Tanya Sapien

do you mean fading solar output the farther from the star you are? I think it has that already but I'm not sure. I should schedule a trip to Eeloo to find out. If you mean lower solar power if you're facing the sun at an angle instead of head-on, then yes, it does have that.

KOSMOS TEAM! I have a humble request. I've been working with a few other rocketeers to make a functional solar sail mod, and naturally your modules were the best men for the job. I've used two RCS tanks, a structural module, and three solar panels, then reworked the .cfg files for the new behaviors. As far as I can tell the pack works great and is ready for the spaceport, but I want to ask your permission before actually uploading it. If the usage of these parts in their current states is unacceptable, I will gladly remove and replace them with alternates for you. Here's the mod

You really don't want to know how many hours I spent debugging and balancing all this, but it's finally ready. Bear in mind I haven't gotten permission from Kosmos yet for using their stuff, so this isn't on the spaceport yet, but I don't see that as any reason not to give out copies here for preview. Download the .zip archive here I included Frizzank's solar sails and piggybacked off the same resource he made, but I tweaked it to make it function more like xenon gas, just without the ability to pump, since Treasure Planet style but totally not close enough to Treasure Planet to infringe on international copyright law and reside 100% within the realm of fair use (did you get all that, moderators?) engines would require the resource to be commutable. I've added some nice solar sails, some engines which are totally not resized ion engines with fancy flame effects, and capacitor banks to give brief bits of power for control burns when in shaded locations. I wanted to add BlueGobln's sails, since the mesh is great, but since there's no texture on them yet they're not ready for the spaceport. I'm hardly possessive about my creations, so everybody here, feel free to bend, twist, rewrite, and overhaul this as you see fit, so long as my name is still sitting somewhere in the credits, I'm happy. Great big thanks for the ideas and resources in this thread. Oh, and before I put this on the spaceport, I need to ask: Frizzank, do I have permission to use your files in the finished mod? You will get due credit for your contributions. Enjoy! ~Tanya Sapien, CEO, Sapien Technologies LLC.

Guys, I've been working on something along these lines and had a few revelations. I've grabbed the files available here and I'm going to try to throw together a prototype build. If it's successful I'll post it here complete with crediting. If anybody wants to help, you can contact me on skype through the account linked on this profile.

A blast from the past, it's the ST-BiG Armored Storage Silo! Sapien Technologies is pleased to present the next in out series of convention-defying pleasantries. The ST-BiG is not only pleasing to the eye, but it's efficient too! Thanks to DRAkTEC's patented deflatable fuel tank technology, the silo is its own skycrane! Stats: Weight: 39.68t TWR: 0.41@Kerbin Part Count: 39 ÃŽâ€v: 4833m/s ~ 9:49 Liquid Fuel: 2880 Oxidizer: 3520 Xenon Gas: 1400 Monopropellant: 200 ElectricCharge: 515 ~ w/RTG

Some of you may have noticed the absence of Sapien Technologies CEO Tanya Sapien over the last couple weeks, and may have noticed our stock prices dropping as a result, but have no fear! We recently found her on the Mun. After several hours of pursuit and a two dozen tranq darts were used, she was brought back home, along with her all-new creation, the MagiK KarpeT. Much of the design is a mystery, but we gave Jeb the keys anyways, and he's rated it "super kertastically flipper" ...we don't really know what he meant by that, but we've put it up for auction anyways! It's capable of not only sustained flight (up to half an hour) but just tip it on its side and you can dock it with any H.O.C. standard docking ring! Buy now and we'll throw in a skycrane/refueling platform for free! Oh, and we found this duct taped to the seat: Jeb's Instructions For The Flying Carpet MagiK KarpeT stats: Weight: 1.65 Parts: 21 With skycrane: Weight: 19.50 Parts: 43 Other images (linked off-site since Harv asked people not to clutter the page with big pictures): Skycrane landed on the Mun Jeb going for a speed record It flies upside down with ease! Stats More Stats EDIT: whoops, I guess I missed the deadline for a miscellaneous module. Oh well, I guess it's time to make a fuel silo!

Rune! Thank you for volunteering for the test firing of Noah2!

Not bad, I really like the styling and the genius use of an aerospike. Only tip I can offer is maybe to use the heavy lander legs instead of the light ones, to make it pitch further for launches. Remember that once it's fired a kerbal, it's all up to EVA packs to finish the trip, so the closer you can get them to an orbital trajectory the better. I personally shoot for 30 degrees, since that might as well be 45 once you account for planet curvature.

You're welcome. He updates the header on page 1 when he selects a design, just read through that to see what's been chosen and what's up for grabs.

AGK! that's much better than my design. Orz

Use decouplers. Decouple while still throttled up. Alternatively, place the kerbal first, then throttle up.

