the default damping seems to help a lot of problems. Setting up props and rotors is complex enough to warrant a 18-page PDF - when many of the tweaks are the same each time (assigning action groups for props and motors, applying a default 90-turn to props, getting around mirror symmetry bugs, etc)

News from 1.12 that's relevant for the Cave: additional launch sites (ie the island runway, Baikerbanur, Dessert airfield) have always yielded extra science. In fact I believe all of them have two additional mini-biomes. Now there are a bunch more to be discovered on Kerbin. Not sure how many (no spoilers!) but in tough run like NCD it could make a small difference. Of course it's nothing compared to a single interplanetary trip...