Kromey

I'm a builder-pilot: I'll spend hours in the VAB (considerably less time to date in the SPH, but that will change when I start playing with planes more...) designing ships of various descriptions, then spend hours flying them manually to wherever they're supposed to go. (Or just testing them on Kerbin at the KSC. Lots and lots of debris scattered about from exactly this. I really should start doing sub-orbital hops to test my creations elsewhere, just to keep the lag at the KSC from getting any more worse!) I'm a purist with aspirations of becoming a modder: While I have already installed Subassembly Save/Loader, I also intend to add Kerbal Engineer Redux, and am seriously contemplating adding Kethane (given that resource mining's been pushed back from 0.20). Also toying with the idea of adding ISA Mapsat and the GPS mod whose name I'm currently blanking on. I won't ever add Mechjeb or other autopilot systems, and I'd never add any parts that I consider to be unbalanced or overpowered (relative to stock). I'm a wannabe sci-fi geek: How do I change Duna's name? And I actually hate watching my ships explode if Kerbals are inside! (I'm quite proud of my low casualty rate (although wish it were lower still -- 4 deaths in my space program), and hope to keep it from going any higher!)

I've never done a challenge before, but this one looks like a lot of fun, and I think I could pull it off very easily -- but where's the fun in that? I've got all sorts of ideas for very Kerbal-esque designs to rescue Tim! Quick question: Would a two-part craft (i.e. one that qualifies under "Yo Dawg") also qualify for "Made it Back in One Piece" (assuming of course that no parts detach other than the second vehicle from the first, of course)? I mean, no part is technically "lost", but then again I'm coming back to the KSC in two pieces...

I don't use the quicksave/quickload feature either. I think it's more realistic to play without it. Yeah, true, I could spend hours on a mission only to see it fail horribly because I screwed up, or because the Kraken got hungry, but, hey, that's part of the challenge of this game (bugs and all!)! Besides, I can always launch the same rocket again. That said, I don't begrudge anyone else the use of the feature. You play your way, I'll play mine, and we'll both celebrate each other's accomplishments without diminishing them! As far as I'm concerned, the choice to use (or not use) quicksave is on par with the choice of class in any RPG -- some like fighters, some like rogues, some prefer clerics, and some enjoy quicksave. Pick the class you like, and play the game the way you enjoy it.

Oh, by the way, on your mysterious disappearing solar panels: I've seen it with the smaller folding panels that sometimes clipping through objects makes them shatter, although most of the time they behave as if the obstruction isn't there. I bring this up because I noticed that your solar panel is clipping through something between it and the girder it's counter-balancing, perhaps that's why it disappeared on you? I always take great care to design my craft so the solar panels don't clip with anything at all, ever, not because of this risk of them breaking (only seen it happen twice, both times though I was in vacuum and under no acceleration so there was absolutely no reason for them to break) but because I don't like seeing clipped parts.

I love reading your mission reports! They both inspire me to get crackin' on my own epic missions, and daunt me with how much work and time you've obviously spent on the whole thing!! I'm loving your BirdDog, I'm going to have to build a rover/jet hybrid of my own based upon your design here. Have you experimented at all with extra (maybe even detachable) fuel tanks to extend its range? I was thinking I might be able to put a pair under the wings to avoid messing up CoG/CoL too much, primarily for giving it a longer range to explore more of Kerbin. I'd also be curious on your thoughts on replacing the jet with a turbojet? Your mission reports mention that you went with the jet because it's less likely to hit the ground while roving and is more resilient if it does, but outside of those considerations what are your thoughts on that?

Aw, that makes me sad! I mean, being a software developer myself I completely understand when things like this turn out bigger than anticipated and have to get pushed back. But still makes me a sad Kerbalnaut. Although I wonder if the new parts loader database he mentioned will mean that larger, laggy stations will be less-laggy because of the game's better handling of parts? It really depends on what exactly they're doing under the hood... Oh well, guess I'll go install Kethane until 0.22 or whatever ends up giving us resources in vanilla.

...And then you switch from playing on your Linux computer to your Windows computer (or vice-versa), and all your parts are in a different order!!

