stephensmat

So, after three days... Lo, behold! Kerbal F'g'than! The last klick was the hardest, with terrain difficulties. I must have tumbled down the hill a hundred times before I made it. In other news, I got a proper comm satellite into Duna orbit too. My rover took the long way around, so I was able to upload another thousand points worth of observations, plus what I got just for making it to this thing. I've made it to Tier Three. The comm satellite is a design that should be viable over Eve as well, and Eve SOI is my next 'task', I've already got it launched and waiting for a transfer window. I'm also working a side mission to take three Kerbals to Ike. Funny thing, because I've already got two on Duna, waiting for pickup... but I'm still gonna have to launch from Kerbin. In KSP1, my policy was to send two one way missions: A crew to land/science, and a large drone fuel tank with a drill, to go the small nearby moon and harvest/convert fuel for the return trip. Until we get some refueling parts in KSP2, that's not gonna work. Now that I've unlocked the large tanks and hi-end probe cores, maybe I can send fuel tanks ahead to refuel the landers for a return to Kerbin. Seems wasteful, but that's what I've got right now... In the meantime, I've got a cool place to take holiday snaps.

There's a scene in The Martian where Watney is driving his Rover across Mars, towards Ares IV. His log opens with: "Whoohoo! I've detected the Beacon! I'm going the right way!" I've been driving my rover across Duna for a few hours, picking my way around/over craters, and I've collected over 700 Science Points. And behold, I've found the beacon for the Duna anomaly! I was following the moon to give myself a direction until then. (Incidentally, taking a bearing off the moon was what Watney did too.) Interestingly, my landing site was almost exactly the same distance away as the range of the beacon. And it's my second blue sunset. Next step: Unlock the Duna anomaly. Get 2000 points. Build a superior lander, to collect the Rover's driver/samples. I might drive north, to collect science points from the polar region too. (Also, send a satellite with multiple transmitters into Duna space, to help with science transmissions.)

I landed on Duna! I've managed to drive more than 100km on the Mun, so for my first Duna landing, I used the same rover/lander combo, plus a bunch of parachutes. I'm still experimenting with wheel settings on this run. (All advice welcome) It moves smoother and is less likely to flip, but if it does flip there's no 'rolling it back upright', like I can do on the Mun. So far, I'm more than 5km from my Lander, which is fine. I plan to keep a'Rovin along, until I get to the Anomaly (not that far away) and unlock the 2000 Science Points. My policy at this stage is to land a one-way craft and unlock a bunch of points, to make the 'next gen' craft better, and pick crew/samples up for a return flight. In the meantime, I'm running the 'journey' scene from the third act of 'The Martian' and enjoying the drive, and the blue sunsets. I hope to go through a few biomes and collect samples/data from all of them for later. Val is smiling real big in the preview window. She's enjoying the drive too.

I made the rover work on the Mun by adjusting the suspension/traction/braking settings on my rover wheels. I've successfully landed a rover on Duna, and I'm trying madly not to flip the thing. Has anyone got any tips for a small rover with RoveMax M1 wheels? What settings give me the best control?

I tried again after a restart, and this time the burn happened as planned. Currently tinkering with course corrections to get me into a good orbit of Duna.

Interplanetary Transfer isn't working for me , but I don't know if it's the mod, or the base game. I had FP calculate a transfer to Duna, and the calculation was done, but when I tell it to make the burn, no maneuver node appears on the 'ball', and there's no burn. (I also use K2D2 and Alarm Clock, if that makes a difference. I was using both to get to the transfer window, and direct it to make the burn.)

EDIT: Sorry, wrong thread.

An update on the Rover Project. Decreasing braking power on the front wheels helped, but what really made the difference was turning the 'suspension' options on all the wheels down to their lowest level. I landed a second, identical Rover on the Mun for increased gravity, and kept the speed to 8m/s. I have just passed 10km from the lander. Solar powered, it's still fully charged. I'm giving thought to taking this thing all across the Mun biomes, and sending another lander later on to collect the samples/driver.

