capi3101

Best way in stock is to set a couple of Sepratrons on the outboard stages, aim them to fire inboard (and slightly upwards) and set them to ignite when you stage the radial decouplers. You can kinda see the Shuttle SRBS doing that sort of thing in that pic you've got there. EDIT: Ninja'd, sorta.

Action cards are finished. Here's my personal favorite... It's even from one of my missions...an Apollo-replica, no less. Got the data on the LV-1R from the configuration file for the part, so that one's done now. I have to finish up the Structure cards and then work on the card backs. Then it'll be time to extract all the images from Publisher and begin work on the mod proper.

Ah, okay. That's been corrected since I posted those pics, but thanks for letting me know about it. The text part's being done in MS Publisher and I don't know how to shut that off, so that's definitely among the things I'm watching out for with the final mod.

You mean for the three musketeers? It's here. I agree they aren't particularly good ones, but they're something.

Finished Fuel cards on Friday; structure cards still giving me some fits. Starting work in on Action cards today; my plan there is to dredge up some pictures from around the forum and wiki appropriate to the cards and use them for backgrounds. I've got a few of my own screenshots I can use before resorting to outright image theft...

I realized today that I've never put up any pics of my Hellhound 7 rover anywhere...here are a few. On Minmus, no less. Last one's my favorite...Kerbol-set, with Mun, Kerbin and Kerbol all in the shot (though you have to squint to see Mun).

Hey Johnno, thanks for that. Subassembly's jacked up in 0.21 and it's playing merry hell with Temstar's Zenith booster subassemblies...haven't had a successful Barn Burner mission in 0.21 yet. 17.6% of the total thrust in the centerline stage is a bit less than what's recommended for asparagus, but if it works, who cares? Right?

Hey Xeldrak, how did you get that Kvant-1 module up with that Rovemate stuck on that boom? Seems like that would be horribly imbalanced...did you just fly it that way or did you add a disposable counterweight? Left it off my replica.

Built a Mir replica over the weekend. Needed a break from the Apollo mission - the booster design on that one is really starting to hack me off. Occurs to me that I still don't know if the LEM redesign is going to work or not. Had a Hellrider 7 rover 20 kilometers from Tranquility, so I decided I'd go ahead and try to get it the rest of the way there. The new Mun has definitely got some pretty hairy grade nowadays...popped both back tires a mere four kilometers away. Maybe that'll be a side-trip when/if I get the Apollo mission up and running.

Asparagus staging - a clever method of setting up radial decouplers and fuel lines in a manner that extends the usable lifespan of the inboard engines while chucking dead weight as you go. Somewhat controversial as there's debate as to whether or not it's physically realistic. Specifics here. Payload looks almost identical to one of my Barn Burner Superheavy 7s - five X200-32 tanks and a quad of big RCS tanks. You know, if you run fuel lines from the outboard tanks to the centerline tank, you can lose the seniors on the outboard tanks...unless you're going for a super-strong connection between whatever you call your supply module and the tug. I recognize this - its a supply module for an interplanetary rocket, right? String two or three of these things together, slap a heavy booster on one end and an excursion module on the other and you can go anywhere. Pack some extra LV-Ns; that's all I'm gonna say about that.

ISS and Mir are both on that list, hence they count towards the challenge, IMHO. Still need to do the Satellite of Love...

Started putting together a Mir replica as described in the wiki. Trying to cleanse my palette from all the work I've been doing on Apollo-style missions (numbers say that what I have should work, yet it doesn't). Got all the Mir modules designed (using Srs. instead of normal clampotrons, though), got the Core Module up and added Kvant-1 and Kvant-2. Kristall's up next. Note to whoever wrote those tutorials - those designs don't include any sort of command module as they're written down. I use RGUs and the huge battery banks to compensate but it was still a good thing I quicksaved before final docking on Kvant-1...first time, I cut it loose with the solar panels still folded up, and the battery bank was on the booster...

I gotta get started on this challenge before somebody else tries to do the Satellite of Love...come on, 5 PM!!!

I take it you're the author of the Salyut Programme tutorial on the wiki then, Xeldrak? Always wanted to finish building a Mir replica...and I see today that it's been updated since last I bothered to take a look. Going to have to do that, then...

Pretty much been covered - it determines whether or not Kerbals will smile when faced with certain death. Jeb has it for sure, Bob and Bill do not have it for sure, and I imagine there's a probability of it being set based on the Kerbal's courage and stupidity attributes. I say that because I've been in my persistence file lately looking at my crew and candidates, some of them have awesome courage stats, but the only badS of the bunch is Jeb.

Do what now? Crew cards are done; turns out it's the ruddy Structure cards that are giving me fits. I have a solution though and I hope to get an opportunity to implement it today. Had a thought for what I might try with the Action cards...it's going to require me to search through the forums for pics from people's games. Going to try to get to Fuel cards today. Those are going to be tricky.

Tried to send the Castle Romeo mission to the Mun. Dumb, dumb, dumb mistake...first off, if you have to rob your payload of it's fuel just to get into orbit, it means the booster didn't have sufficient delta-V. Second, if you're going to try and land ten-plus tonnes worth of equipment, you probably shouldn't be trying to do it with a quad of 48-7S engines. Luckily the mission was crewed by Jeb and the gang, so I just have to wait for their replacements to come out of the cloning vats. I'll be redesigning that rocket, obviously. Was going to do a rehearsal run with just the LEM portion of the mission...I still haven't done anything with the redesigned rover skycrane other than drive under it a couple of times while it's still on the pad with the engines lit. I have a feeling I need to actually try out the design, particularly if I intend to use the skycrane I've got as the LEM descent stage. Having some major issues with Subassembly in 0.21, though...probably because the version I've got is compatible with 0.20. If there's a 0.21 patch out, I haven't seen it at the Spaceport. Would've done more, but the weather forced me off my computer last night. More of the same tonight if the missus deigns to let me play.