Okay, Jeb

I have this problem when using the MechJeb landing autopilot as well. The best solution I've found is to adjust the "final landing speed" variable to between 3 and 5m/s. What I believe to be the problem with the final moments before landing is that MechJeb chases the retro node, and at low speeds it tends to shake around a lot as the game has difficulty determining exact heading. Alternatively, you could cut off the landing autopilot at around 2000 meters and switch over to the translatron with "kill h/s" switched on, then set it to "keep vert" and give it a negative value somewhere between -0.3 and -5.0 If you're not comfortable using translatron, there's a third option, use the smart A.S.S. and set it to "retrograde" then just be very very careful not to come to an absolute stop or reverse direction before making touchdown. Hopefully one of these solutions will be applicable to your design.

Concussive Rocket Inserting Kerbals into Yesterday* *also the sound Jeb made when he first rode it. Sapien Technologies has once more borrowed from our friends at VenumCorp weapons manufacturing and produced the CRIKeY! The design was originally a recoiless rifle for launching soldiers into battlefields, but with a little reworking it has shown great promise for use in launching kerbals into Munar orbits. Features dual docking ports for refuelling, internal power supply and the ability to maneuver, aim, and stabilize itself. Staying true to our "less is more" mentality, the rear thruster can be turned on independently with the "2" button on the control console, for de-orbit and landing purposes. Beware though, with a ÃŽâ€v of 628m/s and a TWR of 13.48/Ke a suicide burn may be necessary for a soft landing without the aid of a skycrane. (tested and stable with RCS turned on up to 80% throttle when landing itself) User instructions: Once landed the cannon is a fully functional SPG and can maneuver itself into firing positions. Beware on tight corners as the massive cannon has some weight to it and likes to tip over. To fire first manually deploy the landing gear of desired incline, then adjust throttle to desired power. Once throttle and alignment adjustments have been made, have the victim volunteer stand on the gray X in front of the nozzle. At this time, two quick presses of "1" on the control panel will be sufficient to launch the projectile on the desired path with minimal fuel consumption. Use of 100% throttle for launches not intended for interplanetary trajectories is ill-advised.

I think it's the ladders. I'm going to go out on a limb and say your procedure is as such: 1: put kerbal on ladder 2: throttle up engines 3: let go of ladder this might be causing an error on inertia calculation. replace the ladders with platforms for standing on, with the angles of the platforms slightly away from the angle of thrust on the engines, so that the instant a kerbal is caught in the engine's wake they're lifted away from the platform instead of scraped across it or shoved into it. then assign the engines to action groups and do as such: 1: deactivate engines 2: place kerbal on launchpad 3: increase throttle 4: activate engines 5: hotswap to the kerbal either through bracket keys or the map screen. this should solve your 90 degree launch problem, and as an added bonus allows specific calibration by selecting throttle intensity before activation.

Well that's not entirely true. I noticed that a couple designs were able to effectively vault the skycrane while in Kerbin's gravity. If one were to be able to give the crane a big enough shove to get it some distance in the air, Harv might be able to hot-swap to it and then use its own engines to try landing it properly or just get back into orbit.

I actually recommend Romafarer's Lazor System if you're having problems with keeping your planes stable, it automatically dampens input and prevents oversteering to help keep planes more balanced. Also, the advice others posted before is right and I fully agree with it, more intakes, and a nuclear engine which you only trigger when you're at the very lip of space and burning your last drops of jet fuel. Don't worry about the low thrust of the nuclear engine when trying to achieve orbit, if you take a look at your context menus while at high speeds and altitudes, you'll actually see a drastic reduction in how much power your jet engines are providing, so the crossover to the rocket when your engines flame-out might actually come with a noticeable amount of acceleration.

I made a rocket plane that managed to hit around 500m/s at ocean-skimming altitudes, however I have Deadly Re-entry installed and the frictional heating combined with their own heat caused the rockets to explode before it could get any faster.

A snapshot of my currently under construction Mun base

The solution I've found for low-traction environments is a "Gravity drive" basically several upwards-pointing ion thrusters, one above each wheel on the vehicle. Assuming there's adequate power, the thrust they provide is very useful for extreme low gravity environments like Gilly, Bop and Minimus where a sneeze could put you in orbit. On Gilly it's impossible to drive effectively without one. Interestingly enough, on Minimus, when I turned the rover upside down in a Dukes Of Hazard attempt, it turned it into a VTOL which was very interesting to fly until the solar sails got sheered off and instead of Luke Duke I was doing my best GiR impersonation *insert manic screaming here*

Sapien Technologies is pleased to present the DRAkTEC Hangar v2.2! now with 100% more properly aligned docking ports! Worklights have also been adjusted for more even illumination. For a limited time only, all purchases of a DRAkTEC Hangar v2.2 will include a MunTraktor at no additional cost to you¹! Please enjoy this demonstrational video user manual, courtesy of our partners at VenumCorp weapons manufacturing. ¹Except for shipping and launching expenses, no refunds on catastrophically failed launches.

Design advice for Ember's submission, those two headlights look a little too close to the ground. If you hit a significant bump they could get sheared off. Placing them just above the braking engines instead of just below might be a better idea.

Hey, Harv, just letting you know I'm back. KSP nuked my account so I'll be playing cleanup same as you. When you've decided on the next module needed I'll get straight to work on my submission.