Breaking Kerbin's shackles - Exploring Stock+OPM+Valentine | First ever Eve landing

[Zorg]

I thought I would use this sub forum to create a visual record of my attempt to explore the system in a nice sequential and somewhat organised way for posterity. Hopefully someone will enjoy viewing them too . This will be mostly images with some comments.

Like seemingly quite a few players I had gotten stuck in the Kerbal SOI building stations and Mun/Minmus bases without ever exploring the wider system (I had done one manned Duna mission and sent ScanSats as far out to Dres and Laythe in a previous save but thats it).

I started an all new 1.4.3 save with the clear intention of thoroughly exploring the Kerbol system as best I can and then on top of that do the Outer Planets AND go interstellar with the Valentine system! I wont be using KSPIE but rather less complicated methods like Alcubierre warp standalone when I get to that point. The aim is to at least land robotic landers or rovers on all major bodies (i might skip a moon or two from the first round if it doesnt interest me) and to send Kerbals to the bodies that interest me the most.

I'm playing this game in science mode to give a sense of progression in the early game and kind of for roleplay purposes. I like collecting something when I visit a planet even after unlocking the full tech tree. The game is pretty heavily modded and I have USI life support installed to make things harder for myself lol. 

Anyway I've been playing for a few weeks so I will kick this off with some highlights from my activities in the Kerbin SOI before posting some images of of the interplanetary missions.

Bluedog Design Bureau parts will feature heavily though I think Near Future will take centre stage as we reach the mid game.

Part 1 - THE EARLY DAYS

First launch was a tiny sat on a Viking rocket. Much more satisfying than a capsule on a suborbital SRB that doesnt decouple like stock forces you.

Spoiler

 

First Kerbals into space on a Mercury Atlas

More Atlas

Spoiler

I freaking love the Atlas. Both for its shape and silvery shiny look and for the 1.5 staging.

De-orbiting mercury

Wouldn't be complete without Gemini Agena docking mission

More Gemini Agena

Spoiler

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Zorg
Reorganised for easier viewing

[Zorg]

I mentioned that theres not much of a story here but I did enact a little roleplay sequence after I installed Tantares as a prelude to Munar exploration.

Part 2 - WHISPERS AND RUMORS

Following rumors of increased activity at the Dessert Kosmodrome, Kerbin States launches a KH7 "Kambit" spy satellite on an Atlas Agena.

The Dmagic undersized Signals Intel dish is being used here on an Agena bus, this was before I installed tweakscale so proportions are a little off. The real KH7 was optical of course.

Deploying the undersize SIGINT dish to drop some eaves on the Krussians. Some disturbing chatter about a large delivery of "staged combustion engines" from the Tantares Design Bureau is overheard...

Following up with a KH8 - "Kambit" 3 on a Titan II. 

Surveilling the Dessert Kosmodrome. The little brother reconnaissance camera from DMagic seems directly inspired by the KeyHole satellites. Apart from the surveillance unit being a little too wide, this is a fairly accurate recreation of a KH8.

"film return capsule"

Time to develop the film and see what the Krussians are up to.

The close ups are grainy but they reveal a truly collosal rocket being built. Such a rocket can only mean one thing. Funding for the Sarnus V has been quadrupled in response.

Bonus real image of the N1 taken by a KH-8 Gambit 3

Edited June 14, 2018 by Zorg

[HansonKerman]

Very nice, @Zorg! Interesting choice of parts for the spy sat. (That antenna looks freaking HUGE)

[Zorg]

13 hours ago, HansonKerman said:

Very nice, @Zorg! Interesting choice of parts for the spy sat. (That antenna looks freaking HUGE)

Thanks! If you're not familiar with those parts, they're from D-Magic orbital science. The one pictured is actually the Undersized model lol. There is an even bigger oversize model. They come with a science experiment but I think their main utility is that they double as extremely powerful relays. Useful for planet packs.

Edited June 18, 2018 by Zorg

[Zorg]

Part 3 - The Mun missions

Following the events of the previous post, of course moon missions are next.

Gemini X-wing for first Mun flyby

Apollo orbital mission for some proper science gathering

Building and launching the BDB Saturn V was quite fulfilling! I've done plenty of Mun missions and bases even but a full fledged Apollo mission has a unique sense of satisfaction

Spoiler

 

The landing

Minmus landing

Built 3 skylabs, for Kerbin, Mun and Minmus

More Skylab

Spoiler

Just one or two (max) more Kerbin SOI post before moving to the interplanetary missions I think

Edited June 18, 2018 by Zorg

[HansonKerman]

On 6/17/2018 at 5:02 PM, Zorg said:

Thanks! If you're not familiar with those parts, they're from D-Magic orbital science. The one pictured is actually the Undersized model lol. There is an even bigger oversize model. They come with a science experiment but I think their main utility is that they double as extremely powerful relays. Useful for planet packs.

I know  can't wait to see Kerbals on Tekto eventually. Nice job with the BDB parts. Very cool-looking

[Zorg]

Final round of Kerbin SOI highlights

Returning to the Mun with surface experiments. This is quite satisfying actually, setting up the various experiments instead of just landing.

Two totally peaceful non military "civilian" stations pass each other in a "chance" encounter

Launching Buran (Cormorant Shuttle with Tantares Energia)

Building MIR with Buran instead of Proton

Completed MIR replica 

Some more MIR angles

Spoiler

 

Edited July 2, 2018 by Zorg

[Zorg]

So on to the first planetary missions, my first ever landings at Moho and Dres

The lander is entirely built on Probes Plus parts

I have heard about the Mohole but decided to land in a somewhat more normal area. Chose this crater which was one of the few points of interest.

I guess there's not too much to say about it apart from that you get some epic sunflares at Moho

 

The Dres mission:

I used an identical lander for this mission. Seen here decoupling from the Centaur transfer stage.I believe the SRB used for deorbit is from BDB (Star 48 equivalent IIRC) and not one of the probes plus ones.

Dres has a rep for being a bit boring but I found a valley that I thought would give some nice views

Nice safe landing

[Zorg]

Up next was my first ever landing attempt at Eve.

The mission was launched atop a TantaresLV Soyuz rocket

The lander is from Probes Plus again, the appropriate Venera lander and orbiter

I tried to separate the lander on a re-entry trajectory and then correct the orbiter's trajectory to try and enter orbit. Unfortunately I couldn't circularise before the lander entered the atmo and so the orbiter flew off on a sunward trajectory,

Stock Visual Enhacements makes Eve look quick beautiful but the dense clouds obscure the surface. Having never visited the planet before I was curious to see what would greet me as the probe descended through the clouds

By sheer luck I had managed to send the probe towards a very picturesque area, the shallows near Crater Lake.

The lander ended up quite close to the shore with a nice beach view

The orbiter ended up making a rather close approach to the Sun 

I also sent a separate mission to land on Gilly

I used the same basic probe design I used for Ike and Dres (based on the IRL Surveyor probes)