Merinsan

As many people have pointed out already, you just need to build bigger rockets, and treat the fuel as cargo, rather than fuel. I previously had a design that got 3 orange tanks worth of fuel into LKO. 1 Orange tank was the fuel for interplanetary transfers (plus whatever else was needed from the cargo!) I've refined my design to be 1 tank for interplanetary destinations, with a spare (empty) tank for space stations, since I started using Kethane. The biggest load I have ever achieved was 5 tanks, although the engineering starts getting hard with that. I've heard of people putting 10 orange tanks into orbit, routinely. I'm sure Whackjob could put about 20 up. Launching 1 orange tank is not difficult engineering wise, just plenty of fuel with mainsails to boost it up there. To get 1 orange tank into orbit, you'll likely need 6 or 7 more orange tanks of fuel.

Yet another reason I am considering MechJeb... My wife dealt with WoW. KSP is tame compared to that, because I can pause KSP!

They can be used on Laythe also. Just got to get them there first!

After updating to the newest version, I checked my ships on transfers, and they all looked good. Then I proceeded to send more ships to Jool. I'll probably arrive at Urania in 3 weeks real time at this rate!

I did intend to take a backup first (I have a ridiculous amount already!), I just wanted to know what to expect when I get around to it. Sadly I am working now, and I'd rather not be. I hope to play later tonight, but I just got a lot of work dumped on me, and that's why I am wasting time reading forums! I'm hoping I can drop the update in and have it work without issues. Worst case, I'll ignore the update until I finish my trip.

I still haven't finished my transfer (about 80 days to go) to Urania. My question is, would me updating the system cause a problem? I have alarms set with Kerbal Alarm Clock (for SOI changes) and I also have an encounter with 1 of the moons (not a huge problem if I lost that). I want to update, because I have science on the ships going there, but I also don't want my work going to waste - for some reason I decided to go all out once I started using Kerbal Alarm Clock - I've launched about 30 missions in the space of 20 game days.

Whackjob has mentioned before there is a reason he doesn't use them. I forget specifically what he said, but I think it was something along the lines of them not being as structurally stable as the 32s.

I was here before the great forum wipe, and honestly I can't think of anything else significant. I find the posts on the forum interesting, but I don't think the timeline of a forum would be that interesting. Practically they all look the same: Start------------------Most users ever-------------------------Forum shutdown. What else do you consider a significant event?

Copyright law only applies to the implementation (ie code), so in theory you can make it look the same, it's just bad form, and people tend to avoid blatant rip offs. Since it's only a school project, and you're not going to be selling it you don't need to worry as much. However, making something like KSP is a lot of work, something I doubt you can do in the time frame of a school project. I would suggest sticking to a map view only, with a nav ball. Also, I'd ignore the structural physics of the rockets, and allow rockets of any size. Maybe you should look at allowing for changes to ISP/thrust as rocket set up parameter for the launch. What is the objective of the project? Is it to demonstrate physics or to demonstrate programming ability?

20 minutes is nothing... I've had 3hr burns using nukes. Not that I enjoyed it. I'm not going to be using this design again. If I used ions instead of nukes, it'd probably be a 10 day burn (just a guess).

I don't believe you have actually used them. Anyone who has tried using them knows they are so underpowered as far as the game goes. OP in terms of real life, but we aren't playing real life.

What do you mean "morningtime elixir"? It's a beverage for any time of the day! Right now I am drinking it, admitted in a liquor form, but it's 10:40pm, and I may have a hot coffee later. And on topic, seeing Whackjob building these monstrosities always inspires me to attempt my own...for about a day. Then my rational mind takes over and convinces me that it's crazy and I go back to building normal rockets.

If you don't know what it is, it's probably not worth joining in. What you've probably been hearing is what you've mentioned already. Originally, Squad was talking about implementing a resource gathering system, similar to Kethane, where you could mine (or somehow acquire) resources and convert them to other resources. The game has resources currently - ie Monopropellant, Oxidiser, etc, more would have been introduced that were not directly usable by rockets.

I use the quicksave frequently, however I seldom use the quickload. These days I find I am forgetting to quicksave more and more when doing critical maneuvers. Most of the time I use the quickload when I am testing something. I frequently over engineer my ships, because I never work out delta-v requirements or the ships delta-v, though I have a good sense of what is required to make Kerbal orbit. I have no trouble with encounters/rendezvous/docking - I take pride in my ability to set up encounters - I can do so without maneuver nodes, though I like the nodes for the countdown on delta-v.

