RogueMason

The Engineering team over in the SPH have been playing too many video games... they've recently unveiled this thing they call a 'Hornet'. We were of a mind to lambaste them for creating this but it turns out that it's pretty damn fun. The UNSC AV-14 'Hornet' Attack VTOL first appeared in Halo 3, providing a human alternative to the Covenant Banshee. For Kerbal-kind, however, there's no such thing as a Banshee, or the Covenant. There is the Kraken, though that lurks somewhere near Bop so it's a bit out of reach. Quite why they decided to create an attack VTOL is beyond the folks in the Administration centre but they're rolling with it. To add a touch of authenticity, some BD .50cal turrets were added to the VTOL. No missile pods though, I haven't figured that out yet. It may not be the most accurate rendition, but I'm happy with it. Now, off to fight some genocidal alien empire that hasn't encountered the Kerbals yet, that can only go well.

The Starbound mission heads to Pol in the latest exciting episode! Hmm, seems dustier than the last time we were here. My nose is twitching just looking at this place. We need to get an air sample of this stuff, it could spell the end of all Kerbal-kind if we're not careful with it. Meanwhile, back home... S.S. Atlantis preparing for a trip to Duna. Delivering a Dustmaster rover. Landing a Hotdrop outpost. This small base is capable of running for a long, long time... we hope. The Atlantis arrives at Duna. Though the base can technically hold up to 8, we're sending just 3 down for now. Hopefully there are enough snacks.

Thank you This is version 1.7.3 with the following visual mods: EVE with Astronomers Visual Pack Scatterer Planetshine Hope this helps! Now, to remain on topic, a couple of pictures from the first Bop landing of this mission. The crew understood the significance of Bop and its unsettling place in Kerbal history. The Kraken War was fought many decades ago now, yet the tiny asteroid lurking around Jool still seemed as hostile and creepy as back then... They landed in the impact crater, far from where they believed the body of the Kraken itself rested. Nevertheless, the instruments all seemed to malfunction ever so slightly, weird egg-shaped objects were found in the ground, and one of the team even reported something flitting past the windows of the command module. Needless to say, these reports do not fill us with confidence. "Let's just set up the surface experiments and get out of here."

Second Laythe landing as part of the Starbound mission: We're going for this cluster of islands that look like an old crater rim, or possibly an old volcano. We hope it's old (and extinct) anyway... Hmm, I don't know how healthy that water is. Oh sure, go and swim in it Maruki, nothing bad could possibly happen to you whilst taking a dip in slightly purple-tinted alien water. Now that's a pretty sunset. And the sunrise that followed. Is it the purple-tinted alien water making you scream, Maruki? I did warn you.

Slight wall of photos incoming, I can't remember how the spoiler function works in this "new" forum set-up... --- After waiting 'patiently' around Eve for a few years for a refueller to get to them, Jeb immediately set a course for Gilly once the Atlantis was loaded up... He got quite close to the lumpy surface. Closer than the others were comfortable with. Jebediah Kerman: What a guy! Yes, yes, well done Jeb, you landed on Gilly. He does have an artistic side at times, though. Eventually, he decided to return to the ship after making a semi-powered orbit around the asteroid. After the little adventure, it was time to go home. --- Meanwhile, in the distant reaches of the solar system, the S.S. Starbound made its approach to Jool. It's been a long road, getting from there to here... well, at least for this crew it has been. One of the crew scheduled a scientific spacewalk, braving the radioactive belts around Jool to bring us this impressive comparison photograph. On the way into Laythe orbital space... Deploying a survey probe. The Ranger NX-III being prepped for its stay on and around the ocean moon. The two crew here seemed rather excited to have been given this assignment. The Waypoint orbital support module will ensure the Ranger team can make some longer-duration stays on Laythe. Oh, this is looking mountainous, isn't it? Never fear, for the Ranger can handle this! Maruki and Kirdard Kerman are the first two Kerbals to set foot on Laythe in a very, very long time. Returning to orbit. Back in space now, waiting to rendezvous with the Waypoint module.

You know, in all the time I've played KSP, I've only ever had two major missions to Jool and neither of them were to set up a permanent base there. That may finally be about to change. The S.S. Starbound is currently being prepped for the survey and reconnaissance aspect of the mission. Even larger than the Enterprise from my Grand Tour mission, the Starbound will enable exploration of all worlds bar Tylo. The Ranger NX-III, my most successful SSTO spaceplane, will finally be getting the chance to spread its wings at Laythe, and it should be able to stay there for longer with support from a deployable orbital module. Bringing up some crew to prepare for departure. For the base-building side of the mission, the Elephant-class S.S. Lonely Dusk will be hauling all the necessary surface modules. When the Starbound team decides on locations, the Lonely Dusk will begin deployment.

S.S. Libra over Duna. S.S. Atlantis on her first mission. Unfortunately, she ran out of propellant after making orbit, so Jeb and Co. will need to wait for a fuel tanker to be sent out. Radio Telescope on Minmus. Airshuttle on a test flight from KSC to the Desert Airfield.

S.S. Libra heading to Duna to conduct some orbital surveys prior to further missions. Vikos Cairn base now has a comms tower and a rover (which I've already knocked the antenna off...) S.S. Snowdon wrangling an A-class asteroid on its first mission. Moth MkII racing pinnace conducting a Munar scraping manoeuvre on a test run. She flew below 1.5km above the surface and could probably have managed to get closer to the ground had the flyby not been done in the dark.

Just started playing again recently after burning out for a while. Here are some of the things that I've been up to: Cloud Runner heading out for a quick spin. Airwave I relay satellite. Port Illium station, still under construction but it's nearly finished. This is the first time I've used a drone to build something instead of just directly docking modules together with their own RCS. Reduces part count (not that that's too much of a problem for me right now) and it's pretty cool. Small, short-range shuttlecraft inspired by the Knight from The Expanse. I've only flown it this once so far but I may get it into more frequent service. Vikos Cairn Base on Minmus, still in the early stages of development. I have to say, I'm liking those telescopic docking ports. Oops...

Battlekerbal 1 (Battlefield 1). Or maybe Kerbal: Isolation (Alien: Isolation).

It's not an actual Starfleet vessel, but the Columbia class draws upon several designs including the Constellation class and the USS Franklin. I've got two ships of the class currently commissioned; the Columbia CMB-107 and the Yelchin CMB-108 (I'd use Starfleet style registries but I want the ships to fit in with my game ) Standard crew complement is 11, though she can fit quite a few more than that if necessary. She's not entirely defenceless either... Despite lacking a warp drive, the ships are otherwise fully functional explorers (I may see if the KSP Interstellar warp drives can be adapted for the purpose though). I'll look into designing a small shuttle/lander that can dock to the rear port so the crew can do some proper surface exploration too. I've got a craft file that's just the saucer section and that's easily modified, so I think I'll maybe do a Kelvin-like vessel next

It's still a WIP, but the Columbia class is pretty much ready to fly. The ship seen here is just the prototype and she has a fuel flow problem which has since been corrected in the VAB. Quite a reasonably sized ship, and sat somewhere around 500 parts so the framerate isn't appalling! Weapons test on the boosters that carried her up. Looks kinda reminiscent of another ship from this angle, doesn't it?

Need to solve some launch problems before I'll consider this completely finished (read: BOOSTERS WON'T STOP HITTING EACH OTHER), but otherwise the Columbia class is pretty much ready to fly! I did manage to get to space on my last attempt but the boosters didn't like that so they did their usual bumping into each other business and left me on a non-correctable sub-orbital trajectory Definitely not inspired by Star Trek that's for sure. Don't know what you're on about.

Crikey, that's an old post to go and quote! Edory Kerman, now that's a name I've not heard in a long time... a long time. I don't recall him being quite so daring though