Mister Dilsby

You might both be interested in this thread I just started

There is a LOT of great stuff going on in Fanworks and Mission Reports now, with some new stories and some continuing ones. Some are all text, some are text and screenshots, and there are at least two graphic novels. I've had some good conversations with other writers in PMs and thought it would be nice to have a thread where we can talk about things like characterization, canon/fanon, plotting, tone, things to avoid, etc, etc. If I may be so bold, I propose a few ground rules to start: All of the Forum and Community rules apply. They apply VERY much. Don't criticize another writer's work unless asked to--and then, only criticize those aspects about which the writer asked for help. When criticizing, above all be constructive. "You did this wrong, this is how you should do it." is not helpful. "When you did this, I had this reaction, which I'm not sure you intended. If you intended the reader to have this OTHER reaction, you might try doing it in this way." -- that might be. But... If you asked for criticism--take it. Try not to argue with the critiquer. Is he wrong for feeling what he felt when he read your work? Maybe, but he did feel it, and writing is about the reader's perception more than the author's intent. Find the kernel of truth in the critique and do your best to learn from it. If you get angry about a criticism--stop posting, make peace by PM, move on. Let's not post drafts of works-in-progress for commentary on this thread. I was thinking this one could be more about general topics and idea sharing. Interest? Ideas? Other directions for the thread? Thanks all.

Thanks, yeah that's what I was thinking when I finally picked that one Got a better shot of her this time...

Well said, and I think Scouting would agree--but no way in heck they'd count it as a service project anyway, of course I was joking...however Endersmens did pull off the impressive feat of getting his fanfic accepted for credit in his English class, so I suppose anything's possible!

I assume that taking over this thread was your service project, so once you take care of the other stuff we'll be all set, right?

Nice! This is your best bit right here: Fast and natural characterization, especially Bob who delivers a good and surprising closer. These four lines tell us more about your characters than a paragraph each of description would have done.

Yes, of course it's possible to do almost anything, it's simply a question of giving up something else to get the thing you want For example, yes you can create a ship with only one drill--the Hummlebee spaceplane has one mounted on the back, and so I attached radial engine pods to get around the drill mount. To balance the other ones you could try to match them up by mass and put equal mass parts or groups of parts on opposite sides of the ship. You can also maybe balance by partially filling some fuel tanks. Lastly, I have not tried this myself but if the problem is your balance when ascending, you could put the heavier parts on the side that will be the top as you do your gravity turn to make your ship pitch down slower, or on what will be the bottom to make it pitch down faster. KER (Kerbal Engineer) is really useful when trying to balance things because it will tell you the "thrust angle" that your engine must gimbal to try and make your ship go in a straight line. If this equals zero, then your ship is well balanced around the thrust axis.

I do really like the sea level thrust numbers; right now aerospikes and mammoths seem to be the only truly viable Eve sea level motors (based on viewing the forum and not my personal experience or analysis), it would be nice to have at least one more option.

OK, will do: Porkjet is a fine modder and a swell human being. Oh--compLEment--sorry. You're right. But if I were such a designer I would call myself...HamNozzle.

Hey, welcome to the Forum! Unless you're on some kind of self-imposed speedrum no problem. Later on when you're going interplanetary you might think nothing of warping a year or more since your tech tree will be unlocked, you'll have 30 million kerbucks in the bank and be sick of contracts, and you just want the craft you're focusing on to get where it's going before you have to go to bed IRL

Oh no, I've never observed any of those last three in reality. Those are posted for satirical purposes only--SQUAD forbid anyone ever actually tries them!

Thanks--I re-re-edited the original post. If that doesn't appear for you it may be a cache issue, and if it's something else then at least you can look at the page in post #452. (#452? Really? Wow.)

Strange. Can you see it here?

Is it still doing that? I had a Captcha problem uploading it to Imgur on the first try, but I thought it was fixed now.

You mean like this? Well THAT makes me happier than any bar of emerald-pressed latinum ever could. Thank you.

And I thank you! Of course I don't really WANT rep...except when I do...but still I don't, really...but yeah I kind of like it...shhh, quiet...no, YOU be quiet...

Thanks! Yeah, I took a whole stream of screenshots trying to catch Lisa in a natural-looking expression. Failed with Val on that last shot, but knew I was not going to get anything better. She's pretty much thrilled all the time unless the ship is exploding. In other scenes where I've needed Kerbals to react 'scared' for an image I've actually turned on Whack-A-Kerbal and blown up non-essential parts of their ship, but that does not work very well for interior views. Glad you think so! I've always thought it was the non-"heroic" characters who stepped up when needed that made the best heroes--Sam Gamgee, Neville Longbottom, that sort. We'll see just what stuff Bill is made of before his tale is finished...

And we are "back to regular programming"

Well, we've already seen plenty of examples of these two methods: The Tip Jar: I did this thing for you. If you liked it, click this star over here! Thanks! The Panhandler: Hey man, can you spare a little rep? I just need 18 more and I get another bar. No? OK man, SQUAD bless. But that only scratches the surface! There's also... The Kickstarter: I'm working on a great new replica! 250 rep will be enough to motivate me to finish it and post it on the Forum. If you support this project with your +rep, you can get the craft file 30 minutes before the rest of the forum--plus a personal message from me, explaining the action groups! The Public Radio Fund Drive: Wasn't that a fantastic cliffhanger? Well, your +rep supports our program--and as soon as we raise 83 more points, I'll post the conclusion! Prosperity Theology: Friends, you deserve rep. LOTS of rep--all the bars and more, just like I have! And the way for you to get that rep...is to rep ME! When you do, I'll reply with a PM detailing my secret formula to attracting rep. (Hint: It is to rep me again!) OK going away now.

I used to fly LV-Ns on Duna, but in 1.0.4 aerospikes are only 1t, and with nukes are 3t--that plus the slight nerfing of thrust in Duna atmosphere (<55kN below 5km) has changed my mind

I've had good success with a comparatively heavy (~70t fueled) miner/refiner powered by two aerospikes. Wing area is not big enough for an unpowered landing, especially at higher altitudes, but it does have a Vernor thruster based VTOL system that enabled it to land in all biomes of Duna and Ike. Really as long as you have enough thrust/dV and some kind of landing system that doesn't rely solely on the wings (VTOL or 'chutes) you should be able to get away with almost anything on Duna. - - - Updated - - - Right--with this design I was able to cut horizontal speed quite well using the VTOL engines and a cobra maneuver (pitch nose up to 70-80 degrees) and thrust UP K with the Vernors to slow down. No additional engines required, but you will need lots of aero/RCS/gyro control authority to pitch up that quickly.

And yet it's still the Mk1, not the Mk0.18 or 0.90 or even Mk1.0.4bis

Not without incident, that's for sure. Station rips itself apart roughly 1 time in every 3 when a craft of any kind starts maneuvering within close physics range. Much F5/F9. But once you're in close and maneuvering and the kraken has NOT appeared, you're pretty safe.

Bravo, bravo!! :applause: - - - Updated - - - And pretty sure I can get away rhyming 'admiral' with anything G&S rhymed with 'general', so no worries there