The Flying Kerbal

Martian Emigrant... I didn't ignore your response, the site crashed again as I was responding to the one by Vanamonde. That's a very good point, and one I never thought of, while they may be unwilling to actually get out of their crashed pod, there's nothing stopping them being transferred. This has genuinely given me something new to think about, transferring them to a rescue craft simply never entered my head, it's an excellent suggestion. As I said, so far I've never had to try to save a stranded tourist, and long may that continue, but the idea you suggested has definitely given me a bit more confidence in being able to return one to Kerbin, should the need arise. Great suggestion, thank you very much.

Excellent points and advice about not being able to play around with root parts in Construction mode or when there are Kerbals onboard. As I said, thankfully this hasn't happened yet, and hopefully never will, but it's good to have some idea about how to rescue tourists should the worst ever happen. Great answer, very much appreciated. You're probably right about the cost of a rescue, but I hate killing Kerbals, even if they aren't officially part of my Kerbonaut Corps. I could always call in "Blunderbirds" and let Matt Lowne pick up the bill!!

I'm curious about this guys... Things have been a bit tight financially in my latest game, I limited the amount contracts awarded so now getting cash is much more difficult. In an effort to keep my space program afloat, I've been doing lots of tourist contracts, including landing them on the Mun - something I seldom do normally. This got me thinking, what happens if I mess up a landing and leave a tourist stuck on the Mun, unable to get home? An ordinary rescue won't work as tourists won't exit their lander so can't be transferred to a rescue vessel. So, it looks to me like the only way is to recover the tourist in whatever type of pod or capsule they're in. But how? Recovering wrecks is one type of contract for which I've never seen any videos, and most people seem to say avoid them, so I'm wondering if any of you have ever pulled this off, and if someone knows where I might find a video showing this being done. I'm pretty good at landing on the Mun - plenty of practice - but still things can go wrong, I had a lander do its very best to tip over recently for no obvious reason, and it would be useful to have some idea how to go about recovering a stranded tourist if the worst should happen. Thanks everyone.

I seem to keep going back to 1.2.2. I've tried most other versions, but there's just something about this one I really like. Maybe it's partly nostalgia, I learned to play "proper" KSP in 1.2.2, having played the old 1.0 Demo to death before paying for the game, but I genuinely just enjoy this version more than any other. I hadn't played any KSP for months, only just picking it again up a few days ago, but again, my new career is in this old stalwart. Tonight Gene Kerman pulled a really sneaky little stunt on one of his customers... Kerbodyne paid for a new satellite with no science, to be put into a retrograde Munar orbit. However, when nobody was looking and while Jeb and Val stood guard, Gene, Bob and Bill sneaked into the VAB and superglued a Goo Canister to the thing, hoping to deploy it in a rather underhand way, to grab some Munar science. Obviously after paying 114,000 to the KSA to have their satellite launched, if Kerbodyne find out about this sly little ploy, they're going to be casting curses and hexes on Gene and his cohorts for Halloween!

LOL... oops sorry, I thought you were making a witty comment.

No, that isn't the issue, I'm only thinking about a flyby so no need to slow down. All I'm trying to do is to figure out a way of avoiding the fuel required for the course correction - the change of inclination - by arriving at Moho (for example) when it's at one of the nodes. Sorry my cheque's on hold.

Hi Guys! I haven't played Kerbal in ages, but watching a few videos on YouTube suddenly got me interested again. On one of my new missions, I built a small probe and just blasted it out of the Kerbin system, until its fuel ran out. As luck would have it - and it really was luck - it arrived perfectly at Duna, just as the planet was at its descending node. OK, not a big deal I agree, but still an interesting little fluke nonetheless. This got me thinking, would it be possible to arrive at other planets which have a more costly inclination to correct, in the same way. Moho for example, if the transfer was timed right, arriving when it was at a node, could save a tanker load of fuel. I know Eve can be used to sort out that inclination, but I'm not particularly good at working our gravity assists and much prefer the more direct method. So, is there any way to figure out when to make a transfer burn to another planet, so the space craft reaches it when it's at one of the two nodes? Thanks everyone.

When you say Logs, do you mean a file called KSP-AVC in the Logs folder? I've never really looked into these files before, so while it sounds like a silly question, I really don't know the answer. And what do you mean, by, "how you start the game"? I click on the KSP icon on the Desktop, and away it goes?

I really enjoy KCT, but I'm having a few issues using it in 1.12.4. It stops a vessel which is launched from being auto-saved in the VAB (I don't do aircraft so don't know if the same thing happens in the SPH), and it won't allow me to upgrade the Admin building, telling me it's already fully upgraded even though it's at Level 1. Is anyone else having these issues? Thanks.

So, no possibility of a time warp for Jeb then? It's good to know, thanks for answering.

Ok guys, a quick question: If a spacecraft, rover, or even Jeb himself, enters a hole at one of the Munar poles, is it automatic death and destruction? The reason I ask is because, having only tried this for the first time tonight, every time I attempted it, my probe exploded. I tried this four or five times, F5 being invaluable for this, and while I might have touched the sides a few of the times, I would lay money on that I didn't on the last try. I then cobbled together a rover, and tried driving it over the edge, but it shared the same fate as its flying brothers. The funny thing is, I'm almost certain, somewhere on these forums, someone posted an image of a rover floating in space, having dropped through the one of the Munar "poholes" I even remember the article said very strange readings and information were appearing on the KER display which were also visible in the screenshot. So is it possible to survive dropping into one of these holes, or is it certain doom, and my memory of the other guy doing so is wrong? Thanks everyone.

