The Mechanic

The title of "The Hunt for Red October" got me the idea for "submarine". The new riddle: From the one between the mountains, more than one there are. They are many within one, to be used in the field, to be found in a museum.

A submarine?

Is it a hunter?

A jumping spider?

I would say he gets the post. Sure the riddle was a bit ill-worded but he mentioned Mercury first.

Actually Mercury was what I had in mind. The never hurried line was more to be seen in the sense of a cyclical appearance. To be fair, it might have been a bit ill-worded. Not to be the only to carry the name. -> Referring to quicksilver, also known as Mercury and Mercury project. it has neither company nor aim. -> No moons, orbiting the Sun. In olden times a deity's name it carried -> "Apollo, the ancient Greek name for the planet Mercury, when observed just before dawn as a morning star" (Source) only to be seen in the morning, it never hurried. -> Morning star as well as orbit Never to be seen passing between the dusk and the dawn. -> Not visible in the night, reference to the God Mercury guiding souls into the underworld. Well, it could have been formulated a bit better.

Sun? No, not the Sun. Also not Venus.

Wait...I won? Hu. So chess was right after all. I'll come up with a riddle but it may take a bit of time. So in the meanwhile, if anyone has one it shall be posted. EDIT: Or rather not. I made a short riddle and I think for the first thingy like this I ever made in English it is not half-bad. Might be easy though. Not to be the only to carry the name it has neither company nor aim. In olden times a deity's name it carried only to be seen in the morning, it never hurried. Never to be seen passing between the dusk and the dawn.

To gather the hints: It is symbolically related to the night and day cycle and also related to war. It is a physical object and the use of this object. Also it is a recreational, competitive activity and some call it a sport even though that is debatable. The shoes are there for a good reason. Any hints I missed? So what fits the hints and the riddle? Chess? It is ancient, has the black/white symbolism of night/day. It is related to war and sieges, can be played by a lot of people. Some call it sport, some not. It is a physical object that is used recreational and competitive...But tit doesn't fit to the shoes does it?

So it is more like "an ancient story"? Ignoring the first line it could be an air raid siren or something similar but how does that fit to the "ancient song"? Maybe it refers to an historic event of some sort?

I'm not sure if you should delete stuff completely as long as something isn't really completely useless. There surely are parts that are used less but in the end it might be better to simply subdivide the download package into a core pack and folders with extra stuff like the pipes so that they are optional but still available. And since SXT isn't RAM heavy anyway I don't see the problem with having more parts except for a bit of clutter in the editor (which can be worked around with PartCatalog even though I'm not sure if there is .24.2 version). And if you still only want some parts you can delete the rest individually which is always an option.

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads. Sorry, I couldn't resist. This is Jeb's Mark 2 Hovertruck. Surprisingly it works. And it works much better than Mark 1 which lacked some features, most importantly I forgot the probe core. I'm a terrible at creating and flying such things so I rely on Vertical Velocity Control and MechJeb to make it do what I want so that I only have to give it some steering impulses. Maybe I'll make a Mark 3 version sometime.

Small bug report: In the "Agents" configuration file are two typos. logoURL = SSXT/Agencies/KDB [...] logoURL = SSXT/Agencies/ArmSiddRoyEng The debug log says that it can't find the logos for the agents. It should be fine when changed to: logoURL = SXT/Agencies/KDB [...] logoURL = SXT/Agencies/ArmSiddRoyEng

I recently installed KSC++ and SXT and from what I have seen they are really well-made. The concept of SXT is perfect as it includes stuff stock doesn't have while being really lightweight, especially for the amount of parts it has. I have only tested some of those parts but from what I have seen while using them in career and scrolling a bit in a sandbox they fill some of the voids the stock part catalogue has which is always good. It has the potential to become my favourite part-only mod because as I said it offers a lot for it's size. As for KSC++, it is like Environmental Visual Enhancements in that both are visual additions that add a lot to the game. The clouds (and with Astronomers visual pack that I only recently found the aurorae) as well as KSC++ are stuff that once you are used to it don't want to play without. The trucks driving around the space centre and all the other stuff make it a lot more...lively. I took the trucks for a ride in a sandbox and it is really fun to drive around the enhanced KSC. While driving I crashed into saw something that is like a pick-up truck, which I haven't seen in the editor. Would it be possible to add it to the available truck parts someday? It would be nice if you'd consider it even though it is just more of the same. But only as long as it isn't too much work and only if time really allows it, of course.

See, I know you said you don't want to hear what anyone thinks about procedural parts (in general or do you mean the ProceduralParts mod? Probably this.) but I'm not so sure about doing anything procedural. Even fairings and wings. With a variety of wing parts (maybe even some larger parts than now) you can do quite a lot. So making them procedural is not really that necessary. As for fairings...I have used procedural fairings for quite some time purely for aesthetic reasons and liked the mod in general. What I didn't liked was that you were able to make a really huge fairing on a 1.25m base. That shouldn't be possible. I would actually prefer either a tweakable fairing with predefined sizes or KW-like fairing parts. The tweakable fairing would basically be all the fairing parts put together in one part. So somewhat like a middle ground between procedural and a whole lot of parts. You place the fairing base and adjust the size of the base. Then you would be able to choose between various heights and between standard/wide fairing. That way you would only have one part but you would still have limited sizes for fairings bound to the tech tree. I know there are a lot of different points-of-view on the matter of limiting fairing sizes versus the unlimited possibilities of the KSP LEGO-like system but with a better aerodynamic or better drag calculation you need fairings. And you have to limit those fairings sizes, in my opinion at least.

That are interesting command pods/VTOLs on that screenshot. What I would like to is where they are from? I've never seen them before. EDIT: Found them while browsing the add-on releases. They are from NohArk's Pick 'n Pull.

It doesn't even has to be something as extensive as RemoteTech. Do you know AntennaRange? It is relatively lightweight and assigns the stock antennas ranges and gives you some simple options for requiring line of sight to Kerbin and requiring Antennas for controlling probes. Such a "simplistic" approach would work quite well in stock, I guess. It is not too complicated and you don't have to build relays unless you want to control probes that do not have a line of sight to Kerbin or if you want to use smaller antennas for your probe landers.

I played about a year of KSP with the stock aerodynamic model but now with .24.2 I wanted to try something new so I installed FAR (without KIDS for now, I might add that if I start a new game again). The largest payload for now was a small vessel based on the HGR two-kerbal capsule for getting science from Minmus and I must say that - at least for me - FAR makes quite a difference. While it does take you less dV to reach orbit it nonetheless is not really easier if you are not used to FAR. My first rockets with FAR were dancing ballet in the air before being subjected to unplanned rapid disassembly. While I always made somewhat "classical" launch vehicles FAR made me put some more thought into building and flying. And over the time you get better and the rockets stop flipping. Another thing about FAR that I really like are the aerodynamic failures. Yes, it is frustrating if your rocket flips and falls apart for the third time. But on the other hand it really fits the "spirit" of KSP in my opinion. There are the mistakes which - I guess - everyone makes. Like not strutting SRBs and so on. You fail. You redesign. You try again. Maybe it is better, maybe not. And with a realistic-ish model you can go to wikipedia or take a book from the library and read about design principles for planes and rockets. So, yes, I would say that KSP would benefit from a better aerodynamics model and I would disagree with those saying that it becomes so much harder for newbies. It will be different but not necessarily that much harder. The same thing goes in my opinion for dV and TWR readouts. NASA didn't send a manned mission to the Moon without knowing how much dV their lander has. Yes, I know, KSP is not NASA. But if you ask me what I would find more frustrating as new player, designing and flying a mission to the Mun and noticing that my ascend stage does not have enough dV/a too low TWR or my rocket flipping and being subjected to unplanned rapid disassembly on launch because of better aerodynamics I would say the former is more frustrating. The former is a design mistake because I do not get the numbers which is annoying. It is like an RTS not telling you how much ammunition your troops have left. (Not a perfect comparison.) The latter is a real design and/or piloting mistake which only I am responsible for. The same goes for placing engines in the wrong place or crashing into the Mun at 120m/s because of bad piloting. KSP doesn't need to be 100% realistic but I found that for me the mods adding little bits of realism like DRE, FAR and TAC-LS really add to the game experience because they add a new layer of possible failures and things you have to consider. But it also adds a new feeling of success if you return from the Mun the first time with those mods and life support runs out before you even enter the atmosphere and you don't know if your periapsis is set right for direct re-entry but you make it and return Jebediah and all the precious science to Kerbin safely.

