Orc

Greets all, Re: Math Teachers, there are definitely the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but there are a precious few who teach Math for the Love of the Subject. I was blessed with one such teacher who began every lesson with the Phrase: "Maths is Beautiful." Often wrote it on the chalk board in big letters. He was an awesome Physics and Chemistry teacher too but his Passion was Math, and maybe theater, but Math always took first place. Anyway, Regards Orc

Hi all As someone who has: (a) a Clinical psychological disorder (or disease or condition or whatever you want to call it, just don't call it a disability), (b) someone who suffered with multiple difficulties during my education. (c) Is now working in a post semi-related to education I not so humbly suggest that ""learning difficulties'" are largely the result of low quality teaching. Either they're just lousy teachers, or they're passing time until their dream job becomes available, or they're filling a teaching post so that they can work at their real passion which is coaching sport (very few professional school coaches in ZA - my experience with teacher/coaches is that they are poor teachers and even poorer coaches). OR they got an otherwise useless degree at University and have taken a teaching post to make payments on their student loans. Or they're just complete, utter psychopaths who have no business being outside of a padded cell, let alone being responsible for the education of vulnerable, impressionable children. I had a couple of those during my time at Primary School (first seven years). If I had let their expressed opinions of me dictate the course my life was to take I would have ended up as a human crash test dummy, or a yard technician, or hobo. Fortunately I had some teachers who were really just Angels in Disguise and managed to instill different values in me. As for the OP's question / comment about learning Python: I would not say its an easy language to learn, but it is certainly easier than some of the offerings out there. I had a lot of fun with: https://inventwithpython.com/#invent Learning to use any programming language is an exercise in patience (with yourself and with the compiler or interpreter) and curiosity. If you lack those then you will struggle, and even fail. Anyway, Regards Orc

Hi again Re: Harry Rhodan: I'm pretty sure its 64-bit but I would be lying if I said I was definitely sure. I got the computer and the OS (the most expensive part) right before Microsoft stopped supplying new licenses for Windows 7. Re: steve_v: I definitely don't have any HD that are in sub GB range. The oldest processor I still have is probably an early Athlon from AMD (a 300 mhz I think). I had a 286, 386, 486SX and a 90mhz Pentium at various times but I gave them all away to people who needed a working computer more than I needed more junk cluttering up my limited space. Somewhere I do have the Corpse of a 40MB old Western Digital MFM hard drive, but it is a corpse and the data is long gone due to head crash. I kept it around because it was heavier than any other HD I ever bought. Heck today it might even be heavier than whole notebooks. Thank you both for your input. Take care, Regards Ork

Greetings steve_v Thanks for the speedy reply. Wow! 32 GB of RAM. I still have functioning hard drives that are smaller than that. I might even have a HD with only 10% of that capacity. I'd have to check my stockpile of old parts. I also have a still functioning Motherboard that only has 128 MB on it, if anyone cares. How cheap is "cheap RAM"? Got a quote in December for 4 GB of DDR 3 that came in at R 500. $1 = +- R 14 so roughly $ 35.7. That is at a leading (translation: only) IT retailer. I could probably shave a few Rands off by going to the wholesale suppliers or to a small company that isn't really interested in gouging customers on hardware (the big money is in CCTV installations and the MAINTENANCE thereof!) New graphic cards are crazy stupid expensive. Like multiple thousands of Rands. The only new game I'm likely to be interested in for 2019/2020 is Anno 1800, which will probably cost more than my new RAM and any theoretical new Video Card. Thanks and regards Orc

Hi MPDerksen You wrote: This is very helpful. But a clarification: I thought that inclination changes were most effective when you were halfway to the target. Or am I thinking of something different? AFAIK any change in DeltaV (which is what a inclination change is) are most effective at either the Apiapsis or Periapsis. Since your As and Ds nodes are not at your Apiapsis or Periapsis you need to pick the pick the one closest to your current position. Veterans and Those with the Know-how of the Math are welcome to correct me. Regards Ork

