AbacusWizard

I call them spacebucks, same as in Galaxy Trucker and Spaceballs. (I have long believed that Galaxy Trucker is just the distant future of Kerbalkind anyway. Small cartoony astronauts? Check. Cobling spaceships together out of spare parts? Check. Hilarious explosions when things go wrong? Check!)

So... does anyone know what the exact requirements are for counting as a "new" vessel (obviously *some* part must be built after accepting the contract; do we have more detail?), and how these requirements interplay with docking mechanics?

Hey, look at the bright side--at least the fine print didn't say "retrograde."

Heh. Reminds me of an old joke from Utah Phillips... "Times are hard these days. A lot of old hobos with no money and no work decide to end it all by going outside of town and lying down on the [brand name of a notoriously slow passenger train line] tracks. It's tragic--they starve to death."

The crew of the Phoenix III, having visited Duna, Dres, and three of Jool's moons, triumphantly returned to low Kerbin orbit, detached and deorbited their crew module, deployed parachutes... and then, without any warning, the ground and the oceans vanished; all they could see was a pale blue glow at the center of where Kerbin used to be and the stars behind it. They could do nothing but watch in horror as the numbers on their altimeter slowly ticked down to zero, at which point the entire lander, crew and all, ceased to exist in a puff of smoke. It was at this point that I decided to abandon the save and finally update to the new version.

I grew up on Infocom text adventure games and I've been playing NetHack regularly for over a decade, so I'm quite accustomed to filling in the gaps between ASCII characters with my imagination.

The first time I heard about Kerbal Space Program was from a friend who did indeed describe it as "like Minecraft in spaaaaace," but I've never played Minecraft, so I tend to think of it as being more like "Dwarf Fortress in spaaaaace"--not because of any specific similarities, but because both KSP and DF push a lot of the same "set up a meticulously thought-out plan and then watch with joy as it works (or with laughter as it falls apart and explodes)" buttons for me. Then again, I still refer to all first-person shooters as "DOOM clones" because I find it amusing, so I might not be the right person to ask.

Heh. I was thinking yesterday about doing something like this but you beat me to it.

Way back in 0.24 I sent the mighty Phoenix III, its landers, and its intrepid crew to Duna, Dres, and several moons of Jool (Laythe and Tylo proved to be beyond the lander's capabilities). Here's a picture of the crew lander and flag on Pol with a nice view of Joolset in the background. Or maybe Joolrise; not sure which. Anyway, I like Pol. Intriguingly unique terrain (are those plants or geological formations or what?), fun low gravity, beautiful views of the Jool system. I haven't been back since then, but that's mainly because with the new contracts and resource mining, there's so much fun stuff to do right here in the Kerbin system.

You're forgetting that the sub-orbital flight exposes the occupants of the ship to the mysterious radiation from the Van Kerman Belt, causing strange mutations that result in superpowers, such as turning invisible, stretchy limbs, and changing tires. That's what "gaining levels" is really all about.

[quote name='m_sporkboy']What I would really like to see is if you build something for a contract, it should flip to an "owned" state where you can't control it until you get another contract. Then put a filter icon in the tracking station to hide other-owned objects, and maybe color their orbit differently. Maybe contract completion could change the name of the thing, too.[/QUOTE] The one problem I have with that is that I often use "build a station or whatever" contracts to get a bit of pay for building something which I was going to build anyway--and which I'm intending to make use of later on. I don't want my shiny new munbase to disappear just because somebody paid me to put it there.

The impending disaster here is subtle... take a very close look at the window and you'll see it. [IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NG4WUKk38MU/VlVk8SJEvVI/AAAAAAAABj0/hyCnzKpFlw4/s800-Ic42/screenshot401.png[/IMG]

Thanks all; that should give me a good starting point for further investigation.

Transfer windows are one of the few things about KSP-level space travel that still mystifies me. I understand the basic idea conceptually, and I've heard of porkchop plots; I just have no idea how to run the numbers, or even where to start. Can anyone recommend a good resource for figuring it out? (I don't mean a mod that will do it for me or a calendar of useful launch dates; I want to know how to calculate them myself.)

I used to just delete all debris with the big red X in the tracking station, but a version or two ago I decided to try manual removal with the H-Wing, a little two-seat fighter of my own design armed with the harpoon cannon from KAS. Turned out to be lots of fun. These days I'm generally designing my rockets in such a way that the last stage is jettisoned just before completing the orbit, so no debris is left for the H-Wing to clean up... except for solitary cockpits spawned by rescue contracts, of course.

Probably, but good luck re-docking with the submarine after you return to the surface! Also, that show looks hilarious.

I'd love the ability to sort the list of active vessels: • by name • by type (and a few more types would be useful) • by mass (and/or part count) • by number of crew • by time since launch • by time until next planned maneuver (this one especially would be a lifesaver!) • by nearest celestial body [COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR] It'd also be great if I could group vessels by "project"--f'r instance, a few versions ago I put a small science probe called "Wayfarer:[planet]" in orbit around each and every celestial body in the game. It would have been convenient to pull up a list of every vessel involved in the Wayfarer project.

I love the idea of taking tourists up to orbital hotels. Still kinda sad that they're not allowed to go on spacewalks. Tourists can gain experience from flights, right? It'd be great if they could gain levels and gain permission to do more advanced stuff, like EVA, or take the wheel and drive a rover or spaceship for a little while, or whatever.

Nice! Reminds me of a really well designed paper airplane.

I'd love to see hinges and other moving parts. Habitation modules, both surface and orbital, would be neat.

[quote name='tranenturm']The one stock KSP reason I can think of to have a satellite is for quick turnaround on science around Kerbin contracts.[/QUOTE] Exactly. In a previous version, when I was first teaching myself to go interplanetary, I implemented the "Wayfarer" program, in which I gradually sent a small science probe into orbit around [I]every[/I] celestial body in the game. All "science from orbit around..." contracts became instant free money!

Didn't this happen once in Calvin & Hobbes?

I'd love to see: • stockification of KIS/KAS (and, while I'm at it, Waypoint Manager and Action Groups Manager) • more stuff to do (base-building, science experiments), or at least interesting places to visit, on planets • ability to build new parts from mined resources in situ • hinges and other moving parts • more career options for our brave kerbalnauts • more variations on rescue missions (e.g. send an engineer up to orbit and repack a craft's parachutes so it can land safely; send an engineer to Mun to repair a broken rover wheel; send a crate of supplies to a Duna colony; send a scientist to reset some experiments; etc.) • reasons to care about pilots after researching probe cores

"Hey! Come back here with my science points!"

What I mean is a design with two Mk1 Command Pods, one for a pilot and one for a scientist, as a quick way to achieve both good flight control and enhanced science returns in early-game missions.