Cpt Kerbalkrunch

Jumped back on here to check my notification and read new responses, and I got confused for a minute. Because, of course, the thread had reverted to "best answer". Can I vote "yes" again?

Been seeing some strange things in 1.3.1 as well. I wanted the "jumping sun" fixed, as well as the action groups for drills, and they've done so. But, now it seems we need another update to fix the last update. I imagine this is a perpetual cycle in programming. It can't be easy, so I'm not really complaining. They've already said there'll be a 1.4, so hopefully that'll take care of these things. Then we can discuss the new bugs in 1.4.

I always sort by date. I would like to know who said what and when they said it. If someone else already said what I'm going to say, I'd like to know it (so I don't look like an idiot any more often than necessary). If I want to expand on the point, I'll give the person credit for mentioning it first, then add my 2 cents. For instance, I agree with @Geonovast; as long as the ability to sort by date isn't removed, I don't really care. And as far as the "best answer" thing goes, I don't think most players know it exists; or care about it if they do. If you like an answer, you "like" it. And oftentimes, an OP will ask a question and is never heard from again. The thread then becomes a discussion amongst ourselves about one point or another. At that point, no one would want things ordered by "best answer". What I would really like to address about this forum is why it's the only one on here (at least AFAIK), that doesn't let you jump to a specific page. If a discussion goes beyond one page (and they certainly can), you're not able to jump to the page you want to see. It doesn't make much sense since the other subforums allow you to. At least imo.

I like that Dres miner. That's even more of a crazy-lookin' hodgepodge than my base on Pol. I see some mods there: do they speed things up when drilling without an engineer? I play stock, so I've only tried an unmanned driller once. It took over a year for the ship to refuel itself on Duna. Ever since, I consider a 4 or 5 star engineer to be absolutely essential for any mining vessel.

I have a mobile base on Moho that covers all of your stipulations except that I think it only seats 5 or 7. I didn't document the journey, as it wasn't for a challenge, but I can easily make it a bit bigger to seat the extra Kerbals and send it again. Also, I just realized it doesn't have a xenon tank, because I don't use Ion vessels (or nukes, for that matter). It has lf/o and monopropellent though, because it is also a mobile refueler for Moho landers. The entire reason I built it was to refuel missions going to and from Moho. I build and fly without delta v information, so travels to Moho became a bit frustrating. It became my personal nemesis for awhile. The huge difference in speed from its Ap to its Pe were giving me fits. I twice stranded ships there and finally decided to send an all-in-one base there to refuel any failed missions until I got the hang of the place. It's worked out well and I really like the concept; mostly for cool-factor. And as far as point-modifiers. I would definitely not put Mun in the same class as Eve, as was suggested above. Traveling to another planet should actually count for something. Not to mention that, to land a ship large enough to hold 8 Kerbals (and not in command seats), plus the lab, the drills, the converter, and everything else needed, would not be something equal to launching and landing an identical base on Mun. Not even close. The same could be said for Duna and Ike for that matter.

Didn't this answer the question nearly a year ago?

Quick question: was it the MacBook or the Acer?

Honestly, once you can, it would probably be best to have one on each of the moons (if only just for fun and the challenge of it). I even have a very small one on Tylo. That one is only useful for Tylo landers, though. Not refueling operations. Laythe is the same way. It would almost be like having refueling operations on Kerbin (which people certainly do). It's entirely doable if you're good with spaceplanes (which I'm not), but it would really only be useful at Laythe. However, it costs so much to operate around there (as @Spricigo mentioned) that it might be worth it if you end up spending a lot of time there. As @bigcalm said earlier, Vall is in a great spot, but it costs more to operate there. It leaves a choice a lot like at Kerbin. Kerbin itself (Laythe), Mun (Vall), or Minmus (Pol, Bop). With those choices, Pol, I really think, is the best option for your first base at Jool. You can launch a huge fuel shuttle off of Pol easily, and use it anywhere in the system. Even if it only has a little fuel left to transfer (subtracting what it needs to take off, get where it's going, and then get back), it still does the trick. When you're returning to Kerbin, you usually don't have much of a ship left. This means you don't need a lot of fuel, you just need a quick fill-up to get home. Combined with the free-capture at Jool, you can make your ships quite a bit smaller, and even make them "one-way" so-to-speak, since they can refuel before heading home. If your ship has some fuel left (but not enough to get back to Kerbin), you can have it stop off at Pol on the way home to refuel. It also really provides a great safety net for your early Jool operations; when you're not too sure what you're going to need. I highly recommend beginning at Pol. You'll notice in my pic above that I also have an operation on Bop. It was built to complete contracts, of course, but also because I take a lot of contracts at Bop even now. The money is always good, but mostly because I just like Bop. I wouldn't recommend it for your main operation, not just because of the inclination (as Bigcalm also mentioned), but because landings there happen in slow motion (a lot like Gilly) and can be infuriating if you're in a hurry.

