Mister Dilsby

Shanties are long-standing tradition of Kerbfleet's Space Service branch. Another popular one starts, "What do you do with a ragdoll Kerbal?" and I'm sure someone in the comic will sing it for you sometime. Many of the rougher Ordinary Spacekerbs in the fleet actually think 'Joolish Ladies', and not 'Launch Clamps Away', is the official Space Service anthem. - - - Updated - - - Si je trouve un kerbal avec un nom français, peut être il va parler des mots français parfois

Thanks! I may have to revise it slightly though--isn't 'kraften' plural? Should it be 'krafter'? Je ne comprends pas l'allemand... I know I have another correction to make in that word balloon anyway.- - - Updated - - - I guess Walt just wants that second light green bar. (SO close....) It's funny, I've written a couple of reasonably good but ultimately unpublished historical novels before this, and know the importance of making sure the work and the characters connect with the readers. It's a new experience for me to make that connection personally and in something like real time. Also, in many ways fanfiction is a LOT easier than a purely original story. I can just throw in a minor character like Walt or Mort for a gag, and everyone who plays the game instantly knows who it is and gets the joke. No backstory to slow things down. And of course as long as I stay true to the fanon-accepted personalities of the major players, everyone will be familiar with them and care about what's happening to them. Now, fill up three ships with a bunch of "no-name whitesuits", as Walt puts it, and that character-to-reader connection gets a bit harder. Picking a character who's appeared before and is associated with the main characters makes it easier: "Oh yeah, that's the guy that found Bill's 'hydrazine'!" Now that Tedus has had a memorable interaction with Bob, you'll remember him--and this gives me time and space to properly introduce the rest of the no-name whitesuits going to Eve.

Totally with you on that. Also I had to look it up too! Yeah, to me the Kerbals are children, if children were smart enough and crazy enough to go to space. So certainly they can have strong relationships but nothing...reproductive. Actually I'd like to think even they don't know where new Kerbals come from, or care. Remember, this is a species that needs to do orbital research in order to figure out how to build an extension ladder.

Lots of ships in motion to get ready for the Eve mission--but I think I will get the crew I want home to Kerbin in time for the transfer window. I think we'll have one more Interlude page after these two, and then it's back to the pink ice and red sands of Duna.

Rockin'.

It DID hurt, I really was trying to land in one piece! As far as Tedus goes, Walt will have to do some polling, see how he plays with Kerbfleet's target demographic. - - - Updated - - - Oh right, I forgot about kOS--I might have to try that. I didn't learn on punch cards myself, but I am of the C64 generation so I can relate a little bit - - - Updated - - - Thanks! I really do like that Gliido, it's an all-liquid fuel design (turboramjets + nukes) that I use in a few different configs depending on mission. This was the long range version, there is also a 6-passenger model and a science payloader. I'm especially happy that I managed a '727' style three--jet layout that flies reasonably balanced. But it DOES get hot--typically the whole thing is still glowing when it docks in LKO, and then the station's panels radiate the heat.

Then landing where you gather the science must be the SECOND best feeling in the game

Thanks! That's interesting and too bad it doesn't work so well. Never been too interested in RT but I could go for a mod that takes transmission time into account; that is, if you are controlling a probe a light-minute away from Kerbin it takes one minute for any commands you send to be executed. You would control the probe by plotting a maneuver node, and provided the node was far enough in the future it would do the burn as programmed when it reached the correct point--timing the burn half before/half after the node. You could send an "abort" command and plot a new node if things went wrong, but the probe wouldn't get your signal right away. And you'd have the option to control a probe from any nearby crewed ship in real time. Anyway, that's how I would want it to work but my programming skills do not rise near that level.

Really impressive, puts my poor little Hummlebee to shame. I'll have to try something like this once I get RAPIER in career, or maybe work on an all-LF version (TRJ+LVN).

When attached to tanks, I think they don't give as much trouble as people think. Here's a good case study, an all-liquid fuel SSTO that lifts off on three turboramjets then circularizes on two LV-Ns. It gets pretty hot on the way up due to atmospheric heating... and then because of low TWR I have to burn the LV-Ns for a few minutes to get circular. Here it is coasting to apoapsis, pretty well cooked. I actually really like the LV-N the way it is. In my designs it comes close enough to overheating to make things exciting, and requires me to plan subsequent burns with enough time for cooldown. That adds a realistic dimension to the game, for me.

Mirror Kerbalverse Bob agrees with you.

2/10 I think I saw your flag before Vagani but had not looked at your stuff before now--and WOW, I wish I'd studied your suspensions before trying to drive my krappy Dodge Charger replica on Duna!

Sticking a landing in the middle of the runway is still the best feeling in this game.

Here's today's installment! One of the best things about doing fanfic in your career save is that you can justify any poor piloting in the name of character development - - - Updated - - - I was going to let Gene or Bob answer this question Zentro, but it didn't work out within the narrative so I'll tell you The budget is fine, but at this point Kerbfleet is not planning a crewed landing on Eve. I'll introduce the ships we're sending in a bit--not quite a 'flotilla' as I'm not using remote tech and don't need as many probes as Geschosskopf does, but it'll be at least three elements. Hopefully I can keep you all entertained "Deep Space 9" style with happenings on and around the Evestation. - - - Updated - - - I would put in more Duna mining puns, but I'm a bit rusty. I just found your hidden message quite by accident--well played!

As ambitious as it is awesome. Looking forward to seeing you park that monster on Duna!

Well done! I have not seen a lot of Eve ascents since 1.0. Twin LFBs FTW!

I know you want to get there in that thing, but the pictures of you NOT getting there in that thing are spectacular!

I like it so much, I drew a picture of it!

I am really paying attention to the aerobraking here--am planning a flotilla for Eve next, and Jool after that, and will definitely take advantages of "simulations" as well as uncrewed probes. Looks like due to Jool's strong mass we are stuck with that 9-10 km/s entry velocity. Your ships are designed well enough to survive that, at the right altitude...I'll have to make sure mine are as well

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your comments and support, it makes doing this even more fun. And now, we switch focus for a bit...

Interesting. Did you hit Laythe atmosphere at the same velocity (9km/s) that you did Jool?

Right, or if I could park enough disconnected pontoon sections together and drive over the gaps I could certainly make it... perhaps one could come up with an arrangement of girders that would lock the parts together but still keep each section a separate craft. Hm...

Great STS, and I really like the look of those color coded flight suits, those will become standard Kerbfleet issue at some point

Thinking about this has me wondering how long a bridge one could build...

Let's finish the chapter here: For the next chapter I think I'll mix things up a bit: maybe some peeks at Kerbfleet's other missions, maybe some more character-focused stuff, maybe some surprises