ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

[CatastrophicFailure]

13 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Don't the Ussari consider vodka an essential resource?

Hmm. Maybe that’s why they’ve been so cranky lately...

13 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

@Geschosskopf Due to the unique nature of Kerbalism and the ability to turn off its LS system if you wanted to, it may indeed be possible to add Vodka to and remove Water from the LS resources.  

Of course I hear this right after I’ve gone through all the trouble of making Rald wet. 

[JadeOfMaar]

You have... quite a way with words, sir.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Year 7, Day 315...

The crew is now leaving the lush, green slightly squishy lowlands behind, heading southwest and ever higher. Barely past 1500m attitude, there's simply not enough air to breathe any more, so the Raldbase is buttoned up and pressurized. No more hanging one's arm out the open window and doing the hand thing. Haylotte is devistated. I am not!

Spoiler

 

And then there's Lodvin. He's been tied up in the back and sedated, as the cadre press on into the high Raldean DEE-YOO-EN-EE-ESS's.

I heard that! 

Sorry, Lodvin.

I am not a dunce!

. . .

No, Lodvin. No you're not.

 

Even here amongst the wind and the sand I HATE SAND! there's still time for science. It's so sciencey, they apparently forgot to turn the CO2 scrubbers back on. That might explain the headaches, blurred vision, and auditory hallucinations.
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!

 

Probably. Or maybe they put Lodvin's sedatives into the air handlers again instead of his green mush. Nothing surprises me with this bunch, anymore. HEY!
I'm sure it's probably not at all related to them drawing ever nearer to Rald's mysterious Ancient Airport... and beyond that... the Ancient City.

 

Well, it's sure flat enough here for an airport. But there's absolutely nothing that actually, well, looks like one. But the ScanSat insists this is the Ancient Airport. The crew press on, reporting nothing out of the ordinary except an odd craving for Airline Kuisine and a living shadow in the icebox.

Wait, what?

 

Ahem... what they do discover, however, is this odd pyramid looming above the flat plain. Possibly the Ancient Control Tower? This worth a slight detour...

Also, they report the shadow in the icebox has taken control of the base and is going that way anyway.

 

Wait, what?

 

Attempts to climb the pyramid proved... unsuccessful.

About this time, Triti finally lost her temper and in a very calm and rational way, explained to the shadow that if it did not get back into the icebox this instant there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth. The shadow attempted to explain that it did not, in fact, have any teeth, and Triti responded with an angelic smile that she would be more than happy to acquire some first from the shadow's dear ol' mum at which point the shadow very quickly left. Triti further explained to the walls that if she heard so much as a mouse fart out of any shadow for the duration of the trip, she would--

Well, some things are just unfit to print.

 

But, we're here, anyway, or at least, they are, so they might as well have a look. Lodvin is unbound and dispatched, due to the fact that there was real concern the pyramid would simply run away if Triti went outside and Lodvin is the only other pilot.

 

The pyramid rises over a kilometer above the surrounding terrain. There's no sign of any control tower, but even Lodvin is impressed with the view.

 

Hey, I can see my--!

Nope, that's a rock.

Hey, I can see my--! Nope, that's a rock, too.

Careful, Lodvin. There's something... off, about that place.

Are you kidding? This is so cool! And like, there's no sand up here! Woohoo!

Seriously, we're getting some unusual--

Wendy, I can fly!

WHO'S WENDY?!?

Lodvin, you might want to--

I'm king of the world! I'm--

 

Uh, oh.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OW!

OOF!

OW!

OW!

ACK!

EEP!

OUCH!

OOF!

AUGH!

D'OUCH, MY SHIN!

OW!

OOF!

AAACK!

OH, THAT SMARTS!

OUCH, MY SPINE!

I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!

OUCH, YES I CAN!

OOF!

GONNA FEEL THAT ONE IN THE MORNING!

OW!

THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK!

OOF!

OW!

OW!

OW!

OW!

OW!

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

IIIIIII HAAAAAATE SAAAAAAND....

 

Well...

That looked painful.

I'm sure he'll be fine.

So, while they pour poor Lodvin out of his suit, the crew presses on ever westward, higher and higher... towards the foreboding Ancient City.

It's probably nothing to worry about.

 

 

Spoiler

And a special thanks to @Just Jim for help with photoshop. 

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Geschosskopf]

7 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

GONNA FEEL THAT ONE IN THE MORNING!

It's probably nothing to worry about.

You know, if you scroll your last post really fast, it actually plays like a movie.  Or at least one of those old coin-operated, hand-cranked, card-flipping things from the 1890s.  Very cool

I'm sure Lodvin will be fine with Triti nursing him back to health.  Probably.

So, is Lodvin going to look like Gregory Peck in "Moby Dick", with a cool scar and a streak of white hair from the lightning?  And be all crazy and obsessive from it?  I mean, more than usual  

[JadeOfMaar]

9 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also. Unusual craving for Airline Kuisine has been noted and logged.

[cfds]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverlyLongGag

 

Sorry, but stunts like that have to be punished by tv-tropes links....

[CatastrophicFailure]

On 10/29/2017 at 10:55 PM, Geschosskopf said:

So, is Lodvin going to look like Gregory Peck in "Moby Dick", with a cool scar and a streak of white hair from the lightning?  And be all crazy and obsessive from it?  I mean, more than usual  

I...

hmm.

Ill have to look in my bag of tricks & see what I can find. 

51 minutes ago, cfds said:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverlyLongGag

 

Sorry, but stunts like that have to be punished by tv-tropes links....

That sounds like a challenge... 

[Geschosskopf]

17 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Ill have to look in my bag of tricks & see what I can find. 

I"m thinking one of those scruffy-looking historical astronaut face textures would be a good place to start, then add the scar  

[1101]

23 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

I"m thinking one of those scruffy-looking historical astronaut face textures would be a good place to start, then add the scar  

Or this?

 

Or did you mean a face that has seen horror, rather than a face that is horror?

[qzgy]

On 11/1/2017 at 1:27 PM, 1101 said:

Or this?

 

Or did you mean a face that has seen horror, rather than a face that is horror?

BURN THAT THING TO THE GROUND WHY DOES IT EXIST?!!?!!1!

In calmer words, that thing is creepy as [choice of expletive here]

[CatastrophicFailure]

On 11/1/2017 at 10:27 AM, 1101 said:

Or did you mean a face that has seen horror, rather than a face that is horror?

Great unholy flarp! 

29 minutes ago, qzgy said:

In calmer words, that thing is creepy as [choice of expletive here]

A thousand sailors cursing for a thousand years could not craft the expletive that monstrosity demands. 

(Ancient Lost City coming Soon™). 

[Geschosskopf]

1 minute ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

A thousand sailors cursing for a thousand years could not craft the expletive that monstrosity demands. 

I'll have to remember that line  

 

1 minute ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

(Ancient Lost City coming Soon™). 

Well, if the airport's control tower is such a dangerous place, who knows what horrors await in the main city? 

[CatastrophicFailure]

Year 7, Day 316...

Out of the gloom and clouds it materializes, like... some gloomy, materializing thing. At this altitude, the ever-present clouds are a constant annoyance. Wait, that's a bit redundant, isn't it? Anyways, it's the mysterious Ancient City.

Spoiler

 

 

It's... really hard to get a feel for the size of this thing, even when the clouds break for a moment....

 

Those are walls over 800 meters high, with lines far too straight to be any kind of natural occurrence. Our orbiting RaldSCAN probe has compiled this map:

It's absolutely huge. From the crew's first encounter near the southeast corner, it's a 132 kilometer trek to what can only be the front gate. And we can already see... something... inside...

 

Incredible. A quick, back-of-the-drink-stained-cocktail-napkin calculation reveals that the walls must have originally been nearly two kilometers high, at over a hundred meters thick!

And also, "Call me, 867-5309 SWAK." Wait, what? Who's napkin is this, anyway?!? Vlad!!!

 

At any rate, they've long since crumbled into rubble piles. But I'm sure most pressing on the crew's minds as they enter the gate, is: what on Kerbin Gael Rald were those walls keeping out, anyway?

Actually, I'm hungry.
Me too.
Same here.
Snacks!
*rattling icebox sounds*

Ugh. Fine, fine.

 

So, after pausing for lunch, Triti points the Raldbase between what the science teams has dubbed, "Los Pilares de la Muerte."

Really, guys? Isn't that a bit melodramatic? Besides, they're not really very... pillary, any more.
Odd, tho, the living shadow in the icebox wasn't hungry. It actually looked sort of... scared...
I'm sure it's nothing. Anything that lived here obviously died eons ago.

 

Wow... that is a big hole...

Thank you, Doctor Haylotte, for that incredibly scientific description.

 

But, yes, it is rather a big hole. It seems the hole in the data we were seeing was, well, a hole.

 

How deep do you think it is?
I see water...
Um... what if they weren't keeping something out...
What if the walls were to keep something... IN..?

 

What do you think, Lodvin?

 

. . .

Lodvin?
W... what's wrong with his face?

 

BEHOLD, HE RISES!
^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^EE_E^KK_K^!!_!

EVEN NOW HIS FEET TROD UPON THE GROUND!
THE PROMISED ONE, ANCIENT OF DAYS, IN HIS HANDS SHALL BE THE BEGINNING AND END OF ALL THINGS!
IN HIS OWN LAND, HE SHALL BE OUTCAST, SCION OF THE FELLED TREE,
THE NATIONS SHUDDER AT HIS COMING, LIKE THE UNFETTERED DAWN HE SHALL BLIND THEM!
HE SHALL TEAR APART ALL TIES THAT BIND, AND CLOTHE THE PEOPLE IN SACKCLOTH AND ASHES!
BY HIS MIGHT EVERY TOWER SHALL FALL, HE SHALL CAST DOWN THE HAUGHTY FROM THEIR COMFORT!
HE SHALL UNLEASH THE FOUR UPON THE WORLD, AND BREAK IT BY HIS PASSING.

 

*GAK*

Well, that was creepy.

Um... Lodvin...?

Lodvin...?

I'm sure he's fine.

So anyways, guys... the science team says you've recorded some really good data, but you're about to pass below the horizon from Gael and the signal is getting fuzzy, so they're requesting you spend the night in the city so the data can be downlinked. Sound good?

. . .

Guys?

. . .

Er... ladies?

.

.

.

OH, HELLS NO!
FLARP THAT!
I DON'T THINK SO!

C'mon, it's just one night...

 

Put the hammer down!
How fast does this thing go?
Exit, stage left!

 

 

Somebody grabbed Lodvin, right...?

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Geschosskopf]

13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Year 7, Day 316...

Out of the gloom and clouds it materializes, like... some gloomy, materializing thing.

You can paint such pictures with words  

 

13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

 

What do you think, Lodvin?

Did we really, truly, EVER want to know that?  Surely not even the staff of Ussari gulags want that info lying around to use as an instrument of torture.  It would likely do more damage to the torturers than the tortured.

That said, you've obviously found a cenote, a sacrificial well.  I suggest pushing Lodvin in.  The ancient alien gods obviously want him but are too weak these days to take him themselves.  I think that lightning bolt was their best shot.

 

13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

BEHOLD, HE RISES!

 

See, I told you pushing Lodvin in was a good idea.  But did you listen?  

 

13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Somebody grabbed Lodvin, right...?

I certainly hope not, but given Triti's......   attachment.... to.... ............................. him........., I wouldn't be surprised if she.....  did.....

[insert_name]

7 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

That said, you've obviously found a cenote, a sacrificial well.  I suggest pushing Lodvin in.  The ancient alien gods obviously want him but are too weak these days to take him themselves.  I think that lightning bolt was their best shot.

See, I told you pushing Lodvin in was a good idea.  But did you listen?  

Blood for the blood god skulls for his skull throne!

Do kerbals have blood or skulls?

[Geschosskopf]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:53 AM, insert_name said:

Blood for the blood god skulls for his skull throne!

Blood and souls for Arioch!  Oh wait, wrong story

 

Quote

Do kerbals have blood or skulls?

There is some suggestion from Squad that they do....  I personally choose to ignore this in my own universe.

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Geschosskopf

[CatastrophicFailure]

Year 7, Day 318...

With Lodvin once again tied up and sedated in the back recovering from his little prophetic out-of-mind excursion, the crew leaves the high dunes behind and heads back toward the sea. They only venture as far as the unexplored Riverlands, though, not quite low enough to open the windows again. Haylotte is crushed
I am not!

Spoiler

 

 

Picturesque vistas aside, the crew is once again on a mission. The RaldSCAN has been detecting... anomalous signals near one of the deep delta channels.

As feared, communication is spotty here. Gael is now well below the horizon, and we only have direct communication when the RaldSCAN is overhead to relay.
For now, the objective looms out of a boulder field.

 

This is... unexpected. It is undoubtedly some sort of structure, not possibly of Kerbal origin! Arcane markings on the surface almost appear to spell out a word...

What's a squid?

 

The crew is advised to proceed with caution. After Lodvin's their experiences at the small pyramid, and the Ancient City, this anomaly no doubt demands a slow and methodical--

I'MA GO POKE IT WITH A STICK!

No, Triti! You saw what happened to Lodvin! Don't you dare--!

 

Poke.

 

Pokepoke.

 

Yeah, take that, thing! I claim this spot for me! Now I need a lawn chair and some snacks!

Uh, Triti, if I were you I wouldn't--

Oh, hush!

But it's--

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

 

Triti! Oh no! Did it..? Are you... you?

I slipped. It's slippery. Squids are slippery.

