Torgo

That's the best part of Squad having very little canon in regards to the game. I hope it stays that way.

I knew I shouldn't have procrastinated on my story But then, my Jeb is actually relatively sane by Kerbal standards. At least I used my day at work today to get all my art assets in place to continue.

All our Jebs are belong to them.

On to Chapter 1, with some images to come as soon as my PC decides to be cooperative again.... Chapter 1 – Point Me at the Sky “My fellow Kerbs, today marks a turning point in the story of our existence.” When the Overkerb makes a speech on the viewscreen, a kerb’s life comes to a temporary halt to hear the message. “I speak to you today from this swamp, to introduce the kerbs and the place that will define our history as we enter this new age. A new age where we break free from the tyranny of gravity, if only for a little while, and begin to explore the universe around us.” A view of the launchpad constructed where Jebediah's Junkyard had been. When the Overkerb is making that speech to the world from that kerb’s back yard, his life will never be the same. “Today, I open the Kerbin Space Center. Here, our best scientists and engineers will develop the technology that will usher in a golden age of exploration.” The palatial new administrative headquarters of the space program. It had been nearly three years since the last time the Overkerb had made any sort of speech. His will was carried out by low level managers and functionaries, none of whom had ever met him directly. There were only a handful of kerbs who could make that claim. “I present Wernher Kerman, who will act as director of this facility on my behalf. He will report directly to me and be solely responsible for the success of our new mission.” Wernher was both a top scientist and engineer, a true renaissance kerb if there ever was one. He had been the kerb who singlehandedly solved the snack crisis of ’37. “Thank you, Overkerb. I am humbled and honored to be chosen for this new endeavor. Fellow kerbs, we have had a breakthrough that has allowed us to develop new concepts and technologies which will allow us to reach into the sky and into space beyond it. We will be able to send kerbs to the Mun. We will be able to live and work in space. We will send probes to the other planets in the system. We will study Kerbol itself. We will place new tools for communications, called satellites, into orbit around Kerbin which will allow all of us to communicate instantly with anyone else anywhere on the planet. We will map the planet and discover new resources. This will be a day that all kerbs will remember forever. And now, I would like to introduce the first 5 kerbs who will pioneer this effort.” Wernher introduces the first five Kerbonauts as the Overkerb looks on from the viewscreen. Jebediah could hardly contain himself. His swamp had been selected as the site of the new space center. Minions of the Overkerb and Wernher were pouring over every scrap of metal and plastic in his junkyard, taking whatever they thought would be useful. Jebediah had been hand selected by Wernher’s team as the first ‘pilot’, who would be strapped inside what looked like an oversize snack tin that was glued to a mulch can full of explosives. The new home for Astrokerbs at the space center. No kerb had ever been higher off the ground than they could jump. The prospect of flight had been, until the Overkerb’s speech, a completely alien concept. The only law higher than the Overkerb was the Law of Gravity, and now the Overkerb and Wernher were telling them even that law could be overcome. And as Wernher droned on to the whole of Kerbanity about the new space center, Jeb’s mind wandered to the adventure awaiting him. It wandered so far, he didn’t hear Wernher introduce him. “Jeb, what are you doing, get up there!” Valentina whispered in his ear as she pushed him towards the stairs up onto the stage that had been their back porch as recently as this morning. Sister of Jebediah, Valentina had also been selected as a pilot in the new space program. Jeb smiled and looked at the throng of excited kerbs as he walked out towards Wernher and the Overkerb at the podium. Six short hours ago, he was no one. Now he stood just feet from the televised image of the leader of the planet. Kerbs not smart enough to build ships will be imprisoned working here to unlock new technologies. As Jeb took his place standing next to Wernher, he heard his sister introduced. Valentina bounded up the stairs and took her place next to her brother. Wernher then introduced the remaining three members of the initial class of ‘astronauts’. Another pilot, Sebastien, lead scientist Bob and lead engineer Bill. All took their place on the stage, flanking Wernher and the Overkerb's image. The construction of several new buildings taking place behind them in what had just been a swamp. The least busiest building in the new compound, as there is nothing in the sky yet in need of tracking. “Kerbs, in just 7 days, we will introduce the first piece of our new space program, the capsule that will be used to send a kerbal into the air and land him safely. That first flight will take place no more than 14 days from today. We will begin looking for the best and brightest around the planet to create the second wave of astronauts, and to also staff the construction, research and administration roles needed to drive us onward and upward. With this new science, everything will be possible.” “Thank you Wernher," said the Overkerb. “May you always have more snacks than you need. Fellow kerbs, to mark this momentous occasion, we are throwing away the old calendar and starting new. Today is Day 1 of Year 1 of the Golden Age of Kerbin. The universe is now at our doorstep.” The new Astrokerb First Class trading card set:

