Mister Dilsby

[quote name='Red Iron Crown']What, to your mind, would prevent this from being scaled to arbitrarily large sizes, aside from part count?[/QUOTE] I hear you-- I'm arguing for a small payload fraction, which would make scaling to immense size [I]impractical[/I] but not [I]impossible[/I]. Personally I don't have a problem with that in KSP; there are already a lot of impractical possibilities that can be overcome with Whackjob-level part count. If your design has to look completely ridiculous to do something ridiculous, well, that's being Kerbal. And then we can all moan about people spamming electric motors with a 1.05 payload fraction to make 1000 ton infinite range lifters the same way we moan about clipped fuel tanks :) Maybe the model to follow is the ion engine. Somehow it's balanced enough in the game that there are very few large interplanetary ships that spam ions... I guess it's that there are more practical ways to do the job, like with LV-Ns. So, if it were [I]possible [/I]to build a monster electric prop plane, but so [I]impractical [/I]that almost everyone would do biome hopping/circumnavigation some other way, then the electric Tupolev would just be a curiosity, a stunt for the amusement of onlookers, and no harm done. ETA: Ninja'd by last two posts, but I think my argument stands as-is.

[quote name='Starhawk']Good thing we don't think like him. It's a very good thing that we don't have agonizers![/QUOTE] If my wife had one, this thread would be a LOT shorter :)

[quote name='Majorjim']Also, circumnavigating Kerbin is not a 'problem' it is an activity.[/QUOTE] I like that line a lot :) My two funds--"free" movement on a planet's surface is already a thing, with electric rover wheels. Free movement [I]over [/I]a planet with electric props does (literally) add another dimension. Right now if you want to go to every biome of a world, you have a few choices. All have upsides and downsides--meaning that whatever way you choose, you have to earn those biomes. 1. Ballistic hops in a traditional rocket. Requires good targeting, repeated demonstration of landing skills, and fuel management and/or good ISRU design. 2. Traversing surface in an electrically driven rover. Requires extreme patience, robust rover design, and driving skill to avoid crashes. 3. Atmospheric flying. Requires repeated landings and fuel management/ISRU. Electric props [I]could [/I]make #3 a lot easier... IMO the way to balance it is to make the power requirements appropriately high. A [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuznetsov_NK-12"]huge turboprop like the one on the Tupolev bomber[/URL] would require more than 10MW to run electrically at full power. That's why real electric props are more on the order of 50kW. So, I could see a Kerbal aircraft of Mk0 or Mk1 size with an electric prop and enough surface-mount solar panels to run it indefinitely. You could make a tiny biome hopper/circumnavigator that would be fun to fly, but you'd have to make some challenging design decisions to make it work. If you wanted to make an electrically driven TU-95, though, you'd never be able to generate enough on board to keep the props spinning. 40MW worth of RTGs [I]should [/I]be too heavy for the wings to lift, and Gigantor solar panels would shear off in flight. So you'd need to run the motors from fuel cells--which means limited range so it's all good (and, I think, very Kerbal :))

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/27UMKjw.png[/IMG] [quote name='Parkaboy']Nice postlude! I wonder if it isn't a good idea to use that mod that lets you paint parts, so the evil empire crafts can be painted black...[/QUOTE] Maybe. Well, if the Kerbulan ships ever do change color let's just assume they've always been that way, OK? Hm. I wonder if I can 'put a bird on it'.... [quote name='SpaceplaneAddict']Reminds me of Kethane Station[/QUOTE] Never read that one.

[quote name='FlyingPete']'No one left behind' Long live the Kermulan Star Empire![/QUOTE] All Hail the Empire! OK, it doesn't give away anything to tell you the name, so I will: the proper name is the [I]Kerbulan [/I]Empire. That poor guy in agony is Kenlie Kermulan, murderer of Gemmane Kermulan among others. Kerman is to Kerbal as Kermulan is to Kerbulan. I suppose that is a masculine noun, sorry. I do ordinarily try hard to be inclusive... but who knows, maybe the Kerbulans are sexist as well as murderers! We haven't seen any females yet other than poor Gemmane (and then, only static). You know, maybe I should have done a poll... 300 votes for Jool, 230 votes for Dres, 70 votes for Moho, 140 for Eeloo... and the winner, with just [I]ONE [/I]vote-- Kerbulus!