Oh, for flarp's sake...

 

Well, moving on, we need to address this communications issue.
Getting back to the whole "space" part of this "space program," another Mallard-D is dispatched to Rald.

 

On board are a trio of lightweight relay commsats.

 

After many sleepless nights going over complicated mathematics, the engineering team nudges them into perfectly regular, evenly spaced medium-altitude orbits.

...only to discover that this perfect orbit puts each satellite just below the horizon relative to the other two, preventing them from relaying with each other and leaving only a slightly-less-narrow communication window to the RaldBase every few hours. Though now that we have some minimal bandwidth, we can--

Nope. Vlad's already filled it up with a que of bizarre tentacle cartoons to antagonize the RaldBase crew with.

 

Maybe it's time for the science team to begin working on that long-range one-Kerbal interplanetary mission. Sooner or later, probably through force of pure will and spite, Triti is going to make it back here... Vlad my need a long vacation. And the distraction would benefit us as well...

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Geschosskopf]

14 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

With Lodvin once again tied up and sedated in the back recovering from his little prophetic out-of-mind excursion........

Well, that will make tossing him into the cenote a bit easier.  Which still seems like a good idea....

 

14 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Pokepoke.

And the Glorious Ussari Revolution saves yet another _long-dead population from the opiate of the masses  

 

14 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

After many sleepless nights going over complicated mathematics, the engineering team nudges them into perfectly regular, evenly spaced medium-altitude orbits.

...only to discover that this perfect orbit puts each satellite just below the horizon relative to the other two, preventing them from relaying with each other and leaving only a slightly-less-narrow communication window to the RaldBase every few hours. 

D'oh!  How much dV do the commsats have left?

 

14 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Maybe it's time for the science team to begin working on that long-range one-Kerbal interplanetary mission. Sooner or later, probably through force of pure will and spite, Triti is going to make it back here... Vlad my need a long vacation. And the distraction would benefit us as well...

Wouldn't it be better for everybody if Vlad joined Triti, Lodvin, and company in exile?  Think of the possibilities  

[RoadRunnerAerospace]

A great midnight read!

[CatastrophicFailure]

Year 7, Day 342...

The science team is becoming more and more concerned about the marooned crew's mental state, and quite frankly so is everyone else. But, there's still science to be gained, so instead of simply bringing them home with the orbiting return ship, we're just sending them more crap instead.

Spoiler

 

I'm sure this can't possibly come back to haunt us later.

 

Here, our latest care package brake into orbit high above Rald's mighty rift valley.

 

Once the orbits align the MUS is detached and the aeroshell begins its descent!

 

Orbital velocity is so low at Rald that entry heating is only a minor concern, so the engineering team has abandoned heat shields altogether in favor of an asbestos-lined fairing with stabilizing airbrakes.

They've been coughing a lot. Maybe we should get the VAB a humidifier or something, maybe some nice candles.

 

Drogue chutes deploy once subsonic...

 

Followed by separation of the aeroshell...

 

... and backshell...

 

...and the care package is successfully on the mains with gear deployed! 

This mission was a further exploration into fully automated EDL sequencing, which may be useful in landing on other planets. If we ever put this Rald nonsense behind us.

 

And.... down safely. Only a hundred kilometers off target. Again.

 

After an all-night slog, the Raldbase pulls up the next morning.

 

Jencine is back on duty, starting with cutting off the extra bits she forgot to remove before...

 

But with heavy lifting like this, Haylotte is called out, too. leaving Lodvin and Triti alone to...
On second thought, we're sending Triti out instead. HEY! Gonna need some muscle anyway. oh, ok

Woohoo, wrestling dive, lookout below!

You've got to be kidding me.

Ow...

 

Moving on...

With Triti's competent but slightly sore help, the first module is moved into place...

...from several meters away and without actually touching it. I've stopped questioning at this point. Smile and nod, smile and nod...

 

Followed by the second module...

 

And lastly the new communication mast is snapped into place.

 

Then it's just some housekeeping to remove the unneeded bits and replace a failed ISRU unit.

And speaking of housekeeping, the crew has apparently reached an... agreement... with the living shadow in the icebox. After some tense negotiations, it has been resolved that with the newly increased living space, the shadow will have free reign of the base (except for the command cupola) in exchange for cleaning out the lavatories, since no one wants to do that, and will henceforth be known as Stinky.

But thanks to what even Triti recognized as some very shrewd negotiating on Stinky's part, it will not, in fact, have to clean out the nasty hair clogs from the space-shower drain. That responsibility will remain with Lodvin and Jencine, as they are the primary contributors. I DO NOT HAVE CHEST HAIR! Um, actually neither do I...

