Evanitis

I'd say expand it only when another conract asks you to do so. And read the fine print too. Refueling ships (especially recoverable SSTO rockets and planes) in Orbit is a good way to save funds and expand your capacity. You can also store modules that you plan to use later for expeditions on your station. A set of science equipment, a lab, some nukes on a docking port, etc. Of course you could store those on a random orbit too, but it's nice and cozy next to the fuel. You can get to a point where you don't really need to -launch- a mission you want to do, just assembe something on orbit from the parked modules, refuel it, add a Kerbal or two and burn for intercept.

I met 'ship goes unresponsive' bug before when I had power, yet the 'control from here' options were missing from all modules where it should have been. Switching to Space Centre and going back always fixed it, so I didn't bother. Congratz on the Duna encounter anyways! Giant leap for Kerbalkind etc..!

Aren't the command pod or control module facing backwards? I can imagine no other explanation for the stock dV readout to raise instead of decrease when you start burning. Did you try the exact opposite direction?

I'm aware of that. But if I put the image's url in the lower line it looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/Eo9N85c.png Or this if I press an enter after it: Now I -know- there's a workaround. Managed to do it in 'The Rocks' challenge, but I can't remember the solution. I miss the old forum when it was a simple BBcode. Fun-fact: the images in my sig are links, made with BBcode in the old times. They still work, but I can't make new ones the old way.

Thought I make some badges for the Kerbals who make it: Flat-design vesion for those who prefer such: EDIT: -dang-... I forgot -again- how to make it into a link that points to this thread. It's -so- complicated in the new forum.

I have been playing with a seaplane lately. It feels the crash-tolerance stat matters here. I had no problem with structural parts and fuselages - the ones I checked had 50 m/s tolerance, and meant zero problem if I kept under that speed. Stuctural pylons and wings have 15 m/s tolerance, yet those never rarely broke while splashing down by 20-40 m/s. The main offenders I found are sensitive electronics - probe cores, reaction wheels. Those are listed with 5 m/s tolerance, and indeed I couldn't slow down enough to save them if they were used as structural parts. Moving them to a cargobay helped.

Short answer: you need to leave Kerbin's SoI by a specific speed, at the specific angle at the specific time. The time you need is the launch window - when Kerbin and the target planet is alligned so that you need the least dV to get there. Here is an excellent tool to find your window. It might give you an intimiditaing amount of information, but all you -really- need is to enter your starting conditions, click plot, find a deep blue spot on the graph, and check the departure time. It will also tell the required dV for the dransfer. From there, it's pretty much the same as going to the Mun. Except that to save fuel, it's best to depart in an angle that needs minimal or no course correction to intercept the target. You can kinda' eyeball that - it's a lot less critical than timing, but you can also dig into precise aiming at launch. The above linked planner also tells you the required ejection angle - here's a guide about what it is and how to use it.

Spent my day designing a (stock) craft that can dive underwater and go to orbit from there. Got one already?

But why ransom and destroy if you can just snitch the goods? I'd use multiple small drones with klaws and terriers to steer the target towards wherever I base myslef. Those might not be strong enough to overcome the main engines of the carft, but we can keep it pointed towards our desired node. I guess cooperating in such position is still better than burning for a random escape trajectory.

I totally, deeply agree with you. I'm only interested in the pretty, but useless stuff. ... though... it would be hellish to separate the existing lot into two categories..

Ow yiss! I'd love to launch a... Plan 9 for Outter Space

*waves*

I never knew you could store the data in probes. Thanks! So why not take it with you in the first place if you need the Sci? Mobile lab gets a multiplier if it operates far from Kerbin. In a 'normal' career, processing most of the local data on Duna or Eve orbit is kinda' enough to unlock the rest of the tree. Jool is even overkill.