If you read the comments on the same blog post, he says it's to choose the flag for the mission. So, still an awesome button, but not quite as awesome as a subassembly loader. Also not a mystery.

Wait, what? I only just recently re-discovered this game (first played it about 2 years ago, for a brief time), and while I've known of the Kethane mod I've avoided installing it for the same reason -- I was looking forward to the next update (0.20) bringing in the same functionality! That's been delayed now? That's news to me, where did you hear that? If that's the case, I may just have to go ahead and install Kethane after all... By the way, nice station you had there, shame it had to be retired. But I totally understand needing to retire "pretty" in favor of "functional".

Yes, thank you! That's the word I was trying to remember! I wrote "highly eccentric" like a dozen times and each time said, "No, that's not the right word." Was bugging me that I couldn't remember Orbital Mechanics Vocabulary 101! "Pe kicks" is a method by which you do a series of burns on subsequent orbits to gradually move your Pe up. For example, if you need a maneuver to add 200 m/s delta-V, you can do one burn to add 100 m/s, then wait for your orbit to bring you back around and do a second burn to add the remaining 100 m/s. It's an efficient way to accurately do maneuvers that require very large delta-V, or more accurately that require very long burn times (since, as has been mentioned, maneuver nodes assume you get the entire impulse right at T-0, which is for obvious reasons impossible). I've seen somewhere a neat graphic depicting the orbit at each stage of a maneuver done with a dozen or so Pe kicks, but I'm not sure where to find it and Googling "Pe kicks" just wants to sell me Nikes.

I usually do the 50/50 split, but for trickier maneuvers I'll start a bit before the 50/50 T-minus time and gradually increase my thrust, and just watch what's happening on the map view and adjust things on the fly. Seems to work most of the time for me, but I haven't done any interplanetary transfers yet. My most difficult burn to date was from a highly... dangit, blanking on the word, my orbit's angle was way off from equatorial. Anyway, from that orbit around Mun trying to get an encounter with Minmus despite not having the patience to wait for the proper window. Took several minutes messing with maneuver nodes to finally get one. Anyway, that was nearly a 3-minute burn, and I timed it to end at roughly T-0. Worked out very well, actually.

You do not need to achieve capture (orbit) before doing aerobraking. In fact, that's a pretty inefficient way to do it. Your first approach to the planet should have your apoapsis within the atmosphere. Don't burn retro at this point, just let the atmosphere slow down your ship; this will reduce your speed and, if you do it right, give you your capture (i.e. orbit). You can then leave your apoapsis in the atmosphere if you want to aerobrake a second time to bring your periapsis down further, or else start your burns to get into the orbit you want. Short version: Use aerobraking for the initial capture.

Your action groups and your stages are totally different. If you set up your Abort action group to shut down engines, decouple capsule, and fire sepratrons, that's all that's going to happen, even if the game for whatever reason seems to put the chutes in the same stage as the decoupler. You should then be able to use the spacebar (might take more than one tap) to trigger the chutes once the capsule is clear.

"The correct question to ask is, 'WTF doesn't need 40 Mainsails?'" -- Jeb

Thanks for the input all! Sounds like the general consensus is that Duna should be my target for first interplanetary mission due to low dV requirements and aerobraking opportunities. Someone mentioned they're waiting for 0.20 so they can plant flags. While I wasn't planning on waiting, the way my last Mun landing attempt went I need a lot more lander practice before I try anything as grand as an interplanetary landing! (Still have no idea what went wrong on that landing attempt, I had my thrusters on low to slow my descent and SAS on and suddenly the whole craft rolled to the side and was skimming over the terrain at insane speeds! I recovered just in time to run out of fuel.) So it may be 0.20 before I feel I'm ready for the big leap! Someone else mentioned that Mun-Minmus transfers are like interplanetary burns in miniature. Funny you should say that, since my last two missions (V'ger and V'ger I-A, each dropping off satellite/lander probe combinations at the two moons) were Kerbin-Mun-Minmus. The first one I happened to hit Mun at an almost ideal time for the transfer to Minmus, the second time I didn't even bother waiting for the transfer window, but was using a craft that probably has plenty of dV for Duna and back so despite long burn times and a minor error in my fuel lines causing the central LV-N to go dry mid-burn it worked out!

I don't. I play a sort of self-imposed "iron man", and will not use quick-save or anything of that sort -- if I screw up a mission it's failed, oh well, on to the next. Sucks when the Kraken attacks and there's nothing I can do but watch the cascading explosions, but then again Apollo 13 didn't have quicksave either... When I start doing more complex, manned missions I'll start using a "simulation" save, and there I probably will use quicksave now and again. But never in the "real deal".

I'm still a ways out from my first interplanetary forays into space. I have a rough plan that goes roughly like this: Probe rover on Mun Probe rover on Minmus Refueling space station Permanent manned base on Minmus (it's just prettier than Mun) I've already had successful probe landings on Mun (although I tried to hop it toward an arch and blew it up), although so far "successful landing" has been quite elusive on Minmus. I currently have the V'ger MkII mission in progress, to deliver a pair of satellite/lander combination probes each to Mun (it's currently in parking orbit here with the two satellite/landers already detached but not yet deployed) and Minmus before returning to LKO, so with any luck I should have 4 more successful probe landings soon. Anyway, I'm beginning to think about and start planning for my first interplanetary missions. My plan is to first send a probe satellite/lander combination (maybe the V'ger MkII re-stocked and re-fueled), and follow that up with manned missions to establish a base and explore the surface. My first thought was Eve, because PURPLE! But since one of my space program's requirements is to never send one-way manned missions, the dV requirements to launch from Eve make it a later-stage target, when I have more experience designing and launching interplanetary missions. Then I thought Duna, because it's the next closest. But then there's Laythe, which seems to be a popular destination. And then I read about the "Moholes" and "pixies" on Moho. That sounds really fascinating! Eventually I'll go everywhere. I'm just trying to decide where my first destination beyond Kerbin's local system should be. And I'd like to hear what others would suggest. If it matters to your suggestion, I play stock, with the addition of Subassembly Saver/Loader and (soon) Kerbal Engineer Redux.

My own house rules are simple: No quicksaving/quickloading. If I screw up the mission, I say "oops" and move on to the next. No autopilot. Informational mods (i.e. "instruments") are acceptable, but I will not use MechJeb or its ilk. Avoid Kerbal death as much as possible. So far my deaths are akin to NASA's own Apollo 1 fire, and a runway collision on an experimental aircraft landing, so I'm in good company. Never go anywhere without first sending a probe, or at least getting lots of practice with probes first (e.g. successful probe landings on Mun and/or Minmus would be adequate before attempting a manned landing on Ike, provided I've practiced interplanetary transfers already as well). Never send or leave Kerbals anywhere without a means to return! This means all off-world bases will at all times have escape vehicles capable of returning to Kerbin, and all interplanetary missions will either be fully capable of self-return, or will meet up with a return vehicle sent ahead. (This rule may be lifted with sufficiently self-sufficient colonies, whatever I deem that to be.) Full Clean Space Act compliance. Started this rule when I noticed the map view getting cluttered with orbital debris, haven't yet gotten anything up there to clean up LKO. Landed debris I'm not sure I can do much about, though, but I'm not too concerned with it provided I maintain an effort to not leave more behind. I like your guys' rules re: atomic engines, though. Even if the exhaust isn't radioactive, your average Kerbal citizen isn't going to know that -- they'll just see "atomic engine" and demand their politicians do something about it! I think I will adopt the rule of no atomic engines allowed within Kerbin atmosphere, and no crashing them down upon Kerbin's surface. Will require me to adjust V'ger's current sub-ortbital return from Minmus, but it's got more than enough fuel to do that.

LKO. So far. I'll eventually get Kerbals out further and bring them back home. Just have lots of learning still to do before I feel confident in doing so.

No, I think I didn't my myself clear. Gravity boosting around Duna will neither help nor hurt you achieving orbit around Duna. The direction you approach, however, will -- if you approach from prograde, you will be going a lot faster (relative to Duna) than if you approach from retrograde, because it is the difference between adding or subtracting Duna's velocity from your own. The direction you approach Duna's SOI will always affect your Duna speed. Gravity boosts only help you relative to the body being orbited by the body you're boosting around. That is, gravity boosting around Duna would help with speed relative to Kerbol (e.g. speeding you up for an encounter with Jool), or gravity boosting around Ike could help with achieving orbit around Duna. Gravity boosting around any body will never help you relative to that body, because you're going just as fast as you leave as when you arrive (relative to that body).

