What did you do in KSP1 today?

[SaturnianBlue]

1 hour ago, scottadges said:

Would love to see "ground level" view of this behemoth! How did you actually build it? What mods?

I used a combination of tweak scale and the welding mod, and hyperedited them to Duna. I did for a chapter I'm working on in the series "Imagining a Kerbal Future".

[septemberWaves]

I returned to the first planet I ever visited, somewhere I haven't gone to in a long time. This rocket is just for delta-v testing and was hyperedited here, but still. I plan to visit it properly some time in my New Horizons playthrough

Only just discovered yesterday that Asclepius has been updated to 1.3, after I'd thought it long-abandoned. I'm glad to see it's back; it's a fun planet and I think one of the more difficult ones to explore because of its strange atmosphere that forces you to treat it like a non-atmospheric body until you're about to land, when the pressure rapidly increases deep in the canyons or right above the lowest parts of the highlands. Its moon is also quite fun, with some of the steepest mountains I've seen on any celestial body.

[Angelo Kerman]

Got Pathfinder's Ranch House's exterior done:

[Just Jim]

3 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Got Pathfinder's Ranch House's exterior done:

Oh wow... Sweet!!!  

[dvp]

Finally figured out what Sepratrons are for!

 

Of course, Youtube compressed the heck out of it.

[Spacetraindriver]

Believe it or not...but thats a SSTO separating from the payload...

It WAS supposed to be a mini CR90 Corvette but the Kraken apparently is allied to the Imperials. That or its Lord Vader intervening himself...

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Spacetraindriver

[Azimech]

Driving 154 m/s and someone's playing with the ride height handle. Now's a good time to panic.

 

[Zeiss Ikon]

No photos today; all vessels were the reliable Taxicab III.  Over the weekend (when I had a half hour or an hour at a time to play), Jeb and Val performed the world's first orbital rendezvous.

With tourists aboard both vessels.

Didn't quite get close enough for the tourists to see each other waving through the cabin windows (but the two spacecraft are still close together and have bunches of fuel and monopropellant, so that may yet happen).

I was reminded why it's annoying to try to rendezvous with a vessel in near-minimum orbit; at one point, Val got a warning about "reentry in XXXX" while matching velocity...

Edited October 9, 2017 by Zeiss Ikon

[Curveball Anders]

20 hours ago, katateochi said:

That feeling you get when something is missing;

It was a routine flight, until part way into the ascent when the left wing decided it had had enough and ceased to exist. I realised that an emergency descent was out the question, so with a bit of balancing of pitch and yaw I managed to continue the ascent to a stable orbit.

Ah, so that's what people mean when they say "On a wing and a prayer" ...

 

[Landwalker]

Started out yesterday doing a lot of science and contract grinding.  In addition to a lot of field research missions in and near KSC using the Science Kart, I also took out my first atmospheric flight craft, the Volt I, which handled like a drunken water buffalo, but which was still able to get around (a little bit) and land safely back at KSC:

Spoiler

After a lot of "busy work" on contracts and a lot of maddening work on my end trying to identify (and, eventually, succeeding) a mod conflict that was causing all solar panels to start out extended and never be able to retract, the space program was finally ready to launch some "real" satellites, starting with ScanSat Kerb-1, my first SCANSat scanning satellite ever.  I was able to slide this boy into a nice polar orbit and knock out the low-res altimetry scan without too much fuss.

Spoiler

Sharp-eyes viewers will notice a pecularity about ScanSat Kerb-1—there are two in-line parachutes, one on each end of the craft.  That's because I done goofed.  The chute closest to the engine was actually supposed to be on the stage below this for StateRecovery purposes, but I stuck it in the wrong place.  So to the satellite itself got two parachutes, and the lifter stage got... zero.  Rip lifter stage.

