Vagrant203

Oh my. That was worrying for me too the first time I encountered it, but I managed to combine automated guidance (MechJeb steering toward 90° heading 45° pitch relative to surface) with manually pulsing thrust whenever the nose was above the horizon. Granted, without MechJeb assistance I'd probably be screwed and unglued. (I'm a little embarrassed to admit that this procedure has become routine for me due to design flaws. Although maybe MechJeb is oversteering, may need to dial back or toggle some of the reaction wheels or control surfaces.)

Screenshot advice from a noob ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, at least I wasn't missing something obvious. I hate it when I do that.

I'm trying to watch on a smartphone. Is there a video I'm just too blind to see?

Welp, there goes my chance for the live broadcast.

Lucky me, I'll be waking up and eating breakfast at that time.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I literally got this game on New Year's Eve. I have managed exactly one crashlanded probe on Moho in a previous dead save. I do know that it's a big narrow hole that would be nigh impossible to rescue a Kerbal from. And, y'know, sacrifice basically means annihilation for the sacrificed object or being. I play lots of Space Engineers. That game had Lord Clang and many players make sacrifices to him. So, uh, this technically isn't my idea originally.

Well, a lot of this thread went right over my head, but I do like the idea of imitating historical broadcasts for an alternate-timeline space program. Don't rush yourself so much that you stop enjoying this. There is still interest in the final product when it arrives.

Kerbal sacrifice to the Kraken by throwing one down the Hole? Personally not my thing, unless I'm truly desperate in the future. But, y'know, some folks play to torture their characters. And that's okay until it gets into real life.

Operation Log - Orbital Assembly, Minmus Shakedown Cruise; E+Y1D 57:0054hr LSV01 Pathfinder; MET+12D:0235hr The LSV01 is finally complete. Some hiccups were encountered, but the challenges were overcome just as quickly as they came. You may notice the peculiar arrangement with the mk1-3 command pod being slipped in the middle. This was the solution to the first hiccup, not mounting the pod directly to the drive section. This will be corrected in the third generation's design. Another minor mistake was failing to seat the LSV's crew before launch, with the exception of the pilots. The obvious solution was implemented. Finally, two problems, a lack of science equipment and radial docking ports for probes, were both solved with a final trailing section. In the future, the ports will be placed on the drive section's center tank and the science equipment will be mounted on the relay section. As previously discussed, the Pathfinder's shakedown cruise will be a scientific survey of Minmus, gathering data to send back to Kerbin and to research aboard the vessel. Operation will have two phases; phase one being orbital survey and science transmission, followed by phase two, a series of landers piloted remotely and manned by a scientist, perhaps augmented by new technology researched with the science from phase one. Even more importantly than the scientific data gained, this operation will establish a reliable set of procedures and test the practical extent of existing life support technology. The third generation of LSV will be outfitted with as yet unresearched technology to utilize local resources, but it will be important to know how much time can be spent between mining operations for purposes of interplanetary travel. At the time of this log, Pathfinder has just entered Minmus SoI and is executing a burn into polar orbit, after which the multispectral sensor will be deployed to track down any anomalies. End log Now speaking as a writer, I would appreciate any feedback from any readers.

I am in love with this concept. Especially since a lot of my own space program is geared towards developing self-sufficient ships that can operate outside radio contact by design, with probe support options. Eagerly awaiting news on this.

Captain Jebediah's Log; E+Y1D43:0427hr LSV01 Pathfinder; MET+1807hr Another busy couple of days. Valentina was laid up for a while after some malfunctions with the first Munshot. The second, with yours truly at the helm, managed to land just fine. The science data I recovered went really far. We ended up being able to research the tech for the long-service vessels Ops had planned. Even skipped right by the theoretical first generation since we got a command pod that can directly control probes. Right now me and Ludwin are sitting in that pod in a 151x148km orbit above Kerbin, waiting for the lab, habitation, and propulsion modules to be sent up. The first stop will definitely be Minmus, since it hasn't been explored yet and the nearest interplanetary transfer window is 107 days away, and that's to Moho. At least the scientists will be busy with all the data we'll get. We've also got a new multispectral sensor. Bill and Bob tell me it can pick up structures from orbit, so we'll probably be seeing more archeological expeditions. Ope, gotta go, the next module is about to come up and Ludwin can't steer the probe core all on his lonesome. Captain Jebediah Kerman signing off.

