Zephram Kerman

This is why I try to put all my fuel tanks exactly at the CoM. That way, full or empty, they don't affect it at all. If a lot of fuel is needed, the tanks could be in a row, left to right.

The ratio of people to cake is too big. Yeah, but last time I didn't receive a piece. And I was told... [muttering] I could set the VAB on fire.

You do realize that, in orbital mechanics, anything you release comes back to haunt you eventually?

You could also build your ship with several scanners of both types. Orbit at 245 km, which is where you can warp up to 1000x but is still within the 250km range of the small detectors. Kerbin can be 99% mapped in about 20 minutes.

Jeb looks skeptical. Says it's not nearly crazy enough, way too sleek and sexy, and obviously boringly reliable. If you only have to throttle up and steer properly, well where is the fun and excitement in that? Please ignore the drool stains on this post.

Kethane tanks are tweakable. They're not full by default, but in VAB/SPH you can right-click and set them full. This changed only recently (what, a few weeks?) and any older designs won't have this feature unless you add the line "isTweakable = True" to the .craft file kethane tank resource stuff.

Easy. First, backup your persistent.sfs. Now open it with a text editor (notepad or something). Search for the phrase "Deposit = 0". Replace that zero with some arbitrary number for the new contents of your kethane patch. Save, reload, and get back to mining!

In this thread, we've mainly discussed velocity. Another useful thread (from almost a year ago!) leans into the turn shape. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/33570-Best-ascent-path-for-mechjeb At the time, we approached the problem by trial-and-error instead of mathematically, but the discussion should help with the strategy.

In case it's confusing, here's the above answers put a different way: first, back up your persistent.sfs file; now search it for the phrase "kethane"; copy the whole section (several pages) from SCENARIO { name = KethaneData to } } } } Be careful to keep the correct number of brackets, because they are nested pairs. Also, delete any old kethane lines in your new save, because those would conflict with the new stuff. In case you're interested: the deposit locations and shapes are stored procedurally in the lines that look like Seed = 1588083663; the maps are revealed by ScanMask = where A is unscanned, . is fully scanned, and values in between are partially scanned (so you could copy map data from only the planets you want); the deposit quantities are stored just after the seeds as Deposit = 55104.6105032343 (so you could cheatily "refill" the deposit at your favorite base).

Yes, you can safely update without messing with the kethane distribution. The patch locations and quantities are stored in your persistent.sfs file.

IMO, it's well balanced and not under|over powered. The only change I would suggest is to give some warning of impending flame-out. The way it is right now looks like a bug, because kIntakeAir suddenly drops to zero and basically does not reappear. If we could see the kIntakeAir meter do something meaningful, it would reassure folks that the mod is working as designed.I definitely appreciate the intake being integral to the engine; the stock ones should work like this. @P0wN1SH0R, your XR-19 Albatross will help me plan my own Duna plane. I'm hoping to make a self-refueling scout that hops between kethane patches. I've pulled it off on Kerbin and Laythe with air-breathing jets. Now it's just a matter of adapting those ideas for the ZB turbine and the conditions on Duna.

1) I think it's a bug with kethane. I see the same thing, and others have complained about it before. It might not be a bug, because the ZB uses a completely separate module than the regular jets for kintakeAir. 2) You could mess with the part.cfg to tweak the altitude profile. 3) I have not, but I expect it would do better there than on Kerbin or Duna. With the way it works now, you might build your rescue plane to descend once and climb once. Glide to your target site, pick up your friends, start up the ZB and use it until flame-out.

Good stuff, as always. I particularly liked the ShoreLab idea; very creative.

For your northern ice sheet mission, you could simply drop it in there by parachute. Make the rover and parachute your top stage, fly a rocket over your target site, stage and open the parachute.

Squad changed something about the way intakes work in 0.23, so that intakes are now able to drain fully before engines start to flame out. I don't use FAR (yet) and all of my old planes got a noticeable performance boost in this version. From the change log: Since there was a change to FAR as well as the stock game, I think you're getting combined effect.

