Cavscout74

I know, I didn't pick that by accident. Getting that contract was even creepier than when I got a "Rescue Thompberry Kerman...." contract. I did make some more progress in my career yesterday. My Duna crew finally headed for home and a Laythe lander arrived & splashed down - I missed land by just a few km's - safely. It sent a bunch of science back to KSC but missed out on a few since it was splashed down instead of landed. Val taking the crew back to the orbit to rendezvous with Duna Courier for the ride home. Laythe lander entering Laythe's SoI First chute open in the clouds Safely splashed down. Now I have probes landed on Vall, Laythe & Bop. Just need the Pol & Tylo craft to arrive and not crash. My Tylo probes have a distressing tendency to run out of fuel shortly before reaching the surface - usually <100m.

I got my Eve fleet moving today and had my Bop lander & relay arrive in orbit & land. Eve crew starting transfer burn after getting to orbit on a CS-03 Lightning spaceplane And Eve-1 Lander performing its transfer to Eve, uncrewed. It will rendezvous in Eve orbit & the lucky victim...er....brave pilot will EVA over to take to the surface. And Bop folding lander descending to the surface. I like this new folding design better than my old service bay-based design (see my Vall lander a page or two back for comparison). They both carry the same experiments, but this one packs a little more dV and is way more stable for landing in rough terrain. I should slap some grip pads underneath, but I launched this before 1.7.3 came out.

I went & tried the DELTAV_CALCULATIONS_ENABLED = False setting & it does stop calculating dV, but the display is still there for each stage, it just shows 0 dV regardless of what is in the stage. As far as performance, I didn't notice any significant change.

Breaking Ground sort-of has my vote as the better DLC. They are, but I was already using mod 1.875m parts, and the ones that came with MH were actually kind of a let down for me compared to the mod parts I was used to. With 1.875m parts, I can get unmanned probes to everywhere in the stock system, so they form the core of my early to mid-career space program. I suppose if I wasn't using mods, I might have to agree with you on MH being the better DLC though.

According to the authors of the Restock+ mod (and I think at last one other mod), the Oscar-B holds too much fuel. So at least for that one, it should be fixed. Restock+ patches it down to 8.1 LF/9.9 Ox - which matches your size estimate of the R-24

I also finished my "Rescue Stalin from LKO" contract. Upon recovery at KSC, I exited the game & renamed her Svetlana instead of Stalin. Stalin preparing for reentry while her wrecked capsule & the engine stage of the recovery vehicle drift away below

I had a combo Vall relay & lander arrive in Jool's inner system today, caught a near perfect Tylo fly-by which got it into Jool orbit and with a small correction burn at Tylo Pe, straight into a Vall intercept for a polar orbit. Approaching Tylo: Approaching Pe over Vall's south pole: Lander on its way down: Safely landed After landing & looking around, I discovered there was a geyser only about 300m away from my initial touchdown, and I had some fuel remaining, so I hopped over for a better look: Other than that, I got a few course corrections done and a few other probes entered the edge of Jool's SoI. I did some final corrections on my Eve crew lander (like adding ladders to the crew lander plus solar panels & antennas to the transfer stage) and got it launched to LKO.

After the complete & utter failure of my 2-seat Eve lander, I started from scratch with a single seater. Tonight was just sandbox testing. First test came close but just about the time I started to breath a little easier, everything started exploding. Second try with redesigned heat shielding went better - although I forgot one slightly important thing which wrecked my launch attempt. There are 3 AV-R8 fins on the core engine stage & for entry, I turned the control sliders to negative since the fins were flying backwards. Problem is, I forgot to set them back positive for launch. I lost control & destroyed several radial boosters in the process, and when I did regain control, I was climbing on a westerly heading. Even then I came close to clearing the atmosphere - upper stage ran dry with an Ap around 88 km, so I'm pretty sure if I'd had all my boosters & a good climb profile, it could have made orbit. I started adding the ladders to get down to the surface, but then KSP turned into a slide show in the VAB, freezing for a few seconds every few seconds, and I didn't really have more time for KSP tonight anyway, so I'll have to try another test flight tomorrow.

