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Yeah, but I don't see the point of scaring population with a dubious global problem when there are very real local problems that can be identified and fixed directly. Effects of human population on local pollution are easy to test. Which means that not only do we know for sure that these problems exist, but we know which actions are causing them, and how bad the impact is. So we know what we should do differently to have a much better local environment at minimal impact to economy. With global effects, even if I fiat you that we are causing significant damage to global environment, how do you decide what reasonable limitations to our activities are? No two models agree on how much is too much, and as I've pointed out, many models suggest that we aren't even close to doing significant damage. These are the models that I find more believable. So how do we decide on the plan of action? Environmental movement should have stuck with local climate. That's where they have done a lot of good, and where a lot of good can still be done. Not even close. Evolution was predicted based on general taxonomy, then confirmed with archaeological findings, and beyond doubt confirmed with genetics. Moreover, there are controlled experiments in the field of genetics that test evolution. You will not find a serious biologist, who is not a complete crackpot, that has doubts of evolution. Environmental community is split. Yes, over 90% of publications are saying that humans are causing global climate change. Unfortunately, very few of these are in agreement on exactly how this effect works. Most of these papers are just total tripe. Lets do it this way. You point me to a specific paper, and we talk about the specific claims of the paper. That's how scientific debate works. Saying, "97% of scientists agree..." sounds like a toothpaste commercial. I've looked for good papers on climate. I have not found a single analysis that holds water both computationally and in terms of its assumptions that suggests that we can currently cause significant change to global temperatures. If you find me such a paper, I will do a 180° turn on the spot. I am a scientist, and as a scientist, I'll only change my position based on evidence. Not peer or political pressure. Unfortunately, this is a dying trend among scientists these days.

Chapters Chapter One Chapter Two Prologue United Pronvincal Ballistic Rocket Research Center The sun rose over the mountains as the launch preparations for the new rocket began. A mass of fuel tanks and engines thrown together at a moments notice, the rocket still represented the best that Kerbin-or, atleast, the United Provinces could offer. Wehner looked at the pad, at the small rocket standing glistening in the sun. The words UPDF were scrambled on the side, and a engineer was securing two fuel tanks together. The LV-909 engine stood on the bottom of the spacecraft, the newest breakthrough in engine propulsion-well, that is, until his team on the LV-45 would report in. A truck arrived, bearing fuel, and the engineer and another Kerbal ran out and began to fuel the rocket. "The Kraken-8 represents the best in rocket technology... Actually, other than modified Q-4 rockets we got during the Big War, we have no rocket technology." The scientist kept silent, fingering the medal the Great Leader had given him during the war. Bobfred approached him with a stack of papers, and set them on his desk, and went out to grab a cup of coffee. Wehner looked down at the papers. He looked back up. The first rays of sunlight where peeking over the mountaintops now. Hopefully the test payload was secured along with the control unit, and the rocket won't fall apart and lose control in mid-air. The Rocketry Research Division needed a success to get their funding, after all- the Parliament kept threatening budget cuts if the Kraken-8 wasn't completed in time for action in the Bali Insurrection or something...it didn't matter. He'll show them. Bobfred entered the room. "Bobfred." "Sir?" "Please go perform a full system and structural check on the rocket." "Yes sir." "And once you're done, head over to the local Kerbucks and get me a kappuccino. Extra sugar, not decaf. Frozen, with whipped cream. Oh, plus twenty of their glazed doughnuts. Large. I need to restock the Employee lounge." "Yes sir. I'll get it. Back onto the launch pad, Gene was securing the last of the bolts. He had heard about the first Kraken-8 test flight, and he didn't want it to happen again. After all, the last one did almost get him laid off before he even started his job, until Wehner intervened and managed to cajole/beg/bribe Parliament into approving another million for the Airforce Rocket Division....that was enough for another month-and that was if this flight was successful. A 23-million annual budget gets you nowhere, after all. The screwdriver stopped shaking, and he took it out and patted the bolt. "Keep in there, little piece o'metal, and I'll get to support my family another year." "Gene!" "Huh?" Bobfred ran up to him, panting and gasping for breath. The rocket was shining in the early morning now. "What's with Wehner? He hasn't left the main Headquarters for a while." "There's air conditioning there..." "Oh." "Gene, can you check over everything? Wehner wants to be sure." "Ok." Bobfred then ran off toward the employee parking lot mumuring something about frozen coffee with extra sugar and twenty glazed donuts. Gene bent down, making sure the bolts where secure. He opened a small panel, and stuck in a metal rod. It came out wet, stick with some black substance. "That's good. Fuel full." He closed the panel, and secured the bolts one last time. Bending down, he felt the engine, and checked it over for cracks and dents in the bell. Nothing. This rocket was ready for launch. Another truck arrived, and several workers exited, and started carrying large red supports. "Hello, I've managed to deliver your order from Jebediah's Metalworks. Nice day today, isn't it? Now, where should be put them?" "Uh, arrange them around the rocket, activate them, and attach them to the fuselage." "Got it!" The workers put the launch clamps around the rocket and fastened them to the pad, before activating them and driving off into the distance. Jebediah...had he heard that name before? Wasn't he that cheery (And slightly insane) young airforce officer who came here one day and asked them if they had a space program, and if he could be a