Evanitis

Two scientist went on a long long career Duna mission. They had the first science lab we ever built. They landed on Gilly and Duna. They gathered all science data from the planet's SoI and the interplanetary space. They couldn't really process it there, as all the space-program had at that point were the most basic solar panels. But everything was packed for the return, they only had to wait a few hundred days for the transfer-window. Even the manuver node was set. When the alarm clock goes off, nothing's there, the crew listed as KIA. I believe the silly guys parked on an orbit that intersected Gilly's. Totally their fault. EDIT: I meant Ike of course. Gilly is someone else.

PSA: You got some balls.

Sorry in the name of the other kerbal engineers too if we were rude. Only a really few things can awake such manners amongst the community, unclear requests fall to that category. Let me point you to my entry in the easy-to-fly SSTO challenge thread. I'm pretty sure there are better entries there, but this one comes with simple, failsafe operating instructions. I'm convinced that you could get it to orbit on the first try. Mind you the described ascent path isn't the best for saving dV, it's just a very simple one to reach orbit. The plane has no cargo-capacity either, the best it can do is some LKO rescue missions. Mind you, many forumers will agree that designing SSTO planes is more than half of the fun compared to actually flying them. If I were you, I wouldn't skip this process by downloading a working, tested cargo-spaceplane.

I'd suspect something having radial symmetry when it should be mirror. My trick to make sure it doesn't happen is to grab the root part of the engine-wing construction, make sure the symmetry is set to 'mirror' ('R' key switches that) and reattach it. If the problem presists do the same with the rest of the parts. And ninja'd.

Now that I unlocked turboramjets, I managed to design my first, efficient cargo delivery pl-ane in my horizontal only career. That's 3627 d/V worth of upcoming munar exploration in the name of (50% reduced) science. The next lifter will even be able to land - here I forgot to add some elevons, batteries and a reaction wheel. Though it almost managed to touch down without all these.

Indeed, such helps but that's a career plane, just after a rushed unlocking of the turboramjet. Fuel-lines worked BTW, the silly plane got to orbit without touching the payload's fuel. I forgot to put batteries and some forward control authority on the return part, but it -almost- could land even without those. Backwards.

Hint: learning how to design efficient rockets to put stuff to orbit with is much easier than doing the same with an already perfectly engineered SSTO. It's more like a challenge - their only merit is the low operating cost, that doesn't even matter much in a normal career, not to mention sandbox.

You are evil. You know that adding moar boosters is a completely viable startegy... in sandbox and science modes. Though makes me wonder how much is the payload of that 3500 tonnes... Damn, I'm evil too.

I want to launch a very stupid SSTO. Though the turboramjets are using fuel from the rocket-stage too. It's not the first time I'm facing this problem, but circumventing this effect wasn't a problem with smaller, or more sane crafts. Though here it hurts greatly. I have the following sub-ideal ideas to fix the issue: - manually closing off and opening the rocket fuselages (too much hassle, has to be a better way) - manually transfering fuel from the jet-stage before firing off the rocket engines (even more hassle, less time, minimal chance of keeping the CoM at the center) - placing the wings on decouplers to stop crossfeed (not sure it would work, even more instability could be fatal, too tempting to just jettison them ) - fuel lines from jet tanks to central rocket tank... (wait, I just thought of that one. Is this the solution I'm looking for?) It feels getting this to orbit would require a better solution. Got a better idea? Craft file link - Beware! It's very stupid. (forgot to remove the MechJeb module, though it's the only mod-part in there)

The awesomness coefficient is pretty high with these. Also those were the pictures I had to see to advance my horizontal launch only career.

