storm6436

Thanks for the input folks. I appreciate anyone taking a moment of their time to help. It's rather challenging, trying to learn about a topic when there is no one to even start you down the path. Again, thanks.

Well, my "easy" returns from the Mun/Minmus usually have me coming in with a Pe of about 45k, no ablator. I try to save about 400 m/s dV to adjust my speed, the bulk of which is used on the last dive when my crit temps hit about 90%. Haven't done a return from Duna yet in 1.0+, but I don't see it changing much. Going for a direct aerobrake on the initial pass won't slow you terribly much, but I'd imagine if you were going for that, a Pe of 50-55k would be a start, along with plenty of spare dV.

Meh, my probe approach is pretty generic. If I don't have a contract to do something specific like magnetospheric scan, my first visit to anywhere is usually a mapping probe. Tech level and body dictates what's on it. No point in bringing two goo pods if I can't recover one So yeah, low-res radar scanner, a multi-spectral scanner, and a resource scanner is the minimum, in order by tech level.

I don't mind expensive, so long as the knowledge is worth it.

Well, if my experience is at all representative... I've been playing since the original barn was the best thing going and the only two other planets I've been to have been Eve and Duna, and only orbital visits. Multiple probes, but only one manned mission. This is mostly a direct result of how I play though. I've stuck to career set to medium difficulty and use mods like KCT. Between that and life being real busy, I don't move through stuff rapidly... Usually by the time I'm lobbing probes at Duna and Eve the next patch rolls around and I start over. That might sound frustrating, and to a degree it is... But I've steadily expanded and refined my skillset for launch and maneuver... And thanks to 64-bit, I've got new shortcuts as well. Extraplanetary launchpads means I'm not doing 4-launch mega-assembly anymore, just lugging rocket parts. So yeah, limited interplanetary, but primarily due to timing, not lack of desire.

So, life's been kinda complicated the last few years... Got laid off, went back to college, etc. I'm dual majoring in applied mathematics and physics... Thanks to this game, even. But my physics program does not have orbital mechanics as an option. It's all optics, lasers, etc. Can anyone recommend some decent orbital mechanics books for folks serious about learning on their own? Astronautics? I'm just starting 300 level classes and hopefully taking diff-EQ this summer, partial diff-EQ in the fall, if that gives you an idea round about where I'm at in terms of math.

Same. Been playing for years now. I vaguely remember buying in shortly before it was available on Steam early access. Bought it again on steam because I loved the concept. On a side note, this game is why when I chose to go back to college at 37 I am dual majoring in applied mathematics and physics.

Yep. The character under the sigma tells you what variable is being counted. (So it could be i, n, etc) Depending on the equation, you might see "i=1" on the bottom with a number on top of the sigma, say 30. This is the same thing as a "For(i=1;i<30;i++);" in C++.

Beyond that, there's a lot of itemization possible with 3.75m as well -- n-way symetry 3.75 -> 1.25m adapters (engine bases, anyone?) Take the 3.75m hitchhiker's module, seats what? 16 kerbals? How about a half height one for 8? Quarter height one for 4? Thin probe-core would be nice, same with the SAS and docking port module... Heck, on the mod front, I'd love me some 3.5m universal storage rings (+ a mass rebalance)... a 3.75m ion engine, 3.75m nuclear engine (heck, 2.5m versions would be nice too!), a 3.75m variant of the poodle? Some of these are going to be pretty necessary if we ever get 5m parts stock.

