Angelo Kerman

Sppecular updated and normals added: I can finally add weathering and such. There's much more to do...

Slight update to the edges...

No blimps here, that's Heisenberg! Did some more work on the underside today: It's getting there... I hope to have at least one part done this weekend.

Not sure if it works with Kopernicus, and it won't work with Custom Asteroids.

As a fellow introvert I get the need to get away from crowds. Thanks for going the extra mile! Liquid planets makes me happy. I have a mod in the works for that. No KIS/KAS in stock is a bummer but not insurmountable. I can see that many of my mods can remain in KSP 1, while a few (Heisenberg, Kerbal Flying Saucers) could transition over. Thank you @Snark for making the effort and getting our questions answered!

It works in 1.7.3 but only with the stock asteroid spawn system.

Snacks 1.23.0 is now available: - You can now disable Snacks/Soil resource processing if desired. Just rename Snacks.cfg to Snacks.txt in the LifeSupportResources folder.

Yeah, but will they be needed? I'm not sure... It depends upon what the part set is in the new game. I'm pretty sure I won't need to port Pathfinder over, for instance.

MM related: will,the game support config file alterations to parts during loading? Wild Blue Tools related: will the game support config alterations of part instances after editor placement and when the craft is in flight? (E.G. my config template system)

Will we get KAS/KIS functionality in the stock game? If not, how will the game engine handle parts being added or removed dynamically after launch?

Will planets and the distances between them scale with difficulty? E.G. a harder difficulty mode scales stock system to 2.5x

I hope your recovery goes well.

Loving the new Mk III! Safety reasons is always a good way to cover up pilot error ensure the vehicle is operating correctly during its operational test flight.

You’re assuming there are enough margins for the mass of rockets. There isn’t. When the craft crashed, it was going slow enough to be recovered without too much damage (that was fixed off screen). The prototype doesn’t have much crash tolerance... As for the static charge, yup, that is a direct reference to Mass Effect.

The Nautilus Accident Investigation Board's report concluded that Chademy Kerman erroneously dipped Nautilus (DSEV-03) too far into Kerbin's atmosphere during her aerobraking return from Minmus. He then made a critical error when he tried to flip the ship around to raise its periapsis. That act resulted in the spacecraft tumbling out of control and causing excessive overheating, which resulted in numerous structural failures. One of those failures resulted in the loss of Chademy Kerman, pilot and spacecraft commander of DSEV-03. The NAIB recommended that the Protector-class Deep Space Exploration Vessel use propulsive captures in the future, and that aerobraking is only to be used in an emergency and limited to no more than 50km altitude. Damage assessment to DSEV-03 declared it serviceable after a extensive refit. To that end, Barfal "Barf" Kerman began refitting DSEV-03 several weeks later. Skybase printed up replacement parts, and Barf took a walk outside to install a new Mk 2 Docking port where the S1 Orbital Command Pod used to be: Then she replaced the lost SAFER nuclear reactor along with its RTG auxilary power: After that, Lemley piloted the Scrapper Pod to clip Nautilus' Space Transportation Main Engine: Finally, Barf attached another Mk 2 Docking Port to the engine mount: With the replacement reactor and new docking ports in place, DSEV-03 was ready for the next phase of her refit.

Thanks! It is taking longer than expected but it’s getting there... Right now I don’t have plans to turn the mothership into a Star Trek saucer section. I am focused on getting the baseline parts done first. If I do make Trek parts they would be in an optional download pack. I am drawn to the NX-01 and the mothership is inspired by it, but I could see more traditional looking pieces as well...

The smaller saucer is based on real world references like Project Silverbug, so I totally get wanting to make the V-173

I did some more texturing on my KFS mothership, then played more of my KSP 1.3.1 career. My aerobraking return from Minmus didn't go as planned... RIP Chademy Kerman, pilot of Nautilus (DSEV-03). Derry Kerman, the ship's chief engineer, survived. Mission Control helped Derry return to Skybase where the ship will be refitted:

The flying saucer at this point is like the Wright Flyer. The engineers barely understand the science and engineering behind it. And the gravitic engine is underpowered even in the Mun's lesser gravity. The more mass you add, the harder it is to make it fly. Adding backup rockets would be more mass for the gravitic engine to accommodate. Plus, I've had many a work project where an issue cropped up from something that is obvious now, but wasn't while the thing was being designed. As Railgunner pointed out, the engine failures were from static charge buildup, something the kerbals didn't think of. Everything was running fine, then boom, dead. So in these situations, backup rockets would just make the problem worse as fuel and oxidizer combined and ignited.

