What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Starman4308]

I swear at some point I'll show action shots, and not just VAB pictures of what I plan to do. 6.4x scale Kerbin, so don't be scratching your heads on why the delta-V seems ludicrously exaggerated.

Ike package: includes lander and a rather amusing stack of three communication relays. The biggest advantage of having all four payloads combined is so that they can share the Ike lander's big, heavy, power-hungry interplanetary antenna during the trip to Duna; the relays themselves have smaller Communitron 32 omni antennas, and will be relying on the primary Duna relay network to link back to Kerbin once in-place. In a small digression: RemoteTech causes you to need far more batteries and power generation than you otherwise would; even the inner-solar-system antennae are eating up nearly 1 EC/s, easily over 2000 EC for a dark-side transit of the inner planets. I'm starting to realize that's part of why the Juno mission spends so much time at a large distance from Jupiter; it needs a long time to gather the charge to transmit the results from each Jupiter approach.

Duna lander: planning on semi-powered descent. Haven't done this before (except for one time in stock, probably 0.24 or 0.25), so as many precautions as possible are taken: when the heatshield decouples, I have two mini-sepratrons making sure the heatshield doesn't just smack straight back into the lander, and another couple mini-sepratrons (activated simultaneously) to make sure the descent engine has ullage. The OMS for pre-landing maneuvers is overkill, probably sufficient for insertion to low orbit, but propellant is cheap, and it was too big for my 4-tonne booster, so may as well max out the capacity of my 6-tonne booster.

Duna orbital package: is loaded down with scientific instruments (3 from ScanSat, an ISRU surveyor, gravitometer, thermometer, barometer). One for Duna, one for Ike.

Primary Duna comms relays not shown, as they're basically just antennae and solar panels.

[loch.ness]

Came back to the game after a break from it and started a career in pre-1.2 (Just wanted to check it out but the new VAB tabs were so nice I decided to stay).

 

Currently flying a temperature survey mission with my first plane in a long time to get enough science for one more science upgrade which should give me the push I need for a Munar flyby and then - the whole SOI.  AtmoScan 1B has performed admirably (though landing is harder than I remember it being).  Earlier missions were the Little Jeb (Atmospheric test rocket).  Bobstone (Sub orbital rocket).  Bill'em'Nye (The suborbital Tourist rocket) and Val-U-Bill (High-orbit mission).

[eddiew]

5 hours ago, Grenartia said:

@eddiew What is a Jinx Intercept ascent?

A manouevre I named after my first pilot to manage it   Direct ascent to an orbiter such that you reach it's altitude at the same time it passes closest to you. Takes good timing,  but great fun when it works ^^

 

[Benji13]

@eddiew what mod is that large crew pod on the Odyssey from? Looks like it would be good for large stations.

[JadeOfMaar]

@Benji13 That's the cupola from Mk3 Stockalike Expansion. It's fabulous, isn't it?

[Benji13]

Just now, JadeOfMaar said:

@Benji13 That's the cupola from Mk3 Stockalike Expansion. It's fabulous, isn't it?

Thanks, I can see this being used a lot  

[eddiew]

1 hour ago, Benji13 said:

@eddiew what mod is that large crew pod on the Odyssey from? Looks like it would be good for large stations.

Believe that's...

 

Edit; ninja'd.

Edited October 4, 2016 by eddiew

[JadeOfMaar]

I got lazy with reducing a probe's altitude as the time came to use its maneuver node, seeing as every scanner has its altitude limits. I was going to quickload anyway and do it normally afterward. In comes HyperEdit, but I forgot the last three zeros.

Kaboom! : D ...Then I try to quickload during the presence of the Flight Log window and KSP crashed.

A serious post will come in a bit.