I finished off the day getting started on my Kerbin Pretty-Equatorial Relatively-Low-Orbit Communications Network:

Spoiler

ComSat Kerb-L1, pictured here, as well as all of the ComSat Kerb-L series, are basically just knock-offs of the ScanSat Kerb-1 that replace the scanner with a larger solar array and the two smaller solar arrays with comm dishes.  One dish points at the Mun, one at Minmus, and the Communotron-16 handles conversations with the surface and with most other things in closer-than-about-a-megameter-and-a-half orbit around Kerbin.  So far, three of the four planned satellites in this network are launched and in position.  ComSat Kerb-L4 is under constructions as we speak, and once the network is finished we'll be able to more reliably embark on a number of other probe-related missions, including (hopefully) finally going to / near / generally at the Mun.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Landwalker

[Jimmidii]

1.3.1 has finally tipped me into starting my 'definitive' save.

Hard settings, with the following changes;

• Immediate Kerbal level up turned on.
• Plasma blackout on.
• Kerbal G-Force limits on.
• Signal required for control turned on.
• Atmospheric occlusion modifier tweaked down to 0.95.
• Extra ground stations turned off.

Some of these are to stop me from pulling tricks that I normally pull. I rarely send Kerbals anywhere apart from to Mun and Minmus a couple of times, and nothing but probes after that, but here I'm going to have to send Kerbals out at the very least to help set up networks. If I'm going to have to do that, sending them out, then bringing them back, then sending them out again seems silly, hence immediate level up.

Also I like building and flying planes. Setting up a ground based relay network is going to be a good reason to do exactly that.

Long term plans are to set up some decent infrastructure on Laythe.

Also, I've given myself one 'Hardcore' style house rule. Kill one tourist and I'll consider it game over for myself. I'll be taking tourist missions, but I'm challenging myself to develop rock solid reliable ships to do them with.

So far, early game, unlocked a few nodes, got out to orbit of Mun, and upgraded the launchpad and mission control. No dead kerbals (yet).

[capi3101]

On 10/8/2017 at 1:39 AM, CatastrophicFailure said:

Then again, you could accept that Moho is simply a cursed and unholy place that doesn’t want you to visit, and stay away... while you still can. 

Never!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Phoenix 4 in orbit over Moho. Not as exciting of a place as your kerbal lore would suggest...

(1.3.0) Spent the entire weekend in an attempt to grok the Alcubierre Drive mod. Finally did it. Only took reading through the entire thread to do it...but then again, apparently Zefram Cochrane invented warp drive in a moment of insanity, so it makes sense that I'd go mildly insane my own self trying to grasp it...

Phoenix 1 over Eve.Got the time warp going a bit fast waiting for alignment; she did four laps around Kerbol before I was able to slow things down...

Also had my first warp drive related incident...

Phoenix 4's first flight out of Kerbin's SOI...was directly into Mun. On a collision course. Below the drive's fail-safe altitude. And that is the standard reaction drive - you know, the part of the craft I needed to get out of a collision course - floating off into space...

With that out of the way, I can get back to my career save today. I now have a funding goal of √26M to afford a warp-capable hauler in that save - a Heighliner, if you will. Got √8M+ at the moment, so I've got a ways to go...might have to do some of the Duna-related contracts I've got the old-fashioned way...

[qzgy]

On 10/8/2017 at 5:06 PM, dvp said:

You see that RCS port?

That one? Right there?

That blocks EVA access. Goddamitsomuch.

Time for precision demolition a-la Whack-a-Kerbal? (or more boringly, Object thrower blech such a boring name)

[ProtoJeb21]

On 10/8/2017 at 1:06 PM, dvp said:

You see that RCS port?

That one? Right there?

That blocks EVA access. Goddamitsomuch.

Try making a small craft controlled by a drone core but with an empty crew model and a 2.5 meter docking port. Then fly it to the Mun and dock it on top of your base. Viola! Now you can transfer your crew to a module with an non-obstructed hatch. 

On 10/8/2017 at 9:33 AM, katateochi said:

That feeling you get when something is missing;

I don't see a problem. All the engines are still intact  

[qzgy]

Over the last two days really, but super sonic Scream machines for passengers. Practical? No. Melty? One is. Fun? Yeah!

Spoiler for Courtesy

Spoiler

Edit: BTW, if anyone is interested in these crafts, they are publicly available on KerbalX

Edited October 10, 2017 by qzgy

[katateochi]

What happens when the front landing gear is slightly clipped into a cargo bay and KSP helpfully announces that it can't deploy gears while stowed just as you're about to touch down.  Managed to keep the nose up long enough to slow down to "safe" speeds and amazingly nothing exploded.

