NorthernDevo

Hmm - I hadn't considered that; likely it would be OK, but I'd rather not start my stay on a new forum by annoying the mods...I usually prefer to wait a while before doing that (chuckle). OK - I haven't had the opportunity to meet any of the mods here yet, I'll take down the link for the moment, go find one and ask if the attachment is OK or not. Ten Key: Thanks so much for an absolutely fantastic response; exactly the kind of input and criticism I'm looking for. I hope you don't mind if I take a bit to prepare a response; I just got off work and need to get some sleep - after I find a mod. Cheers!

Not what I've done, but what I'm doing today: Hopefully I get the full KSP today and there's one thing I haven't done in the demo yet...and I'd never have thought of it if I hadn't seen Scott Manley mention it. Today, Jeb sets out to orbit Kerbol. It apparently looks real nice up close so let's see what kind of shielding the Mk1 Command Pod possesses. I'll make sure he packs a camera. Cheers!

OK, I'm not a hundred per cent this worked yet, but here is the URL Dropbox gave me. This is just the intro; just a few pages. It needs to be edited some; I tend to firehose a whole bunch of words at a page and then start chipping them down bit by bit. Warning: Strong language and violence; the first guy we meet does not go quietly into that sweet good night. (Edit: Took the link down for a moment; It's been suggested the Mods might not permit linking to a story involving harsh language, so I'll check on mod approval.) Just tested it, looks like it works. A couple more notes: the first few pages (Science notes) will ultimately go at the end of the book; included at the front so people can see and argue about 'em. If you like; I'll put up more. Cheers! Going to bed now; got the midnight shift.

Well, I won't be sleeping for a while...at least until I stop helplessly giggling...

Hey folks; the good news is I've finally figured out how to post pics again. The bad news is I've finally figured out how to post pics again...which means I get to inflict my horrible visage on poor, innocent unsuspecting victims like you-all Here we go; this is me:

Depends on the breed of the dog, I suppose. A Chihuahua could probably be stuffed into a pocket somewhere. A Great Dane might be a bit more challenging.

OK, here's the story to this point: Paypal hates me. That's the only answer I have about why the blasted site has STILL not run my order for KSP through, and I'm still stuck with the demo. Ok, ok...technically it's still just 4 business days but come ON! Ahem...anyway, I've been having to invent new things to do in the demo, and recently I've decided to go looking for all the easter eggs on the two available moons. God's Ringbolts (er...the arches...) were easy to find; a Stayputnik probe in low (REALLY low - 10K) polar orbit found the flying saucer right on the nighttime terminator...that was nice (and a little creepy). I made it on a direct flight to Minimus with a horribly overbuilt ship and spent a few hours cruising over the surface, looking for other features, finding nothing. That was about the time I posted my introductory post here; in it I mentioned I was about to give up since there clearly wasn't anything there. I was quickly informed that yes, there was something there...so I kept looking. Whatever it was had to be a monolith; anything larger I'd have seen. So the past week or so I've been orbiting Minimus looking for something...anything. I've landed and explored all the dry lakes on foot (well, on MMU), looked up and down valleys. Nada. I've recently been able to make much smaller vessels to the little moon by slingshotting around the Mun and have found some pretty neat RV solutions which involves an exciting ground-skimming periapsis of 5000m; very fun. But I STILL haven't found the bloody munolith. Until yesterday. I'd come up with a launch vehicle which I'm convinced has to be the smallest vessel possible for such a journey and sent Val back out to the outer moon on yet another survey. (Remember, this is the demo - no science equipment; it's all eyeballs. Given the size of Kerbal eyeballs, this is a good thing.) I orbited for a while, then, wanting to take a break and having a ton of fuel left over in my descent stage, I decided to put her down on a handy highland - looked flat, no dry lakes nearby. I thought I'd explore the plateau in the morning. (I wanted to eat dinner, bathe etc. And let Val sleep for a while.) So I landed just at dusk, but forgot about the moon's rotation and wound up putting down just after night fell. Inspired by other pics here, I decided to take a couple of shots of Val's landing site: Quite nice. How about another shot a little later in the morning...trying to find a nice dramatic lighting. Not bad...how about one from Minimosity's (the lander) view? And... Uh... I looked at the image...and looked at it again... and then said "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!!!" Look again: Yup - I've been bopping around this blasted mint-frosted muffin for TWO BLOODY WEEKS looking for this flippin' monolith...and then I damn near land right on top of it! Well, at least I finally found the thing...the joy of discovery is moderated somewhat by the likelihood that the Munolith aliens were getting dizzy watching me go around and around and around, then finally rolled their celestial eyes and told Val where to put the darn ship down. Cheers!

Hi, thanks for the help - I've heard of Drop Box; though just as a name. I'll give it a go. (Chuckle) I'm a total luddite; learning as I go. Of course, once I do figure this 'internet' thing out, one of two things will happen: 1) I'll go totally web native, and be streaming, videoing, and recording until people tell me to shut up (if I was any more of a ham, I'd oink) or 2) the Internet will blow up. Possibly as a direct result of 1). Cheers!

Oh! Thanks for the info; I didn't know what Imgur was, I'll look into it. FWIW, it's a text pdf; I'd be happy to send it to you, though I'd be happier sending it out as a general offering, I'm nothing if not a shameless self-promoter ...err... 'open to criticism'. I'll look up 'Imgur' and get back to you.

Hi KSK; I was just confused...the last time I was regularly on the Internet (about a decade ago) being able to attach a .pdf to a post was a normal thing. I thought that was the same now...but apparently not. The point was to offer my writing to the group via attachment but if that's no longer an option, then whoops; my bad - best if we forgot the idea. Sorry if I bothered anyone.

Hello, folks. You know, as I count it up on the calendar (and count on my fingers) I've been writing for public consumption (note that I did NOT say for profit) for sixteen years now - and still have no idea what I'm doing. I've supported published authors in their works, I've published others, I've smoothed the progress of yet others due to my professional role (I work in the publishing industry) but have never yet gone 'over the wire' to publish on my own. I've always valued the abilities of others over my own. Now, over the age of 50, I'm finally doing what everyone has told me to do for a couple of decades now and am firming up my first storylines for publication. I have a couple of websites I regularly post on (at least, in those times when I'm on the Internet; my real life is not an easy one) and they provide me good support and assistance. I've been reading the fanfic threads of the KSP for three weeks now, and I'm totally blown away by the creativity, the humour and sheer unmitigated joy of the stories you tell, and I feel reassured at letting you read my work. (Believe me; letting others - especially strangers - read my work is not at all comfortable. My PTSD from the war and other emotional issues have prevented me from offering my works.) You are exactly the kind of creative, joyful and enthusiastic folks who I can trust to give an honest critique of my work to this point (I'll warn you; it has nothing to do with the Kerbal Universe) and to tell me if it a viable (and saleable) series. If I can figure out how to do so, I'll append the story to this post. If not, I'll hem, haw, whine, whimper and cry until one of you fine folks shows me how to attach a file to a post. Stand by... OK, apparently you can't attach a .pdf to a post on this forum. Hmmm.... EDIT: OK, let's try this... Another edit: I just tried hosting the file on a .PDF website; but it was so awkward and cluttered there's no point trying. Hmm. Are the days when I used to simply attach a .pdf file to a post gone now? Remember I haven't been online for about a decade.

Excellent! Might be a fun way to pointlessly waste a few hours sometime! BTW - Ultimate Steve; I think I've seen you before...Might you be about the size of a volleyball, with a couple of handles and a big yellow eye?

'Allo! Since Paypal has seen fit to STILL not run my payment through (growl!); I've still got the bloody demo, so there are many things regarding KSP that I don't know yet. I was at work today and something suddenly pinged in my brain: I wonder if I could create the Jovian Express within the Kerbol system? The Express is a storyline I had about ten years ago; or rather is an environment to write stories in. It's pretty weird, which was the whole point - it was an environment where I could have a little fun and not be so serious about my plots (I write SF murder-mystery, so people have a habit of dying in particularly gruesome and colorful ways in my stories. The capital letter 'A' is frequent; as in "AAAAA!"). I abandoned it because it was just not realistic, and the ideas I thought up for the Express made their way - in a more mature form - into the books I'm writing now. The idea is this: Humanity begins a massive commercial-based expansion into the Solar System within about 10 to 20 years from now. The Moon is colonized and quickly becomes a thriving community; Mars begins to be colonized from the Moon. Everything's going pretty hunky-dory, until 2046 - the year of the Petrocalypse; the year the oil stops flowing. Earth civilization collapses completely; the off-Earth colonies have to fend for themselves. They do so, very well. The Moon becomes the new capital for Humanity's system-wide civilization. Two hundred years later, all of Humanity's commercial and political strength is centered around the Moon. Earth, having learned its lesson, is now focused on an entirely green lifestyle, populated by shiny happy people holding hands, apologies to REM. (Er...actually; the song sucks. No apologies to REM.) A true heavy expansion of Humanity is limited because of the limited resources. Earth is off-limits, and all the rich mineral wealth is way out there beyond Mars, in the Jovian system. Modern ships are short-range; resources for long-distance ships are limited. Some few can travel out there at great cost, so someone (in a possibly over-caffeinated state) comes up with an idea: the Jovian Express. Robot ships are sent to the Oort cloud to capture several (24) comets of similar size and shape, and send them on an orbit through the lower Solar System. As they travel, they're outfitted with bases, engines and support facilities. The comets are converted into huge orbiting ferries which carry cargo, ships and personnel from the inner Solar System out to the Jovians. They're each given proud names from history, though since the Internet (and much of Earth's record keeping) vanished in the Petrocalypse, by a small error the ferries have names such as Flying Dutchman, Marie Celeste and Harpswell. Each has a crew of about sixty, and each carries a full load of about five hundred passengers and several dozen ships enroute to the asteroids and beyond. A four year journey...in a zero-gee metal-lined ice cube...cheek-to-jowl with other people...all of whom have some reason for being on this thing... Yeah, what could possibly go wrong? Ultimately, the idea proved mathematically impossible, but I always thought I'd like to revisit it some day; see if, improbable as it is, I could make the idea work in an entertaining manner. I've spent all day at work today dreaming about building it in KSP, putting engines and habitations on asteroids (Does KSP have capturable comets?) and sending them down to orbit around Kerbin and Jool. My question is, can something as wonderfully absurd as the Jovian Express be built within the confines of KSP? Cheers!

