swjr-swis

Totally valid technique under normal circumstances, unused fuel weight is potential payload weight that could've made it to orbit. Good lesson to learn for anyone building rockets. But. Although the rules allow tweaking of the craft in some ways, and this can be considered tweaking, I'm leaning towards this instance not qualifying, since OP states that it's a piloting challenge foremost, not design, and no craft parts may be removed. The fuel quantity in the craft is in essence a 'part' of the craft as designed. Thinking on your example though: since the craft is multi-staged and staging is obviously implied and allowed, I wonder if 1) premature staging to shed weight would have a beneficial effect on the end result (eg. not burning the entirety of the boosters), and then if yes, 2) whether that particular variant of the above trick would fall within the rules. Let's see what damerell says.

The -ahem- few times -cough- that one of my aircraft goes maximum entropy is usually entirely attributed to trying to fly a design that would make the universe divide by zero (again), just to achieve a specific aesthetic. For any given set of Things Thou Shalt Never Do When Designing An Airplane, my designs often end up requiring one or more members of the set. It is hard to fight this, because often enough, KSP actually allows the contraptions to fly (to a degree). All other cases are purely pilot error. Jeb is a horrible pilot.

You might want to check the ascent profile you have in MechJeb. Is it possible you got into that screen and moved the sliders, without really knowing what they do? The ascent profile is what tells MechJeb how much and when to turn towards the horizon, and if this is set too much too fast, it's likely that none of the other parameters will prevent your ship from burning up before reaching orbit. Now I don't currently have MJ installed, maybe someone else here can point out how to reset the ascent profile back to default, or at least some sane values. The release notes for 2.5.5 mention this: * Dynamic Pressure limiter to replace the now useless terminal velocity So if you're still trying to use a 'useless' feature and getting useless results, it would seem all is working as expected. Try working with dynamic pressure instead?

I haven't used your mod yet, Snark, and I am considering finishing my time with KSP 1.0.5 unmodded, but it is on my list for when KSP 1.1 hits. It certainly removes one UI annoyance that seems to be around all the time, and in my case and my Fantastic Contraptions in Space(tm), Mammoths in orbit are more common than I care to admit . So both your mod in general and this bug fix are preemptively appreciated.

Meanwhile, in a sig not too far away: Not exactly helping your case. Just saying.

Que yo sepa no hace falta ni siquiera acercarse: 'fly-by' básicamente quiere decir que entres el area de influencia (SoI). Solo necesitas escapar de Kerbin y entrar en el SoI del sol. A veces no parece trabajar, y puede tener que ver con si estabas controlando la nave al momento que traversas las SoI de Kerbin al sol. Si ya tienes la nave allí abajo, posiblemente necesitarás salir para cumplirlo. O sea: búscate un encuentro con Eve, pero sin intentar de quedarte en órbita. Simplemente pasa de largo y deja que la gravedad de Eve te eche una mano en ensanchar tu órbita hacia Kerbin. Además de ahorrarte combustible en la vuelta, esto te dará otra oportunidad de 'entrar' en el SoI del sol, porque al escapar Eve vuelves a entrar el SoI del sol. Esta vez, asegúrate que controlas la nave manualmente (por si acaso sin accelerar el tiempo), y debería cumplirse el contrato. De paso, ya estás en camino a volver los turistas a casa. Si por alguna razón no trabaja esa vez tampoco, simplemente intenta de nuevo cuando te aproximas a Kerbin. En vez de acercarte a órbita baja como harías para atterizar, mantente al margen de Kerbin y dale un empujoncito para que escape y otra vez entre SoI del sol. Tan pronto como pase y el contrato cumpla, quema en dirección retrógrada para volver a Kerbin, y desde ahí lo regular para aterrizar. Me imagino que ya lo has controlado, pero por si acaso: has controlado si tienes todos los turistas a bordo que el contrato requiere?

@Runescope I see you've solved this with the No offset limits mod. In case you're still interested: I did screenshot the steps I used to create that space without any mods. This is basically the trick, although in the pod racer I posted I used non-straight angles in the rotations to maximize the distance between pivot point and the distant edge of the part. That distance is what creates the offset 'leverage' you can work with. I kept the angles straight in the screenshots so it's clearer what I did.

Yep, lots of gizmo use, rotate and offset, rinse and repeat, I don't remember the exact order but it took a bit of tweaking and retrying. The trick being that the small hardpoints can end up really far apart if you rotate it at the exact right moment. It's a but of a counter-intuitive move. So the struts and fuel lines are there really just for pure decoration, because in essence the hardpoints are the connected parts. If I get a moment later I'll try redo and see if I can describe/screenshot the steps.

Awesome, I like the use of the airbrakes, I didn't think of that. I made one too, just after 1.0.5 came out, while fooling around with the new 0.625m parts (it's the one in my profile background). Mine was made in a full stock install, no tweakscale, just a lot of offset/rotate gizmo use to get things the way I wanted. Craft file can be found here: http://kerbalx.com/swjr-swis/SW-Juno-QuadPod-1 (if you downloaded the 0 file before, delete and get this one.. the 0 has a symmetry corruption error in it) Maybe we need to organize a pod race.

I have yet to open a spreadsheet for KSP in years of playing, and I think I will stubbornly keep refusing to do so. Before I started to play KSP 'for realz', it was purely fun to watch what contraptions I could throw at the sky and how it would turn out, so I didn't care about numbers at all. Once I got a taste for career mode, I did eventually get KER to have more numbers readily on hand to help in getting it right the first time. That's as far as I expect to go. It's my years-long experience with 'Spreadsheets in Space', aka EVE Online, that turned me completely off of ever again playing a game where more of my time goes into calculating how to play most efficiently, instead of actually enjoying the game itself. I refuse to fall into that pit again. To me, as much as KSP adds in educational terms, it is still a game, to be played for entertainment foremost. Spreadsheets are for workstuff. What I can't calculate or estimate in my head, or read from a mod-added display, I take care of the fun/Kerbal way - with brute force (aka enough boosters and dV to reach the next star system and bring back a new planet).

2. Actuators in general are things that translate energy into movement. In the context of stock KSP they can refer more simply to 'things that move' like the landing legs, airbrakes, etc. but more often you'll see that word when discussing mods like Infernal Robotics that add actual motorised hydraulics, hinges, etc, which allow people to build doors, VTOL engines, etc which are not in stock. 3. Adapters are used between (a stack of) parts of one size and (a stack of) parts of another size, to make them fit. For example, to fit 3.75m diameter parts under 2.5m diameter parts, you could place a Kerbodyne ADTP-2-3 adapter.

@JackBush That link seems to point to a youtube music video, not a KSP navball explanation... (another reason why I dislike redirector links)

@Kerbart @JJE64 Such words, much agreement. I do want to clarify that part of my suggestion, which I think also reflects the OP's first point, is that the skill increase should not be delayed until after the Kerbals return to KSC. Experience should translate to skill increase on the fly, just like it works in real life. Skill levels right now are directly tied to what a Kerbal is capable of. An engineer cannot repack a chute or repair a wheel until after receiving a new skill level, and no matter how much XP they accumulate on a trip, your Kerbals cannot apply that experience until after returning to KSC. This way, XP is like a currency that is saved up and can only be used to 'buy' new capabilities when you get back to the KSC Shop-o-Skillz. This part I would like to see changed, and I think that is also the first point of the OP. Experience is not 'saved up', it builds, and with every little interaction with the equipment, every successful maneuver, every emergency intervention, the Kerbal is learning on the job to apply their training and to adapt to practical circumstance. That should reflect on what they are capable of right there and then... not just after returning and exchanging their XP for a badge.

I already have a dark on grey style tuned to my preferences, but this is a nice alternative. Personally I prefer the brightness of the text a bit lower; I can tweak that easily enough. Thanks n.b.z.

I like the radicals. Seems appropriate, since KSP doesn't allow negative funds, that √-1 is an imaginary number...

@hvacengi We don't have a kOS assisted entry yet, I'd be curious to see one even if it didn't get top spot.

Seriously though, and just a suggestion since I'm not the OP: I think this is a good challenge for new players of KSP. As such, leaving it available at least until 1.1 comes out (and then maybe renew) would allow participation of more than just the established players. (apologies for the double post... the 'merge double posts' is apparently not consistent either, sigh)

60 seconds to deadline... 59... 58... Sorry, you kinda made that real easy.

The craft rotation is stored in the parts, I think most importantly in the root part (in this case, mk1pod). Instead of the default: rot = 0,0,0,1 attRot = 0,0,0,1 this craft is stored as: rot = 0,0.7071068,0,0.7071068 attRot = 0,0.7071068,0,0.7071068 That's what makes the whole craft spawn at the launchpad heading east instead of north.