A Horizontal Launch Only Space Program (we thought about calling it HLOSP, but we decided not to) - Contract packs: Anomaly surveyor, Kerbal Aircraft Builders - Waypoint Manager - Stage Recovery - MechJeb - KAC Hey folks, this is Bill. I was asked to fill you in with stuff. I mean space related stuff. Naturally. So... Dunno why I was asked for that. I do blueprints and calcualtions and stuff. Not words. I think I will just throw pretty pictures around. Though the basics: The boss wanted a space-program without rockets. Dun' really know why. Some mentioned environmental reasons, others said that a certain famous J. Kerman only signed the contract if every single vehicle we launch is a plane, so he could fly it. Though that's just a legend - we have never seen the said kerbin-famous pilot. Ever. We have a flock of rabid lawyers helping us to deny any malignant accusations that the said pilot (or anyone else, while we are at it) climbed in to the construction that was designed to demolish the VAB and the Launchpad. It was unmanned. We definately didn't plan Val to operate it. Some question our decision of bringing down these buildings. They said it's completely unnecessary, and they would have believed that we didn't launch rockets at night when nobody watches. Others implied that it was done for superstitious reasons. That is a completely wrongful accusation. We did it for environmental reasons, and to provide a better sight for the folks in the administration building. Totally not because a certain ballad suggests that a sacrifice brings good fortune. [TABLE=class: verse] [TR] [TD]Once twelve master masons put their heads together,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Déva’s lofty castle that they would erect there.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]They would erect it for two full pecks of silver,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Two full pecks of silver, two full pecks of guilder.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Thereupon they set out, Déva town they went to,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Déva’s lofty castle building they did set to.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]What they built by midday, down it fell by evening,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]What they built by evening, down it fell by morning.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Once more they took counsel, all twelve master masons,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]How to stop walls crumbling, how the building hasten;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Till at last agreed they, came to this solution,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]All between themselves they made a resolution:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Any of our wives who be the first arriver,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Gently we should take her, throw her in the fire,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mix with lime her ashes, tender ashes softly[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]For to strengthen with it Déva’s castle lofty.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] “Coachman mine, coachman mine, eldest of my servants,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Hark my hest which is to go and see my husband,â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Spoke and said the wife of Kelemen the mason,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Hitch the horses quickly, harness them, come, hasten,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Hitch the horses quickly, bring them up the drive-way,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Let’s set out for Déva, take we to the highway.“[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]When that they were gone but half the journey forward,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Came there such foul weather, fast it rained and showered.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Mistress mine, my starlet, let us stop, go backward:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Yesternight I had a bad sign in my sleeping,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]In my sleep at night I such a dream was dreaming,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kelemen the mason’s courtyard I was treading,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Why his yard was all round covered in black mourning,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Right there in the middle stood a deep well yawning,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]And his little son was dead in it all drownded;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Now this dream today might prove itself well-founded.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mistress mine, my starlet, let us stop and turn back!â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Coachman mine, coachman mine, never shall we turn back,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nor the horses yours are, nor the carriage yours is,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]On you drive the coach and crack whip on the horses.“[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Towards Déva’s castle as they went advancing,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kelemen the mason saw them at a glancing;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Sore afraid became he, uttered loud this prayer:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“O my God and Lord, please, take them away from here![/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]May the legs be broken of my chestnut steeds four,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]May the spokes be shattered of my coach’s wheels all,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]May the Lord Almighty’s thunderbolt come strike down,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]May my horses snort and turn the carriage right home!â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Towards Déva’s castle on the coach advances,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Neither horse nor coach did meet with no mischances.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Good morrow, good morrow, all twelve master masons,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Good morrow to you, Kelemen the mason,â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]So the woman hailed them and her husband answered:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Good morrow, my wife, to you too,†he at once said,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Why did you come here to meet your death so dire,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Gently we should take you, throw you in the fire.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]We the twelve stonemasons came to this agreement:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]If a wife should come here, this should be her treatment:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]We should take her gently, throw her in the fire,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mix with lime her ashes taken from the pyre,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Déva’s lofty castle make thereby well strengthened,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Only that way can we gain the hard-won payment.“[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mistress Kelemen no sooner saw the meaning[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Than a woeful heart with thus began a-moaning:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Pray wait you, pray wait you, twelve who mean to murder[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Till I take my farewell, wait you till no further,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] Till I take my farewell women-friends of mine from,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]From my women-friends and bonny little son from;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]For the dead they’re ringing, three times rings the church-bell,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]But my lonely soul for none will toll the dead-knell.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]With that Kelemen’s wife home she went departing[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]For to say her farewells and take her final parting,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Take her final farewell women-friends of hers from,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]From her women-friends and bonny little son from.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mistress Kelemen then back she went a-hieing,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Towards Déva’s castle all the way a-crying;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]There they took her gently, throwed her in the fire,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mixed with lime her ashes taken from the pyre,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Only thus could build they Déva’s castle higher,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]And the full tall price win which they did require.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kelemen the mason when he went his gate in,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Saw his little son come running for to greet him:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Welcome home, my father, dear beloved father![/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Where is she, where is she, mother, dear my mother?â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Then his father answered, thus began a-speaking:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Never you mind, dear son, she’ll be home by evening.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Lackaday, welladay, evening’s come and sun set,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Still my mother dear she failed to come back home yet![/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]O my father, father, tell me, tell me truly[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Where’s my mother gone to, where my mother could be.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Go you, son, you go to Déva’s castle lofty,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]There your mother’s walled in, midst the stones lies coldly.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Up and went his son then, set out tears a-falling,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Set out for to find her Déva’s castle tall in;[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Three times did he shout on Déva’s castle lofty:[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Mother, mother, speak up, speak to me once softly!â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]“Son, I cannot speak up, for the stone wall presses,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Heavy stones lie o’er me, body, limbs and tresses.“[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]There her heart did break and under her the ground, too,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]And her little son he fell the chasm into.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] So anyways. We started the operations by sending Val around in a plane to distant, hard-to reach spots of Kerbin. She took some amazing photos so we told everyone that those were made on the surface of Jool to raise funds for our more serious projects. As the last few pics suggested that she's stranded on a distant stellar body, we got so much cash that we could actually try reaching space! Hooray! Here is the detailed log, starting with out first wingflaps, ending with elevating designs from the pineapple of Kerbal engineering. Sadly, we unlocked turboramjets despite the 50% science gain. Everything will be too easy from now on. We might as well just rebuild the VAB.

Anomalies - like that ziggurat- are in the stock game. If you are really really patient, you can find all those, without the mods I mentioned.

The bigest merit of spaceplanes I found is that using those is harder than rockets. Some might call it a flaw, but in my opinion, more challenge is more fun. I'm having a balst with my vertical launch only career. Just did my first Mun-landing there. That allowed me to unlock turbojets. That makes the remaining tasks too easy.

It's stock. Anomaly Surveyor or ScanSat can help you find those if you are interested.

Initially I wanted to express how revolting is what you are implying here. I started to think about a reasonable reasoning centered around why the clouds are more visible in semi-closed environments... but than I had to notice some other irregularities concerning the view from the hangar... namely that the sun never sets there. There's always sunshine, even at the middle of the night. Just like in the movie Dark City, just backwards. Poor kerbal engineers - I believe something really fishy is going on with them. I believe there is a lot more serious hidden secret there than toxic air. We'll need to investigate further.

Would you forgive me if I audibly laughed upon seeing your first pic? If you wouldn't, I'll just keep that information to myself and will not mention it to anyone.

I see Kerbals walking around in the SPH and the VAB in civilian clothes, with open doors. It's more likely that it's only the kerbonauts that have a strict regulation to always wear protective equipment on missions. Even if the mission is to take a soil-sample of the launchpad. I can detect many many solar systems in stock. What else are those dots you see in space all around?

Wut? Is this already started? Hell, I need to -really really- look for the rules and announcement post to find it on the N-th page of a thread titled to 'gauging interest'. I'd suggest starting a brand new thread where the first post tells that it's on and entries are welcome. If entries are still open - I'm lazy to read all of the last few pages to figure that out.

After a pretty hairy landing on a mountaintop, Val does her best to balance the plane for a takeoff position.

Why do I have the feeling that the op is struggling to place the apoapsis to exactly 5,986,434 meters while being on a reverse orbit? Ahh wait I know - because we all did so.

Ahh they do? Cool, just accepted the first tourist contract of that pack. Always wanted permanent tourists that doesn't care about deadlines.

I never tested it accurately, but from experience I can tell a thing or two. The retro-thrust is proportional with the distances. So if the blocking part is further away from the exhaust, you get more dV in the direction of the burn. Though still a lot less than you should. The visual effect of the engine doesn't matter - it will still block if the part is farther than the end of the flames. Your 'radius of cylinder/cone' assumption is correct: if there's an engine sized 'hole' below the exhaust - even if it's relatively far, you get full acceleration.

It's sad to see no replies here. I believe many of us clicked here and said - 'whoa, that's totally awesome!'... and went on with our lives. With the potato-comp of mine it would require a separate KSP install for the mods (that would be the third), and I probably still couldn't record what I do. Yet, I made a 'KSP-podracing' entry in the 'games and mods to play.txt' on my desktop. There's much RL stuff to do before, and even the KSP part of that txt is big enough. But the least I can do is a free bump and telling 'whoa, that's totally awesome!'

Are you sure it's not the time until you can decide if you accept the mission or not?

The answer is Temstar's Modular Base Creation Kit. It's an excellent, stock solution to this problem. If you are lazy to reproduce the trick yourself, you can just download the craft files.