 

Also, setup a set of geostationary comsats to summon the illuminati

Strangely enough I've never setup geostationary satellites before, I usually use molniya (ish) orbits. This makes for much neater orbits (but is more work to setup), I just hope they maintain position reasonably well over time.

[CatastrophicFailure]

1 hour ago, katateochi said:

Managed to keep the nose up long enough to slow down to "safe" speeds and amazingly nothing exploded.

 

That’ll buff out....

 

[JadeOfMaar]

Today I finished developing a science rover. It uses 4x 0.625m Karbonite rockets for VTOL to jump into the claw on its carrier plane, and powerful air RCS to maneuver while jumping but remain mass efficient versus using MonoPropellant RCS and carrying a bucket of MonoPropellant. I don't know how to use the KAS winch and I haven't unlocked it yet.

Its carrier plane. Already well-developed, comes in the primary Karbonite fueled version that cruises at Mach 2.5 and can never run dry, and a LiquidFuel version that does Mach 5 and is upgradeable to SSTO... But ISRU aren't unlocked yet and there's currently not enough spare points to do anything useful. 

Deep Sky's intrepid pioneers have done the first manned mission to Low Gael Orbit. Now they're about to travel the world and send back science from places they may not yet know exist under their sky.

^ This is an unmanned test flight with the rover safely stowed.

Edited October 10, 2017 by JadeOfMaar

[[insert_name_here]]

3 hours ago, katateochi said:

What happens when the front landing gear is slightly clipped into a cargo bay and KSP helpfully announces that it can't deploy gears while stowed just as you're about to touch down.  Managed to keep the nose up long enough to slow down to "safe" speeds and amazingly nothing exploded.

 

Also, setup a set of geostationary comsats to summon the illuminati

Strangely enough I've never setup geostationary satellites before, I usually use molniya (ish) orbits. This makes for much neater orbits (but is more work to setup), I just hope they maintain position reasonably well over time.

Can't you just put three sattelites into LKO in the exact same orbit without bothering with geostationary orbits? There are so many communication stations on Kerbin's surface that, even though the satellites will be constantly moving along their orbit, at least one should always have connection to Kerbin.

[Azimech]

3 hours ago, katateochi said:

What happens when the front landing gear is slightly clipped into a cargo bay and KSP helpfully announces that it can't deploy gears while stowed just as you're about to touch down.  Managed to keep the nose up long enough to slow down to "safe" speeds and amazingly nothing exploded.

 

 

That little button there, "Deploy Shielded". Enable it and problem solved.

[RobertJPowell]

 

Had a little fun and built a monstrosity which kind of inspired me to maybe start working on a not career based development program and document it Sadly the first Rocket is a little cheaty but nothing a bit of self control can't sort out with properly defined rules

 

(Currently working on annotating some KVV images of the build then deciding where to go from there)

 

Spoiler

 

[katateochi]

2 hours ago, [insert_name_here] said:

Can't you just put three sattelites into LKO in the exact same orbit without bothering with geostationary orbits? There are so many communication stations on Kerbin's surface that, even though the satellites will be constantly moving along their orbit, at least one should always have connection to Kerbin

I always turn off the other ground stations 'cos I think they take the fun out of setting up coms networks. 

1 hour ago, Azimech said:

That little button there, "Deploy Shielded". Enable it and problem solved.

oh, now I feel stupid, i'd totally not seen that option! Thanks for pointing it out! 

[Julien Kerman]

Another Titan 3E on the pad today! Destination: Moon // Payload: Science Rover

Lift off!

Capture burn at the moon:

After the landing I separated the Rover:

There it is! The rover will drive to the next crewed landing place in order to pick them up, so they can drive around  

 

[Landwalker]

8 hours ago, katateochi said:

Also, setup a set of geostationary comsats to summon the illuminati

Strangely enough I've never setup geostationary satellites before, I usually use molniya (ish) orbits. This makes for much neater orbits (but is more work to setup), I just hope they maintain position reasonably well over time.

