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What did you do in KSP1 today?


Xeldrak

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8 minutes ago, Kebab Kerman said:

I currently use a laptop, if thats what you mean, but I'm currently trying to save up money to buy a new GPU, specifically a GTX 960, because it's good for gaming and it's the best I'll be realistically be able to buy anytime soon. The GPU I have now is an Intel i7, and it cuts out and restarts in the middle of playing many of my games, making them virtually unplayable half the time. Except for KSP, all it does is screw up textures for it.

I think you're getting insanely confused on your terms, so let me correct that and save you some money.

Your GPU is not an Intel i7.  Your CPU is an Intel i7 that has integrated graphics.  This means that your CPU itself handles the Graphics, because you don't have a discrete GPU.

The GTX960 is a discrete GPU.  It has nothing to do with the CPU.  And, unless your laptop has a spot for a discrete GPU (hint: most don't, and if yours didn't come with a discrete GPU installed, you can bet you don't have a spot for it), buying even a laptop GTX-960 won't do you any good.  There's nowhere for it to go, you won't be removing anything to install it.

Really your only hope on this computer is one of those external GPU enclosures that you plug into your laptop... is that what you're looking at?

I think your pennies would be better saved for a whole new computer (desktop ideally)

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53 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

I think you're getting insanely confused on your terms, so let me correct that and save you some money.

Your GPU is not an Intel i7.  Your CPU is an Intel i7 that has integrated graphics.  This means that your CPU itself handles the Graphics, because you don't have a discrete GPU.

The GTX960 is a discrete GPU.  It has nothing to do with the CPU.  And, unless your laptop has a spot for a discrete GPU (hint: most don't, and if yours didn't come with a discrete GPU installed, you can bet you don't have a spot for it), buying even a laptop GTX-960 won't do you any good.  There's nowhere for it to go, you won't be removing anything to install it.

Really your only hope on this computer is one of those external GPU enclosures that you plug into your laptop... is that what you're looking at?

I think your pennies would be better saved for a whole new computer (desktop ideally)

Ok, so it turns out, my laptop does have an internal GPU. I have an AMD Radeon 530 GPU and it sucks for gaming. Good to know that now. Thanks for the help!

 

I wonder what happens if I plug in 4 eGPU's at once...? That'll definitely make a very happy framerate!

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2 hours ago, Servo said:

I very nearly finished rebuilding my A-10 for even more BRRRTy goodness. And in case you didn't have enough freedom in your life, it comes with a functioning GAU-8 and 11 hardpoints.

That looks absolutely fan-frickin-tastic… How many rounds does the gun have?

Just yesterday I saw the best meme about the A-10

 cdf3d8f7d2b3b099a2672be28c059d2e1fea67d2d1dfcdff51b1aeed189fefe9_1.jpg

Anyways, now that I'm on Thanksgiving break, I've been taking some time to work on various projects.  A dinosaur, ships for a grand tour with a special twist, and my latest idea: a KoS script to allow high gimbal from large engines.  See prototype below.

eZNTSvL.png

Basically the idea is to have small Vernier engines, which instead of directly steering the rocket, steer the main engine which is placed on a claw joint.  Thus, the main engine gimbals, steering the rocket.  I believe this will be very useful on large shuttles for which vectors are not ideally sized.

I need to work a bit on stabilizing the control loop though. On startup it kind of flaps about until it gets stuck in this sort of whirly oscillation which feeds back on itself. It sits there going in a circle like a top after it's fallen down.

Edited by EpicSpaceTroll139
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My main accomplishment today was landing an amphibious rover on Laythe to replace the Laythe crew boat & Laythe-Lynx rover.  The amphibious Lynx isn't quite as fast as the crew boat, but it will greatly simplify operations between my land & ocean bases.  The crew boat was stripped of useful gear & set loose with a self destruct charge. 

BlPqXA8.png?2

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Finalized the Jool push, that is the assembly and refueling, not the trip to Jool.
Tylo base.
GMqutZpl.png
Laythe base
ntOU4ujl.png
Design of bases are similar, but geared out a bit different. 

Minmus base has been very busy for an week. 
ihfsn4tl.png
Found you could use an ore carrier to refuel an base with ISRU 

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6 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Finalized the Jool push, that is the assembly and refueling, not the trip to Jool.
Tylo base.
GMqutZpl.png
Laythe base
ntOU4ujl.png
Design of bases are similar, but geared out a bit different. 

Minmus base has been very busy for an week. 
ihfsn4tl.png
Found you could use an ore carrier to refuel an base with ISRU 

nice

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Research on the Duna base continues.

I've given up on conventional fairings. Things are just too explodey and unreliable. Instead, I came up with a novel solution: it's a bit heavier but 100% safe and just as aerodynamic. Basically, I will pack my payload inside 3.75 m structural tubes capped with fairings. The outward-facing one has a decoupler behind it. After I land, I just pop the caps and roll out my cargo. This is heavier than just using a single built-to-shape fairing but still within Dunyazad's capabilities, and NO EXPLOSIONS!

It also looks much tidier than the fairings-and-various-bits-and-pieces explodey solution I had before.

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1 hour ago, Mukita12 said:

nice

Thanks, I miscalculated a bit as the launcher has around 6 km/s dV if I include the ore, mission is around 4 km/s, 2 for Jool injection and 2 to brake at tylo. Will see if I can speed things up a bit. 
Benefit is that the design would also work for Moho and Eeloo with some modifications.  

1 minute ago, Brikoleur said:

Research on the Duna base continues.

I've given up on conventional fairings. Things are just too explodey and unreliable. Instead, I came up with a novel solution: it's a bit heavier but 100% safe and just as aerodynamic. Basically, I will pack my payload inside 3.75 m structural tubes capped with fairings. The outward-facing one has a decoupler behind it. After I land, I just pop the caps and roll out my cargo. This is heavier than just using a single built-to-shape fairing but still within Dunyazad's capabilities, and NO EXPLOSIONS!

It also looks much tidier than the fairings-and-various-bits-and-pieces explodey solution I had before.

Screenshots, that sounds interesting. Why roll out, just put reaction wheels on it and you can roll the tube :) 

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18 hours ago, Servo said:

kv6Dvdl.png

I very nearly finished rebuilding my A-10 for even more BRRRTy goodness. And in case you didn't have enough freedom in your life, it comes with a functioning GAU-8 and 11 hardpoints.

zg8XweG.png

EfLonAX.png

Nice! Now send a kerbal to space with that!

Edited by Xurkitree
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18 hours ago, Servo said:

kv6Dvdl.png

I very nearly finished rebuilding my A-10 for even more BRRRTy goodness. And in case you didn't have enough freedom in your life, it comes with a functioning GAU-8 and 11 hardpoints.

zg8XweG.png

EfLonAX.png

In the 80's and 90's they used to train dodging through the hills a few hundred feet over our house in Vermont. Cool and completely terrifying. 

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26 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Screenshots, that sounds interesting. Why roll out, just put reaction wheels on it and you can roll the tube :) 

In due course.

Good idea about the reaction wheels, but it won't work with my craft geometry. They're longitudinal and packed liked sardines, there's no room for rolling. And I'd still need to get the payload out of the tube...

... or would I?

hmmm...

... well, the tractor would definitely need to roll out of the tube to be able to do its thing, but that's easy. The ISRU and the drill OTOH...

... nah, wouldn't work, it would trap the heat in even if I drilled right through the tube. 

I'm playing with KIS/KAS though so towing them out of the tubes is no problem, and I'll even be able to pull them back upright if they tip over. I'll just have to design them to survive an accidental toppling. Or maybe give my tubes a flat floor...

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Flight testing this...

5unpkZU.png

Flying it is like I'd imagine flying a winged-suit.  Quite a glorious feeling, really.

You don't see the two Thuds under the wings, but it's VTOL at sea-level on Kerbin, so it should have plenty of thrust where it's going.  I'd take one of them off, in fact, except differential thrust at the pilot's finger tips (after I re-orient them inline (using the central gas tank for engine cooling!)) could obviate a lot of work to finely-tune this instrument.  :)

Which we shall call Batwing...

Edited by Hotel26
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My intrepid explorers at Iota orbital station (GPP) went for a landing in Iota's Droops. This required a plane change of over 30 degrees South to hit the lower latitudes. The lander had lots of DV, so they thought they'd make it. Unfortunately the chosen landing spot was quite hilly necessitating a last minute redirect to a flatter landing spot. This sucked up DV leaving the lander enough to make orbit, but unable to make the plane change back to the equatorial station orbit. They were stranded in an inclined orbit with only 4 days of life support.

Fortunately their Gael to Iota transfer ship was built with enough DV to enter Iota orbit and return to Gael = ~800 DV and the ship was set up for unmanned operation. The orbital craft was refueled from station tanks, made the plane change, docked with the stranded lander and transfered crew plus science experiments.

The lander was left in its inclined orbit while the crew returned to the station. Next step will be to recover the lander.

Edited by Tyko
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By popular demand, the BAK Planetary Postal Pod (Pat. Pend.), also known as the P5.

Wrap your package like this...

FtjeO6o.png

...snap on the fairing...

vBPteyJ.png

...and the package is snug as the proverbial hemiptera in the carpet. All that's left is unwrapping: pop the cap...

2xgRWoo.png

... lower the ramp, and roll out your precious cargo.

pbzc1x4.png

Pros:

  • it doesn't explode or scatter dangerous debris around
  • versatile, since there are different diameter tubes of different lengths that can be combined; you can also shape the aerodynamics, omit the other fairing and leave the end flat and ready to attach to something, etc
  • highly aerodynamic
  • easy to prepare the payload, easy to deploy it -- assuming you have some way of jostling off those caps which may be left obstructing the exit
  • you can store small items, snacks, ballast, or golden doubloons under those mini-fairings
  • did I mention, no explosions?

Cons:

  • heavy - weighs over four tons empty (a comparable double fairing is about two and a half tons)
  • expensive - costs nearly 8000 credits (vs about 3700 for regular double fairings)

Why you might want to use this:

  • planes -- fairings really, really don't like to be deployed if anything is clipping or too close, as that often results in entertaining explosions
  • ... and I can't think of anything else really, but maybe you can?

PS. In case you were wondering, here's my plane. Fairings make it explode more than I would like. It's a STOL/VTOL craft for Duna, and yes it will deliver that payload.

Epo4dFN.png

PPS. Here's a more exact mass/cost comparison between simply clapping two 3.75 m fairings back to back, and the P5.

  • Cost:  7789 (3677) -- the P5 is 4112 credits more expensive
  • Mass: 4298 (2449) -- the P5 is 1849 kg heavier

In other words, you would only want to use the P5 if fairing debris or potential damage during deployment are problems you can't reliably solve by other means.

Edited by Guest
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3 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Why you might want to use this:

  • planes -- fairings really, really don't like to be deployed if anything is clipping or too close, as that often results in entertaining explosions
  • ... and I can't think of anything else really, but maybe you can?
  • Because it is a really, really slick idea, and I must go try it myself now just because.   :cool:

As far as what I did today, well a routine crew rotation at Laythe became non-routine.  Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, right? :o

iu8oeLV.png?2

Happily, the left side of the plane took the brunt of the bounced landing & all aboard survived.  As an example of just how close a call it was - the ladder on the cockpit was destroyed too, but the cockpit & crew cabin were intact.  An expensive mishap, but that is why I already had a second Pumera in Laythe orbit.  I also have a Lightning spaceplane due to arrive in a few days that is replacing my Pumera design, so operations will continue.

Edited by Cavscout74
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On 11/19/2018 at 2:13 PM, Servo said:

kv6Dvdl.png

I very nearly finished rebuilding my A-10 for even more BRRRTy goodness. And in case you didn't have enough freedom in your life, it comes with a functioning GAU-8 and 11 hardpoints.

zg8XweG.png

EfLonAX.png

A: purty

B: how did you get the cockpit/wings/nose/tail/everything so smooth and keep it flying?

C: How does the BRRRTTT machine work?

D: craft file that is awesome?

 

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1 hour ago, Kernel Kraken said:

A: purty

B: how did you get the cockpit/wings/nose/tail/everything so smooth and keep it flying?

C: How does the BRRRTTT machine work?

D: craft file that is awesome?

 

A. Thanks :)

B. This craft is built at 1:1 scale, so I have lots of room to get details right. Landing gear, airbrakes, and MK0 tanks make for smooth shapes.

C. There's a hopper that feeds RCS balls in front of 9 spark engines, shooting them out at a couple hundred m/s.

D. Keep an eye on my KerbalX page or my showcase thread: https://kerbalx.com/servo/craft I'll probably upload it in a day or two.

 

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