cantab

Coverage was OK, could have been better I think. It was a bit light on technical details, it felt a shame to not have reports of the speed and so on like you would on a NASA commentary. Meanwhile judging by my mum asking me questions (which I couldn't answer fully because I wanted to watch the TV), it wasn't all that good at explaining things to the non space geeks either.

The sign looks like a square root sign, but I don't think that's what it's meant to be. Rather, I reckon it's meant to be a schematic of a price graph, such as a stock chart. As for names, I like "Kuid". But in my current save my actual name for them is "Irrelevant things, I play Science Mode."

I don't think it would. The 32-bit x86 architecture already supports 64-bit "double precision" and 80-bit "extended precision". The 64-bit x86_64 architecture does not actually offer any greater floating-point precision in hardware, so slower software approaches have to be used.

"Have a look at this space station. 1000 parts in orbit. And it holds a steady 30 fps in KSP 1.1" OK, I can dream. After optimizations, I'd like to see the science system overhauled, made richer and more realistic. And bring DMagic's parts into stock.

In terms of spacecraft and station rigidity I think the big one is that update 0.23.5, released April 2014, significantly stiffened all the part joints. You no longer need to be using loads of struts all the time. While docking connections still aren't quite as rigid as VAB-built joints, they're stiff enough for most sensible uses.

Radial attachment point over one of the science lab windows. Cupola on that. 1.25m docking port on the cupola's main window I think when the build command is issued, we should wait for the results before continuing maybe. Otherwise it gets confusing.

Tomorrow, the 15th December, the Soyuz is scheduled to launch carrying Briton Tim Peake, American Tim Kopra, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko to the ISS. Tim Peake is the first British astronaut to have been selected by ESA, and as such there's been plenty of interest in the British media. BBC1 will be covering the launch from 10:30 am to 11:15 am - that's UK time of course - then later at 7:00 pm BBC2 will be covering the arrival of the Soyuz at the ISS. Should be good to watch and boost interest in spaceflight in what I think has already been a good year for it

Remember those I-beams? Attach a Rockomax 16 tank to each of them, and run fuel lines to the mainsail.

As a new build I would not choose a power supply that can only just run the PC in that way, I'd want some headroom for several reasons. PSUs do degrade a bit over the years and may stop being able to output the rated wattage. If you're already virtually maxed out on your power supply you have no room for upgrading or even overclocking. Power supplies aren't at their most efficient so close to 100% load. And they might also be somewhat noisier than a higher-rated supply subject to the same power draw. On the other hand I don't want overkill. A 1000 Watt supply to run a ~500 Watt build is a waste of money and it may well be heavier and bulkier than you need. It also might be less efficient because supplies aren't at their most efficient at very light loads either. If you genuinely did have a 512 Watt build, then a 650-750 W supply would seem about right I think. However very few single-GPU PCs will draw that much, though an SLI setup easily could. Custom PC recommended 550 Watt supplies for PCs with single graphics cards, and 750 Watt for a 2 way SLI/Crossfire setup, and that's advice I can agree with in most cases. If you're buying more wattage then IMHO you should have a good reason for doing so.

So long, and thanks for all the ships.

... 6x long I beams sticking out from the 200 tank.

FL-T200 tank under that

-40 (-)

Why not? So I'll add four of the radial xenon tanks, stuck on the underside of that big battery.

Actual numbers do show that today AMD cards use more power than nVidia ones for similar performance. The figures Alphasus gave tally with others such as from this review http://www.trustedreviews.com/amd-radeon-r9-390x-review where the total power drawn by the PC under load jumps from 270 Watts with a GTX 980 up to over 400 with an R9 390X. While the AMD graphics rig is still fine on all but the weediest power supply, that's a big jump in my opinion.

Part tests either landed or splashed on Kerbin often turn up and sometimes give decent science, especially if it's a new part. The splashed tests can be done by sticking the part on a car and trundling down the runway and into the water. Bit of a chore but useful for a quick injection of science or cash,

Yeah. Some mods can have a dramatic impact on framerate, and it can even change when you go to an updated version of the mod. In my experience with 1.0.5 a great KSP computer will maintain 25-30 fps up to around 150 parts, if not more. That great KSP computer should have a Sandy Bridge or later Intel processor at a fast clock speed, paired with competent graphics. KSP is poorly multithreaded so a dual core is fine for playing, though a quad core would be a big help when you're also recording. Core 2 and first-generation Core i processors, along with anything AMD has yet made, will be nowhere near as good. Oh, and don't trust the in-game fps reading, it's known to give wrong values. Use an external tool or a mod.

I got my shuttle orbiter design airborne. It's a long way off being usable though. Step by step, I'm sure I can do it.

Girder segment, .625m xenon tank, ion engine.

You can do interstages in stock, just place the fairing base below a narrower part and build it upwards, and it will usually connect and close with a wider part above. It is sometimes fiddly though.

There was a circumnavigation challenge and I think the record there was round Kerbin seven times without refuelling. At 26,000 km, that's further than the record for a real-world commercial airliner (21 Mm in a special flight of a 777-200LR) or strategic bomber, but is still some way off the 40 Mm required to circumnavigate the Earth, something achieved only twice IRL.

-33 (-) A third of the way.

Attach 6x symmetry FL-T800 tanks radially to that orange tank, run fuel lines from the 800 tank bottoms to the orange tank, and put the blue nosecones on top of the 800 tanks.

Funnily enough, this actually seems to be relevant - but the only part I needed to touch was the case. The "bottom" side panel (the one next to the motherboard) seems like it might be vibrating. Not surprising with a fairly basic and lightweight case I suppose. I'll have to look into any ways to damp it.

If you're just doing an 18/30 limit, and allow other facility upgrades, that makes things *significantly* easier too. EVA and docking ports are a big deal. A few versions ago I put a Kerbal on the Mun and brought him back using rockets in the 18/30 limit and no engine better than a 909, but that mission used four separate launches and relied heavily on rendezvous and EVA.