What did you do in KSP1 today?

[MythicalHeFF]

Went around the world. 

AKA I took a boat all the way around Kerbin in under one Kerbin day (6 hours).

 

 

[Akagi]

12 hours ago, ColdJ said:

Just released another very small mod for a bit of fun.

Kerbal Ball.

https://spacedock.info/mod/3111/Kerbal Ball

Edited just now by ColdJ

Looks like a hamster ball from Andy Weir's Artemis

[ColdJ]

2 minutes ago, Akagi said:

Looks like a hamster ball from Andy Weir's Artemis

Then it has fulfilled it's purpose. Because Hamster Ball is exactly what I was going for.

 

[Beamer]

4 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

"Jeb-Ball, in the Eloo gravwell, via Eve and Jool."

<chalks the cue>

 

Yep, totally happening.

A perfect Kerbal slingshot racer, The Expanse style, and probably ending up the same way as poor Manéo

 

[Scarecrow71]

Ever have one of those days when even Jeb looks at you cross-eyed?

I started today by sending a crew capsule and lander to Mun as I had a contract to do science on the surface.  I get there, undock, land, collect science.  All in record time (for me; I'm slowness!).  I get the lander back up into Munar orbit, get an encounter with the crew module...and realize I have no RCS thrusters to control docking.

Revert to VAB, add the thrusters, and try again.  Got all the things done, docked, got the science into the crew module, undocked, and headed back to Kerbin.  Realized I lef the scientist in the lander.  Figured I would just send a rescue mission later and entered Kerbins upper atmosphere...and realized I had no chutes.

Revert to VAB, add chutes, and try again.  Nope, staging on the chutes is wrong.  Revert to launch and try again, only to have the solar panels get eaten by the kraken.  Revert to launch and try again.  Finally, after all these attempts, I get to the Mun and back with my science...and the contract isn't completed?  Checked it...and it's for Minmus.

Well, tomorrow is another day.

[Misguided Kerbal]

Turns out that putting even a tiny little satellite into Geostationary orbit was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Originally, I put the Courier (a new class of relay satellite, basically just a QBE probe core with some antennas and an engine stuck onto it) onto the same launcher as my Pioneer probes bound for the Mun and Minmus, with only 6 SRBs strapped to the core stage.

However, I underestimated. I assumed that if a probe had more than enough delta-v to get to Minmus with extra to spare, it would more than suffice for entering a Geostationary orbit (after all, Minmus is a lot further from Kerbin!).

Well, it wasn't enough (I assume, due to the expensive circularization cost.) So I built.. this monstrosity.

Going full Delta here. 10 Shrimp SRBs mounted onto the side, the true incarnation of MOAR BOOSTERS!

A ring of fire. One ring... one ring to rule them all. (Terrible, I know.)

After much pain, a Geostationary orbit is achieved at 8968.11 km, which is the GEO height of JNSQ Kerbin. Gsync is 9 milliseconds away - yeah, I can't do anything about that. I just don't have that type of precision. 

I made a cool gif, too!

I spent a lot more time watching the world go by with time warp on high than I'd like to admit. Certainly worth it though!

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

[Axelord FTW]

More quote-unquote rover stuff on kerbin, getting some science from the south pole, and also unlocking a launch site.
Thinking about designing a new hovercar. A BEEG hovercar.

[Caerfinon]

The Coast Guard conducting rescue operations  in their new Cutter. 

Bill gets the shipwrecked kerbals aboard and directs them to the crew quarters for snacks and hot Koffee. 

[Beamer]

Do I have a treat for you today my dear readers, or rather a whole bag of treats! I apologize in advance for the lengthiness of this post but a lot has happened around the KSC this past week with the upcoming missions to both Moho and Eve leaving Kerbin for refueling in orbit. In addition, we've heard some news from our crews at Duna and Ike.

