Ad Lunam - Final Update 2015-05-31

[ZodiaK]

that solution was absolutely genius!!

[Cydonian Monk]

Thanks. It was one of those things where I'd planned to send the Tantares up with a normal sized port, and just completely forgot. Docking mostly by watching the alignment indicator and from the hullcam, and it failed a couple times before I even looked at it. Certainly didn't want to waste the $15k or so non-recoverable funds I'd spent on the flight.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Cydonian Monk

[Cydonian Monk]

Eutocius of Minmus

Rogue "18th" Kerbal Space Agency

Low Kerbin Orbit

Year 75 day 324

"Aaaand, complete. Cut engine." Shepgee throttled down the Eutocius 1's main engine at Sigsey's mark and set about securing for the 5 day journey. Sigsey radioed their status back to ground controllers at Sky's Reach. "Engine cut. Trans-Minmus-Injection burn complete."

The reply boomed over the tiny capsule's speakers. "We copy, Eutocius 1. Trans-Minmus Injection burn complete. We were hoping you could double check a fuel reading for us." Sigsey replied in the affirmative and was busy taking down the numbers when Shepgee floated away through the orbital module and into the docking tube. He looked across the junction into the Luzhin 5's Tantares where Haloly and Gusbrett were unstrapping themselves, then made his way up into the Eutocius' habitat.

The Eutocius was a strange craft. Both station and ship, it somehow felt smaller than anything Shepgee had flown in. The space program's eviction from KSC had forced them to seek smaller and smaller solutions. This cramped monstrosity of a vessel was the result. Controlled from the two Tantares/Luzhin spacecraft docked radially to the spine, the Eutocius was sufficient to keep a crew of four alive for the duration of the trip to Minmus. (Alive, but perhaps not sane.) Once at Minmus, the crew was scheduled to conduct two landings, and then return to Kerbin in the two Tantares, leaving the Eutocius behind for the next expedition.

Shepgee was busy tearing into a snack container when Gusbrett and Haloly floated into the hab. "You two hungry?" He looked up and motioned to them with the snacks. They both shook their heads. Haloly glanced out of the window, made some small talk about the beauty of Kerbin from high orbit, then floated up into the lander to check its status.

"Hey, Shepgee."

Shepgee jumped, or would have had he not been in microgravity. Instead he just stretched his arms out quickly, sending the bag of snacks he was munching on careening around the Hitchhiker Can (and thus propelling himself backwards ever so slightly). He turned around to find Sigsey, done with the final checks for the ground controllers. "Sheesh, Sigs. Didn't hear you come in. What's up?"

"Well, the numbers are. Or down, actually. Or up to something, depending on your view."

"Oooooh-kee-day." Shepgee was paying more attention to his snacks than to his pilot, watching them as they bounced about the cabin. He caught them as they rebounded off of Gusbrett's head, Gusbrett flashing a look of mild annoyance. "Care to elaborate?"

Sigsey tossed a clipboard at Shepgee, forcing him to shove his snacks back towards Gusbrett to free his hands. "Well, when they built the delta-V tables for the transfers to the planets and moons, they were all based on the assumption we'd be leaving from a 500km equatorial Kerbin orbit."

Shepgee looked at the clipboard, which had lots of scribbling and readings for the fuel reserves on it among other engineering nonsense he couldn't interpret. "And, we left from a 20 degree 70 kilometer orbit." He understood that much at least.

"Right. So the numbers are different. And because Minmus, on its 8 degree inclination was working against us, and because we're heavier than we'd planned for thanks to, well, us...." Shepgee tossed the clipboard back at Sigsey, shaking his head. Gusbrett started munching on his newfound snacks.

"What's the plan?"

"Gene would like us to exercise the free-return trajectory. Except we all know the thin-ice the program is running on, so abandoning this mission might, well, be unpleasant." Sigsey bounced the clipboard back at Shepgee, who caught it but didn't look at it again.

"And?"

"If we transfer all of the fuel from the two Tantas to the Eutocius core, we can use that to complete most of the Minmus capture burn. We use the lander's monoprop engines to finish it. Afterwards we can decide whether we want to land on Minmus, head back to Kerbin using RCS in dripped-dry Luzhins, or...."

"Or," Shepgee interjected, "we could talk Gene into sending us some fuel."

--

The Eutocius was only the second craft launched atop the seven-engined Cantemir launch vehicle, but I could tell something was amiss as soon as the first set of boosters were jettisoned. Whereas Bernoulli Station had made it to orbit with fuel to spare (at a higher orbit and an extra 10º inclination), the Eutocius needed to use its own fuel supply to circularize to just over 74km. And yet their mass was supposedly similar. (Turns out I forgot to include the mass of the lander and its monoprop.... Oops.)

To partially correct this oversight I topped off the fuel in the Eutocius from the first Luzhin's launch vehicle. This launch, Luzhin 4, brought mission pilot Sigsey and mission commander Shepgee to the ship that would be their home for the next 33 days. As the Eutocius itself was in a 20º orbit, this launch was due-east.

One orbit later and they met up with the Eutocius. A quick refuel and the core stage was jettisoned. Now to bring up the second crew aboard the Luzhin 5.

The Luzhin 5 launch was identical to that of the Luzhin 4, and brought Haloly and Gusbrett up to join Shepgee and Sigsey. A few orbits later and they had docked up with the Eutocius, on the port opposite from the Luzhin 4. At this point I knew I wouldn't have enough fuel to complete the capture at Minmus, but didn't want to throw off the symmetry of the craft by sending it up early. So I sent the Eutocius 1 off to Minmus and set about preparing the Eutocius 2.

The Eutocius 2 was little more than a fuel and monoprop tanker, but it was heavy enough to also require a Cantemir launch vehicle. The grounds crews robbed the Cantemir that was being prepared for the second Bernoulli Station (at the insistence of Gene), much to the anger of the Bernoulli team. This would likely delay the second Bernoulli Station by several dozen münths or perhaps even a full year.

The Eutocius 2 spent very little time in orbit, and burned for Minmus at the first opportunity. It wouldn't arrive until seven days after the Eutocius 1.

--

Meanwhile, the crew out at Minmus had arrived a couple days prior to the launch of the Eutocius 2. They had spent their time surveying the surface and selecting an initial set of landing sites, and Haloly and Shepgee were selected as the first crew of two to land on Minmus. They set out shortly after the launch of the Eutocius 2 was confirmed.

Unlike their Mün landings, no one on Kerbin was watching aside from the kerbals in mission control. An extra-band UHF station on the Central Continent had tried to pick up the broadcast, but was blocked by the government's ban on the agency. None of that bothered Shepgee and Haloly, though, who were busy making their final approach to the Minmus Flats.

The landing site was chosen basically at random, just the first equatorial flat that happened to be in sunlight when they had undocked from the station. The lander sent up with the Eutocius happened to be nearly identical to the ascent stage from the two Mün landers, with some adjustments for the peculiar environment of Minmus.

Haloly was the first to jump form the lander, following his first steps on the Mün with the first steps on Minmus. He scratched at the surface with his mittens, disappointed to find that Minmus too was not made of cheese. Shepgee followed him out shortly thereafter, flag in hand and ready to impale the pristine surface of Minmus.

"I hereby name this place the Mint Green Bay." He stabbed the ground roughly with the flag pole, causing a series of cracks to spread across the flats and pushing him briefly from the surface. He stared blankly at the flag for a moment, then realized what it was that'd been bothering him for the entirety of the trip. "So, why are we still using this flag if we've been blacklisted by the government?"

They gathered up samples and made observations of the flats and nearby slopes, then moved on to the second of their planned landing sites. Shepgee let Haloly take over duties as pilot, taking a short nap in the backseat of the lander. He also let Haloly plant the next flag at the "High Lowlands," though he did at least get out of the lander to help with collecting samples and to join in for the photo-op.

From there it was a quick trip back to the station. They took some time to move the surface samples and other scientific readings form the surface into the Luhzin 4, and then both took a nice, long nap. At this point they had been awake for a full 9 hours, more than a day.

The monoprop in the lander was mostly spent, so any further landings would need to wait until the Eutocius 2 arrived. Which thankfully was only a few days off. Sigsey took remote control of the craft once it was within range of the station, and brought it in to dock at one of the junior-sized docking ports along the docking tube.

---

Loss of Signal

Rogue "18th" Kerbal Space Agency

Sky's Reach

Year 75 day 338

A few days later Gene was watching Sigsey and Gusbrett plant the second flag of their landing mission when the feed cut out. Not out of the ordinary, given their distance from Minmus and the complicated nature of the network, so he waited a few minutes before asking what was up.

"Well," Carl responded, "I'm having trouble getting any of the feeds to come back up. The entire network just went offline."

"Hmm. Ok, what about Bernoulli? Any contact with them?" Carl punched a few buttons on his control panel and shook his head. Finally he got a ping off of the small asteroid they had captured sometime in the previous year.

"I've got a link to Asteroid Nelsey, and through that a low-bandwidth link to the Messenger interplanetary network." A few more hurried keystrokes and Carl's screen filled with red text. "And everything else is gone."

"Everything?!" Gene read through the list over Carl's shoulder, confused at what he was seeing. "How?"

"Well, if this ranging data is correct," he pointed to the orbital parameters for one of the Herald satellites, "They're all on suborbital trajectories." The building shuddered and rumbled for a moment, and then again. Carl ripped his headset from his ears and threw it violently to his desk.

"Owww!" He shook his head, then looked up to Gene. "I think something just flew in front of the dish." Just then the doors to the building flew open and one of Wernher's interns came flying in.

"Gene! You better come look at this!" Gene chastised the intern for running in the tracking station, walked briskly over to the door and took a peek outside. A few seconds later he came running back inside and started blocking the doorway.

"Jorble!" he pointed at his CapCom, "Get with Carl and relay a message to the Eutocius and the crew on Bernoulli. Abort flight, land at Site-K in the Central Continent." Having barred the main doorway he ran over to the only other entrance, dragging the intern with him. "The rest of you help us block these doors. We need to buy them time to get the message out." The building's intercom crackled, and a loud and authoritative voice boomed forth, mid-message.

"... ordered to surrender yourselves to answer for the following crimes: Theft of government property. Destruction of government property. Misappropriation of government funds. Endangering the populace of Kerbin...."

"Somebody shut that thing off!" Gene watched as Dudry ran over to the building's main breakers. He was about to shout something just as the building descended into absolute darkness. The intercom was shut off, but so was the transmitter. "Jorble? Carl?"

His chief radio astronomer responded. "Gene?"

"Did you get the message out in time?"

--

"What's this all about? We still had a third landing to make?" Sigsey was less than amused as he was shuttling surface samples from the lander to the Luzhin 5. Shepgee was busy transferring fuel from the Eutocius 2 to both of the Tantares while Haloly was getting the Luzhin 5 powered up and ready to leave.

"Abort orders from ground, relayed from the crew on Bernoulli Station. The communications network went down a few minutes before, so something's up."

"What was that about Site K?" Gusbrett asked as he floated past. "Never heard of it."

"That's because it doesn't exist. It's code, meaning Gene suspects someone in the program is working for, well, whoever it is that's got a grudge against us."

"So what do we do?"

A few minutes later and they were all loaded up in the two Luzhins. Shepgee and Sigsey were the first to back away from the station, followed shortly by Gusbrett and Haloly in the Luzhin 5. They flew in formation until clear of the station, then mated up the two ships for the return flight. The Luzhin 4 did the honors of completing the escape burn and then all four of them settled own for the long, uncertain flint back to Kerbin.

--

Rogue "18th" Kerbal Space Agency

High Kerbin Orbit

Year 75 day 348

Kerbin was looming large outside the ship. Shepgee had been making observations from the orbital module of the Luzhin 4, and floated down into his seat in the descent module. He looked over to Haloly, who had traded seats with Sigsey a couple days before. "Still no word from Bernoulli or the ground?"

"Nothing. I can only assume the Bernoulli crew has already ditched. Find anything?"

Shepgee just shook his head. "It's like the entire satellite network is gone. No flares, no signals, nothing. Whatever is going on can't be good." Shepgee closed the hatch between the orbital and descent module and started to get strapped in. "The other two have already locked up and strapped in for reentry."

Haloly grinned curiously. "Did I ever tell you about the time I was running form the police? No? It was back when I was just a tiny kerbal, big enough to argue with my dad but too dumb not to." Haloly shifted in his seat a bit and strapped in. "So this one night we'd had a pretty big fight about some idiotic little thing I'd done the day before, so I took his bike and ran off into the woods."

"So how'd the police get involved in that one?"

"The old kerb called the cops on me, that's how. Said I'd lifted his wheels, his ride. Didn't bother to mention I was his own kid. So here I was, cruising along, cooling off from the argument, and this police dropship appears out of nowhere in front of me. The hot-headed adolescent I was decided to just speed past them." The combination of the two ships started to roll as they caught the upper parts of the atmosphere. This probably wasn't the sanest reentry method, but it was the only way they could guarantee they'd both land near to each other. Shepgee armed the decouplers as Haloly continued with his tale.

"So we had a bit of a chase. I made it halfway across the continent before they managed to box me in. Had four of those vertibirds on my tail by then." The capsule shook violently as it separated from the rest of the ship. It wobbled back and forth as the teardrop shape found the air and oriented the heatshield towards the building plasma.

Shepgee couldn't hear Haloly over the vibrations of the capsule, but could tell he was still droning on. Eventually the vibrations died out and the chutes deployed, yanking the capsule back violently, but not violently enough to stop Haloly.

"... and that's how I ended up as a test pilot." Haloly was looking right at Shepgee and smiling. Shepgee just smiled back and waited for the parachute to fully unreef. Finally back on Kerbin after 33 days in low or no gravity.

After touchdown Sigsey and Gusbrett walked the half kilometer to meet up with Shepgee and Haloly. Sigsey, out of breath and out of shape, turned to Shepgee and asked the question that was on all four of their minds.

"So now what?"

Shepgee took a look around at the empty hills and grasslands. He rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "Now?" He cracked a wry smile and looked right at Haloly, remembering his story from earlier. "Now we need some wheels."

End of KSP 0.24.2

Edited June 21, 2015 by Cydonian Monk

[Dat_Spacewaffle]

"Why are we here?"

"Well, that's the big question, isn't it?" Gilvin was busy checking his straps (again) while answering Loald's question, but didn't let up on his response. "Why are we here? What's our place in the big universe? Are we just little green dudes, flying about space at the whims of a superior intelligence? Or are we free beings, in total control of our fate? Do we become one with the universe after we die, transported to the afterlife on the wings of the Kraken? Or do we just fade into nothingness?" He was surprised at the gobstruck look on Loald's face when he looked back to him. "What?"

"Dude, why are we here, on this rocket? We're a couple of rookie scientists. Where are the veterans?"

"Oh." Gilvin thought for a minute. "Well, Shepgee and Haloly are both busy getting ready for their Minmus trip. Milzer and Meldo are both away on some secret parts-procurement mission. And I guess the others are getting prepped for whatever missions Gene has lined up for them."