Last night I finished setting up my own KCN (Kerbin Communications Network).  It's much lower, though:  I've got four satellites, all at roughly 282,374m of altitude.  I like the look of the Keostationary triangular network much better.  It just seems... cleaner.

Also, on ComSat Kerb-L1, I forgot to attach any KER monitor parts, so I don't actually know some of the details (like orbital period) that I would like to know.  The other three ComSats did have the readouts, but it's that first one that's a bit of a problem.  Between that, and me having no idea how to set up satellites in a perfect 90º formation relative to one another and thus just eyeballing their distribution, the network isn't ideal.  It's just low enough, and the satellites are just not-quite-square-enough, that occasionally the connection between two of them will get clipped by Kerbin's surface.  Fortunately, this is just an aesthetic problem, since they can always talk "the other way around" and also communicate through the Kerbin surface network.  On the other hand, aesthetic problems are serious.

Spoiler

Pay no attention to the two target kolniya orbits mucking up the picture.  I have contracts for those but wanted a ComNet before attempting them.  As you can see, the comm satellites are barely high enough in orbit to clear Kerbin's surface most of the time...

Once I get a little more cash in the piggy bank, I'm thinking about replacing KCN-L (Kerbin Communications Network - Low) with a KCN-H using three keostationary-or-thereabouts satellites, but I'm honestly not sure how to ensure I achieve that right now given that I can't even figure out how to get my KCN-L satellites to be in a perfect square.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Landwalker

[capi3101]

(1.3.0) After a long wait, the second Black and Decker 7 parts delivery probe lander finally arrived at Minmus and affected a successful special delivery to the Deepwater Horizon refinery on the surface at night. At daybreak, engineer Theony Kerman used the KAS/KIS parts delivered by the probe lander to connect up the Jiffy Lube parts lander to Deepwater Horizon and to attach a seismometer to the nearby rover La Perla Negra. He then conducted an extended mission to dismantle the probe, placing the additional parts it had delivered on various points of Deepwater Horizon, stowing non-essential parts aboard the Jiffy Lube module and stowing more crucial parts (including the extra screwdrivers and EVA tanks) aboard La Perla Negra, where Black and Decker's container was finally attached:

To get it closer to the Jiffy Lube module (center, background), Theony took the probe apart into manageable chunks and then reassembled it on La Perla Negra's driver side bumper. Not the best place to put it, but it worked.

La Perla Negra wound up with the probe's battery and container module, as well as its solar panels. 

With the refit completed, the rover departed Deepwater Horizon on a mission to complete two seismic surveys, beginning with a set of waypoints 70 kilometers southeast of the refinery. I had time to drive about halfway there, southeast to the end of the Great Flats and then up about 2.5 kilometers to the top of the Lowlands, about 35 kilometers from DH. Got LPN up to 50 m/s on the flats but I was sure to slow it down when I got to the base of that slope...

LPN at the end of the day. Why I put the container up on the mast, I don't know. Going to have Theony fix it when the rover gets back to DH...

 

In the litterbox, the Phoenix 4 warp probe made orbit around Eeloo:

It's not a great orbit, but it's an orbit nonetheless.

Since Phoenix 4 lacks conventional drive systems, this orbit's about as good as I'll get it. Any orbit's a good one, right?

I think I have this whole Alcubierre Drive thing down at this point, so the time has come to launch a practical warp module to test and see if construction of a working Heighliner would be feasible. To that end, I constructed a booster for the Phoenix 3 craft and launched it into a 629x615 orbit around Kerbin with Jeb aboard.

Phoenix 3 cutting loose its final booster stage.
 

The craft has the same general power setup as Phoenix 4 and uses the same 2.5 meter engine as Phoenix 1. Big differences between this craft and Phoenix 1 (aside from it being a manned craft) are that it has more SAS wheels and a set of docking ports amidships, as well as one docking port aft. The hope is to attach various modules to the craft to both enhance its capabilities and to deliver other vehicles to remote destinations. I'll likely be launching the first of those missions this evening.

Going to close out today with a glamour shot:

 
Jeb's view from Phoenix 3's front seat.