Greets My slightly old Windows 7 Professional edition PC claims to be: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7 GHz 4 GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce GT710 2GB Windows Experience Index 5.4 I am using an older LCD monitor that maxes out at 1280 X 1024. The video card's software claims it can support much, much more. I have been completely satisfied with KSP performance since upgrading from 1.0 to (I think) 1.3. But what about going forward? KSP seems to have handled the transition to 64bit only OK, and even looks better than it did before. I still get the occasional crash, but that is probably par for the course, when running any PC game on Windows. Will adding an extra 4 GB of RAM make a significant difference to performance or graphical prettiness? Any help or advice welcome. Orc

Greetings all. MPDerksen, I'm not exactly a newbie, but I'm no expert either BUT I have landed on Minmus enough times to think that I have a clue about what I'm doing. For Minmus fly by take the ship that you used to fly by the Mun. Add a little extra fuel (usually 1 FT 800 should be plenty). You will probably need to upgrade your launch pad to make room for the mass requirements. Add solar panels. You will definitely not be able to get there and back on the MK1 Capsule's batteries. If you are using SRBs to get the thing moving upgrade them. If you need to upgrade them passed Thumpers then you are doing something either very wrong or very different. My last Minmus fly by went up on three Thumpers almost all the way to orbit, two burning at 75% thuster limiter on a core burning at 50%. Launch and achieve orbit at your preferred altitude. I like anywhere between 80k and 95k. Go to the Map View. Select Minmus as your target. You should now see Ascending and Descending nodes on your orbit. Minmus is typically 7degrees or so out of alignment with you. Time warp till your ship is almost at one of the nodes and turn to Normal or anti-normal (depending on the node, I think its Normal at Descending, and Anti-Normal at Ascending). Burn slowly until your orbit lines with Minmus's orbit. It doesn't have to be exact within a degree or so is fine. Now do your burn to intercept Minmus, just like as if you were going to the Mun, or intercepting an object in LKO. Keep in mind that if you are doing a fly by the gravity of Minmus will twist up the return part of your trajectory. You need to keep your wits about you when you exit the flyby. If you prefer to orbit Kerbin before re-entry, then make sure you have enough propellant. If you like letting your kerbals live dangerously then reduce your Periapsis to around 45K and enjoy the bumpy, hot ride. Have fun. Minmus is just the beginning.... Oh and watch out for Minmus's terrain on your first landings there. That little green jewel can be a real meanie. Regards Orc

Greetings Generally speaking in the Real World any time someone is speaking about any application for Florine it is time to leave the room (and probably the neighborhood, and perhaps even the city). Florine is horribly dangerous stuff, so reactive that it is found almost nowhere in the Natural Universe (the same place where hideously reactive stuff like hydrogen manages to exist in quantities that defy the common human imagination). Even hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) is freaking dangerous. Even in a highly diluted state it will dissolve glass, the usual 'safe' goto for storing acids. At high concentrations it will literally eat your skin, lungs and corneas away faster than your nerves can transmit the pain signals to your brain. Only a human who is insanely insane Nutjob, or truly ignorant will voluntarily go anywhere near Florine or even concentrated HF. When triprop rocketry was discussed of sci.space.tech in the 90s several real rocket engineers all volunteered their opinion of what other obnoxious oxidizer they'd rather work with. Professionals who worked on the Apollo and Shuttle Program all felt that 99% hydrogen peroxide, fuming red nitric acid, and even the radioactive exhaust of a gas core nuclear engine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_core_reactor_rocket) were a better option. So for the Kerbal-verse handling the stuff is probably a mandatory requirement. But even then only really stupid Kerbals will be happy about the job, and only if encouraged with the promise of lots of snacks. But seriously from a Game Play point of view what would the benefit be? Someone mentioned up-thread of adding LH-LO engines as a trade-off in performance versus the current LFO engines. Triprops add another fuel tank to the stack, and should for 'realism' purposes result in major damage to the launch pad (and possibly Crawler way) even when the launch goes well. Anyway, take care. Regards Orc

Hi all The poor little rover looks lonely. We need to send him a friend, a human one, ASAP. REgards Orc

