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Forgotten Space Program


Cydonian Monk

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21 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Will we see any of the characters again?

James Kerman will return in GoldenKerb.

I think it’s safe to say the 20 kerbals presently aboard the Jool Jester will be seen again. It might take a couple years of in-game time for that to happen, but the cycles have strange ways of making long stretches of time disappear. 

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  • 1 month later...

Folks, 

Time is an intetesting thing, and something we only have so much of. The time I once had available to sink into KSP is now mostly claimed by other, far more important and beneficial pursuits. I don't see that changing any time soon. (If anything those pursuits will draw in more of my previously free time..., which would be good.)

So I'm going to put this whole Forgotten shebang on hold for a couple months and see what shakes out. Before I do that, here's a small sample of what I was working on in KSP v1.3.1:

Spoiler

20180329_ksp0821_copper.jpg

I'll still be around the forums; heck, I'll still be playing a bit of KSP anyway, but I need to be free of this Forgotten business for a spell. And I don't want to keep you folks wondering what's up or waiting for the next bit.

Cheers,

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I've been gone way too long...

On 3/27/2018 at 9:59 AM, Cydonian Monk said:

"What if the Edge of Infinity slips backwards in time each time you return to Kerbin?"

Makes sense with the planets orbital locations being the same each time...

 

2 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

So I'm going to put this whole Forgotten shebang on hold for a couple months and see what shakes out. Before I do that, here's a small sample of what I was working on in KSP v1.3.1:

  Reveal hidden contents

20180329_ksp0821_copper.jpg

I'll still be around the forums; heck, I'll still be playing a bit of KSP anyway, but I need to be free of this Forgotten business for a spell. And I don't want to keep you folks wondering what's up or waiting for the next bit.

Cheers,

Wow, that looks awesome! Doesn't look anywhere near stock though, and seemingly pretty edited picture. Good luck with your life, and make some nice craft to add to the Forgotten collection one day!

 

EDIT: Notification: 'Cydonian Monk reacted to a post in a topic Forgotten Space Program'

Me: Jippie, he said something to me!

Forum: No, this is how we call likes now.

Why Forum, WHY!!

Edited by superstrijder15
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2 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

 

I'll still be around the forums; heck, I'll still be playing a bit of KSP anyway, but I need to be free of this Forgotten business for a spell. And I don't want to keep you folks wondering what's up or waiting for the next bit.

Hey, you do what you have to do. KSP doesn't pay the bills (at least not for me).

Don't be a stranger.

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3 hours ago, superstrijder15 said:

EDIT: Notification: 'Cydonian Monk reacted to a post in a topic Forgotten Space Program'

Me: Jippie, he said something to me!

Forum: No, this is how we call likes now.

Why Forum, WHY!!

I understand. And I have  to double-click to like. and I can't highlight text to quote it anymore.;.;

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On 4/30/2018 at 6:18 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

Folks, 

Time is an intetesting thing, and something we only have so much of. The time I once had available to sink into KSP is now mostly claimed by other, far more important and beneficial pursuits. I don't see that changing any time soon. (If anything those pursuits will draw in more of my previously free time..., which would be good.) 

So I'm going to put this whole Forgotten shebang on hold for a couple months and see what shakes out. Before I do that, here's a small sample of what I was working on in KSP v1.3.1:

[snip]

I'll still be around the forums; heck, I'll still be playing a bit of KSP anyway, but I need to be free of this Forgotten business for a spell. And I don't want to keep you folks wondering what's up or waiting for the next bit.

Cheers, 

Real life is always more important, good luck with whatever you are doing!
That ship looks damn impressive though.... And am I seeing a Dyson Sphere, or just a weird render?

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  • 2 months later...

Shadows and Whispers

Two robed figures make their way down a darkened hall. The walls are smooth and have the appearance of dark glass. Occasionally the scant light hints at details beyond the walls. The soft shuffling of feet are the only sounds until the owner of one of the pairs of feet speaks.

"Do you remember what it's like up there?"

"Where? The surface? We were just there two days ago."

The other sighed. "Orsby, there's times I wonder about you. No, up _there_." The figure pointed upwards. "In space."

"Ah. Barely. Flying Goat exploded on the launchpad and Leaping Goat was in orbit for hardly an hour. I've heard others describe it as everything from euphoric to swimming in nothingness, but it didn't particularly feel different to me. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. We could go back, you know. Live like The Forgotten."

"It's dangerous up there."

The other shook his head. "No. Not as dangerous as it's about to be. Those creatures are the last of their kind, just as we are the last of ours. What was done to them is unconscionable and cruel, but beyond our control. If they break free of their bonds it's impossible to say what revenge they'll seek. Assuming doing so is even possible. 

"And they're more intelligent than us, by far. Look how easily they've played that old fool."

"I... I'm not sure I follow."

"No, I'd expect not. Give it time and you'll see. He thinks he's got this all figured out. Thinks he's got them and us right where he wants us, playing a game he thinks is his. All he'll achieve is his complete destruction. And maybe ours."

They pass an opening in the walls and a third figure joins their walk. Silent nods are exchanged in greeting, after which they continue on in silence. A bright patch of hallway awaits them, light spilling out from the adjacent room. They pause and face towards the light as they come to it. A stark white room lies beyond, brightly lit. A kerbal rests on a bed, a book held open in his hands. One of the three speaks up; the kerbal beyond the glass does not hear. 

"And what of our first guest?"

"Enwise. Most recently known as The Party Boss." A pause. "He's responding well to treatment. We were able to depattern the override programing and restore him to his original state. He doesn't remember much, nothing about the First Citizen, and absolutely nothing about the events on Kelgee Station. He is aware he and his wife were tourists and that something bad happened. He's asking questions about her."

"Tell him the truth."

"Are you certain?"

"Of course. Anything less makes us no better than the one who did this. Tell him he was kidnapped, brainwashed, and forced to perform terrible deeds in the name of a corrupt experiment conducted by a kerbal living in another star system. He deserves honesty."

"Any other leads on the wife? Kaigh?"

"No. She's not down here with us, and we've not found her above. We're fairly certain she was purged."

"Keep an eye out for her anyway. Perhaps we've missed something."

The three continued on. They very shortly came upon yet another brightly lit patch of hallway, another brightly lit room beside it. The kerbal beyond looked directly at them, watched them as they approached, then continued the conversation she was having before they arrived. 

"Can she see us?"

"Perhaps. Rosuki is one of the most oddly perceptive kerbals I've met."

"How is her treatment going?"

"It's complicated. We shouldn't have allowed her contact with Enwise after his recovery, as she now seems to think we're working with her, or perhaps even for her. She keeps asking for things we can not provide."

"Do we know who she's talking to?"

"That's even more complicated. To her mind it's a projection of Jonbald. Yet this is not a hallucination, there's definitely something there. It's just obviously not Jonbald, and has even identified itself as not being him. We've not been able to pin it to a specific source. Something local, unless it's violating the basic laws of physics. Its reaction time is too short. 

"Regardless of what she's talking to, she's acting independently, and we've witnessed no attempts at alteration. No space madness either. This is one hundred percent the real Rosuki. We can't be certain her strange mental penpal won't somehow corrupt her, but so far she's acting of her own free will. Well, at least as much as our primal reflexes allow for the illusion of free will to exist."

"Interesting. And troubling. Keep her under observation until we've determined if this contact is a threat to us or to Kerbin."

"She won't like it Archibald, and you know it."

"Fine. Then release her."

"Release her? Are you sure? You _just_ said to keep her here."

"Yes. No. I'm not sure of anything, Kirny. Yet I know this is not a prison. Nor is it an asylum where we cast broken kerbals into a dark crevasse. We are here to help and protect these others. While I share your concerns regarding the nature of Rosuki's ghost, I'm more concerned that keeping her trapped here will turn her against us. If this ghost is to be a threat or ally, she is our only ambassador. What danger could she pose?"

The lights dimmed as they continued down the hall, their discussion moving on to other topics. Eventually they arrived at one of the more contentious subjects.

"And what of Jonbald?"

They stopped. Archibald turned to Kirny and Orsby, a pained look on his face. 

"Jonbald." He sighed. "He always makes things so difficult. Every time he ventures into that old wreck a part of him is stripped away and he returns less himself and more one of them. Is he still the Jonbald we traveled with to The Mün, all those many years ago? Or has he been replaced by one of these Wanderers? By some alien consciousness desperately seeking to return home? I don't know. I'm not sure we can still trust him."