Maybe all of Bill's meddling with the persistence is what's causing the issues over there.

Prelude Part III - one last giant wall of text before the missiony goodness starts flowing. “Let’s figure we’ve got 7 hours til the flare gets here. It’s going to take about an hour to get suited up. Have we even started checked the fuel level in that tin can yet? Is it ready or do we need to get that going?” asked Floyd. “First thing I did, even before getting the bots started. Should be ready to go in less than 2 hours.” said Sydney. The crew started getting their suits on. Time, which usually ran slower during the tedious process, was unusually fast today. “What’s with the extra boxes. Floyd?” asked Dave. “We won’t be needing food here on the station, so I grabbed extra in case were out in the bush longer than expected. That, and I had to grab my old Kerbfleet comic books. I’m not leaving those behind!” “That paper means extra weight on the …” started Dave. Floyd cut him off “I left some socks and underwear behind. Don’t worry, my carry-on bag fits in the little bin, boss. Besides, after all the electronics get fried, my paper will still work. I hope you really like The Static Channel. It’s going to be in reruns for a while.” “I’m starting to think getting cooked by this flare would be better than being cooped up in a can with you two.” chimed in Sydney. “If we don’t time this right, you get both” said Dave. As the last minutes of their countdown dwindled rapidly away, the trio trudged out to the landing pad to their ship. It took a small amount of teamwork to load the extra boxes into the Andromeda and get them stowed. The crew decided to not pressurize the capsule immediately, feeling they’d be safer in their EVA suits should life support be compromised. If they made it, they’d be able to pressurize the cabin, or at least hook the suits up to shipboard life support. “I’ve got the modifications in place to allow us to stay in orbit” Sydney informed the others. “I also programmed in eight possibilities for TEI burn. You’ll be able to activate any of the first seven up to 20 seconds before they occur. The eighth fires automatically assuming there’s still a computer left to fire it.” With a minute left in their countdown, Dave ran through final checks on the Andromeda. Everything looked correct and he hit the final arming button on the console. Now they had to just sit back and relax… as if that was even remotely possible. The computer’s monotone voice started annunciating the countdown at ten seconds. “If we live, Sydney, can you re-program this thing to not sound like a tin can?” “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that. unH!” she shot back, the rockets firing just as she got to the period in her sentence. The Andromeda rose from the pad, as nimbly as a squat can of fuel over a nozzle could rise (which, given the lack of atmosphere, was actually pretty nimble). Their ascent burn continued as the craft went horizontal, circularizing into an orbit about 110 kilometers above the surface. Looking out the window, Floyd asked “Aren’t we a little too high up to be protected?” Dave responded “We don’t know how high too high is. There’s a chance that everything is too high. I don’t think anyone has ever studied how a flare would wrap around to the dark side… heh heh… looks like I’ll be taking you to the dark side of the moon, Floyd.” “Did that just come to you, or have you been saving that one?” a pinkening Floyd muttered. “I owed you that one, smartass!” replied Dave. “Now, can you get the gear ready to see if we can try to eyeball this storm? I want the best information we can get so we can time our TEI right.” Their orbit continued, and Earth rose almost directly in front of them, they looked down at a partially cloud covered South America. “Looks like there’s going to be a big light show tonight. You know if people in Ecuador are seeing the aurora again, it’s been a pretty crappy day,” said Floyd. “I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when we get home,” said Sydney. “I appreciate you being positive about this, Syd,“ Dave said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Floyd packed enough for us to last almost two months if we tighten our rations. I just hope we land someplace that isn’t a thousand miles out to sea.” As they came around from behind the night side, Floyd activated the radar and the video, hoping to get some readings on the approaching storm that they couldn’t see with their eyes. “No good readings so far, but we can look at the video and filter it down. I can’t be sure, but it certainly seems brighter now. Another two hour orbit passed. On the video, they could see traces of the approaching storm, but they couldn’t well estimate just how fast it was moving or how far it was away from them. Radar proved useless in providing information they could use. “It’s possible another orbit has us very exposed. What do you say we chance it and burn for home at the next window? It will keep us protected, I think, the longest,” asked Dave. “If we lose systems after the burn, will we be able to manually separate the landing pod?” asked Floyd. “There are manual explosive bolts, so we should be able to do that, assuming they don’t get fried,” replied Dave. As the three continued their discussion about the pros and cons of leaving for Earth the next opportunity, they didn’t realize just how little time they had left. “One minute left for this chance,” Sydney announced. “I say we go for it. If we get hit and can’t burn, I don’t want to spend the rest of my time circling around aimlessly. I at least want to have a chance to get back.” “I’m with her. Let’s get going and hope for the best, or at least the least worst,” added Floyd. “It’s settled,” said Dave. “We’re heading home.” Dave let the computer know that it was time, and about 40 seconds later, the rockets kicked back to life. It wasn’t more than a few seconds after the burn, when everything turned the brightest white any of them had ever encountered. And then, just like that, it had never been more black.