astronaut? No matter, there was work to be done. Gene climbed a clamp, and started to secure it to the rocket. After aligning the suction cups and structural parts, he sighed. One down, three more to go. He clambered down, and went to work on another clamp. After this, he had to touch up the paint job. It was still morning. Back at the building, Wehner worked on his plans. Well, plans that would come to fruition if Parliament ever made a space agency. Even the current Missile research agency was criminally underfunded. And their funding was on a downwards spiral. He needed a success. "Sir! The Kraken-8 is ready for launch! And I got your coffee! They ran out of donuts, though, so I got fifteen." Bobfred stood there, grinning. Wehner motioned for him to come in. "We'll launch right now. Tell Gene to hurry up, and set the engine ignition timer to Five Minutes." "Got it. Can we get one of those little devices that you talk in and other people can hear you? Like the ones we see in old war movies of the Big War?" "They cost money. We don't have money. Besides, you have to exercise. Now get out there and tell him!" "Yes sir!" Bobfred ran out, and rushed outside, cursing the Parliament under his breath. The budget was a issue. Wehner looked at the watch. He had a appointment with the Secretary of Defense in a couple hours. Outside, two Kerbals scurried off the launch pad. The timer was set. It was almost noon. The few engineers in the building would be at their posts now, watching and waiting for the launch. Over the only radio in the entire center, he could hear excited chatter amongst the scientists in the control room as the timer slowly counted down. Picking up his papers and a pen, he opened the door and went down the stairwell to join in the excitement. Five minutes later, the little rocket hurled toward the sky, blazing fire and smoke out of its engine. Wehner went to the telemetry station, and immediately began to observe the information coming from the craft. The altitude started to rise, and the speed picked up as the little rocket soared towards the sky. Several engineers looked out the window, watching as the glowing streak of light slowly disappeared as the rocket soared above the clouds, leaving a trail of smoke. "So, I think the gasoline and sulfur combination worked." "Sulfur?" "Yes. Gasoline as main fuel, sulfuric acid as oxidizer. By the way, what's the odd smell in this room?" "Uh....." Gene got up and left, and so did the smell. A second later, he poked his head into the room. "I'm going to take a shower. Be right back." "Smells so much better now." "Engine burnout in five secon-now." "Apogee?" "105 Kilometers. It'll land several hundred kilometers away." "105KM?" "Yes." The control room cheered as rocket neared its Apogee. In space. But that wasn't the only reason they cheered. This would secure funding for some time, and they had families to support with a hefty paycheck, after all. Telemetry ceased from the first stage-the decoupler had fired, and the test payload was now plummeting back to Kerbin. Wehner was tense, slowly chewing on the ice cubes in his finished coffee. The heat shield was the only part they had not tested. "Reentry in five..four...three...two..one!" All telemetry ceased from the payload as it dove through the atmosphere. Some numbers came in, but they where scrambled. Suddenly, the temperature dropped, and the craft fell through the clouds, toward the small recovery ships below. Telemetry resumed. Loud cheering could be heard in the control room, and the parachutes opened, readying the Kraken-8's payload for a splashdown. Wehner looked at the readouts joyfully, and back at the smoke plume that the first stage had left, growing fainter and fainter by the second. Gene returned from his shower. "I'm back! What happened?" "Mission Accomplished, Gene. Mission Accomplished." A thousand kilometers away, the test payload bobbled in the waves as a recovery ship secured it with ropes and nets. The captain of the vessel watched as his sailor hoisted the small craft out of the water, then looked above toward the stars. This was only the beginning.

Talk about threading the needle! I thought the mun arch was hard and it is easily 100% larger and oh my lord that 1:1 orbit mmmmhhhhhhmmmmmm

DMagic, that's a great report, thanks for that. To confirm, you talk about landing an unmanned unit. With a seat on top, do you see that managing to circularise an orbit and make a return?

Well, this is embarrassing. Somehow I managed to duplicate the post before this. Since I don't know how to delete it, I guess I'll just make use of it with a little more storytelling... Meanwhile, Mission Control was in a raucous. "They did WHAT?!" the mission control head, Northstar Kerman, asked. "You mean to tell me that they headed all the way out to EIGHTY-TWO THOUSAND KILOMETERS before they made their transfer burn?!" "That's what they did sir" replied one of his subordinates. "That's UNBELIEVABLE. Do you have ANY idea how much fuel they wasted?" "We're more than aware sir" came the reply. Northstar Kerman was angrier than he had been in as long as anyone at Mission Control could remember. Fortunately for the Kerbals of the Duna Crew Module, he was also well-known for being quick to calm down... "Alright," said Northstar, rubbing his temples "How much fuel do they have left- and what's their trajectory? Patch me through to the Duna Crew Module on the double." Northstar had worked long and hard to oversee the design and construction of the Duna Colonization Flotilla. It was supposed to be Kerbalkind's finest hour- not only their first putting boots on the ground of, but also their first settlement of another planet or moon outside the Kerbin system. The last thing he wanted to see was this effort go up in smoke, after all the effort he and so many others had invested in it. He also wasn't sure the Kerbal Space Program could ever afford another set of missions like this if this effort ended badly. Everything was riding on the mission's success. Fortunately, after a long talk with the Kerbals on the Duna Crew Module, it was clear both to them and to Mission Control that the mission still had a robust chance at success- and that no more of the kind of the foolish impatience that had led to this mess would be tolerated...

Slight correction. First post of the thread, fairly easy to miss if you're not paying attention, I had to hunt for it a bit to find this quote: [edit] for those looking to change that, there was talk of it a page or two back.

Not rocket scientists, engineers! In my experience scientists can and do read(talk to any about peer review work), on the other hand an attitude I found common among engineers was that manuals got thrown out with the packaging and wrapping - and anything that they couldn't figure out how to work, coax or kick into working was either "designed wrong" or "came broken".

Thank you for clarifying. I had thought that the earlier talk of energy networks was theoretical. It would be nice but I believe you're right in that the current transmission is p2p and will not relay. I'll be testing this to be sure once I unlock them in my career mode play.

You see, you guys keep saying NEWTONIAN physics. Not everything obeys these laws. Go on google and look up "superconductor", find the Ted talk on it. Here's some quick facts about them: They have ZERO electrical resistance. They can lock themselves in 3-DIMENSIONAL SPACE around a magnetic field. They can carry over 70,000 times their weight. They, most importantly, have ZERO ENERGY LOSS. We are dealing with QUANTUM physics here, not Newtonian. With more research in this field we could find a way to make a FTL spacecraft.