While I understand why you dislike Mods, and they are not likely to happen any time soon for KSP, I disagree with the statement that Mod packs aren't needed. There are already multiple mods that do the same thing (eg 3 different life support mods). Some mods are well suited to each other because they compliment each others features, for example KAS is useful with Kethane, so you can run pipes around to refuel stuff. These points alone make the idea of mod packs worthwhile. I expect we will see mod packs in the future, once the game becomes more stable (ie beta), but as regex has said at the moment development pace is too fast for them to be practical.

Sido, I've installed your planet plus the clouds etc, and so far am liking it for the most part. So far I haven't gone there yet (3 ships are on a transfer). I like the location of the planet - nice and accessible. I question whether it's possible to have multiple planets (moons) on the same orbit, opposite sides of the planet, though I guess it just makes it a lot easier to get around. I don't really like the auroras. They look like huge holes in the atmosphere at the poles. I can't wait to get to the system to land and check things out. At the moment though, it looks fantastic! For those who are having trouble running Sentar and Urania at the same, I think it could be related to the number of mods you have installed. I only have about 4 or 5 mods (KAS, Kerbal Alarm clock, Kethane, plus the stuff Sido recommends for Urania).

I only just starting using Mods as I ran out of things to do. - Kethane - KAS - City Lights and Clouds - Planet Factory - Sido's Urania System - Texture Reduction mod - Kerbal Alarm Clock (can't believe I forgot that! Best mod around!) I'm now considering installing MechJeb for its improved SAS funcitons. I haven't really used Kethane or KAS much, I mostly prefer using stock parts.

If I recall correctly, a bunch of easter eggs were "accidentally" removed. I'm hoping it comes back, I never got to visit it - I was getting ready to go and it was removed. I'm also hoping it becomes not so violent.

I support this....partially. I frequently use flags as markers, so I don't need to see them until I want to land. If they were visible only for the SOI you are in, that'd be perfect. Of course you need to be able to toggle them as well. The simplest fix is as you've said, default hidden.

After 3hrs of burning, I gave serious thought about downloading MechJeb. I don't like the idea of MechJeb in general, ie I don't want to let the computer fly for me, but when I just want to go straight for 3hrs, there is not much flying involved. Prior to the transfer burn, I did 8 identical launches + dockings, for the fuel tanks, which I would still want to do manually. I still probably wont get MechJeb, as I worry I might be tempted to use it for more things. I'll be looking at shorter burns with more stable craft in the future, by building bases/stations and mining Kethane, although Kethane mining kind of sucks since I need to stay focused on the ship.

Well, I kind of do. The new one is quite good most of the time, but there is one thing the old one did exceptionally well, and that was hold direction. Today I had a ship that had to do two 1.5hr burns. The ship would drift constantly while I was making the burn, and I had to keep it on course manually. I had enough torque/gimbaling to hold direction, but SAS just didn't want to do it. To make things worse, physical time acceleration didn't work either - it just made it impossible to keep it on course. I had to nurse the burns all the way, for 3hrs. About halfway through the first burn I was thinking to myself, Mechjeb would be so useful right about now. Admittedly, the ship was wobbly (it was made from about 12 launches), but it was symmetrical, so it should have been balanced, but my point is if I can control it manually, SAS should be able to do the same. In atmosphere, the new ASAS is good, and not having to press F all the time when turning is good. But out of atmosphere, you generally want to burn in one direction. Something to manage long burns in space (ie transfer burns) in stock would be good, or at least a way to get the old SAS behavior back for those long burns.

I remember many of my huge rockets smashing into the launch tower. It was most entertaining, but ultimately I couldn't get to space when that was happening. I also remember launching rockets with a gap at just the right spot so the launch tower ramp would fit in there, and praying they ship didn't rotate too much while lifting off. Fun times!

It's possible to do, just like a rendezvous around Kerbin. I've done it before. That said, it is not as easy, in fact it is painful. While in Kerbin orbit, I end up with closest approaches under 1km fairly easily. While in a Kerbol orbit, 20km is close, which makes closing the gap harder. I ran out of RCS in the end and had to dock with rockets. Also, due to the way KSP represents distances etc, time warping when more than 200 meters apart can move your target significantly (like kilometers), so don't time warp when close but over 200 meters away.

I'd like a sample container. Yesterday, I had this idea to drop a rover on Minmus and drive around sampling everywhere to find different biomes. Then I realized I'd need a pod for the rover. I little canister of some kind would be good for holding those samples. Also a way of finding out what biomes exist and where they are without having to explore every inch of a planet. And a use for the science lab would also be good. A reason for establishing bases/stations would be good too.

I'm so glad we don't have to build rockets like that, I'd never be going anywhere! I once tried landing something on top of something else on Minmus, and failed miserably. It's exceptionally difficult to do docking with gravity.