Jump to content

DunaRocketeer

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    465

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by DunaRocketeer

    How has your KSP gameplay evolved?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    An interesting question. Obviously we get more efficient as we play, but it's interesting what directions that extra ability takes us.

    I started off with a bunch of clustered kludges in the Demo.

    ekc51wz.jpg

    If anything, by the time I bought the full version (0.22) the greater choice of parts made things worse:

    FUQjKCI.jpg

    Soon I got more of a clue about how to design a vehicle for a set mission, and began to find mods more and more necessary. Things started to become more realistic as a result, which is a trend that continues today.

    SKz0uxx.jpg

    1VLpAt9.png

    Today, I try my best to find designs and mission architectures that aren't done to death. My game is now quite heavily modded, both visually and in gameplay. When 1.1 lands this will probably become even more so. I also haven't been beyond Eve or Duna in about a year, and I suspect I'll venture further out again soon.

    nWFHfQP.png

     

     

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted · Edited by DunaRocketeer

    I had a bit of a setback a couple of nights ago: I lost one DCT to a game glitch. Best guess is that time-warp blew it up (I heard an explosion). In future, I'll make sure they're all outside each others physics radius, and see if that helps. Fortunately, the one that blew up wasn't the DCT with crew support, so Bill can still go home :sticktongue:

    Anyway, refuelling continues without any issues:

    drNqdny.png

    I'm starting to launch the DCT's once refuelled so that they don't glitch out. This is the first one - it got to orbit without incident and with plenty of margin for the Kerbin transfer burn:

    e34D2DZ.png

    ABDFYbg.png

    qOtHa08.png

    So Bill's got a lot of time to kill now, and the couple of rover trips away from the landing site show that any other biomes are a long way away, so last night I sent him on a more ambitious sojourn:

    WU4pd3W.png

    I love the above pic, very SpaceX!

    lNzaTGS.png

    Getting to the North Pole took a surprising amount of fuel - it's easy to forget how much of a boost the planets rotation gives you.

    PN4d9C0.png

    I used KIS to bring the rover instruments with me, so there was a hefty science return from this little jaunt.

    fj9zA7V.png

    ...aaand back again.

    vGQ0LIp.png

    I've also started launching and refueling the next round of DCT's in Kerbin orbit, which will expand the base. It'll take a while for this to really come together since I have less free time now the holidays are over, but I'll get there eventually.

    Show off your awesome KSP pictures!

    in KSP Fan Works

    Posted

    On 1/8/2016 at 8:21 PM, Redleg1 said:

    DunaRocketeer,

    This is an awesome looking rocket! Would you be willing to post a .craft file? What engines do you have mounted on there? I can pretty much tell what the rest of the parts are.

    Thanks! A craft file probably wouldn't do you any good since I'm playing in 1.0 - do craft files work between versions? I don't know, but in any case it's a fairly simple design - the engines are aerospikes, of which there are six.

    Here is a pic showing the whole system put together, along with a few pics from my current mission in progress.

    fRLNOvV.png

    bM0cJgo.png

    bd2sTRC.png

    And here's the thread I've made showing the mission and its progress so far. I'm hoping to be able to update it soon :)

    http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/128653-duna-colonial-transport-system/#comment-2341709

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    Yeah it's a mod called Burn Together. IIRC, it's not updated to 1.xx, but still works ok enough - in flight there is a little oscillation in the following vehicle that I haven't been able to damp out using the mod settings, but if you periodically swap who's the leading vehicle, you can get back to KSC no probs. I then release the following vehicle to fly onwards whilst I land the leader, then switch to the other still in flight, turn it around and land that one too.

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    Thanks Geschosskopf, it is continuing to be an engineering learning experience, and a very rewarding mission :)

    So I've unloaded the first Hab module, getting it down the ramp took lots of delicate maneuvering.

    nWFHfQP.png

    I attach small plane wheels to tow modules across the terrain - you can just about see the ones I have stowed in the cargo bay in the above image ^. The last DCT left in orbit contained the second hab, so I got round to bringing that down, and towing its hab to the one already on the surface.

    PIAA1OP.png

    L47ANcG.png

    The final major element to this mission is the In-Situ-Resource-Utilisation-Trailer which will mine and refine propellant for the trip back. It was stubborn in getting out of the cargo bay, and I needed to use KIS to wedge structural panels under it. This did succeed in unsticking the ISRU trailer, but I lost a large array in the process. I placed the remaining array on top and it seems to bbe working fine.

    97bcjSW.png

    bd2sTRC.png

    I'm about a year away from the next Kerbin-to-Duna window, and after reviewing the life support consumables in the Hab, I've decided to keep Bill on Duna till the next round of DCT's get here. There's more that I'd like him to be building before he heads home.

     

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    What I mean is it'll look more like a colony the more I add to it all that I have on Duna right now are two hab modules, ore miners/processors and a rover. The vehicles are designed to take modules and crews to Duna a bit at a time, so the next transfer window will be an opportunity to further expand. Hope that helps make things clearer. :)

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    That's very nice of you to say, lago!

    I've made some progress today, although I find construction much more difficult than flight, and am currently troubleshooting a few unexpected issues.

    So far I've got two DCT's on the ground, landed 2,1km from each other:

    lSV9BwE.png

    AUjJupe.png

    uKCCftB.png

    XORgpFh.png

    The engineering support vehicle touched down first, and I unpacked its cargo bay without much difficulty:

    95n15Xr.png

    ZPjq5mK.png

    Once the rover was down the ramp, I packed it up into a trailer form so it could be towed to the second landing site (DCT Hab module 1):

    QifFE47.png

    ao3dwKR.png

    I then rebuilt the ramp. Here's where it got more difficult: I needed to tweak the rover wheel's brake torque, grip multiplier, and disable steering on the aft two wheel-sets in order for me to make it up the ramp. This was a problem that didn't manifest itself in testing on Kerbin, so I'm enjoying the surprises, and the troubleshooting:

    RrSuocv.png

    Rovers...what for?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    As Damien_The_Unbeliever and Just Jim have said, sometimes it's good to have a change of pace, and driving a rover across a planet can be a very chill thing to do. I also find it useful for survey contracts - the targets are often within 10 minutes of each other, and over terrain that can provide a whole new challenge. One of my favourite missions lately was a survey flight that involved driving into a very steep crater. Route selection was vital in order to complete the contract - very rewarding to do. Some might prefer to build a big lander and fly to the various sites, but I tend towards more moderate sizes, with a small rover to minimize mass penalties.

    demo or full

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    Got the Demo first, and I'd recommend doing it that way to others because this game is frankly not very good. I mean, it's so limited, all you really do is fly about...ok ok I kid I kid! :sticktongue:

    I just thought it would be an interesting diversion for a while. I got fairly good at getting into orbit, and then landing on the Mun and then I wanted a new challenge. I believe it was from there that I started to really clue into the breadth of the game. I also really wanted 2.5m rocket parts. My first 'full' version of ksp was .22.

    Duna Colonial Transport System

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    Thanks!

    I needed an additional asset sent to Duna, one that didn't warrant another full DCT launch: An ore scanner satellite so I could figure out where my base should be landed.

    21RmqXp.png

    9h3VZgF.png

    All told, there were five spacecraft sent during the transfer window, all requiring course corrections at different times. KAC mod was indispensable!

    PMX8Rzq.png

    A shot of a fully fueled DCT just prior to departure:

    tA75fm9.png

    Goodbye Kerbin, hopefully see you in a few years!

    OFxsrBp.png

    300 days later, the fleet arrives at Duna. Some have to negotiate Ike, but there is plenty of propellant left for a landing. These are heavy vehicles, and aerocapture required a deep dive into the atmosphere and use of speedbrakes. igve37E.png

    7B9byou.png

    yZGMc0b.png

    KdCUF3h.png

    So that's as far as I have gotten up to now, the rest of the updates will follow on 'live'. I was confident of getting this far, but getting these big ships down to the surface through a thin atmosphere is going to be new for me. Likewise, getting all the cargo offloaded and integrated together could throw up some unforeseen challenges, even though it has been partly tested on Kerbin.

    We'll have to wait and see how it pans out!

×
×
  • Create New...