"Ok, so we're at least agreed on that point. How do we proceed?"

"There's nothing we cam do but wait and see. If he intends to leave Kerbol we'll have no other choice. He may yet see the error of his ways."

The three disappeared into another dark corridor, silence in their wake.

--

 

Forgotten Space Program

ContinuumBlack512.png

It's happened again. Those bewildered kerbals ran off and completely forgot about their space program. Maybe there was a bout of global apathy. Maybe they forgot to pay the electric bill. Or maybe an entity in a distant star system felt threatened by something they were doing and pressed the reset button. Unfortunately nobody remembers what went wrong because nobody remembers being there. Space? Huh?

Munths pass and a rogue industrial center forms around the space center. Kerbals disappear from nearby towns as they're enlisted into the workforce. Hundreds are coerced into factories by recruiters promising a free space suit and fantastic queso dip. Publicly they're working to build "vessels" which most assume to be ocean-going ships. In truth their hands are guided by The Continuum, and operated according to the direction of Jonbald Kerman and the other Wanderers. And they have a plan.

To leave Kerbin. Forever. 

 

Begin Kerbal Space Program version 1.3.1. 

 

--

Nickel & Dimed

Launch Control was strangely cold this morning. Gene and Wernher were both absent, still in orbit aboard Manganese Station, leaving Jonbald as the only experienced kerbal in the room. He could have had Gene running launch control from aboard Manganese, but decided there was no real reason to bother him. Besides, the tiny latency in communication would be an issue should things go wrong. 

The pre-flight checks of the Nickel D-3 were all green. The LV-12 Tango, a fresh rocket built according to the old specifications, was fueled and ready to take its payload to space. The research teams at Manganese Station were running low on science kits, having received no resupply since the previous Cycle, and their snack machines were overdue for restocking. The capsule would also let the research teams return the experiments they had completed during the downtime. 

The kerbal assigned to Booster Control spun around in her chair and looked to Jonbald. "The spacecraft shows ready sir. We can proceed once you give the word."

He waved back, motioning towards the craft beyond the windows. "Yes, yes. Start the count."

The kerbal returned her attention to her console, the big red button was pressed, and numbers on the Big Board started counting down from ten. This was a mission to rendezvous with a station already in orbit, a station which was roughly overhead (if a little to the West). They could have set up the launch control software to precisely target a rendezvous, but both craft would end up in a nearly zero-degree orbit so fussing over precise timing wasn't as important. 

Besides, this launch was as much a test of this new launch team as it was the craft. 

At five seconds the main engines ignited, sending faint smoke billowing out of the trenches beside the launchpad. The smoke seemed to be rather thinner than what Jonbald remembered. Perhaps the scientists responsible for the fuel chemistry had found some perfect balance? Motion sensors in the capsule reported a strange lateral shudder as the engines throttled up, but it was well within tolerances. The launch clamps snapped upwards and away from the Nickel D-3 just as the clock hit zero. 

20180206_ksp0017_ni-d3.jpg

"And we have liftoff." The small craft leapt into the sky as the Launch Announcer provided commentary. "All systems are..." A bright flash erupted from the midsection of the Ni-D-3 a few dozen meters above the pad. "... uh, ..."

20180206_ksp0019_ni-d3.jpg

Jonbald walked forward and stood behind Booster Control. "Do tell, what was that?"

At first she shook her head while sifting through the data on her terminal. She responded without looking back. "It appears the stage one decoupler misfired, followed by a loss of fuel in the stage two ignition system. Presumably it exploded. The first stage is still running, uncontrolled."

Jonbald suppressed a sigh. A bad habit, that, expelling air in such a disapproving manner. Quite unbecoming of a kerbal. "Very well. Jettison the capsule and engage range safety override."

20180206_ksp0020_ni-d3.jpg

Even the capsule jettison went badly, with the separation bolts misfiring. The ejection motors pulled as hard as they could, but were unable to wrench the upper part of the craft free. Eventually the craft further disintegrated, allowing the capsule to tumble back down to Kerbin under the helpful loft of its parachutes. It was recovered, mostly undamaged, its science cargo still intact.

20180206_ksp0026_ni-d3.jpg

So much for a seamless return to space. 

 

====

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Edited by Cydonian Monk
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Woo hoo, a new Forgotten Space Program! I always enjoy reading your stories, they're so interesting!

And since you're running on 1.3.1, you might be interested in knowing about a set of 1.3.1 Dlls that I maintain for my mods: https://github.com/Angel-125/KSP131Plugins

You can pretty much download the current versions and replace the Dlls with their 1.3.1 counterparts. The last update was 15 days ago, but I'll try to do an update later this week.

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7 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Woo hoo, a new Forgotten Space Program! I always enjoy reading your stories, they're so interesting!

Thanks!

7 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

And since you're running on 1.3.1....

... And I should point out the missions I'm reporting on in 1.3.1 were all flown in February and March. I'm mostly migrated to 1.4.x, and I'm really waiting for 1.4.5 before I start back into this save. 

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Glad to see you are writing again. Good chapter!

6 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

... And I should point out the missions I'm reporting on in 1.3.1 were all flown in February and March. I'm mostly migrated to 1.4.x, and I'm really waiting for 1.4.5 before I start back into this save. 

And here I thought I was bad! I am still in 1.3.0 but am waiting until 1.4.5 comes out to update everything...

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Meanwhile, here's me, sticking to 1.3.1 and 1.4.2. Nice to see this back in action! And am I correct in assuming you're using the Random Part Failures mod? Or did this one decide to just blow itself up regardless? :V

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2 minutes ago, The Error said:

Nice to see this back in action!

Thanks.

2 minutes ago, The Error said:

And am I correct in assuming you're using the Random Part Failures mod? Or did this one decide to just blow itself up regardless? :V

Nope! This, and all upcoming failures, are brought to you by the letters R, U, and D, and the number #!?%#^*!!!?<why?::sob::>1.

Things just blew up. (Or were improperly staged by a kOS script.)

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Ok, I think It's officially been too long since I read this. With a plot this complex, I'm going to have to re-read this to keep track of it all, not just show up every couple of weeks to read the latest chapter in isolation.

Fascinating premise nonetheless, out of curiosity, I remember reading an earlier mission report from this save in which the existence of what appears to be the "cycles" phenomenon was recognised and it got me wondering, how did the overarching story develop? Is it new for this report, a development off earlier reports or simply a new installment of a continuing series? The history of a story, where it came from, how it developed fascinates me and a story this complex, well, I'd love to hear how the plot ideas developed and how long they were present for.

Impressive work as always

AviosAdku

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12 hours ago, AviosAdku said:

How did the overarching story develop?

Slowly, and with lots of restarts. 

At its most basic level, a "cycle" is a persistent.sfs file in a KSP/saves/ folder that was created by that version of KSP. Saves weren't always compatible between KSP versions (and with 1.4.x we are once again in version-breaking territory), so each new release I'd just start a new save, adjust the contents of the old saves to match the new format, and copy them all in to the new. 

That pattern has led to fun and bizarre and frustrating bugs, both with KSP and with several mods.

 

The concept of "cycles" as a story mechanism very much started in and around Null Cycles, which kind of picks things up In Medias Res: 

I took a break after that and ran through what became Ad Lunam, then returned to some of the kerbals from my eternal-persistence file in Kanawha Space Program:

After which we arrive here, the Forgotten Space Program. For FSP I also merged in ALL of my old persistent.sfs files, including MANY test saves. And I've just sort of run with it from there. 

 

Continuity-wise, it might be best to think of this more like an anthology story, or a collection of pulpish sci-fi that's set in very similar universes. This weirdly complex little story has been going for five years now, and I'm a much different and busier person than I was when it all started. I can't promise any of it absolutely makes sense at all times. (Because it's very much an ongoing experiment.)

 

Edited by Cydonian Monk
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1 hour ago, Pretorian28715 said:

So had a look at the Null Cycles, and a lot of the links don't work.

Is that because of the forum crashes that have occurred? And can you re-post them?

Yes, the forum updates broke all of the links and any specially formatted text. All of the stuff is still there in that thread though. If I find some time I might go back and fix the links, but that's rather a good bit of work. 

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