@Seanner I've made a replay to your post earlier, but deleted it because it wasn't any good, but now seeing your "nvm" I'm super curious what was that about Oh and one small thing i wanted to point out, is that fuel itself (unless its antimater) is generally much cheaper than engines. So it would take a lot of launches to net a profit on efficient engine. Right now fuel goes for around 200 for most tanks (with a 162,5 minimum on the 16t one). Aerospike costs 2566c per ton and LV-T30 costs measly 680c per ton. Yes the numbers aren't balanced but i do believe that when we have "credits" implemented in career mode engines will be at least 5x more expensive than fuel tanks (that's when the second TWR revolution will come and things like 1,2-1,3 TWR will be the optimal for standard rockets ) And if we wanted to talk about real engines, i think even thou we could retrieve the engines they won't be able to do much launches before scrapping or total overhaul (maybe 5 or 10) so the benefit's of lower fuel usage would be minimal.

I haven't personally tested this, but as far as I know, there is a relay value on either the receiver, transmitter (I can't remember), so I am like...90% sure that you can relay power as long as the transmitter sats have both receivers and transmitters on them. There was talk a while back on how to best set up a low Kerbol power network and I believe that using relays was key to getting the most out of that set up.

A short story that is in WIP. Will keep updating. It doesn't start well. Chapter Portal (For Chapters not on this Post)l Chapter Two: Laythe Station Chapter Three: Duna Chapter Four Prologue Cheers erupted from Mission Control as Bill Kerman stepped onto the Dunaian soil. This was a moment to be celeberated, as the spacecraft Duna Five touched down onto the fourth planet from their star, marking the fifth landing on Duna. The craft was to stay on Duna for a record six years, paving way and manning the small research outpost that had been built. Many expected the best for the mission, and even now as Duna Five walked on Duna, many other ships where already there, bringing the total number of crew at the base to ten. Meanwhile, further out, at Jool, transmissions came in from Laythe Station and the Jool-7 vessel exploring Tylo. Kerbalkind was soon becoming a true spacefaring race, and some scientists even suggested going to Lucifer, a star system11 light years away. Johannas, the Director of Spaceflight Systems, did not share in this excitement. Tensions where arising, politically. Kerbin was becoming too small to hold all the nations, and the constant arms race between the Provinces and the Union was proof of that. The former leader of the Union had been sporty, offering aid to the Provinces and warming up relations between him and former President Madfield. But he had fallen a year ago, by an assasians bullet. The new leader was extreme beyond ones beliefs, and wanted to wipe the Provinces off the map. The fallout center located near the VAB was always near his mind, and he stayed close to the exit. In case something happens, he thought. At Military Intelligence, the gathered officers and officials shared his beliefs. They where gathered in the Central Command Chamber, a large underground complex that ran almost all the the military functions for the United Proviences. "At 0400 hours today, one of our spy planes captured this photo of an Great Union military installation near the mainland of the United Proviences. This action cannot be tolerated. Send for the President immediately." A officer left, and came back, with a Kerbal dressed in a suit. "Yes?" "Mr. President, we have a probelm." "?" "The Great Union has established a military installation near the Provincal border!" "What country?" The National Security Advisor looked at a set of papers, and flipped through them, looking for the location and country of the offending facility. "Sir, it is located at Karkow" "The Republic of Karkow? The strong ally to the Union?" "Yes, Mr. President" An lieutenant colonel burst into the room, carrying a stack of papers and handed them to the National Security Advisor. He saluted both the president and the Advisor, and slowly exited the room after wishing them a 'good day'. "Convoys are headed into the area. Land convoys." "How far is it from our border?" "We are currently in striking distance. It can strike targets as far as our capitol." "Get up the Karkowian President on the phone" "Yes sir" The advisor motioned toward a worker, who dialed a number and handed it to the President. "This is the President of the United Provinces" "Huhhhhh" The Karkowian President slurred his speech, and fell asleep on the phone after making a brief mention of what...was it Vodka? "...zzzzzz....." "Koddamit!" The National Security Advisor looked at the President. They stared at each other for some time. The Minister of Domestic Affairs entered the room, and looked uncomfortably at the advisor. The advisor nodded, and pushed some buttons, and quickly gave an order to a officer standing nearby. "Put the Defense Forces on High Alert" "Sir." "?" "Several missile launches where detected near the border." "Where are they headed?" "Huding, sir. Population, 18 million. It's the commerence center of our nation. I wonder why they chose to strike there first, instead of the capitol." "Order the military to launch the Horizon warheads, immediately." "Sir-" "Do it. Now." The officer sighed, and called the missile launch base. Alarm bells rang, and millions of Kerbals scrambled to their fallout shelters. At mission control, their europhia had turned to utter panic. Wehner, the head Adminstrator of the National Astronautics Agency, grabbed the communication headset and quickly gave some orders for the astronauts. "Some crap is going on! Hang on, and don't go back to