lucidLemon

I tried sticking rover wheels on about midway through development, but I never strutted up the wheels properly, it still got a 300 meter shot though. Also, I told myself I was waiting for .21, but then I saw a post about the Dres canyon. My new project has just begun. Edit: About to begin the transfer, wish me luck. Update: Forgot a decoupler between the lander and the crossbow. LIKE THAT WOULD EVER STOP ME. HAHAHAHA PRECISION LITHOBRAKING TIME.

Thanks, Cby! As for putting it on Minmus, I'm not launching it again anytime soon. You're free to fly it yourself though. Be warned, it is prone to falling over, exploding, and many other typical KSP ailments. And launching directly into Mun orbit? Nope. Not gonna happen. It takes 560 m/s for a low orbit around the Mun. Basically, there is a small time between every "step" that KSP calculates physics. Even with the launch speeds I have now (90-140 m/s), the bucket moves so fast that in the time between "steps" it occasionally gets ahead of the payload and leaves it behind.

Trust me, people have been making them for a long time now, probably since it was first released to the public.

I had downloaded KAS to create a .GIF of a small scene. I knew it was a handy mod, but I didn't have any other plans for it. But then I had a small idea. I bet I can launch probe cores with this mod It seemed harmless, so I gave it a shot. I created a something pretty unimpressive and enormously difficult to fire. Once payload was released and moving, I didn't know how to separate it from the cords. I opted for sepratrons pointing at the plate attaching them. They overheated the plate and destroyed it, releasing the probe. It only launched the payload a few meters. What mattered, though, was that it worked at all. It was a small start, a step in the right direction. I couldn't just leave an idea like this alone. I quickly figured out how to launch the cores reliably. I separated the core before launch and held it in a bucket. Arms were also added, when tensioned up, the arms bent back, like a true crossbow. It managed to fire the core a modest, but impressive distance. As the distances increased, so did the danger. I snapped one of the wires by over-tensioning the bow; the bucket whipped to the side and slapped an unfortunate Donfel Kerman a hundred meters away. I got another silly idea, I emptied the bucket and stuck a kerbal inside it. I didn't put much tension into the shot, and watching them bounce around was hilarious. It was a taste of things to come. I increased the angle of the bow, now it pointed at the optimal 45 degrees. I was reliably shooting over 100 meters now. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the cables shorter without the bucket spazzing out. I added another set of arms to brace the original pair, increasing the tension it could store. 300 meters. Then I realized that kerbals, with their tiny air resistance, made great... test pilots. I ditched the probe cores and switched to live ammunition. 400 meters! 500 meters! It just kept getting better and better. I realized though, that maybe I could do better with a single set of arms. The current setup had one that pair that bent back, and another pair to attached to it for bracing. I removed the original set of arms and attached cables from to the second, sturdier pair directly to the buck. It was angled lower because the arms bent up after firing, this wasn't a reliable way to shoot things. More struts had to be added to keep things under control. This managed to consistently score 500 meters. I was getting excited now. I didn't know how much more I could improve my design. The strut count kept increasing, making the arms more rigid. By now it was more of a slingshot, although I still thought of it as "My Crossbow." Then I got another little, ridiculous, insane, absurd idea. Make it mobile. This added a whole slew of new challenges, making it balanced, tipping it over, etc. The biggest was phantom torque, as you tension up, the game gets weird; the ship will want to spin on its own. Without the launch clamps holding it down, it did exactly this. I added four grappling hooks around the edges that could be ejected into the ground to anchor it down, KAS really saved the day! I continued testing on it, I was astounded by how effective it was becoming. I felt I had reached a peak with this design, and that it was ready. I had had one thing in mind ever since I first removed the launch clamps. Did you guess "Put it on the Mun?" Because that would be exactly right. I did it. Did it explode in midair? Yes. Did it crash into the regolith? Yes. Did it hilariously fall helplessly onto its back? Absolutely. I was on the Mun now though, and it was time to get the firing range ready. KAS came to the rescue again, the hooks were both able to get it upright and angle it for the perfect shot. It finally got a name too! I dubbed it the "Arcum Lunae." I was amazed, but then I just had to get another idea. I wondered if I could reach Munar orbit. That would be an amazing achievement, not only a first for me, but a first for anyone ever! I had to give it a go. I was off to a good start. I coasted to apoapsis with last of my fuel... And I circularized! For me, this moment was absolutely beautiful. You know that feeling you get when you land on the Mun for your very first time, how you smile ear to ear and want to shout and jump? This was better. I still get a little shaky with excitement just thinking about it. Development still continues on the crossbow.. In it's current generation, the bow has four arms again, but this time they're all connected to the bucket. The results speak for themselves. News about the next update has discouraged me from sending another to the Mun. Once .21 comes out though, I'll be ready to put this baby on the Mun. I imagine a setup where I have a small craft performs a rendezvous with the kerbal and takes him back to a Munar space station. At the station there can be a mass relay to slow them down and allow them to land back at the crossbow. Who knows? I might even try putting it on other planets. Update: Alright, I was discouraged, but a post reminded me about the Dres Canyon. I couldn't pass it up. I forgot a decoupler, so I had to lithobrake my lander away. That's why the landing site is littered with debris. I'll edit in more details later, it's time to stop putting off sleep. Little Update: Here's a GIF set of me firing it. And here is a reddit post with a save file, craft file, and instructions. I'll probably make an album of the journey there, but for now, have this screenshot from me testing lithobraking.