Hi all Recently I've been playing some (near-)freebies I got off Steam: SpaceHack Star-Explorers Scraps Demo SpaceHack is an insane amount of fun, and very frustrating at times, just like a Rogue-like. Game play wise it is a nice mix of the original Diabilo and the Diabilo in Space game Harbinger. Star-Explorers is fun too, and equally frustrating at times, for different reasons. Running around on planets'surfaces (or below them) trying to find the loot before your oxygen supply expires, or your protective suit deteriorates is fun and frustrating at the same time. And despite the graphics (apparently) being low quality the individual worlds are beautiful. Scraps Demo is a demo and it is probably the most like KSP of the lot, in that you assemble vehicles from parts and then test them. The difference is in Scraps you are shooting stuff up. But I keep coming back to KSP. There is something relaxing and beautiful in flying a Flea-powered Mk1 Capsule over the eastern sea and splashing down to collect 12 Science Points and test a decoupler or a heat shield, or a rocket engine. KSP is my happy place. Regards Orc

Greets all, My efforts to explore the Northern (and Southern) Ice shelf biomes have largely been restricted to two types of craft. Number one is a variation of the same rocket I use for early pre-orbital, and orbital science gathering. Launch it northward instead of eastward and cut the throttle when your trajectory hits the 'far-side' of the ice shelf you are aiming for. When you are over the ice shelf use any remaining propellant to slow down and make a landing. Alternatively I build a sturdy airplane with lots of science stuff attached and two J-33 Wheesleys. Its not Kerbin's fastest trip but you might be able to harvest a few temperature scans on the biomes you fly over on the way there. Typically I find that with the initial 30-part limit, and an un-upgraded runway, and sufficient science stuff to make the trip worth while that I'll run out of fuel on the way back, so I end up recovering the plane from a random piece of grassland. By the time better jet engines come along most of Kerbin's biomes have been thoroughly explored, and the more lucrative contracts are all off world, so it doesn't make sense wasting time chasing down anomalies or taking temperature readings on distant Kerbin biomes. YMMV. REgards Orc

Greetings all, Thanks, magnemoe and Loren Pechtel, you've given me some ideas to try out for my next tourist contract binge. Regards Orc

Greetings all, I'm no expert on Armstrong's biography but one recent commentator pointed out (following the release of ''First Man' in cinemas) that one of the reason Armstrong was the natural choice was that he was one of the few that had survived the training / recruitment process unscathed. Practically every vehicle he piloted or tested on his way to the Apollo 11 capsule killed other men or, if they survived, left their reputation in ruins with those making the placement decisions. Also in his favor was that at the time that he entered the Space Program he was a CIVILIAN test pilot, which the US administration considered a plus, as opposed to the USSR's almost totally military fighter-jock parade of cosmonauts. As an aside there is a paragraph from John Mitchner's novel ""Space"" which is apparently a truthful comment on Armstrong's test pilot work ethic (based on the testament given to the author by the men who witnessed the event): After a crash landing (which might have been due to a flame-out on take-off, if I am remembering correctly) Armstrong calmly sat in the cockpit and and recorded the dial readings and followed the engine procedure to the letter, all the while sitting in what was essentially a big can fuel of aviation fuel with a live burny bit at the tail end. When fellow pilots arrived on a Jeep to rescue him he waved them off because they were too close. He did not exist the wreck until the emergency vehicles had arrived and hosed it down. Basically Armstrong was B@dA$$ but was too busy doing his job to notice. Regards Orc

Greets all, Not sure how to answer the question. The only time I've ever úsed the LES was for a contract to test it on the launch pad. Never having actually fired one off before I attached it to the top of a Mk1 Capsule, put two radial chutes on the capsule and sent one of the non-pilot Kerbalnauts for a ride. Launch, whoosh, open chutes when appropriate, watch terrified Kerbal on 4x speed as the capsule descends. landed pretty close to the launch pad considering there was non SAS during the powered part of the flight. Bank some easy money. So am I a YES or NO? Why don't people include ''Maybe" or "Only when dictated by contracts" in their poll options. Regards Orc

