Jump to content

SirJodelstein

Members
  • Posts

    554
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

396 Excellent

Profile Information

  • About me
    Squirrel Pilot

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. this is exiting and nerve-wracking at the same time. I have no idea how fast (if ever) i will receive an answer. I have to keep an eye on the Sojourner wheels all the time so that i don't miss a thing. It's just been two hours since i put up the new sign, but the wait is already killing me. three hours. I've moved into Duna Rover 1 to conserve valuable spacesuit CO2 filters, observing the site through the window. four hours. There! -.-. - / -.-. - / -.-. - / .... .. / .--. .... .. .-.. ..-. .-. . -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / -.- ... -.-. .-.-.- / - .-. .- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .. -. -.-. . / ... --- .-.. / ..--- ..... .-.-.- / .-- . / .- .-. . / ... ..- .--. .-. .. ... . -.. / -... ..- - / .... .- .--. .--. -.-- / - --- / ... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-.. .. ...- . .-.-.- / .-- .... .- - ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... - .- - ..- ... / -....- / .... . .- .-.. - .... / ... ..- .--. .--. .-.. .. . ... / . --.- ..- .. .--. -- . -. - ..--.. / -. -..- - / -- ... --. / .- - / ... --- .-.. / ..... ....- / .---- / .... --- ..- .-. / .- ..-. - . .-. / ... ..- -. .-. .. ... . .-.-.- / .-. . .--. . .- - .. -. --. / -.-. - / -.-. - / -.-. - / .... .. / .--. .... .. .-.. ..-. .-. . -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / -.- ... -.-. .-.-.- / - .-. .- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .. -. -.-. . / ... --- .-.. / ..--- ..... .-.-.- / .-- . / .- .-. . / ... ..- .--. .-. .. ... . -.. / -... ..- - / .... .- .--. .--. -.-- / - --- / ... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-.. .. ...- . .-.-.- / .-- .... .- - ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... - .- - ..- ... / -....- / .... . .- .-.. - .... / ... ..- .--. .--. .-.. .. . ... / . --.- ..- .. .--. -- . -. - ..--.. / -. -..- - / -- ... --. / .- - / ... --- .-.. / ..... ....- / .---- / .... --- ..- .-. / .- ..-. - . .-. / ... ..- -. .-. .. ... . .-.-.- / ... -.- Well, that could have been much worse for a first contact considering what I've done. I better go and set up my reply on a flag. See you tomorrow.
  2. LOG ENTRY, SOL 52 Oh what a beautiful sight! Took a look out of the northern hab windown first thing this morning and guess what - the pathfinder camera has moved! It points straight at the "Yes" flag. I can't describe how happy I am right now. Finally I am able to communicate with other Kerbals again. ... Well, in theory at least. I have re-established a communication link, but KSC can only send binary answers to my short questions. Plus, there is this whole signal delay matter. At the speed of light, the signal round trip time is about 40 minutes, and I am not quite sure about the bandwidth of the Pathfinder to Kerbin link. Time for some tinkering! And double rations for me today :-) LOG ENTRY, SOL 53 Ok, let's see if that works.
  3. Have you tried the "Switch active vessel" mod?: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/78183 Lists all nearby vessels in a small window, with optional filter buttons. Hover over button to highlight, click to switch. Great little plugin for crowded bases!
  4. LOG ENTRY, SOL 51 Time to do something other than rover driving! After carefully unloading the Pathfinder lander from the rover, I set it down close to the hab. This decade-old piece technology is my last hope of communicating with Kerbin. I hope it will boot up and connect to KSC when attached to a power supply, as it does not have an "on/off" switch. I guess nobody considered "in-situ reactivation, years after mission end" as a realistic scenario. Well, fingers crossed. ... Alright , time to find out wether the excursion was a huge waste of time or not. I'm about to connect the extension cord from the hab to the lander mainboard. KSC operates all systems on the same voltage, so in theory, this should work. I have also prepared some makeshift flags from hab canvas and set them up near the lander's camera. Woot. Blinking links and computer beebs! Alright, Pathfinder! Im counting on you. And on some clever computer geeks back at Kerbin. I hope someone still knows how to operate this thing. Shoutout to xEvilReeperx and his FlagRotate plugin! Thanks for keeping old versions of your plugin available. (I'm still on 1.0.2)
  5. Well, its been quite a while. But man, i wish the terrain in KSP would be a little more interesting. Imagine KSP with terrain from No Mans Sky. Anyway, I'm back from several months of KSP hiatus. Lets see how Philfred has been doing :-) LOG ENTRY, SOL 50 Woohooo! Home sweet home! I have finally reached the base camp again, with all my precious cargo intact. There's quite some dust on the solar panels, but everything seems to be intact, and the snacks have been growing nicely. I'll just hook up the solar panel from the rover to the grid, clear the dust off the other panels, and then I'll take a really long nap. The habitat suddenly seems really large and comfortable compared to the cramped confines of the rover. Tomorrow I'll try to reactivate the Pathfinder probe.
  6. @Foxster: Nice challenge!. If you create a scenario for the challenge (or just share an otherwise empty persistence file with the setup), you save everyone else some preparation effort. Anyone else could just download the sfs file and start the rescue attempt. I think I'll give this challenge a go. How many internet cookies is a solution with neither Claw nor KIS/KAS worth? :-)
  7. LOG ENTRY, Sol 44 The mountain range is up ahead. This time, I'm going to stay clear of them, taking a route heading north-west instead of straight north towards the hab. Reconfigured the rover once again to achieve better balance.
