AlternNocturn

For test designs, I name them something random when I don't have faith in them. When I do, they usually get a cool name. Usually I like to name them after Greek weapons, like Aegis (mythical shield of Athena) and Labrys (double-headed axe). Those are the only two names I've been able to find though.

I always thought it was strange that Laythe and Tylo had Kerbin's gravity. But seeing how big they truly are compared to the homeworld, geez. Suddenly those numbers don't look so weird... Also, I guess this pretty much destroys the notion that Kerbol (I like that name so I'm still using it. ) is a red dwarf. A dwarf wouldn't dwarf (pun intended) its own planetary system like that. It looks more like a red giant, which if you think of it that way, the Kerbol system has only maybe one or two billion years left. No wonder the Kerbals are trying frantically to get into space.

Like many people, I did a two-stage mission to Duna. A one man lander is sent to Duna, lands, then takes off and puts itself in orbit around the planet. Then another ship, equipped with the super efficient NERVA engines, is sent to Duna with an empty seat to rendezvous with the astronaut in orbit. The astronaut boards the rescue ship and returns home with his buddies, who at this point he hasn't seen for more than three years. Good thing Kerbal pods are equipped to receive TV signals. I could probably last three years in a spaceship if I had a computer, internet access and a TV signal. Also, I'm pretty sure Kerbals live off of TV. That explains why they don't need to eat.

For Duna, parachutes are recommended if you want to conserve fuel or make the landing a bit easier. Just make sure to attach them to decouplers so you can cut them off for a powered landing, since just like the real Mars, parachutes are only enough to slow you down from really high speeds but not slow enough to land. Just make sure to steer off to the side a little to avoid a collision with them. Also, I'm thinking these bodies that have to same gravity of Kerbin is due to time restraints. Laythe does not appear big enough to have the same gravity as Kerbin, and I'm pretty sure a Gas giant won't have the same gravity as a smaller rocky body.

I imagine 0.18 would just be small improvements to the overall game engine, like ones that allow for lava and lava effects to be implemented so the "Lavaless Lava Planet" Moho finally becomes the lava planet it always dreamed to be. Also, maybe a barebones implementation of reentry physics, optimization of the already existing planets, cloud effects, etc. Nothing too major.

I attached three of these things to one of the big ~2m fuel tanks with three smaller fuel tanks, and the entire assembly was able to circularize my Kerbin orbit, get to Duna, get to Duna's moon Ike, rendezvous with a capsule, and return to Kerbin, and I did it all in the most inefficient way possible and still had enough fuel to safely get back and splashdown. Stick these onto a lander and you won't need a big complicated lander setup with a bunch of fuel tanks just to get off the surface. These things are a virtual godsend. I couldn't imagine doing anything worthwhile without them.

I wish I took pictures of my Duna rescue mission. (Spoilers: They all returned home safely.) I did take a lot of pictures of other awesome stuff though. Here, have an album: http://imgur.com/a/6V7MU#0

THANK YOU THANK YOU for the status update! That's really all I wanted right now. Back to being patient.

I stopped relying on it when it caused most of my rocket designs to flip out during ascent. Now I occasionally add it for info and the Smart A.S.S. functions.

I used to use mods almost exclusively until they started crashing my game, now I mostly just use stock with a few mods like Mechjeb and MMI probe parts

I have a game from 1998 called "Unreal". That game (as well as its sequel from 1999, "Unreal Tournament") has run on every version of Windows I've tried so far, including Windows 8. Most games from that time period don't work on the newest OS versions any more. But something about that game has kept it running on every version of Windows so far. There's still a small community behind the game, updating it with their own fan patch and modding and mapping for the few that remain. I'm hoping KSP does the same thing eventually, being kept alive through countless mods and fan patches.

Personally I'm just going to wait for orbital construction to come out for 0.17 when it's released. It's a lot easier on the PC to build the transfer stage and lander in orbit. At the moment, my computer can't handle an interplanetary launch vehicle.

Video game music, and copious amounts of it. Usually it's based on my interests at the time of launching. My current obsession is music from the game Persona 3. I especially like the tracks with a lot of action for the intense parts and the peaceful ones for orbiting/transferring away from a body. Here are a few examples from the OST: Peaceful: Persona 3 - The Poem for Everyone's Souls - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOHB5AUygI Persona 3 - Mistic (sic) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdgPzyNbUQk Listen to these when orbiting or right after a transfer burn. It's very humbling. Action/Intense (mostly boss tracks): Persona 3 - The Battle for Everyone's Souls - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMhTL5bZrs Persona 3 FES - Heartful Cry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56f2Kt6IeZU Persona 3 FES - Darkness - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5fdXtWUPkc Number one is good for flying planes with, at least before the singing kicks in. Number two is just my favorite song of all time at the moment, and is great for rocket launches. Number three... I did an aerobraking maneuver in my simulated interplanetary mission, and I decided to play this song, and when I did the maneuver suddenly became the most intense thing I've ever done in Kerbal. Just listen to it when you want to make something more exciting.

I have a list of the hardest games I've played. Kerbal is right at the top, beating out games like Super Ghosts 'n' Ghouls and Metroid 1. This game makes me murderously angry, and yet I still love it because when something does work, DAMN, there's no better feeling in the world. It's nerve-wracking, it's infuriating, it's even at times downright impossible for something to go right 100%, but it's also infinite opportunities for endless fun. If you don't think you can do something, find a crutch and practice with it (Mechjeb autopilot, KW Rocketry pack, etc.), then when you get bored of it, build and fly a stock rocket using techniques learned through the trial-and-error with the mods. Hell, you could even use mods exclusively, there's no restrictions on what you can do in this game. There's a mod for everything. EDIT: Here are some thing I learned with MechJeb: I learned to do a gravity turn shortly after takeoff, that I could just do mid-course corrections when flying to Minmus, how to land on the Mun, how to shift the inclination of my orbit, and even how to get to orbit without SAS at all.

Well, whatever happens, everyone here can rest easy knowing the people mooching off of your "friend" can't update the game from 0.16 to 0.17 unless they either purchase it themselves or the "friend" thinks it's a good use of his time to update it for them all individually every single time a new update comes out. Once 0.17 comes out, I'd make a good bet that those people who got the game for free will be willing to purchase a license and update the game themselves so that they can play with the NEW PLANETS. Really, the game is so good that the updates alone are enough to convince people to support it. How do I know this? When 0.14 came out and brought persistence, I got so excited I immediately abandoned the now-demo and bought the game on the spot. I don't know what it is about this game that makes people so excited for updates. I wasn't even this excited for Minecraft Beta 1.8. In all honesty, Squad's DRM for KSP is the sheer quality and fun factor of the game itself. The game is so fun that people would rather buy it than pirate it. That's how all games should be. Don't make a dull game and pile on loads of restrictive, buggy DRM (Spore, I'm looking dead at you. You could have been so great, there was so much potential...). All you need to do is make a really fun game and only authorize for automatic updates. It's relatively easier and more efficient than wasting time and resources developing software to tack onto your main software that only hurts customers. Squad could set up an automated system to send their customers randomly generated KSP Steam keys through email. The user would then enter that key into Steam and unlock the game in there.

So we've got Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna, and Jool as planets so far. Quite a unique set of names there.

I have Orbiter, Flyer, Escapist, Last Ditch, and Munar Explorer. I got close to getting Polar Flyer, and I only ever bothered to build colonies on Minmus.

Here's a nice action shot of my newest Long-Range scout plane, the Aigis 12. Fun fact about this plane, I came up with the name before I began designing it. I liked the name, so I wanted to make sure whatever I gave the name to was perfect and would be reliable. This thing went all the way to the edge of the northern ice cap. I think it deserves the name. EDIT: Oh, and in case anyone asks (Which I doubt since it's not that impressive of a plane anyway), no I won't be putting the file up. This plane is mine.

I wish I could count how many times I watched that video leading up to the landing. So good.

Probably the gas giant first. I want to stick a probe in orbit around it and get Cassini-style pictures. Maybe I'll even equip the probe with a smaller probe and land it on the water moon.

If they charged for an update at the right time(1), at the right price(2), with the right content(3), I'd totally pay for it. (1)Preferably after the game is released. (2)Maybe something around $5-$10 (3)New missions, new planets, new solar system, maybe even a brand new campaign.

If we get DLC, it'll probably be some type of expansion pack, and only once the game is finished. New missions, new planets, new solar systems... however, since this is an indie game, chances are Squad may not want to do DLC and instead may continue to give us free updates, like Mojang does. Okay, I'm leaving this thread before a flame war starts.

It's okay, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.

UPDATE: 8/23/2012 -Removed Aircraft Lights mod ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hello! I'm here to present my newest fleet of exploration planes, the Metis-class. Originally, they were built to study the Kerbin Monoliths, so to do that I needed the versatility of a rover but with the speed, range, and mobility of a plane. Therefore, I built these vehicles to do the job. Why "Metis"? "Metis" is the Greek goddess of "wisdom", "skill", and "craft". The Metis-class is designed to help Kerbal-kind become wiser by allowing them explore anything, anywhere. How does it do that? Simple. Each Metis-class vehicle is equipped with a small, MechJeb-powered probe (see below). The smaller vehicles carry a Cupid rover that, when released, slowly parachutes down to the ground. The larger vehicles carry a rocket-powered lander, also equipped with a parachute. The upside to landers instead of rovers is you have better control of where they land. The downside, they're much heavier since they carry fuel, and therefore require a much bigger lifter. They also can't move around once they touch down. Choose one as you see fit. How many vehicles are there? So far, the fleet consists of three vehicles, but more will be developed as they're needed. Eventually, I plan to have the Metis-class expand to include off-world locales such as Eve. The vehicle will be used to lift rockets outside of the purple planet's thick atmosphere to return home. Without further ado, the vehicles: "Metis Medium-Range Scout Vehicle" The MRSV is useful for missions on the current continent, and possibly slightly beyond. It's equipped with a small Cupid rover that, when released, slowly parachutes down to the target. Make sure to deploy the wheels before you hit the ground, since the suspension of the wheels absorbs the shock of the 4 m/s landing. "Metis Long-Range Scout Vehicle" The LRSV is simply a long range version of the MRSV. One of the fuel tanks is replaced with a structural fuselage, and a larger tank was added near the back. (pssst, I don't actually know if the LRSV can fly farther than the MRSV, but just go with it) "Metis Heavy Lift Exploration Vehicle" The HLEV is a larger vehicle capable of lifting a small lander full of fuel. It's modular as well due to the relatively flat back, so it can hold a number of different payloads. Modifications such as replacing the center structural fuselage with rocket fuel and a toroidal engine may even allow for an HLEV to reach orbit on a single stage, although this is untested. WARNING: The HLEV isn't as well balanced as the other planes, so take care when handling it. NOTE: After deploying the probe, immediately switch to it with 'Right Bracket'. The plane will disappear, but you can just imagine it flew off to land and refuel. You may modify these anyway you see fit. Make them your own. Use them together, use them in peace. DOWNLOAD:

Yup, here ya go: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/17081-Redstar-co-op-Airplane-parts