I have both DLC's. At this point, I suspect it was a conflict with another mod - when it started, none of my mods was updated to 1.7 since it had just come out. Now, pretty much everything that needed an update has had one, and all the panels seem to be working normally. If it started working at some point between 1.7 & 1.7.3, I missed it till now. It was only 2 panels that were causing me issues, and then only when first deployed until I switched craft. When I was using those panels, I got into the habit of switching craft right away after deploying the panels. BTW, that Viking lander looks amazing! Looking forward to it.

I debated it for a while. I'll probably end up changing her name after the rescue mission - I already have two other active rescue contracts (for a pilot & a scientist) so Stalin the engineer completes another complete crew.

I got a new rescue contract in my current career. I was a little surprised when I saw the name. Then to add to the surprise, it says to "return her safely to Kerbin"

Grandfather is pretty safe for most parts. Just about the only time I use root is on the lowest booster engines of large & wobbly rockets. Very rarely I'll use the "to heaviest" setting

I'm pretty sure there is something in the settings tab, but I'm not on my game computer right now to look at it

What time I had in KSP today, I spent in my alternate save where I'm trying to minimize my installed mods, I did an Apollo mission to Mun. It only took 2 tries due to the LES getting stuck the first time & smashing the nose docking port & parachutes when it did unstick. I'm sticking most of the pics in a spoiler since there are a bunch Moments before splashdown

I had forgotten about this, but I thought I'd let you know in 1.7.3 all the Probes Plus solar panels seem to be working normally for me.

Yeah, that was where it all went completely wrong. I foolishly thought the semi-deployed drogue & main chutes had enough drag to keep the heatshield end down. Considering the brakes barely kept it that way, I should have known better.

I started getting ready for the next Eve window in my career. First up was an improved version of my mining base, now with grid fins that extend past the inflatable heatshields, so hopefully I can maintain control Also with extra sepratrons to make sure the heatshields get pushed clear of the base. Over in sandbox, I fired up a Bachem Natter replica I downloaded from somewhere. It was doing weird things at first (like skipping stages somehow) but I finally got it to launch & Jeb had some buzzed around a little till it came apart. Yay for kerbal parachutes. Most of the rest of my time today was spent trying to build an Eve crew lander. I've actually only done one (successful) manned mission to Eve's surface & back, and that was several careers ago, so it's about time I tried again. Also, that was before I started using life support mods. So far, not so good. Two failures just trying to get to LKO, then several trying to enter Eve's atmosphere. The last one, I was actually doing ok - got through the major heating phase, slowing down nicely, drogues deployed, mains deployed, staged away the airbrakes. Then mains all failed due to "overheating and aero forces" a minute later. And the inflatable heatshields took out half my launch engines when jettisoned even though I was nose first at that point due to losing my main chutes & the heatshields being higher drag than the drogues. Back to the drawing board. I think starting from scratch is in order.

The last few days have been busy without a whole lot actually accomplished. First off, I rescued Elon Kerman among others. It was a triple rescue actually. I really expected Elon Kerman to be an engineer, but he's a pilot instead. At least I got his name right - one time I thought I was rescuing Elvis & it turned out to be Eilvis. Elon leaving his stranded capsule while Arvin (another rescuee) places a self-destruct charge on it Yesterday I finally downloaded the 1.7.3 update and did a few experiments. Apparently friction pads are the strongest objects in the Kerbal universe as they are the only thing to survive this little experiment unharmed, including the runway: Then it was time to test out a prop plane. Took a little work to figure out even somewhat what I was doing - the first 3 didn't leave the ground. Even this only tops out around 80-something m/s. And the prop blades have a tendency to hit the ground on landing. The one accomplishment of my career yesterday was my Jooldiver arriving and after a quick flyby of Laythe, diving into Jool's atmosphere until it was crushed Summer Kerman, my senior pilot while Jeb & Val are away on Duna, took up an old jet design I made based on the F-89 Scorpion. It was even fitted with numerous tiny rockets. And apparently despite being tiny, they still pack enough punch to take down the VAB. She had a bit of explaining to do after landing. Finally, there were experiments with a silo-launched Minuteman-esque rocket design. Multiple images from silo to reentry. The warhead was an instrumented dummy so no kerbals were harmed during these tests.

I've been using Cubs for a while in this role, and I've started using a pair of Twitches when I don't need as much thrust, which actually is most of the time. Haven't tried a spider for that yet. Like you say, they work for attitude control and don't burn enough fuel to be an issue on the launch. My standard 2.5m launcher actually has been switched from four AV-R8 fins to a pair of Twitches now. I'll step up to cubs when it needs a little more thrust, but 90% of the time it works great as is.

Wow, I haven't heard that mentioned in ages, that was my first computer. Wonderful job on the controller!!! That was one of my favorites too.

I didn't think of that. I've got the extra chassis parts being used for Monoprop storage since it's a fuel tanker but having them split between equipment & monoprop would work. It's not like anything I'm landing on Laythe will need >200 MP at once. It's too late for the one already heading to Jool, but I'll have to update the design

For a simple 1-kerbal pod into orbit, you are going to want something along these lines: Mk 1 pod with parachute on the nose, heatshield underneath is optional for low orbit. Under the pod (or heatshield) you want a decoupler, then a small 1.25m fuel tank then a Terrier engine (the short small diameter engine). Then another decoupler and several fuel tanks. At the bottom you want a Swivel engine and maybe some fins for extra stability. Best picture I have for you right now (I'm not on my game computer) which isn't great. Now that KSP has built in a built-in dV calculator, you will want a total of ~3400 m/s to get to orbit. You also want a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 1.5 at launch, so you may need a pair of small SRB's - I have a heavily modded installation, so even my early designs tend to be heavier than stock, so I can't remember for sure what you get with what I described.

I had a happy accident while testing a fuel rover. It's intended for Laythe, and I was concerned with how it would handle entry & landing (especially if I had enough 'chutes). Since both KSC & the dessert launch site were busy putting Jool missions into orbit, I launched a test rocket out of Woomerang with the rover. My target was the same continent as the desert launch site, I wasn't actually aiming for anything but a ground landing. After shedding the fairing - which was an improvised heat shield & popping the drogues, I looked around and found: Landed <10km from the runway. So I also tested out my rover driving cross country. I can get up to around 32 m/s. It's not recommended on anything but perfectly flat ground, but it can do it. Also, it is pretty durable, even when flipping length-wise at 32 m/s. I lost the front winch & fuel hose, and everything got bent a little (the driver compartment now looks down as much as forwards) but it still drove mostly straight, still could reach about 32 m/s I also got my Laythe ocean base docked with the tug & on its way to the jewel of Jool. That only took a 16 minute burn with the Lightbulb drive. And it was too wobbly at the docking port to use physics warp. Since I had most of the tech unlocked & got a lucky "Test Rapier engine..." contract, I went ahead & got the first Lightning II spaceplane launched to go to Laythe. Summer Kerman got the "joy" of transferring to the pilot reentry pod for the trip back to KSC once she had the Lightning refueled & ready for the transfer. She pulled off a pretty nice landing (a few km east of KSC) but apparently something is less buoyant now than version 1.5, because upon splashdown she started to sink & had to crawl out of the structure. Previous version had Jeb splash down & float just fine.

I was walking around my Duna outpost & the hills in the background were lit up quite nicely, just struck me as really pretty. I wish I'd still had Scatterer installed when I got this.

If they are just things like winches & connectors on the outside of the craft, rather than critical structural components, its pretty easy to edit the craft files & delete them. I had a few I've had to that too. Use <Control-F> to find the bad part names & delete both the part & the links to it. For example, on an old spaceplane of mine, I had some connector ports on the engine nacelles for refueling on the ground. If those were from the old KAS version, I would go in and search for "KAS" The first thing that pops up is this line (in bold) I would delete that line (which is where the bad part is attached too) & then keep searching for the actual bad part, which turns up: This you have to find the entire part section from "Part" to the closing "}" If you only have a few, it's not too bad. If you have a bunch of parts, you might be better starting from scratch. Another option if you still have an older version of KSP saved, you can go to it, take off the bad parts, save the craft & bring the fixed craft file over.