Continuing improvement of the crossbow, here's the latest telemetry I've gathered. Woah.

Thanks! It's only getting more powerful too, the latest version shoots kerbals 1.1 kilometers on Kerbin, 400 meters more than what the one currently on the Mun could do.

I can't believe I actually did it. I used my crossbow to help send a Kerbal into orbit around the Mun I don't know how I'm going to top this. This is insane. I'm insane. I think sending a Kerbal to Munar orbit like this might be a first.

As if that place is safe! I love aiming rockets at it.

I DID IT! I put my crossbow on the Mun. Here's an album of the mission to put it there

Thanks! I have plans to put it on the Mun. It shouldn't actually be too hard, given that the center of mass is pretty inline with the attachment node on the command pod. You saw the farthest shot so far right there. I'm sure more tweaking could let it pass 700 meters. It's not particularly accurate, you might be able to fling a kerbal into an appropriately placed castle though.

I made a crossbow. For science.

I call it the "Ugly Swan" www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0T_q4R0A04 As a bonus, here's video of me landing a smaller plane there as well. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQesp8JReEM

Best. Picture. Evar. Anyway, how did you make that Mün picture(if i am right, it is mun) It is! I edited the texture on one of the Utility Panels, one of the slightly older mods. Then I slapped two of the "sets" onto a ship (for balance) and sent it to Duna. The ship actually ended up being way over-fueled, meaning it has just enough Delta-V to return Archibald, Nedble, and Doodmy home safely!

I like to make GIFs, If one of them isn't playing, right click it and open it in a new tab.

One thing you can do is to launch a ship with both a capsule and a probe on it (be sure to include an RTG, or solar panels and batteries). Once you launch it, EVA the kerbal, and end his flight. Then go to the tracking station, select your ship waiting on the pad, and take off. Alternatively, you can attach two command pods to one ship, the second pod will be empty.

Update/Bump: A helpful redditor gave me some instructions here, but following them still gave me an unopenable, corrupted file. He doesn't post very frequently, unfortunately. Here's the wiki post I initially tried Does anyone have a method for converting .MBM files to an editable format?

It looks like there's a different type of notation than that in KSP; I'm sure someone can say exactly what kind, but that person isn't me. What you're seeing isn't a bug, though.

I'm trying to edit the textures of Structuralpanel2, which are MBM files. After messing with converting it to a .PBM with HxD and trying to open it with GIMP, this is the best I could get. http://i.imgur.com/Mz6p7JR.png Could someone provide directions on how to do this properly? I was using the directions provided by the KSP wiki.

They've also specifically mentioned reentry not requiring a heatshield part. They know it's a bad idea to turn KSP into a game that requires slapping heatshields onto everything in order to do anything.

Yup, all three are outside. Here is a gallery I whipped up of the crew extraction.

I'm fairly happy with how this one turned out, I used an AutoCAD knockoff and GIMP to create it.

I'm still learning GIMP's lovely interface, but I've managed to make these so far.

While the farthest I've ever done a return mission with kerbals is Duna, the most difficult has to have been (oddly) Minmus. This picture sums it up nicely. Remember kids, never forget to bring enough fuel along, and if you did... NEVER GIVE UP, LEAVE NO KERBAL BEHIND.

Only the save file is passed, which should be compatible with current versions of KSP. As for mods, I imagine each group would have a whitelist of parts, defaulting to the stock parts. If a group wants mod parts to be allowed, they simply need to add them to that whitelist.

I tinkered with bandicam, KSP, and GIMP a while ago for making GIF's, this one is my personal favorite: