TheKosmonaut

Background: Chinese Rocketeers (Part-1) Greetings, dear reader, It has come to our attention that you wish to learn more about our Glorious Empire's technological growth and advancements in history. While there are limits to what the average person is allowed to see of our military hardware, the documents you have requested specifically are clearly out of date and no longer under such classification. We hope that you enjoy the recreated artillery pieces and photos of them in action. If you and your party are interested in learning more about Mongol military weapons through history, please visit the Güyük Museum of Science and Industry in the great city of Khanbaliq. May the Empire Endure for 10,000 Years! Amzi bin Ibrahim, Ministry of Education, GE The following documents are translated for your reading pleasure. My dear Xiao Na, I write you from the city of Karakorum, it has been around three months since I was taken into the Khan’s service. I have been assigned to the military as a Rocketeer since I was with big brother when they sacked Kaifeng. I fear that they will discover my lack of expertise in rocketry but so far my brother has kept me in the light with his techniques, I have learned much about his trade in such a short time. This is mostly due to the fact that my life depends on this. We are currently developing a weapon for the Khan which he will use for his armies. A rocket-propelled spear with more explosive powder in the tip which will explode upon impact with the ground. It is a very frightening weapon for the unsuspecting soldier or horse. He demands that we have an effective range of one-hundred-fifty paces or more. Brother says this will be possible but we must bide our time and make it seem as though we are improving. I write you mainly to show that we are still alive. We will return someday. Tell our mother of us. Continue to let her believe that father is also well. Do not tell anyone where you get this letter from or who delivers it. I put myself at great risk to share with you this information. Enclosed is a sample of textiles and some coins for you to use. Feed the family. Stay strong. Chun Jia. Early Rocket technology for the Mongols was cutting edge for its time. The spread of Chinese rocketry eventually would show up in Korea with such weapons as the Hwacha. In this timeline however, the Mongols accelerated their rocket-weapon’s program. Making somewhat primitive forms of artillery. The first weapon produced by Chun Jia was this: These Chinese Rocketeers continued to advance in rocketry throughout the GE's expansion in Asia.

Chapter 1, Part 2: Broken Bonds Project Sunspear: Copernicus-3 It's been a couple of months with MSI working hard at improving and pushing higher and higher. Every step of this assignment has been a great challenge to the men and women as MSI. The world's attention was caught by reports of a rocket ship being sent higher and higher into the skies, some said that it was a hoax, brought about by Mongol Propaganda in order to maintain an air of superiority to any nations wishing to question their might in the technological industry. Many others were afraid that these were new, secret, and frightening weapons of warfare being developed to advance the Empire's strength over Europe, South East Asia, or even Japan. Out of all of these opinions and views, one question was brought up, Why aren't we doing this too?. Nations around the world were challenged by the idea of going into space, and while the war had seen rocketry before, it was never thought of as a means for greater exploration, only a means of delivering death and fear. Many stood up and wished to invest into exploration of the heavens above, many also called such things blasphemy and an offense to our assigned place in this universe. No matter what words of doubt, anger, fear, joy, or intrigue were, the Great Khan and his cutting edge team of scientists, engineers, astronomers, and rocketeers were never wavering in their resolve to push beyond the boundaries of the Sky. Songs were written, the people of The Great Empire were filled with joy and wished to see more of these wonderful shows of fire and metal. Across the whole nation, families would gather around their radios and televisions to watch these talks from the people behind Copernicus and, most importantly, witness the rockets ascend into the heavens. And so on one hot summer's day, the MBC began to broadcast the news of Copernicus-3 being launched. Ten minutes, ten minutes of the world watching as this mighty bullet shot from the barrel of humanity soar into the sky. For ten minutes, the world forgot about the still fresh wounds of war, famine, struggle, and pain, all to watch a simple looking object thrust itself into the heavens. * * * * * BREAKING: Mongols break barriers by leaps and bounds! Just an hour ago, MSI had launched their third Copernicus rocket into space. What was just a ten minute long flight has shaken the world as many doubters were put in their place by the evidence of a rocket being launched. For the first time, the Mongol Space Initiative broadcast their mission around the world. An estimated 1 billion people watched as this craft behind me lifted into the heavens above. There appear to be several large burn marks on the vehicle, though we have been told to keep a distance of at least one-hundred yards as their teams gather around the craft and investigate. We are being told that the Great Khan has offered press that are present here today to go to their launch facilities and watch as they reveal the first... the first photograph of our planet Earth from beyond the boundary of our atmosphere. We will be sure to have a copy and check to see how real these photos are before putting them into print. Either way, we will be back with more as it comes. This is Erik Blanche, BBC news, in the Persian region of the Empire of Mongol. "You hear that? It's crazy what is going on these days. Looks like those stories are going to come true before we know it! Hey-- are you listening to me? Nikolai let out a sigh and ignored Vlad at the desk next to him. It's been months since the war ended and he still had to spend his time rotting away at this desk. "Three more years..." Nikolai muttered as he sketched what he imagined this Mongol rocket would have looked like. So much wasted time in a cell with these assignments handed to him. * * * * * EXTRA! Images from space released!

