Cavscout74

Pretty much what @UmbralRaptor said - nice to have the info sometimes. Mostly just to satisfy curiosity. Actual benefits? I guess if you wanted to figure out an exact altitude on a specific planet or moon to deploy your parachutes, then the pressure readout could be useful. Edit: Actually, I did think of a use - if you are using a planet pack, depending on how well documented it is, you may very well not have any data on atmospheric pressure so it could be useful there, same with temp & gravity.

Crashed my JNSQ Duna lander. Again. All was going perfectly until the drogues deployed, then the lander began spinning violently followed by tumbling. Even enabling RCS I couldn't get it back under control before impacting terrain - due to the low pressure, even the drogues can't deploy until close to the surface, leaving little time to react. I really don't understand what is going on, because the outpost that I previously landed - while somewhat hard to handle - didn't react like this to the drogue deployment and the basic designs are similar (2.5m core with quad 1.25m radial landing engines with drogues on top)

Glad I could help

Nertea's Near Future series and Restock, primarily. A bunch of others too, but those are the biggest parts changes

Previously, autostruts to root could sometimes cause issues when docking/undocking as they re-routed to the new root part so this could be intended - or could be a by-product of the docking port rotation

Somewhat successfully landed the surface outpost on Duna in my JNSQ save - one landing leg failed, but it was wide enough not to fall over. For just a second, I thought I'd hit it just right..... But KSP quickly corrected that notion A test run of landing the crew didn't work so I reloaded back before the lander deorbited but didn't have the patience to do that again. I really don't understand what is going on because I thought the JSNQ Duna had a very thin atmosphere, closer to the real Martian atmosphere but my lander (and the outpost) were felt much more like they were dealing with a thick atmosphere. Maybe try again tomorrow.

Posted a new and improved tracked rescue/fire-fighting vehicle to the workshop. I got tired of dealing with the mess that has become regular engines (and the ridiculous amount of cooling they require) so I made this one turbine powered - 150+ kmh on land, 70+ on water, 2 crew + 6 seated passengers + 1 medical bed.

Continued Duna arrivals today. The first up was the Duna-Lynx rover, which ended in loss of vehicle due to a collision between the fairing and rover's landing rockets. Despite impacting at several hundred m/s, a small section of the rover landed intact. Somehow. At least it gives us a target to aim for with the surface outpost. Next up was another fuel tanker, which entered orbit then successfully docked with Duna Station. The Red Lander arriving: The biggest event of course was the arrival of Red Scout, placing the first kerbals into orbit around another planet First EVA in Duna's SoI Other arrivals (life support supplies, station tender, Ike lander)

Ok, just weirdness then. Actually, they house the drills & convertor (aft) and living quarters (front). The landing rockets (thuds) were radially attached & jettisoned on landing. And yes, it was a pain to get there, but was actually still reasonably stable to drive around.

Did you have an engineer on board one & not the other? Or two different level engineers? Nice rovers, btw. I've done my own monstrosities of similar size that were a lot of fun - even on the Mun:

At least for interstellar ships in sci-fi settings, the only way it would be feasible if there was a way for the bank to secure their investment. If ships are in-system only or (for starships), if they require major infrastructure (you can jump x parsecs at a time, but your drive needs part y replaced at a orbital shipyard after every jump) it might be viable. If starships are more like Star Wars - jump in your freighter and take off to wherever with no one to stop you, just need a hydrospanner to fix the hyperdrive if it breaks - I don't think bank loans would be available. Certainly not to individuals The old Traveller pen & paper RPG had some rules for financing ships, but that system relied on an intact interstellar empire ruling over everything. When that broke down in a rebellion (Hard Times expansion), ships operating near the borders of factions started looking at skipping out on their loans more and more frequently in some of the lore & published material.

Lowering Isp would work as well. There was a tech tree mod that had an optional patch that did that, but I can't remember which one. (Give me a minute....) @kurgut Found it: Simplex Tech Tree. Apparently it modifies only the in-atmosphere Isp & thrust curve, leaving vacuum stats untouched.

While I have made all of those at one time or another, staging errors remain the most common. Usually something relatively minor - sepratrons lighting on the wrong stage or a LES popping off early - but I've made some colossal staging errors as well (2nd stage engine accidentally added to an earlier stage). The worst ever was killing a load of 8 tourists on the pad due to staging error - that actually prompted me to not only install but fully test launch escape systems on my manned craft, so at least the tourists didn't die in vain. My first big error was lack of parachute on the very first probe I ever sent to Eve. And since it only had an 88-88 folding antenna, I couldn't even send back atmospheric data on the way down so it was a total waste.

It was

Ha! Reminds me of a game I purchased (pre-Steam) that was supposed to have realistic combat - broken bones, bleeding, etc - with permanent consequences (crippling injuries, amputations, etc). And no tutorial or anything else to "hold your hand." Interesting idea, but in practice you start off in a village with minimal stuff, minimal money, and no idea what to do. Let's try talking to people = nobody but merchants want to talk, and their goods all cost 10x what money I have. Lets try breaking into a building & stealing more stuff = random person notices me, calls the guards, a dozen of them charge in and beat me to a bloody pulp. Once unconscious, bleeding, with multiple broken bones the guards wander off while I rapidly bleed to death. New game.. Lets try going out of the village this time. Barren desert as far as the eye can see, no trees, nothing to interact with. Hmm, what's this - a nest with a small animal wandering around. It's small, nothing bigger is in sight, I can probably kill it for food and maybe sell its skin or something. <Punch> what the.... where did the fifteen adult animals come from!?!?!?!?! Unconscious, bleeding & multiple broken bones again. From herbivores. New game.... A few more rounds of that, and I decided it wasn't worth the space on my computer. Interestingly, it's on Steam now, with overwhelmingly positive reviews so either it's gotten better, or there are a bunch of masochists out there. But yes, hopefully KSP2 won't take that approach

Skipped ahead two months and my first two Duna craft arrived - first a fuel tanker that flew past Duna and entered Ike orbit, then the core of the Duna station arrived and sent back the first data from Duna orbit. These are my first-ever craft to reach Duna/Ike in JNSQ. These were followed by a pair of course corrections on probes going to Hamek & Eve. Tomorrow should see the next round of Duna arrivals trickling into orbit. Fuel Tanker "C" approaching Duna And approaching Ike orbit Duna crew station entering orbit Next up were a pair of course correction for my Hamek probe and Evera-1

Anyone else getting the order screen just spinning and doing nothing?

I agree, it never should have gone anywhere except maybe a recommendation by the judge that the lawyer that took the original case be disbarred. What we're getting is a population with (on average) no common sense or accountability. There was recently in the news a woman who used glue to style her hair, then went online begging for money to fix it and was publicly discussing suing the glue manufacturer. It fell under the radar after a few days, so I don't know where it went. But she made well over $100,000 in donations within a few days. I work in an industry (aviation maintenance) where every action I take, I have to document & take personal responsibility for. Personally, I don't have an issue with that but my mindset is increasingly at odds with the rest of society. Quite a few years ago, when I was a new mechanic working at a flight school, one of our "airport bums" - retired or semi-retired guys with planes in the nearby hangars that hung around our office for the free coffee - decided to write a book "The FARs* in plain English" To write his book, he consulted with multiple lawyers which resulted in multiple interpretations of the same regulations. Even two different lawyers employed by the Federal Aviation Administration gave different interpretations. He managed to write the book & get it published, but had to repeatedly acknowledge that every lawyer consulted read things differently. * FAR = Federal Aviation Regulations

Sent my Jool fleet on its way finally. My Laythe Explorer jet was the hardest, with 0.19g acceleration in the NERV transfer stage. Ended up splitting into 3 burns just to keep from reentering the atmosphere. Jooldiver required a 2-part burn for the same reason and the Jool Advanced Probe barely made it in a single burn without dipping into the atmosphere. With multiple 9-10 minute burns, I ended up with no time for anything actually fun. Next scheduled events are the Duna fleet beginning to arrive (60+ days out), so maybe the next day or two I'll have time to clean up a few spent stages out of orbit. At this point, I've basically accomplished what I set out to do (test & adjust the tech tree more to my liking) so other than wanting to see how a few things play out, I'm almost ready to dump this science save and start a proper career. Random departure images: Jool Relay staging & lighting its NERV transfer stage Something else staging Laythe Explorer during its first maneuver And during a later one Jooldiver heading to its second maneuver Last to leave Kerbin was Jooldiver, with a parting image of home:

Thanks, she was released late friday and then slept most of saturday because they were waking her up every hour or so for more blood the whole time she was in the hospital. Nice plane!

After a few days away from KSP due to my wife being in the hospital, I was able to get some launches in today. It turned out that Kerbal Alarm Clock lied about the transfer window to Eve - it's not in 52 days, it's in 8 days (or 1 year & something for a better window). I put up 3 craft - a copy of the Soviet Venera probes with the detachable lander, a modified version of my combination relay & lander and finally a Manned Eve Flyby (MEF-1). MEF-1 uses a pair of new kerbonauts. Specially recruited just for this mission (So the important ones don't die) and launched in a custom-built ship (Cobbled together at the last minute) to perform the first manned fly-by of Eve (probably) then return to Kerbin (maybe). LRP-AN-Eve was slightly modified from the baseline LRP-AN design with the addition of a second heat shield to the lander for added protection, but was otherwise unchanged from the Laythe & Tylo launches (that ironically are waiting in orbit another 20 days for their transfer window) Evera-1 also is a combination orbital relay & lander. I also got a load of life support supplies into orbit, destined for Laythe for a future manned mission. This set another mass record, at 1687 tons on the pad. Just to deliver three 2.5m life support supply tanks & a little liquid fuel.

The Jool mission continued to expand with the launch of a trio of small relays for Laythe and an advanced science probe (which went the opposite direction for mass - at 323 tons, it was the lightest launch of the Jool mission so far) Laythe relay trio: And the advanced science probe - the only 2.5m launch so far for Jool

Yeah I agree with you there. 1.3.1 is probably my favorite old version, but some of the changes are really nice. I do still have some 1.3.1 installs, but haven't used them in quite a while. Pre-1.8 IIRC, the game ran noticeably smoother on 1.3.1 vs newer versions.

Probably the time I made a Voyager lookalike probe, sent it to Jool in a career save with the intent of doing a fly-by of all the moons (it had a NERV transfer stage in addition to the RCS & a small SRB on the probe). Caught a beautiful Tylo fly-by that was going to shoot me straight into a Vall fly-by, and Laythe looked to be in just about a perfect spot for a direct intercept after Vall. Just needed a small correction as I passed Tylo. Then my daughter's cat, who enjoys watching computer games, reached out & smacked the space bar with his paw, dumping the NERV stage & leaving me with just the SRB & RCS. I managed to get an orbit around one of the moons - IIRC Tylo on a second intercept - but missed all the other moons and all the glorious science.

+1 to the turn off SAS tip others said. Another helpful tip is if you are using autostruts, make sure they are set to grandparent, not root or heaviest. When you dock craft with autostruts to root or heaviest part, the root or heaviest part can change and the autostruts reset to attach to the new root/heaviest part, creating forces that can make a mess of your craft.