Zephram Kerman

Besides playing 'I Spy' and 'Human Space Program': ...talk to Wilson.

I try to avoid mods. Dunno why, I just can't help it. So my rockets tend to be as fully recoverable as possible, and I do it all manually. Even my heavy lifter is 95% recoverable; only its SRBs get destroyed. I used to be all about reusable space planes, but SpaceX's Falcon changed my world.

Though it's not your usual gig, I enjoyed these the most! Kinda reminds me of Rareden's stuff, with Jeb standing in front of the X-1, etc. I just finished reviewing your whole thread. Good stuff!

Yep. Offset tool. Also, the mod WASD Editor Camera might help by getting a better angle. But it's nice to know how to edit the file, too. Well, my short answer is, "I used to know how to do this, but it's different now." But I can offer clues. When you open your .craft file search for "wing", or if possible, some other word unique to that part. Identify the one you want by what's connected to it. It will begin something like this: PART { part = sweptWing_4290780552 partName = Part pos = -0.1998991,3.101094,0.5299976 attPos = 0,0,0 attPos0 = 0.6204619,-0.0375967,4.481876E-09 It used to be simply the one line, pos = something, and the three values are X, Y, and Z in meters. Numbers with E- are basically zero. But the offset feature requires those two other lines. I haven't messed with it since. I believe pos refers to the actual location of the part, while attPos and attPos0 refer to where it was originally attached. Make a backup copy of your vessel, and experiment! Let us know what you find out. The worst that happens is you make a silly mess and restore your backup.

Some sharp-eyed folks in this thread! I had assumed that center stack had a Swivel engine. But I didn't notice that central solid booster was not more fuel tanks. Even if that bottom motor is a Swivel, it can't help with the steering issue for lack of fuel flow. So, my suggestion is: • reduce the boosters to only two, • move them higher up the stack, • delete the central booster, • connect a Swivel to the bottom of those fuel tanks. Oh! And, welcome to the KSP forum!

Getting the Space Shuttle to work right is an extreme challenge. When you finally do accomplish this, it will be just as satisfying as your first successful Mun landing! The system requires deep understanding of several concepts that are not intuitive. So keep researching, reading, asking, striving! This stuff is fun to know, and you can use it at parties to impress your friends with how nerdy you are. I got 80% through making a Space Shuttle tutorial in 0.90, until I took an arrow to the knee. (Version 1.0 came out, and all the laws of physics changed.) I might get around to it someday. But there are plenty of shuttle tutorial videos and threads already. In addition to all the great advice in this thread, here are a couple more images that might help: Like Slashy's vector diagram. In this one, the yellow box shows how the combined center of mass moves as the fuel is consumed. The vector sum of all five engines must pass through the combined center of mass. Once the boosters separate, the vector sum of the three SSMEs continues to do the same. The three SSMEs were each canted outwards from each other; in case one or two of them failed during ascent, the thrust vector would still be aligned. The main issue is the Skippers and Mainsails don't have nearly as much gimbal range as the SSMEs. (That's right, the real life engines are more OP than the game ones!) So to compensate for this with all stock, I suggest it's not cheating to hide three of the big SAS in the external fuel tank. From WinterOwl's tutorial. His brilliant idea was to cluster seven SRBs on each side. The clustered components had four different thrust limiter settings, so that they would burn out at different times. I think they were 100%, 90%, 80%, and the middle one was 70%. My version had the center one throttled way down, so that it had just enough thrust to propel the empty cluster along during separation. That made the boosters separate in formation with the rest of the ship, just like real life. It looked very cool. Finally, like any spacecraft, design the thing in reverse order! Build the orbiter stage first, and get it to fly right for the landing. You can launch it on the runway using Infinint Fuel cheat, for testing purposes only of course. Once you've got the orbiter locked down, you can design the external tank and boosters around that.

Each scene is so well done. Knowing how much time goes into every detail, I kept expecting it to end. Every scene change fade to black made me expect "to be continued". But it just kept rolling along! Honestly, I don't know how Bob can accomplish all this, and keep his day job, and sleep. It's inhuman!

Perfect!