@ Malkuth, sorry for the long delay. Here it is; hopefully this helps. The weld is simply a cluster of seven of the fuelTank_long. It was just a quick test, so I haven't edited anything. PART { name = FL-T5600 module = Part author = UbioZurWeldingLtd rescaleFactor = 1 PhysicsSignificance = -1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long0 = -6.055075E-08,1.886808,-3.027538E-08,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long0 = -6.055075E-08,-1.875692,-3.027538E-08,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long1 = -6.055075E-08,1.873032,-1.246372,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long1 = -6.055075E-08,-1.889468,-1.246372,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long2 = -1.07939,1.873032,-0.6231859,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long2 = -1.07939,-1.889468,-0.6231859,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long3 = -1.07939,1.873032,0.6231861,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long3 = -1.07939,-1.889468,0.6231861,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long4 = -6.055075E-08,1.873032,1.246372,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long4 = -6.055075E-08,-1.889468,1.246372,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long5 = 1.07939,1.873032,0.6231858,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long5 = 1.07939,-1.889468,0.6231858,0,0,0,1 node_stack_topfuelTank.long6 = 1.079389,1.873032,-0.6231859,0,0,0,1 node_stack_bottomfuelTank.long6 = 1.079389,-1.889468,-0.6231859,0,0,0,1 node_attach = 0.62625,0,0,0.125,0,0,1 CrewCapacity = 0 TechRequired = sandboxWeld entryCost = 0 cost = 11200 category = Propulsion subcategory = 0 title = FL-T5600 Tank Cluster manufacturer = UbioZur Welding Ltd description = Stuff! attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0 mass = 3.5 dragModelType = default maximum_drag = 0.1984375 minimum_drag = 0.2976563 angularDrag = 1.984375 crashTolerance = 15.86426 breakingForce = 132.2021 breakingTorque = 132.2021 maxTemp = 2900 fuelCrossFeed = True MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = -6.055075E-08,0.01180785,-3.027538E-08 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,0,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = -6.055075E-08,-0.001967975,-1.246372 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,270,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = -1.07939,-0.001967975,-0.6231859 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,330,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = -1.07939,-0.001967975,0.6231861 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,30.00002,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = -6.055075E-08,-0.001967975,1.246372 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,90.00003,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = 1.07939,-0.001967975,0.6231858 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,150,0 } MODEL { model = Squad/Parts/FuelTank/fuelTank_long/model position = 1.079389,-0.001967975,-0.6231859 scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25 rotation = 0,210,0 } RESOURCE { name = LiquidFuel amount = 2520 maxAmount = 2520 } RESOURCE { name = Oxidizer amount = 3080 maxAmount = 3080 } } @MrBlaq, that's a very helpful and informative post there. Thank you! I'll be referring to it for rotation and notation in the future.

Oh, good question. I forgot to mention I had deleted the last 2 rules, but no effect. Is that a clue?

It's Nova's FL-T800 fuel tank. Kinda popular part; but it is older. I checked a dozen of the fuel tanks; they all have only five attach rules in their part.cfg files.So there are actually seven attach rules, but configs before the update have only five. Somehow KSP figures this out. Seems likely this is the source of my problem. So I checked some other parts. I couldn't stack the kethane KM-TE30 tank (but I don't expect mod parts to work on other mods). Several other fuel tanks worked just fine, including kethane ones. All of the working tanks that I checked have five attach rules. Darnit, I'm not seeing a clear pattern here. What do the FL-T800 and KM-TE30 have in common that the others don't?

Lovely! Thanks Malkuth. I'm enjoying it already. One little gripe. While I'm used to manually editing all my welded parts, you should know it's doing this: // attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0[COLOR=#ff0000][B],0,0[/B][/COLOR] Those two additional zeroes seem to contribute to the attachment node problem. I think I've seen it before too. edit: Actually, I can't get any attach nodes to work. Radial attachment seems to be ok though. The first 1 should allow node stacking, but doesn't. I can't find anything else in the .part file that would cause this. What am I missing?

UbioZur, hang in there, I know bad internet is annoying. Deep down inside, we all know real life is supposed to come first. Sort of. I guess. Malkuth, thanks for helping out!

I suppose you could simply set MechJeb to execute a transfer node, then walk away for a few minutes hours days years. The resulting orbit would look something like this: I also suppose Vesta gets about as much attention these days. edit: image credit: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/educ/lesson-view.cfm?LS_ID=1252

I'm so excited to see the beginnings of AI in KSP! Ours is a world where terrain may change dramatically from one version to the next, maps may have errors, and navigators may get distracted by shiny objects. So an autonomous lander can't rely on preprogrammed data. (Also, it's not very realistic for a remote-controlled probe sent several light-minutes away to be controlled by a human operator with a joystick.) Besides, it's super-cool!

Not sure about this, but I think a collider mesh is not allowed to have any concave angles. So, for example, the toroidal fuel tank is actually not hollow, but allowed to clip.Just a few weeks ago, I had a similar inspiration as ImThat1Guy to make an Apollo-style lander. I want to use the same engine for descent and ascent, and leave behind some hardware that doesn't fall apart upon separation. After about a dozen failed ideas, this thing emerged: Unfortunately, the technique is tricky and fiddly. But after the first version, the second one was almost easy. The descent module is connected to the ascent module by four Jr. docking clamps. The four clamps on the ascent module are symmetrical. The clamps on the descent module are not. Instead, the root part for the descent module is the clamp on the right. The whole descent module was built radially from that point, in the shape of a C. (Or maybe a Q, if you count the one strut to close the other end of the circle.) Below, you can see the root part Jr. clamp, while the other three clamps are deleted for clarity. The fiddly part is getting the other three ports to line up. I did that by a combination of tediously tweaking the trusses and drop tanks, in addition to the Jr. clamps above. After some doing, all four clamps line up closely enough that they automatically dock on the launch pad. To separate, I used an action group to combine the engine toggle with all the Jr. clamps. Use it once to deactivate the engine, throttle up, then use it again to activate and undock. Edit: here is the .craft file. MessengerIII

If you're comfortable manipulating files, you could edit the persistent.sfs file to remove the offending part. (Be sure to quicksave and/or backup first, just in case.)

Lovely movie. It's one of those 'safe for kids' films that anybody else will enjoy too.Does anyone else imagine Brotoro as a giant kerbal, who bellows planets, bits of math, and creative ideas?