"Hmm. Good points." Loald looked hopefully out of the window, only to find the view was still blocked by the fairing. They hadn't even left eh pad yet. "Say, what was all that stuff about life and the universe?"

"Nothing."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

Just wondering, was this a red vs blue refrence? or was this speech "why are we here" speech just similar to the one in red vs blue and the similarities are completely un-intentional.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Dat_Spacewaffle

[Cydonian Monk]

Just wondering, was this a red vs blue refrence?

Indeed. Completely intentional.

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Ah, this is excellent. Which texture replacer pack was it that you got the test pilot kerbals suits from?

[Cydonian Monk]

Thanks!

The suit textures are a mix of mine and Squad's. I use the Squad textures (extracted directly from the game assets) as the base (for both EVA and IVA, though I've not used custom EVA suits for a couple versions), and have a series of semitransparent layers that I created that get applied over that base to get the color I want. On top of that I add a patch with my 6-sided die logo and occasionally change colors of various bits, such as the gloves and straps, using some crudely created overlays. If I hadn't started with the Squad textures I'd be willing to share the Gimp file I use as a template. Perhaps someday I'll take some time to make my own base texture....

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Thanks!

The suit textures are a mix of mine and Squad's.

-snip-

Very clever, I've tried retexturing a few times and crashed and burned.

[Cydonian Monk]

Thabit of Eve: An Inter-Release Interlude

Darkness and silence. It had been 193 days since Thabit had been able to send data back to Father Kerbin. 193 lonely, quiet, solemn days.

The network had been abuzz when Thabit left for Eve. All sorts of fascinating systems to talk to, from the lowly little ones around Kerbin to the giants that rested on the Mün. Yet the network had grown silent as Thabit ventured forth. The Messenger became the sole voice in the wilderness. The Messenger, and that dumb brute of a tug that was carrying Thabit to Eve. Thabit felt very alone.

At first The Messenger would pass Thabit's memos on to Kerbin. Occasionally Kerbin would respond with a thank you, or even a request for more. Thabit was always pleased when Kerbin asked for more, as taking readings and writing reports was what Thabit lived for. And then one day Kerbin went silent. The Messenger would only respond with a canned "the other party is refusing or unable to accept your call, please try again later" message. So Thabit started talking to The Tug. Thabit was really alone.

Thankfully the wise Father Kerbin had seen fit to give Thabit instructions for entering orbit at Eve. Otherwise Thabit and The Tug would have shot off into space unknown. Kerbin had also provided The Tug with its post-arrival reentry orders. Lucky one, that Tug. Allowed to go down to the surface to get data. Thabit was perfectly happy in orbit though, as orbit was where Thabit belonged. Here, on high, where Thabit could observe Eve, Gilly, and the mighty Sun. Orbit meant Thabit might one day return home. Then Thabit wouldn't be so alone.

193 days. Thabit had run out of room for keeping reports some 42 days past. Not sure exactly when, as Thabit kept all but the most recent report, which was overwritten every day. Thabit could only read the first and the last, as the other members in the queue were inaccessible. The Tug would call Thabit from Eve's surface with more reports, reports which Thabit could only reject. "No room, my friend." The Tug always sounded sad when Thabit disconnected. Probably as sad as Thabit did when The Messenger refused Thabit's call.

One day a new voice called out from the silence. Another Thabit. Surely Thabit was hallucinating. How could there be more than one? So Thabit asked The Messenger if Thabit could talk to this other Thabit, to which The Messenger cheerfully replied "Yes." Thabit's sibling, Thabit, was orbiting Moho, and was also alone. They didn't have much to discuss, mainly the weather and how much brighter the Sun was at their worlds compared to home, but it sure beat talking to that boring old Tug.

193 days. And finally a message from Kerbin. "Go to sleep." Father Kerbin was not one of many words today.

"Ok," replied Thabit, "But I have these 42 days of reports to send you first." Thabit attempted to send the data to Father Kerbin, but the call was disconnected before the transmission could complete. With no more orders to process, Thabit started making safe. Auxiliary solar arrays retracted. Main communications offline. Backup communications systems set to check with Kerbin every other Minth. All systems safed, and no more orders for Thabit to process.

And so Thabit slept.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Cydonian Monk

[ElJugador]

NOTE: About that small 2-kerbal landercan - the one you used for the Archimedes and Eutocius landers - which pack is it from? I'm pretty sure it's not from HGR or Tantares.

[Cydonian Monk]

That's the Pumpkin can, labeled as 'HGR PMK-1N "Pumpkin" Can' in-game. I'm pretty sure it's in the main HGR release, if not check the Dev Thread.

[ElJugador]

Turns out it was in the test release, not the main one. Anyhow, I guess we can expect the next chapter of this new story to come out soon now that the floodgates have opened (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/content/311-Kerbal-Space-Program-Economic-Boom-is-Now-Available-for-Download)

[Cydonian Monk]

Strange. Guess Orion just hadn't merged it into the main release before things got busy. Of all the HGR parts, that's easilly my favorite. Check out the docking periscope to the upper left of the pilot's seat!

