Sufficient Anonymity

I get random fuel flow failures from time to time, even when fuel lines aren't involved; one jet on a quad-coupler will just decide it doesn't fancy running. Such issues plagued the construction of this:

I'm not sure who I'm going to be shooting at with it, but I built a heavy ground-attack plane capable of pretty significant suborbital hops (hence the SABREs, LFO tank and RCS systems).

A little update on the colony ship to Laythe I was assembling. I've finished building it, it's fully fueled, the crew is aboard and it's ready to fly next transfer window (I'm sticking to hohmann transfers for efficiency). Anyway, without further ado, presenting this as-yet unnamed behemoth: Bonus docking photo:

Continued the assembly of my Laythe colony ship

I continued assembling my mission to Laythe - I docked the habitation block (carrying a party of eight) onto my heavy cruiser.

I'm shamelessly copying most of my post over from in the old modded repository, but I've tested the planes and they still fly pretty much as before (if not a little better with the new ASAS, though it can be worth switching the reaction wheels off at times as they drain charge a bit faster than the RTGs can top it up): A pair of SSTOs - there's plenty of info in this gallery. Please note that the lighter craft is a rather tweaked version (the main wings are original) of the cargo shuttle bundled with the B9 pack - in addition to the aesthetic changes, I reckon it performs a bit better. Mods used: B9 MechJeb 2.0.x Modular Multiwheels Taverius' Pack RLA Stockalike Navlights Heavy SSTO craft file Light SSTO craft file Super Heavy SSTO craft file Since the those screenshots were taken, I've added infodrives to the craft that don't have them, which should make them easier to learn to fly. I've also up-engined the superheavy, and slightly tweaked its wings as it was tending to pitch down with large loads onboard. I've done further tests on load capacities, so here are some guides for payload sizes: Light: 2 tonnes Heavy: 6 tonnes Super Heavy: 12-14 tonnes

The early stages of assembling a mission to drop an airship and hab block on Laythe.

For most things, I use 100km. However, I'm currently building an Orion-powered mission to Laythe, and as it's hard to tune an orbit to being less than a few kilometers (or tens of kilometers, depending on charges used), I'm using a 200km parking orbit.

I've made more progress with building a system to service my primary cruiser. The series of photos above shows the L(ish)KO station (it's 200km up, on a similar orbit to cruiser, whilst my other vessels are on 100km orbit) in assembly. The magazine core was launched on a simple Orion booster, then the fuel for the orbital maneuver engines, and finally the engines themselves were each boosted into orbit by standard (albeit large) chemical lifters. An airship to transport to Laythe is in its testing phase, whilst said airship's orbital maneuver/reentry system is currently in development. I've got a crew bus that I have confidence in (see below), so the only section of the Laythe mission left to sort out is the surface habitation block (which will double as crew quarters on the flight out).

After almost a month of being on the other side of the world from my PC, I'm back and able to play KSP again - the 0.21 update of course means my space program has been reset, and what better thing to base this one around than servicing a single cruiser. Anyway, I've built and launched said cruiser, and am now working on some sort of restocking system (goodness knows how that's going to work). I've even managed to improve the handling some more (possibly thanks to the SAS/ASAS updates, plus I remembered to fit this one with some really tiny bombs). There are some things that are not very clear in these images that I should probably mention. Firstly, thanks to TurboNisu for the Kerbalified retexture. Also, some of those B9 HL fuselage sections contain bombs, so, once again, thanks to Nyrath, though this time for making your mod relatively moddable (I must say, I had a few headaches until I realised that extra magazines must be put in the same folder as the rest of the mod, as otherwise the right-click box works fine, though nothing else does).

Following on from the SSTO series, here's my interplanetary ships. Mods used: B9 MechJeb 2.0.x Modular Multiwheels Taverius' Pack RLA Stockalike Orion Navlights Miranda Caliban Prospero EDIT: Probably should add some info on how to fly the things - basically, they fly like bricks in atmo. Miranda and Caliban are much more maneuverable thanks to having liquid fuel engines mounted for use as an RCS system, though you still need to allow a fair amount of time to set yourself up for a burn. Don't expect neat orbits. With hindsight, I should have added some smaller bombs in some of the magazines, though I didn't realise this until a fair way into the project, and didn't fancy rebuilding the engine block (so many struts). I'll probably build some with a variety of bombs so orbital manoeuvring is possible come the 0.21 update. The flip-side to that issue is that these craft have SSTO-to-Laythe ability (and several times over, at that), if you fly an optimal path, and should also still get there if you just point them at the target and throttle up (who needs Hohmann Transfers when you've got nukes?) Don't activate the main drive within a few km of anything else. It will destroy it unless it's another Orion craft (and only the engine will survive, even then). There are action groups to toggle engines, doors, solar panels etc - take a look at them in the VAB before launch - you can fly with panels out and bay doors open, but I feel it's a bit silly to do so when pulling 15 gees atop a pillar of nuclear flame. EDIT 2: And with all that, I forgot payload guides Miranda: anything Caliban: anything Prospero: anything In all seriousness, you can stick anything on the front of these things - you'll be limited by part-count based lag and strutting issues long before you run out of power. Also, before someone asks - yes, I do name my ships after Shakespearean characters.

Further progress update for today. The old munbase was flown north out of physics range to reduce lag, and a light rover was landed by it to explore the nearby canyon. The plan to use the logistics rover in fuel transfers was scrapped, and instead KAS was installed on the fuel shuttle, which has since left testing and carried out its first refuel. It means it has to land closer to the wellhead (so I have to remember to stow the solar panels and drills there each landing) but it reduces overall mission complexity. It does, though, require kerbals to carry out some labour; they are rotated occasionally to compensate.

No in-flight photos of this, sadly, as the whole thing was flown in the pitch black of the munar night, including landings (I'll admit there was some mechjeb-based assistance there), but I flew my old munar base over the the fuel station I set up yesterday, then landed a new logistics rover (there was no way I was driving it 600km). I've also built a tanker/crew change vehicle to shuttle back and forth between LKO and the aforementioned munbase.

I landed my first kethane mining rig on the moon. I currently need to work out what to fuel with it, as I use Orion drives for my long-range operations. I suppose I'll have to build some sort of shuttle from LKO to my base at one of the Mun arches. EDIT: The aforementioned Orion-powered cruisers

Here's the link

And several times over, at that.

I believe someone (Nutt007?) wanted to see a battleship variant; I had the evening free so I've put a passible militarised version together. It's only very loosely modelled on the sketches I've seen knocking about, but I wanted to include the key features, so she's got missile bays with doors that open, some point defense guns and the potential to carry reentry vehicles (which I could dock, but the part count would start to get prohibitive). The profile is a bit off, what with the prongs at the front, but I thought it looked neat, and if you squint a bit (okay, a LOT), it looks about right. Anyway, Miranda: Oh, also, proof that I'm getting better at handling these things - using standard liquid rockets I can get her to do a 180 degree spin in not much more than 30 seconds, which makes for some fairly reasonable orbits even if just using the 20MN charges ...and I should point out, MechJeb was just used for the infowindows in this case as trying to use the autopilots or smart ASS with 700 tonne ships which happily pull 10G or more when thrusting leads to all sorts of insanity.

@nyrath Congrats on making it onto KSP Weekly, and thanks for the mention on your site

@magnemoe Regarding RCS, rather than taking loads of monoprop and plastering the ship with thrusters, I've found a nice trick is to mount small engines on the sides of the vessel pointing at 90 degrees to the direction of travel, then to tie them to various action groups for some very Kerbalesque steering.

I encountered an odd glitch in an otherwise routine mission to Jool this morning - here is Caliban, burning hard retrograde sorting out an orbit, with the explosions behaving as if in atmo -

@jordanjay29 I think it's just these for Prospero and Caliban: B9 MechJeb 2.0.x Orion RLA Stockalike Also, here are some crafts: http://www./download/xq7kl1ds4sw8hkh/Prospero.craft http://www./download/w6wtamwpic0cwln/Caliban.craft

Prospero, a heavy interplanetary cruiser, propelled by the Orion nuclear pulse drive: The cargo bays and solar panels are closed and retracted respectively when under acceleration. There's one current design flaw, namely massively insufficient amounts of monoprop. I have to be fairly conservative with RCS use when turning, and thus I can end up waiting a good 5-10 minutes for her to come about fully (but then she is around 700 tonnes). Due to the issues with Prospero, I made a few refinements and ended up with an improved cruiser design - thanks to radiation concerns she's a drone, rather than a manned vessel, and has some ridiculously oversized RCS thrusters (they're the low profile B9 liquid-fueled thrusters). She still handles like a brick when in atmo, but at least she no longer takes forever to come about. Anyway, presenting Caliban Proof of handling like a brick - one incredibly sloppy orbit (I'll circularise it nicely later to dock Laythe station components): Addendum - before I criticise my own ships too much, I should probably point out that pilot error could well be to blame (and does anyone know the spaceflight blood alcohol limit?)

You guys seemed to enjoy Prospero, so I made a few refinements and ended up with an improved cruiser design - thanks to radiation concerns she's a drone, rather than a manned vessel, and has some ridiculously oversized RCS thrusters (they're the low profile B9 liquid-fueled thrusters). She still handles like a brick when in atmo, but at least she no longer takes forever to come about. Anyway, presenting Caliban Proof of handling like a brick - one incredibly sloppy orbit (I'll circularise it nicely later to dock Laythe station components): EDIT: possible alternate reason for sloppy handling - drunken mission controller

@nyrath Could have sworn I'd remembered to reply, but clearly I didn't, so here goes again: The explosions I've been experiencing have been when structural panels intersect the main body of the drive (with integral magazine rack).

I'm not sure if I can really submit this as a space station or not - she's technically only a single stage, but, thanks to the nuclear pulse drive, is so huge that I think she'd be out of place in almost any other thread. I'd have prefered to have been able use more panels to blend the Orion drive into the B9 parts, but had issues with clipping-based disassembly - anyway, presenting Prospero, a heavy interplanetary cruiser, currently orbiting Laythe (and doing a good impression of a space station). The cargo bays and solar panels are closed and retracted respectively when under acceleration. There's one current design flaw, namely massively insufficient amounts of monoprop. I have to be fairly conservative with RCS use when turning, and thus I can end up waiting a good 5-10 minutes for her to come about fully (but then she is around 700 tonnes). Caliban and Sycorax to follow, and yes, I use Shakespearean characters to name my ships