This is my hodgepodge base on Pol. It looks kinda crazy cuz it was built to complete a few different contracts before it landed to complete the "build surface base on Pol" contract. I actually forgot to put an antenna (a bad habit of mine) on the base, so that's why the little ship is connected upside-down to the Mk1-2. I also attached the landing legs to the landing engines, so I wasn't able to decouple them. Which makes the whole thing look even crazier. This was one of my first bases, so I didn't really know what I was doing at the time. It actually works really well, though, The rover on the right put the station together, and is now the refueling rover. The fuel shuttle is in orbit. I've used it to refuel quite a few errant missions in the Jool system. The fuel cells are for continuous operation at night. I always built my bases in separate modules, and then connected them together on the ground with a rover. I got tired of sending so many different vessels and having to do so much work to put a base together, so for my base on Bop, I sent the whole thing as a single vessel. Here, the solar panels are retracted to see it better. This one looks crazy as well, but it was purposeful. In order to launch it from Kerbin, I had to try to balance out the weight as best I could. It worked out pretty well. The huge refueling rover in the background is obviously overkill. I just wanted to use the giant wheels for something. None of this stuff is even necessary, really. I just built them to complete contracts and, mostly, for fun. It'll at least give you an idea of some of things you can do. Which is pretty much whatever you want. Jool is a great place to build bases.

It's definitely a problem. I only use them on Tylo, Laythe, and Eve so I don't have to deal with them unless I absolutely have to. I always run into the same problem you described. Specifically, getting the ladders right when the fuselage changes diameter. I'll test it on Kerbin, and it works fine, but when I land, my Kerbal either can't get down or can't back up. I end up having to go back to the VAB to move the ladders a bit. It can be irritating. I still think the OP is better off with a spaceplane in this instance. It's tough to compete with their abilities on Laythe. Especially when you're talking about reusability and efficiency. Not to mention that it's quite a bit easier to choose your landing zone. However, I'm a stubborn rocket guy. Even if it's more difficult and doesn't make any sense, I'll still find a way to make it work. Eventually, I'll start messing around with spaceplanes. Until then, they are strange, alien craft to be viewed with suspicion.

Your problem has piqued my interest a bit; I think because (even including my Jool 5) I've only landed and returned from Laythe maybe 4 or 5 times. I'm not a spaceplane guy, so I don't go there as often as I probably should. Wanted to take another look at this, so I threw another rocket together. And I know you said you don't need a Docking Port Sr, but I was messing around with a design that would carry 7 Kerbals like the ship in your OP, and came up with this. Sadly, I had to dump the Mk1-2 (which pained me), but I kept the Sr Port. I like them for their stability when docked, and their ease of use when docking. This does not need to refuel on the surface. With aerobraking and parachutes, it doesn't need much fuel to deorbit and land. I actually landed in the water and, once the ship stabilized, I was still able to make it back to orbit (and in a retrograde orbit, at that: not purposeful, of course; when it left the water, it was already turned toward the West, so I just let it do what it wanted instead of fighting it). It has a mix of retractable and stationary ladders for Kerbals (on each side for symmetry). A bit of a crazy design, but I kinda like it. I'm using something similar for a challenge; which is what made me think of it. It has RCS ports for docking and, inside the service module, a battery, a monopropellant canister, and 2 solar panels. I have the doors and panels set to action groups for ease of use when the batteries need to recharge. As far as efficiency goes, a rocket still won't be able to match a good spaceplane on Laythe. I just wanted to show that, like everything else in this game, there are multiple ways of going about solving the same problem. Not sure if you can tell from the pic, but those are Dart engines.

Speaking of which, how about Kerbal Alarm Clock by TriggerAu? I shudder to think of my fellow Kerbonauts (though they're crazy console gamers) having to do without this most indispensable of mods. Being a staff member, I've long wondered why they haven't worked out a way to simply make it a part of the stock game, as it probably should be.

A challenge that's not particularly challenging can still be a lot of fun. If you want people to participate, a good key is to encourage competition (we all love to compete with one another to some extent). You can best do this through some kind of scoring system. One of best examples of this that I've seen is the Roads to Duna challenge on this page. Scoring can be difficult, but Sevenperforce came up with a really good system of bonuses. This provided not only a way to improve your score, but a multitude of different ways to do the same mission. It made something fairly mundane (a trip to Duna) into something really cool, and a bit of a challenge as well. I would recommend you take a look at it, think about the different ways you can implement a similar system, and come up with a way to score it. The standard stuff like low cost/low mass, is ISRU allowed, is refueling of any kind allowed, single launch or orbital construction, bonus for SSTO, same lander for each body or separate lander for each body, multiple Kerbals landed on each body, shortest mission duration, and so on and so forth. This challenge could be a lot of fun, you just need to add some incentive to spice it up a bit. Once you have an idea, coming up with a scoring system is probably the toughest part of a good challenge. Give it some thought and see what you can come up with.

A spaceplane is actually the first thing I thought of as well. Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I don't respect their capabilities. I despise the Nerv, but I know that it's a superior long-range engine In this case, a spaceplane really would be superior (I've seen how well they operate on Laythe) but, for all the reasons already mentioned, I assumed the OP just didn't want one. A solid approach, but rockets don't always fly as well as spaceplanes (at least mine don't, anyway ). My designs are never going to win any "aerodynamic" prizes but, when launching from Kerbin, I do try to keep a standard launch profile of getting horizontal. However, landers for Duna and Laythe are usually not optimized for the atmosphere (not that it matters much on Duna), so I generally just try to get out as quick as possible. If you see the big, clunky thing I put in my last post, it makes orbit as long as I launch at about 70 degrees (which is what it wants to do on its own; I don't really try to steer it). Then coast into space and circularize. If I try to go horizontal, it does not go well. Mainly, I guess, because it's not meant to. I was trying to keep the same body that the OP used (Mk1-2, which I love; Hitchhiker storage facility, which I never use unless I have to). I stripped off the winglets, but kept the ladders and solar panels (I didn't wanna add a service module cuz the thing is already huge) and used the smaller battery. I dumped the Rapiers (which is what I normally use on Laythe, but I don't SSTO, so they get staged; which makes things easier), and went with the all-powerful Vector instead. I know there are those who despise them for being OP but, if you want to get something big and clunky off an atmospheric world, they're often your best bet. So, the thing turned out ugly as all hell, but it works just fine and is reusable. I'm not suggesting the OP use such a thing (it was thrown together in about 5 minutes last night), just showing him that his design will work just fine if he's willing to make a few changes to it.

@Commissioner Tadpole: Figured I'd see if I could make it work with the Mk1-2 that you're using (which happens to be my favorite command module). This thing's ugly but, believe it or not, it actually works. It doesn't need fins to keep it stable. The body itself is draggy enough. And the Vectors are insanely powerful. There's not a lot of room for error (and it doesn't have RCS for docking), but it got me into a stable 75km x 75km orbit.

For the atmospheric entry, your rocket is doing exactly what it's supposed to. It doesn't care whether it is entering Laythe or leaving it, the heavy end (command pod) goes first, and the draggy end (with the winglets) brings up the rear. For entry on atmospheric worlds, I combat this problem with drogue chutes. They can open at higher speeds than standard chutes, so it won't matter that you're coming in nose-first. As for the heat, you should be able to turn it back on. As long as you don't try to enter in a steep dive to the surface, you shouldn't have a problem with over-heating. I don't use shields on Laythe and I've never run into a problem. I wouldn't say the docking port is in a strange spot, because that's exactly where I always put my docking ports (and sometimes a standard size on the nose, as well). I feel it allows for much more versatility. In fact, aside from the modded stuff, it looks exactly like one of my own ships. As for a launch from Laythe, I usually takeoff Eve-style. That is, launch almost straight up to get out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible; then coast into the vacuum, turn and burn for orbit. Comparatively, Laythe's atmosphere seems to be thicker higher up than Kerbin's is. I feel like I lose more to drag than I gain with a gravity turn, so I just head straight up. I usually 2-stage it, though. I don't think I ever tried a single stage before. I'd have to look back through some older ships to see.

