What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Trann]

Mod-free sandboxing with the latest build and tried to set up a KeoSat network using the built-in Mark I Eyeball.  Figured it was worth building a beauty shot and saving it here for posterity.

[legoclone09]

I made a flag.

Haven't played KSP for the past week, might boot it up again once I made a few flags.

[CatastrophicFailure]

I don't know why this is:

I made it the other night in my sleep, but I don't remember why.

Pagee, here, doesn't look too sure, either...

But it's big & flies well enough, I figured I'd use it to go rescue Rondolin and her Wrong Flyer after she picked a fight with a tree & lost (Stock Visual Terrain. Even the trees are solid )

Surprisingly, after a few false starts (seems you can't rotate to take off with the cargo ramp down, go figure), it seemed to be working quite well...

Took me a minute to realize why poor Rondie was so terrified...

Apparently the winch had actually ripped off at some point and was now wedged under the ladder... and I no longer had any control over it. So she went for a swim when I tried to land with the Flyer in tow.

Poor Rondie. Looks like she's scared stiff.

 

Also, @Dire_Squid: Now that I've finally had a chance to verify this, at the KSC screen, hit Escape then "load save." One of those saves should be from just before your busted solar panel.

Edited September 23, 2016 by CatastrophicFailure

[icedown]

Was VERY glad I use KRASH simulations today

Edited September 23, 2016 by icedown

[DunaRocketeer]

11 hours ago, obi_juan said:

Several months ago I was inspired by this design and started to make similar ships for my career game.

the full album

http://imgur.com/a/th7TN

I did not use the larger fuel tanks... because I did not research them yet.

 

I'm flattered that you would use a design based on my rocket .

I find it really interesting how you've adapted the design to make it your own: From the looks of things your first stage is a bit more capable than mine - this is useful since you appear to fly a steeper trajectory than I usually do. From what I can tell from your album your first stage provides a great deal of velocity but doesn't venture very far from KSC. This is very different from what my first stage does, which pitches over as early as possible: On my heaviest cargo missions, my first stage re-enters on the other side of the next continent to the east - lighter cargo's allow a degree of boost-back. I will test out your design method in my next design iteration.

Your upper stage design choices are also very interesting: Whereas I've been steadily increasing wing sizes as the design has evolved, you've eliminated them entirely in favour of a base-first re-entry approach using a heatshield. I have no heatshield, but use the wings to control the vehicle's angle-of-attack (and therefore drag) during a nose-first re-entry. Without the wings I'd probably burn up  . I also find wings useful for gliding down to my landing point - I don't know how you've managed to land on the runway without them!

 

[Kertech]

Not much playing more struggling! So got a new computer, beautiful thing, won't bore with details but it's gonna help with some big construction work! 

Question is 1.2 mod free for pre's, or 1.1.3?

[eddiew]

2 minutes ago, Kertech said:

Question is 1.2 mod free for pre's, or 1.1.3?

There are a couple of mods that have updated for 1.2, but I personally don't intend to update yet. From what I'm told, 1.1.3 games do upgrade to 1.2 fine, and will by default turn CommsNet off so you don't lose contact with your probes.

[Leopard]

Last night saw the Odyssey OTV move to mun and dock, has over half its fuel left though not by much so its viable as a crew transport, will see whats left in the tank when docked back at Kerbin station K2 to see how much I can risk dropping off next time.

Its next flight will bring Jeb & Val home to Kerbin Orbit.

While all this was going on I made my first attempt at Jool, small probe, minimal instrumentation to keep the mass down, diddy engine and an oscar fuel tank, way less than a ton anyway. few solar panels and batteries, figured if it took an age to recharge I didn't care.

mounted to the top of a slightly modified mun launcher (skipper swapped for a mainsail) and the old workhorse did the job again.

We got there, well flyby at least, still not quite got the phase angle sorted for the launch window so ended up burning a lot more fuel getting the encounter with radial burns, hence inability to orbit, so flyby - only seeing a green dot, bit of science beam back then probe tracking cut to help the game actually save progress.

Cool One was as much about seeing how much fuel was likely needed before trying to send a larger probe with enough to orbit and suicide by parachute in the atmosphere possibly.

All paid for by a contract so not too bothered, the payback for orbiting will pay for the next one.

 

Getting plenty of missions to build things, land bases etc, just irritating to do one, then have to delete it otherwise the game fails to save (eggbox problems), Lobbed a solar research station up, figured orbiting the sun wouldn't be hard so just went straight up until hitting escape velocity, worked ok.

[capi3101]

Didn't have a lot of time to play last night; in the time that I did have, I utterly failed to plane (this after giving people airplane advice all day - forgot to follow my own freakin' advice...). Let's just say I created a new plane that Atmosphere Assistant couldn't fly (i.e. serious stability issues; I didn't even pay attention to what FAR was telling me. Real period of total idiocy).

Needless to say I'll be attempting to correct the problems I have with it today. Moar structural fuselage at a minimum.

Edited September 23, 2016 by capi3101

[JadeOfMaar]

The idea of a docking port on the underside is nice, but the idea of a panther and radial intake is nicer. That and removing the need to mash RCS to actually get far.

