TelluriumCrystal

Once nuclear war is initiated there is no going back. It is basically guaranteed (depending on the number of warheads available to both sides) that both sides will suffer massive casualties. Even a desperate opponent would likely see surrender preferable to complete annihilation. The only time I suspect we will see nuclear weapons being used to attack someone is when some sort of radical group gets ahold of one and detonates it during a terrorist attack.

Maybe what we need is a proper set of navigational tools to go along with mapSAT. Something like a GPS would be a good start (plug in coordinates, GPS points to destination and gives distance to target).

Oh we definitely have the money. It's basically a public opinion and political issue.

It'd make more sense to play it on spacebar push. Maybe even make it into a toggle-able option (in-game config menu perhaps?) so you can choose not to play epic launch songs for your tiny test rover.

It just occurred to me that I never properly posted an introduction in this thread. I figured later was better than never, so here we go: Good day, KSP community If I remember correctly I lurked around these parts for about three months before deciding to join. Normally I don't become particularly active in online communities due to my tendency to migrate between games, and the tendency of said online communities to be full of trolls and whiny children. However I have discovered that KSP community is quite different. The experienced veterans are happy to help the new players on a daily basis. The modding community is thriving just as much now as it was 2 years ago (and maybe even more so). But most importantly, everyone is very polite and reserved. I must say these are probably some of the best game forums I've had the privilege of being a part of. I'm glad I came, and I intend to stick around for the foreseeable future.

Even better, would it be possible to trigger a certain song(s) to play during launch? If I could play the main theme to "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions" I'd be a very happy engineer.

I'm pretty sure detonating a nuclear bomb in the reactor would cause a nuclear explosion. Actually detonating a nuclear bomb anywhere would cause a nuclear explosion. My point is that it is fundamentally impossible for the fissionable materials in a nuclear reactor to become supercritical and explode. The worst that could happen would be a catastrophic core containment failure, which would result in the leakage of radiation into the surrounding environment. Even then it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as nuclear fallout from a nuclear weapon can cause.

I personally could care less about nuclear weapons. Ironically their sheer destructive power makes them useless in traditional warfare, as they are too powerful to be used tactically (there were smaller ones made, but they were't used for varying reasons). What really bugs me is when people invoke nuclear weapons when talking about nuclear power. Even to this day there are still people who think nuclear reactors can explode like nuclear weapons.

Elon Musk wants to retire on Mars, so I suspect that SpaceX will likely end up being the first to make it there. I, for one, think it is a good thing that the private sector is finally stepping into space, as they generally get things done faster, more efficiently, and cheaper than the government can. Though it is sad to see NASA being gutted by Congress.

Most if not all of KSP's music comes from here: http://incompetech.com It is probably one of the most-used sets of royalty-free music on the internet.

I haven't yet had time to view your video, but good luck making it into SpaceX! I know that's where I'm going to try to get a job when I get out of college. EDIT 1/13/14: Ok I took a look at your video and am sorry to say it does not qualify as an entry. However, it would be very easy to modify it so it does. Here's what you need to change: 1. Remove the kerbal from the manned pod prior to launch. The challenge necessitates that the mission be unmanned. 2. Only execute programs from either stable orbits or when landed on the surface of a body. It would be easiest to just run each of your "phase" programs from a master program with a time delay between each. 3. Remove Kerbal Engineer (I wouldn't have turned down your attempt if this was the only rule violation, but since you have to re-do it anyway you might as well remove it for the challenge run) I might have missed something, so it wouldn't hurt to run through the rules yourself just in case. Its also worth noting that you won't need a video of the mission, just screenshots documenting the process. You're welcome to make a video if you want to though. Good luck! We'll probably go with option #2. I know nothing about modding KSP, so if you or someone else would be willing to handle updating it to 0.23 I can put a link up on the main page. We'll just run with that until Kevin (hopefully) returns and releases an official version.

Unfortunately yes, the new science archive basically does everything this mod does and more. Regardless, this mod was a huge help during 0.22, and I salute Synapse86 for putting in the time to make it.

Awesome, thanks!

Yep, that's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! Edit: Just curious, but what font are you using? Is it something you made or could I get it somewhere?