Let me start by saying the janitor of the KSC PR building has been fired for 'performance reasons'. The young man hired in his place happens to be my dear nephew Tim Kerman. This means that your flying reporter can once again enter the PR building without being chased out with a broomstick. I would like to stress that rumours spouted by some dubious publications (ones that your ever reliable reporter would never want to be associated with) that this change in personnel has anything to do with my recently blossomed friendship with the head of the KSC HR department are absolutely unfounded!

Be that as it may, the result of this change in broomstick-holder led to your diligent reporter managing to get a tour of the KSC VAB right when the ground crews were preparing the MultiSkan probe destined for Moho. This finally allows us a good close look at the design of these mysterious new probes. Here is a shot of the probe with all its scanning equipment unfolded which I managed to take during the final testing of all the craft's robotic parts.

There definitely isn't a shortage of scanning equipment on this probe. According to one of the engineers working on the craft "This puppy will allow us to tell the difference between an empty wrapper and an actual candy bar from orbit." Useful stuff indeed! The delivery method is another interesting part. As you probably know, trying to catch an orbit around Moho is a lot like playing doge-ball against that one kid in school who is far too athletic for his age. In order to get a successful orbital insertion the KSC engineers have decided to go for an SRB assisted burn at Moho. Here you can see the probe just before the fairings were pulled over it.

Once their job is done, the SRBs will be detached and de-orbited courtesy of the array of tiny SRBs that can be seen at the top of the larger SRBs. This is certainly an interesting method to catch the ever illusive Moho in the act, one that we have not seen employed before. This astro-scribe for one can't wait to see how this will go, it's sure to deliver some spectacular fireworks, one way or the other.

With all the missions going off to Moho and Eve lately, one would almost forget that we have a Kerbal presence around bodies like Duna, and yes, even Dres. The crew at Duna were kind enough to remind us though. They have performed several excursions to Duna to perform science and plant flags, refueling runs to the Ike surface. They also repurposed their Ike resource scanning drone to Duna where it is now in orbit and has already managed to find several promising areas around the equator that are brimming with mineable materials.

The timing of these activities and reports is certainly no coincidence, between the lines of the snack resupply order forms one can clearly read the dissatisfaction of the Duna and Ike crews with the little attention their missions are receiving in comparison to what they call the 'inferior planets' Moho and Eve. To add weight to their protests, the crew decided to use the old STO tanker to perform the refueling runs to Ike. This rocket is literally a museum piece by now, as the duplicate craft that served as STO tanker for Minmus in the past is now a part of the Minmus Space Museum exhibition.

Despite its age, the old Big Orange Tripod performed its duties to the letter and the crew managed to perform no less than 3 textbook perfect landings at the Ike Mobile Refinery.

On the return trip of the last run the ship was diverted to pick up the Duna science lander, which had just visited the Southern polar region's highlands, a trip that requires a large amount of fuel leaving the lander with too little reserves to make it all the way back to Duna station on its own.

Finally there were the launches from the KSC launch pad destined for Moho and Eve. A total of 4 rockets was launched, first there was the previous shown MultiSkan Mk-2 probe for the Moho system, then a similar launch containing a MultiSkan Mk-1 and a MultiSkan Mini destined for the Eve/Gilly system. The one I'm sure you were waiting for though is the by now famous 'Bottle rocket' from Sean's Cannery. Surely you have all seen the viral campaign Sean's Cannery started just over a week ago to allow the public to name their new Moho base. It was a close race between Seany McSheanface and Bottly McBottleface, with the latter winning out by less than 1% in the end. Because of the close finish the PR department of Sean's Cannery decided to go with neither of them and finally settled on the name "Sean's Bottlecan Base", seen here on its launch vehicle hidden by the fairings. Sean's Cannery promised us a big reveal once the base reaches the Moho surface.

I have saved the best for last. Those of you following the Space program closely may feel that seeing a Kerbodyne S3 stack rise from the pad has almost become commonplace, but it is a rare treat indeed to see a full Kerbodyne S4 stack on the launch pad. Fortunately for us, Sean's Cannery also paid for the deployment of 2 surface miners to be stationed near their base, and the weight of these machines calls for something bigger than an S3 stack.

This monster with its characteristic bulging fairing literally made the ground shake as it lifted off on its quadruple Mastodon engines supported by double Clydesdale Boosters, providing a total thrust of 11 MN. In addition the central core has a Rhino engine that will be fired once the Clydesdales run out of steam and enough altitude has been gained to make the Rhino perform adequately. The core will then be set on a collision course with Moho while the upper stage, fired by yet another Rhino engine, will deliver its payload to Moho orbit. We received this image from our contact at Refueling Station Alpha, which provides a good look at the 2 mining rovers attached to their landing construction. Also shown in this shot is the Kerbodyne branding on the lander, suggesting that they may have played some part in funding the gigantic cost of this multi-craft mission.

After refueling all these missions were parked in a 305 km circular orbit, ready for their planetary transfer burns coming up in a few weeks. We wish the crew of Sean's Bottlecan Base an uneventful journey to their destination and a safe landing on Moho!

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Beamer

[panzer1b]

More derpin around...

Ive found that BCorp's Broadsword class frigate is actually a rather even match for the AKS Eclipse class corvette, winning pretty much is entirely dependent on dumb luck with which side happens to get a shot that knocks out the other's weapons first.  The Eclipse tends to loose its PDC turrets instantly when shot at but the primary cannon is rather well protected although in the 3 times i tried the Broadsword won twice so id say that in a slugging match the BCorp ship is superior (albeit heavier and larger but its also lower tech so expected).  Ofc in a strategic fight 1v1, the Eclipse wins as it has long range weapons able to engage well b4 the short range slugging match, but at least the short range engagement sorta goes the way i expected it to go (Broadsword also has ibeam sepatron rockets able to do a lot of alpha damage in the very start of the slugging fest).

Redid the front of AKS's Dimension class cruiser, since i never was happy with it and i sorta made it fit asthetically with the rest of the high tech AKS warships (3 of the atmo scanner+mk2 light fixtures as with the Nebula and Eclipse). 

Also fixed the engines which look amazing now, slight clipping here and there as it cant be helped (asthetics come 1st), but its not too unrealistic and the armor protection is very good (byfar the toughest ship ive ever made, never 1 shot killed the thing with any sub 15t weapon thusfar).

And a nice shot of finishing off the Broadsword from the last test battle i had...

Upgraded the GSD-49p Talon to modern standards, works on Eve but very finnicky wheel springs so it wobbles, prolly need something wider and more stable for this planet.

Blew up it's old version i left on Duna, so at least the cannon works (albeit i have to watch the range as it only works at multiples of ~30m due to the way the fireworks physics work.

Its also one of the most stable and safe to drive vehicles iv e made, easily able to do 50m/s in moderately bumpy terrain at x3 time accel, and up to 80m/s at 1x time accel on pretty much any terrain you can think of including massive jumps. 

Got it up to ~87 and it lost a good chunk of the front on a jump, but technically still alive and combat capable even after the damage.

And a final beauty shot of the Talon doing massive air while firing the main cannon cause i can.

BCorp's newest tank, the GT-MB4 (havent thought of an actual name for it yet), and like the polar opposite of space combat where AKS ships are dominant generally speaking, this thing wrecks every AKS vehicle 1v1 reliably unless it gets extremely unlucky and takes a direct hit to either the cannon or the hinge/rotator directly behind it (unlikely in anything but staged scenarios where AKS gets to just unload for a minute or more without return fire).  Its a bit WIP and i still dont like the look of the turret (not entirely sure what i want to do with it but its way too small relative to the tank itself and the massive plasma railgun sticking out of it.

Goodbye Talon...

And thats after like 2 minutes of sustained fire without any retaliation, just wouldnt hit the turret and hitting the hull doesnt actually do much of anything useful since 90% of the hull is sacrificial armor.