Supplementary BREAKING: GREAT KHAN SETS SIGHTS ON OUTER SPACE! It was an especially quiet, early morning in the western territories of the Mongol Nation when, suddenly on the horizon, one could see a pillar of fire and smoke breaking the plainness of the blue sky. Some residents of a nearby settlement were in a great panic, thinking that the War had reached their doorsteps! "We thought that perhaps there was more artillery coming into our lands, it was very frightening, yes. We expected more loud booms and maybe explosions, but none came!" said one resident of the nearby town of AlÄÂ, just a few kilometers south of Semnan. But what was an alarming sign of war was, in fact, a scientific endeavor from the team at the Mongol Space Initiative. We had gone to Semnan University to ask some of the members of a very ethnically diverse team of brilliant minds to ask them about their work. "...well, there are things that we cannot tell you, but, what we can tell you is that our Great Khan has decreed we create a vehicle capable of orbiting our planet..." was all that we could get out of the mysterious team. Our sources do tell us that the rocket ship seen was only the beginning and many more are coming in the near future. Will the Mongol Horde be successful in their adventure to the stars, is such a thing even possible for man, has the Khan gone mad? We may just have to see it to believe! * * * * * Wroxall, Warwickshire, UK It was a warm morning on base when Lieutenant Clarke checked the newspaper on his desk. His eyes were glassy and his feet were heavy as he finished the night-shift at the Radar Station. Dropping himself down to the creaking wooden chair, he glanced past various headlines, mostly claiming the progress on many different war-crime trials. Skimming through the pages, something catches his eye and felt his heart skip a beat. The Mongols are starting a rocketry program! he thought to himself as he read the blurb. Not a night goes by when Clarke wouldn't dream of seeing beyond his radar monitors and the cloudy skies of Britain. Every time he had leave for more than a day he would go to Coventry and study at the libraries, reading from end to end any texts on the stars and the heavens above. Now that the war was for the most part over, he will at last be free from the RAF and go to pursue his studies. Clarke gazed out of his window as the sun was rising over the hills on the horizon. He took a sip of his coffee and sighed. Someday we will watch this over the earth, someday. * * * * *

This save uses Realism Overhaul and its dependencies, and RP-0 which is a sort of lightweight career mode.

Introduction The year is 1943, a time of rapid economic and geopolitical change is upon all of Asia and Europe, the world war has more or less ended and The Great Empire reigns supreme over nearly all of Asia. With a territory spanning East to West from the Korean peninsula to Iran, North to South from Kazakhstan down to the border of India/Bangladesh, and with some more expansion into South East Asia and colonial territories in Indonesia, The Great Empire is at the forefront of economic and technological growth in the world. After the end of The World War, the Mongolian Khanate had opened its doors to various scientists and engineers from the now collapsed People’s movements from Europe as well as a large gathering of great minds from Japan. The A-Bomb was never dropped on Japan mostly due to its early surrender in the War from a complete blockade enforced by the Pacific Nations and The GE (Great Empire), this blockade had cut off all supplies and energy to the resource-deprived Japanese Navy. After this surrender, much of Japan was seized by GE and occupied from 1935 to 1940 until the Pacific Nations (The West-American Federation, Portuguese Republic, and Franco-British Union) had begun pressuring the Empire to release this territory, for fear that GE could use it as a springboard to the Pacific. A brief conflict came about in what was known as The War of Empires in the Pacific Ocean and its isles until GE and the Pacific Nations came to an agreement whereby Japan became a neutral territory largely controlled by a newly formed government within Japan. No military activity of any kind would be allowed over Japanese airspace or territories, including Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, which had been under control of the Franco-British Union until the start of the Great War in previous years. While the War in the Pacific is quite a bit different than what we know to be true, the war in the Atlantic Theatre was even more foreign; the biggest difference being GE aiding the Russian Monarchy (RM) in its efforts to defeat the People’s Nations. This change in manpower and military strength had cause the United Germanic People to collapse at a faster rate than ever, ending in 1942 with GE/RM forces taking the Reichstag and its leaders prisoner for trial. With supply being cut off to the People’s Movement Nations, the PMN’s military collapsed with Franco-British forces pushing them back. The Euro-Asiatic treaty was signed and, eventually, peace was declared over Europe. The last bastions of the People's power would have skirmishes in the Mediterranean as well as South East Asia. While much more scaled-down, the fighting was still difficult and fierce due to guerrilla tactics and insurgencies forming against the threat of the Royal North. Mongolia had largely returned their militaries to control borders and maintain order with a high increase in immigration control and regulation, though still hoping to enforce peace among the colonies in SEA, Mongolia has a sizable naval force patrolling the South China Sea as well as the waters around Indonesia and Australia. A New Age With the end of the war came a time of great growth for GE's economy, a great number of industry workers and cheap laborers flooded into Mongolia. Mining for various metals and coal had increased and export was filling the pockets of the Imperial Courts. The Great Khan had decreed that it was time for their brilliant scientists to focus not on weapons of war but on increasing their territory, not over lands, but into the heavens. The Holy Campaign was started and with it, the Mongolian Space Initiative. Chapter 1: Sunspear Project Sunspear: Copernicus-1 And so with this decree, the age of rockets has dawned. The greatest minds from the Empire have come together to form the Mongol Space Initiative, or MSI. Their mission, to develop a craft that can bring Mongols, Persians, and all peoples into the Great Blue Sky. Our launch site is on the far western end of the Empire's dominion, Persia, the year is 1943. The first rocket made by our scientists is Copernicus-1, named after the great astronomer from the European nations. The initial kick-stage is a cluster of four solid fueled rockets made by a team of Chinese rocketeers. No longer making their machines for art and amusement, they have created the powerful Archer booster. This booster will be the foundation for the Copernicus series of Sounding Rockets. After fifteen seconds, the Archer booster is depleted of its fuel and is discarded. This is where the Aurochs primary booster is ignited for the remainder of the powered portion of the flight. The Aurochs was designed by the Persian artillerymen under the rule of The Khan of the West, Pedram bin Khosrow. This design will also be used and modified for future iterations of the Copernicus. Just a mere thirty seconds later, the Aurochs is also out of fuel. Already moving faster than the speed of sound, this rocket's work is not nearly done. A shell set atop the rocket is released to reveal a control module as well as a battery of scientific machinery to test the environment at high altitudes. The rocket will only reach a maximum height of fifteen (15) kilometers before the earth grabs hold. The rocket is now falling back down to the sands, in order to ensure a safe landing and a recoverable vehicle, a parachute is used. Safely back on the grounds of Semnan Rocket Facility, Copernicus is ready for recovery and study by the great minds at MSI. - - - Updated - - - Hello and welcome to my Mongolian Space Program! This introduction as well as the first mission is but a taste of what will come later on. I am hoping to flesh out this strange world even more. I wont say all that is going to happen, but there will be competitors and there will be failures as well as glorious successes. I am heavily inspired by the likes of NathanKell, his RFTS posts and his introducing me to Alternate History has set off this little story I have going. I am still working on a lot more of the history to this history. With such a world having such a drastic change early in time, the Butterfly Effect has caused massive change to the landscape of Europe. The Crusades did not happen in the way that we know it did. As such, there was significantly less power given to the Papal powers. Spain never converted to Catholicism, the Caliphates didn’t fragment or collapse but instead united, reaching from Spain to Arabia, going through N. Africa on the way. The Ottoman Empire also came out very differently. Its power to facilitate trade between Asia and Europe was challenged by the Khanate earlier in its history and was weakened by opposing factions. By the time this world’s equivalent of WWI came about, there was even less of the Ottoman Empire than our timeline had seen. As you may have also noticed in my edit, I removed the USSR. This is largely because (and thanks to NK for this) I doubt the USSR would have existed. Instead, we have a reformed Monarchy thanks to Alex II who was not assassinated before he could have reform. It’s complicated but it’s best not to pull at these strings (lest my house of cards collapses).

Hmm, I am not much of a learned Forum user. Mostly on the IRC channels. But that seems like a cool idea. Let me flesh out this universe more with flags and competitors and see where it goes. I may just toss this whole narrative after a while. But maybe not!

Loving RP-0! I've been experimenting with it and having the occasional failures. But I am hoping to get some cool stuff done in this career mode. Being a fan of NathanKell's Alternate History work, I decided to follow suit (Though I am nowhere near as good as you are Nathan ). Quick intro: My world is one where the Mongolian Empire somehow has maintained its power and controlled a vast territory throughout Asia and into the West. Reaching from as far east as Korea, as far west as modern day Iran, North as far as the northern edge of modern day Kazakhstan, and finally as far south as the border of India, with some occasional battling in South East Asia. Anyways the exact history is not important as long as you understand that in this world, Asia is a very, very different place. The Mongols have the greatest minds from China, Persia, and even some of the sharp ones from Russia. I will probably ask Nathan for some opinions on the more detailed history (though it's already pretty farfetched). Please lemme know what you think and if I should continue, even if you hate it, I am already working on the next two launches

Not neccessarily, you can still pull the entire game out of the Steam directory in your File explorer (or Finder) and put it somewhere else. You *don't* need to run Steam in order to get Steam's KSP to run. When I transferred over to Steam from the store I was worried about that too. But I only open steam now to just update. You can even take a fresh installed version with no mods or anything and .zip it up. That's also what I do. That way, I have a back up in case I royally bork my KSP or just want to reset.

I guess this could count as small... Somewhat based off of the MiG-21, it maneuvers probably about as well as the real thing did (which is not very). I also don't have any Russian weapons to put on it so you will see the Maverick and some plain ol bombs. I like it though

Fellow OS X user here, I have two installs, one is a full-blown RSS+RO mode and the other is a relatively normal (still modded) install. My computer was never meant for KSP though and so it does not run at the best speeds but I can still get by with no real big issues.

Fiddling 'round with planes using AJE. Having to redesign a lot of stuff because of the tremendous thirst these engines tend to have! Making me rethink trying to make a spaceplane using this mod... Oh well, I did make this recently and been flying it around It's in my somewhat RP careerbox mode I am playing. My Kerbals are experimenting with the ever so mysterious Liquidfuel and Oxidizer that they found in some oak barrels in Old Man Kerman's basement. This powerful stuff managed to help them make their first supersonic aircraft!

Hey. I have been playing w/ RSS (the RO version) and decided I wanted to give 6.4 a try because I find that the full size Kerbearth is a little toooo big for my taste unless I am feeling a more simmy mood. Anyways, I tried to place the rss cfg that you uploaded and the game will get past the loading screen but the game freezes at a black screen. The .log just says "[LOG 22:51:10.997] *RSS* useLegacyAtmosphere = False but pressureCurve not found!" and then goes on about CBTs for various planets. Wondering if any of you guys can help me out here? If I remove the 6.4 cfg and replace it with the normal cfg the game will load just fine.

This is pretty neat. I have been wanting more cargo bays for a while now. Looking forward to any developments that can come up. Later will post a pic of a craft with a cargo bay on.