Mjarf

One thing that I find funny about rovers in KSP is that you can relatively easily build a rover with a top speed of several hundred km/h. I do agree that their usefulness is quite limited.

Welp, I got four of the little green dudes stranded in an elliptical orbit between Kerbin and Eve after I completely underestimated the necessary delta-v for a trip to Moho. So I had to build an even larger ship to send extra fuel up there so they can get back home. Good thing they had hibernation pods installed before they left. Here they're zooming past Moho at 6 km/s with about 2 km/s delta-v left: There was a small landing craft and LFO tank that I had to ditch after draining them of fuel in a desperate attempt to gain some extra delta-v: Launching the "small" rescue craft: Rendesvouz with the ship containing 4 extremely bored Kerbals: Finally back in Kerbin orbit after being stranded in space for 5 years, poor little guys: Finally back on Kerbin soil, they don't seem very happy with their trip:

Rendezvous and docking is definitely one of the most difficult things to do in KSP. I struggled far less with my first interplanetary mission than my first rendesvouz. I also had a difficult time grasping the whole concept of relative velocity and intercept angles. The first time I actually managed to do it I first watched the video where Scott Manley explains the procedure and practiced the whole thing with two identical crafts built specifically to be easy to dock. Sounds like you had a much more difficult introduction to it and it's very satisfying when it all finally "clicks" and the two crafts "kiss" and become one craft. The first time is usually a real brain twister, but after that it pretty much becomes routine and it opens up a lot of new possibilities.

Money well spent I say.

That is absolutely adorable.

I thought the main reason for launching east is because all the other celestial bodies rotate in that direction? That 174m/s of delta-v isn't very relevant for a trip that requires 5-10km/s or more delta-v.

My thoughts exactly.

Welp, just got back from a rather long break from KSP. Started a fresh science career yesterday with a close to vanilla install, just KER and Tweakscale. I always enjoy the "buildup" part of gaming.

I have definitely experienced "KSP burnout" to the extent that I got physically exhausted. I've had to take month long breaks each time this has happened. I tend to end up "farming" in games that I really like, and at that point it turns into a second job instead of a pastime activity. I had to quit playing Minecraft completely as I always end up building large and complex farms instead of mining, building and exploring and having fun. Same thing tends to happen in KSP, during my last "run" in KSP I put a "science farm" in orbit around the mun to produce tons of science points. I played with the KSP Interstellar mod and the top technologies there require a lot of science points. I don't "burn out" because I get sick of the game, I "burn out" because I become obsessed with it. KSP is one of those games that has my "x-factor", I am a tinkerer, and I love to tinker with new rocket designs. When I come to the point that I spend more time designing the docking bay of my new space cruiser than it takes to do the trip it's built for, that's when it's time for me to take a break. Hm, this turned into quite the rant, oh well, good to know that I'm not the only burnt out Kerbalnout.

I think most of us have done the "Oops, now I have to rescue the rescue team's rescue team too".

^What he said, I always go into orbit around the Mun, that way I can do a more controlled and precises descent and avoid any major boo-boo's. Accidents still happen from time to time, space travel is pretty dangerous work.

I had a close call yesterday when doing a transfer burn from LKO to Duna. I started the burn too early and didn't pay attention to the orbit around Kerbin, then I suddenly noticed that PE had dropped to about 50km, and the craft was entering the atmosphere. Welp, I had to burn radial out at full throttle to get it back out of the atmosphere, luckily the ship had a TWR of more than 1. It had a crew of 5, so it would really suck if it crashed, I really hate losing Kerbals.

I bet that got your heartbeat up quite a bit.

We took a trip to Duna and en route to Duna we had an encounter of the Kerbal kind: At first I freaked out a bit "what?! UFO's?!!", but after closer inspection it turned out to be a graphical bug, those are actually the bottoms of the thermal generators and the center fuel tank: It was fun though, Squad should definitely implement UFO's in the next update, or is there a mod for it perhaps?

We'v all had to literally get out and push at one point, it works if you're patient. I had a similar situation the other day, I timewarped too far during descent to the Mun and Jeb had to bail right before the lander crashed into the surface so he could land with his RCS pack. Luckily the command module survived somehow so he at least didn't have to sleep outside while waiting for a rescue ship. I managed to crash the first rescue ship, luckily it was unmanned, I hate losing any of my little green dudes. The second rescue ship survived the trip though and brought him back home safely.