Kerbin! All flights are cancelled! Stay where you are!" That was the last transmission from Mission Control. Hundreds of missiles hurled toward the sky, and hundreds of bombers took off. Millions fled to fallout shelters around the nation. The militaries where mobilized. The Great Union, realizing it's strike was detected and a retaliatory strike was on the way, launched each and every last of it's nuclear missiles. The United Provinces did the same, as hundreds of rockets hurled toward the sky, carrying with the payloads of death and destruction. Eighty minutes later, the astronauts on Duna watched as the bright blue star of Kerbin erupted in flames. The war had begun and ended in less than an hour, and Kerbin they knew was now gone from existence. Chapter One: Immediate Effects Nedfred Kerman was in a panic. Duna Base One was safe. He was safe. But his family, his home, his country. Gone. He got up, and headed toward the airlock. "Where are you going?" "Out. Give me some time." "Ok then, but get back soon. We're the last koddamn Kerbals alive, and we should look into...alternatives." "Got it." He grabbed one of the EVA suits in the habitat, ignoring the curious glances of the kerbolnauts around him. He pulled out a control dial, and pushed several buttons-the access code for the airlock. 24205 He heard the airlock pressurizing, and the hatch opened. He stepped in, and it closed after him. It started to depressurize as he secured his helmet. The dial on the control panel turned green, and the hatch swung open to reveal the Dunaian landscape. He jumped out, his boots crunching the regolith beneath him, and started off for the horizon. He walked past the base modules, always staring straight ahead at the horizon, the hills, the beautiful landscape in front of him, as he turned off the radio to base. How nice. What beauty is it in this universe. Gripping a screwdriver in his hand, he took his last breath and stabbed it into his oxygen tank. Ned never made it back. He was not the only one. "Wheres Ned?" The sun was rising over the Dunaian horizon. It had been around seven hours since Kerbin had bit the dust, and Nedfred was missing. Bill looked at the faces of the Kerbals gathered around him, and looked back at his sheet. "Where is Ned? Ned? The Chief Science Officer? Where the frak is he?" "He took a EVA seven hours ago sir. I think he manually disabled contact, and he...just said 'Give me some time', and left. I thought he was going to hang out around the rovers, blow off a little stress, and such, but nope. Noone's seen him since he walked off..." Bill Kerman stared at Scott. Scott nodded, and sighed. "Well, that's one less mouth to feed. Supplies?" Thomas stood up. "Enough for ten years for all of us, and we have another supply craft coming in. It'll handle without control, as I believe someone had the idea to preprogram it." "Good. Then how long?" "Fifty years." "Building matierals?" "Enough to erect another hab, but not much." Bill paused. "So, everything at Duna Base One is fully intact?" "Yes." Everyone sighed in relief. Millions of Kilometers away from Duna, Jool-7 was in orbit of Tylo-and wanted to go a different way. "Landing is cancelled. We're not going to Tylo." "But Jeb....." "Shut up. I'm going to hope for a rendezvous with Laythe Station, and then we go to Duna." "Fine." Picking up the thorttle controls, Anrey Kerman looked at Jeb. Jebediah nodded, and went back to reading the last copy of Kerbal that existed in the universe. "When do we burn?" "....Uhhh.....didn't control tell us?" "All control told us before our planet bit the dust was something about a window in a month. And that's back to the irradiated hellhole that our towns now are. They also told us about the lander they put in orbit here a month ago, but we don't need that anymore." "A month? No good. Pull up the manvuering computer." Anrey quickly pushed several buttons, and a orbital map appeared on the screen. Jeb began to mess around with the map, inserting nodes here and there for a burn to Laythe. "That'll do. Head for the node direction and fire the engine." The ship began it's burn toward Laythe as the sun set in the distance behind them, over the curviture of Tylo. Picking up the radio, Jebediah began to scan for the radio frequency of Laythe Station, his eyes scanning the void in front of him, staring at the blue dot of Laythe. "Laythe Station, this is the Jool-7, do you copy?" *static* "Laythe Station? Do you copy?" *static* "Laythe Station?" -silence- "This is Mission Commander Jebediah Kerman,of the Jool-7. Hurry up and talk. Anyone? Tom? Lodlo? It's Jebediah! We're going to rescue you!" Finally, a voice answered. "Yeah...this is Tom Kerman.." "Wheres Rodlo?" "Took a spacewalk...saw him remove his headset transmitter and then reenter with his thrusters. I'm alone up here." "So, he's gone?" "I guess so. Should I cash in on his life insurance policy?" "Kerbin's gone, dude. And so are these companies." Last moments of Rodlo Kerman over Laythe, captured by Station Telescope Camera No.8 "I'm going to pick you up. Stay put." "Hah, ha. Yeah, I'll stay inside the habitat. Feel free to refuel from my ample supply of liquid fuel when you dock." Adjusting the thrusters on their ship, the crew of Jool-7 could do nothing...but wait, and watch as Kerbin burned. Jebediah Kerman sighed, and turned from the window. "So. Can someone tell me again on what the crap happened?" "Kerbin got nuked, and control bit the dust. What else? We're stranded." "Ok then....everyone, lights out and get to sleep." "Jeb?" "Huh?" "Will we survive?" Jebediah Kerman looked at Kerbal who said it. He paused for a second, then decided on his answer. "Yes.." "Cya then. G'night." I hope so, though Jebediah, before going back to the controls of the Jool-7, staring at the growing dot of Laythe in the distance.

