FlyingPete

I like exploring a similar-but-different, slightly cartoonish star system. The proportions of the system work for me, especially when working with stock parts. Having to build rockets that dwarf the Big Orange Tank breaks the immersion for me. If I want our solar system I'll play Orbiter

You can get a single-pilot aircraft into orbit with a single jet fuel tank and engine, plus some RCS fuel. It all comes down to flying the right profile. Don't just aim for space as soon as your AP gets high enough. You should be skimming along in the atmosphere, building up speed and climbing relatively slowly. Towards the end, when you're suborbital, you should be pitching down slightly to keep within the atmosphere. The faster you go, the higher you can keep the jet engine running.

I think that mining Minmus will be a great advantage. You can assemble your interplanetary ship in LKO with just enough fuel to make it to Minmus. Refuel at Minmus (using fuel lifted from the surface at minimal cost). With a low-dV burn, you have a Kerbin orbit with a Pe very close to Kerbin. From here, relatively low dV is needed to get anywhere in the system. Similarly, fuel mining around Jool removes the need to bring fuel for the return trip, and burn more fuel just to carry that fuel around with you.

There are no visible aliens apart from the Kraken corpse on Bop, but there is evidence of their existence, such as the mysterious Ice Henge on Vall. There's also an alien relic on the Mun, apparently as a memorial to one of their astronauts.

Jeb does reminds me of a crazy '49er prospector. Looks like he's struck propellium anyway

I like the mass re-use of old equipment. Guess it makes sense when you have that much stuff kicking around in orbit. That rover looks kinda sad now, abandoned on the surface of Eve, probably to be destroyed when the 1.0 quake inevitably strikes. Still, the guys look like they're having fun on Gilly.

I like Minmus. About the same as the Mun in terms of getting there, but easier to build on and explore in detail. It's also far enough from Kerbin to justify setting up a permanent kerballed presence there. Eve is good fun too as it has its own unique challenges.

It would explain why they always wear their helmets on Laythe despite the presence of oxygen- the temperature, pressure and humidity aren't right for long-term survival. I reckon they'd manage without for a short-term dash between base modules though.

I like this one- seems like the sort of thing the original three would write.

It might be useful to have a fuel dump in orbit of the Mun or Minmus, and refuel interplanetary missions there. Burn into an elliptical orbit, finish the burn at 100km or so, and you would save quite a bit of delta-V.

I'll probably keep my 0.90 save going on for a while in parallel to a new 1.0 game when it comes out.

Jeb and Bill at Bop! The Kraken at Bop! Jeb, with sails unfurled!

See I've taken the opposite approach with a few types of craft, such as 1-man SSTOs. Since the jet engine can get you mostly into orbit on its own, I just added a couple of monoprop engines to the back for the circularisation burn. Then there's a single fuel for both rendezvous and docking.

I like the idea of the EVA suit being essentially a pressurised bottle garden

I've been playing this for 58 in-game years and still haven't got a Human to Mars. It's as if I never have any 'Money' to build anything with. Is this a bug that will be fixed?

Title says it all really. What's everyone's favoured engraving on the flag plaques? Whenever I start a new save, my first Mun landing usually ends up along the lines of 'Here Kerbals from Kerbin landed on the Mun. They came in peace for all Kermen' or something like. When I'm doing detailed exploration of all the biomes, I use flags to keep track of where I've been. In this case I usually just mark it with a simple 'XX Kerman landed here' If it's for a contractor, I make a note of this instead 'This proves to Strutco that we landed on the Mun'. My favourite one was when a Mun mission got redirected mid-flight when a chance slingshot to Minmus came up. The kerbonaut aptly marked the flag 'Always shoot for the Mun. Even if you miss, you may end up on Minmus. As you've probably figured out at this point, this is why we're here.'

It definitely involves a lot more specialised infrastructure compared to the 'Apollo method', but I think it's more fulfilling and also cheaper overall. You can ferry the crew and fuel supplies to/from LKO in SSTO aircraft, use an orbital shuttle to go between space stations, and have reusable landers at the station. All 100% reusable so very cheap to run. And yes, you'll end up very good at planning a rendezvous

Yep, the station is in LKO. Docked at the station is one of my older (non-nuclear) crew carriers that can shuttle between the Kerbin station and those around Kerbin's moons. Think of Dr. Floyd's moon flight in 2001:A Space Odyssey. The plan is to transport the rover on the front of this crew carrier. Similarly, it will be docked to the top of the lander to bring it to the surface, and hopefully the force of the separator plus some rotation torque will be enough to jump it onto the ground. I have three spaceplanes in the same 'series'. This one, a stretched version with a cargo bay instead of the passenger cabin/docking port, and an unmanned tanker with extra fuel. I like to build simple designs that do a job

I decided the crew of the Mun and Minmus exploration missions could use a rover for general driving about, and visiting contractors survey sites. The next Minmus crew rotation were due to go up by plane, so it made sense to send the rover along with them. "Cargo bays?" said Dr. Von Kerman, "Ve do not need ze cargo bays!" The rover was therefore to be carried directly on the back of the crew transport. It's actually surprisingly stable in this configuration. The pitch-up moment can be corrected by pumping fuel into the partially-loaded forward tank. Note also the selective yellow landing lights, which don't wash out the surface detail quite as much as pure white. Bill wanted to get out and ride in one of the command seats, but Kerson locked the door. When the team reached the space station, there was an issue. The rover has no RCS thrusters, and only one docking port (attached to the plane). The rover is also in the way of the plane's own inline port. Fortunately, I keep a mini tug at the station for this sort of eventuality. Bill got aboard the rover, separated from the plane and kept it steady. The remote-controlled tug then docked to the rover and dragged it to the station. When the time comes, the rover will be carried on the nose of the crew bus currently at the station. Dawn came just after the rover was stowed at the station. Kerson was then free to open the planes docking port and bring the plane and its passengers safely over. A rather unorthodox method of bringing equipment into orbit, but for light craft such as this, the piggyback method works well.

Maybe it ended up on a lawn dart trajectory and Jeb- never one to bail out until the last second- tried to pitch up. He found that the craft was quite stable in this configuration and landed it in the grass outside KSC. Now, if only we could fit some wheels and build a large, flat surface to launch it from...

For me, sandbox is now the R&D facility's highly advanced simulation software. That and for general mucking around with impractical contraptions

This sounds like a plausible explanation for how Kerbals invented aircraft after rocketry

You'll get more control by using a couple of the Vernor engines to increase the pitch moment. That way you can just keep pitching up until it stalls. Set the hotkey to enable/disable these thrusters. Unless you're trying to get the plane to 'hang' vertically from the nose-mounted engines- this doesn't work

Our crew transports are remarkably similar- convergent evolution in progress I use a single jet engine though, combined with a pair of 48-7S.

This is how I like to do exploration as well. Have a station with a lab and fuel supplies, and use a reusable lander to explore the surface. Especially now there's biomes everywhere this strategy seems more efficient and neater.