Andon

So, the first launch was a resounding success! Almost hit space and nobody died! And the ship even came back in one piece! And shortly after... The second launch was also a success! The third launch will attempt orbit, but that's a month away!

So I've played around with a "Realistic" career mode and got quite far in it, then I got bored. I wanted a CHALLENGE! So, now, I'm setting myself some rules and doing a write-up as I go along. The Rules: 1 ) Don't abuse SCIENCE. There'll be a few mentions of this in a few places on the mods. 2 ) One Month between launches of new rockets. 2a ) If the rocket is an identical version or only payload-modified version of a rocket flown within the past Six Months, this is reduced to Two Weeks (Because, really, we couldn't make a replica Saturn V now, even though that's in the past...). 2b ) Spaceplanes can be refueled and flown in Two Days. New Designs need to wait Two Weeks from last ROCKET launch (But do not effect Rocket launch timer) 3 ) Permadeath (No Jeb, Bob, or Bill) 4 ) No Reverting or Quicksaving 4a ) Except in case of bugs. Then it's fine. The Goals: 1 ) Plant a flag on each possible rock. 2 ) Expand my knowledge of how KSP works! The Mods: Hooo boy. This one's a big one! Current mods are: B9 Aerospace (Exsurgent Engineering and Firespitter included. I don't have the firespitter pack installed) Beastly Science Scoop-O-Matic and Scoop-o-Matic Jr (No KerbalKam... didn't care much for it) Texture Management. Because this list wouldn't be possible without it. CactEye Telescope. This one is EASILY abused. To prevent that, it isn't to be used outside of Kerbin orbit and isn't to have a MechJeb module on board. (HullCamera dll included but no parts) Custom Biomes. Makes things more interesting! Deadly Re-Entry Continuted. I'm not sure if I need to tweak the settings for this or not. Extraplanetary Launchpads. Some of the parts from this I won't use. But Others I will. Ferram Aerospace Research. Because planes. Kerbal Attachment System. I've got a bag of goodies that I've added to the grabbable list... some of them don't work nicely. Kerbal Joint Reinforcement. I think this needs no more explanations. Kethane. Maybe it'll help me. Maybe it'll get me obsessed with some stupid crazy things. Who knows. Infernal Robotics. Because there's nothing better than DIY Sun-Tracking Solar Panels. MechJeb. Generally a delta-V calculator/tracker and info provider, although I do utilize planetary transfer things and manuever node assistance. And takeoff assistance when I feel like it. Nothke's 6S Sevice Compartment Tubes. I've added a 2m tall variant of both sizes along with a 3.75m size in 1 and 2m heights. NovaPunch 2. Primarily for 3.75m parts. It includes a different part size dynamic than stock, so I'll primarily be sticking to NovaPunch parts since they'll mostly be better than whatever stock is at that point. Also, it looks prettier. Tweakable Wheels. Don't want my rovers faceplanting. Panda Jager Laboratories MastCam only. Didn't like the others. Krag's PlanetFactory CE. Currently with nothing in it! RBI Caterpillar Treads RCS Build Aid. I'm trying to build rocket ships, not amusement park rides. RealChutes. These chutes are such a drag! TAC Life Support. THIS will kill more kerbals than any sort of Whackjovian contraption I can come up with. TAC Fuel Balancer. I think I've used this once... but man, was it awesome. Kerbal Alarm Clock. This will be how I time my rocket launches! Kerbal Alternate Resource Panel. Oooh, shiny! Universe Replacer. Because my Kerbals want individuality and/or mustaches. I'm not sure which was more pressing for them. Vanguard Parachutes. With so many ways to kill my kerbals, I may at least try to save some of them. Crowd-Sourced SCIENCE. Because as Scott Manley said once, it has to be written in all caps. TweakableEverything. Because it tweaks, well... everything. For completion, I also have Procedural Fairings installed, but I'm not going to use them. It's just for use in my other saves. And of course, most of these wouldn't function without the wonderful Toolbar Plugin to keep me from going (more) insane. Alright. Ground rules are laid out... Let's get rocketing!

We'll never know. Officially, it's unintentional, but it's up to you to decide.

You can actually do a "temp" fix without changing anything by tweaking the slider on the engine. It'll go from NaN to 0.0 and once done on all of the engines, the indicators will return.

My thought about the processor was that it was the computer core. And, in that sense, things are digital and it wouldn't really matter where it'd be. I agree that completely removing the ability to have data gathered outside of Kerbin orbit would be a Bad Thing. However, this DOES give me an idea. Have tech level determine WHAT you can view. So Low Tech would be for closer things. Mid tech would be for farther/smaller things (Moons, etc), and High tech would be for smaller/further things. It makes technological sense, too, and not just in magnification. Sure, if the Hubble telescope was in a geosynchronous orbit it'd be able to take FANTASTIC pictures of the ground, but it isn't. So if it were to be pointed at the Earth, you'd just get a blur. As long as there's going to be a reason to have it be multiple parts, I'm fine with it. It just seems a bit problematic and needlessly irritating at the moment. Do you plan on a multiple processor holder? So you don't have to worry about having a low AND a mid AND a Kerbal to change it out.

