TerLoki

Tungsten, it can take the heat when nothing else can. Lithium is pretty cool too, for being reactive, a metal, and useful for fusion all at once.

I just slap chutes on my KSO and call it a success if I can land in one piece.

Hm... On the one hand I do like that we're getting stock 3.75 meter parts and a stock LES, but that being said... Those tank textures just do not look that good. Maybe they'll be getting a quick touch-up or are being shown at a bad angle, but compared to the Rockomax orange tanks next to them they just look "meh" at best. I'm also disappointed by the lack of a 3.75m Orion capsule to compliment the Apollo-style Mk. 1-2. The new engines look... Well, honestly I can't tell from that angle, but they don't seem bad from those pictures. So I like that I won't have to download a mod for an LES (though I'll still probably use the KSPX one), I love the claw, and I like that we are in fact getting 3.75m parts, but I'm disappointed by the quality and lack of real SLS-scaled 5m parts. I get that they wanted to get the ARM out really quick, but it feels a bit too rushed. I'll probably stick with the KW tanks for 3.75m parts.

My workhorse, the Draco 1: Fully capable of getting a Mk. 1-2 command pod with the SDHI service module system most of the way to Minmus or the Mun (the SM handles about 600m/s of the TMI burn), it's a simple two-stage launcher made with KW parts to reduce part count. For missions to LKO or MKO the second stage has on-board guidance and enough battery power to self-deorbit, but that hardly gets used these days. My heavy lift launch vehicle is the Draco Heavy (not pictured), which is basically a Falcon Heavy analogue to the Draco 1's Falcon 9. The Draco Heavy has enough oomph to get the second stage plus around 20 tons of payload to Minmus orbit, and comes in 2 and 3+ meter payload varieties. Eventually I'd like to make a "Draco 1.1" with "reusable" stages like the Falcon 9 1.1, but that's a ways off.

Throwing around some ideas for my next interplanetary mission, turns out the Phase II modules were just what I needed for the habitat and payload sections:

Just a quick question: Are the new (and very cool looking) standard-sized docking ports compatible with the stock clamp-o-trons?

I use unmanned craft all the time, even when assembling manned stations and ships. Even before I installed TAC life support I launched everything unmanned and sent the crew up to rendezvous later. Yeah, it's more launch intensive, but it ensure that they have a way to get back. The one time I did send up the crew with the payload I forgot that my return capsule only had room for three and launched four kerbals, and the ship had no extra docking ports, so when they returned from their flyby I had to send up Bob in a rescue capsule, disassemble the ship in exactly the right order, then bring both capsules back for a landing simultaneously docked nose-to-nose up until the last moment when I was sure they'd land within render distance of each other. Yeah, unmanned payload launches for the win.

Never use it. Mostly because I just find it weird to use WASD for anything else, but also because sometimes it's better to use the default flight controls for manual rotation than leaving it up to the SmartASS.

I have three different launchers right now: A 2 stage medium lifter, a 2 stage + 2 boosters heavy lifter, and the heavy lifter modified for 3+ meter payloads. So far that's pretty much all I've needed, though I do use specially made launchers for really small payloads that don't need to go all that far.

Most of my upper stages tend to have about half their fuel left when their payload is delivered, so maybe I'll make some kind of debris handler to siphon out all that extra and deorbit the spent stages.

Even before I installed FAR I liked making rockets that were more aesthetically pleasing. Though one other reason for making tall aerodynamic rockets I've found is that, since I use a lot of big parts from KW Rocketry, building tall with only a few engines and decouplers helps keep things simple and reliable. I'll admit that I wouldn't mind trying to get a little more variety though, most of my launch vehicles tend to wind up looking like Delta or Ariane rip-offs.

That's very true and a bit annoying, though the LV-N is the only engine that does that for some reason. In fact I want to say that it was the first engine in the stock game to have a fairing.