Since I still have the demo (come on already, Paypal!) I have to invent rules to follow in sandbox. First; no revert except on the pad. Second, no looking up the Easter Eggs in the wiki; I've got to find them on the Mun and Minimus. (I finally found the monolith on Minimus; that one was weird enough to post about...just editing up the pics now. ) All Kerbonauts have max stats, so surveying and finding objects on the moons is a three-step process: 1st, an unkerballed Stayputnikl probe overflying the area until something is found. 2nd, a Pilot-class Kerbonaut (Jeb or Val alternate flights) sent to the object for an initial survey and plant a flag to mark the location. 3rd, a Scientist (Bob) goes out with a science vessel (Lander with 3 Science Jr.'s) to study the object. Studying takes 1 solar day per material bay. Minimum fuel to be used; Minimus flights made via slingshot around the Mun. You can have a LOT of fun with the demo. Cheers!

The one thing I always, always forget: Fuel ducts. On demo, I haven't got many options so I use a lot of droppable fuel tanks. It's really annoying getting to Minimus, descending to the surface, then realizing that a) my fuel level's going down waaaay faster than it should and b) I'm a lot heavier than I should be. "Wait a minute, what's going on?...oh." Struts too: I can't count how many times I've launched off the pad and raced for the sky looking like Billy Johnson.

I'd be curious to see the effects of a long-range flight from Kerbin to another star system with - for instance - real-life rules and parameters. I doubt the outcome would be very satisfying; a ship which operates within the local solar system suddenly running into different laws would likely wind up as Kerbal Konfetti. Therefore, I would suggest that the Kerbol system being representative of its region seems to be the most likely answer, so that's how I voted. Cheers!

Wow; beautiful post, Starwhip! No, there aren't; I've had to use considerable creativity to get my collection of loosely-organized parts to the Mun and Minimus. My initial attempts were - as Starwhip said - based around 'bigger is better' which, since my computer ain't your average supercomputer, slowed my performance to a crawl. (A first stage made from 18 6-tank rockets surrounded by 30+ solid rocket boosters...not so much a first stage as a first bandstand.) A second with 9 8-tank rockets + 2-tank droptanks; a third...well, you get the picture. All to support either a single-stage lander/return vehicle or a capsule plus separate lander Jeb would have to EVA to reach. Recently, I've been sending Jeb out with a much smaller, sleeker vessel with just enough fuel to get to high orbit over (insert rocky body/confection of your choice) and perform a retro burn that brings the capsule to a perikerbin altitude of 36 Kms. Then once he's in a 1K orbit and safely playing Kribbage, I'll launch a second craft with an empty lander and a Stayputnik bolted to the nose. 2nd. ship RV's with Jeb who climbs over, undocks and jettisons the probe. He then makes his landing, plants his flag, has fun, runs out of MMU fuel, slides down a mountain, has to trudge back to the capsule for two hours, eats, and lifts off to RV with the first ship. Jeb floats back over, floats back to the lander, grabs the keys he forgot, returns to the first craft, boards, waves bye-bye to the lander and burns for home. He has just enough gas to enter the atmosphere; he has to slow down in a series (usually 4) of aerobrake dives. He uses his last traces of gas to deorbit (one of the primary reasons the ground crew stocks the capsule with dehydrated beans for the return journey) then ejects the last engine and enters. If I time it right, I can land pretty close to KSC - my personal record is about 10m from the flagpole at the center of the complex. Yup - I can't wait for the full game; but the demo's plenty fun too!