Frown. Will have to wait for them to port to the N-Spire then

Playing 7 Days to Die, trying to finish the sci-fi novel I'm working on, and doing scads of homework from my Calc 3 class? Why? Frustration-induced burnout. I had started to set up my minmus orbital station... First time for this big a project. Science lab module was first. Bit too big for my launch system, but I got it up there anyway. Barely. Next was my orbital tug... Far less of a problem until I went to rendevous the two. Science lab was unmanned at that point, and even if it was, I forgot SAS. Oh, yeah, forgot RCS on the tug. Docking those two was... Fun. Figured I wouldn't waste the fuel spent putting the tug up there, so I used one of my small passenger rockets and got Bob up there... Only to run into difficulties from having only 1 Kerbal and no probe core... Next was the refit mission. Sent up a rocket with Bill and Jeb so I could use KAS/KIS to lop off the appropriate bits and tack on the other things that came to mind once it was up there: SAS, a service module, three new batteries, and a probe core. 30 nail-biting, frustrating minutes later, task complete. Send up v2 of the orbital tug while v1 shifts science module to minmus so I can work up the tech tree. Design the utility module, loads of battery, 2 6-way bits with scads of docking ports, and a bottom base prepped for what's in the big KIS storage module: a bunch of I-beams, nodes, and Gigantors. Send up the utility module, dock it with the v2 tug. Design the two fuel tank assemblies for the fuel depot module while utility module is shifting up. Design the refinery modules... Prep for docking the science and utility modules... Perfect on the docking. Overall assembly handles odd, but... It's a station, it's not going anywhere. Now I have this crappy v1 tug floating 500m away. Ditch it into Minmus? Nah, keep it! I can refuel it and bring it back to Kerbin to get my $30k back. Go to dock sans RCS. Frustration... Frustration... Really missing RCS for these non-centerline docking maneuvers... And... And... Woot! Docked! Yay! *BOOOOOM* Wait, what the?! Noooooo! *RAGE*! The whole station comes apart spectacularly. $500,000+ down the hole, Bob's dead, oh and because I was vehicle swapping, no revert... And last quicksave was two hours realtime earlier... Never did figure out what caused it to all pop.

Random though relevant to this mod... Is it possible to do new kerbal portabe science experiments? I know it's a bit off the wall, but having a suit-case sized experiment you could EVA to nearby sites would be nice, especially if you're not quite to decent rover tech yet. I know that would require working with the KAS/KIS folks... Just curious if anyone had thought about it.

I'd also like to point out there's nothing wrong with repurposing stuff... But playing sophistry games with word definitions got old for me back when I beta tested UO and EQ. Personally, the tech tree needs some love. Would like to see either more engines or tech blocks that, when researched, altered base stats a small amount (1-5%)... Give me something to do with the massive gobs of science I have laying around that helps me feel like I'm accomplishing something. Past a certain point I don't need cash. I'd happily snap up tech upgrades... Alternate versions of modules for example, like DMagic's not-huge material science node. A tech step that adds +5 vac ISP to transfer motors like the terrier? Sure! Even a sliding scale, where smaller motors get more out of it, like +5 ASL ISP for the reliant, its brother (and any similar size class, so probably the little mammoth too), +4 for the mainsail/skipper, and +3 for the huge guy? Sure. Heck, make it where the trade off is cost. Exotic material upgrade, -5% engine/tank/structural mass for +10% cost? I'd buy that. I'd even go for gating some stuff behind material science upgrades, things that could only be done big prior to the new material can be researched into smaller versions, provided it's not volume dependant. Then again if I was calling the research shots, some folks would cringe. There'd be multiple types of science to done... And all that heliodynamic science you just did will not solve a material science problem when you're trying to come up with a better ceramic ablator. Just like all the material science in world might make a stronger/lighter wing, but it won't give you a better wing shape.

Yeah, I can't help but roll my eyes a bit Manley's "Nothing to see here, move along." Sure you don't carry the oxidizer with you any more, but as he points out, you have to stack quite a few tanks to get to the cream filling. If the performance of version 2 is less than version 1 under identical conditions, it's a nerf by definition. Sure one may try to make the case it's a lateral nerf / repurposing... But that doesn't handwave away the fact that certain use cases were definitely nerfed.

The hype train? http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-5-0-release-candidate-1-is-available.296875/ Cuz I'm pretty sure they're fueling it right now.

Did a search and didn't see this posted here... New to posting on the KSP forums and wasn't sure what the most appropriate forum for it would be since it is vaguely KSP related, but I'll leave this here.