WuphonsReach

The triangles get me excited

Both OKTO and RoverMate parts both considered to be command modules - I suggest not welding them to each other. There are lots of causes of the black screen bug in KSP 0.90 though... My general workflow for welding a part is: 1. Create a .craft file in the SPH or VAB that contains only the parts that are to be welded together. I usually call them "Welding - PARTNAME" where "PARTNAME" is what I will eventually name the welded part. I also work on the part description text This is also where I spend the most time fine-tuning things, running down a mental checklist, thinking about uses, etc. 2. Save the vessel in the VAB/SPH editor. 3. Click the UbioZur Welding icon in the main toolbar. 4. Click on "Weld it" button. Assign it to the correct category and tech node. Fix the part names and add in the description (both are copy/paste from the VAB/SPH editor name/description windows). 5. Exit the VAB and close down KSP. 6. Relaunch KSP, try out the new part in a test design using Kerbal Construction Time's simulation function. If I don't like what I'm seeing, I revert the simulation, close down KSP, remove the parts .cfg file, open KSP back up, re-weld, and try again.

Mmm, I was hoping that KSP API provided some sort of "here's a resource, here's how much mass it has per unit and how much volume it takes" information. If not, then the solutions are messier. It may end up being that you have to keep a list of the popular resources, or at least the exceptions which require special handling, like TAC/LS Oxygen which comes in huge quantities. If you know the mass per unit via the KSP API, then maybe the pumps are simply rated to move 1000 kg of stuff per second. Which might be a reasonable least-cost solution that is semi-realistic and mostly self-balancing. Moving 100t of fuel around is still going to take a long time, but moving 1t of Oxygen would be very quick. ... Another option would be to cap the transfer time at some upper limit. Calculate the sum of the source tank size + target tank size in units, divide by 180 seconds. Your transfer rate is the maximum of either that value or 100 units/sec. For a little mono-prop tank that holds 750 that is pushing to another 750 unit tank, that is (1500 / 180s) or 8.33 units/sec. In which case you would use the 100 units/sec transfer rate. In the case of moving Oxygen around, the source tank holds 210k units and the target tank holds 50k units. (260000 / 180s) is 1444 units/sec. Since that is larger then 100 units/sec, you would transfer the materials at a rate of 1444 units/sec. I have some LF/O tanks that hold 29568 units of Oxidizer each. Transferring between those tanks would use a speed of ((29568 + 29568) / 180s) or 328 units/sec instead of the default of 100 units/sec. It's a quick-n-dirty solution, but a little suspension of disbelief says that larger tanks have larger pumps. And three minutes is probably a reasonable upper bound for moving bulk materials around.

For career mode, there's 2 basic options at the start... go for space planes or go for rockets. The science tree is really not that deep, and the hardness setting is really about how much grind you want. Orbital satellite contracts around Kerbin or Mun are going to be your bread-n-butter, so reject contracts until you get something around Kerbin with an Ap under 8Mm and inclinations of under 45 degrees. (For the Mun, it doesn't matter as much as it only costs a few hundred dV to change inclinations drastically.) The other bread-n-butter contract at the start are the "landed at" test contracts. Those require rolling a part out to the launch pad and hitting the spacebar to stage it. Next easiest are the sub-orbital contracts which only have an altitude requirement, not a velocity requirement. Never accept a parts testing contract with both altitude and velocity requirements unless you know for sure that you can meet both conditions (only true about 20% of the time given how the RNG works).

Depends on your tech level. If you have the Comm-32 available, then to cover Kerbin + Mun/Minmus you need: - Comm-32 (to cross-link and link back to KSC) - DTS-M1 or KR-7 to point at "active vessel" - DTS-M1 for Mun - DTS-M1 for Minmus Any probes within the Kerbin system should carry (1-3) DTS-M1, pointed at KEO-A and KEO-B and KEO-C (one KEO is enough, two is very good, three can be useful in some rare cases). For any mission to the inner planets, my KEO sat configuration is: - Comm-32 to cross-link to other KEO sats and down-link to KSC - KR-14 for "active vessel" - KR-14 for Dres - (5) Comm 88-88s for Duna, Ike, Eve, Gilly, Moho - (2) DTS-M1 for Mun and Minmus By the time I get KR-14s, I'll have enough sats in KEO above KSC (+/- 60 degrees) that I can put the (2) KR-14 KEO sats almost 180 degrees apart, giving near perfect coverage. Any probes going to the inner planets carry: - (1) KR-14 to link back to KEO-A (really only Dres needs the KR-14) - (1) Comm-88 to link back to KEO-B (later changed to point at Kerbin) - 1-2 extra Comm-88 for possible cross-links between other planets - (3) DTS-M1 for possible cross-links - Comm-32 for cross-links I generally send (3) probes to each planet and moon using that configuration during the first 2 game years. That gives me a basic network for the relaying of commands. One thing to remember - in order for a link to form, the source satellite has to be pointed at a target satellite - and there needs to be a return path - so the target sat needs to be pointing a directional back at the source satellite (or the planet/moon around which the source sat is orbiting).

Yes, a default of 1000 might be better - I couldn't adjust the slider any higher then 100 in-game and didn't dig deep enough into the XML. Ideally, I'd suggest calculating flow rate based on volume of the underlying resource. So the pump can move say 100 or 500 liters/s of a resource. Not sure if that information is available in-game though. Also, there probably needs to be a "Stop Xfer" button somewhere. I could not figure out how to stop the transfer other then wait the 20 minutes while it ran in the background.

Yep, there are probably no antennas pointing from KEO -> Mun as well as none pointing from Mun -> KEO. On the KEO sats, you need a mimimum of (3) DTS-M1 to get full coverage: - One for "Active Vessel" - One for "Mun" - One for "Minmus" You also need a 4th DTS-M1 (or a Comm-32) to downlink to KSC. On the Mun/Minmus sats, you can get away with just (1) DTS-M1, but I usually fly with (2) for symmetry purposes. The Mun/Minmus sats should point back to "Kerbin". The second DTS-M1 can be left idle, or set to "Active Vessel" or pointed at the other moon. I put a Comm-16 on them and orbit at 800-1000km, 120 degree spacing.

It's a bug that has been around for a very long time. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/78863-FIX-Dock-Undocking-Bug-in-0-23-5 Also, F5/F9 sometimes fixes it.

One suggestion - add some sort of estimate for how many day's worth of builds I have queued up in the VAB/SPH queues.

The only time that I have a DP-10 snap off is if it's not aligned vertically along the side of the rocket (I use FAR). Or putting it on a sloped part that is "in the wind". Sometimes it helps to put the DP-10 farther down the body of the probe, away from the tip. Note: I also use KJR. Note #2: I use StageRecovery mod to recover about 1/2 of my launch costs and recycle the boosters through KCT (to speed up the next build).

Probably measured in "months" not "days"... What you might want to try is setting up a mod that adds to the Contract Configurator mod, to do resource collection using Karbonite or the MKS/OKS resources. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/101604-0-90-Contract-Configurator-v0-6-5-2015-02-08 I don't know if resource collection can be done in Contract Configurator, but a lot of add-on contract mods make use of its system to streamline the process of adding new contracts.

Definitely try out the Jan 27th dev version of the DLL. I've been having good luck with it.

Suggestion - Oxygen transfer should probably be sped up? With TAC/LS, I can move a lot of Food/Water quickly, but Oxygen comes in such large quantities that it takes a long time to move it from supply pod to the station's core tanks. Filling up a 210,000 unit tank right now takes a pretty long time compared to the equivalent (in days of life support) sized Food/Water tanks.

That could be handled by: - Making sure that satellite contracts give about ~ 2k/day reward in funds (start to finish duration). So for a Minmus satellite contract, the payout should be (2000 * 8 days) for transit time, plus (2000 * 180 days) for the contract duration, plus about 25k (or whatever the baseline reward is for a Minmus sat contract). That's mostly a overall balance issue to make sure that all contracts pay out well enough that they are worth dedicating a contract slot to. - Paying out portions of the reward based on achieving mission sub-objectives. For a satellite contract, you might get 33% of the reward as soon as you get it in the proper orbit. You get the other 67% at the completion of the contract (30/60/90/180 days). DMagic (Orbital Science mod) has a contract in his mod for long-term monitoring of the Mag/RPWS around a planet. It requires a specific orbit (inclination / eccentricity requirements) and requires that you leave the satellite within those orbital parameters for anywhere from 90-400+ days.

I have a few strategies I use: #1 - Put the (2) KEO sats up first with KR-7 for "active vessel" and DTS-M1 for downlink to KSC, and DTS-M1 for link to Mun and Minmus. This has the advantage that anything with a DTS-M1 has pretty good connectivity early on. These also have a Comm-16 on them for side-links. #2 - Put up (6) LKO sats with Comm-16s at 267km orbit in a hexagon. This provides almost perfect coverage. Ideally 2-3 of those should have DTS-M1 links to the KEO sats (or a Comm-32). #3 - Put up (4) MKO sats with Comm-16s at 776km orbit in a box around the equator. Two of them should have DTS-M1 links to the KEOs (or a Comm-32). It tends to be a toss-up as to whether I do #1 first or #2 first or #3 first. Once I get the Comm-32s and KR-14, I toss up another pair of KEOs about 30-40 degrees ahead/behind the existing KEOs (within 2Mm). They can use the Comm-32 to cross-link and also down-link to KSC. Eventually, my KEOs get pushed outward to 180 degrees apart at 2869km altitude. I also do a lot of robotic lifters. The circularization stage has a probe core, battery, solar panels and a Comm-16. After lifting the payload into LKO, they detach and get used to fill in the 267km flock. Or if they are used to push payloads to Mun/Minmus, they get used there as fill-ins for a 250km orbit flock. My science probes to Mun/Minmus (such as Mag-RPWS sats) have DTS-M1 links back to Kerbin plus a Comm-16. So they serve dual-purpose as comm links back to home, omni-directional linkages around the moon, and for gathering science (or ScanSAT). I don't bother any more with dedicated comm-sats for the moons / other planets. ... For funding all this, I decline all contracts initially except those that ask for a simple satellite to be put around Kerbin with < 20 degrees of inclination and Ap < 5Mm. Those early sats cost about 25k to launch (less with StageRecovery) and the contracts pay out 50-60k around Kerbin. Other options for funding are: GovFund and Strategies Improved mods.

Boosting the default value of part re-use up to 400-500 can help with the time needed to rebuild the vessel for the next flight. The current default is a bit on the low side.

We really need: - Satellite contracts that require controls to be idle for 30/60/90/180 days, not just 10 seconds. - More vessel categories. In particular, we need "Communications", "Large Station", "Large Base", and maybe 1-2 others. That would improve filtering. (I use Remote Tech, so anything with an antenna gets stuffed into a suitable orbit after use to cover any holes in satellite coverage.)

+1 for KCT. It forces time to have meaning as you have to start thinking 3-100 days ahead about what you want to accomplish. If that Duna window opens on Y1 D217, then you need to start prepping robotic probes around day 120-150, because each one might take 3 days up to 30 days to construct. Secondly, install Kerbal Alarm Clock (KAC) so that it is easier to manage multiple missions at once (to keep track of transfer windows, upcoming burns, etc.). KCT for giving time meaning, KAC for helping you to manage time.

Suggestion - the unlock cost of the welded part should be the sum of unique parts within the construction, not the sum of all parts. For example: Welding 8 batteries of the same type together should result in a tech tree unlock cost equivalent to a single battery. Better might be that each additional identical part adds 5% to the unlock cost. So if it costs 1000 to unlock a single part, welding together 10 of them should cost 1000 for the first part plus (9 * 50) for the 2nd through 10th part. Thus giving a total unlock cost of 1450 instead of 10,000.

If the external fuel tank is supposed to be a single part, that you've built up out of five smaller parts - give UbioZur Welding Continued a try. You can put all five parts together in the VAB, then weld it to create a new single part.

My main complaint is that the tooltip for the mod in the thread window is mostly blank space. Hence, my suggestion that you improve the intro text at the very start of the post to give a brief overview of the mod.

At best in the current version, you could let the player enter a name - then immediately tell them what the profession will be (by creating the Kerbal in the background)? The player would have to manually tweak the name to get the profession that they really want. For example, "Dr Feelgood" might be a pilot, but "Dr. Feelgood" might be an engineer based on how KSP 0.90 assigns professions.

Squad was apparently a bit lazy when they added professions, instead of giving kerbals another attribute that could be tweaked, they're doing something like taking the hash of the kerbal's name and using that value to determine profession.

Tried out a few things... - Welding the center spine using the BZ-52 and Rockomax 125-250cm adapter plate to give a larger mounting area to the radial items is a very good idea. That gives you 250cm nodes in the SPH/VAB instead of only 125cm nodes. - Without KJR, the 125cm docking port is still the weak point. - Welding a 125-250cm Rockomax adapter plate to a docking port helps a bit, but doesn't fix the link between two 125cm docking ports. The main advantage is that the part on the 250cm side of the adapter plate has a much stronger connection. - Mass of the welded docking port didn't seem to have much effect. Tentative conclusion is that KJR + a bit of welding to create a 250cm node on the back plate of the 125cm docking port seems to be the best approach. Note: I'm using the Jan 17 2015 version of the KJR DLL. It's crazily good. Not even sure I need the 125-250cm adapter plate...

I have a few theories about how to reduce wiggle in large structures. First up is the test article. This is simple (9) of the Rockomax Jumbo 64 tanks in a T-shape using the radial BZ-52 125cm plates. The sagging is very obvious. The wobble takes a bit to go away when you move to the launchpad. Same test, but with the BZ-52 125cm radial plates welded to the center Jumbo-64 tank using UbioZur Welding Continued. Not a lot of change. Slight variation on the test, this time Rockomax 125cm to 250cm adapter plates have been welded to the central Jumbo-64 tank. This results in a very strong bond because the Jumbo-64 wing tanks are connecting to a 250cm node (the Rockomax adapter plate) instead of a 125cm node (BZ-52). There is some sag/wobble, but it is minimal even with four tanks on each side. So there is a pretty big gain from using UbioZur Welding Continued to weld the radial BZ-52 units to the center tank and also weld the Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 to the unit. Now for the Clamp-o-tron regular docking port. This test has (4) Jumbo-64 on each wing of the T, the regular docking ports are mounted on the previous test article with the central spine having Jumbo-64 -> BZ-52 -> Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 plate all welded together. The docking ports are not welded to anything. Test ended in failure as expected. What if we weld a Clamp-o-tron to the Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 plate? The results are not much better, the connection between the two docking ports is still the weak point. UbioZur Welding helps, but the link between the docking ports is still the weakest link. Welding the 125-250cm adapter plate to the docking port really helps out though. The real trick is to combine Kerbal Joint Reinforcement (KJR) with UbioZur Welding so that you have 250cm radial mounting points instead of just 125cm mounting points.