Frank_G

I try to keep vessels below 1.000 parts. That goes for part count of mission craft too, which can consist of a combination of more vessels like transfer-craft, lander, spaceplane, rover and probes. However this is not so easy, when you place looks over functionalty... And aerobraking with a 1.5k part craft in the atmosphere of Jool leads to SERIOUS lags, speaking of 5 frames a sec or so... I did that once and it made me not only fail the maneuver, it is also a fun killer... Since that day i build as part efficient as possible, even when it comes to looks.

Regardless that most players have witnessed a kerbol munar eclipse, it still is an awesome moment... And the first thing i needed to do after that moment, was to post those pics here on the forums.

The FAR GUI is indeed confusing to a certain degree. It makes construction less fun (in aspects of gaming) for me. However i like to fly effective and "realistic" gravity turns and make functional use of procedural fairings. Thats why i stick with NEAR.

And an honorable mention: Pixel stache... He made only a dozen episodes back in version .21, but it was so inspiring... Thank you for those awesome episodes.

Emergency batteries will save your life... I always have a switched off battery on board to re-fire up the systems after running out of energy. And i like dockable arrays like antenna and solar panels on stations and large ships... I build those parts on a mini rcs tug with junior docking port, a small tank, some thrusters and a probe core. When a panel gets damaged, it can easily be exchanged, also it makes orbital construction and re-configuration quite easy.

Good to know, that a single misplaced texture is the worst part of KSP...

Now i like to see one which says "KERBODYNE-ROCKETS-RULE"

Today i tested the Cimeria Class Ultra Heavy Launcher (yes, i use names from Robert E. Howards Conan novels... I already got Stygia, Keshan and Hyborian Class Launchers). It delivers 165 tons straight into Munar Orbit in 3 stages (Booster stage, main stage, transfer stage). I used procedural fairings as booster nose cones and to protect the payload and the tweakscale mod to scale up the orange tanks (just because i like to have orange tanks on my launcher, the Kerbodyne tanks would have done good as well)...

Which indeed is a very common flight situation for most kerbal craft....

The easter eggs in KSP are quite cool, especially on Kerbin and Duna. Just an idea... Why not build a nice plane and do a little flyby at Kerbins north pole or the desert mountain ranges. There is plenty of hidden stuff to explore, closer than you think

When you look at the screenshot posted by Squad, you can see that the parts have a symmetrical cross section and even texturing now, allowing for parts to be mounted upside down without breaking form or looks. I guess the update will be much more than just a few spaceplane parts... They will integrate much better into the current KSP experience, than most of us expect at the moment. Pretty cool [edit] and a symmetrical cross section would also mean centered connections... Compatible with rocket parts... (place headbanging smiley here)

That RCS lander is a compact beauty...

That flat heat shielded nose cone... is AWESOME. This part mod is simply great and i am very happy, that it will make it into the final game, one way or another.

In my 9 months of playing KSP, i tested MechJeb for about a week, before returning to manual flight. My maneuvers are more precise and save fuel all the time. Ok, i sometimes have to watch an hour of a transfer burn but who cares... a lot of time to relax, drink some tea, listen to music and think about things to do in KSP. MechJeb is really a nice and complete mod, but it takes the fun and some spice out of the game for me. If i want info about my ship and about the ongoing flight, i go with VOID or Kerbal Engineer Redux. VOID is my favorite so far, because there is no need, to attach extra parts to the craft and i like to play KSP as vanilla as possible. Some people consider using MechJeb as cheating, but viewing from a point of realism, flying without an auto-pilot is really stupid. Its just more fun (at least for me). Installing it or not was and will be a consideration of personal preference.

The most efficient way to get into orbit is, to built up altitude and horizontal velocity as soon as possible. My usual way is to accelerate the ship straight upwards, until the ship reaches 100 m/s. Then turn about 5° towards the desired direction and wait until the ship reaches about 200 m/s. Begin turning over towards 45° ascend angle, at best reaching 45° at an altitude of 12000m... continue the ascend while keeping the apoapsis about 40 seconds away from the ship... follow the prograde vector while keeping the 40 seconds distance. Tilt the ship towards the horizon to decrease the distance and away from the horizon to increase the distance to apoapsis. Start decreasing throttle as the apoapsis starts to race away from the ship to keep it close. By this time your ships nose should point at roughly 10° below the horizon line on the nav-ball. Continue hunting the apoapsis at around 40 - 60 seconds distance until the orbit is achieved. During the whole maneuver the engine stays on. This is a little harder than the usual go straight to 15000 m then turn to 45°... but it is the most efficient way as you build up vertical and horizontal velocity equally and early, while denying gravity and atmosphere to take velocity from you. I hope, this helps.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I bet it wont be long until you feel right at home around here. Feel free to ask or to post anything you like to know or show. Enjoy your stay and Godspeed!

Failure is essential data.... And that disassembly is beautyful

Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, the rear wheels need some replacing for the next version. Gravity on Kerbin did prevent the wheel sgetting off the ground during test phase, so the problem was first encountered on Duna. Regardless, it is almost impossible to flip the rover over, even when turning while going downhill in low gravity. But hey, i would never clip parts unless i really have to

I really like the approach taken here. The models are very promissing. However i miss a gantry rail so far.

I'd love to see a working stock telescope. Regardless if it will bring science or not, it will be a great addition to the game.

Gladly kerbals allways pack enough card games and snacks to survive for a small eternity. Plenty of time to rethink some landing techniques and get back to them with a rescue mission. Congratulations on your landing, by the way.

That moment, when you decouple the capsule on re-entry and notice, that all the loaded science parts were clamped to the engine section...

Build some stadium seating and a snack booth, after determining the exact impact point... then take 5 bucks of every kerbal that wants to watch the show... count the millions available for the next mission. Jokes aside... just let it impact... it wont do nothing serious (in the current version of KSP).

I tried to land a probe on Eve by engines only back in .21 and slammed it into the ground so hard, that it instantaneously vanished completely in a single boom... i never ever did an Eve landing without parachutes from that day on...

That moment when your ship breaks loose from Jools atmosphere and entering a safe stable orbit after your first successful aerobraking...