  8. LOG ENTRY, Sol 42 I made it! I found the Pathfinder lander! Clearly visible against the midday sun, the site was visible from far away. After a few hours of dirt-moving (Yeah, finally something else to do other than driving!), the lander now looks almost like new. Some frozen components, some ripped cables, but nothing that I can't fix when I get this thing back to the Ares site. I have disassembled the landing gear and loaded the remaining structure with all the interesting parts (camera, antenna, computer module) onto my rover. I also scavenged some of the solar panels to replace the larger ones i lost. Hurray for standardization, hooking up the electrics to the rover was no problem at all I also picked up the tiny Sojourner rover. It still stood right in front of that rock 'Yogi' that marked the end of Sojourners mission. Not so sure what i will do with it, but it might be useful later on. And if it is not, i still can make a remote-controlled toy out of it. Whooohooo! Tomorrow i will start the return trip. Note to self: drive extra carefully! This vehicle has now a severely offset center of mass.
  9. Hello everyone, I am back. Its been a while, and I have recharged my storytelling batteries (Still on KSP 1.0.2 btw). Where was I? Oh, yes.... (+rep for anyone who gets that reference) LOG ENTRY, Sol 41 Pased 6100m yesterday. Its all downhill from here. Literally. The Pathfinder site is in the flatlands just south of these mountains, just 50 km ahead. And figuratively. Crashed again on a steep slope two hours ago, and broke one of my two remaining solar panels. Lets see: I have supplies till Sol 59. Batteries are at 20% now. Driving downhill and on flat terrain does not draw as much power as driving up mountains. I should be able to reach the Pathfinder site tomorrow, and I'll probably need at least one day at the site itself. That would leave me with 17 days of snacks for the return trip.The direct route through the mountains took 11 days, and I need to drive extra carefully on the way back, and I will need longer charging pauses. Oh boy.
  10. LOG ENTRY, SOL 38 Short break at midday to celebrate an two important milestones. I've driven 15 more kilometers since last morning, so only 100 km more to go. Also, I have just passed 4000 meters of altitude, and there are still higher peaks in the distance. Onward! LOG ENTRY, SOL 39 Recharge time. 87 km to go. Parked the rover in a safe place and took a hike up the highest peak around. 5912 meters! Now I really feel like the king of this world. Time for a majestic snack when i get back to my trusty rover.
  11. LOG ENTRY, SOL 37 Time for another recharge. 115 kilometers to go. The landscape is changing. I'm almost continually driving upwards a slight incline, and have passed 1900 meters of altitude accourding to amospheric pressure. I can make out a mountain range up ahead, which might or might not be traversible. Getting annoyed about doing nothing else but driving slowly across desolate terrain and living in a very confined space. I miss the luxury of my hab. The recharge stops are even worse, because i've got nothing to do other than watching the Sun making it's way across the sky. Made some slight modifications to the rover, so i can charge the batteries while driving. That should cut down on the recharge duration time. Philfred out.
  12. LOG ENTRY, SOL 35 Drove another 25km until noon, then the batteries went dry. The hills in this region are a little higher and steeper than before. Nothing problematic yet, but still I have to take some extra while navigating the terrain. Noticed a problem with my calculations from yesterday: With only two solar panels remaining, recharging takes longer. This evening, the battery gauge showed 50%. So I'll have to camp here at least another 4-5 sunlight hours. Which means I need to drive a little faster tomorrow to keep my shedule.
  13. Uprighting a crashed rover with KAS winches, just moments before an eclipse on Duna.
  14. LOG ENTRY, SOL 34 Note to self: Don't do dangerous maneuvers so far away from the hab. I hit a bump too hard and too fast, and the rover toppled over. I came to a grinding stop 50 meters further downhill and destroyed four of the six solar panels in the process. Everything else is fine though. I only took some minor bruises, and with the winch from the container I was able to put my trusty (and now also dusty) rover back onto it's feet. I need to drive more carefully from now on. The Pathfinder Site is only 175km away, and the gentle hills around here really make me want to drive fast, but I'm going to take it slow from here on. I cannot risk crashing again. I have enough supplies for another 25 Sols inside. Even if i only do 50 km in two Sols, I have a theoretical range of about 600km. 50% more than the remaining 400km for the trip to Pathfinder and back. I should be fine.
  15. Hey everyone, thank you so much for all the kind words. Just checking in briefly to say that I definitely do want to continue this story. It's just that those little episodes do take time to prepare, shoot and write. I've started this project when i was recovering from a knee surgery - which meant a lot of forced indoor time. Well, the recovery phase is over, it's holiday season and we have a really great summer in Europe (or at least in Germany). So at the moment, I'm not spending as much time indoors as before, and I am quite happy about it. Also, i was kind of surprised to find out that with 12 hours of driving about 20m/s, Philfred could cover half of Duna's circumfence in just 2 sols. So the tinyness of Duna screws up the maths behind the epicness of the journeys from the book, and i'm not sure how to resolve this. I might have to come up with an event that severely slows Philfred down *mysterious plot foreshadowing* On the plus side, i have finally decided on a Pathfinder design, and have built and setup the lander + micro rover site. TL,DR: Yes, this is going to continue. At a noticably slower pace than before, but I'm not done here Cheers, SirJodelstein Still on 1.0.2
×
×
  • Create New...