[JadeOfMaar]

StarProbe makes its Moho insertion at long last, having miraculously dodged the fabled curses of the Moho encounter and the surface impact of its transfer stage is confirmed by Mission Control (as -1 flight when I reopen KSP and recover the probe itself from the FailEdit). Its first sweep is performed with the altimetry scanner to perfectly map the terrain for potential surface ops. StarProbe returns 98.9% of this information. The remain 1.1% is void, mysteriously defying SCANsat's powers.

Just in time to lower its orbit and begin its resource scanner sweep (basically every other scanner), another maneuver needs to be performed but not by itself.

Lithia L fires her engines and secures a Jool encounter. Unfortunately, since no form of booster stage was included, it now has a little under 2km/s dV remaining and needs to use 1km/s to secure a very high orbit. Lithia's crew has decided to attempt to land on Pol first and refuel. However, between circularizing and getting the Pol encounter could possibly be a very long wait...but anything is better than running dry and then either escaping Jool or finding Tylo in their path.

Encounter secured, copilot Jeddo Kerman leaves his quarters to play with his EVA pack, admire the ship from outside for once, and stare into the Sun. When he finishes he heads for the lab to entertain the scientists.

 

 

[DerekL1963]

Going to be a lot of one-liners for a bit...  The dress rehearsal for my Jool 5 run is underway, and I'm not taking any pictures because I want to save them for the real thing.

Anyhow, the Tylo run is done.  One moon down, four to go.

[Colev]

So, last night I tried my first ever docking attempt. I have a station start around Mun and tried to add science module to it. I spent couple of hours trying, then got myself some beers and watched some Scott Manley and tried for a few more hours before giving up, because controls were getting really unpredictable. I swear I heard the metal clang when the ports hit together, but they just would not connect.

This morning I learned that the different kind of docking ports don't mix and match. 

So, today I built a connector module for my station and science module and did my very first successful docking. 

[eddiew]

2 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

StarProbe makes its Moho insertion at long last...

What are all the interesting engines you've been using of late?

[Samszee]

the main issue is that I have no idea how it was done. So i create and launch a new ship to Minmus for a new save trying 1.12 pre release. Normal sorta deal going on, my builds being average/poor at best however this one,is a true gem without me knowing.Launch and SAS on annnnnddddd without touching anything other than thrust to 40% from 1k to 10k and back to 100% the ship flew itself on a perfect orbit path. literally perfect hands off the keyboard. as i hit 70k was already well over the sea and by the 110 peak orbit was 110 apo to 109 peri. had over half my fuel left in the orbit stage which is usually all gone and i then have grumble and burn a bit longer on the next stage. but not this time. couldn't believe it, had so much fuel my horrific 100% extra fuel use landing didn't even matter. no rescue mission  due to no fuel either all because of a good atmosphere escape. my mind can not handle this 

[Starman4308]

3 hours ago, Colev said:

So, last night I tried my first ever docking attempt. I have a station start around Mun and tried to add science module to it. I spent couple of hours trying, then got myself some beers and watched some Scott Manley and tried for a few more hours before giving up, because controls were getting really unpredictable. I swear I heard the metal clang when the ports hit together, but they just would not connect.

This morning I learned that the different kind of docking ports don't mix and match. 

So, today I built a connector module for my station and science module and did my very first successful docking. 

You're not the only one to send up a payload with mismatched docking ports and curse when you realize you need to send up an adapter. On a side note: if you haven't already, I suggest downloading the Docking Port Alignment mod; without it, I'd be hopeless trying to dock.

Speaking of docking: sent up the first crew of four to the KSS (Kerbin Space Station); will be sure to screenshot the station once operations have begun, the lights are on, and the scientists are... well, waiting for data. I plan to rendezvous a probe with gravitometric measurements from space over all of Kerbin's biomes, but it's still 42 hours from complete in my KCT queue, nevermind launching it, collecting the measurements, and rendezvous (which will entail a bielliptic transfer from polar to equatorial).