Can't play without KCT, USI-LS and RT. They add so much to the depth of the game. For me, all craft have a set budget, which is based on existing contracts and possible future contracts. A rover can go over budget by 100% on the first launch, but then will remain active while it completes other contracts that come down later. Minimum of 30 extra days supplies for any mission in Kerbon SOI that will leave Kerbin orbit. All launch vehicles need some sort of recovery function. TMI stages will impact on the target moon and be destroyed. Stage Recovery helps craft stay within budget parameters by turning spent boosters back into some funds. Once a mission is completed, the craft is de-orbited or otherwise disposed of.

I have a set stable of 4 lifters saved as subassemblies... as long as my payload/capsule weight fits in one of their ranges I'll pop one of those underneath. For names, it's just function and sequence... so Mun Lander XII, CommSat III (a,b,c & d as they are 4 copies of the same unit), and Testus VI for those lucrative 'test this out on the pad' contracts.

Prelude continued - will add a couple pics in later.... Andromeda class crew transfer vehicles weren’t designed with sub-orbital trips around the Moon in mind. They would launch from the Earth and travel to the Moon in just under three days, and touchdown at a Helios site. Then, when it was time to return, the vehicle was designed to launch directly into a return trajectory, travel nearly three days back to earth, then separate the crew capsule for a standard unpowered descent while the rest of the vehicle burned up upon re-entry. The only function the pilot had was to confirm things were correct, and then press the occasional button. Truth was, though, that they only got to push buttons to keep them from feeling completely useless. They weren’t needed for any task outside of keeping the scientists and engineers from knowing their lives were all in the hands of a few thousand lines of computer code. As the three hour mark approached, the three humans of Helios III met in the conference room and established a connection back to Corporate. “We’ve got bad news and worse new, Helios III. Bad news is that either the SME is accelerating, or NASA isn’t getting good readings. The new estimate is that the flare is only 8 hours away. It will be tough to learn much more, because STEREO IV just got hit by the storm, and all contact has been lost. NASA won’t verify if they were destroyed, or if the storm is blocking communications.” “That’s the worse news?” Floyd asked. “No, somehow, news of the storm got out, and things just went way south down here. Riots, panic, looting and general mayhem. Systems are already going down here. The military has been called in and things only look to get uglier. There are still plenty of people down here who remember how bad things got in '23.” “So being face to face with this storm might be a safer bet than being back home” chirped Dave. Sydney asked “Are our families safe? Was Corporate able to bring them in?” “Yes. All of your immediate families are here at headquarters. Custodial is dusting out the bomb shelter now. Nice to know someone was thinking ahead when they designed this place. How are preparations for your departure going up there?” Floyd responded. “The data has been uploaded and transmission is about to start. We’ve got backups loaded in the Andromeda, and another set ready to go out in the shed. Sydney was able to program the bots to get themselves back in the shed, and we thought they’d all be put away in time, but with this new estimate, we may lose some.” “Leave the bots. We can replace them easily enough. Let’s worry about getting you out of there now. How goes the reprogramming?” “It doesn’t. Haven’t even started on it yet. Is it even possible?” asked Floyd. The feed was silent for what seemed an eternity, the figure on the screen standing as still as a statue. “This is PostCo. EVERYTHING is possible!” Dave cocked an eye at Floyd “You set yourself up for that one, and if Lars down at Corporate hadn’t said it, I was going to.” “The end of the world isn’t the best time for jokes, you two!” retorted Floyd. “Truth is,” said Lars over the video link, “There isn’t anyone in now from the programming team, and the knowledge base never accounted for off-book use of an Andromeda. I’m not sure we’ll be able to pull it off. We can, though. Get a launch window that will send you behind the Moon for at least 20 minutes before you start on your way back to Earth. Of course, coming to get you might not be easy. We’re anticipating total loss of tracking and communications for at least two weeks down here. We’ve got supplies laid in for three months.” “When do we launch?” asked Dave. “I’m having the data sent up now. You should be ready to go in three hours. The trick will be timing the launch to get you behind the Moon at the right time, and our best guess right now is really just a guess.” Dave chimed in “We’ve got front row seats to this thing, but it’s coming right at us. Radar isn’t giving a very good reading since it’s not a solid. The laser rangefinder is giving me confusing readings, but it really isn’t meant for this range or non-solids.” Sydney asked “Can you reconfigure the launch to keep us behind the moon longer?” Lars replied “We can, but that changes your departure time, and since you’ll be further above the surface, you may not be as protected up there.” “What kind of change to the departure time?” asked Floyd. “I just got the latest update from the computer. We can slow your return rate, which will have you moving slower. It will take just about four days to get back. Chances are, though, we won’t have assets available to pick you up even if we do know where you come down. You’ll leave in four hours.” “That would put the flare still four hours away, though. We’d be away from the Moon by then” “Not”, said Sydney, “if we’re still in orbit. We can keep the computer from doing the trans-earth injection until we’re ready. We’ll still be pretty exposed for about 60 percent of the time, but if we can get the timing right, we can be protected as the flare passes, then head back to Earth when the coast is clear.” “How are we going to do that?” asked Dave. “All of Corporate’s systems run on the same code base. The Andromeda’s systems aren’t far removed from the bots out there. I’m already in there and should have it fixed for us in about…. Now!” “Corporate, we’re going to start packing the Andromeda now,” said Dave, “I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to cram in there, but we’ll make sure there isn’t much more room in there than we need for ourselves. We’ll try to get comms established after we launch. You guys be safe down there. We’ll see you soon.” “Roger, Helios III. Good luck. Corporate out.” “Floyd, can the systems on the Andromeda get any readings on the flare for us?” asked Dave. “Readings, yes. Useful readings, I don’t know. I doubt it given the base systems aren’t doing much, but if I can get some distance readings, even fuzzy, after each orbit, I might be able to work out a range we can use.” “That sounds better than no chance,” said Sydney “and I’ve gotten you manual burn control, Dave. I’d never looked too deep at this code before, but a glance shows me that the computer had pretty much total control over ship. I’m betting that ‘soft as a baby’s butt’ landing we had here wasn’t your doing after all.” “We’ll talk about that later,” said Dave “Let’s get suited up and get out of here.”