Here's a simple one. Those radial engines really help when using the mk2 cargo bay. This thing is really meant to be a crew return vehicle from Mun or Minmus, but I think there might be enough. The bottom end had a jr. docking port before reentry. Another option, although I haven't tried it yet, would be to build your lander on the floor of the cargo bay. That way it can spread out fore and aft.

Actually, it does count if a kerbal occupies that seat. They can even leave an empty space to sit in a seat, thus fulfilling the role of two kerbals.

Here's my similar project, since you asked. The Kerbal Tourism Program is somewhat smaller than what you described, but could be scaled up with practice. The SSTO uses Rapiers, but earlier designs actually did better with 2x Whiplash and 2x Thuds. Anyway, the idea is very similar to what you proposed: • SSTO takes off from runway with four tourists; • rendezvous and dock with Trans-Munar Shuttle already in LKO with partial fuel; • shuttle has just enough fuel to reach Mun or Minmus and land there; • refuel shuttle with a rover tanker from the mining base; • shuttle returns to LKO to unload tourists with enough leftover fuel for the next trip; • SSTO returns the tourists to the surface. I use a variant of that same SSTO to cheaply launch satellites and probes, too. The trick is to keep the payload light enough that the whole thing can make orbit. Deorbit close enough to the right time to point it at the runway, and land for close to 100% recovery value. Sometimes the front solar panel overheats, but everything else has been totally safe.

One... two... five! Three, sir. Three!

You can simply shift-click on one end of the thing, and drag it all the way to the wall of the VAB. That way, most of it is sticking outside. Then continue building the other end. Nice for rockets and towers, not so good for complex things.

Some of the radiators collect heat from other parts of the vessel, and attract the heat to them. So if the radiator is attached to something heat sensitive, that might be the problem. Looks like you have a lot of them, too. Most things don't need any radiators at all, or just one. So unless it's big, five is right out.

Well, Tweakscale lets you make big things. Make something out of those, and you'll have a pretty weird course to fly through.

Dunno about anybody else, but for me each upgrade makes KSP a brand new game. The new features, rule changes, new parts, other folks' ideas and challenges, etc. all make for a brand new adventure every few months. So for me it's not so much a work in progress as a membership in a 'KSP of the month' club.

People from any place refer to themselves by that place, sometimes within just a few weeks. For example, people from Oregon call themselves Oregonians. So your theory makes sense to me. That scene at Kharak was so sad, and motivational. Beautiful story. Maybe not so sinister; it may just a back-lit mural of outside that helps them feel more relaxed, like the mirrored back wall of a fish tank. The VAB/SPH don't even have actual doors; the vehicles are actually 'beamed' to their launch sites by a hyperedit device. That one's wearing a foil hat. The space suit helmets are just high-tech versions of the same thing, to prevent us from reading their silly little minds.

Yes you can! But the NBS map needs to be refreshed manually with a click, so piloting a hover-thing at the same time would be difficult and exciting. That's a great way to cover the whole area marked by the orbital scanner.I'm not that great a pilot, so I usually do it the slow way: mount the NBS and ground scatter to my mining crawler. You gave me an idea! Here's what I should have done: put the NBS on a tiny scout vehicle that can dock with your mining rig. That way, you get the best of both worlds, and your scout can refuel too.

But stronger is better.

Needs a little something more. Dang! That station is beautiful, and putting it around Eve makes it even more impressive.

I would buy just the patch. Also I would buy one or two of the figures; one of those would be a great hood ornament for my car.

Good advice all around. But I'm confused about this last thing. Do xenon engines have something against octos? or did you mean Oscars?

I could see doing an atmospheric survey. You know, check out the atmosphere in the place... decor, music, clients. Maybe even extensive fluid analysis.

I"ve never confused them either, but I do like the idea anyway. Just one more little thing to be more like RL space ships. The stage numbers keep changing as technology improves and ships get modified (almost every flight). But if the main things were named, they would be identified more consistently across upgrades. Especially when sharing a save with other people collaborating on a project. In fact, we did name the stages, but there was no way to put those names in the game.

Dunno if this is true or not, but some guy once told me an inclined orbit can be more easily monitored than an equatorial one; the longitude can be estimated simply by measuring latitude with a sextant and then plotting that against the ground track.