The next update will take a while, there's been a bit of an accident. Bill and Cortrey went down for the last Minmus landing in the main series, targeting the highlands near the south pole. The deorbit, landing, and EVA went fine, but then something weird happened when Cortrey boarded the lander. It may be a bit hard to tell from this picture, but the lander is in an end-over-end spin. All attempts to stabilize, including RCS, SAS, and steering via the main engine, had no effect. This is all that was left after the spin-out. My first thought was to mount a rescue mission, but then I checked the resource count left in the pod. There was plenty of food and oxygen, but both water tanks had ripped off in the crash, leaving Bill and Cortrey only 2 days of supplies. I reverted to the last quick-save after failing to come up with an immediate rescue plan, which sent my progress all the way back to the post at the top of this page. To make matters worse, I only just remembered the Dres K while typing this, which could have flown down on autopilot to recover the crew. In light of this the next missions I fly will be bringing things back up to where I had them before, and the "Kerbal lost" stripe will be added to Minmus' ribbon.

Yeah, my first launch and reentry for the system were with FAR. Both went off without hitch, there's no need for any alternate files or conversions.

I want to try and recreate the Magic Boulder by towing an asteroid into Ike orbit. Or, alternatively, taunt the Magic Boulder by placing an asteroid on the same plane orbiting in the opposite direction.

As long as it's the same size as the Soy Juice service module at the base it should be fine, I can fit that just perfectly into a standard 2.5m fairing.

Haven't played as much as usual the last few days, it's been busy around here and a Minecraft server I've been waiting for is about to go live, but we do have some progress. The improved Dres 3 munar exploration lander and the first of two fuel transfer modules arrived at Capricorn Station. The lander came fully fueled, and the orange tank holds enough for at least three additional landings. Note that the rather large battery pack attached to the main tank is not in fact part of the fuel module, but rather a permanent addition to the station that hitched a ride up on the same rocket. The transfer module itself is designed to be transported via orbital tug to Libra Station for refueling, then brought back. Ran a few tests on the new HGR "Soy-Juice" Soyuz analog system in sandbox mode. It works just great, but I probably won't be implementing it in career until the design is more finalized and the IVAs are installed, just to be on the safe side. Jeb and Milbert take the Dres 3 down on its maiden voyage. Touchdown! Time for some munar antics! Right, that's enough fooling around for now, there's science to be done and photo ops to be had. Milbert forgot the tripod, so he had to hold the camera. Coming in for a rendezvous. In hindsight the Dres 2 could probably handle this job, but the extra 400+ delta-V could be useful for polar landings, and I like a large safety margin.

Sent down my first lander from my munar science station

Honestly what I'd love from an additional truss pack is some 1.25m trusses that are actually 1.25m throughout, rather than the "smaller than 1.25m but with an adapter piece" ones that are stock. I just want something I can join a standard sized Clamp-O-Tron to without it looking weird or needing an adapter truss.

Well a cluster of 9 LV-45s would make for a good Falcon-9 first stage replica.

With all the content that the 0.24 update and NASA pack are bringing, 0.25 seems like the perfect time to slow down and do some optimization work like this. And surely it wouldn't just be for improved mod support, something like this would almost certainly improve the stock game as well, particularly internals where a lot of controls and displays are shared between parts.

I... I've gotta be honest, the IVAs were the main reason I was planning on making use of the Phase II parts. Without that, there doesn't seem to be much point to me. Sure, they're smaller, lighter, and very cool looking, but here was a case where it really was what was on the inside that counted. Without the IVAs an amazing mod pack just gets downgraded to "pretty cool".

I'd hate to see your definition of "huge". Looks like Whackjob has competition.

There probably will be, considering that the Orion itself would be around 3.75m after rescaling. After all it doesn't attach directly to that huge first stage.

I think just making them stock-like SLS analogues would be fine. After all that's pretty much what the two stock capsules are compared to Mercury and the Apollo command module. Of course no matter which way they go it shouldn't be too awfully hard for someone to either reskin or tweak them into new parts for a mod-pack.