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Cirocco

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Everything posted by Cirocco

  1. I made and succesfully tested my SSTDuna spaceplane. She can take three kerbals from KSC runway to Duna surface and back to KSC runway on a single tank of gas (but not with a lot to spare). Full mission and mission report will follow tomorrow (probably). Feeling pretty damn awesome right now
  2. Most glorious? Realising I could reliably make orbit with my Eve lander I had been working on for literally months. Most recent? Just a half hour or so ago: touching down with my latest creation (which took only about two weeks to perfect rather than months): a three-seater SSTDuna spaceplane capable of doing runway - duna landing - runway on a single tank of gas. She's a glorious beast, but you have to wrestle her like no tomorrow when she's almost out of fuel. Shifting COM's are a pain. Now I'm wondering if I can modify her to do SSTLaythe. The takeoff + orbit burn should be easier at least since I can use the atmospheric engines there.
  3. Testing, testing, always more testing. Modified my SSTDuna because it turned out she was exactly that: single stage to Duna and not having any fuel left at all after that. Mind you the fact that both Mun AND Minmus got in the way during my transfer burn also cost me a lot of extra fuel I think. With modifications and a better transfer window, hopefully our brave kerbals now have enough fuel for a return trip.
  4. Haha! Brilliant! Makes me want to experiment with SRB-powered spaceplanes too! As for myself, I made a long-range 3-man SSTO spaceplane which I think can make it from runway to Duna (maybe even land?) and back without refuel. I also finally found a good use for RAPIER engines (the traditional aerospike-turbojet always struck me as the more efficient, but RAPIERS really shine on heavy spaceplanes where there's just physically not enough room for a lot of engines)
  5. Okay, my two cents for the pile: When I read the title, my first reaction was “yeah the aerodynamics model is pretty bad†(that thought was immediately followed by “but so what? It’s an alpha indie game which I knowingly bought in an unfinished state to support the developers and I already have more hours logged on it and arguably had more fun with it than skyrimâ€Â. But that’s not the point I want to make). But then I got to thinking “Hang on. Is it really bad? It’s completely and utterly unrealistic, certainly. But is it bad? Those are two different things.†I recently installed FAR and I must admit, it was nice to have a more realistic model to play around with. It also added new challenges and eased some old sores. But then two or so days ago I uninstalled it temporarily to make a craft for someone who plays stock and a realization occurred to me: Even though the stock aerodynamics model is completely and utterly unrealistic, it is FUN for me. FAR is great, massive kudos to Ferram for making it, but it prohibits many things. One of the main things it stops you from doing is launching very wide space station modules in one go (the so-called pancake rockets). Now, seeing as building space stations on site is not a thing (yet? Wink wink nudge nudge Squad? ) pretty much the only thing to do to make a space station with big modules (like an asteroid station) is to build the modules in the VAB and launch them in one go. The stock dynamics model allows that, FAR (or any other realistic model) would not. Also, the stock model allows for awesome, realistically impossible and hilarious things to be done with spaceplanes and parachutes as I discovered yesterday. The “tradeoff†you could say is the fact that stock requires more lift surfaces and dV to get through atmosphere. So yeah, I actually like both stock and FAR. One is realistic, the other presents its own unique problems and more importantly, can be totally hilarious at times. And to me KSP is still a game and a game is about having fun. I foresee myself switching between FAR and stock quite a bit in the future. In conclusion: How bad is the aerodynamics model in KSP? Well, for me personally, it isn’t. It’s fun. It’s completely and totally unrealistic, but does that make it inherently bad? Nope.
  6. I use full stock parts as well (aside from fairings and kerbal engineer redux) and you pretty much perfectly summed up the core of 99.9% of all my spaceplane design problems...
  7. I don't really standardise, but I do very much put limitations on my craft. Mostly these include aesthetics (still has to look like someone with half a functioning brain would consider boarding), number of kerbals (why let Jeb have all the fun?), semi-realism (no Jeb we are NOT riding a rocket into orbit in an external command seat!) and assuming worst case. Those limitations very often differ from craft to craft though so no, I wouldn't say I'm addicted to standardisation, but I am very much into setting personal limitations which is sorta related.
  8. First return mission from the Mun, I ran out of fuel with a periaps of about 200km. Being determined not to let Jeb die, I got out and pushed until near jetpack depletion, got back in, got out, rinse, repeat ... for about half an hour until periaps was around 30 km and Jeb landed safely.
  9. My previous SSTO spaceplane efforts were aimed at large crew LKO transport vehicles that still looked like actual planes. I'm pretty happy with the current result (11 kerbals into LKO with about 400-700 oxidizer and accompanying fuel to spare) so now I'm focusing on interplanetary SSTO's without refuel. Preferrably with the Mk III cockpit so Jeb, Bill and Bob can all share the glory. First target is Duna, but damn it's hard to put enough fuel into orbit to ensure a return trip while still having the plane look like an actual plane...
  10. Holy hell dude that is impressive. Is that full stock?
  11. Dude ALL my heavy duty spaceplanes take off this way unless I strap SRB's under the wings for a boosted take-off Don't sweat it dude, SSTL's are horribly difficult if you don't stop for a refuel in orbit, especially if you don't want to use excessive part clipping. I've been working on single-stage-to-as-far-as-I-can-get planes as well. Haven't got one past Minmus yet (at least not without assurance that I can get back). Best I got so far is getting to LKO with between 700 and 1000 oxidizer + accompanying fuel. Problem is that the dry mass of SSTO's is so high that interplanetary travel wastes sooooooo much fuel on hauling all that dead weight around.
  12. Do they these days? Last I heard the oceas on laythe and eve had different descriptions when you do reports and samples, but science-wise they are 1 biome. It's caused by some bit in the code that identifies a different state for landing in water (splashdown) and on land. I'm not a coder though, don't ask me about the details
  13. Made my second attempt at capturing a class E asteroid in a stable orbit around Kerbin after the first one was met with fuel problems, RCS problems and the kraken. This time I grabbed it on the edge of the SOI and tried to shunt it in a bit closer to Kerbin for optimal gravity brake without trying the insanity that is aerobraking with a freaking huge space potato. After about an hour of burning and timewarping and realising that I was controlling from the wrong probe core (I had two RCS modules attached to different sides of the asteroid to try and make it a bit more manoeuvrable) and quickloading and more burning and timewarping and a <strike>very fortunate coincidental</strike> TOTALLY PLANNED Mun encounter for an additional gravity brake, Kerbin finally has a new moon. The tug made it back to Kerbin safely and completely intact, asteroid orbit is completely stable, with apoaps below mun orbit and periaps at about 100 km. Still need to bring her to equatorial orbit and circularize, but she's here. At. bloody. last. Words cannot express what I'm feeling right now.
  14. Is this even possible? I tried to aerocapture a class E asteroid today because my fuel was running low at the end of the redirect. I pushed the periaps down to 29 kilometers and the bloody thing STILL didn't get captured inside the SOI. How low are you supposed to go to get a capture with this mod when coming in at interplanetary travel speeds? And how do you do it without getting your ship ripped to shreds? In this case my tug got ripped from the asteroid, which I kind of expected, but I can't imagine what the atmosphere would do to capital ships...
  15. I went out on my first asteroid redirect mission. Flew waaaaaay out of kerbin's SOI to grab a class E. After hours of timewarping and burning finally got it back to Kerbin. Prepared to aerobrake (yeah, aerobrake a class E asteroid. I didn't have much fuel left)... and then the kraken ate the asteroid and the tug. No matter how many times I tried to reload, the outcame was the same. Kraken noms. An entire evening spent trying to haul a giant spacerock to a stable orbit, all gone. Feeling a bit pissed right now.
  16. 1st munar landing reads just that: 1st munar landing. I think I wrote something else that sorta sounded deep and memorable but I forgot what (oh the irony!). 1st minmus landing: keep on going. 1st Duna landing: On the shoulders of giants, we reach for the stars. 1st Ike landing: On the ... collarbone of giants? I don't know, what else is close to the shoulders?
  17. Well then they'll have to change the current system of deleting an object that is in atmosphere and more that 2,5km away from the focus point. I tried to have parts splash down safely for roleplay purposes, but they always just get deleted.
  18. I actually tend to do this quite often if during my "regular" gravity turn descent I spot a good landing zone. Kill all lateral velocity, do a suicide burn to slow down in the final kilometers. Perhaps not the most efficient, but at least I know I land in a decent spot Oh Lord SO many times... Yup, did this a few times when I just got the game. "why isn't teh abort button working? Oh well, guess they haven't added that yet..." I'm not even going to try to count...
  19. WHAT?! THIS IS A THING? Please tell me the name of this mod! Not having an IVA for the mk II and mk III has been annoying me beyond all measure!
  20. Slightly off-topic question: what's KIDS? Does it push the Isp of engines lower than the 1 atmo limit when ambient pressure rises beyond that? If so: go full aerospike for every stage except the top one. I managed a stock sea-level return lander with nothing but aerospikes (and the OP tiny engine for the uppermost stage, forgot the name) which came in at 160 tons and a smidge. mind you the only reason I went full aerospike was because I assumed that the linear drop in Isp with pressure didn't have a lower limit and simply went on past 1 atmo
  21. True words. All joking aside, just install and play the mods you want and don't let anyone ever tell you your way of playing is wrong. KSP is still a game. You play to have fun. If you prefer stock, play stock. If you prefer (certain) mods, play those mods. KSP is about having fun with rockets and science and explosions. The rockets and explosions aren't mandatory, but in my book, if you're not having fun, something is wrong.
  22. 1) you can probably hold out for quite a while, but I'm afraid the lure of the darkside is strong. I always vowed never to install mods that would really alter the game instead of just help me do calculations. Yet recently I installed FAR. For which I will now require a mod for fairings. And I'll probably start running with deadly re-entry at one point. And I don't yet have kerbal engineer so I also build big. ... You can see where this road leads to... 2) Probably. 3) Yes, mine are chocolate. Dark chocolate obviously.
  23. Congrats! that first-time-to-a-new-celestial-body feel is awesome isn't it?
  24. Alright, after reading up on the subject I have decided that yes, I can burn in high atmosphere because the radioactivity in the exhaust would be either low or non-existant, but thick atmosphere is absolutely forbidden because of neutron backscatter. nukes on landers is probably also best avoided, though I would be firing these on retroburns if I want to land spaceplanes on a planet/moon without atmosphere... But then again, an advanced EVA suit could probably shield the user from the radiation for short periods of time at least...
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