(chuckle) I was having fun with video games back when they were two gray bars and a square on a black screen going 'boop...boop...boop.' Given that the demo alone is far more complex and absorbing than the full-sized version of many games, enjoying the demo is easy. And you're right; having had the opportunity to cruise this place for a little while, I'm now biting my nails waiting for my Paypal account to clear so I can pick up the full version. However, I think that that could be an interesting challenge to the members: given all the wonderful things you guys have done, all the places you've explored and ships you've built; go back to just the demo (if that's possible) and see how big, weird, fun and crazy an adventure you can have with only two moons and a few parts.

Hmm....well then I think I have to head back out there. I know there's nothing on the hard icing...er...dry lake beds, I've covered them on foot fairly completely. I've tried a couple of the larger mountains and basins too. I think I'll look at the highlands and turn off the free rocks. Whatever's there has to be a monolith; I'm certain I'd have seen anything larger by now. Cheers!

Hi Buckley, thanks for the greeting and right back atcha!

Hope I helped in a small way.

Lord, I just stopped laughing long enough to be able to hit the keys, that was fantastic!

Hello Spaceception; nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, I've got a couple of thoughts on The Void I'd like to share. First of all, I like the basic idea. Impending Armageddon has never been my thing in S-F but if you can make it work then great! The problem with Armageddon is, in my opinion (and I stress this is just my own opinion) it is an overwhelmingly huge subject, both in scale and emotional impact (we're talking about the extermination of the Earth and its billions of inhabitants here) and as such the story itself needs to be big enough to cover it. So - just my opinion again - if you're prepared to write a story that big, you need to be able to throw the brakes off the creative process and cut loose. I like the writing approach: simple, no-nonsense and joins the action in a very 'people are normal' way (now there's a useless description) that reminds me of Jack McDevitt. I would personally be interested in seeing more quick character development, which would allow me to get a better handle on the action. For instance: Who's this Rob guy anyway? We know he's in charge of something astronomical; we know he's married to Mary. He works at an observatory. He has a subordinate named Jack and the head of the observatory is Amy Summers. Beyond that, not much. What's his position? Authority? Why is he going to see The President and not Amy? What is her qualifications? It's a good idea to establish the basic facts early. There's no need to extemporize, as in "Robert Baker, Chief Astronomer of the Palomar Research Observatory picked up the phone" or anything so clunky, but you can slide it in there easily. For instance: "Robert was nearing the observatory now, and a few minutes later, he was there. His Jaguar peeled into the parking lot without stopping; the guard hastily raising the gate for him. Being Chief Astronomer had its privileges. He pulled into the parking lot, got out of his car, and walked towards the building..." ...Or something. Or at least something better than that poor example. One other point that jumped out at me: While being concerned with the great big things - like the Earth blowing up - be very careful about the small things. I've found that it's the small details which trip a story up faster than the big ones. For example: I can accept a black hole coming in to pot Earth into the corner pocket in a few decades; what I can't accept is a person in a subordinate position - Robert - keeping huge information out of the hands of his boss - Amy - before he himself saw it. After all, she's in charge; why did Jack not go to her? Why would a person respected enough to gain instant access to the President of the United States have to stand around and chat about world-shattering events with a security guard while waiting for admittance? What was he doing on that ten-hour flight? Edit: One other thing I'd mention; but this is something strictly of preference: Someone Smart finds Something Bad, and goes and tells The President. I would personally say "avoid clichés". Sure, if a black hole was coming in to pot Earth into the corner pocket at some point in the future, Someone Smart would see it and The President would find out, but do you need to actually show it? If so then great - try (remember, this is just my opinion) to do so in a way that wasn't done in a hundred Imminent Armageddon stories before. Or - and this is a very viable possibility depending on writing style - you could follow the cliché and follow it good and hard, making it your own. Overall, I think it's a great idea and a great start. The writing's good and you've got the basics of a working frame to hang the story on. If I wuz you, I'd look at what you've offered as a précis; use it as an initial overview to build upon.

Hello, folks I'm very glad you have a writing thread; it's likely I'll be spending the majority of my time here. I'm about 50 pages from finishing the text - which means less than halfway completing - my first novel. It's an exciting time, and I'm at the stage where I'm running around shoving it into everybody's faces and shouting 'Read it! Read it!' (Which would be a whole lot more effective if I lived and worked in a community where people actually read for entertainment. In MY neck of the woods the only thing people read with interest are the hockey stats and what's under the rim of a coffee cup...shudder.) I'd love to offer bits of my work, but I'm acutely aware that as a newcomer, I have a while to go before I can be called a real member of this community and I wouldn't want to impose myself on anyone. So if you don't mind, I'd love to join your writers' circle and chat, compare notes and share thoughts for a while. Thanks!

Umm...oops.... (whistles innocently)