The first chapter of this play through doesn't have much in the way of screenshots, and the Prelude isn't technically a mission as much as it is just an attempt to set the stage and develop some atmosphere to hopefully bring some context to the mission reports to follow. And editing this thing for format is a huge waste of time.... Prelude - Echoes Helios III base – Moon, December, 2067 “Corporate, please repeat. How long do you say we have?” “Helios III, I repeat, between 14 and 15 hours until SME impact.” “There hasn’t been a report like that since Carrington back in 1859. Are you sure?” “Checked, re-checked and checked again, Floyd. This is a real fast mover, and larger than anything recorded since we’ve been able to determine the sizes.” “We’re currently on the light side of the Moon, what’s the prognosis on our tech here?” “Tech branch predicts 95% chance of total loss. The electronics are hard, but not THAT hard. Helios I and II are currently on the dark side, and Tech estimates that they should survive intact. Helios IV just went past the terminator, and Tech can’t accurately predict impact effects there at this time.” “Looks like we’re going to have to evac. Any word on an expedited shutdown process for us? I guess you guys figured we’d never shut down these bases.” “We’re working on that, Dave. Right now, concentrate on uploading as much as you can to the high-gain, and get your gear loaded into the Andromeda. You’ll need at least 2 hours to make it around to Helios II. The team there is already making some space for you.” “Copy, Corporate. Data transmission is the priority, we’ll budget 11 hours for shutdown and 3 hours for transport to Helios II. We’ll check back with you in 3 hours.” “Roger, Helios III. Next comm in 3 hours. Good luck up there. Corporate out.” Since humans first made observations of the sky, solar eclipses have been moments of awe and terror. As science progressed to show the celestial mechanics involved, and not the actions of a deity, the terror aspects of an eclipse faded. That is, until the eclipse of October 14, 2023. Sunspots of September 1, 1859, as sketched by Richard Carrington. A and B mark the initial positions of an intensely bright event, which moved over the course of five minutes to C and D before disappearing. It was PostCo that perfected the new fusion power reactor that promised to provide all the energy the world would ever need. In just 10 years, a small band of scientists, engineers and one very enterprising CEO had taken the business from a fringe startup to nearly trillion dollar status. The Helios project was a series of six potential mining sites on the Moon, constructed to automate the process of mining, harvesting and delivering Helium-3 to fusion reactors being built on the Earth. Four bases were already in place with two more nearing launch. No other corporation was even close to launching a human to the Moon. Technically, it wasn’t the eclipse that caused the issues, but the large Solar Mass Ejection that coincidentally impacted the Earth at the same time. While most of the military’s assets were hardened and mostly able to survive, the older commercial and GPS satellites had their circuitry overloaded and destroyed. Most of the power grid on Earth was impacted, and up to 95% of the planet was without electricity for the first week after the event. The people of the time said the impact had set technology back between 50 and 100 years. Many governments fell and several countries banded together to provide basic services, but it was the corporations that drove the rebuild. There were nine major corporations now, and PostCo, sponsor of the Helios missions, was the newest of them. Even now, though nearly 50 years after the devastating solar storm, repercussions were still being felt. Satellites were still being replaced. Great effort was being put into hardening communication and power systems in an attempt to mitigate negative effects of future events. Communications satellites and GPS were the first craft replaced. Smaller harvester drones were also developed to find, attach to and de-orbit the failed equipment still in orbit. A Helios base is designed to accommodate a crew of seven people, but only three people are needed before full operations begin. Dave Plowman was assigned the archaic title of mission commander, when he was really nothing more than a pilot and glorified middle manager at a branch office about 240,000 miles away from headquarters. Calling him a pilot was almost a stretch, as the computer did most of that work. Floyd Schmitt, great-grandson of Apollo XVII astronaut and geologist Harrison Schmitt, was the scientist responsible for analyzing the data being gathered at Helios III. “If we shelter the scrapers and sifters, there’s a better chance they’ll survive. I should be able to get most of them in the garage before we need to go.” Sydney Barrat, engineer of the Helios III site, didn’t ‘drive’ the machines in the conventional sense, or even by remote control. It mostly amounted to sequencing events and allowing the central computer to orchestrate the individual movements, and Sydney had been a major player in the design of the system. If she remote controlled individual trucks, she could move them faster than the computer would, but she’d only be able to move one at a time. The pressurized mechanical bay would serve as a quasi-Faraday cage for those machines she could move in before the storm arrived. To be continued...

Time moves at a set rate. Speeding up the computer to be faster than real life is cheating. Granted, it's a needed form of cheating, but it's still cheating. I've done a real time Apollo 11 recreation using Orbiter, and ye Gods after about an hour I really, really wanted to cheat. I settled for watching movies on DVD player... also cheating, since there were no DVDs in an Apollo capsule. Also cheating, I left the computer to use the bathroom. I have no integrity

Using time warp is cheating more than using MechJeb is cheating. But, as has been said about 30 bajillion times already, play your game your way, there is no cheating.

What's worked for me has to send just a capsule with the selected Kerb out to the launchpad, then EVA the Kerb. I wish there was an easier way, though.

just under 250 KM of driving a rover around Mimnus to complete three science contracts. The first was a single remaining experiment to complete a contract started by the first rover, which was eaten by the Kraken. Then it was a 70 km drive northwest to complete all 3 experiments on the next contract, then 175 km drive to the final contract (a not so direct route to collect science from biomes and to have only 1 climb down a 30 degree grade. Finally, arrived at the spot for the final contract, only to find out I forgot to add one of the experiments to this rover. Took about 7 hours of driving to do, with a top speed of 33 m/s on the flats, and running between 5 and 10 m/s on the hills.

This ranks right with Dead Dead Dead from the Southpark X-mas album as a pure holiday classic. Will have to teach these new, corrected lyrics, to my son.

You know that you could, just like now, just not use it if you didn't want to. There's plenty of things in stock that I haven't used, and I don't feel like I've missed anything.

That was the first thing I had to learn when I moved out there for school 20 years ago. Now I live here in the Peoples' Demokratic Republik of New Jersey, so I still am not allowed to pump my own gas! Somehow, people in the other 48 states and civilized nations around the world manage to pump their own gas every day without engulfing the world in some kind of cataclysmic fireball, but the people of Oregon and New Jersey can't be trusted to do it.

I'd like to see 2 buildings added to the space center The Museum - can house previously used craft for display. Generates a low but steady revenue and reputation stream which can increase as it's improved. Alternatively, contracts could be used in place of a slow drip approach, where the Museum Society requests the craft that did ____. The Training Center - your Kerbals can train for upcoming missions (simulation function) and gain some experience (but not as much as on an actual mission). I'd love more flexibility in placing the current facilities, and starting with a lot less than what we start with now. It really should start with a small shack and a mound of dirt.

Wish I could vote for game play improvements without the multi-player. I get that there are people who really want it, and that's cool, but it's just not my bag. Using the memory viewer mod, I can predict with 95% accuracy when the game will crash out on me. and when I'm wrong, it's going to crash the next scene change guaranteed.

Not in KSP, but took advantage of the 75 degree windless day here in NJ and launched model rockets all morning with my son. Suffered the first casualty of our space program when one rocket ended up landing in a tree, but had 4 rockets with 17 launches between them. Now will have to pack them away probably until April.

Kerbfleet has a second advantage. Creative thinking, brave pilots who are used to adjusting to things on the fly. They may get caught with their suits down on the first interaction (bye bye some B-teamers), but once they understand the threat, they'll be able to think their way out of it. There may also be a Kermulan who has some sort of connection to them that neither understands, that defects over to their side and gives them a load of useful information.

If you're talking about Magico's Stage Recovery Mod, you'll design your booster stages with parachutes in the VAB. The mod has a function that will check each stage/booster to make sure you have enough chute to make it recoverable. You don't need to have a pod or local control on the jettisoned stages. After the stage is jettisoned (allowing time for it to get out of range or land), the mod will send you an ingame message to let you know if it was recovered or not, and how many funds were generated from the recovery. Refunds are based on recovery speed and distance from KSP. It works with stock and Real Chutes.

I would love it if we weren't stuck with static planets and moons, and had something procedural generated instead. As it is now, once you've been to a place one game, it's going to be the same exact thing every time the rest of your life, no matter how many times you restart. There's no more sense of discovery, and why bother scanning when you already know exactly where to go? I know nothing like that is remotely possible for 1.1 or probably not until 2.0 if ever, but it would add a lot of replay value.

Kylo Ren is really Negan, and Chewbacca turns out to be an unshaven Rick Grimes.

I see the 'dropping' thing more pronounced with the L1 and L2 launch pads. I don't see it as much with the L3 pad. Could it be a function of the L3 pad being higher? I'm not at home to look right now, but I recall seeing the ships dropping from the height of the L3 pad surface.