I can't argue about Kerbals being expensive... and when playing career I'm very deeply concerned about the survival of my precious high-level engineers. Initially scientists too. But I wouldn't mind sending pilots for risky endeavours, especially after the invention of probe cores. About playstyles... to each of their own. IRL I'm the nicest person ever who only wishes the best, even to his worst enemies. I melt when I see puppies and can't look when someone gets an injection, even on TV. But gaming-wise, I socialized on Dungeon Keeper and sometimes feel like slapping underpreforming kerbals while threathening them with the torture chamber. Guess that's the very reason for me to not use life support mods. The fact that I prefer a ballpark mission-design and that I don't mind reprioritizing their survival return-trip if something doesn't go according to plan makes space dangerous enough for my minions Kerbals. Not that wanted to promote that mentality. I'm only mentioning it to invoke a smile on readers. From a gameplay perspective, Jimbodiah already gave the perfect answer:

As a potato-player, (like probably you too, with the 4gb ram - though in this case I believe the processor matters more) I voted none. I can't really justify the (sytem) resource cost of building something big and impressive for it to 'be there'. Sure I did it a few times. But for me it doesn't worth it for the few benefits they have. Thoughas I see it, the difference between 'a space station', 'a spacecraft', 'a module', or 'a junk with some functionality' is a semantic one. So if I want a certain function available at a specific spot, I don't mind leaving something there that fulfills the purpose with minimal part count. Refueling on LKO? An orange tank with a claw will do, that's universal size anyways. Mobile-lab? Sure, but it should be a separate module (as recovering it might be beneficial later). It might spend a few years orbiting another planet, but the tug (engine module) that brought it there can do more useful things while the Kerbals are experimenting. I don't think any of the above should be called a 'space station'. Though making -everything- modular is definately worth it, especially in career games. Once you unlock big docking ports and can rendezvous comfortably, it will be enough to build and launch everything once. Though of course if your pc can handle it, it's nice and fun to leave permanent orbital and surface bases with hitch-hiker modules and two bathrooms at every planetary body.

Hey, how about all of us buys as many copies of KSP as we can afford, so Squad can hire every modder and make everything stock? Or we could... you know, use mods.

5/7 for cat memes.

I guess Blizzard have more janitors than Squad has devs. Yet they fail to produce anything nearly as innovative as KSP. Wait, you want a -stock- solution for that serious problem? The little mod I previously linked works fine in 1.0.5, and does exactly what you want. You can turn off every extra features of it, so you end up with an ingame window with your computer time. Profit!

I had to realize that my mistake was impatience. I did my first asteroid rendezvous closer to Duna's orbit instead of the logical way inside Kerbin's SoI. And I wanted to bring it home -right away-. That resulted in a high-energy transfer. The angle of the orbits of Kerbin and Stimpy didn't -seem- too big, but that extra ~2.5k m/s velocity felt too much to deal with painlessly when having less than 0.1 TWR. I guess using nukes on an asteroid holding ~800 tonnes of ore wasn't the brightest idea either. I think if wanted the extra challenge, I could have launched appendages to rendezvous on an escape trajectory with interplanetary speed, or I could have looked for the most aerodynamic profile of the asteroid to aerocapture anyways... but impatience won, so I reloaded the save of the initial capture, waited 3 years for the best allignment and arrived nice and slow this time. This way a simple Mun gravity assist was enough to get a safe Kerbin orbit without any further hassle. Now only the fun part remains!

I'd be glad too.

Well, LKO would be home enough for now. There will be more work fun involved once on a final orbit. The taming crew needs a rescue craft as the tug isn't designed to land. We need to weld out Val from the cockpit as there is no exit on it. We need to milk Stimpy for some precious ore (and the more precious weight loss). Guess Jeb will want some photos, maybe we take some tourists up. But evidentally, the guys in the Science Center will get to keep him, so that's where we'll attempt to land. Gracefully. BTW... chosing a Class-E for the first 'roid to play with was even worst an idea than I initially though.

You could build some modular rails around Kerbin... if you have a bit of free time. Off to google land-trains, you got me interested.

Finally took my pet-rock Stimpy home. He's a bit shy and reluctant, so it was a long long process to herd him into the right direction. Sadly he seems to be allergic to Kerbin air. The rash he gets upon entering is the least of my worries... but he also gets mad upon entry, rolling uncontrolably, trying to shake off my poor Kerbals. The thrust I have seems to have no chance to keep the Asteroid Tamer craft on his safe (prograde) side. Guess I should set him on a perfect aerocapture trajectory, and leave him alone until he calms down. I foresee a painful trial-and error process until I manage to find the perfect periapsis for that task. EDIT: Ahh, wait, it won't work - even if I find the right PE, I'll have no way to raise it afterwards. *think, think*