We know there are two interstellar systems planned. But this game could effectively go on forever by adding new systems as DLC. What if the Sol System was one of them? We have archetypes with Jool and Duna and Mun. Why not have the actual system? Imagine the Easter Eggs you can have with that.

I managed to achieve something I've never done before. I landed a rover. I had to feather my rockets again to get it out from underneath my lander, but lo behold, it worked. One annoyance: it doesn't work nearly as well on Minmus as it does on Kerbin. The thing keeps flipping forward, head over axles. (Which is why I never really bothered with rovers in KSP1. ) So any advice on maintaining stability when driving slowy in a straight line is greatly appreciated. Still... if we can pull it off, let's go exploring.

I made my first Rover. Something I never really bothered with in KSP1, since it was easier to send Landers, but I've managed to create a simple, two seat rover with two experiments. More importantly, it's stable enough to drive in a straight line without immediately flipping over (which was surprisingly difficult to do). I'm going to take her for a spin around Kerbin and see if I can grab some science points. After that, there's the little matter of trying to get her to the Mun/Minmus.

I know, it's a surrender flag, but I've been trying to dock two craft for an hour and I'm ready to tear my hair out. They keep missing each other by less than five meters.

The 'Mystery Signal' Arc is how they keep you moving further out into the System. The side missions are how they fill the time between. The rest is design, Trial and Error that will not end, and anything else you feel like doing to unlock the tech tree. My guess is, even if they don't expand it, and you do tick off all the Monoliths in a day or two, that's "Act One". Even without Colonies, the next step will be interstellar travel. If there's one thing that the Real history of Spaceflight has taught us, it's that the First Landing is meant to plant a flag and tick a box. Everything after that is the important part.

Happens to me too. All day, in fact. If it's just a timezone issue, then I can try again tomorrow.

I think that's the most accurate landing I've ever made without a Mod. I'm actually a little shocked at myself.

And if we get a console version, there may not be Keyboard or Mouse support, or mod support. That's a big part of the game play.

It's not just on re-entry. I burned up several parts on launch. Be careful of your launch speeds, folks.

Oh, no disrespect intended. And if it came across that way, I apologize. Just looking for a sense of whether or not the Modders are 'in the room' . Patience has certainly been the rule with KSP2 thus far.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that one. Launch and Boosters worked and disconnected fine, but the stackers and decouplers on the rest of the craft I had to his the 'decouple' button manually in the Parts menu. Realistic for a space agency., I guess. But not convenient mid-flight.

Faced my first Glitch. Landed on Mun, and when I went EVA, the lander started bouncing around completely. I quick-loaded, and had to do the landing again. It took a few more tries. On one of the quick-loads, half the Lander parts were 'ten feet to the left' I landed safely again, quick saved, and went EVA. The lander toppled instantly again. I quickloaded, and this time it worked fine. Annoying, but I managed to get to the Mun and back. Crossing things off that mission list is very satisfying.

Parachutes failed for me exactly once last night, and it was when I was at more than 10g's during re-entry. I quick-load, come in at a shallower angle, and a slower speed. No problems.

To be clear, is this how it works? When there's an experiment that can be run for points, the 'science' icon on the quick-menu to the left hand side of the screen starts flashing. You click it, and the experiments are run. Is that really all there is to it? Because when I do the experiments manually through the Parts Menu, it tells me that 'that data is already stored', or something to that effect.

Hate to be 'that' guy, but I hope you're planning an update for 2.0.

That was fast. I, for one, won't even think about that until I've filled the System with Space Stations and Starships. Seriously though, most of the bug fixes have been at the 'foundation' level, which carries over into the expansions. Smart money says it won't be as long until the next expansion, but likely still several months. Fine with me. Got plenty to do now.

Just finished a three hour play session, and I can honestly say: This is what I was waiting for! (This, and Colonies. The second that happens, we're beyond the frontier of KSP1.)