Also minor update to my old Dune class dropship.

Lands beautifully with just a quick burst to slow it down.

Fits 2 Talons internally, a bit draggy getting em up but it has enough fuel to drag that up anywhere into Duna's SOI (though lacks the fuel to land on IKE without refuel as it would need the parachutes to land without expending considerable fuel.

And one final shot burning to orbit with the full load of vehicles inside...

[Axelord FTW]

Designing a new hovercraft and testing it out. While I normally prefer electric motors  for various reasons (the nonexistent or small amount of fuel needed to help with fuel cells being the foremost), I decided to try something new. I almost never use the goliath, so I thought why not? A few tweaks here and there, another crew cabin, reworking the placement of some stuff... What's important is that this one has the capacity for self-refueling. With a top speed over water of around 230m/s (about 830kph), this bby can quickly go wherever it may. I already unlocked two new launch sites, and I'm not gonna go around seeing all the other anomalies around Kerbin.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Axelord FTW

[BadOaks]

I spent way too long fiddling with a new Duna lander, but it's finally done-ish and I've solved the exploding problem. The bottom stage is also suitable for landing habitats and other payloads.

Edited September 8, 2022 by BadOaks

[panzer1b]

Finished testing the slightly upgraded Dune class dropship/lander/whatever you wanna call something that deploys tanks out of internal bay after landing on the ground...

After a 75% refuel (dont really need it at 100 if im careful not to waste it on minor adjustments to the trajectory), it left Duna with a nice view of the system on departure.

Braking burn, not the most efficient way i can theortically accomplish this (i could have used 1-2 grav assist to slow myself), but i cant be bothered with grav assists when i have plenty of fuel and it just needs to get on the surface.

Final hard burn to slow it down.  I actually find this engine config to be very effective for this sort of ship, a single nuke purely for dV (its not designed to be shot at or even enter combat itself so who cares about things like redundant engines), and 4 aerospikes for the final burn/takeoff engines.  Not that i couldnt have used another type of engine, but the aerospikes have prolly the best TWR and ISP considering such a small physical size.  I did end up clipping them and some fuel tanks, but again, looks and function come 1st and i just couldnt make it work any other way (maybee ill redo the fuel tank layout a bit as there is a bit more space underneath now that i think about it and there is no reason i cant have some sticking out forward/back).

Drives out fine, didnt even get that weird klaw kraken from back in the day where the klaws would shift around between save/load/game restarts (they just sat exactly where they should be when i stuck em inside on Duna's surface).

Nice view of the nebula in the morning, now that i finally found the source of the memleak, i can go back to all my visual mods without too much performance issues (DIRT with skybox edit takes up pretty muhc 0 performance as it just replaces textures).

And to finish the test by making sure the fuel converter works properly.  I dont quite like the look of those solar panels on the top, but frankly i vcant think of any other spot to put em that would look any less bad and i sorta need em to get maximum efficiency of the converter (since the 1 RTG won't cut it and using fuel cells wastes a chunk of teh fuel i get from the conveter.  A bit unrealistic, but you can run fuel converters and still get a net positive fuel flow by running fuel cells from the LFO you generate with the converter unit.

[ColdJ]

Currently building this.

 

Spoiler

 

[Beamer]

4 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Currently building this.

 

  Hide contents

 

That's from Oblivion, right?

 

[Caerfinon]

Team Zissou hanging out on the ship, talking about sea stuff.. 

 

[ColdJ]

11 hours ago, Beamer said:

That's from Oblivion, right?

 

Yep. It is known as the Bubble Ship.

[Rutabaga22]

34 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Yep. It is known as the Bubble Ship.

Legit thought that was one of the exotic ships from No Man's Sky

[ColdJ]

7 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Legit thought that was one of the exotic ships from No Man's Sky

Never played it so wouldn't know what they look like. If we had fantasy space sim physics then I would look at ships from the X3 universe series.

Edited September 9, 2022 by ColdJ

[Axelord FTW]

Some relaxing progress with the hovercrafts.
Since it really doesn't like going uphill (and some anomalies are hidden in the mountains), I decided to upgrade it with two RK-7 Kodiak engine clusters for those rare moments I just need to send it. Haven't taken many pictures of the locations I found, though.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Axelord FTW

[Hotel26]

KISS-II transplants itself to a new orbit under its own power, thus fulfilling the stipulations of its Acceptance Tests.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Hotel26

[capi3101]

It's been a while, y'all. Finally got the bug to play KSP again. Been doing the early game of late; last night I had a contract to send up three tourists to Kerbin orbit. The mission was a full success and the return trip was, shall we say, a good one.

[panzer1b]

Well, messed around with ground vehicle combat...

BCorp's newest Avenger class MBT (with V0 prototype turret as i still havent made a new turret im happy with yet, im on my 3rd now) comes across a AKS outpost on Duna (not that this makes any lore sense as BCorp doesnt have the means to land tanks on Duna at this moment but whatever, it was a test)...

Over the hill, CHARGE!

learn to aim you stupid gunner ...

The cannon is about as useless in it's 1st salvo (looks bad but that round merely smacked the ground in front of tank and rolled undeneath it b4 self destructing).

The tank moves forward and scores the 1st hit in the fight, although its oly one of the smaller fence pieces and not the turret (which is a remarkably small target all things considered)...

Prolly not the smartest move to move into the firing arc of the 2nd cannon, 2 salvos manage some proper damage...

Lucky shot actually blew up the hinge that held the cannon onto the tank...

Testing the fence light cannons, cant fire both though due to being blocked by the heavy AT turret...

Some cosmetic damage, but otherwise irrelevant to the tank (it was designed to actually eat a crapload of 100m/s fireworks...

And since the fights over anyways, might as well go ham with the AT guns...

My new desktop, at least until my computer dies or i find one better.

And a final screenie of falling debris on a Duna sunset...

[SparkyFox]

I made this inline KIS container for storing stuff like buggys/rovers. I tried to make an orange variant, but UniTeH wasn't having it

also, MQ-9

Edited September 10, 2022 by SparkyFox

[Blufor878]

I should preface this by saying I'm not good at KSP at all. A lot of this stuff I had to do using the cheat console. Not all of it though. I can at least go into orbit. But anyway...

After seeing early Apollo era space station proposals, courtesy of a post by @Beccab, I wanted to create one of the proposals. Probably not an accurate recreation, but I like it aesthetically.

These images have also been posted on the BDB forum thread. I have another forum thread for my own stuff because I have a bunch of dumb ideas in my Florida man brain. Just wanted to share this here as well.

On 9/5/2022 at 3:16 AM, BadOaks said:

I've always wanted to do one of these. Scale graphic showing the three rocket families from my current Kerbalism/JNSQ career. Zoomable high-res version here.

I initially numbered my rocket designs starting with "Z" so that they'd be near the bottom of the craft list. Being the first to reach orbit, I retitled the 3-stage Z-4 vehicle as the first of the Zephyr launch vehicle family, which has been my primary light- and medium-lift option ever since. 

Hygeia was created to support the first manned missions. Hygeia A used kerosene instead of the hydrogen propellant in Zephyr IV, and so had better payload to orbit despite being about the same size. Hygeia B lost its fins in favor of more advanced avionics with prograde hold capability, as well as some vernier engines for roll control.

Driver is an exclusively heavy-lift family initially designed to support Apollo-style moon missions, which I'm now using for assembling space stations and large interplanetary ships.

That's hot (literally, depending on where we are on the mission timer).

You mind if I ask how you make graphics like this? I noticed a lot of folks on KerbalX have really neat poster-like graphics of their vehicles there, and I kinda wanted to do that myself if possible (mostly because my computer has a rocky relationship with KSP graphics mods).