GEPEG_Unconscious

Something I've noticed is that Kerbal's seem to come back after a time, almost as if there is a queue that needs to be run down before the kerbals show up again. Example, I put Jeb/Bill/Bob in the stock bulldog rover and drove around KSC before recovering the craft. Kerbals were recovered but not available for selection in the VAB again. Ran a few more missions with the other kerbals in the astronaut selector menu and then Jeb/Bill/Bob should up at the bottom again. Doesn't help drive to the root cause, but would be curious if other people see this happening as well. Agree that an astronaut complex would be a much better way to track where Kerbals are.

Destination Outer Planets: Camping Out for a Midnight Release Far Too Early The Beluga and its two pods, still radiating off heat from its burn an hour prior, leaves Nodens A window to Epona opened shortly after the three craft were joined, so let's not waste any time using it. It has been awhile since I last perused the Atomic Rockets website, but this mission brought the 1975 Lighter and Tanker mission plan back to the forefront of my thoughts. This mission outline has always stuck with me for some reason. I remember thinking the mission was rather absurd when first reading it - experimental and very dangerous engines on the Tanker, a long ROI (7.8 years in that outline), and the need to go far out of the way to get the resources required. Granted, the intent of this mission and the Lighter/Tanker one are different (get a crew home safely vs starting orbital fuel depots), but it may have been more realistic in its execution than I originally thought (at least until the discovery of water ice on the moon nowadays).

Destination Outer Planets: Filling in the Gaps Oracle-Sucellus successfully entering polar orbit around Sucellus Dave, Bill, and Wencan Kerman returned to a very different Nodens compared to when they left. Society seemed to have undergone some sort of cultural revolution, with a newfound penchant for rather....opulent Snacks consumption. Belisama always seemed to be in slightly the wrong place too. They tried not to think about that too much... The folks at KSC had not been fully single-tasked on the Sirona mission either. There were a number of exploratory probes moving around the central and outer solar system that required attention in preparation for future missions. In addition to the one above at Sucellus, probes arrived at the remaining two un-surveyed planets in the Grannus System: Epona, and Cernunnos. Lastly, a technology demonstration. The fully loaded Beluga is now waiting for a transfer window to Epona to open up, after which the Epona exploration mission can begin in earnest.

Destination Sirona: More Whales than Star Trek IV The crew, back aboard Triton, depart Brovo. Y'know, they say finishing out a bachelor's is a full-time job, but the last four months have been non-stop work and that still did not feel like enough time to get everything complete. But it is done, so now there is time for other things once again... Anyways, Dave, Bill, and Wencan Kerman have been around the ringed gas giant and its moons for long enough. Lets bring them home (and possibly rescue them on the way...) And that is Sirona explored. This mission took far longer than I thought, but it got done in the end. Now onto Epona.

Oh! So it wasn't a setting on my end that was preventing the dunes from showing up. I kept messing with the visual settings in the main menu thinking my terrain quality was not high enough. Dropped the stuff from the 1.8.1 folder into my gamedata, and sure enough, new terrain! Guess this means another mission to Sirona (and I guess Toutatis) in the future for some better surface pics. For the record, the link above is for GPP, not GEP. It still provides the bump maps, but does not play well with EVE and/or Scatterer. I think it overwrites the GEP configs and looks for the GPP ones. I went back to this post and grabbed the other patch and everything looks like it is working as intended. I never grabbed the patch because I wasn't seeing what was shown in the example image (large squares of varying textures), but I did have a couple other minor issues, mostly around Belisama (surfaces had a somewhat metallic sheen and at certain altitudes there would be a second ghost terrain in the distance). Will do some additional testing later to see if those issues were also fixed by this patch. Never had KittopiaTech installed so can't confirm that would also cause weirdness.

Destination Sirona: Brovo Exploration Dave Kerman runs a slew of surface experiments shortly after the crew arrive at Cantaloupe Island And here we are, at the last moon to explore in the Sirona system. I've been waiting a long while to explore here and now its finally time to do so. But before we explore, we gotta get down there first. Brovo Exploration And there we go, all three of Sirona's moons landed on and explored. Now all we have to do is get back home...

How does Snacks determine the length of a day for calculations such as "Number of Meals per Day"? I have been using Snacks with GEP Primary and I noticed my crew are eating very little. I made two test cases to try and lock down the issue. Both tests were ran using the following snacks settings: 1 Snack per Meal 3 Meals per Day The option "Some Kerbals eat more, some eat less" was turned off (wanted to eliminate as many sources of variation) Our test craft for both tests was the Mk 1 capsule with one crew occupying it. Both tests were run with the KSP 1.11.1 and the latest version of Snacks. I should note that my GEP game is in 1.8.1, but the latest version of Snacks is compatible that far back, so the game version should not be a factor here. Case #1: Snacks + the Stock solar system: Case #2: GEP v1.2.3 (with the GEP_Primary folder included) + Kronometer v1.11.0-1 + Snacks Is this conclusion (the length of one day in Snacks = the length of one Solar Day on the home planet) consistent with how Snacks is coded? If so, then it sounds like my only course of action is to increase the # of snacks per meal option so that it would be consistent with the consumption rate if the solar day of the home planet was 6 hours.

Can confirm Kronometer changes are working as intended. Dropped in GEP 1.2.2 and Kronometer to a copy of my main save and had no issues in a new save file or an existing one. Apparently the last departure to Sirona kicked off at the start of the 27th Nodens Year. I should point out that the updated Kronometer settings require the use of Kronometer v1.11.0-1. Since my save is in 1.8.1 I initally went down to Kronometer v1.7.3-1 and that did all sorts of weird things. (The load save option had nothing in a list but starting with a new file with the same name as something that should have been in the load list still gave the "do you wish to overwrite this save with the same name?" warning. Additionally, the KAC UI was could not be interacted with). Pulling v1.7.3-1 and putting in v1.11.0-1 fixed all that. All the Kronometer testing took place over the last couple days (before 1.2.3 was released), but I did pop 1.2.3 into a blank KSP folder. The new position of Belisama at the start of a month makes a pretty cool scene: I did some further testing of Snacks stuff as well (continued from here). Details below:

The issues I encountered with the interactions was many versions ago (could have been as far back as KSP 1.4.3) so I would not be surprised if the two play better now. Plus the new system sounds more intuitive as well. 6 hours to a "day", 15 "days" to a month, 3 months to a year. It would be fun to know how many times Nodens has gone around Grannus in this playthrough. I could convert from the Kerbin time of "year 4, day 117" but I would rather have Kronometer do that automatically.

That could be it. With the current settings (1 Snack/meal/kerbal, or 3 Snacks/day/kerbal), only 3 snacks were consumed on the 3-4 day (about 28 hours I think) transit between Airmed and Brovo. Not going to add anything until after this mission, but I will drop the Kronometer plugin and see what happens. While I think the 90-hour day was a cool concept (it made the planet pack stand out when I first came across it a couple years ago), in practice it was not the easiest to follow. I recall in an earlier version of KSP trying to use the 90-hour day and fighting against something related to time (I think I was trying to space out launches by using KAC alarms as reminders for every one Nodens day, but KAC still considered one day as 6 hours). As a result, I have always used a time system similar to how you reworked the Kronometer plugin.

You seem to know many things imalowda. Think you may know too many things, sasa ke?