This truly is a two-edged sword. On the one hand it would of course be useful and awesome to enhance the capabilities of the human body or give people things back they lost because of illness, accidents or whatever other cause. We already see the first steps with hearing aids, advanced prosthetics and similar things. There are great possibilities for cybernetic enhancements/replacements. They make it possible to help a lot of people. On the other hand however...Well, I don't want to delve into politics here but think about how those technologies can be misused in really dystopian ways. I don't want to derail this thread but I would say that with Google Glass, smartwatches, smartphones and all those stuff we basically we already have low-level cybernetics. And I must admit that it frightens me. I grew up with computers, internet and mobile phones so it is not that I'm not used to it. But people are taking it to a level I find quite disturbing, especially because they willingly give up a lot of their privacy and are always on their phones doing social media. I don't know if it is like this everywhere or if it just my age-group or if I just perceive it differently because I don't like stuff like facebook. Well, maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

People already linked you to the Dragon Capsule and the Taurus HCV. Another mod that might be interesting for you is Home Grown Rocket parts. HGR includes parts for Soyuz and Shenzhou spacecraft, a small spherical command pod and a stockalike Gemini pod. The size is a bit non-standard (1.875 meters) but parts for launch vehicle of this size as well as adapters are included. So the modding community has you covered for now even though it really would be nice to see a Gemini-like pod and something that has more crew capacity than the Mk.1-2 (maybe it could just be something like a 2.5 to 3m Hitchhiker-thing as addon for the Mk.1-2) eventually once more important things are done. As for something like Soyuz/Shenzhou in stock...Well, you can emulate something that looks like a Shenzhou for example using the Mk.1-2 as descent module and a Hitchhiker as orbital module. Not perfect, I know. There might be better replica designs in the spacecraft exchange. It is impressive what some can do using just stock.

At first I would advise you to use Active Texture Management. This might help you to reduce the crashes, especially if you use the "aggressive" version which reduces the textures quite a lot. There are quite a lot of lightweight mods that are really useful if you want to build space stations. Enhanced Navball and the Navball Dockingport Alignment Indicator for example are both useful and lightweight. I also use Kerbal Engineer and MechJeb and find them both to be very useful. I must admit I first thought MechJeb isn't for me but I changed my mind after trying it because the automation of some everyday tasks is nice to have. Some of the guidance options (aero-braking nodes, landing guidance) are also quite helpful if you don't want to eye-ball everything. As for little plugins that help you while flying I can also recommend the Vertical Velocity Control which is basically a cruise control for ascend and descent. If you want to extend the VAB/SPH toolbox you could use Editor Extensions, Tweakable Everything and Select Root. About parts I would say that I would at first install all the small stuff I want to use and then check for stability. With my new career in .24.2 I started using MKS/OKS and Karbonite (now bundled with MKS/OKS). I haven't played with it much because I'm not that far into my career but I took a look at them so as for now I would recommend them. Someone else might be able to tell a bit more about them. If you like some additional challenge while building bases and space stations you could use TAC Life Support with is supported by MKS/OKS. So...that's it for now. There are too many awesome mods to use in one save anyway. Edit: You can find a nice overview here.

Multiplayer for a game like KSP surely is nice as long as all players in one "world" agree on the way they play. I wouldn't want to build a space station from multiple modules only to have it destroyed "for the evulz" by someone who thinks he must play the Joker. I haven't tried the multiplayer mod, but I guess KSP multiplayer has the possibility to be great as much as it could be horrible.

What kind of black magic is this? Reading the forum during the last year I saw things like the Kraken-Drive and also read somewhere about suspension for rovers made from radial decouplers. But how does this work? I assume it uses the flexibility of jr. docking ports and radial decouplers somehow?

Indeed. Before going back to 2.0.2 I was unable to start the timer. With SmartParts 2.0.2 - which also is not dependant on the km_lib.dll and is the latest version by Firov -, SSE 2.1 and SpecialParts 2.1 I'm not getting any errors in the debug console. So far it works. Might be that something between 2.0.2 and 2.1 did go wrong? Edit: The altimeter part as well as the fuel-thingy work as well with 2.0.2. No error messages occurred in the debug console.

I had the same problem as CatastrophicFailure after updating to 2.1 using the archives provided in the Dropbox. Since reinstalling didn't help I tried it with the 2.0.2 by Firov instead of the version 2.1 from the Dropbox. This seems to have solved the problem but it may require further observation as I have only tested it with the Timer SmartPart for now. I hope this helps.