Nope. Let's say that your interplanetary transfer speed is X, relative to Kerbol; your target planet's speed is Y relative to Kerbol. If you approach from the planet's prograde vector, your speed relative to the planet is X+Y, but if you approach from "behind" the planet (it's retrograde vector), your relative speed is X-Y! In both cases you have to slow down to orbital speeds; as should be obvious, then, it takes less delta-V to slow down from the slower speed. As was noted above by Nachtengel gravity assists only help with your speed relative to other bodies, not the body you're boosting around -- law of conservation of energy tells us energy in equals energy out, so relative to your target body you're going just as fast as you leave as you were when you entered. Gravity boosts work because you're "borrowing" energy from the target body's own orbital velocities, so they do alter your speeds with respect to the body your target body is orbiting (so a planet alters your speed relative to its sun, or a moon relative to its planet).

Oh sure, absolutely. That's actually exactly the reason I don't "count" the achievements nor the numerous Kerbal losses in my test save -- that's not the "real world", really little more than a simulation, as far as I'm concerned. What I mean, though, is that -- at least for me -- the thrill of exploration comes from stepping into the truly unknown. Even if my Kerbals are the first to set foot on my save's Mun, or Laythe, or Eve, etc., none of them are unknown -- I can look up each and every one on the wiki, or for any given body find dozens of Imgur albums of previous missions to and from them. What's really unknown about that? Now, don't get me wrong, it's still a thrill to reach my own milestones, like first successful landing on Mun (which I promptly tipped and exploded because I spotted an arch a few KM away and had plenty of fuel to hop over there), first successful interplanetary mission (still pending), etc. It's just different from the thrill of striking out into truly unknown territory, y'know? I want to have that in KSP as well. (I know devs have mentioned that other star systems will be procedurally generated and each will be unique, I'm just hoping for the same kind of things a bit closer to home as well. A good mix of well-known and completely unexplored territory.)

I had to choose only one, so I put down resource mining because it will finally give off-world bases a real purpose, and hopefully that will motivate me to stop messing around with silly little satellites and finally start constructing some real bases!! However, I'm also really looking forward to aerodynamics, because gal durnit I want to put nose cones on my rockets without handicapping them!! (I still put nose cones on anyway, because they just look better, it just means I need more fuel than I would without.) And FLAGS! OMG YES!!! And discovery. It's all well and good that we have the planets we have, but it kind of sucks that no matter where I go, I know someone else has gotten there before me. What I'm really hoping for with that is not fully pre-generated planets that you just discover and they're the same as the planets everyone else has already discovered; I want procedurally-generated, truly unique planets, so that when I set my Kerbals' feet on one and plant my flag, I know that I'm truly the first to touch that soil!

About 1-2 minutes under Linux, 3 minutes under Windows (identical hardware -- dual-boot system). Which is really odd when you consider the Windows hard drive has a faster seek time than the Linux one -- literally the one aspect where their hardware differs, and Windows has the upper hand yet comes out on bottom!! (We won't talk about my laptop, where I really can't even fly ships in excess of 4 or 5 parts and yet I try to fly my 400-500-part ships on it anyway!!) Only mod installed is Subassembly Loader. I do use symlinks and Dropbox to keep everything in sync between my various computers.

I'm afraid I can't be much help in regards to Duna (have yet to leave Kerbin's local system, save for a rogue satellite that escaped into Kerbol orbit on accident -- was trying to put it into orbit using only solid boosters, just 'cuz), but when I was testing a heavy lander design on Kerbin (in my defense, its purpose was to visit Mun and Minmus and then return to Kerbin) I found it ripping itself apart when the chutes deployed; I fixed it by adding a few drogue chutes, which slowed it down enough that the g-forces when the main chutes deployed no longer ripped it asunder. Also, chute placement matters. When I had most of the chutes on the radially-mounted fuel tanks, they'd just rip right off; when I moved the bulk of the chutes to main central tank, though, it was much more rigid.