Some ramblings and other notes from the Airmed mission: I actually lost the orginal lander sometime either during puttering around the little base (where the lander was occasionally within physics range) or during the rover exploration part. I tried switching over to it when prepping for departure and only found a flag. No parts spread over an area due to a falling R.U.D. and no sideways lander at the bottom of a hill. I think one of the times it loaded intermitedly into physics, the craft loaded below the terrain (have had this happen to rovers after bon voyage load ins, but never another craft). Wouldn't be surprised if the 7 degree slope it was on was also a factor. Since this was a game loading issue, and not a player issue, the crew got a shiny new lander (with only about half the fuel loaded in) spawned where the original should have been. Had there been proof the lander fell over because of the slope it was on, I think a Mark Whatney -esque rescue could have been performed with the Brovo lander and still get the crew to Brovo's surface for a fuel resupply, but this mission already had one risky plan. I'm pretty sure I need to up Snacks consumption as well. The three have spent 53 days just in their Hermes craft and only consumed about a third of the supplies in there (the base amount the mod adds, which I think is 150 units for the Mk 1-3 capsule) and I would have expected more. Not trying to make these missions a super realistic play-through but I was expecting supplies to be more of a constraint. Might have to look into it when they return from Sirona. And lastly, an enjoyable science result from Airmed:

Destination Sirona: Airmed Exploration Wencan looks out in the distance at the shear slopes that are a common feature on Airmed Time to explore the innermost moon of Sirona, Airmed And that's Airmed. Two moons down, one more (and my most anticipated) to go.

Destination Sirona: Damona Exploration Dave Kerman takes in the view of Brovo while analyzing experiments performed on-board Triton Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Exploration time! (Can you tell I'm excited to be doing this?) First up on the Sironian moons to explore is the outermost one, Damona. The small size and low gravity should make it an easy first target. But before we get there, lets get actually get everyone into the Sirona system first. Checking in on the rest of the flotilla first And here are the stars of the show, the crew One moon down, two to go, and already the mission has a more Kerbal spin to it than expected. Honestly though, it kinda makes the experience more exciting. Next up, Airmed.

@Daedalus3000 welcome aboard. Glad you are enjoying everything. Like darwinpatrick said, subassemblies are key if you want to design a mission off a standardized platform. What I normally do is build a payload, save it as a subassembly, then open the file with the transfer vehicle (like the Orca) and bring in the subassembly to assess my dV. Also, in my opinion, standardizing your launch and transfer vehicles is a nice way to constrain your builds and give the save a sense of continuity. That being said, the current iteration of the Orca is at its limits at Sirona (payload capacity of 25-29 tons to Sirona one-way), so a new generation of transfer vehicles will be made for the outer solar system.

Destination Outer Solar System: Pre-planning the Next Missions The upper stage of a Typhoon rocket carries Precedence-Epona and its kick stage to orbit A short interlude here. While waiting out the transit time to Sirona, transfer windows to Epona, Cernunnos, and Sucellus opened up. These bodies (and Epona's moons) are the last planetary bodies to recieve a dedicated science mission to them. Once these probes are in orbit, KSC will have successfully performed robotic exploratory missions to every known body in the Grannus System. (Yes, we have been to Sucellus before during the Caireen mission, but there was no dedicated science mission performed near it, so it was never consider explored by a probe) Precedence-Epona Precedence-Cernunnos Oracle-Sucellus And Soon...

Right back at you. Got to see a little bit in the stuff below Destination Sirona: Crew Sendoff Titan payload bound for Brovo making its insertion burn around Sirona Its been a long build-up to this point, but most of the pieces are in place to facilitate the exploration of the the Sirona system, so lets get the last few piece on their way. I, personally, am hyped. Airmed Hardware Brovo Payload Insertion and Landing Only one main component left to send to the ringed planet, the crew itself In addition to the crew, two auxiliary components also left for Sirona at this window Well, this was a very large update. Everything in here felt like it should be included together though. Hope you enjoyed it.

I feel this so hard right now. What free time I had in the last month kept getting grabbed up by that instead of this game. Damona and Airmed are getting small exploration endeavors, but Brovo is getting a full fledged exploration mission (similar to Toutatis). I just started landing infrastructure there (this thread is a little behind from where I am at) and I am super excited to get crew there and really explore it.