Sidebar Valentina's Log; E+Y1D28:0340hrs After a year of getting settled on the surface and building up our infrastructure, the Kerbal Space Center was given the green light for operations. After that, we practically flung ourselves at the sky, day in and day out, for the first twentyfour days. After a while, Ops called for a break in official missions and set aside some funding for "discretionary" flights. Off the record, he explained that we had some time to goof around as long as we had a good excuse to put on the paperwork. After one flight, my brother Jeb came back rather excited and eagerly thrust a picture into our faces. Apparently he'd gone out to the desert and found a sort of stone pyramid complex. Bill and Bob went wild with speculation for a day or so before they all took off in a Fruitbat, towards a pretty far temp scan contract for lack of any better guidance, searching for any more archeological finds. I was just gonna relax and familiarize myself with all the new tech, but we began picking up distress calls. From space. We're not the only Kerbals to have emerged recently (surprise) and other programs have also been flinging Kerbals up to the black. Trouble is, they haven't worked out how to get them back down. So, I headed over to the VAB and asked the hardhats to throw something together. I ended up with a Hitchhiker slapped on top of some rockets, with a decoupler taking the brunt of reentry followed by a smaller, proper heat shield. It worked. Had enough deltaV for two pickups. We sent a smaller can up for the third, using an OKTO model probe core to pilot. The missions themselves were rather unremarkable, unless you count the narrow fuel reserve margin we cut for the first reentry. The Strays were a bit worried about seeing all of 16 meters per in the tanks, but we managed. The new kids agreed to join up, sending Ops into some sort of... weird cackling fit. After a bit, and the newbs slowly backing out of the office, Ops explained to me that these new recruits would be assigned to the boys as a team of six, two of each specialty, and assigned to the first long-service spaceship. Either my disappointment was obvious or Ops had anticipated it, because he quickly added that he needed me Kerbside, being the more levelheaded pilot. He also said I would be the first to command the third generation of that line, at which point it would be self-sufficient! The boys returned and were introduced to the Strays. They get along pretty good, teamwork seems as solid as that weird monolith over yonder. So why does Ops look so nervous?

This is the kind of work that convinced me to join and write my own as well. Good stuff.

Keep an eye out for my next set of reports. The main part, actual missions and the log, are done. I need to grab some shots of certain scenes though.

I cannot make this mulch up. It is most glorious though.

Blast, I forgot to mention the username. A true shame to not mention a name like Ewok Debacle.

I got KSP on Steam. My latest playthrough made use of a collection of ships that went with a guide, intended to blitz the starting tech. It's worked pretty well. For those of you who also use Steam, the guide and ship collection are called the Tin Can Program.

Some more trimming of mods was enacted, and now very strange things have happened. I'm declaring this save to be scrap. As such, no further reports will be appearing on this thread. A new thread will appear, a bit more in character next time.

I'd been planning on including OPM on my playthrough, but my potato had other ideas.

All good things etc. etc.

Several more mods were also trimmed, and carefully enough that the save file is intact.

Having tried to boot up KSP several times with no success, I've reluctantly removed SciFiVE. I'm desperately hoping I don't have to remove any more mods and end up with another broken save.

Update Valentina and Bob have returned, minus all XP. However, Bill is, in fact, reported as Killed in Action. Please pay your respects in whatever way you see fit. On a brighter note, the contract and World First bonus for a rendezvous in Kerbin's orbit, along with tourist fare, have given me enough funds to upgrade the Astronaut Complex without bankrupting myself. This means I'll be picking up strays and any further missions will be able to spacewalk all dropping crew to a single vessel.

Getting some serious Halo vibes from the Spirit class and that photo above the last one.