_{Oh look, a mad scientist came out. And it's not Wernher von Kerman.}

[Tex_NL]

A most fortunate encounter:

On my way to rendezvous with a lander already in low Minmus orbit I just entered Minmus' SOI. Less than 2 km separation without any planning.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Tex_NL

[SSgt Baloo]

 I've been working on tandem-winged planes, using the most feeble motor in the game (The Continental engine from Lack's Stock Extension, producing a whopping 5 kilonewtons of thrust). There's the Pushmi (rear-engined), the Pullyu (front-engined). and the Pushmipullyu (both). I started with the Pushmipullyu, then decided to find out if it could fly with only one engine. The pusher, to my surprise, wound up being the faster single-engined plane, even though it has a weight penalty due to the ballast I put in its nosecone to ensure it wasn't tail-heavy.

In the following image, the Pushmipullyu is in the back. It's unstick speed, when the wheels leave the runway, is about 25 m/s, at a distance of 407 meters from launch (mfl). Its top speed is just (barely) over 74 m/s. The one in the middle is the Pushmi. The Pushmi unsticks at 22.9 m/s at 925mfl, and has a top speed of 67 m/s. The Pullyu unsticks at 29.6 m/s at 966m, and has a top speed of 65 m/s. Except for the nosecone/tailcone that replaces the missing engine, each of these planes uses the same parts. The front and rear wings are identical, with the outboard elevons effecting pitch and roll and the inboard ones handling only pitch. The single-engined planes have half the fuel of the twin, with the Pushmi keeping the contents of its front 1m x 0.625m tank and the Pullyu keeping those of the rear one.


All three, Twin on the left, pusher in the middle, tractor-engined one in the front.

Pushmi in flight.


Pullyu in flight

Pushmipullyu flying.

More here: http://s28.photobucket.com/user/SSgtBaloo/slideshow/23SEP2016

Edited September 23, 2016 by SSgt Baloo

[JadeOfMaar]

@SSgt Baloo These are some very interesting stats you have here. Pushmi has the best liftoff speed but Pushmipullyou has the best liftoff distance and top speed, making Pullyu really lose out...

[SSgt Baloo]

22 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

@SSgt Baloo These are some very interesting stats you have here. Pushmi has the best liftoff speed but Pushmipullyou has the best liftoff distance and top speed, making Pullyu really lose out...

It was fun just seeing them actually lurch into the air. I'm finding that tandem-winged aircraft with pitch control both fore and aft can land softly at lower-than-I-was-expecting speeds. I just drop to within 10 meters of the ground, hold a steady pitch, and cut the motor*. The front elevator acts as an airbrake, slowing you down as you pitch up, so I vary the pitch between enough up to rise a little bit, to enough down to keep from getting too far from the ground when the lift runs out. 


* After lowering the gear, of course.

Edited September 23, 2016 by SSgt Baloo

[Kokoro]

Playing with planes early this morning.

 

An hour ago Daphlee went to the Mun.

[Fearless Son]

25 minutes ago, SSgt Baloo said:

I'm finding that tandem-winged aircraft with pitch control both fore and aft can land softly at lower-than-I-was-expecting speeds. 

I will have to keep that in mind when building planes designed to fulfill contracts that require taking scientific readings at specific points on the surface.  Usually they are too far from KSC to make driving practical, and too rough in the terrain to make landing practical, so a plane that can make a low speed landing is essential.  

[Sresk]

So I spent almost 2 hours trying to figure out docking. I've been launching huge 200 ton stations in only 2 stages because I've been afraid to figure out docking. But one of my stations finally needed some more life support supplies, needed the crew rotated and I figured I'd add some extra radiators and solar panels sooo... its time for a new module to be added.

Built a great SSTO with a nose docking port, added my new module onto that nose and went to the mun. Got into a nice rendezvous without woo much trouble and decoupled and docked the module in about 10 mins... I was feeling good so I figured I'd dock the SSTO so I could bring the crew home. I got everything lined up, docking port alignment mod was telling me I was spot on everything looked perfect, but every time I got close I would just slide off... Like 2 magnets with like poles pushing against each-other... 2 hours later I gave up and brought the SSTO home without the crew (I didn't want to ferry 12 kerbals through a space walk after so much time already wasted). I just couldn't figure out what was wrong had everything lined up, docking port alignment mod was telling me I was spot on everything looked perfect, but every time I got close I would just slide off.

I went into the the VAB and guess what... my nose docking port was installed upside down. Facepalm!

[Zophos]

Still poking along in my first RP-0 career (on 1.1.3). Just finished filling in a basic geostationary constellation, so I won't have any more annoying coverage gaps during launches.

Now...on to manned capsules in orbit!

[Azimech]

Finally uploaded my stock Excelsior, scale 1:6.

[kraden]

8 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Finally uploaded my stock Excelsior, scale 1:6.

The Excelsior was always my favorite class as a kid. Awesome work, very impressive. 

[Aphobius]

A clock (sort of).

I'll try to add a minute hand tomorrow.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, it's stock.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Aphobius

[CatastrophicFailure]

1 hour ago, Azimech said:

Finally uploaded my stock Excelsior, scale 1:6.

That's a big ship...

[Azimech]

56 minutes ago, Aphobius said:

A clock (sort of).

I'll try to add a minute hand tomorrow.

Amazing! I'd love to test it!

[Martian Emigrant]

1 hour ago, Aphobius said:

A clock (sort of).

I'll try to add a minute hand tomorrow.

I have seen a few amazing thing but.....

Does it have a power source or is it just running on the initial swing of the pendulum? Does it eventualy stop or is there some in-game-Brownian motion that makes it perpetual?

Brovo. Two thumbs up.

 

ME

[Aragosnat]

Guess who I spotted: