capi3101

All half...okay. That simplifies the nav tables (my main concern behind the question). Just for the hell of it, let me calculate the new relationship between failsafe orbital velocity and escape velocity. Vf = √(µ/1.5r); Vf2 = µ/1.5r; 1.5rVf2 = µ Ve = √(2µ/r); Ve2 = 2µ/r; (rVe2)/ 2= µ (rVe2)/ 2 = 1.5rVf2 ; (rVe2)/ 3r = Vf2 ; Ve2/ 3 = Vf2; Vf = √(Ve2/ 3) = Ve(√(1/3)), which approximates to 0.5774Ve. So failsafe orbital velocity is now the square root of one-third times escape velocity. Let me make sure the math's right: Kerbin - g = 9.806 m/s2, r = 600,000 m, g = µ/r2, µ = gr2 = 3,530,160,000,000 m3/s2. Vf = √(µ/1.5r) = √(3,530,160,000,000/1.5*600,000) = 1980.50499 m/s Ve = √(2µ/r) = √(2*3,530,160,000,000/600,000) = 3430.335 m/s Vf = xVe, Vf/Ve = x = 1980.50499 / 3430.335 = 0.5774, which matches. Fun with math; not really all that important. To generate the new tables, I'll use that first equation I've got there and sub in µ = gr2 . Vf = √(gr2/1.5r) = √(gr/1.5) Boy howdy do they...going to have to redesign the production Heighliner to include more RTGs...makes me glad I hadn't launched the thing in my career save just yet... Went from only needing four RTGs to 115 for the 2.5 meter engine, if I'm reading things right.

Alright - so let me just make sure I understand correctly: the new cutoff distance for the 2.5 engine is now half a planetary radius, and for the 0.625 engine it's 3/4 of a planetary radius. Is that correct? What about the new engines? Kind of a shame on the 2.5 engine - with the failsafe cutoff at one planetary radius, the failsafe orbital velocity was exactly half escape velocity said the maths...I'll have to see if there's another neat correlation now.

Well, the code's ugly, but it seems to be working as intended. Can't say as much for the mod itself at the moment; I did just copy over what I had from 1.3.0 instead of doing a fresh install like a normal person. Trying to do a fresh install now, and spacedock appears to be down...so it's hard to verify if my code is actually doing anything helpful. Meantime, I can begin preparations to turn the raw code into something moderately useful. By which I mean I need to add a GUI to it so it doesn't look and work like a gigantic three-day old dog turd... EDIT: I don't seem to have a Firespitter sub-directory in my GameData folder anymore; guessing that's the issue right there...

Not really; that third screenie in my post is a BC probe (the one landing at KSC). The engine stage is, I guess... I mean, I could've named it the Donald Trump 7, but I really just didn't feel like going there......

TL, DR: I've gotten behind on my log entries of late, again. The first third of this month has been busy. Sure hasn't seemed that way... After returning the ferry ship Necessary Evil to the Kerbinport space station on Halloween, I took a situation report at each of my bases and space stations and made the decision to ferry all KSC staffmembers from Kerbinport back down to the surface, which I did late in the day using an Auk VII 16-passenger spaceplane; the plane itself ferried newly frocked engineers Dezor and Halzer Kerman up to the station for good measure, and I also offloaded enough extra fuel from the plane to refill the station's auxiliary fuel storage tank. I also got the capsule commanders of each of the four ships in my ferry fleet switched back to their correct places. A Bill Clinton 7b probe was launched to pick up scientist Stapond Kerman's craft from the orbit of Minmus; that mission concluded successfully on November 4th. I also launched a Boop-Boop probe on a contract into high polar Kerbin orbit, but I forgot to take the crucial step of aligning the space center with the longitude of the required orbit first, so rather than being an easy contract, that mission wasn't finished up until November 5th. Auk III prior to the refueling flight on November 2nd. Sure have seen many an early morning sky in southeastern Kansas that kinda looked like this... On November 2nd, I did a full-on refueling mission to Kerbinport, flying up an Auk III tanker plane to the station to finish fueling the station's main fuel reserve tank and monoprop storage. The plane returned successfully to KSC 09 but came in too hot and ran off the end of the runway. Luckily I was able to get it stopped before it drove itself into the water... Next time I'll hit the brakes a little sooner. A fuel run took place at the Deepwater Horizon refinery on Minmus, and then tourists Jendas and Urtrey Kerman went on a quick up-and-down LKO jaunt for money using an Auk I 2-passenger spaceplane. I also did a quick Munar surface science contract and a 4-waypoint ground survey for pressure readings near KSC. Two fast ore contracts took place last Friday netting me nearly √1M an a new probe was sent to Minmus for contract. I also did two more ground surveys for pressure readings near KSC for the cash, tested a small heat shield and retrieved pilot Danrick Kerman from the orbit of Minmus using the Spamcan 7 rescue craft/lander docked at the Minmusport space station. Last weekend, I put a pair of probes in equatorial orbits, one over Kerbin and one over Minmus. After a quick ore contract that netted me √500k, I put the Kerbincomm Hotel communications relay satellite into its final orbital disposition over Kerbin, finally rounding out the comms network in Kerbin's SOI. Next up will be establishment of the comms relay over Kerbol in preparation for the Duna mission. I picked up another LKO rescue mission over Kerbin; Stapond picked up scientist Cordan Kerman aboard an Auk Ia rescue plane, which then delivered the two scientists to Kerbinport before returning to KSC 09 on automatic. Stapond, Cordan, Dezor and Halzer boarded Necessary Evil with pilot Nenly Kerman at the helm and departed for Minmus to go pick up Danrick. I picked up yet another damn LKO rescue mission right after the ship departed, so on Sunday I rescued scientist Catny Kerman and after collecting some garbage around Kerbin and doing a quick crew report at Minmusport for bux, I got a VIP contract for Minmus orbit. End of the garbage collection mission. I think I've just about grokked how best to use the Trajectories mod for capsule returns at Kerbin these days... Catny and VIP Gleval Kerman were loaded aboard a Gusmobile 7 rocket (a Gemini capsule replica) and shot towards Minmus, which proved to be a very interesting choice since the Gusmobile design did not include a probe core with SAS. With nothing else going on, I warped ahead until both Necessary Evil and Gusmobile docked at Minmusport, maneuvers that were completed successfully. On Monday, the six untrained KSC staffmembers - Stapond, Cordan, Dezor, Halzer, Catny and Danrick - all went down to the surface of Minmus to plant flags while Gleval transferred over to Necessary Evil, Gusmobile remaining unused and docked to Minmusport. They each landed at Deepwater Horizon and refinery engineer Theony Kerman refueled the landers as they went, which ultimately had the effect of not requiring additional fuel runs after Necessary Evil's departure for Mun later on that same day. After 13 in-game days, the group arrived at Mun and docked successfully at the Munport space station. A pod-and-Kerbal rescue mission on the Munar surface was on the group's agenda and after it was ascertained that the docked Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout 7 garbage hauling lander docked at Munport did not contain a KAS screwdriver, the Spamcan 7b lander at the station was sent down to the Piper Alpha refinery on the surface with Stapond, Corda, Catny and Danrick aboard. After the crew had planted flags, Catny picked up an extra screwdriver and spare jetpack fuel canister from the refinery's inventory. Refinery engineer Leedorf Kerman refueled the craft and then it returned to Munport. Tuesday began with Catny handing over her purloined equipment to Dezor and Halzer aboard the SCSS 7, which then departed the station and landed 150 meters from Didrin's Pod, a Mk 1 Cockpit. Halzer and Didrin carried the pod the 150 meters over to SCSS and after all three kerbals had planted flags on the Munar surface, the pod was attached to SCSS and the return to Munport was affected. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout 7 on final docking approach to Munport, with Didrin's Pod (below, pointing right) visibly attached. Dezor detatched the pod from the lander after docking and the tools were stowed aboard the SCSS's internal storage container. A Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe was dispatched to retrieve the pod; meanwhile the crews re-boarded Necessary Evil and burned for Kerbin. An Auk II 8-passenger plane was also sent up to Kerbinport in anticipation of Necessary Evil's return to the station, which happened on Wednesday; all eight of the passengers from Necessary Evil returned safely to KSC 09, clearing four contracts in the process. The BC probe also returned Didrin's pod to Kerbin intact on Wednesday, though the probe's engine stage disintegrated at re-entry. A new junk-and-kerbal mission over Mun came up, so another BC probe was launched that way, and two tourists went for another up-and-down jaunt. I also did a fuel run for Munport. Yesterday, I finally completed the diagnostic process to upgrade my KSP build to version 1.3.1, and made the switchover after verifying all mods were operational. I completed a second fuel run over Mun, the BC probe picked up engineer Megkin Kerman and her pod from Mun and returned her safely to Kerbin, and an Auk I flight retrieved engineer Leaemy Kerman from orbit successfully, though I initially had a lot of trouble getting her to maneuver into the plane's hatchway. With these two Kerbal staffmembers and two tourist flights in the pipe, it looks like I'll be doing another dual-moon run here in the very near future. I've got eleven contracts tied into the upcoming Duna mission, and at the moment I'm about six million short of being able to afford an Alcubierre Drive in my career save, so I'm going to be doing the mission the old-fashioned way - with a small fleet. Still haven't finished all the planning yet and the launch window is in 22 days...

Went ahead and made the transition to 1.3.1 today; all my mods are in place and functioning normally. What changes have you made to the mod as far as failsafe altitudes are concerned, @helaeon? I ask because I took the Phoenix 4 probe on a jaunt from Duna over to Jool and was able to use the drive to an altitude less than 9,000,000 m over Jool (the probe uses one of the old 0.625m drives, and in velocity mode if that matters). Didn't auto cut-off; I just shut it down after a bit. Got some new engine parts for which to calculate some nav guides, looks like. I can navigate with the changes. Bit disconcerting to be running flat out with the thrust limiter at full and still not be doing more than .1c. On the other hand, those azimuth change maneuvers are a lot easier to do without accompanying drastic altitude changes. The increased power requirement was a bit of a shock, but a welcome change...increases the pucker factor by quite a bit. Can you give me the rundown on how the electrical charge requirements have changed? My current designs only employ 4 RTGs for power... Going to have to try out angular momentum mode again to let y'all know how it behaves. At the moment I haven't got any momentum craft up.

This is a question that probably belongs over on the Official FAR Craft Repository. The optimal tailform for your plane is going to depend entirely on what you're going to be using it for. My own self, I tend to stick to a standard flying tailplane design (i.e. fuselage mounted but with a full-motion horizontal stabilizer) to fight Mach tuck; pretty much all the craft in my Auk spaceplane series have that setup. The exception - the Auk V - is a tailless delta, and its pitch characteristics suck. So, what kind of plane are you wanting to build?

I've begun the process of updating to 1.3.1. Got at least two mods installed that the game doesn't like right now; trying to narrow it down to the culprits. Been doing a lot of other things in game this past week; I've got it all logged. Might talk about it more come the weekend. Started writing an assistance utility for one of the mods. Been a long time since I've done any substantial coding work...

Since it's come up a fair number of times on this thread, I thought I'd let y'all know that I started work on a script today that (knock on wood) would let folks modify the .cfg files for custom flags all at once. Very early stages at the moment - it's been a while since I've done any kind of substantial coding so a lot of what happened today was just shaking off the rust. I'll keep y'all up to date on my progress.

Flags themselves are pretty straightforward; any 256x160 .png can be a flag file. As far as making it available for use with this mod, you'd have to adjust the configuration files for the three parts to include the flag. That in and of itself isn't terribly difficult and I can easily walk you through the process (next chance I get, anyway - bit busy at the moment).

I've grabbed a test copy of the mod and the 1.3.1 zip. Probably high-time I began the process of switching over to 1.3.1 anyways. Will let you know how it goes.

I'll add here that if you put a flag at both ends of the runway and then another one about a kilometer further inland, you've got yourself a primitive ILS. A small rover works just as well here; if you reclass it as a base, you'll be able to see it from a good long ways off. Might be something to consider if you ever want to try your hand at planes.

@JadeOfMaar is correct - attempting to "chain" multiple warp units together tends to lead to RUD at relativistic velocities. The 2.5 meter drive has a usable warp bubble radius of about 16 meters out the fore and aft ends, which in my experience is big enough to haul a lot of things all at once if you're careful about it. The speed limit is solely dependent on throttle (and by extension, the throttle limiter); with the version @helaeon has under development, it will soon also be dependent on where exactly you are in the system.

(1.3.0) After taking this past weekend off from the game, I began my week with a pair of fuel runs at Mun, shuttling fuel from the Piper Alpha refinery to the Munport space station using the Old Bessie 7 refueling lander. In the middle of the second run, the Gurney 7d craft sent to rescue engineer Dezor Kerman from HKO returned safely to Kerbin. I followed up that rescue job with a low altitude, low speed parts test of a Mk25 drogue parachute, which I did with a sounding balloon. That job in turn was followed up with a very fast ore mining job at Minmus that netted me √450k; the Deepwater Horizon refinery at Minmus continues to pay dividends. The next contract to come up was a junk-and-kerbal mission over Minmus, and to that end I launched a Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe to rendezvous with and rescue Stapond Kerman. I botched the transfer burn rather badly, unfortunately, and in the end I didn't have sufficient delta-v to get into Minmus's orbit, let alone affect a rescue mission. The probe was sent onto an impact trajectory with Minmus and a replacement probe was launched yesterday. Meanwhile, Necessary Evil arrived at Minmus and docked at the Minmusport space station. Pilots Catfrey and Agamore Kerman went down to the surface for flag-planting training using the station's Spamcan 7a passenger lander, then returned to Minmusport safely. After transferring back and refueling, Necessary Evil departed the station and burned for Kerbin. I rounded out my day on Wednesday with a final parts test and more ore mining, this time at Mun. In addition to the aforementioned replacement probe launch, yesterday was fairly eventful. An Auk I 2-passenger spaceplane was sent up to rescue engineer Halzer Kerman from LKO, affecting a successful rescue and return to KSC 09. The replacement probe was launched and arrived at Minmus five days later, this time affecting a successful equatorial orbit. Rendezvous planning has already commenced. Necessary Evil also returned safely from Minmus and docked at the Kerbinport space station: Necessary Evil, coming into a docking pier at Kerbinport that apparently is - by necessity - evil. Necessary Evil's return puts all four craft in my ferry fleet "in the barn"; going to have to get some more tourist/training flights going, looks like (for the sake of my frame rate in and around the station if for nothing else). The craft was refueled and the two tourists aboard were transferred to a waiting Auk VII 16-passenger spaceplane docked at the station, which then departed the station and returned safely to KSC 09, clearing five contracts all at once for a cool √2M. I have made the decision to go ahead and land most of the personnel currently stationed at Kerbinport, and will be making one or two spaceplane flights in the near future for that purpose. Going to have to figure out just how many kerbals need to come down first... One last thing of note from yesterday was that the Kerbincomm India communications relay satellite was manevuered into its final orbital position 60,000 km over Kerbin. I just have to get the Kerbincomm Hotel satellite into position now and the comms relay network over Kerbin will finally be up and fully operational - the positioning maneuver for that craft is scheduled to take place in nineteen days.

Glad to have been of some assistance.

Hmm...okay, so if I understand correctly, this method would have you calculating your distance and bearing to every body in the system you're in with each tick, correct? That sounds kinda like what the Protractor Extended mod does, though in this case the bearings and ranges could be changing significantly with each tick. The 1.3 source code for that mod might give you a place to start if it turns out you need to go that way. I use that mod; I should fire it up while warping and see if it behaves...

I might suggest using twice the distance of a star's SOI as a "braking zone" for want of a better term. Within a star system, limit the max throttle to 10-15C (like it is now). Within the braking zone, maybe 100C or so (just to throw a number out there; that's probably still too fast), and then really be able to crank it when you're well into interstellar space. Could even scale that down within interlunar space inside the system. Is there anything in the code that would increase the rate of depletion of consumables as speed increases?

This might not be a bad idea - I recall reading a few pages back some folks having issue with using the mod for interstellar travel because of the top speed of the engine being something like 16c as it stands right now (or thereabouts - my observations put the top speed somewhere around 11.5c). Travel time to the closest star was something like half a year, with no time warp possible. After reading that, I thought about suggesting another engine for the mod with a higher top speed, but making top speed dependent on distance to a gravitationally significant body would render that completely unnecessary.

(1.3.0) TL, DR version - I did a lotta boring crap. Stuff happened. No screenies. Full version for those of you who have some aptitude in and appreciation of the value of literacy follows: The past few days have been spent largely finishing up tourist contracts at Mun and doing fuel runs. Wednesday began with my attempt at a fueling run with the Old Bessie 7 lander at the Piper Alpha refinery on Mun. As y'all will recall, the original intent was to hook up the lander to the refinery with KAS winches, using the rover Indecision as a bridge between the two craft, but somewhere along the line the winch that was attached to the rover went missing. I decided to do things the hard way then, moving Indecision close enough to where I could connect it to Old Bessie with KAS pipes directly. That part went alright. I then had to pump the fuel into the lander the old-fashioned way because TAC decided not to behave (its button on the Toolbar was shaded out and non-operative), and after that was all said and done, the damn pipe didn't want to unlink. All in all, refinery engineer Leedorf Kerman earned her pay that day. Ultimately I did get the two craft unlinked, Piper Alpha's fuel stores were recharged and Old Bessie returned to the Munport space station. The amount of fuel delivered was not quite enough to recharge the station's stores and the lander had departed the refinery at sunset, so an alarm was set for sunrise (three days later) for another run. In the meantime, Necessary Evil departed Mun's SOI bound for Minmus, while the new ferry craft Laggin' Dragon returned safely to Kerbin and docked with the Kerbinport space station. Thursday began with the arrival of the Moneybux 7 module at Minmus; it was placed into orbit and fulfilled a new Minmus space station contract, then went on to dock with the existing Minmusport space station. Old Bessie's second fuel run was completed, and then the ferry ships Strange Cargo and Next Objective both arrived in Mun's SOI inbound from Minmus. Strange Cargo docked at Munport, but as none of her nine tourists aboard needed to visit the surface, she stayed just long enough to gas up before heading back to Kerbin. Next Objective had five Kerbals that needed to visit the surface - scientists Bobkin and Paley Kerman, pilot Phildan Kerman, and tourists Melwell and Cerger Kerman. The five Kerbals went down to the surface in two trips using the station's Spamcan 7b passenger lander, with the KSC staffmembers planting ceremonial flags and punching their tickets at the space station's lab once they returned to Munport. Upon their return, Next Objective was refueled and burned for Kerbin. I have yet to refuel Munport's fuel stores...again...... Yesterday began with a contract to adjust the orbit of the Minmus Alpha probe for some fast money. Strange Cargo then returned to Kerbinport safely, her onboard tourists transferring to the passenger compartment of a waiting Auk VII 16-passenger spaceplane; Jeb resumed operational command of the craft by transferring back to its main command pod at that point. Strange Cargo was refueled from the payload stores of an Auk VIII heavy tanker docked at the station. The Auk VIII's remaining payload fuel load was delivered to the station's reserve tanks and what little remained was transferred into one of the fuel tanks of the Auk VII. The Auk VIII then undocked and returned successfully to KSC 27 shortly before Next Objective reached periapsis at Kerbin. Next Objective also returned safely to Kerbinport and was refueled from the Auk VII and the station's reserve stores, her onboard tourists transferring to the Auk VII. Next Objective's return fulfilled a long-standing contract to expand Kerbinport, which was replaced with an HKO rescue contract. I decided to do a low-tech mission here, upgrading the tech on the old Gurney 7 rescue craft. Gurney 7d was launched on a mission to pick up engineer Dezor Kerman and successfully rendezvoused with his craft. After transferring, the craft burned to return to Kerbin; I have yet to complete that mission. Hoping it all goes well - I definitely could use more engineers....

This jives with what happened to me during my Dres attempt. If something's not working the way it should be, it would explain a great many things.

I've considered doing a delta-V map for this (and a few other) planet packs; my trouble is that I don't fully grok all of the figures. I've got transfers down, and I've got landings down on bodies without atmosphere (I think); it's the others that are giving me headaches. Certainly willing to give it a go once I figure out what the crap I'm doing...

That right there is a true shame...and here I was considering adding BDArmory to my install just to liven things up a little bit...... Well, out of curiosity, what is your current wing loading, and what 's your current aspect ratio?

If you're looking for maneuverability, you need to destabilize the plane - CoM at or slightly behind and slightly above the CoL. An anhedral, low main wing will largely do the trick. You want to be careful doing this - too much and the plane won't be controllable. A fly-by-wire mod such as Atmosphere Autopilot will help you keep control.

Most of the star systems I covered in the guide are replacements for the Kerbol system; I know KSS uses The All as the center of its 'universe'. Couldn't say about DoubleDouble or maybe Extrasolar. I'll have to give the orbital momentum model another go; still haven't really had time to try it. I do know the one time I attempted to use the same maneuvering techniques for it as for linear velocity mode was a spectacular failure; wound up at Dres going about 33%c...

I figured as much. The KER mass figure in the original screenie caught my attention, though, so I figured I'd check on it since I was out of any other ideas.