Wow, that's amazing! The only criticism I have is that the little floppy disk on the satellite seems a tad bit repetitious. Could you remove it please? Also, consider reducing the size of the satellite just a tiny bit so the solar panel isn't so close to the white part of the big floppy disk. Otherwise it's perfect. Nice work! If you don't have time right now you could just PM me the file (I'm assuming you're using photoshop) and I could do it myself.

Good point. I'll go ahead and make an honorable mentions section. Your mission is definitely impressive enough to earn a spot in it. Edit: jpaverly was kind enough to make an extremely awesome mission patch for this challenge. He's currently taking requests here: link

It'd be cool to have one of these for the Automated Mission Challenge! Something showcasing a probe would be nice. Take your time on it.

JoCRaM never directly challenged my decision to allow persistence editing, he merely pointed out it was not the only solution, and thus was, in his mind, was unnecessary. It is for this reason that I did not get involved in the argument, as well as because he had not yet provided me with a compulsive reason that persistence editing should not be allowed. However the argument the two of you were having, while it started off because of JoCRaM's comment, was more about whether or not kOS's game-crippling bugs were analogous to real world problems and should be handled as such than if persistence editing should be allowed. I decided to pull the plug before it got out of hand and cluttered up the thread. Not to mention I probably would have done the same at some point even it it was about the challenge. However, all I am asking is that this argument not continue in this thread. If the two of you want to finish it off in PM, I have no problem with that. You can also PM me if you disagree with my decision to allow persistence editing. But for now, my decision remains unchanged. Yep, that's the current plan. The challenge will (hopefully) always assume that the user is using the latest version of kOS, so if and when the bugs persistence editing fixes are resolved, I will remove persistence editing from the rules. I specifically wrote the rules as I did to allow this, in case people had made similar missions with kerbals on board. This way all they have to do to validate their entry is to dump their "cargo" before takeoff. So bsalis, if you are at all interested in making a valid entry out of that mission, I believe it'll require extremely few (if any) modifications to your existing design.

This is, unfortunately, very true. It's absurd just how many misconceptions about nuclear power there are out there.

At this point, it is quite likely that fracking will have a reasonable impact on our energy economy in the near future. While I am hesitantly optimistic about this new technology, there is, of course, always an opportunity for a company to make a mistake or for unforeseen consequences to appear. Ultimately, not much can be said about just how safe it is until it has been done for a decent amount of time and all the benefits and downfalls have been determined. However, nuclear power is far safer and environmentally friendly, thus making it superior to any fossil fuels in the long run. So thus I'd consider fracking to be a temporary source of power to help us become more energy-independant until other, cleaner sources such as nuclear and hydroelectric (and potentially even wind and solar on a smaller scale) take over.

Just discovered this now. Good luck to everyone attempting this challenge!

Am I the only one who thought "Mission Mexico" was some sort of new aerospace company in Mexico before reading the actual post? On a more on-topic note, it's always nice to see money going to a charity.

JoCRaM, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you didn't see my earlier post. I do not want to see any more posting related to this argument in this thread. This tread is for the Automated Mission Challenge, not debating kOS's bugs, and while I will tolerate the occasional side-conversation, this argument is showing no signs of being resolved any time soon. Hopefully I won't have to, but if I see another post furthering this argument in this thread, I'll have no choice but to bring this issue to the moderators. If you absolutely must continue arguing about this, please do so in PM, not here. Thanks. Nice work! I'll add you to the leaderboards as soon as I get a chance. Edit: Done! Actually, I don't see anything in that video that would disqualify it. Unless I'm missing something, you could consider that an entry if you want. It'd only be worth 2 points though.

Ok, ok. Lets stop arguing about whether or not kOS's bugs are analogous to the real wold in this thread please. If you guys want to continue to debate, please do so through PM. Thanks. Also, Steven Mading, I'll probably get around to modifying the rules to allow the delay program in the next few days. My midterms are coming up so I'm a bit pressed for free time right now.

I'd be more than willing to amend the rules when you've cleaned up your light delay code as you mentioned. The only reason I used the rules I did was because I wanted to avoid using other mods like RemoteTech while still requiring transmission times to be taken into consideration. Because the only time you can be absolutely certain that your craft will not impact anything before it receives the transmission is when it ls landed or in a stable orbit, I decided this was the best restriction I could impose. It would be much fairer and realistic if an actual light delay calculator was used.