Destination Nodens: Kerbal SEALs A jet passes just under the cloud layer on its jouney to Noden's north pole So between exams, presentations, and projects (so many school projects) I've managed to build up and fiddle with a new computer. KSP ran well enough on the old computer, but chugged hard during launches or in physics spheres with part counts above 200. Not anymore! Everything feels super smooth and consistent between flying through clouds and high orbit. I've also been able to turn on Scatterer water effects. While not having the effects was not a huge loss (I think only Nodens and maybe Taranis's lava have some sort of water effects), turning them on just enhances the eye-candy. These pictures were taken as I was fiddling with settings as I was getting the game transferred over. Exploration by Sea, by Air, and by Land. And some other stuff going on while waiting for transfer windows to Sirona to open

Destination Sirona: Final Cargo Away The first of two payloads bound for Brovo assembled and awaiting departure. Quick little update here. These are the last two cargo flights bound for the Sirona system. Once both are confirmed to have arrived in-system the crew will follow.

Destination Belisama: Mountain (Ker)men Bill and Herfurt admiring the view of Nodens as they climb out of Belisama's flats. This expedition is one I have been wanting to do for a while now. The landmark in question has loomed in the background of the Belisama Outpost since its landing, and its location is near enough for a short trip while being interesting (and possibly hazardous) enough to warrant a trip. Today, two kerbals will set a flag somewhere on the mountain known as Mt. Sharp. Some other stuff happening on Belisama: That's about all the major stuff on Belisama done now. There will be a couple more crew transfers to the base as training and there may be another drive or two, but those will be more out and back trips compared to this expedition. Next up: A launch montage

The engines I got are either stock, Restock+ (fills in some gaps in the engines so each size has a booster, sustainer, and vacuum engine) and Kerbal Atomics. Kerbal Atomics would be the most "OP" as it adds a slew of efficient nuclear engines, but those are balanced by being fueled by liquid hydrogen (LH2). Lighter fuel = larger tank-age for the same dV. I feel those engines are a good balance of efficiency and thrust in this system; I lose some of the tediously long burns compared to a stock NERV, but the engines aren't so efficient as to make it easy to ship hundreds of tons of material everywhere in one go. As it stands, the Orca I keep using can transport I think 20 tons to Sirona. It can handle trips to Toutatis, Sucellus, and Sirona, but I think would struggle to carry significant payload to Epona. I am curious how you handled the outer planets, especially on the power generation side of things. I can't image the large solar panels were generating anything out at Cernunnos. Oh Taranis, the impossible siren's call. I consider my Taranis flyby video a few posts above one of my crowning achievements in this game. Plus, with the amount of dV needed to get to an orbit (~30,000 m/s one way, ~50,000 m/s round trip), I can't think of a single engine that would make that trip trivial. My setup with just a flyby included an asparagus nuclear stage and an ion stage. If I want to orbit even just a small probe, I think I'm going to need a larger nuclear stage and possibly two ion stages. I actually still have an older version of the dV map that was included in the GEP download (the table version). Running off those numbers, I think it is cheaper to launch to Sirona, refuel, then fall into the sun from the higher sun than it is to go directly from Nodens.

Destination Sirona: Some Spectacular Views Oracle-Brovo in orbit around its namesake Second wave arrival #1: Oracle Brovo Second wave arrival #2: Tethys Just as an aside, the three small probes seen above are some of the most interesting probes I have created. They are small, oddly shaped, and mostly balanced through their thrust axis. I really like the new shapes and small tankages provided by restock and scansat. Third wave departure: Janus Next up: following the trail of a couple Edmund Hillary wannabes.

An expedition crew got wonderfully framed view of home on their way to summit and map a nearby mountain.

Destination Belisama: Please Excuse the Interruption to your Regularly Scheduled Programming A refinery en-route to Belisama Apologies to all that follow this, I did not intent to take a multi-month hiatus from this save. However, a combination of other hobbies and a bit of burnout really pulled my interest away. However, the burnout is gone and my interest has returned, so lets look at the things that went on sporadically during those few months. Belisama - Crew Rotations Belisama - Anomaly Solutions Belisama - BE-2 Landing And lastly, Belisama - Refinery My goal is to not let this thread sit idle for so long again. I am enjoying this play-through despite some of the repetition in it. While I make no promises (life comes first), I want to aim for an update once of twice a week. Lets see if that holds out.