Specialist290

Honestly, I found that mildly amusing. Maybe if you combined it with a chibi art style, or used it for a series of reaction images...

His question also seemed to imply that he was getting different results between MechJeb's initial calculations and the actual amount of delta-v the rocket actually took to get into orbit. Perhaps it's your own reading comprehension that's at fault here, and not his phrasing. But to answer that concern in particular: MechJeb's autopilot isn't perfect, and the minimum targets on delta-v charts generally assume a perfect performance. You're probably seeing a discrepancy in the stats as a result of things like gravity, drag, and steering losses. Depending on how your ascent profile is set up, those losses can get pretty heavy as you pass through the atmosphere.

A good number actually never leave Earth orbit; they're just pointed at the Sun to take readings. Of the ones that are (or were) intentionally placed in heliocentric orbits: * The two STEREO probes were deliberately placed in orbits slightly inwards and outwards from the Earth to provide stereoscopic images. * WIND, SOHO, and ACE are all currently hanging out at Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1. * Helios 1 and 2 are the probes that got the closest to the Sun with a perihelion of ~0.29 AU, but their orbits are highly elliptical, reaching all the way back out to Earth's orbital trajectory.

And now the "cut comms with Outreach" line actually registers. D'oh! Oh well. Waiting eagerly for the next chapter!

Looks to me like they're doing just fine:

Nicely done! Glad to see you got him home safely. Rescue missions are always a real thrill.

True. I was speculating about this little bit, though, from the most recent chapter: Although maybe I've just been reading too much into that.

Doesn't seem to be a KSP fanwork, so I'd assume it goes better in off-topic. That said, I'll be on the lookout for it. Seems like an interesting premise.

The plot thickens. Now it seems we're looking for the Libra as well as the Zodiac.

You all should be ashamed of yourselves. What did those satellites ever do to you? ( )

Always have a Pokemon with Teleport or Dig. Failing that, pack plenty of Escape Ropes.

Nice to see this back up I think I still have the .doc file for the printable version somewhere on my hard drive, if anyone's interested in that.

It sounded cool when I was 14. That was ten years ago, and I've been too lazy to change it.

In all seriousness, I could get behind naming cities after the developers and other Squad members. In particular, "Siliskopolis" really rolls off the tongue, as does "Mount Rayner." Also, at least one city must be named "Insert Name Here." Almost like it was accidentally named that because someone forgot to fill out the form.

There's a few, actually, although they have slightly different connotations. "Infatuation / Infatuated" and "puppy love" have already been mentioned. "Obsession" can be used for an intense, overriding preoccupation with someone or something, especially to unhealthy extremes. It doesn't have to be strictly romantic, though. "Sentimental" can be used in reference to attitudes or actions brought about by feelings as opposed to reason. There's also words like "sugary," "saccharine," "sappy," "twee," and "cutesy," which are generally more lighthearted ways to describe something or someone that's cute or affectionate beyond reasonable expectations.

Nicely done! I found it a bit amusing that the "unreadable" article text is just a bunch of random words strung together.

Most of the ones I tend to use have already been mentioned. However, on top of all those, I'd also recommend Improved Maneuver Nodes. It adds an interface that lets you plan or tweak maneuvers by adjusting the numbers directly and shows you the delta-v you'll need for all your planned maneuvers, not just the one that's coming next. Really handy when paired with Kerbal Alarm Clock and KER's Flight Engineer (or MechJeb, if that's your cup of tea).

...Now I'm gonna have Kenny Loggins stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Curses!

Something is wrong with that poster. Listening to folk music does not make you "weird."

Take a look at everything tagged "[Writing]" in this forum. There also used to be a Mission Reports section, but that got eaten by the Forum Kraken, and I don't know when it's coming back.

I don't restrict myself by genre. If I like it, I listen to it. That said, most of what I like tends to be older rock.

One thing I'd like to see in a future update: A simple, very light, radially-attachable GPS-like device that shows the scanner map. Would be quite handy for those of us who still fly things manually and don't want to attach a kethane scanner to our miners just to see where the deposits are. Also, is kethane itself effectively massless?

Nicely done! A shame KSP doesn't have more "rounded" / spherical / hemispherical parts in stock.

My most memorable one so far probably has to be my first attempt at landing on Minmus, using the same Apollo-style craft that had taken me to the Mun once before. The launch to LKO went smoothly. That was the only part of that mission that went smoothly; everything from there on out was beset by all manner of problems. As it turned out, the insertion stage didn't quite have enough juice to actually get me a Minmus interception, which meant I had to rely on the command / service module's engines to finish that -- which, in turn, made me worry that I'd have to reallocate fuel from my lander module to get home. So I finally get interception and capture, and move my two crewmembers from the command module to the lander. I plan a landing on one of the ice lakes that happens to be right on the terminator at the time, so that I'll have a nice, steep shadow I can use to gauge my final descent. Unfortunately, this is where things really start going wrong: 1. I didn't account for Minmus's rotation, and thus end up coming down over the mountain slopes right next to the lake. 2. The lake itself is still lit by Kerbol; unfortunately, the mountains are in the shadow. 3. My lander doesn't have any lights. So here I am, less than 1km up, coming down onto a steep, unlit mountainside with no way of telling how close to the ground I am and no idea of how to correct my course to get me over the lake instead (I was still a relative newb at this point). Naturally, my lander smacks right into the side of that mountain, breaking off one of the landing legs. I panic and put the thing at max throttle, still not quite processing what just happened. Somehow, I did this while it was still pointed skyward, so it wasn't a total loss. I decided not to take my chances with a second landing attempt. Rerendezvousing with the CSM proved to be tricky, since I came back up on a bit of an inclination, but I managed it, and I got the crew home safely. That was one of the tensest missions I had in this game that didn't end up being a total loss. I did eventually get kerbals on Minmus, using the lessons I learned from this experience.

Nicely done! I don't know if I mentioned it before the April Incident, but your Mark Twain design was a big inspiration for my own Universal Utility Vehicle. The thread for that was also eaten, but it was an older prototype anyway; I'll have to throw the new craft up and share some of my own tales some day.