N_Danger

I started a new JNSQ campaign. Went for a career with a reduced science gain. (And since I hate farming KSC and Kerbin for Science I gave myself a bonus of science points before starting .) Jeb with the first Sub Orbital flight. And Val is the first kerbal in orbit. EVA isn't unlocked yet so more to come.

I quickly sent the newly recovered Jool 1 Probe to Vall. After scanning down Vall I headed to Laythe ditching the Nuc along the way. And with the last of the D/V I get into a polar orbit around Laythe.

I launched a huge relay sat to Jool. And recovered my Jool 1 probe that was lost due to lack of communications with KSC.

The D/V is about 6500 m/s with nuclear engine and a t/w of 0.3. I don't have the patience to use ION Prop.

I maneuvered The Jool 1 probe from Pol to Bop. Then we went to Tylo. And shortly after the departure burn from Tylo, the satellite lost comms and/or power before it could transfer to Vall. I blame the time warping 160 days for the cheapest transfer to Vall. Solar panels collect power but the battery doesn't charge and there is no probe control.

I went to Jool. Time for a long coast to the course correction. Jool looks really good up close. Now it is time to scan down Pol. And after that, head to Bop.

To follow up my Duna rover Mission, I sent a rover to Eve. We have arrived. I'm using, an old out of fuel probe, as a makeshift relay sat that is only giving me 20 minutes or so of probe control at a time. Time to launch a relay satellite to Eve.

I always go to Dres. For the science.

I sent a rover to Duna. Sky crane time. And let us make sure it flies away after dropping the rover. Now we drive around looking at stuff. And scan some blueberries. I also moved my Edna and Dak probe to Dres.

I went after an asteroid again. In the most kerbal way. My boosters had boosters! And they exploded! I put something big and ugly into orbit... ...with a mainsail and 12 thud core stage. And many, many struts. I then caught an asteroid (a small one this time). And wrangled an asteroid into orbit for the first time! A real elliptical one but it is an orbit. We have re-named it "New Mun"

I reloaded a quick save to try again at catching an asteroid. I went in more cautiously and seemed to get a better placement. And trying to catch a D class asteroid with a Pusher type vessel is not working out for me. The work has started on a Puller type vessel and we will see if that works out better.

I noticed that your initial settings are for start turn at 12.5 m/s and with a 32.48 degree angle. I generally go with a 50 m/s start and a 20 degree angle depending on T/W. You need to zoom out of the thicker atmosphere or you will end up going too fast with to much aerodynamic pressure on that large fairing when the autopilot tries to correct for your hold to AP time as others have noted. Check the T/W for each stage at the altitude of separation, for me keeping a T/W of at least 1.5 through out the ascent is best for my designs. Don't always take the recommended initial numbers from AG as gospel. I always experiment with every new vehicle playing with the start m/s and turn angle to find the best profile. And for me the best profile is defined as a 20 to 50 m/s burn to circularize.

I wanted to try and catch an asteroid for the first time. So I built a asteroid mover for the first time. Lift off! After adventures in plotting an intercepting course we make a intercept burn. And stick the capture. Maybe a little too well because we kind of clip inside the surface of the thing. And that clipping may have been a contributing factor to what happened next after a time warp. A Drawing Board,(one each, for going back to) has been requisitioned by the engineers.

I sent Val with some new Kerbalnauts to Minmus. Val and Jelwin pause for pictures. Then I move my probe from Edna to Dak. Which is lumpy. And after checking my newly detected unknown objects, the tracking center is getting a bit busy.

Titan/Gemini - My first memory of rockets caring astronauts . As a wee lad I remember watching the launches and spacewalks(yep another old guy here) Saturn 5 of course- Because moon. The Shuttle -was cool looking. Only when I got older did the flaws get noticed Falcon 9 - The recovery of first stages is something I can watch all day long Soyuz Family - Most manned launches. How can that be not be awesome?

I sent a probe to Edna. We had an early morning launch. And arrival at Edna. After getting the high orbit and low orbit science I put the probe into a 750 x 750 km orbit to do some mapping. When that is done we will move over to Dak. And hopefully after that we will try for Dres.

I have never messed with asteroids until this JNSQ game. So I have been practicing intercepting for the past couple of sessions and today I did my first grab of one. This is just after the intercept burn. 20 meters out ready for contact. And like the dog that finally catches the car, I say now what? Well with the mass of the asteroid added I have 5m/s of delta vee. So not a lot. I need to get nuclear engines and resource mining so I can put one in orbit. But this was good practice.

I forgot to include RCS propellent on my asteroid mission to practice intercepting and orbit changing. I don't have Nuc's or resource mining yet so I was just hoping to change the orbit a little. But after a minute of wondering why I couldn't do a 0.6 m/s burn to fine tune the intercept I figured it out.

Interesting discussion. I think the real issue once you move away from the tactical level to the operational and strategic level is can you deplete the defender's resources faster than the attacker's? Given current and foreseeable tech, manned and unmanned vehicles will be very expensive (I think you would get more bang for the buck with unmanned). So you will be talking about just a few assets on each side. In the missile discussion, in the above posts, are there enough missiles available to the attacker to force the defender to run out of D/V during the engagement? They don't have to hit to have a measurable effect on the battle. Is there a requirement for persistence in the engagement area from ether side? Are opponents passing through or is there an objective being fought over? With a manned vehicle BINGO fuel will be an issue. How much D/V do you have before having to break off? With an unmanned vehicle, is it worth sacrificing to deplete the attackers supply so that follow on forces can enter the area? And people's answers to those questions will lead to the ship designs chosen. With the very real possibility of the chosen design not working for a particular engagement. It would be a bummer to travel at least several weeks if not months(depending on available drive tech) to an find out your chosen design is the wrong one for that fight.

I sent my first Minmus landing mission in this play through. I upgraded my launcher to add more thrust to weight on the upper stages. I was having some issues on the launch profile using less than 1.5 T/W stages. I had an oscillation in the vertical plane using my ascent autopilot. I'm still having change the way I approach and do things in the larger scale JNSQ as opposed to the stock game. But I'm getting there. At an altitude of less than 1000 meters it is probably a good time to start the landing burn. The rendezvous and docking are routine. And so is the return and splashdown. And another successful mission in the bag.

I decided to do stuff involving asteroids today. I launched a sentinel instrument equipped satellite into an orbit between Eve and Kerbin. And then I intercepted an asteroid passing through Kebin's SOI. I was able to park a probe 30 meters away from it for long term observation.

Mods are the best reason to go PC. When you put several hundred hours into the game, the stock game gets boring. So mods can give you ways to keep the game interesting and fresh. New parts, new game modes (play with life support for example), new planets, rescaled system size etc..

You can also use a capsule that takes more then one passenger and take 2 pilots.

I launched my second mission to the Mun. Val in command and two new kerbals. One the way to the Mun after the transfer burn Undocking for landing. Finding a parking spot. Val and Alford pose for a picture before taking off Alford is glad that the KSC rule of never transferring the science through a docking port allows for many EVA's. Explosions will make any mission better. And back with the science!

I launched a large relay antenna satellite. But it went sideways. That's the proper technical term I think. After some tweaking of the launch profile things went better. And an important part of a deep space relay system is now in place.