[quote name='smjjames']I meant mirror image the whole thing, all I see mirrored is the runway, though understandably that would be hard to pull off AND make it look good and consistent.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I hear you--I did consider it, it would have been even more jarring for evil KSC to be on the other side of the runway, but there's a practical reason it isn't. Anyway, remember that when you look in a mirror your left and right arms swap position but your head and feet don't. If you stare long enough at that S.P.Q.K. flag it might start to make sense :)

[quote name='Mad Rocket Scientist']S. P. Q. K.? What's that?[/QUOTE] I bet Flow or Waterlubber could tell you :)

[quote name='smjjames']Should have flipped the Evil KSC around to maximise the effect, IMO.[/QUOTE] Look closer :)

There. That should give us something else to talk about

[quote name='Deddly'][URL]http://the-difference-between.com/postlude/epilogue[/URL][/QUOTE] Ah, the lost art of "actually looking it up" :)

[quote name='SpaceplaneAddict']Wait, why didn't Bill and Jeb get promotions?[/QUOTE] To get a promotion they have to deserve it, and there has to be a job opening or 'billet' at that rank. While Bill and Jeb didn't get thrown out of Kerbfleet for their actions, they didn't get off scot-free either. So that's one reason--the second is that right now the Fleet doesn't have a job for engineer of Comder rank or for an Air Service (full) Kernel. Note that Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott of Starfleet stayed at that rank for the entire five year mission despite repeated heroics; a promotion to Commander would have put him in charge of training engineers somewhere, or as first officer on a ship other than Enterprise. Right now actually the ranks are all where I need them to be for the Big Darn Mission I've always dreamed of. Val is the senior officer (excepting Adm. Shirley, of course, who no longer goes on missions). Jeb and Dilsby are of equivalent rank in different services, which gives them complementary roles supporting Val. Then we have Bill and Bob one rank further down from those two, and you can imagine that they would be in charge of the engineering and science sections of the BDM respectively with a team of looties, junior looties and enzins under them as needed. All is occuring as I have foreseen it! So, I'm doing a few things now. One is taking a little break. This last bit took a lot of time, and got me a little burned out. I'm putting some things together for the Postlude to E:O0 (no predicted date, sorry) and also testing ships for the BDM. The SuperPogo X1 was one of those ships. I can say so far that I've made some really 'good' landings with it. We are on the X4 now :) I may open a thread to show the development progress towards BDM, and I may do that in comic form. We'll see how it goes and whether following the progress of a bunch of failed launches, emergency ejections, and not-quite-orbits tells the story I want to tell. As for where Kerbfleet goes next--that's already decided. Actually it's been decided for a while. So if you want to spam for a particular location or another, I think there are other threads for that. Or just go there yourselves, I'm not a ****** charter service. :)

[quote name='SaturnianBlue']So I've tried to build on the character development bits not directly stating things, but more or less taking direct actions. Mort and Jeb are the main characters I'm trying to build on, with the rest of the mission crew also being somewhat developed. I suppose they'll be established after quite a while (maybe the whole chapter, though Mort and Jeb will probably have more development later on later too). Of course, Mort blowing up rockets and stuff was a little bit ridiculous, so I think I might want to tone that down and make it a little bit more reasonable.[/QUOTE] I think that's wise. The character stuff worked better in the last update--you're not trying to force it, you're having them do things in their own way at that makes them doing those things much more interesting. Mort blowing up rockets was truly strange, and inconsistent with the rules of the world you'd established. When you do that, it tends to take the reader right out of your story--readers keep coming back and getting deeper into it when you build up their trust, with consistency. Your world becomes a familiar place to them, comfortable, they know it. Betray the reader's trust at your peril :) [quote]I would like a little bit of feedback on the color choices for my character bubbles, and how to get people talking on the novels too, since I do leave a few things to give the reader answer, and not just here.[/quote] For the bubbles--honestly I've read every comic you posted and I think I may have typed almost as many words about them as you have, Blue, but I couldn't for the life of me tell which colors belong to whom without looking. (nor can I remember for [I]any [/I]comic where individual characters all have different colors) I don't expect people to remember that in my comic either, which is why I try not to go too long without a portrait nametag or the name being mentioned in text, e.g. "Hey, Tedus!" Also I don't assign individual colors: all anyone has to do is remember who has what job, whether they're male or female, and orange suit or not, and you can narrow it down very quickly. But again, even for my comic which has a very big and dedicated fanbase I don't count on everyone remembering that when a female speaks with a blue balloon and it's not accented, it's Lisa. The person finding a Kerbfleet comic for the very first time has to be able to understand it, or that person may not come back a second time.

[quote name='CliftonM']You could edit texture replacer to not check for atmosphere. I've been through the code, so I can assure you that you can do that...[/QUOTE] That would do it, then I could click on any kerbal to toggle IVA. I would need help editing the code though, I dont... OOH OOH! but I can edit a config file! [quote name='@default.cfg']// Minimum air pressure required for Kerbals to wear their IVA suits on EVA. atmSuitPressure = 0[/QUOTE] Loading game... let's see if it works! [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/LGPwjxg.png[/IMG] Solved! Woo hoo! Naturally I'll only do this when kerbals are 'inside'. Thanks everybody!