Hey Nauthy, I don't mean to nag, but the last day I have to make youtube videos until December (I think) is tomorrow (Friday). Could you just talk to him, see what he's doing? Thanks. -Cake

This is not any more OP than welding the parts together using the welding tool. To me, launching is a grind, and the exciting stuff happens in space. I'll talk to UbioZur to see what he thinks of this idea.

I can't seem to be able to sync with the rest of the server. It displays that I'm synchronizing with the rest of the world when I log in, but it actually does absolutely nothing. It only lets me sync when I'm seemingly piloting a spacecraft, and after it syncs up KMP disconnects me from the server, essentially making this mod useless apart from me being able to talk to others, like a slightly worse version of Kerbal Live Feed(because I can't pause and quickload). EDIT: That error is gone for now, but now KMP attained this nasty habit of randomly disconnecting from servers! AAARGHHH! It's like it's trying to do anything it can to keep me from playing Kerbal Multi Player and to trap me into Kerbal Single Player!

"No mission is beyond salvaging some usefulness- even if its goals do change." Scant consolation that is, thought Jerbo, remembering the mission controller's words to calm him down. Jerbo had come to realize that, painfully, he probably wouldn't be going to Duna. Instead, he and Doneley- with that weak stomach and blank stare on his face all the time- would probably be forced to spend the next few days extracting aluminum and oxygen from regolith, and the next few months or more performing research on the Mun. "At least we won't necessarily be stuck in this same ship that whole time" Jerbo thought. There had been talk of landing the supplies for a more permanent base at their location- as it appeared reasonably flat, and was near several craters that might prove worth visiting. Mission Control had even provided them with an orbital image of the vicinity of their landing site, to illustrate this to them. The Lunar Science Module- as some buffoon initially renamed their mission- would eventually be drained of remaining fuel and scrapped. It's the *Munar* Science Module, thought Jerbo- what's Luna? (OOC: Luna is the name for Earth's moon.) In the meantime, their mission was now to rendezvous with a new model of Duna Science Module, that would be launched from Kerbin shortly- and transfer what fuel to it they could. "Great", thought Jerbo- "we've become nothing but the space equivalent of oil drillers and gas station attendants." He knew, of course, this wasn't true. While Mission Control did speak of searching for Kethane deposits around the Mun- and especially in their vicinity- no gas station attendant could fly a 100-ton rocket, thought Jerbo- also thinking back to the 900-ton plus behemoth it had been back on the launchpad... \ Regardless, he had a mission to perform- and Mission Control was providing him with the tools to do it... As a first step, they had immediately ordered that a small probe be sent from the LKO Spacedock carrying a new "radiator tower"- whatever that meant- to allow them to cool their craft and reactivate its nuclear reactors and associated generators. In the meantime, they were to begin performing research on the local geology and radiation levels, to advance science and better characterize their location's suitability for a permanent base. Most of a day of research (6-7 hours) passed, and the radiator tower arrived as promised. Jerbo's first duty was to remove the still-functional solar panels from the nearby crashed-down skycrane-style probe that had been used to transport it, and re-attach them to the radiator tower facing towards to now setting sun. The extra electricity, mission control assured them, would help a tiny bit with running the ship's power-hungry electrolysis systems... Meanwhile, Donely would be employed at the much more "hazardous" task of re-routing the ship's heat exchange fluid to the radiator tower, and re-activating the ship's nuclear generators- as mission control still didn't trust Jerbo's unstable mental state since his breakdown... (OOC: KSP Interstellar's Science Labs appear incapable of utilizing ElectricCharge directly. Instead they utilize the "Megajoules" representing mechanical energy stored in its generators. However the generators only produce this resource when the ship is producing surplus power, and proportional to the surplus- as they are essentially a form of electrical storage. It is unclear to me if the maximum rate of Megajoule production can be raised by having a large EC surplus- but it *IS* clear that a proportion of the generator's Megajoule output can be diverted to produce EC instead if the ship would otherwise be running an EC-deficit. Since the Munar Science Module originally had no other method of producing electricity besides the generators, this was always the case- and so utilizing a few working solar panels from the gently-crashed ship would slightly increase the Megajoule output of the generators...) Finally, after a hard day of work unscrewing solar panels from the crashed probe, and drilling them onto the top of the radiator tower- after carefully navigating to the top by RCS jetpack- Jerbo finally finished his part of fixing the electrical systems. Shortly after, Donely burst into the Science Module with a wide grin on his face, and announced "It's finished! The radiators are venting the reactors' heat correctly, and we'll be electrolyzing regolith at full-power now in no time!" "Great" thought Jerbo- "now we get to haul glamorized rock-dust for the next week, and get filthy electrolyzing and purifying it into rocket fuel-grade materials". Of course, he didn't say this- instead he just game Doneley a half-hearted high-five, and returned to the scientific experiment he had been working on in the corner... "This is going to be a looonnnng month ahead of me", thought Jerbo... OOC again: As you can see, I did manage to figure out a way to save at least some of the usefulness of the damaged Science Module. Unfortunately, I don't trust a radiator stack tied to the front of the ship by nothing but a KAS stack winch to survive aerobraking on Duna... I could be acting over-cautious about this, but I've decided to go with launching an entirely new ship with two built-in 2.5 meter inline radiators instead of the deployable sort that broke before (the inline radiators would be identical to the two the tower you saw there was constructed of. They're heavier than the deployable radiators, but they should have a lot less chance of breaking on a possibly less-gentle touchdown on Ike than the super-gentle one I made on the Mun before- which still managed to break them anyways...) In the meantime, I'll be needing to launch another Duna Science Module, and the Duna Crew Module, soon- and get them out of the Kerbin system before the necessary intercept orbits become any slower or require any more Delta-V: (Keep in mind that Duna is to the RIGHT of Kerbin's prograde vector as seen here. It should be DIRECTLY in front of the vector for the fastest and lowest-energy Hohmann Transfer, ideally- and it will only continue to move further to the right the longer I delay my additional launch windows... It would be to the LEFT of the prograde vector if it was *approaching* the transfer window instead of moving away from it, by the way. Given its current position, any intercept course will have to have a significant radial component outwards from the Sun in addition to its prograde component- which is a lot less efficient of a way to get a transfer...)