OK, so. I like the mod, so far. BUT I have a few issues. First and foremost: It's too linear for a multi-part system. The Service Bay is nice for a mini cargo bay outside of this mod. I like the processors (And processor housing!) being separate parts for serviceability. I also like the design possibilities with having the tube separate from the processor bay... Except the mod doesn't allow it. It only detects the tube if it is attached directly to the main service bay. And it also doesn't detect the processor if the mount isn't added properly. Having more freedom with design choices would be very nice - Or, alternately, having the service bay, processor mount, and the tube being one part would also be fine. Another issue is that the science on these things is... very, VERY high. I gained roughly 6,000 science from one unserviced mission. Went to LKO with the mid-tech processor on a fairly simple rocket design. Used the Wide-Field 2 camera on everything except Moho (didn't want to risk the sun). Boosted to Munar orbit. Did the same thing, and used the two mid-tech single-use experiments (900+ Science. Each). Came back and pretty much finished my tech tree.

So, I do believe I found a decoupler bug. Here's what you do: Place a decoupler. Tweak it to the highest settings. Launch the craft. Revert to VAB. Copy that decoupler (Alt + Click) and place it. Go to tweak it, and it's now sitting at the middle with the "highest" settings, allowing you to tweak it even higher. Repeat as wanted. You get some funky interactions with things sometimes where it'll reset to proper sometimes or round other times, but I've got it up to over 90,00,000,000 separating power from a decoupler that standard only has 300...

Which means there are only a few keys that are good for pairings. My ones are ; and ' along with o and p.

FAO for me as well. Don't remember who though

Not that I'm aware of. I'd recommend getting on the modding room on the IRC chat (irc.esper.net is the server and #kspmodders is the channel) and asking there. I know Nothke is there occasionally and he's used Firespitter for his 6S Service modules. So he knows at least SOMETHING about it.

I know a few packs use the Firespitter plugin for animations. Might want to check out what's already there.

What he's saying is if you have control surfaces on the front of the craft (I THINK it's if they're ahead of the center of mass), then they move backwards to how you would expect them to.

Anyone else (ab)using the "Snap to minimum" feature(bug) to try and make grasshoppers? It's FUN. The "Doesn't go away" bug is also affecting me. Haven't had much of a chance to test it out much (See earlier in post)

I bought the game in .14, played for a bit, then dropped the game for a while (Changed computers, etc). Found it again when it hit Steam. and I have only 400+ hours in it now.

No, you're not reading it wrong. No, it's not really unrealistic. It's a very, VERY slow propulsion. It's like going 2 km/h across Siberia. Sure, you'll get there... but it'll take forever to do it. Also, that picture is just begging to be used as a desktop. Quite pretty!

The problem with loading the rocket you built is.. well, it'd have to load the rocket you built into that scene. And that's what a lot of the loading screen is for. On the other hand, ANYTHING is better than plain black screen in my opinion.

So, a question: Does this work on the Sun?

I think Mode 1 would be best. It means less haggling with re-targeting things, and makes it easier to target things as well. The only things that you'd have to target individually would be craft between planets

I suspect that you may have MechJeb using the wrong control point, but I don't use the auto-docking module. I find docking to be the EASIEST thing to do in the game. Once I get the ships rendezvoused and about 200-500m apart, I go to "Control from here" from the docking port, then SmartASS to Target+, then switch to the other ship and do the same. A little bit of closing speed (Maybe 1.5 m/s tops), then when they get closer I set the target to the appropriate docking ports on both craft. SmartASS lines them up properly and I'm done in no time.

@DerekL1963: Honestly, it doesn't need science payloads. Just a seat. The big science stuff can go down on another lander and be collected

Ancient MS-Dos games (I think they were DOS. Might have been older...) - Either a Maze game that I can't find pictures of, or this version of frogger: Funny thing is, the computers I played these on were older than I was.

Getting to 0.04c is possible with current technology (Hell, I'd bet that you could get something up to .9c with modern materials, but cost would be *puts on sunglasses* Astronomical), it's just incredibly difficult. By the time you made something capable of maintaining power and accelerating (Never mind decelerating!), it certainly wouldn't be a cubesat anymore.

The problem here is keeping power for 100 years. Not to mention a 100 year trip would STILL be going over 4% of the speed of light. Which is ridiculously fast.

that is something I've wanted for a VERY long time. I eagerly await it!

For the left hand? Cat. Definitely petting a cat.