Hi all, I'm not qualified to comment on the more technical side of KSP's handling of things, but to answer the OP directly: I've had good results with building a tourist rocket with the two (or even three) crew cabins ABOVE the Mk1 Capsule. Yes, I know, sucky draggy thing on the way up. But I've sent tourists as far as Minmus Orbit and gotten them back safely. You don't even need the MK1 to be carrying a heat shield. This configuration wobbles and spins like crazy upon re-entry into the lower atmosphere (sub-20K) but it holds together. Use one of the big central parachutes coupled with two or three radial drogue chutes for slowing down, or go with two radial regular chutes with two or three drogues. Two or three air-brakes help enormously but they don't become available when local tourist contracts are the primary way of earning the big bucks. Regards Orc

You know you've played way too much KSP when you look up at the Kerbol sky box and wonder what the constellations the Kerbals recognize. Is there a ''Big Scary Kraken'' out there, and a "Small, no-less Scary Kraken", and the "Favourite Childhood green dessert Snack", and "The Snack Thief"? You know you've played way too much KSP when spot a new Easter Egg or terrain feature in the Kerbol, Mun, Minimus system and think: "How have I missed that before?" Admittedly some of that might have to do with me recently upgrading from version 1.0.X to 1.3 and then to 1.5 in rapid succession. Terrain rendering in 1.3 and 1.5 seems WAY BETTER (Thank you SQUAD). Regards Orc

Greets, I do not have any images to share, but what I see here is FREAKING WOW WOW WOW. Are these all stock? They are AWESOME, even if they are not. Thanks. REgards Orc

Greets all and TheSaint in particular, Yep, King Pie used to be very good, which is why I went back to them. It is a shame when standards change / slip. McDs is not my favorite food but they are gobbling up the fast food market here in ZA because of one singular feature of their business model: Service. It doesn't matter where you go you get the same service, and its good (very good by some South African standards), and the drive-throughs are drive-throughs, not drive, wait, turn off the engine, wait for the person on the other end of the intercom to wake up, speak and get misunderstood, drive to the pay point and get charged for someone else order. Warning: Passing on info from a third party who will probably deny everything on the basis that too much tequila was involved. To get the same Nando's effect you need to marinade the chicken with the hot sauce, preferably for days, preferably after having stabbed the chicken multiple times with a sharp fork. And using a bit of tequila to loosen up the marinade doesn't hurt. Then you need to flame grill it. Making biltong is something I have always left to the professionals, (a) if you screw it up its a waste of a perfectly good piece of meat, and (b) if you screw up and don't find out about it until three hours AFTER you've eaten the stuff it can be an expensive and very unpleasant trip to the ER. This morning's food on the mind is grilled Dorado medallion with a massive side order of fries, all doused in large amounts of rough sea salt and brown vinegar. The best place to get it is a little place called the Fish Plaice in Glen Ashley, which is technically in Durban. I miss Durban. I miss good food. Regards Orc

Greets Forget King Pie, they (or at least the local franchises) has decided that Flavor = more ground chili seed in everything. You can't taste the pepper in the pepper steak, you can't taste the chicken in the chicken and mushroom. You can't taste anything for hours after eating the damn thing. All you can taste is cheap chili. They nearly put my wife in hospital because she can't tolerate chili at all any more (stomach ulcers). When you complain the staff just shrugs. If you are a former Durban-ite you will know Bread Ahead, from whom I have only actually purchased bread once. Bread-Ahead is where to go for pies. Homemade rusks, hmm, you need to find someone who knows what they're doing, otherwise you're just getting dry, crunchy bread. Good buttermilk rusk... hmm... yum... practically ambrosia. Nando's is available in the UK now. If you are not in the UK you could always get a relative to send you a bottle or two (or ten of the Nando's extra hot sauce). Its for sale in most good supermarkets. Customs might confiscate it though, depending on where you now live. If you know your way around a kitchen there are more than enough milktart (melktert) recipes online. I'm not that comfortable around a kitchen (although I do do something that could be called cooking) but I given online recipes to people who have never made a milktart, and I've been happy to eat the results. Now, what food in Jeb thinking about? And was it Bob or Val who stole his favourite childhood dessert out of the fridge at the Astronaut Center while Jeb was in orbit last week? Or was it one of those tourists? Regards Orc

Hi all This thread is having a seriously bad effect on my brain and stomach. I might need to stop visiting forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com until you guys let it die. Just in the time it has taken to read the last few posts I've thought about: Boerewors and potato mash with tomato and onion gravy (hmm: Boerewors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerewors) Bobotjie and yellow rice, where the Bobotjie was made with extra big raisins, served with some Mrs. Balls Fruit Chutney on the side. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobotie , http://mrsballs.com/product/original-chutney/) Failing that Pork. Pork is always a good bet. Well prepared Pork is always awesome. And those damn KFC breakfast wraps. Damn you KFC, Damn you. Regards Orc

You are EVIL. Bacon ... bacon fat... potatoes... do you grill / roast them or do you have enough fat to fry them? I will however suggest that you see your GP about getting your Cholesterol checked. Regards Orc

Has anyone suggested: "Ahhh heck, what did I just step in?" Regards Orc

Hi all and DoctorHoon in particular It sounds like your Contract requires your vehicle (vessel) to be within in range of values for performance and position (velocity, altitude, etc) for the contract to work. What you need to figure out is how to get your vehicle within range of all the requirements and to have a Decoupler waiting to be staged. And if you care about such things get your Kerbal(s) back safely. Typically I will approach this kind of contract by using a Mk1 Capsule and the minimum amount of SRB / rocket parts to get me into the requirements range. Leave a little room for tinkering with thrust limiters and fuel loads (for SRBs), and with throttle settings for LF engines. Sometimes I pack an extra Radial Drogue chute or five to give me the option of reducing velocity. Important to remember TO NOT put the decoupler between the capsule and the parachute you intend to land with (yep, been there, done that, screamed in rage as the Evil god of Gravity claimed another Kerbal sacrifice). Fly your first attempt just to make sure you can get the vehicle (vessel) into the right range. Revert (or do some science and land safely) and then refit with the part to be tested. Fly again. Timing is (almost) everything. Don't get disheartened if you don't get it right the first time. You can always revert (or watch your Kerbals die spectacularly - or have them bail out and ride their personal chutes down - that can be hours of mindless fun all in itself ;-) ). Once mastered this particular skill set can be a time consuming but efficient way to pad out that funds account. REgards Orc

Hi all and FinalFan in particular FinalFan, I MUST congratulate you on flying that re-entry. If I'd flown that ship it would have been a complete loss of crew and vessel, and all the tasty necessary science on board. If I'm flying tourists to the Mun, and I'm not using bigger (more advanced) crew containing parts I usually put the passenger compartment part on top of the MK1 Capsule (yes I know horrific drag but on the way out of the atmosphere I have a big rocket with a throttle, and on the way in you WANT horrific drag). I can land that configuration, sometimes even without a heat shield, but going in nose first like that, especially with a single very vulnerable parachute ... that takes skill and guts, and probably luck and a casual disregard for the lives of your Kerbals. Besides for that nice looking rocket. Regards Orc

Hi all MY previous employer had a very firm policy of sick people, and we weren't even close to the hospitality business. The policy was: "Don't come to work sick. EVER." Not what you would expect in a business with firm (and expensive) deadlines. But the logic was perfect. One sick person is bad and might cause us to miss a deadline (or two). IF that one sick person valiantly drags himself into work he might infect five or six people, particularly mission critical people, the bottlenecks in the productivity chain. A half dozen people sick is going to send the whole schedule for the next six months into free fall, and probably will infect every body else. When people obeyed this Policy we were all fine. Sick person was back at work in a few days and we usually didn't miss the deadlines because they could still do some work from home. When people didn't obey the policy other people DID get sick and deadlines were missed and the customers were very unhappy (which is never cool no matter what business you are in). I am certain some people abused the system but I think most didn't. If your boss or manager doesn't see the wisdom of keeping sick employees away from other employees and (more importantly) the paying customers then you should probably be polishing up your CV. Either you can do better somewhere else or your boss/manager is too dumb for their job and you should be ready to assume their position when they get fired. Anyway, Pawelk198604, hope you feel better real soon. I can empathize. Take care, be safe. have fun. Regards Orc