As a proud Monarchist, I am totally devastated by the loss of our Queen. A wonderful lady, she was the last living world leader to wear her country's uniform during WW2. She saw fifteen Prime Ministers entering No10, with one - Harold Wilson - doing so twice. She met thirteen of the last fourteen US Presidents, from Harry Truman to Joe Biden, with President Johnson being the only exception. She is a great loss to our nation, the Commonwealth, and, of course, her own family. Sleep well ma'am, your rest has been well earned.

Wait... what... WOW!!!! Are you saying you're going to take this super mod and update it?? If you do, they'll have an Easter Egg dedicated to you in KSP2!

Yes, you can see what the contract is, but the original poster's correct, it doesn't show how much it's worth or the deadline. For that information, you must exit the VAB and pop into Mission Control. I actually agree with Austin1, it is annoying you can't bring this up when building a rocket, having to leave the VAB just for a few seconds is something I find irritating.

A simple question, but one I've never figured out... exactly how do you use the RSR HQ pod? It won't attach to anything in the VAB, or at least I can't make it do so, it weighs ten tons, so it takes a pretty hefty booster to lift it, and it's terminal velocity on Kerbin is low enough so you can land it without parachutes? I'm so pleased to see I'm not the only one who still uses this brilliant mod, "Fly Safe"... or at least as safe as you can when piloting pieces of scrap metal!

It could be like the James Webb...

Not in any way hyped about KSP2, and I urge caution to everyone who is. Some people are setting such high standards for this game, it can only fail to meet them, even if it does turn out to be a truly amazing experience, and only disappointment can follow. So I suggest everyone just calms down, takes a deep breath, enjoys the videos when they are released, and wait until they actually have a chance to see the game proper, before deciding it's gonna be the greatest thing since KSP1.

Are you sure? They seem to call a lot of their rockets and projects after mythological Greek characters in my space program!

I can't help you with your question, but maybe you could help me with mine. Do you have a pink square appearing on or around your rocket as you launch it? Once the rocket reaches a certain height, the square flies off.

I'm a career mode man. I know some people don't like the contract system, but actually I don't have any problems with it. Science mode is quite good too, it's sorta like NASA during the heights of the Space Race when Washington was shovelling money at them, and all they had to do was develop the technology to get a man on the Moon before Moscow. However I just don't get the same buzz out of it as I do in career. Sandbox I use to try things out for my career game, a bit like a simulator I suppose, but I don't enjoy it in anything even close to how much fun I get out of career. So to answer your question, career for me, and probably not in a multi-player game.

They could be configurable so you could set them to take photos, use infrared, etc. in the VAB maybe? Someone said in another thread the developers have claimed planets in other solar systems in KSP2, will not be visible until discovered through gameplay. I just have this childish obsession with the idea of the scientists at the KSC (and the players at their monitors), eagerly watching the first grainy images of a new world being received from some far distant probe. I suspect when Luna 3 transmitted the images it took of the far side of the moon, they would have been transmitted back, line by line, with the eyes of those receiving them out on stocks as the clapping and cheering brought the house down! That's what I'd like to see in an early career of KSP2 (KSP1 too if someone would create a mod). Of course more sophisticated cameras would become available as more technology became available, so we'd end up getting images like what the real world gets today. @ linuxgurugamer: Thanks for posting the links to the camera mods. That Neptune Camera looks very interesting indeed; I think I'm going to go take a closer look at that one!

What you say is true, and yet in the early days - and indeed even today - cameras play a huge part in space exploration. In addition to science, they could also enhance reputation, just think of all that publicity when the first images of Pluto (for example) came back to Earth and hit our TV screens. I've said for a very long time, KSP need cameras. It never got them as stock, but maybe we'll see them in KSP2?

Strategies - available in the Administration Building - as completely useless and nonsensical as those currently in the stock game.

Have you ever accepted a contract, and as soon as you did you just knew it was gonna be trouble..? Today I got a simple rescue mission, a Kerbanaut by the name of Lemdas had managed to get himself stranded in an inclined orbit around the Mun. Val was next on the flight roster, so off she went in a two seater capsule. Lemdas was stuck in a 16.5 degree orbit, and while getting into a similar orbit was no trouble for Val, once the rescue was over, she was too low in fuel to change the orbit's incline to return to Kerbin along the equator (as I always try to do). Even before the launch, I had a bad feeling about this one, but so far all had went well, now all that had to be done was survive re-entry and land somewhere safe. Re-entry was no problem, the parachute deployed but the mountains below didn't look too inviting. Val landed on as close to a vertical face as I've seen in the game. The capsule started tumbling down the cliff, exploded and killed both Val and Lemdas instantly. Don't think I'll play anymore KSP tonight...

I wonder why it is that there are no videos on Youtube - that I'm aware of - showing how to accurately and with consistency, land on the launchpad at the KSC? Even Scott Manley, who did an excellent tutorial on how to do a precise landing on the Mun, didn't pick up that hot potato. There are videos showing vessels landing at the KSC, but in the majority that I've seen, the player freely admits it "took two or three attempts" to pull it off. This is something I worked on really hard to try to learn, going so far as to dedicate an entire weekend to it. I cheated a vessel into a 75km LKO, set up a manoeuvre which descended all the way to the surface, and then did a quicksave. I then tried landing at the KSC. When I failed, I reloaded, moved the manoeuvre node in the required direction, and then tried it again. Doing this, and sooner or later I was bound to put my vessel down at the space centre, though I don't think I ever got it back on the pad, and all was good. Then I tried adjusting the orbit out to 85km, and was disappointed to discover I was more or less back where I was when I first started, missing the KSC and having to fiddle about with the manoeuvre node until I once again found the spot necessary to land back at base. The people posting here who have learned to do this: maybe one or more of you could put a tutorial on YT showing the rest of us how it's done, because I freely admit, it beats me!