[capi3101]

(1.1.3) Power woes continue on my main box, so I was once again on my work laptop last night. Jeb made a couple of flights in the Bad Idea 1 aircraft to do low-altitude observational contracts in the vicinity of KSC. Glad I've got chutes on that thing - he had a couple of good approaches for KSC 09 but I didn't trust the airplane to actually be able to land safely on account of A) Level 1 Runway and B) bush-plane gear. Also took four tourists up on an suborbital hop and while I was up there managed to clear a sci around Kerbin contract. Did a number of parts tests as well in a single mission - a Rockomax Adapter in flight, a Swivel engine in flight and a Radial Drogue chute in flight. Went ahead and upgraded the Runway to Level 2 by night's end - if I'm going to keep on sending up planes, I'd at least like to be able to have them take off without having to drive off the Runway first. All in all, still having fun doing the low level early career stuff. Am thinking about sending Bob around in a scimobile to harvest KSC science so I can get fuel lines; will probably do that this evening if I can.

[loch.ness]

No new screens yet, nothing I've built feels worth it just yet.

 

Completed the last temperature survey landing at KSC with my plane (mostly) whole.  Had a tail strike on landing (doesn't seem much I can do about that) but otherwise things held.  Took forever to stop because the wheels I'm using don't have strong brakes (if they have them at all).

 

Completed a mun-fly by which brought the Kerbin Academy of Science and Exploration a good deal of science.  Managed a rendevous without any RCS rescuing my first addition to KASE beyond the initial four while also completing a VIP orbital tour.  I have one more stranded Kerb, 2 more atmospheric surveys and 4 more tourists to deal with before we head back to Mun for near-munar orbit tests.  The science I should bring in from that will hopefully clear enough research to land in style on Mun and Minmas.

[eddiew]

Noticed that I now have seven 4-star kerbals.

Which is odd because yesterday I had only three, and I haven't recruited or rescued anyone... Do I need to keep them practised with missions? :S 

*edit* Reloaded game. Now I have three 4-stars again... the same as yesterday. Wut? 

 

Bugs aside... preparation. Mission control is pretty sure Dres doesn't exist, but most rumours say it would be a little bigger than Mun, so that'll do well enough for testing.

Overall impressions; pretty good. 3400m/s from the amped up Terrier engine delivering 0.4g of thrust at full fuel. Enough torque to self-right, and does it fast enough that even when it leaves the ground it's almost a dead cert that it'll land on its wheels. Wheelbase is taken from the Nono rover, because it worked really well, but the centre of gravity is lowered for better handling. Balanced to within 2KNm around the dorsal docking port and ventral engine at all fuel loads, meaning it can be towed around by the roof without upsetting the carrier's balance. Wet mass 16 tons, comfortably within the Odyssey's design capacity.

Oh, and the test pilots seem to love that driver's cabin. Apparently the respond really well to having a good view of the terrain!

Edited October 4, 2016 by eddiew

[capi3101]

1 hour ago, loch.ness said:

Completed the last temperature survey landing at KSC with my plane (mostly) whole.  Had a tail strike on landing (doesn't seem much I can do about that) but otherwise things held.  Took forever to stop because the wheels I'm using don't have strong brakes (if they have them at all).

Set your rear brakes to 200% and make sure to set the friction to about 1.4 in the SPH, and make sure to lock their steering if available. Forward gear to 0.4 friction, no brakes, full steering. Generally works in 1.1.3 at least. What kind of gear are you using for the aircraft in question?

As for the tail strike issue, I could give you pointers but I'd need to see your plane. Depending on the design and your tech level, you might be able to get away with a "kicker" on the tail.

Plenty of mods I could suggest to make plane flying easier, if you're not adverse to mods. 

Edited October 4, 2016 by capi3101

[RX2000]

I had 2 separate missions to send 5 Kerbals on tourist trips. They all involved a combination of suborbital on Kerbin, orbiting Kerbin, flying by the Mun, & orbiting the Mun. So I strapped a crew cabin to the top of the big command pod & made an orbiter that could carry 5 tourists. I used a mainsail & 4 skippers with a poodle for the upper part. I actually ended up putting waaaaaaaaaaay too much dV on it, but thats ok, thats the Kerbal way. I completed the mission & brought them all back home & got close to 500,000 funds for it.