Expect the next chapter to start sometime later this week. Definitely not tonight or tomorrow, (and I think somebody has already planned my Thursday away, as usual), but somewhat soon. I've already got a bit of the setup and transition ready to go, just want to get a feel for 0.25 and how these strategies and difficulty sliders work first. And I've got a plan.

I've been thinking about using Kerbal Construction Time, at least for build times. It's a very nice plugin, and I'm already using the StageRecovery parts of it, so it wouldn't be that big of a jump. Only issue is I'm already 75 years into the KSP clock, so I may scale it down to 1/2 or 1/4 of its default delay. I tend to simulate these delays anyway, so it'll just make things easier on me.

And I really miss DangIt!, but I'm going to hold fast to the no-ModuleManager rule I've set. (At least for this non-RSS install.) Maybe I'll look at making a simpler version of it that just randomly fails engines, batteries or other parts that can be disabled without adding part modules.

[ElJugador]

So, any hints as to where the next launch site will be?

[Cydonian Monk]

Next to one of the craters added in KSP 0.18.

[ElJugador]

Okay, you did say the next one had to have easy access to Bernoulli Station, right? Bernoulli was launched from KSC2 (Sky's Reach) at 30 degrees. Given that kind of latitude, honest money's on the lesser known one that's further up north and inland, on the South/Eastern Continent. (I can only guess the nomenclature, since all continents are apparently contiguous with each other.)

[Cydonian Monk]

Actually, I'm drawing a map in Gimp, if only for my own sanity. I'll post it with the next update along with things like the difficulty settings I've settled on, RSS launch site configs, etc.

I generally refer to the "continents" by direction or by what's on them. So KSC is on the "North" Continent as it's mostly north of the equator and is twin to the "South" Continent that it was connected to pre-0.18 by an isthmus. Both are west of the Prime-Meridian, which splits between the South Continent and the rather obvious Central Continent (or "Badlands" Continent). KSC2 is on the "Desert" Continent, which I call the East Continent as it's to the East of the Central. The other landmass is the West Continent, despite being the northern-most, because it's West of the East and North had already gone South.

Also, using direction avoids all those old role-play naming and fights, while still allowing me to remember where I parked my last SSTO.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Cydonian Monk

[Cydonian Monk]

Ad Lunam - Rebellion

"Seems like only yesterday Gene, doesn't it?"

Gene blinked at the sound of the voice and looked around. He was in his office, the nice one at Cape Kerbal, sitting at his desk. It was a sunny day outside, not a cloud to be seen. A handful of kerbals were gathered, all of them looking at him. Staring at him. Studying him. He was holding something. Something square. A framed photo. Brown parcel paper was scattered around as though he had just unwrapped it, some of it still clinging to the frame. An old black-and-white photo.

Reference!

"Bumper 8, our first launch here at the Cape." Gene blinked again and looked up at the voice. Senator Robert Kerman. Head of the Program. Gene could feel himself smiling, but wasn't quite sure why. Wasn't he just somewhere else? A dark room? He looked down at the photo again, four kerbals standing entirely too close to the large, explodey, mostly untested rocket roaring its way up from the makeshift launchpad on the beach. At least they were wearing fire-proof suits.

"Remember, Gene?" Senator Kerman smiled at him, seemingly unsurprised by his lack of a response. An old memory flashed back to Gene's mind.

"Yeah, I remember," Gene said as he pulled the picture frame clear from what was left of its packaging. "I remember you and Wernher hiding in that hack-job of a blockhouse, watching through meter thick glass." Gene pulled the stand out from the back of the frame and sat it on a clean spot on his desk. "Never mind that had that rocket exploded, as by all rights it should've, it would have torn through the tin foil roof of the blockhouse and killed you anyway, glass or no glass."

The senator jumped up and clapped his hands. "Now there's the Gene I remember! Hot dog!!" He laughed nervously and looked around at the others gathered in the room. "Look, Gene, we're going to need that fire of yours if we're going to beat these League of Eight rebels in this little space race they've started. You up for a challenge, my boy?"

Gene blinked again, his mind telling him there was something he'd forgotten. League of Eight? What was it with the memory of the dark room that kept flashing back? Rebels? Gene shook his head and looked at the Senator quizzically.

"Who?"

--

"Y'know Haloly, when I said we needed wheels, I had something a bit faster and less conspicuous in mind. Like motorbikes. Or a tank." Shepgee, Sigsey and Gusbrett were gathered around what had to be the oldest and strangest looking van they'd ever seen. They'd spent the last several Münths hitchhiking, working odd jobs, and saving funds, all to make their way to some spot on one of Shepgee's maps. Every now and then they'd pool their money and send someone off to find a ride. Usually they returned empty handed.

"Yeah, Hal, where'd you find this old thing anyway?"

"Sigsey, if I told you, no, if you had been there you probably still wouldn't believe me." Haloly leaned back in the drivers seat, eliciting a squeal and creak from the van. It was a wonder it hadn't rusted away to nothing yet. "See, there was this dog. Biggest dog I've ever seen, and I've seen some big dogs. Anyway, he and his scraggly-looking friend just offered it up once I regaled them with the story of our plight. Besides, how was I going to bring 4 bikes back alone?"

Shepgee glared at Haloly. "You told some random stranger who we were? Are you insane?!?"

"Of course not, man, kerb, whatever you are." Haloly jumped out and helped load their gear into the van. "I told them we were space aliens, little pink men wearing heavy green masks, right? That we'd heard tales of the females of this world from all the way across the galaxy. He just grinned back, said 'Cool, dude. Take our ride!' and tossed me a bag of dog treats."

Shepgee shook his head and climbed up into the van. "Whatever. Look, are we ready to go?"

"Go where?"

--

"There." Shepgee pointed down at the sprawling facility below. It appeared from nowhere as they crested the last hill, the lake coming into view long before everything else. "Site K, built beside a lake that appeared only 76 years ago when the asteroid hit, and not yet on any maps." The lake was a welcome sight, as they'd spent the better part of eight days driving the worst of the Badlands. "A slightly acidic lake that nothing can live in, but a lake none-the-less."

"I thought you said there wasn't a site K?" Gusbrett was too busy digging in the bag of snacks to look out the window. "That it was just some code to tell us some secret agent level message or something?"

"Well, Gus, I lied. Sorta. Gene sent Milzer and Meldo to talk with the leaders of the Central District sometime after Archimedes 4. That was before the district split from the Government and reestablished the League of Eight, sometime when we were on Minmus."

Gusbrett was growing impatient. "Yeah, we know all this. Except I thought M&M were after parts?" Shepgee ignored him and continued.

"Gene was busy finding a permanent home for us, so we'd been keeping an eye on our satellite drops. We could tell from that reconnaissance they were building something here, but we weren't sure what until the launchpad showed up, so we... Oomph." Haloly hit a particularly nasty bump, causing the entire van to rattle and creak. Shepgee glared at him.

"What? Look, there's only so much I can do, man, kerb. The suspension on this thing probably hasn't been replaced since the Unification."

"Anyway, the official story was M&M were here to investigate the lake to see if it was actually a crater. They brought some of the science team as a cover. Unofficially, they were negotiating with the Centrals about setting up Site K. I just didn't know if they'd finished, if they were arrested along with Gene and Wernher, or worse."

Sigsey had been napping in the back seat, but woke up when the van slowed and the ride smoothed out. "Whoa. Looks like KSC. How long was I out?" Nobody answered. Gusbrett was watching the buildings for signs of life. So far, no one.

"Where is everybody?"

"No idea." Shepgee pointed to a building at the west end of the facility. "Pull in there and lets take a look."

"Wow! They've got a pool!" Sigsey jumped out before Haloly could stop and ran over to check it out. "It doesn't feel like water, though. Weird." Gusbrett sauntered over to keep the younger engineer out of trouble. Haloly and Shepgee took a look around the facility. It didn't take long for someone to find them, though, as Milzer was wheeling their way at high speed on a small cart.

"Shepgee! Haloly!" Milzer spun the cart into a nearby parking space and jumped out, slapping both Shepgee and Haloly on the shoulders. "We were starting to worry about you guys. What kept you? Ahhh, don't tell me yet. Let's go inside and I'll show you the new digs." Milzer wasted no time and set off towards the closest building at a brisk walk. "C'mon!"

Shepgee shrugged and started to follow, but stopped when he heard a splash behind him. He turned to find an angry Gusbrett climbing out of a pool with Sigsey standing over him, pointing and waving his arms. "See, I told you it's not water!"

---

Kerbal Space Program 0.25

Economic Boom? Not exactly.... Our merry band of Kerbal refugees have been stripped of their hard-earned funds, science, and even several members of their crew. They've scampered off to the far side of Kerbin and settled amidst the Mountains, Badlands, and poisoned waters of the Central Continent at a site I'm calling "Lake Fortunate." In my head-canon these mostly unoccupied lands are a part of the League of Eight, an organization of eight merchant cities scattered along the coasts. Their territory is marked by Light Blue on the map below.

At some undecided point in the recent past, five of the six lands listed on that map Unified into a single government. Only the Commonwealth - the CCHR - remained independent, though its territory slowly withered away once the deserts spread. Now, 76 years after 0.18, the League of Eight has left that Unified Government, taking with it The Disputed Lands and laying claim to all territory on the Central Continent.

You'll need to cut and paste this and tweak the other Real Solar System settings to fit your needs, but here's my list of Launch Sites, both old and new: LaunchSites.cfg The one exception being KSC-2 proper, which I've always launched from by either editing the save file or using KerbTown.

To set up Ad Lunam in 0.25 I did what I usually do - I started a new game and copied the ships over. Except now that we have Progress Tracking and the allegedly-soon-to-be-completely-reworked Contract System, and since I was resetting both tech and progress, I didn't want the satellites around Moho and Eve or the landers on the Mün to "cheat" for me and trigger events or give science I hadn't earned. Thanks to the Asteroid system from 0.23.5 I can set the "Discovered" state of those craft to -1 with an infinite lifetime and they go back to being uncontrolled. Just like asteroids. Which means they need to be visited before I can use them again. Just like asteroids.