Well it didn't get there by magic...

 

Moving on, the new and improved Raldbase moves on, once again leaving a pile of junk in its wake and ballooning to over 40 tonnes. The science team hopes that the expanded living space will reduce the disturbingly rapid rise of the crew's stress levels now that it's gone from "cramped" to "modest," and stave off any possible descent into batpoop craziness. Stinky ate my candy bar!
Yeah, sort of like that.

We're expecting this new renovation to float even better than the last one, so in recognition of the Raldbase's new go-anywhere capability and cobbled-together nature, we're officially renaming it the Platypus, and--

 

What?
What to you mean, that name's already taken?
Jim? Jim who?
Well it can't be @Just Jim, it's gotta be Jim... Bob... or Jim Beam, or Jim... something!
 

No, we are not calling it the FrankenFrog! Maybe it's the crew down here I should be worried about...

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Just Jim]

22 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

We're expecting this new renovation to float even better than the last one, so in recognition of the Raldbase's new go-anywhere capability and cobbled-together nature, we're officially renaming it the Platypus, and--

What?
What to you mean, that name's already taken?
Jim? Jim who?
Well it can't be @Just Jim, it's gotta be Jim... Bob... or Jim Beam, or Jim... something!

OMG... I just choked on my Dr. Pepper... lmao!!!

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

The science team is becoming more and more concerned about the marooned crew's mental state, and quite frankly so is everyone else. But, there's still science to be gained, so instead of simply bringing them home with the orbiting return ship, we're just sending them more crap instead.

The Travelling Circus has commissioned a series of propaganda posters featuring such great Ussari sayings and has hung them on all available wall space in its Astronaut Complex Cell Block.

 

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I'm sure this can't possibly come back to haunt us later.

There's no such thing as a Kerbal ghost, so there's no haunting in KSP  

 

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Orbital velocity is so low at Rald that entry heating is only a minor concern, so the engineering team has abandoned heat shields altogether in favor of an asbestos-lined fairing with stabilizing airbrakes.

They've been coughing a lot. Maybe we should get the VAB a humidifier or something, maybe some nice candles.

Or just give them some propaganda posters  

 

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

But with heavy lifting like this, Haylotte is called out, too. leaving Lodvin and Triti alone to...
On second thought, we're sending Triti out instead. HEY! Gonna need some muscle anyway. oh, ok

Woohoo, wrestling dive, lookout below

No to worry, Lodvin is still sedated and in chains, ныет?  _{Though while he's not in the cenote is still a big question...}

 

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

And speaking of housekeeping, the crew has apparently reached an... agreement... with the living shadow in the icebox. After some tense negotiations, it has been resolved that with the newly increased living space, the shadow will have free reign of the base (except for the command cupola) in exchange for cleaning out the lavatories, since no one wants to do that, and will henceforth be known as Stinky.

But thanks to what even Triti recognized as some very shrewd negotiating on Stinky's part, it will not, in fact, have to clean out the nasty hair clogs from the space-shower drain. That responsibility will remain with Lodvin and Jencine, as they are the primary contributors. I DO NOT HAVE CHEST HAIR! Um, actually neither do I...

Well it didn't get there by magic...

Is this "living shadow" any relation to THIS?!?!?

Anyway, good help is hard to find, especially on Rald.  Have you checked the shadows referrals?

 

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

No, we are not calling it the FrankenFrog! Maybe it's the crew down here I should be worried about...

Aww, that's such a good name  

[insert_name]

I must ask how many kraken attacks you get with a modular rover held together by docking ports?

[qzgy]

5 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Maybe it's the crew down here I should be worried about...

How high are they exactly?

TBH, FrankenFrog isn't a terrible name. Better than Thing that's gonna Get Lost and we all know Lodvin Did it, for instance.

[CatastrophicFailure]

3 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

There's no such thing as a Kerbal ghost, so there's no haunting in KSP  

 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. 

3 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Have you checked the shadows referrals?

It is, without a doubt, the most highly qualified latrine scrubber on the entire planet. 

 

38 minutes ago, qzgy said:

How high are they exactly?

About one meter. Except for Vlad, who’s probably still swinging from the rafters. 

1 hour ago, insert_name said:

I must ask how many kraken attacks you get with a modular rover held together by docking ports?

Zero.  Kerbal Joint Reinforcement is my friend. I’ve had .625 meter nodes holding together 500 ton rockets, and only use struts for cosmetics anymore. @Angel-125‘s Buffalo floaties there have already taken some big hits with no issues. More weight seems to help over the terrain seams, too.