Didn't document the voyage the first time so, sadly, I had to do it again. Needed to finish another challenge before I could get back to it but, I really wanted to make the Dres Supporter List, so this time I treated it like a true challenge and documented everything. Thought it might look better with a smaller asteroid as well, so this time I grabbed a Class B instead of the Class D from last time. Full album is below. Hope you dig it, and that I've earned my spot on the list. Not to mention the badge, which is pretty sweet. https://imgur.com/a/Wglx3

The larger the asteroid, the tougher it is to control. You'll burn a lot of fuel just catching and bringing one into orbit. I've taken Class E asteroids to the Joolian moons for contracts, but they barely have any ore left when I get there; which is part of the problem. Asteroids have a finite supply of ore. It'll run dry after awhile and you'll need to grab another one. I think you' be much better off using Minmus for refueling operations. Unless you just like catching asteroids, which I can understand. I do have some fun with 'em.

I've wanted to do this challenge since it was introduced. I was in the middle of a Jool 5 and an Eve mission though, so I couldn't get to it right away. Not sure why this one appealed to me so much, cuz it's way outside my comfort zone. If you put my five modules together, it would easily be the smallest ship I've built since my first few weeks in the game (not counting satellites). I never try the "low cost" or "low mass" challenges, because it's just not my style of play. After all this time, I still enjoy the Duna/Ike system though, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Haven't looked at the other entries, cuz I didn't wanna be influenced by them, but I did look at the leaderboard. Then I realized I needn't have worried. Those entries are all ridiculously small. I won't be able to top 'em, but I think I had a pretty good mission. My largest module is 7.1 tons. Pretty sure I'm eligible for "Consistency, Good Sir", "Old School", "Slow Climb", "Justin Case", "They See Me Rollin", and "A Solid Plan". Kudos to @sevenperforce for an awesome challenge. After coming up with the idea itself, I think figuring out a way to score it is often the toughest part of coming up with a challenge. Not sure how you came up with all the different bonuses, but I definitely like 'em. It gives you a lot of different options to plan your mission (I'm gonna go back and see what everybody else did; I'm betting some of them are gonna be wildly different). One question I had was whether you had considered a bonus for sending the Duna Ascent Vehicle on a separate transfer from the crew and lander modules. Just curious. Anyway, here is my mission. Hope it measures up to the other entries. Here is the Duna Ascent Vehicle, at 6.3 tons. The separate transfer stage for the Duna Ascent Vehicle, at 7.116 tons. This is my heaviest module. Main transfer stage for the crew and lander modules, at 6.97. The lander module and rover, at 7.097 tons. The return stage, at 6.877 tons. Could've certainly made it lighter. It's a bit unorthodox with the 3 Mk1 Command Modules, but I kinda like the way it turned out. And I didn't need to worry about the lower heat tolerances of the Mk1 Lander Can and crew cabin during the return. Seemed like a good trade off. Full album below. Hope you guys dig it. https://imgur.com/a/u5iBA

You just have to complete the associated challenge. Once you do, the challenge-maker will give you permission to use the badge. You can then put it in your signature. Look in the "Challenges and Mission Ideas" subforum. There are tons of different challenges to choose from. Just pick one that sounds fun and go for it.

Have your contract window open when you dock. From what I remember (been a while since I refueled on the way out), the "newly built" light will go off when you dock. Then, when you undock, it will light back up. Meaning your station is once again considered "newly built after accepting the contract". Should work fine.

This is a bit tricky. It should revert when you unlock the transport vessel, but I've heard other players say you can't dock to anything, ever, or it negates the contract. All I can tell you for sure is that I used to refuel huge space stations and bases at Minmus before heading to whichever planet they were going to, and it never caused a problem. I always completed the contract just fine. So, in theory, you should be able to use a tug-type transport vessel.

No, I wouldn't try that. It'll give your entire station a timestamp from the older part and you won't fulfill the contract.

Welcome to the forums! Tap timewarp for just a second and turn it back off. This will stop all movement on the ship. If it begins to move again, something is moving it. Perhaps you have RCS engaged on the ship?

When you see weird things like that, switching to another ship (or the space center), will often make things act like they're supposed to again.