I also completed a mission to dock 2 ships "on or around Kerbin." Since the contract said it could be done "on" Kerbin, I just made 2 little car things at the hangar that could dock (basically a small plane with no wings & a docking port in the nose.) Then I moved them off the runway & "docked" them in the grass to complete the contract. Hahahaha  I'm getting a lot better at rendevouz though (completed a contract to rescue a Kerbal out of Munar orbit) so pretty soon I should be able to actually dock in space.

[JadeOfMaar]

4 hours ago, eddiew said:

What are all the interesting engines you've been using of late?

My probes, Xenon Koasters, and Lithia series ships have Near Future Propulsion. Their fuel type is tied to their emission color.

• StarProbe is fed by Argon Gas, and you'll see more of that when my Duna missions and "The Argon Age" begin.
• Lithia runs on Lithium and such engines produce deep red colored emissions.
• The OmniProbes and NANC Brown's supplementary crafts (built upon the Xenon Koaster) have bright blue emissions, paying respect to stock Xenon Gas.

If you're also curios to NANC Brown's engines, they're the AT-80 Hades nuclear engine from the same mod as Odyssey's cupola.

[eddiew]

2 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

My probes, Xenon Koasters, and Lithia series ships have Near Future Propulsion. Their fuel type is tied to their emission color.

Ahh, cheers. I do have Near Future, but with KR&D I fell to the temptation to just beef up parts I already understood rather than trying to learn new construction patterns ^^;  I think the reactor life put me off a tad too... 5 years isn't enough, but the engines are low-thrust and don't appreciate the weight of more reactor fuel... didn't feel there was a good balance between power generation and requirements. Probably just need to find a good tutorial on the mod, tbh, make it a bit less intimidating to get into  

[JadeOfMaar]

55 minutes ago, eddiew said:

Ahh, cheers. I do have Near Future, but with KR&D I fell to the temptation to just beef up parts I already understood rather than trying to learn new construction patterns ^^;  I think the reactor life put me off a tad too... 5 years isn't enough, but the engines are low-thrust and don't appreciate the weight of more reactor fuel... didn't feel there was a good balance between power generation and requirements. Probably just need to find a good tutorial on the mod, tbh, make it a bit less intimidating to get into  

Ahhh. It helps to know the role of the craft that you're selecting the fuel for. I'm experienced now in making small~medium manned vessels with Argon fuel, motherships with Lithium (The Lithium chain actually seems to be way overweight for very small craft), and probes with Argon and Xenon. (I don't use Xenon much, personally. So I can't say it'll work as well on small~medium manned vessels)

Don't be scared about reactor life. Just develop the habit of having the reactors on only when you need to use the engines. Once you have that, reactor life is not as scary. "5 years" you say? You're not going to be burning a maneuver node for the total time of 5 years. ....You can tweak a reactor's power level to decrease its Ec output and vastly increase life span. But if you're keeping more than just the lights on at an Eeloo base then it may be a problem. Re-purpose the Grenadier into a nuclear fuel freight and you're quite good to go.

The real horror is in installing enough radiators without making your ship look like a pine cone or badly shaved fluffy animal. I can PM you more tips if you want.

Edited October 4, 2016 by JadeOfMaar

[eddiew]

15 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

The real horror is in installing enough radiators without making your ship look like a pine cone or badly shaved fluffy animal. I can PM you more tips if you want.

Please do   Or even better, drop em in the NF thread so everyone can benefit from your wisdom! I suspect a lot of people find it to be a bit of a tough nut to crack ^^;

[MiltiTrace]

rovering)

Edited October 4, 2016 by MiltiTrace

[luizopiloto]

Sent a module to my new station...