Specialist290

The other modpack is ClairaLyrae's KSPX parts, specificially the Panopticon command pod. It's got quite an awesome view.

Nicely done as always

I can vouch that the first Portal is good. Still have yet to play the second one.

EDIT: Whoops, nothing to see here.

20 pages in less than a day. Words cannot express my feelings. Fortunately, I have animated GIFs. Remember kids, don't drink and drive!

Hopefully his probes don't sneeze

Thanks! I'll probably take a look at it later tonight.

...When you're driving down a little back road at night, and the moon rises over the hill in front of you, and you have to consciously stop yourself from flooring the accelerator pedal in a vain effort to "burn for the Mun."

Welcome to the forums! There's information out there that can help you do all sorts of awesome stuff. I've tried to collect as much of it as I can in the Drawing Board (link in my sig) to help out new players, as well as players who want to sharpen their skills just a bit more than they already are. It includes a number of helpful and high-quality tutorials. It's not complete by any means, though, so if you can't find what you're looking for or still need help getting your understanding nailed down, feel free to ask questions in the How To forum. Happy landings!

Welcome to the forums! If you ever need help, or if you just want to learn more about the game, stop by the Drawing Board (link in my sig) and check out a few of the links there. There's tutorials and all sorts of other useful stuff in there. Also, feel free to ask questions in the How-To forum if you need help nailing things down. A lot of the folks who hang out there have been playing for an awful long time, and they might know a few tricks to get you out of a jam if you get into one. Happy landings!

Welcome to the forums! I'll second what Xiphos says. If you ever need help with anything or just want to learn more, feel free to ask questions, especially in the How To forums. I also try to maintain the Drawing Board (link in my sig), which has links to all sorts of different resources, including tutorials. Feel free to look around the forums and participate in any discussion that catches your eye. Happy landings!

Welcome to the forums! A lot of your questions can easily be answered by the fact that KSP is still in development, and thus a lot of planned features are either unimplemented or in very rough form at the moment. Fairings and shrouds are add-on only parts for the moment (except for a few engines, which get shrouds placed around them automatically if you connect something under them), but there's also no real need for them, as the atmospheric drag model the game uses now is highly simplified. Realistically lethal reentry heat is also planned for a future release and will probably come along with the general atmospheric overhaul (or at least that's my best guess). As for add-on recommendations, some of the ones I tend to use quite frequently are the Maneuver Node Improvement plugin, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Kerbal Engineer Redux, Haystack, Subassembly Saver / Loader, Kerbal Crew Manifest, and TAC Fuel Balancer. All of them add incredibly handy features, functions, and displays for you to use in-flight or on the launchpad. Kerbomatic's also mentioned Deadly Reentry and Ioncross Crew Support, which add an extra bit of realism for the challenge. Another popular one is the Kethane Pack, which allows you to survey and mine resource deposits and refine them into rocket fuel (although it's much simpler than the model Squad plans on implementing themselves in a future update). If you every find yourself lost on a particular objective or just want to learn more about how the game works and how you can make it work for you, check out the Drawing Board (link in my sig). It has links to a number of different resources such as tutorials, delta-v maps, keymaps, and more. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the How To section, either; there's quite a lot of knowledgeable folks around here who like to share what they know. Happy landings! EDIT: Well, looks like you've already found Deadly Reentry. Ninja'd.

Welcome to the forums! I'm quite impressed by the quality and detail in your writing. I'm something of an aspiring author myself, although I haven't really written much that I've put out in public. I'll be keeping tabs on it to see your progress; I'm always up for a good story. If you get stuck on anything or are just looking for better ways to optimize your performance, I'd highly recommend the Drawing Board (link in my sig) as a good place to start. It has tutorials, delta-v maps, links to various sorts of calculators, and all sorts of other useful resources. You can also ask questions in the How To section of the forums, where a lot of the more knowledgeable players like to hang out and share their accumulated wisdom. Feel free to look around and hop into any conversation that interests you. Happy landings!

Docking port decouplers are indeed a nifty trick. And if you put a docking port on the payload as well, you can "recover" it with another rocket in the future should you need to. That can come in handy itself.

@jbaltus123: This one's a bit too sparse on info for the Drawing Board, I'm afraid @NeoMorph: Cool video.

It does, sort of, in that the value going from Kerbin (and the other planets) to the sun is the value for crossing escape velocity in either direction. Going out from the planet, you're trying to go over its escape velocity; going in towards the planet, you're trying to slow yourself down so it captures you. The Landing values work for both takeoff and landing (since a soft landing is, ideally, basically the exact reverse of a takeoff; all bets are off if you decide to use the "lithobreaking" technique, though, and atmosphere will help you out if you go for aerobrake / aerocapture -- although if you land and take off again, you'll have to fight a bit against that very same atmosphere).

Welcome to the forums! I have to say that KSP is one of the better game communities out there, and I've seen a lot of them. For all its faults, (and what community doesn't have those?) the forums are some of the friendliest and well-organized I've had the pleasure of being a member of. If you're looking to get the most out of the game you can, I'd highly recommend making use of the Drawing Board (link in my sig) and the "How To" forums. Many of our more experienced players are quite willing to share their accumulated wisdom if you find yourself in a jam (or even just a lack of ideas on what to do next). Happy landings!

Welcome to the forums! And yeah, I know that story all too well myself. Took one look at the game, loved it, and never looked back. Since you're a new player, I'd highly advise you to check out the Drawing Board (link in my sig) if you ever get stuck on anything. It's got tons of useful information, including tutorials on how to do a lot of the basics. Feel free to also drop a line on the "How To" forums with any questions you might have. The people there tend to be both quite knowledgeable and helpful. Other than that, feel free to look around and take part in any conversation that interests you. Happy landings!

Welcome to the forums! Since you're a new player, I'd highly advise you to check out the Drawing Board (link in my sig). It's absolutely chock-full of tutorials and other links to all kinds of useful information. If you have any questions that need answering, feel free to ask in the "How To" forums; the people there are quite helpful and will try to answer any questions you might have about how to play the game. Other than that, feel free to look around and take part in any conversation that interests you. Happy landings!

Alright, before this escalates, we're gonna have to set some ground rules: 1. No touching of the hair or face. ...And that's it!

Honestly, in this case, you're probably best off just waiting for a somewhat close encounter, then tweaking it from there. You might try raising your apoapsis until it's just inside the other orbit, but elliptical orbits are always tricky.

Welcome to Fate / word salad title! Where people compete for a horrendous supernatural abomination, and the points don't matter!

Fair enough I'll stop with the silly Kraken speculations, since I don't want to distract you overmuch from spending time that could be used writing the next chapter.

I'm just gonna sit here in this ol' rocking chair and watch the fireworks.

So close! Looks like now you need a rescue mission for the rescue mission Ah, the lengths we go to...