Thanks for the sentiments. It is nice to see that parts that I made like DSEV's fusion engine and Pathfinder's inflatable base modules have similar concepts in the new game... From what I've seen thus far of KSP 2, it pretty much has all the parts that I've made in mods over the years, so depending upon what they deliver, I might not need to port over MOLE, DSEV, Buffalo, or Pathfinder. But it does sound like part sizes remain the same, and the various videos and interviews released thus far make it sound like porting parts to KSP 2 won't be that bad. My guess is that I'll be able to port over my flying saucers. But we'll see in about a year. In the meantime, here's a fix for the Guppy's part upgrades.

My KSP 1.3.1 save is pretty full and takes a long time to load, so adding more part mods like OPT would bog it down even more. It's probably something to consider for a future game, one updated to the latest KSP. As for IVAs, thanks! I try to make my own where appropriate, but they're incredibly tedious and time consuming, and almost not worth my time. Hence I don't have plans to make an interior mod.

Chapter Thirteen: Lucky You Duna Expedition One Mission Commander’s Log, Sol 25 Jeb is starting to get on my nerves. Again. Ever since the vonKerman crew arrived, he’s been sullen and brooding. He’s not much more than three minths older than me, but he acts like he’s been personally affected by the horrors of the Last War. The fact is, neither one of us were even born yet when the Last War ended. Unless I can solve this soon, it will seriously affect the crew’s morale. Besides, we’ll accomplish more by working together than we will by keeping the crews separate. Speaking of sticking together, we finally have enough room to spread out a bit, and Bob moved in with me yesterday. The whole crew knew about our liaison, of course- you can’t hide anything like that aboard a ship as small as the Protector- but it’s nice to finally make it semi-official. We hear the workshop’s machinery running while we doze in the loft, but it’s a steady rhythm and we got used to it pretty quick. I’m glad that KSP doesn’t frown upon interrelationships between crew members, but they don’t exactly condone them either. So we’ll keep things discrete and focus on our mission objectives. With the Drill Truck’s arrival, we have enough snacks to last us a good 177 days, and the CHON processors will keep improving that number until the greenhouse’s efforts can literally bear fruit. Additionally, Bill solved our power distribution issues. The Drill Truck’s SAFER reactors are providing us with plenty of power, and we even managed to print up another reactor. With basic survival secured, our resource stockpiles growing and initial base expansion complete, we can focus on our next set of goals: explore the Rusty Planet and prepare for the next phase of expansion. We have plenty to explore as well. Atmospheric tests show that while the ground is incredibly dry, the air has water vapor in it, so our next goal is to collect as much as we can. Also, Bob and Payin were analyzing the images taken by the Duna Recon Orbiters when they spotted several anomalies to investigate. But with the Duna Flyer wrecked- I still feel bad about that- we won’t be able to take a look until we rebuild it. Bobus is strongly in favor of making an improved Flyer, but to do that we need a working vehicle foundry. But to get that we need more equipment, which means- Well, suffice to say that we have a lot of work ahead of us. Ok, time to brief the vonKermans about our status. It’s better that I do it than put up with the 42-second delay round trip needed for the translators back home. I’m the only one who speaks vonKerman, and they still need reassurances that they’re not our prisoners. I haven’t figured out why, and of course “Kerbin Galactic” has no comment on the matter… *** Six days later, Bill and Bobus finished assembling the Rangeland as well as a small mule that Bobus used to tear up the Duna Flyer. Its scrapped materials were then recycled to form a new and improved Mk2 Duna Flyer. Just before launch, Bobus made a quick EVA and installed a last-minute sensor to help detect anomalies. Finally, the Mk2 Flyer was ready to fly. “Atomic pile is hot, SAFER is running at capacity. Flight computer is green, BTDT is operational, and atmospheric sensor is active. Water vapor confirmed,” Bobus rattled off. “She’s all yours, Val.” “You’re sure?” “Jim- uh, Captain James- once told me that the best way to get over your fear of something after a failure is to get back up and do it again,” Bobus explained. Valentina knew this lesson all too well. She also knew that tenacity wasn’t about avoiding failure, it was about keeping going when you do. “I appreciate your trust,” she said simply as she sat down at the remote piloting station. Carefully she maneuvered the Flyer off of the construction pad and onto the desert floor. After lining up with the first navigation waypoint, she firewalled the engines. The plane’s four electric motors struggled to gain enough speed to lift off, but the Flyer slowly lifted into the air. It clawed for altitude, so Valentina retracted the landing gear. That worked, and soon the Mk2 Duna Flyer cruised through the air. It flew straight for several minutes before Valentina began lowering its altitude and extending the landing gear once more. If things went wrong, at least the radioactive debris would be well away from Duna Base. The Flyer inched even lower to the ground. “Here we go,” she said quietly. The wheels touched down and then the plane bounced into the thin air once more. Valentina gently lowered the craft again, and the plane again fought to stay in the air. At last it settled onto the ground and stayed there. The pilot immediately applied the brakes, stopping the Flyer. Everyone cheered. “Looks like the longer wings worked,” Bill said, congratulating Bobus. Bobus beamed. “Welcome to the Duna Space Program,” he said, quoting a line from one of JJ Kerman’s stories. “Anyway, we should be good to go scouting now, and our foundry should be up to the task of building tankers to refuel the Protector.” “Excellent,” Valentina said. “We can start work on that tomorrow. In the meantime…” She pushed the throttle controls to their maximum and let speed build up on the Flyer. At 54 meters-per-second, she rotated the craft and it lifted off, slowly clawing its way to altitude. At 7,000 meters, Valentina leveled off and flew for an hour while tracking their first navigation waypoint. When the BTDT sensor lit up along with Payin’s eyes- her sensor worked- Valentina set the craft down in the local night and taxied around until they finally found their quarry. The team silently stared at the weathered relic encased in sandstone. Somebody had reached Duna long before they did. *** “Don’t worry, Kelbin, you’ll get your chance to fly the saucer,” a familiar voice said behind him. “If I had qualified to fly the saucer, it would be me in there instead of Fredgan though.” Kelbin turned around and gasped. “Ribbles? Holy Moho! Is it really you?” “News of my demise was greatly exaggerated,” Ribbles responded, grinning. “But.. how are- Munbase Enterprise vanished without a trace! How are you here?” “Oh,” Ribbles began, “that. Well, see, after the KIA took over the Armstrong MSR-2 rover to explore the munar anomalies that nobody told us about, they stumbled onto the crashed saucer. They teamed up with the Air Force to reverse engineer it, and sent the original team out from a secret launch site. That nearly tipped off the vonKermans. When it came time to expand, we needed a way to get resources and personnel…” “They abducted you?” “Oh no,” Ribbles continued, “we were in on it from the beginning. Gene did a fantastic job of staging the whole mystery… Anyway, we played prerecorded transmissions while we packed up Munbase Enterprise and shuttled it over to Saucer Base, then unpacked and expanded the base. I must say, we have been really enjoying reverse-engineering that saucer.” He looked around before quietly adding “at least when we don’t have to deal with Lodory… “Our families know that we’re on ‘special assignment’ but beyond that nothing else. We’ll get to go home soon enough, but then it’s on to some other top secret project. Squad knows the Air Force has plenty of top secret projects.” “If he's that good at keeping secrets, remind me to never play five-cards with Gene… But doesn’t it bother you that KSC thinks you’re all dead,” Kelbin asked. Ribbles shrugged. “At first yes, but after a year we-“ “LGM 4 you are go for main power up and engine warming,” Lodory’s voice blared loudly over the base’s public announcement system. He really liked to flaunt his authority. “Let’s catch up more later,” Kelbin said quickly, turning to a nearby monitor to watch the test flight. “Atomic pile is hot,” Fredgan said over the wireless. “Gravimetric displacement generator is active, gravity wave output is holding steady at 0.01. Gravitic engine is armed… and good start. Ok, engine is idling, all systems are in the green.” “We concur, LGM 4,” Lodory proclaimed, “stand by for final clearance.” A few minutes later, he gave the go ahead. Kelbin watched as the small saucer lifted off with electrified plasma trailing in its wake. It remained motionless for several minutes while its systems were checked and verified. Kelbin watched the monitors as LGM 4 accelerated upwards and way from the base. The craft flew out along the plains and craters of the Mun, with Fredgan calling off various readings. “It’s starting to get warm in here,” he noted. The same thing had happened before. “Mulch,” Lodory cursed, “I thought we really fixed it this time. Fred, can you-“ Suddenly, a loud static buzzing threatened to deafen everyone listening to the wireless. It sounded like a power transformer shorting out. They could hear Fredgan yelp. “Uh, circuit breakers just tripped. Lots of red warning lights, Alert! Alert! Alert! LGM 4 going down!” Kelbin watched the monitors helplessly as the gravitic saucer headed for the munar regolith. Fredgan slowed the craft as much as he could and frantically hit the landing gear button, not remembering that the gear was already down. The saucer smashed into the ground, kicking up dust. “I’m ok,” he finally said, his voice wavering. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. “Nice lithobraking,” Lodory said acidly. *** “Well, we knew that the Ancient Aliens visited Kerbin,” Valentina pointed out, “so why wouldn’t they have visited other planets in our solar system too? Maybe this is one of their old probes?” “It could be,” Bob admitted. “It’s encased in sandstone, so it must’ve been here for a long time.” “Yeah…” she pondered something quietly before continuing. “Uh, is there anything else we can learn from this site? If not, let’s mark it on the map and move on.” A few minutes later, the Duna Flyer II was back in the air and winging its way across the rusty desert once more. It flew north-northwest up to the Great Canyon in search of its next landing zone. A couple of hours later, it touched down safely and taxied up next to an old space probe. The Duna Expedition One team was delighted to inspect the old Elcano-1 probe, the first kerbal-made spacecraft to land on the Rusty Planet. It looked surprisingly intact despite some weathering. The team took additional readings before shutting the aircraft down for several hours. Their next target was still in darkness. *** Danrick took the Mule out to get LGM 4 back on its feet and tow it back to base. As Kelbin watched the replay of the saucer’s flight, he was mesmerized by the lightning cracking away from the saucer. He froze, formulating an idea… “Hey, Lodory,” Kelbin asked, “we use electricity to charge up the graviolium to produce gravity waves, right?” “Yes,” Lodory answered. “What of it?” “Does all the electricity get converted?” “Of course.” “You sure?” “Yes, Kelbin, I’m sure. Why?” “What about all that lightning coming off the saucer?” “Ah, that’s just static discharge from the plasma venting,” Lodory explained. “That happens as small amounts of graviolium are vaporized as it gets charged up.” “Well, couldn’t the saucer gain a static charge as it flies through the plasma? Or could the system accumulate a static charge as the generator zaps the graviolium? I mean, no system is 100% perfect, right?” “It would- Uh…” Now it was Lodory’s turn to freeze, lost in thought. “Hm…” He suddenly got out of his chair and went back to his lab. *** A few days later, Lodory went outside to install several small lightning rod-like spikes onto the gravitic saucer. After checking his handiwork, he resumed his post in the base. With Fredgan too spooked to fly the saucer again, Kelbin finally had his chance. He boarded the craft, taxied it out of the hangar, and began powering up its systems. “Don’t crash, Kelbin,” Gedra said over the wireless. “You still have to fly me home.” “If he crashes, it won’t be because of the gravitics,” Lodory proclaimed. “LGM 4, you’re cleared for hover. Don’t forget to activate the dischargers.” Kelbin sighed. Micromanaging appeared to be part of Lodory’s hierarchical culture. He tried not to take it personally. It was hard though. “Copy that, Control. Dischargers are active. Xenon gas is flowing at 0.001 units per second. The new static charge meter shows that the levels are… dropping!” Kelbin couldn’t help but feel elated. He flipped the saucer upside down as it hovered above the platform. “Acceleration is independent of orientation,” he said by way of explanation. Lodory was about to complain when Gedra directed him to proceed with the flight testing. Kelbin jammed the throttle forward and the saucer rapidly accelerated. A few kilometers later, it slowed down just as fast. He again flipped the saucer upside down, this time to get a look at some debris left over from the base’s construction. Several minutes of flying later, it was apparent that the static dischargers were doing their job; there was no danger that the gravitic craft would explode. As he returned to base, Kelbin rotated the saucer to roughly match that of the crashed alien vehicle that provided the technology that made the flight a success. Then he eased LGM 4 into its hangar and slowly set it back onto the platform. “Doctor Lodory,” Gedre began, “I must say, it looks like Project Excalibur is finally coming together.”

Today I finished the baseline hull patterns for my KFS mothership. Then I took the prototype out for a spin: There's a lot more to do with the detailing before I can finally start working on things like cargo bays and science labs, but I'm liking the direction.

I think, at last, I've got a baseline hull texture that I like: There is still more to do, such as detailing the plasma vents and adding decals and weathering, but it's finally got the right look. Once I get that done, I can start working on other parts like the cockpit, science labs, and such.