DennisB

Yes, my calculations are based on the values in the wiki. For example, a surface sample has a base value of 30 and a max value of 40. One copy would give 30 points, 4 copies would give 39,84 points. If it is on Laythe in a splashed situation, it has a multiplier of 12, which would give at the end 478,12 points. Right? Now I'm really curious of my score at the end.

Congratulations for the result. I said, you will finish before I will. Did you check your science in the archive, if you've got the points for the multiple copies? According to my chart, which I made for my own estimation, you should get for the 706 science reports (4 times each) much more points (+19000). Or my calculations are wrong, but if I calculate it without multiple copies, the result is very close to that, what you have in the screenshot.

Fuel flow I think, it's normal. I ran into this problem on my Jool mission. It happens after docking/undocking, if you have a complicated vessel with many stages and complicated fuel flow. The fuel priority has two components, a base value and a correction value. The base value depends on the staging diagram (changing at decoupling and docking), the correction value you can set manually in the VAB or later during the mission (is constant as long as you don't change it). If your staging order changes during the docking process, or if you use high correction values, it can mess up your fuel flow after docking/undocking. Decoupler I have two ideas, but it's only speculation, because it's probably something else. These are just two cases, which I experienced, when I built my Eve rocket. As I had very high part count in the VAB, and unintentionally detached a larger part of the rocket, which I couldn't attach again correctly, I pressed Ctrl+Z to restore, but it seems, the game couldn't handle this with the high part count, and built in an error. My rocket exploded, and as I built it back to find the error, after I removed a special fuel tank, I've got an error message at saving, so I had to rebuild the entire vessel. The second option is, that you maybe made a mistake in the VAB, when you used symmetry or sub-assemblies, but the chance for this is also low, because you say, that you rebuilt your vessel from scratch, so this could only be, if you did both times exactly the same.

Episode 7 - Laythe and Vall (Part 1) (Mar 28 - Apr 09, Mission Day 238-246) This episode covers the landings on Laythe and Vall and the surface tour on Laythe. It took longer than expected, because IRL stuff held me back, and the game had again new (bad) surprises for me. Before this episode, I had to reload only 2 times, but on Laythe only, I reloaded 4 times, and Falcon is still sitting on the surface. I already know, that I can't complete the mission before my vacation, when I will take a break of two weeks. It's doubtful, that I can complete my tour on Vall before it, and Jool and Tylo must wait for sure, until I'm back again. Overview of the situation At Laythe Landing on Laythe Laythe tour part 1 At Vall Laythe tour part 2

It's OK, I know. The reason for my comment wasn't that.

Switch off SAS and put the probe core into hibernation mode, except the time, when you execute a maneuver.

I was happy back then, that I could build an airplane and a rocket. And of course, if everyone would know the best solution, no one would do something radical different . For my Jool 5 I came one step further. It took a long time, but I could build something like a plane, which can land on Laythe and reach Jool's lower atmosphere. It's still not the hardcore one, because it still looks like a plane, when it reaches orbit again, but overall, it looks more like a plane. At the moment, I'm on Laythe, so you can see it in action very soon. I've tried it on Eve too, just for fun, but it didn't survive the entry. I'm sure, it would need more wing area for the higher gravity.

Why do you need 4 copies of the EVA report? It gives full science score already for one. Are they really all space science reports? According to my calculation, there should be only 210 available. This reminds me on my tests on Jool. I had the same issue (without flipping), and it looked like this. Exploding nose cones and exploding science jr. Unfortunately, the explosion destroyed the batteries and the reaction wheels too, and as a result, I had a spaceplane, which was uncontrollable in the upper atmosphere and in space.

Episode 6 - The Grand Separation and the journey to the inner moons (Mar 24-25, Mission Day 182-238) In this episode the Tree of Life will perform a major transformation and split up into different parts.

Episode 5 - Pol and more space science (Mar 21-23, Mission Day 118-182) In this episode I will land on Pol to collect all the surface science, and I will also finish the mission of Sloth. Overview of the situation Around Tylo - Part 1 Pol - Part 1 Around Tylo - Part 2 Pol - Part 2

Episode 4 - More space science (Mar 10-19, Mission day 58-118) I planned for this episode to land on Pol and collect all the science there, but because of the bad constellation of the moons, it has to wait. But the mission of Sloth, collecting space science, made good progress, it will fill this episode. Overview of the situation Around Pol Around Laythe Around Vall In the next episode, I will really drive around on the surface of Pol, if we can call that driving .