Perchance do you have aerospikes on the lowest stage? Those have a tendency to break off if you don't suspend the rocket up a bit with launch clamps. Hit F3 before you push the space bar and check to see if anything has broken off. If something has, MOAR STRUTS.

Greetings, fellow Kerbonauts. Had this idea for a challenge last night while having some fun trying out a new rover design. Here's the challenge: To design a rover/skycrane combination, then detach the rover from the skycrane and complete as many laps as you can before the skycrane takes off. To constitute as a lap: 1) The combined craft begins on the launch pad. 2) The skycrane must have its engines running at full throttle prior to rover release. At no other point during the attempt are you allowed in any way, shape or form to take control over the skycrane. 3) The rover must drive off the east end of the launch pad. 4) The rover must then circle back around to the ramp on the west end of the launch pad. 5) The rover must pass directly under the skycrane with its engines lit, without hitting it, and without taking damage from the burning engines. 6) The skycrane must still be on the ground when the rover passes underneath it. If you want to try this from the runway, go right ahead. You have to drive off the east end of the runway, circle back around without getting back on the runway, then enter from the west end of the runway before passing under the skycrane. I'll keep a different leaderboard for folks who try it from the SPH. The following will disqualify an attempt at this challenge: 1) The skycrane has to be able to take off and fly under its own power for at least ten seconds at some point during the attempt. If it doesn't fly for at least that long, the attempt is disqualified. 2) If parts break off the rover or the skycrane for any reason whatsoever (other than the skycrane completing its burn and crashing back down to the surface), the attempt is disqualified. 2A) Busted tires count as damage. 2B) If the rover is manned, the attempt is disqualified if any Kerbals die. 3) You must put up a picture of your flight status at the end of your run (F3). If any damage whatsoever is indicated, the attempt is disqualified. 4) Pics or it didn't happen. You are allowed to use mods (I'm not aware of any that affect rover speed or handling though - this may change if such a mod does in fact exist). 100 points per lap completed before the skycrane takes off. I'll also give honorable mentions to fastest rover design and fastest lap time. Good luck. CURRENT LEADERS (VAB): CURRENT LEADERS (SPH): FASTEST LAP TIME: FASTEST ROVER: I swear I completed one lap last night...but as taking my word for it violates Rule #4 for disqualification......

Delta-V is, as Rhomphaia mentioned, change in velocity. In rocketry, it's used as a measure of how many changes a rocket can make to its velocity under its own power before it runs out of fuel (velocity being the dot product of speed and direction; changing either speed or heading counts as delta-V). As dave4002000 mentioned, it is a function of your rocket's mass and the efficiency of the engine. It's specifically measured via the Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation, which says: delta-V = ln (total mass / dry mass) * Isp * 9.81 m/s^2 where delta-V is in units of meters per second, ln is the natural logarithm, total mass is the mass of your rocket when its fuel tanks are full, dry mass is the mass of the rocket when its fuel tanks are empty, and Isp is the specific impulse of the engine (i.e. its efficiency). The wiki lists the specific impulses of the engines in the game.

The only way I know to do it is to brute force it; recalculate your acceleration every second based on the mass flow of the stage, and use the kinematic equations to figure out your final velocity after each second. When in aggregate the total change in velocity equals or exceeds the delta-V of the maneuver, you have your actual burn time. A LOT of math involved there...I'm pretty sure there's a less mass intensive method involving a differential equation, but then again that would involve a diff-eq... Newton's second law...your mass has changed each second based on your mass flow rate. F=ma therefore a=F/m; if F (thrust is constant), your mass decreases by the flow rate every second, with a proportional increase in the acceleration every second.

Well, maybe I will get to Crew cards today after all... BG was done completely in MS Paint (no lies). Getting the pictures in wasn't as tricky as I originally thought it was going to be. Flavor text is from the wiki, BTW; took it and ran with it. Only thing keeping me from doing the other Kerbals at the moment is their flavor text, and I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to say. (I'm aware of the typo in Jeb's flavor text...also, is it Kerbalnaut or Kerbonaut?) EDIT: Never mind...it's Kerbonaut. I'll have to find where all I have that wrong and get it fixed...

The wiki's got a pretty good chart that compares liquid fuel engines to one another. I've gotten to where I like Skippers a great deal, especially as a middle-stage engine. Used to have a thing for Aerospikes (on account of their relatively high Isp at all altitudes), but the fact that they don't vector has given me a few too many spinning rockets... Really, which engine you need all depends on the payload. Bigger loads need the engines with higher thrust; no way around that, really.

Temstar actually has a pretty good discussion about how to do proper asparagus staging that I find works reasonably well for onion-style staging, which is probably what most noobs use in one form or another. Asparagus is the way to go and I highly recommend reading through the initial post, but if you're not comfortable using asparagus you can still apply most of the same principles. It's ~4500 m/s to get into orbit, BTW. Mechjeb does have a launch autopilot feature if I'm not mistaken (I don't use it my own self; it's what I plan to reward myself with if I ever complete a round trip to Eve).

Anybody got any suggestions for what I can do with the action cards? The prototype looks ugly...