Millitron

Honestly, I don't like the lab. It's drastically overpowered. Land a lab on Minmus and run the data from every Minmus biome through it, and you should be almost done with the whole tech tree.

I dunno, I kinda like those long atmospheric flights. I especially like the ones about gathering data from the surface on Kerbin. Basically what I do is I build a bomber, and paradrop probes with the necessary science equipment into the target sites. It's pretty challenging. There's challenge in building a long-range plane with a big cargo bay, then there's challenge in getting the probes to drop without blowing up, and then there's challenge in actually hitting the target sites; they're kinda small and dropping probes isn't exactly precise.

Poked around the forum, didn't see this reported anywhere else. Occasionally struts seem to get screwed up in symmetry. First pic is how they looked in the SPH, second pic is how they look on the runway. http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/259346498863108856/69398EC8CB66070854A9577410089570D2402CC6/ http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/259346498863108624/7C0D43BB4C1E57C1112D28105504E83E85A6824A/ When they're bugged like this, it is also not just a visual problem, they don't work. Not a problem on this little car, but it's debilitating on a big rocket.

I personally think it's a great idea for career mode. Say you've got a ship that due to some failure, is now sub-orbital, yet with no safe way to land. Currently, you can build a rescue ship and get to the stricken vessel in just a few minutes. Having construction take time would mean you would need to have a rescue craft on standby, instead of just throwing one together when something goes wrong.

Protip: Attach the armor via docking port so it can be replaced if damaged

I thought of that, and I tried putting a decoupler between the docking port and the crane. In this situation, the docking port remains attached properly, but the decoupler is permanently stuck to the crane. Which makes me think the problem has something to do with the docking. Maybe something about merging the vessels is confusing which parts belong to which vessel?

I'm trying to use the Buran arm to build a crane, to help build modular bases on other planets, and I've encountered a problem. It seems certain parts don't like to be grabbed by the arm, and they do some odd things when you try to set them down. Specifically, when you demagnetize the arm after grabbing something, quite often the piece you grabbed will pop right off the larger module, and will remain stuck on the end of the arm. Further, it's impossible to get the part off the arm. So I'm stuck with a module with missing pieces, and a crane that can't grab anything ever again. In my pic, I'm trying to build a modular habitat, and am testing it on Kerbin. The structural fuselage has been stuck on the hab by the crane, but notice the docking port missing from the end, and notice it's still stuck to the arm.

Were you running the engine on the ground? Or just watching the specific impulse as you climbed? Because specific impulse will vary with altitude.

I have a few dead probes in Minmus orbit. They were all trying different methods to de-orbit a space station module I wanted to replace, and bugs with KAS or robotic arms damaged them all beyond recovery.

Actually, vessels can be controlled from hitch-hikers. It's just impossibly difficult without a Nav ball or bigger windows.

Also, you may have that bug on more than one ship, and simply don't realize it yet. To fix just the dead probe, only change that line in the probe's section of the file. Alternatively, you can fix them all with notepad I believe. Just use Find and Replace All, and it should fix it on all current vessels.

I too am experiencing phantom forces in .21 with KAS. Was bringing an electromagnet tug to my space station to pull a module out of orbit for decommissioning. Jeb grabs the magnet, and starts EVA'ing it across to the station, only about 100m away. Suddenly, around 50m from the station, Jeb starts tumbling, the tug is spinning wildly, and I cannot control either Jeb or the tug. I have Jeb drop the magnet to try to save him, and the tug falls apart. I timewarp briefly to stop Jeb's spinning, yet he still refuses to grab the controls. Closing and re-opening KSP fixed Jeb's controls, but the tug was a total loss.

The problem with a drilling rig on the surface is that the KAS cable can only be at maximum, 2.5km, since that's the limit for physics. This means you can't drill anywhere deeper than 2.5km. Probably even less since it's doubtful you'll go perfectly straight down. I propose a drilling submarine. Instead of leaving a rig on the surface, take the whole operation to the bottom. That way you can drill in any depth of water. Just be careful not to leave the base on the bottom. A couple versions ago, I tried a submerged base, and when I reloaded it, none of my controls worked. Even the camera controls and IVA were broken. I doubt that's been looked at by Squad, since submerged bases aren't high on their list of priorities.

There's an old submarine mod, though it may not be on the spaceport since it stopped being updated. Just search the forum for submarines. It still works, since the parts don't require a plugin. What you can do is, combine the submarine mod with KAS. Build a mining module and include submarine parts on it, then lower the module to the bottom with KAS. You could even build anchors like this.

Gravity is overpowering the magnetic docking. Your vehicles' ports all line up on Kerbin, but on different planets, the different gravity and different fuel loads will mean your vehicles rest differently than they do on Kerbin. This means your ports don't line up perfectly anymore. It's a tough problem, and you aren't the first to have it. The only good way around it is to include lander legs for docking. Since legs don't have suspension, they rest the same regardless of how balanced the fuel is. Just be prepared to get frustrated, it's not easy.

The most efficient is neither launching to LKO nor launching straight up. The most efficient method for escape is to launch towards LKO, but don't bother raising your periapsis. Just keep burning till you escape.

Thanks, not sure what I did differently, but it works fine now. btw, I love the option to move the icon, that's a great addition.

My directory only goes GameData/CrewManifest/Plugins/, there is no PluginData folder in Plugins.

I'm on Windows 7. I've got nothing Crew Manifest related in the old folders, and my directory is as follows: KSP/GameData/CrewManifest_v0_3_5/ Inside the Crew Manifest folder is a Parts folder, a Plugins folder, and a Source folder.

left-clicking doesn't work either. Do I have to edit the pod's .cfg to include a Crew Manifest module?

I cannot get the latest version to work. I believe its my fault, but I'm running out of ideas. I tried the old-school plugin install, and I've tried extracting the .zip I got from spaceport straight to GameData, but nothing is working. Right-clicking on hatches does nothing, and I've got no Crew Manifest button in the UI.

Great video by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

NannerManCan, its not that it causes lag. The problem is floating-point math inaccuracies. All physics in game is calculated relative to the current vessel. As another vessel gets further away from the current one, the physics calculations get increasingly inaccurate due to rounding errors. A piece of debris re-entering on the opposite side of Kerbin for instance, would be so far away the calculations would be complete nonsense. This means orbital decay cannot use any drag model which requires physics calculations, which means the current drag model, and any future drag models are pretty much out of the question. That simply isn't the case. Try it yourself, launch a ship, put it in orbit with a periapsis around 30km, then put another ship in orbit. Timewarp watching the orbital ship, and you will see the sub-orbital one is never deleted. There are multiple levels to "on-rails", Vessels go from physics being active, to only the textures being loaded, to none of it being loaded. It seems that if it is not loaded, I.E. the vessel is beyond the draw distance (further than 10km, don't know the exact value), then that vessel is never checked. Remember, draw distance is different than the on-rails difference. A ship can be on-rails, but still within the draw distance.

It CAN be increased, but not enough to solve the decaying orbits problem. The Buran Shuttle mod comes with a .dll which, among other things, bumps the limit up significantly, 100km if I remember correctly.

The Lifeboat-MK1 is ready for the public! It is a 1-man version of the escape pod, and weighs just under 1 ton! It should be noted that the chutes may not survive re-entry, but this is not fatal. The pod RCS has enough fuel and thrust to soft-land, though it IS somewhat difficult. Thankfully, Kermans are capable of surviving much harder impacts than RCS tanks, so while the pod may not always survive, the passenger should. At any rate, its better than just leaving him stranded in space.