Is it a known issue, that the Steam-Guard-Code doesn't arrive from time to time? When I want to play KSP, I have to type in my username and my password. Every 1-2 weeks I need an additional verification with the Steam-Guard-Code sent by E-mail. Everything was fine in the firs 11 months. Last month, there was the first time, that I didn't receive the code, and couldn't log in, because I was asked for it every time. As I tried it on the next evening, I got a code and could log in. But this time it's more than two days, since I don't receive the code whenever I try to log in. What can I do? I don't have any spam filters in my mailbox, and in the last two days I bought something on Amazon and got a mail from there, and I send in my tax declaration and got a mail from the tax office too. But I didn't get any mails from Steam, and I tried to log in at least six times, and every time I got the message, that I have to type in the code, which was sent by mail, but never arrived.

On my actual mission I designed my communication network in a way, that allows for some of my vessels to establish contact to it, but prevents the surface deployed experiments to do the same. Normally, this doesn't make any sense, but the challenge rules made it necessary.

My Eve plane was optimized for low speed, safe landing, high altitude flight and science collection. It could reach 50m/s at low altitude, 55m/s at cruising altitude (4-7km) and 83m/s at maximum altitude (22km). It had a Mk2 cockpit for two kerbals, a cargo bay for all science experiments and foldable wings for easier transport on a rocket. It could land on the sea, but couldn't take off. It was patience necessary, but I explored Eve with it, and visited all biomes.

Yes, I know that setting. I read your posts and I know, you use it. Back then, I didn't understand, why it was important for you to turn the night into day. I found your screenshots with the original light settings good too. I simply didn't know, how much worse dark pictures look on other screens different from mine.

That's interesting, because on my laptop, most of the pictures look fine, and I have the brightness setting of my screen on minimum. I looked at the pictures on the computer in the office, and on that monitor, with a much brighter screen setting, the dark parts of the pictures looked much darker, than on my laptop. I think, the contrast there is simply too high. I use the same settings always. Were my screenshots from the VAB, Kerbin, Gilly and Eve dark too? I think, Bop is really dark, even at daylight.

Episode 3 - Bop, and more vessel introductions (Feb 28-Mar 03, Mission day 1-58) This episode will cover the entire science collection on and around Bop, the drive on the surface, some refueling, more vessel introductions, and probably the first highlight of the mission. I don't know, if the intro or the launch from Kerbin already was a highlight for you, but this one will be something different. I hope, it won't be too confusing, but I will present the timeline as it happened. That means, I will jump between the vessels and missions, like I did it in the game, so you can get an impression, how everything happens for me while playing. This episode is really long (probably the longest), because I give more detailed descriptions of the vessels, which I didn't do in the first episode, to keep the tension, and I won't go into the details as much in the future episodes at the repeating processes. Part 1 Introduction of Sloth - Crew: Reibrecht (pilot), Meidunja (scientist) Part 2 Introduction of Wasp - Crew: Valentina (pilot), Ernstpold (engineer) Part 3 Introduction of Tetrapus - Crew: Hemmens (pilot), Adeldorstina (engineer), Kaydre (scientist) Part 4 Introduction of Veterinarian - Crew: Jaseida (pilot), Bill (engineer) Part 5

Why don't the surface experiments count??? As you didn't mention the deployed science experiments in your Pol post, I was really surprised, and I had the hope, to get more points than you, even without the ability to "land" on water.

That's amazing, how different vessels and mission plans can exist to reach the same goal. Especially to reach Jool's lower atmosphere, I think, the only common in our missions is the crew (pilot-scientist), and that is only because you accidentally deviated from your original plan , everything else is probably as different as possible.

Episode 2 - From Kerbin to Bop (Feb 22-25) In this episode I go to my first destination, Bop. It took a little longer, than expected, because I had to do half of it twice. I used the time warp function of the alarm clock, and at maximum time warp the game didn't recognize the Tylo encounter, and I left Jool SOI again. So I had to reload for the first time, but I think, it wasn't really my fault. In the future, I won't use that function. I will use the alarm clock, but I will start the time warp manually, and won't use maximum speed, if I have a SOI change on my route. I chose Bop as my first destination for several reasons. All the landings with Wasp (except on Tylo) will be refueling trips too. I will arrive to the Jool system with mostly empty tanks. To fill the tanks for the missions to the large moons, it's the best to begin with the small moons, Bop or Pol. I start with Bop, because it's more expensive in terms of dV, so it's better to go to there, when the spaceship has less mass. On the way to Bop I can use a Tylo gravity assist to reduce the inclination, and I have the tanks less than half full at the transfer to Pol. With the tanks nearly full, it's easier and cheaper to go to the large moons fron Pol than from Bop.