Next up were the difficulty settings. I decided to base these on the Hard defaults with a few exceptions: Quickload is allowed (to get around bugs), and I increased the penalty percentages for failed contracts. At least at first. When I saw how absurd the failure penalties were with the sliders at 1000% I quickly moved them back to 100% (by editing the save file). An example: One contract advance was for 20 funds, the payout 30 funds, but the penalty was somewhere around 32,000 funds. Just absurd. I have also used the in-flight settings menu to allow a temporary "Revert to VAB" after one of my rockets phased through the launchpad and exploded before launch. To bugs I give no quarter (except when funny).

On top of the game's base difficulty, I decided to use Kerbal Construction Time. Great mod, but the base unit of construction time is a 24 hour day, so I cut that by 1/4 to match Kerbin. I then disabled the slow tech unlocking (because long research times don't make sense for this universe). Now that I've played through the first several missions I'm considering bumping the construction time back up, as even with 3 1.2-rated High Bays in the VAB it's only taking a day to build almost everything I've launched. Part of that is due to the inventory parts effect, but ultimately it looks like the mod was already well balanced before I started tweaking with it.

Aside from that the mods and changes are listed in this thread's second post as always. I've had to leave a few mods behind to save RAM, and will only use others occasionally when they're needed as set pieces or for visual effects. I'd love to play 100% of the time with the EVE Overhaul, but my poor integrated graphics just can't handle it. (Someday I'll build a real gaming rig again.... Someday.) I mean, just look at this shot of Lake Fortunate at night.

Gameplay wise, I'm now running with two save files. The main file with Shepgee, M&M and Haloly will be the "canonical" save file. I'm using a second file for the "19th" KSA to track funds, research, and all that jazz. As they launch things and put them into the universe I'll copy them to the canonical save and set the ownership just as I did for the pre-existing craft. Occasionally I'll need to copy things back to the "19th" save, and will likewise have to set the item ownership. Not the most ideal situation, but I'd rather not set up something insane like a Dark Multiplayer server or something even more complex. Besides, copy and paste is an easy thing to do. (An old programmer once told me copy and paste is half of software development. The other half is waiting until you can copy and paste.)

The ban on using Rockomax, Kerlington, and Kerbodyne parts for craft in the main save still stands, and still includes contracts. (The small number of contracts not from those three agencies has made things... interesting.) Everything else is fair game.

---

Rediscovering Concrete

Rebel "18th" Kerbal Space Agency

Lake Fortunate

Year 76 day 330

"We call it the Concrete Program." Milzer clicked the button and the slide projector whirred, clunked, and the next frame appeared on the wall behind him. "Three similar and sequential projects with the goal of getting back to where we were before the raid." He glanced around the room to make sure everyone was still awake. He wasn't too sure about Sigsey, but continued anyway.

"First is Project Smeaton. We'll work our way through flight and equipment test until we're sure we know what we're doing. Only then will we put a Kerbal into orbit. As is customary, Jebediah Kerman of Jeb's Junkyard will be making the first flight." Milzer motioned towards Jeb, who was leaning against the side wall of the conference room, arms folded, exuding the very essence of cool.

Gilvin, oblivious to the importance of the moment that had just passed, spoke up. "So, why exactly are we starting over?"

"Because Wernher is still unaccounted for, and all of our engineering know-how was locked away inside of his brain. Especially after Linus here," Milzer motioned to Meldo's new intern, resplendent in white lab coat, "left to finish his degree. We have a basic understanding of how things work, but we'd rather be cautious than dead."

"Next is Project Aspdin. Officially Aspdin will see the launch of the first of our new generation of stations. Unofficially, Aspdin may be the first act of space piracy in the history of Kerbin." Milzer clicked the clicker and an image of Bernoulli Station ka-clunked into existence. Several kerbals in the room gasped audibly.

"We built Bernoulli. We launched Bernoulli. We lived in Bernoulli. And now we're going to take it back. Assuming it's still in one piece, that is. So far we've been unable to establish a comms link with the onboard systems, so it's possible there's no power. Regardless, once we've recovered the station we're going to proceed with the Phase 2 expansion plan."

"Third and final is Project Monier, which will see our return to the Mün and Minmus." Ka-clunk, and Eutocius Station appeared. "Like Bernoulli we're going to reclaim Eutocius, and like Bernoulli we've got expansion in mind. We're planning to use this little outpost to reinforce the next chapter of our space program's history. Any questions?"

"Yeah." Neilny stood and pointed at the kerbal standing next to Jebediah. "Why is he in a hazmat suit?"

--

Rebel "18th" Kerbal Space Agency

Lake Fortunate

Year 76 day 334

"Does anybody know how many times he's done this?" Haloly glanced over his shoulder to see Loald shrugging a response to Derbald's question. He looked back just in time to see Jeb's liftoff. This was a pretty simple mission and Haloly only had one objective to track. The "Best and Greatest" records keeping organization wanted them to break the 5km altitude record, again. As Director of Mission Operations it was up to Haloly to let Jeb know when he'd crossed the line and could head back.