[quote name='smjjames']Maybe you can use texture replacer to make the helmet transparent and you should be able to copy the IVA textures and put them wherever the EVA textures are. EDITWHILETYPING: I just had a thought, give me a min to find out if possible.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I tried the transparent thing to try to make the collar of the IVA suit disappear, to render Mort. It doesn't work; the underlying model is still opaque. Hope your other thing works, thanks for trying!

Cross posting a general request I made in the Add-Ons forum: can anyone think of a way to make Texture Replacer allow IVA/no helmet mode when kerbals are in space? Reason is that I want to build a 'command bridge' in a capital ship (most likely inside a cargo bay), put the crew in command chairs, and take images of them for my comics. Either or both of the following would work for me: --TR recognizes a closed cargo bay as an 'inside' space and allows the IVA/no helmet option --TR allows you to toggle IVA/no helmet anywhere Thank you! ETA: Solved, found I could edit the config file to allow IVA with atmospheric pressure = 0.

[quote name='SpaceplaneAddict']Jeb should be a full Kolonel.[/QUOTE] Well, besides the little thing with him barely beating a whole bunch of really serious criminal charges Kerbfleet doesn't have a billet right now for a full Air Service kernel. I'm sure he'll get that full bird at some point though :) Added a character entry for Kenlie. Any interested parties who want to contribute character writeups in the same format (or list tropes, quotes, etc.) I'll add it to the OP subject to editorial oversight :)

Ah, Ok, I get it. Unfortunately then every time they got up and sat down again I think the'd go to EVA mode and I'd have to repeat the process, right? Hm. Still hoping this is somehow moddable. It would go well beyond me and my comic: anyone could make their own custom 'bridge' or other interior pressurized spaces!

[quote name='Nahim']There's a way. If you put them into their chairs and cheat the gravity to put the vessel in orbit. (Or actually put in orbit without cheat) then their animations will be the same as before the takeoff. Without helmet![/QUOTE] Not sure what you mean here Nahim. You're saying that if I have the ship in orbit and kerbals in their chairs, then just clicking 'hack gravity' will put them in IVA/helmet off mode? Whoa.

[quote name='Francois424']A 2 man V-shaped 1.25m capsule.[/QUOTE] This one. Almost everything else on the list can be worked around, but this has been a gaping hole from the beginning--we cannot do a proper Gemini-style mission in stock!

For my next story I might like to build a capital ship, with a bridge and a bridge crew. The bridge would be constructed from stock parts somewhat like my [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/130227-Kerbahashi-Maru-Command-Bridge-Simulator"]Kerbahashi Maru Command Bridge Simulator[/URL], and the crew would sit in command chairs. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sfVjrT1.png[/IMG] Of course the Kerbahashi Maru test took place on Kerbin, and with Texture Replacer installed the crew could relax a bit, wear their IVA suits and remove their helmets. If I tried to do the same thing in space they'd be forced to wear EVA suits. Unless.... This is where you wonderful clever modders come in :) I was thinking that since the game recognizes whether or not a part is in a cargo bay, it might be possible to make the game consider a part that's in a bay to be in an oxygen atmosphere, thus signaling Texture Replacer to allow the helmet to come off. (or otherwise mod TR to let the helmets come off inside the bay) Alternative approach would be a button for Texture Replacer that allows you to switch to IVA suit/no helmet anywhere. Alternate and inferior approach would be a mod that makes the game consider a Kerbal in a command chair to be 'inside'. This doesn't work as well for me, as then anyone who leaves his or her bridge seat would go to EVA suit immediately even though in-story they're still 'inside'. Of course there are plenty of clever people out there who will maybe come up with a smarter way to do this than I ever could--I think you get the idea :) Thanks folks for considering this, helper(s) will get a shoutout on my comic thread and most likely some measure of rep-bombing :)

[quote name='SpaceplaneAddict']Dres has been abandoned by players for years. It needs the love, or it'll die![/QUOTE] [video=youtube;Swvf3w6hcY4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swvf3w6hcY4[/video]

[quote name='GregroxMun']Not particularly great ones, but I can make custom planets that look good (I can't make a Jool texture that's better than stock, if that's what your friend wants, but I could make a procedural or semi-procedural rocky or icy planet that would have a nice stockalike texture because of Kopernicus being a powerful tool. I am not the best by any means. [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/88962-The-Plernerts%21"]Felsmak [/URL]or [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/133416-1-0-4-Kopernicus-Uncharted-Lands-v0-1-27Oct15-Official-Pre-Release!"]KillAshley[/URL] would likely be a better choice.)[/QUOTE] My friend tried to PM you regarding this, but your inbox is full :)

The Gliido Mk7P was my go-to SSTO crew transporter in 1.0.4; with the addition of few radiators, it still is: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Etzs1Kx.png[/IMG] In addition to the two radiators you can see in the re-entry shot above, there is a third on top of the inline docking module, immediately abaft the cockpit. There's also a couple on the Mk2 bicoupler to deal with heat from the LV-Ns: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8b5WjwY.png[/IMG] ... in the second shot you can see the two AIRBRAKES, but those were there in 1.0.4. Without the extra radiators, the Gliido explodes on its way to orbit in 1.0.5. With them it gets up and down no problem :) The re-entry and landing shown above was direct from Micarooni Station, altitude 400km--I set periapsis for 16km and went straight in. Did land a little short, but 'everyone walked away' and no parts came off the ship.

Really appreciate all the kind words from everyone. Again, thank you! Your comments and participation help make this a lot of fun for me to do :) [quote name='Endersmens']Good ending to the story. Might I suggest the next part of the mission be focused on filing up the Science Libraries? You've filled the tech tree, now fill the science library! Get a report from every body or something. [I]Something![/I] :D[/QUOTE] I've thought that might be a nice personal goal, but I'm not sure I would want to fill up a lot of comic pages doing "gotta catch 'em all"... [quote name='RAINCRAFTER']And that's it. Until Kuzzter feels like starting all over, that's the end. Kerbfleet has been milked for all of it's worth across this plot-line[/QUOTE] Across this particular plotline, yes--but I might have a few more things to say about some things, and more stories to tell :) [quote name='Deddly']Thanks again for a great and very-well-illustrated story. I love the work you put into the sets, like the courtroom; they really add to the experience[/QUOTE] I really appreciate you saying that. At some point this became more than a mission report for me--I had a story to tell besides just "I landed this cool ship and got xxxx science points!" Doing the animation poses and building sets etc became necessary to do it right, and it is a lot of extra non-gameplaying work, so thank you for noticing :D [quote name='DMSP']Is this the end of Eve: Order Zero?[/QUOTE] Yes and no. There will still be a Postlude, but that Postlude could stand alone or even be considered a prologue for the next story. Think of it this way: I rolled the 'credits' in the last few pages, and this is the bonus scene for anyone who sticks around in the theater to the end :) [quote name='PotentiallyHabitable578']such a nice ending to a nice story!! Next stop: The Joolian System!(?) I expect it would be something similar in style to DOB, which was really awesome itself. Or perhaps is the Admiral working with the Agency with the 'ugly' SSTO(I expect that was a red herring)?[/QUOTE] Thanks, there are a lot of ways this can go next and yeah, maybe it would be a nice break to go back to a straight-up mission report without so much Deep Meaning. I can say this; you will see the 'ugly SSTO' again, or something like it. Or then again maybe you won't ;) [quote name='Starhawk']Thanks cannot begin to convey my gratitude for the truly great contribution that these stories make to our community and (dare I say it?) our culture (kulture?). Kerbfleet forever![/QUOTE] Really appreciate all you've done hanging in there with me along the way Starhawk--contributing my ideas to the general canon has always been a goal of mine, and if the appearance of certain of my memes in certain other works is any indication, I guess I've been successful :) As I've said many times, I wouldn't be doing ANY of this without you guys, the conversation on this thread is a real treat and a privilege to be a part of. [quote name='GregroxMun']To the Joolian system. Racing against the mirror universe to colonize the Vallhenge area to make sure the Mirrors don't colonize the Prime universe? Maybe the Kerbals will accidentally awaken the Deep Space Kraken of Bop, and the Krakens will invade? Or maybe it will be a perfectly normal mission. As if![/QUOTE] As if, indeed! In a completely unrelated note, do you make planet textures? Asking for a friend :) [quote name='r_rolo1']I , for myself, would like to see Moho. There is a certain Kerbfleet officer that is deathly afraid of the Mohole, so I guess that he has to face his fears ;)[/QUOTE] Hey, I actually had not thought of that! Hm. HMMMMM... [quote name='Commander Zoom']IMO, you should all... [first choice of words redacted] ... stop the unhelpful chatter and "demands" and let Kuzzter tell the story(s) [I]he[/I] wants to tell. He's done a pretty good job of it so far.[/QUOTE] Right, about that. I have a story to tell, and I'm gonna tell it. It's still forming, and maybe it won't be as epic as an Eve rescue, or maybe it will. But my own counsel will I keep on where that story takes place. :)

So, Mort can send commands to a rocket in flight that neither Gene in Mission Control nor the pilots on board can do anything about? *shudder*