Episode 1 - Introduction and launch (Feb 19) Here we are again. My KSP clock shows 672 hours, and the next mission is ready to launch. According to my latest calculation, it should be possible to collect up to 94,2% of the theoretically available science points of the Jool system, if my calculation is correct. I'm sure, you all are curious to see the rocket after that long time waiting.

I wanted to do this already last year, when I did this mission, but my computer was simply too weak for it. It struggled already with KSP alone at a significant part count. With my new computer it's much better. It still lags, but it runs much smoother, even if I'm capturing a video. I want to make videos on my Jool mission, and as a test, to find out, how it works with video capturing, editing and publishing, I decided, to redo some parts of the Eve mission. I used the original save files, and tried to fly the same way, like I did it back then. Meanwhile I would do some parts in a different way (I would use more throttle control). The launch from Kerbin is straightforward. This is a little better, than the original. The Eve descent was a little hotter, but I landed this time on a more horizontal terrain, and the landing was really smooth. Meanwhile I landed on all moons of Jool, so I have more experience in that. At the end I included a small flight of the airplane. The Eve ascent is worse than the original. I tried to avoid the explosion of the rocket, and switched SAS to stability instead of prograde, but the rocket still exploded, and I needed longer to get it on the right course again.

A Jool plane with 45t , respect. But how does it fit to the title "a score of hapazardly stacked oversized vehicles"?

After my successful Eve mission (mission report below) it's time for the next big one. According to the rules of the challenge it will be a Jool 5.5 on Jeb level. 5.5, because it will include, beside the 5 moons of Jool, Jool's lower atmosphere too. My original goal was to break the record of the collected science points, which is currently held by @king of nowhere, but I have inside information, that a new record mission is already on the way, and it may be finished before mine. But, after I invested hundreds of hours in this, I will do it anyway. Since the Eve mission I made some progress in KSP. This time I will perform some gravity assists and aerobraking too, and I will use ion engines. I used this time advanced tweakables to adjust the fuel flow and for AUTOSTRUTS, which is essential at this complexity. What is still the same in this mission too, I will do it without heatshields. The spaceship for this mission will be the Tree of Life, and like in the evolution, not all parts will survive till the end. I designed it to reuse parts within the mission, but not for further mission. So, if you get stressed (or get in some other unwanted medical condition) when you see space debris, you may not read the further posts. It will be messy. The parts of the Tree of Life: - Falcon - Jellyfish - Wasp - Sloth - Tetrapus (it reminds me on an Octopus, but with only four tentacles it's definitely not an Octopus, but I don't want to get problems with copyright) - Veterinarian - Cocoon and there are six uncrewed vessels without proper names. Which will survive the evolution process? I set a rule for myself, that all crewed vessels will have a pilot onboard. This leads to a crew of 11 kerbals (5 pilots, 3 engineers and 3 scientists). Like on the last mission, I want to minimize the number of reloads. Here are the stats. There are a lot of stages, and they will change through docking and EVA-construction. There will be only a single launch from Kerbin. The cost of the spacecraft is astronomical, because it has 27 RTGs and several xenon tanks, which makes almost half of the total cost. I could lower the launch mass below 1000t, but that would make the already very long mission 20-30 hours longer. The engine specs 12x Mastodon and 8x Separatron only for the launch on Kerbin 2x Vector 2x Wolfhound 1x Reliant 1x Rapier 1x Terrier 6x Nerv 9x Cub 4x Twitch 6x Dawn 4x small electric engines for the propellers I will launch the mission soon, but before, I want to figure out how to make videos. Videos of the most complex parts of the mission would be cool, because I could focus on the controls and wouldn't need to think about making enough screenshots at the right time, and you could become a better impression, what happens.

That could be possible too. I have more drag for sure. I see it, when I reach level flight on Jool, my speed decreases much faster. It will be interesting on the real mission, if the problem is somehow random, and the plane will behave different again. Then I will need fast reactions. Luckily I have five engines of four different types, so I can switch some of them on and off to get the best balance.