DarkGravity

Undoubtedly you're right. I wanted to test if a wide cone might help a pack of 5 rockets.

THE OFFICIAL RESULT: The one without the nose cone beat the pants off the one with the nose cone. It wasn't even close to being close. If the rockets had 50% fuel in them: 7.8km vs. 13km. With 80% fuel: 16km vs. 47km. (I didn't use full rockets, cuz I wanted to conduct a test inside a reasonably thick atmosphere.)

Two rockets (4 photos), identical except for the nose cone. The one without the nose cone has mass 26 tons. With nose cone =26.2 tons. Which one will go higher? - - - Updated - - - This thread got me thinking about nose cones. Great data in there: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/122595-Some-rough-test-results-with-different-nosecones I'll post the results of my test here, after a few more responses are given, so the answer is at least a little hidden from those who are voting.

I was a little surprised the 2.5m nosecone was worse than nothing at all. So I compared the two on a wider setup. I radially attached 4 Thumpers to 1 central Thumper. I put Type A nosecones on the outer 4 rockets and either nothing or the 2.5m MK7 nosecone on the central rocket. Both setups had a Probodobodyne OKTO core on top of the central Thumper. I did this, thinking that the wide nosecone might have some usefulness on the outer (and slightly lower) rockets. To my surprise, the 2.5m nosecone setup only went up about 60% as far as when I used nothing. That was with 50% fuel in the Thumpers. I tried again with 80% fuel, thinking that over time, the effect of the extra mass might be overcome by improved aerodynamics, but with 80% fuel, the results were that the MK7 2.5m setup only went 30% as high as with nothing at all.

Very nice! Thanks for the data! I suggest you add in the Control item, CH-J3 FLY-BY-WIRE Avionics Hub. It is a kind of nose cone. I also don't think you need to control for total mass. You have a nice experiment with one variable: the nose cone's impact on max altitude from on a standardized rocket. Whether the better nose cones achieve higher altitude by reducing mass or by reducing drag can't easily be judged well, but the fact that it achieved higher altitude is interesting enough. Very nice! And nice to hear outside replication, Jodo.

If you want inspiration, look through some random screenshots around here. And tell us what has been your crowning achievement so far, so we can gauge how best to inspire you.

Thanks!

Well, I'm just beginning to learn about MPLs and Klaws, but the Klaw does only weigh 0.075. And I don't mind doing rendezvous. Kinda like that part of the game, actually. Seems a waste to terminate all that energy that comes with an already-orbiting 3.5 mass MPL. Then again, maybe I'm just being naïve.

Interesting!

So I just rescued someone from orbit. Now there is a derelict MPL left in space. I happen to need to launch a MPL, so I am hoping I can salvage this one. Unfortunately, I don't see any docking ports on it. Not sure how the astronaut even got out of the thing when I rescued here. I had to click on her image and then EVA to get her out. Does the lack of doors (ports) on it mean it is simply floating trash? Oh, and question 2: I see a contract to put an outpost on the Mun. Is it wise to use a MPL for that? Or do they need to stay in orbit for best efficiency?

I do enjoy the humor that is in the mission descriptions very much. But I hate fighting my way though 45 word sentences with 3 subjective clauses to try and understand what it is that is being conveyed. Funny stuff in the end. Written badly enough that I've seriously wondered about who wrote them.

You could sell these.

If it is temperature, see how they perform at night. It's cooler at night.

Scott Manley did that too, then did it a second time, just to crosscheck his work.

After reading the small amount of wiki info on Kerbals' personality traits, I am left with the impression that the only thing that is affected is the look on their faces and that courage doesn't do very much. Does anyone here really care about the stupidity, courage or BadS values of their Kerbals? If so, why?

Maybe you can "fly" the debris from the Tracking Station to get it to interact with the atmosphere? Maybe I'll try that on this one piece I have orbiting on an elliptical orbit. Sometimes it is below 70k, sometimes not. Usually I just Terminate debris from the tracking station and pretend I'm using a giant ground-based laser to vaporize the trash. Maybe there should be a cost to fire the laser? I wish there were an option to keep the debris around, but not have it displayed all the time, like when you're trying to do a mission where the debris is irrelevant.

I find that the best games are designed such that the player is never given an incentive to engage in unpleasant distractions.

I get this, even if I'm not flying something that gets hot. Also, my loading screens take longer and longer. Windows 8.1 I7 Quad Core 2.7GHZ 32G RAM Twin Nvidia 770s with 3 Gig each, SSD

....so you've been playing for 48.76 then, yes? BTW, what units are we talking here? (Clearly it isn't Dog Years)

Good to know!

"Seriously?! There is a trans-Atlantic highway!?" - a girl I didn't marry. - - - Updated - - - "Brownie, you're doing one heck of a job!" - G. H. W. Bush on how the head of FEMA was responding to Hurricane Katrina victims.

Cute avatar, TYD. You crack me up!

Hardest game I've ever played (that wasn't broken).

It was like a switch was flipped to the "on" position. After 3 weeks of struggling with the unmodded game, everything suddenly seemed to flow like honey yesterday. It was wonderful! In one explosive day of can_do_no_wrong, all of the following suddenly happened: For the first time, I got something from tier 6 unlocked. For the first time, I got scientist Bob to circle Kerbin (solo). For the first time, I not only landed on the Mun, but also made it home safely (talk about a science windfall, wow!). For the first time, I designed and built a tanker. For the first time, I got a tanker (with a full 1400 units of fuel, etc.) into orbit. For the first time, I rescued a Kerbal from orbit. (never docked with anything outside of the tutorial before) For the first time, I completed four contracts in one flight, where all 4 contracts required being in space. And then (same flight) I docked with my tanker and gave its second empty tank my spare fuel. (never did a fuel transfer before). What a breakthrough day! I'm 53, and I don't recall feeling this way since I was 12 and was given a unicycle. For 3 weeks, I tried every_single_day to ride it, and never got farther than about 20 feet, so I finally put it away. 3 months later, I tried again, and on my first try went 50 feet, and on my second try I could ride the darned thing. The switch was suddenly flipped. Forty years later, this happens, where my progress in 1 day exceeds all progress from the last 3 weeks combined. The lights are on, baby! What an amazing game!