This is all I would ask. The current way of awarding XP only at return works more akin to badges, certificates, or ranks. If that is as intended, then rename the system to call it achievements or something. But considering that the game attaches 'being able to xx or yy' to XP I do not think that is the intention, so please make gaining XP a seamless experience without 'checkpoints' by forcing return to KSC.

His apoapsis is fine, the rules state it should be '200km or less'. Yes, it loads oriented to the east. I did not rotate it either.

That's right, you heard me: the original Battlestar Galactica was way more realistic than any of the other SF series. Proof:

A quick entry: This is on a pure stock 1.0.5, no mods at all, with the given craft unedited straight to the launch pad. Don't consider this a serious attempt at a title, it's just to show it is absolutely possible without any mods, and with a practically untrained pilot. The start of the launch is missing because being completely stock and missing a probe core or CH-J3, keeping to the ascent profile needed constant manual input up to where I could hit prograde, and I could not screenshot at the same time. Maybe attempting it a few more times I can figure out a split moment where to hit F1. The ascent profile is a basic one though, nothing special: 1 - SAS on, for what it's worth with a 1-star pilot 2 - Full throttle 3 - Launch straight up 4 - When surface speed reaches 100m/s, start tipping the ship forward, keeping the navball pointer a few degrees under the 'lower' edge of the prograde circle marker. In this fully manual setup, that requires constant 'tapping'. 5 - When boosters are empty stage immediately, keep burning full throttle and keep adjusting your heading as before. 6 - Watch the navball speed indicator: right when it switches from 'surface' to 'orbit' speed, click on the follow prograde, and switch to map view. 7 - Hover cursor over the apoapsis marker while continuing to burn full throttle. When apoapsis reaches just over 180km, cut throttle completely. 8 - Breath, the difficult part is over. Use this time to set up a maneuver node at apoapsis for a 180x180km orbit. 9 - Manually point the rocket. 10 - Don't trust the burn time indicator: you won't have enough fuel left in this stage for the full burn, so start the burn early, full throttle. 11 - When fuel runs out in the lower stage, stage and keep burning full throttle 12 - When you get close to 20-ish m/s left to burn, you might want to cut throttle and finish at low thrust. You should still be well within the burn 'window', and have plenty of fuel to fine tune to your heart's content. * The above is kind of a worst case. A much shallower profile is possible, where boosters and the lower stage are fully used in the atmosphere, along with a small bit of the top stage, but my computer's USB bus is having a problem causing stuck keys at the worst moments. I got one one attempt to coasting with 171 units left, the circularization maneuver node to need 266 m/s, which I think would've left me at more than 138 units... and then a stuck key ruined it. I'm too disgusted to try again tonight. Would it be completely out of spirit of the challenge to allow a CH-J3, to somewhat level the playing field with MechJeb users? Perhaps in place of the parachute (since the challenge only calls for putting it in orbit, not to return). Anyone using a low-star pilot is at the disadvantage of having to follow the node manually. Have fun y'all. Even if I didn't manage with this attempt, my money is on a manual launch doing better than the default MechJeb profile.

Eso es exáctamente lo que hago. Pero no lo coje. Cuando inserto el URL de la imágen, no del álbum, lo único que sale es la code de al final del URL. O a veces, un icono que indica que debería haber una imagen. Por otra parte, hay veces que simplemente insertando el URL directamente en el texto hace que aparezca la imagen. >> http://i.imgur.com/1MIpIS4.png << (no, esta vez no salió, pero demuestra lo que pasa otras veces, que en vez de salir la imagen hace lo que estás viendo ahora, que hace un link de todo lo que le sige al URL en texto). A veces dos intentos dentro del mismo hilo, usando exáctamente el mismo URL da diferentes resultados >> << Como ahí. Depediendo de... ??? no sé, explícamelo, porque yo no acabo de entenderlo. Es la falta de consistencia y la falta de control, el no poder ver la codificación exacta a nivel bajo y corregirlo cuando es necesario, lo que irrita del editador WYSIWIG. Yo me haría a esto, si por lo menos fuera consistente en los resultados.

Supuestamente el botón al fondo derecha 'Insert other media', por encima del botón 'Submit Reply', es lo que debería añdir una imagen con solo entrar el URL. Pero yo tampoco he tenido suerte en hacerlo trabajar consistentemente, y a veces me sale solo el icono que mencionas. Intento de insertar imagen con el botón mencionado >> << Tendrán que explicarme por qué no trabaja esto, cuando añadir el álbum completo trabaja correctamente.