Redhaze

Holy kraken, that's pretty. Also kinda ominous, with the reflection of the SAS module where their faces ought to be...

Constellation mission 9: Ronnand takes a newfangled kind of winged SSTO with two friends out to Labrador to relieve Jeb, Bill and Bob. I kinda feel guilty for being the only one posting in my own thread. Oh well. I'm wondering if anybody else has noticed the MK2 docking port alignment? When selecting 'control from here' it takes the docking port's orientation, but the position of the vessel's root part. The result is that I butted into the target docking port with the forward MK2 crew tank (The vessel root) instead of neatly docking. The way it looks like to me this would happen with the inline clampotron as well.

wrocket: It's right there, in the post. I agree with you there, Wabbit. Everybody likes our little lovable Nelemy dude. Hmmmh. Perhaps I should add a Nelemy into my save...

I have strict no-debris rules. It does help that most of what I launch goes on top of SSTOs, but it also applies to interplanetary stages and such. I'm no random lowlife litterer! I even lithobrake nuclear engines into people's backyards so they don't litter Kerbin orbit... ...Wait. that doesn't sound right. Anyway, the only exception I make for leaving debris around is unplanned flight plan changes. ...small accidents, really. ...Just nuclear meltdowns, vehicular collisions and such. Completely harmless!

Pardon my curtness, but that could have been answered with just a tiny bit of effort.

Considering Brotoro managed to get out 2 (TWO!) episodes out since I last posted a mission, I should probably take it as a sign to get cracking. Therefore: Constellation mission 8: Jeb, Bill and Bob succesfully launch another Classic 2 to finish up the Labrador contract for Winter Owl Aircraft Emporium, but suffer a financial loss. Lessons learned: 1. Divide module mass for crafts to be assembled in orbit more evenly for easier launching, 2. Make sure OMS engines for tugs and such have an action group toggle for maneuvering combined vessels and 3. Make sure crafts are really aligned before finishing with docking.

Heh. I've been using similar designs for a while. I find them to be far more useful and easier to operate than winged SSTOs. A fleet of these actually fulfills all my cargo-lifting needs, bringing up to two big oranges into orbit at once. I'm a little afraid of 1.0, though. The rebalance might nerf the jet TWR, which is the base of the whole thing. Slightly less afraid of the atmo rebuild, since i already build 'aerodynamically', but there is the possibility that that the decreased atmospheric delta-V loss might be compensated by making Kerbin bigger, requiring more rocket Dv. Of course they might also nerf airhoggers, but I do relatively little of that anyway.

That does make me think, though, how do you plan to get about on duna? You can't just use fuel-efficient jets any more, Pretty much any (expedient) maneuver is going to involve fuel-guzzling (and rather boring) suborbital hops.

I feel you there. I don't nearly put in the same amount of text and story in my own chronicling, and it *still* takes more time than the actual gameplay. Yeah, that's basically what KSP-TV and the associates program is about, isn't it? You should poke Rowsdower, Errrr KasperVld, about it! Protest!

Let me start off by saying I consider you an inspiration, Brotoro. Whenever I'm in a KSP rut you post a new chapter, and I get new ideas and motivation for my own missions, even though I have only ever done a few interplanetary missions in all the years I've played. I also love the way you manage to give each kerbal a personality of its' (your) own, yet at the same time stay true to the feel of established kerbal lore. So here, have some rep. Woooh! Indeed! While I kinda feel sorry for the new Laythe crew, it's the old guys and gals i'm more interested in. It's fun watching their personalities develop, the interactions they have and the whole dynamic they bring. That, and well, How much more exciting new science can be done on Laythe?

Pointy end up! Taken from the album of my Constellation mission 4

Whelp, apologies for the doublepost, but I didn't expect to have some new missions done again so soon. Just a couple of short ones with aircraft. As a little intermission I decided to do a couple of survey missions instead of continuing to build Labrador station, because they provide a little more variation and contract funds. Constellation mission 5: A seismographic survey by two new recruits in an updated Icarus 1. Constellation mission 6: Jeb and Bob conduct an important engine test for C7 Aerospace with the Icarus 2. Constellation mission 7: Jeb and Ronnand fly a double Icarus 1 mission to the northern ice caps.

Apologies for the slight delay, I had to (re-)design two new launch vehicles and it proved to be a rather complicated mission. Regardless, here it is. Constellation mission 4: A two-part mission in preparation of a space station contract, involving new reusable launch vehicles and some dancing. Up next: I have a couple of options. I could immediately continue Labrador station, or do one of the two Kerbin survey missions that have appeared in the available contracts, one involving a set of seismographic readings on the KSC continent, and one set of temperature readings near the northern arctic circle. Especially the last one might be interesting, because I'm not quite sure the current Icarus 1 has the range for it. If so I might have to design a new plane and upgrade the runway as well, which will likely take some time.

After the end of the first Kerbal Space Program, where funds were merely a formality and the only limit to a rocket was science and sheer Dv, things changed. The official space program of the species was disbanded and √ became the key to everything. Even the mere junkyard owner who wants to launch a simple comsat would have to scrounge the funds from ever nook and cranny to get it of the ground. This is when the Constellation Space Program is started. 'Negotiating contracts to fund launches' becomes the new 'landing on Duna to research bigger rocket engines'. With almost all there is to research completed, the question is not "Is it physically possible with our technology?" but "Does this bankrupt us?" The organization started out with nothing but a half-incomplete space-center, an advertisement folder for rocket and spaceplane parts, some old trusted employees from the last program, and an empty wallet. Contacts with part manufacturers were laid and the first funds were scraped together for Kerbalkind's first commercial launch. OOC: Table of contents: Constellation 1: Rising Star 1 Constellation 2: Rising Sun 1 Constellation 3: Icarus 1 Constellation 4: Classic 1&2 - Labrador station Constellation 5: Icarus 1 Constellation 6: Icarus 2 Constellation 7: Icarus 1 Constellation 8: Icarus 2 - Labrador station Constellation 9: Iolani 1B - Labrador station - Classic 1 Constellation 10: Iolani 1A - GooSat Constellation 11: Iolani 1A/B - GooSat Constellation 12: Classic 2 - Terok Nor station Constellation Space Program is proud to present the first three galleries of glamour shots with commentary of the first commercial space operations: Constellation mission 1: The ritual first expendable launch of a satellite to an inclined Kerbin orbit, proving to all Kerbalkind that commerce can fund space programs. Constellation mission 2: Jeb, Bill and Bob go to space! An expendable launch to LKO to give them their first training in commercial flight. Reentry shots sadly didn't survive the heat, but the service module did Constellation mission 3: While Constellation 2 lazes around in LKO two of the three new recruits, Gushat and Jermal, fly a new aircraft for an atmospheric temperature contract and get hot. Stay tuned for more! Making these albums and posts actually often costs more time than flying the missions themselves.

Hullo! Much like the one before me, I've been playing (on and off) since before Kerbin had moons. I decided it's finally time to actually join the community before we actually get to KSP 1.0.