Is there a dummies guide to the communication system somewhere? I've got a couple of comm satellites in orbit but I can't get all of them to talk together.

I'll 2nd this. SCANsat should be released. Talk to that guy from "part from my garden shed" get his permission, put your stuff together, release and you will "Win" . No further discussion needed.

Partial Update Well, nothing has been working. it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and I was ready to just HyeprEdit the darn thing up there until I realized that I as going at this, THE WRONG WAY! I mean really, talk about Uber Facepalm through the skull. I mean, if you've guys seen the screenshots, it should of clicked already, if not, then don't feel bad, because THIS is what I should of done. Oh and I kept forgetting to boot Jenbur out of the Lander Cab, it's like, DUDE, you are NOT going to the MUN! I know you miss your buddy Alan but you are STAYING here pal! I hope this works....

Well firstly, if it was possible to make universes with life on a lab, then we could already be a micro-verse in someone elses lab. As for the rest, i really dont know, but one can simply go with .. 42-> Big bang -> create universe -> expand -> shrink -> Big anti-bang -> 42 .. He can go ..42 -> Alien Multidimensionals -> Lots of drinks and 9 months later -> create universe -> 24 .. All im saying, is when the discussion is going at this scale, you really dont talk about physics, but Philosophy. Tell that to the Nobel and PHd lads for me. Just a small final edit to just say that the discovery of the fitness or otherwise of our universe, really doesnt add or change anything about our perception of the kosmos. It is (at least for us humans) something of a big deal already, it doesnt make a difference in the "wonder" part, if we were ment to be or just barelly made it in here. At least for me.

I guess the main reason I asked is that I'm a Unity developer myself, and converting my projects this week has been as simple as opening them in the newest version of Unity. Generally I've seen some small improvements and encountered no conversion issues (yet.) KSP is obviously a fair bit more complex than my projects, but I wondered if there was some talk of them already experimenting with 4.3 on a git branch and if it had rendered any interesting results. Ever the optimist, I guess..

Hmm, you might be right. But do consider moving the NovaPunch 5m parts to Experimental Rocketry - it will allow you to shift most of the NP tech tree towards more advanced technology, bringing it more in line with the stock parts. I just think we get the 2.5m parts a bit early. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about NP. So I have a question: will there be enough shuttle-derived parts in this mod that we can make an SLS, or will that require too many non-shuttle derived parts for you to include it here?

While in build mode, i find myself accidentally clicking the wrong part when trying to move things like struts and attachments. I also noticed that when you hover over a part, it turns slightly white (along with it's icon in the staging list). I would like to suggest that you provide either an alternate color that is easier to see (bright red?) or the ability for the user to modify the color that items are shaded during "on hover" events. The problem gets really bad when you have spent an hour building a three layer asparagus/onion configuration (without saving) and accidentally click an inner engine thereby messing up your fuel hose routing...talk about frustrating... Thanks guys !

Are there any mods out ther thad add new planets or even better new solar systems? Is it even possible to make mods like that or would that alert game too much? I tried to google them but I couldn't find any. I heard some talk about planet factory mod but couldn't find any link to actual information about it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Ha ! Talk about it My attempt to an Eve lander that can re-orbit does one (and only one) backflip through its ascent, ruining the already very limited DV (in regards to crazy Eve requirements). Trying to do an universal grand-tour SSTO lander (that refuels itself with Kethane on the ground), so far managed to make one work until Tylo, but Eve requires additional stages, and those are already quite crazy difficult with stock game, with FAR it's a real challenge Since every additional weight on the top stage means exploding masses for the bottom stage, and that universal-SSTO is around 83t (but has around 4000 DV by itself), lifting that off Eve surface (after landing successfully ! that means sound structural design) will require some creativity.