I've been quite busy today with my ongoing Mun/Minums science harvesting. I figured my 6 engine landing craft was too complex, too underpowered and overall unreliable so I (accidentally) crashed it into the Mun (luckily Jeb survived and is now on a long vacation) and did a new design from scratch. I also sent up a combined docking hub and RCS fuel depot to further expand my Mun science station. Valentina has taken Jeb's place in the Mun/Minmus science project and her first task was to fly the new lander and docking-hub/monoprop-depot to the science station. The combined weight of the fuel depot and lander with transfer stage required a quite large first stage, I love building large rockets: The fairing is just dead weight outside the atmosphere: Don't you guy just love burning huge amounts of rocket fuel: Off to the Mun we go, I love the Poodle engine, it may look a bit goofy, but it's a proper workhorse: Here's the lander docked with the station, the fuel depot is parked nearby to be placed by the remote controlled tug I built and sent up a couple days ago: I'm quite pleased with the little tug, it's very good at hauling space stuff: The hub also has a Klaw to park the tug on or to attach anything to the station: The transfer stage had a lot of fuel left in the tank so Valentina made the first trip to Minmus, no point wasting all that fuel: The maiden voyage of the new "Munin" lander was a great success, it has better performance and reliability than the old Hugin N craft: The old "Hugin N" design had 6 CANDLE engines, the new one has a single NERV engine. It's a much simpler design with fewer parts and a higher TWR of 3.68 fully fueled at the Mun. I lost the craft file for the Hugin N, but it had a TWR of less than 3 fully fueled at the Mun. It has exactly 4000m/s Delta-v fully fueled, a bit less than the old lander, but it's more than enough. I like how it's exactly 4000m/s, that's why it has no ladder, as it would bring it slightly below 4000.

You are a true Kerbonaut, that's a very Kerbal way to go to the moon. I've played this game for a couple years now and I still occasionally crash into the surface when landing on the Mun, mostly because of impatience during descent.

Welp, during a routine science mission to the Mun I managed to get Jeb stranded, the lander crashed into the surface because I decelerated too late. Luckily the command pod and Jeb survived somehow so at least he didn't have to freeze his green butt off while waiting for a rescue mission. He had to wait quite a bit though as I managed to crash the rescue craft too, luckily it was unmanned. The second rescue craft survived the trip and now Jeb is licking his wounds at the KSC. He's definitely earned a vacation now, time for Valentina to stretch her legs. Jeb on his way down to the Mun, minutes later the lander crashed: Luckily both Jeb and the command pod survived so at least he didn't have to sleep outside: The unmanned remote controlled lander sent to rescue him, an older more reliable design: It landed relatively close so it was just a short RCS flight away: "I can't wait to get my feet back on Kerbin": Refueling at the Yggdrasil science station in Mun orbit before heading home to Kerbin: "Ah, good to be back on Kerbin, time for a vacation":

I was just worried that it might somehow compromise the reactor performance. Thanks for the quick reply.

I have a probably trivial question regarding nuclear reactors, do I have to get rid of the Xenon gas that's produced. I've noticed that the molten salt generator produces a small amount of xenon gas and has a tiny tank for it. What happens when this tank is full, does it shut down, or will it simply went the gas?

I actually like the 2.5m de-coupler, I like the clunky cartoony look. Among the stock parts I've never used are fuel cells, I've never went beyond Eve without mods, and with mods I use nuclear reactors instead. I also never use the .625m rocket engines, but I do see how they can be useful for probes and light landers.

1) Redundancy, I rather build it with 2000m/s delta-v to spare than have just enough. I prefer to play science mode, so cost isn't relevant, I'll build a Mun lander with nuclear engines. 2) Stability, who likes a wobbly rocket, right? 3) Functionality, it has to get the job done in a not too tedious way. 4) Aesthetics, hey we all like to travel in style. I tend to go with a more "engineered" look. 5) Crew comfort, I don't want my little dudes to be cramped cold and hungry on their journeys.

It's so chubby, I love it. I've been fairly productive myself lately. I've put a simple science/refueling station in orbit around the Mun, and I've designed a small exploration shuttle to feed it with experiments from the Munar surface. The Yggdrasil science station: And the little nuclear powered Hugin N exploration shuttle (is that even a thing?): It has 6 CANDLE engines from the KSPI-E mod, small and quite efficient engines.

Every time a Kerbal dies after I screwed up somehow.

Recently got back to KSP after a long break and it I have noticed that they have made some changes, mostly for the better it seems. I do like the new rigid attachment and auto-strut tweakables, and it also seems like they have tweaked the aerodynamics? Anyway, the changes has turned me towards more sleek and aerodynamic rockets in contrast to the quite bulky ones I did before. I'm finally becoming friends with the fairings: