Friznit

Get KSP TOT Calculate Venus return window Launch flyby mission Forget to account for mass of snacks Slingshot around Venus into intergalactic trajectory Send rescue mission Run out of snacks Send rescue mission for rescue mission Kerbals melt from solar radiation Run goo experiment Profit...

Dreadful. You should fire the author. I really should get around to updating that at some point.

It's possible the name has changed. But the upper stage fuel tank should be the A-USF and the decoupler is the A-USD. Most bits should show if you use the Vostok and tantares search tags

It's a long-time known [X] Science issue related to sample-type experiments with animated parts. Basically it runs the experiment without running the animation, so the part get stuck in a state where it's run but not run and the game has a hissy fit so you can neither recover the sample nor reset the experiment. Bottom line is don't use [X]Science Here & Now to run experiments.

Yes you can safely drop it. Explorer 6 = Pioneer 5 with a different texture variant on the B9 Partswitch.

You can build Jupiter A, which is pretty much the same thing. You can even make it green.

I'm assuming you're running Skyhawk Science System? BDB uses stock fuels as standard so it's likely SSS or another mod converting engines to use real fuels and has missed these out.

I'm looking forward to building colonies on distant planets then realising I've left critical life support at home, sending a rescue mission and then sending another rescue mission to rescue the rescue mission.

BDB has its own part category but Filter Extensions helps too. You can also use Janitor's Closet if you need more aggressive part filtering. The Unofficial Wiki can help get your head around where all the parts go on historical rockets but BDB is built with "legoability" in mind, so making weird and wacky creations is strongly encouraged. Extra points if you can come up with something that NASA didn't already think of!

Derp. Reminder to self to update the link. Shame about Space Launch Report. It was an invaluable resource.

Don't think so - I never got around to doing one. I've not looked closely at the real thing but at a glance it seems fairly similar to Zarya so you could start with that as a basis.

Looks like you may be using the old Saturn rescale patch. It's redundant since the new Saturn V is the right scale now.

Skyhawk is built for BDB. I would recommend @Morphisor History of Spaceflight contract pack to run alongside it (light version is more than enough).

Probably the easiest way to contact @Friznit is to post on the forum in the relevant thread...yay! Best way to point out any issues / corrections / omissions is create a new issue on github and I'll make the relevant updates. Feedback is always welcome. For info, pics are taken with KVV and touched up in Paint.net

https://github.com/friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki/wiki/Rovers

Good question! A lot depends on my career setup. Typically I run with severe cost limitations (50% fund/science rewards and/or Bureaucracy mod and part purchasing on), which forces a level of strategizing. Solids (Scout/Minotaur/Athena) almost never get launched in historic configurations though they do have their uses being super cheap. Vanguard/Redstone/Juno a few times in early career to get things going but quickly surpassed by Thor/Delta which is definitely the early game workhorse family. It's pretty much then a choice between using either Atlas or Titan families but as you say Titan is hugely versatile so almost always wins that race, unless I have a roleplay-driven falling out with Glenn Martin. Saturn parts are vastly more expensive but Saturn II and MLV derivatives get a lot of use in late game. I've always wondered if it would be possible to somehow restrict part unlocks by reputation with the manufacturer as well as science & funds. You could conceivably pick "Strategy" that contracts you to a specific manufacturer and locks out the others, and parts get cheaper the more rep you build.

Not at all, I'm delighted that someone is taking inspiration from my inspiration! Kit bashing in KSP is fun.

The satellite bus used for Galaxy 1 and TacSat in those kitbashes is parts from BDB Pioneer 6 smooshed together. General kitbashing woes I discovered on the way: we have lots of round satellite busses / control modules in various mods and yet many real life satellites are blocky. there aren't so many square-ish ones and those that exist have some lovely textures and greebling, which unfortunately gets in the way. You have to get creative! Ref. KH-11. Remember birds aren't real, folks.

Jarvis

That's a relief. We need more magnetometers.

It can calculate multiple trajectories, so you can figure out the optimum earth departure date for a Venus flyby and return. Porkchop plots are one way, so you'd need to do a lot of trial and error to get to the same result. But I find KSPTOT impenetrable and I've never worked out how to use it properly, so I resort to winging it, usually with spectacularly awful failures and a lot of Kerbals ...uuuh, "enjoying life long orbital observation of Venus"

Yep, works just fine in the VAB.

[x]Science has a feature to 'show experiments available on this vessel'. It's very useful for figuring out which parts do what experiment (and finding out that you have 15 redundant magnetometers).

Science progression is notoriously hard to balance given the way the tech tree game mechanic is built. You zoom through the early nodes in a few launches then it slows to a long grind for the late game stuff. I typically play with 50% science returns then ramp it up to 80% for the later game (basically once you get beyond your first Jool flyby). Bureaucracy basically adds a funding cap, which in the early game does encourage lots of cheaper launches (Thors and whatnot) to maximise your returns within available time & budget. KCT on the other hand essentially adds a time restriction, so you can't simply launch multiple cheap rockets in one day. Combine the two and the game can get quite challenging, at least until you reach a certain threshold. I recommend playing with the History of Spaceflight contract pack (pocket edition is sufficient), as it chimes well with SSS & BDB.

I guess!