MaxwellsDemon

Is this specifically using the rendezvous autopilot? I tend to use Maneuver Planner to do the three steps individually (Hohmann transfer, fine tune approach, and then match velocities) and haven't noticed behavior like that.

Let's not forget this little beauty, albeit an airplane... (Convair 'Pogo'. Pilots hated 'backing' in for a landing...) (This looks very Kerbalesque itself, come to think of it!)

Your mileage may vary. One of KSP's strengths is the fairly broad set of options it gives us to play 'our way.'

If the science is there to be taken (from around KSC), I don't see how it's a "cheat." It is, however, pretty boring. So, a lot of boredom in exchange for rushing through something I don't really care to rush through? Not my cuppa tea. (Note: I usually decrease the Science reward in my campaign games anyway, just to stretch things out... so I'm obviously playing in a different style here...)

I rather enjoy the challenge of the "early days," so I try not to rush past it too quickly!

Pretty much the same for the majority of the American stable of boosters, too, for that matter... I think it's a universal condition unless you're Burt Rutan or someone like that.

Mystery solved. My wife bought it for me, but misplaced it and forgot to give it to me for Christmas. In my eager hands now... happy ending!

Looking through the settings.cfg I spotted two items I'm not clear on the function of... } TOGGLE_SPACENAV_FLIGHT_CONTROL { primary = ScrollLock secondary = None group = 0 modeMask = -1 modeMaskSec = -1 } TOGGLE_SPACENAV_ROLL_LOCK { primary = None secondary = None group = 0 modeMask = -1 modeMaskSec = -1 } What are these? (I'm guessing I already know but am not making the right mental connection somehow...)

I hadn't seen much of any of the series other than some old Tom Baker episodes (and been confused by some John Pertwee ones mixed in) until just a few years ago-- the Eccleston ones started to draw me in, Tennant got me hooked solidly, Matt Smith sealed the deal, and I've enjoyed watching Capaldi. I have definite favorite episodes from each, though I think overall I most enjoy the Matt Smith era. I'd have to say my favorite episode has to be "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," as it has nearly all of my interests in one package: Ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, spacecraft, and sci-fi-- about the only thing missing is an American Civil War angle. And it's a downright funny episode to boot. (Who doesn't have a trowel? Always wondered if that was a subtle nod to Hitchhiker's Guide...) Certainly not the most dramatic episode or maybe not even best-written, but the fun quotient is through the roof for me. ETA: "I'm going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilize, street-level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve jammie dodgers and a fez." Best line since the Blues Brothers' "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

Got the second of two probes away to Jool, and performed a course correction on the probe enroute to Dres, and fulfilled a couple of minor contracts. Otherwise, mostly designing: 1) Modules for the Minmus mining base; 2) Modules for the Minmus orbital refinery (adapted from the Mir-analogue modules already designed); 3) Polished up my R-7/Sputnik analogue and launched a Kaputnik into a 66-degree somewhat eccentric orbit in honor of the original PS1; 4) Put together a fairly decent R-7/Vostok analogue and tested it successfully (Jeb appreciated the ride); 5) Started working on a Soyuz analogue. (I'm sure this will all be rendered irrelevant by the Making History expansion, but I'm having fun with it anyway.)

Good thing for me to keep in mind when I finally send something there. I already have enough trouble avoiding Mun at times!

No, I don't think that one is available in anything but hard copy. But I'll look anyway! My bad-- it is available on Kindle. But I'd still need to ask, and if it's supposed to be a surprise, then I'm ruining it...

Sometimes... typically around Christmas and birthday. But they're not guaranteed to give it to you quickly, evidently!

<getting antsy> From my Amazon Wishlist, I can tell that someone bought me the Gerovitch book. But they haven't given it to me yet. Oh well. Still working my way through a couple of the others...

I use lights very seldom anymore-- the ones that actually light things up are rough on my potato of a computer's wheezing graphics card. I stick to the "LED" marker lights that let me see where my ship is in the dark, and try to land in daylight. (One time recently I forgot that, and after I had "landed" I began a long slide down to who-knows-where--- I think i had accidentally found one of the steepest slopes on Minmus! Quick take-off... )

Mostly designing again... made a somewhat unsatisfactory Kerbalized version of the R-7*... rebuilt a "Proton"-inspired design that I seem to have accidentally deleted at some point... and worked on the expansion modules for my Mir-analogue. Other than that, the second of two Duna probes left Kerbin's SOI, and the third component of the Kerbin-system comm network is in place (big antenna circling Minmus in an oblique orbit). _________ * and then downloaded a better-looking one from KerbalX that I have yet to test out.

Gave it a try alongside Gravity Turn, and I like it!

More busy-ness... managed to slip a probe into Moho orbit. It's not pretty, but at that kind of delta V expenditure I'm not going to grade myself too harshly for a first attempt. First probe to Eeloo launched, and second to Duna; Eve's got there a long time back and Dres's are on the way, so it's down to the Jool probes... just waiting for the window. Orbited the Salyut-analogue and ferried a crew up to it; with the current supplies it looks like they're go for an up-to-120-day mission, though I don't think I'll keep them up there that long; we'll save the long-duration attempt for a later mission after the resupply ships are ready. [USI Life Support]

I've gone back and forth between basing the ISRU on Minmus or putting it in orbit... not sure what I'm going to do this time around. Putting it on the surface means you ship the refined stuff up, so you're not paying to ship the whole thing of raw ore. Putting it in orbit means you *only* have to ship raw ore up, and can refine into different fuel types without having to have specialized tankage for each kind of fuel. Both have their headaches, but as I think about it now, I think it's simpler to put it in orbit. One less thing to do (land it) and more flexible. And Minmus isn't terribly expensive in terms of fuel to land and take off from, so the fact it's going to be ore shipments is not so big a deal.

I steer a middle course between prebuilt subassemblies and build-to-order. For each standard diameter (for me, 1.25, 1.875, 2.5, 3.75, and 5.0... of course you can see I have some mods in there), I have identified one or two best-in-class engines for (A) the launch stage and (B) an upper/second stage; I put one long fuel tank on each and add fins (launch stage) and parachutes (StageRecovery...) and save them as subassemblies. I did this after noticing that I was continually going back to similar configurations for similar-sized/weight payloads, so it just made sense. Once I've built the payload, based on the radial size and overall payload weight, I start out with a 'standard' upper stage and launch stage and see how close that comes to what I need-- then start refining (adding/subtracting fuel, trying different engine combinations, etc.) So it isn't totally pre-fab.

But it should be, if it were allowable. It would be killer to suddenly realize that Kerbal R & D was getting a visit from a Time Lord. Presumably on the trail of the Kraken...

:: blink :: That never occurred to me. I'll give it a try-- might be the easiest answer right there.

I'm guessing it was someone's April fool joke/hoax that's getting propagated. (Remembering how thoroughly I was drawn in by Scott Manley's "Jeb's Fishing Challenge" gag...)

hm. I'm trying to master the Translatron in MechJeb to do this... make a "good enough" landing nearby, and then make short hops toward where I want to put it. I usually hook up my surface bases with KAS pipes, though, so I'm not usually trying to hit a target as small as a docking port... that's precision flying! Yesterday, I laid out the survey grid for the target portion of the Great Mesa on Minmus, site of the planned Delta Base. (The fourth automatic lander was targeted for this site, hence the name...) Eyeballing it, it doesn't look as dead flat as the Flats, so I want to make sure I select the flattest area on it. I also spent some time designing the 'Isis' transport craft and the 'Hathor' cargo craft (Progress analogue). 'Isis' uses the 'Appaloosa' Mk 1 add-on module on top of the 'Bigby Crew Module,' both from the M.O.L.E. mod, to comfortably seat 5 Kerbonauts in the same volume/diameter as the 3-seat Mk 1-2. Since this one's not going farther than LKO, it's just got a store of monoprop and a couple of 'Puffs' for orbital maneuvers to and from stations. It took longer than anticipated-- the capsule was no problem, but I ran into trouble with the launch vehicle-- there was some hidden drag that was causing unexpected instability during launch, and it took me some time to run it down. But, run it down I did. After that, 'Hathor' was a breeze-- same setup, but replace the crew capsule with a non-returning cargo/fuel/supplies module.

I'm plugging along in my 1.3.1 career game... though I've gotten farther faster in some previous careers, I like the way this one is shaping up, since I'm 'stopping to smell the roses,' so to speak. (Are there roses on Kerbin? Can Kerbals smell them if there are?) For instance, I'm visiting places on Kerbin I'd never bothered to go before, like the pyramids, Kerbaykonur, and the island airfield, and I've actually got probes on the way to every planet-- I realized I'd never sent a probe to Jool before (!) I've got a Sentinel mapping asteroids, I've pulled one into orbit (tucked it away within Minmus's gravity well), and I'm surveying Minmus for the perfect fuel mining site. To my joy, this time around the highland areas seem well-stocked with ore, so I'm strongly considering sticking my base on that high mountain almost on the equator near the Great Flats at about 3N, 66W (which I refer to as the Great Mesa). I'm also doing some thorough planning and designing for my space station, taking a page from Soviet space history this time, with a Salyut analogue for my initial station and then graduating to a Mir-type modular station. Additionally, I've launched a series of comsats toward Duna so that when I start my intensive exploration there, I'll have a network all set up already. And on top of all this, I'm even flying my first planes out of the SPH. Just one fatal crash so far, but it's a useful occupation for those pilots I pick up on rescue contracts that I don't want to keep in my regular stable in the Astronaut Center. Having fun!