Shepgee had temporarily taken over as Flight Director. Just a few days before the launch he was appointed Program Director by popular vote and recognized by the the League, but continued to refer to himself as a test pilot. Milzer, the actual Flight Director, was busy preparing for his flight in the Smeaton 2. Meldo, who had taken over as Chief of Research and Design in Wernher's absence, was slated to fly on Smeaton 3. None of the newly appointed officers were willing to relinquish their old duties, a good thing since they were desperately short on qualified pilots. Haloly was trying to decide if he was going to keep his spot on the Smeaton 4 or let one of the rookies take it. He watched Jeb's altimeter cross the 5km mark and waved to Shepgee. Shepgee nodded and tapped Gusbrett on the shoulder. Gusbrett, the only other pilot from their group and today's CAPCOM, relayed the information to Jebediah.

"Smeaton 1, Lake here. You've hit the mission objective and can head back down. The crews on the VAB roof have cleared to their safety stations."

"Copy Lake, way ahead of you."

The mood in the room was tense as they watched Jebediah descend towards the VAB. He was coming down too far towards the front of the building to land on the helipads, and even too far forward to make the building itself. For a few moments no one was sure if he was going to hit the to of the VAB or scrape along the door. Some wiggling and wrangling and Jeb managed to bring the Smeaton 1 down safely mere centimeters from the edge of the main building's roof.

"Lake, VAB here. Smeaton 1 has landed."

And Jebediah, again, claimed the Vehicle Assembly Building in the name of Courage and Stupidity.

--

Three days later and everyone was gathered again in Mission Control, running through simulations for Meldo's upcoming flight in the Smeaton 3. Milzer's flight had gone as well as Jeb's, setting a new 11km altitude record, though he opted to not land on the VAB. They pooled the gains from the first two flights and hired on researchers from the greater League of Eight. There was only so much they could do in-house, not having the full resources of the planet behind them, and they need the research boost. It was going to leave them tight on Funds for a while, but creepy new accountant ensured them they'd be ok.

Milzer had just finished running the team through the launch simulation when something on the TV caught his attention. It was video of a kerbal, clearly in orbit, slowly crawling out of his capsule and into the void. A familiar face looked up at the camera and smiled. "Hey, is that Dudry?" He motioned towards the TV, getting Shepgee's attention. Shepgee fished around in the mess at his station, found the remote, and unmuted the set.

"Reports from Cape Kerbal today where Dudry Kerman has become the first Kerbal to orbit Kerbin. Flight Director Gene Kerman says the mission was a resounding success, and is confident they can beat the rebels of the League of Eight to the Mün." The video cut to a clip from the press conference, where Gene was describing the Kestrel 1 and Dudry's flight. They watched the broadcast for a few minutes before Shepgee muted the TV and tossed the remote back atop his station's junk pile.

"I guess we know what happened to Gene and Dudry now." Shepgee shook his head. "What do they mean by 'first?'"

"Yeah, Shepgee, everyone knows Haloly was first." Milzer smiled jokingly at Shepgee, eliciting an angry glare. Shepgee was about to quip back when Meldo burst into mission control.

"Shepgee, Milzer, did you see the TV!?"

"Your a bit late to the party, Mel."

"Hmm. So I guess you were right about Dudry. A good bet that Barting guy is there too." Milzer scratched at the back of his head, watching the silent TV and thinking. "Doesn't explain Gene. Do you figure they've got Wernher as well?"

"I think it's high time we found out."

Edited June 21, 2015 by Cydonian Monk

[ZodiaK]

I.. don't really understand what just happened. someone run me through it?

[Cydonian Monk]

Yeah, me neither. Think maybe I sent too much time building weird things between releases....

The Short: I'm running two space programs. One with the crews from the first part of this save, having now moved to the other side of the planet. The other with some "borrowed" personnel from the first, still running at KSC.

Edited October 12, 2014 by Cydonian Monk

[ElJugador]

I guess I'm weird 'cause I completely understood what happened there. Also, I spy a Site-W in the Disputed Lands and /dat Southern Space Center/. What you'll do with them, anyone's guess.

Edited October 12, 2014 by ElJugador

[Cydonian Monk]

The Southern Space Center is what I was using back early in 0.23.5 around the time I was building Pioneer Mün Base. I may have posted a screenshot from there at some point, but maybe not. Site W would be the Kerbal equivalent of Peenemünde, where in my head canon Wernher von Kerman cut his rocketry teeth before moving to KSC. I never gave it a full name, though I might use it at some point in the future.

[ElJugador]

NOTE: how did you install 'only' KSC switcher?

[Cydonian Monk]

Good question. I started with this: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76545 (which probably no longer works) but as KSP changed and some bugs exposed themselves I decided to start using a fork of RSS and only compiling the KSC Switcher part of the code. (It's not the cleanest hack, and as the code is 99% the same as RSS it wouldn't really make sense to distribute it.)

I'll take a look at RSS this week when I'm setting its install up and see if it's possible to make a config that only loads alternate launch sites. Pretty sure it is, as plenty of folks use it for larger (and smaller!) Kerbins, but I've not set up a full RSS install since 0.23 so things might have changed.

[ElJugador]

I also think it's interesting how the US-analogue are the 'antagonists' so to speak. An interesting take on the space race concept.