Tw1

Clearly, time to get out of there.

Echoing many previous comments... Aww! Poor Jeb.

So. It took a lot longer than initially planned, there were plot holes, and other things I needed to do, but I finally have a part two. I broke it up into two parts, rather than trying to finish of the whole thing at once. As it has now been quite a while since the new space centre arrived, the rest of this story is going to be looking towards 0.22, to a certain extent, to keep things interesting. Kerbals and craft are from my main save. So without further ado, Here's part one, of part two. I hope you enjoy. Preparations for the new space centre progressed at a rapid pace. Jeb, Bob, and Bill, as well as many other figures from the old space program were consulted on designs for several new buildings. Plans were made public, and approved. Details of funding arrangements were made final. Jebediah's Junkyard, Rockomax, Kerlington and many other manufacturers readied themselves for the huge demands soon to be placed on them. The corroded remains of the old buildings were towed away, and two of Werner Kerman's former staff were found doing sums in the VAB basement, apparently unaware that the space program ever had ended... As progress was made, the KSC community- that is, the former astronauts, technicians, and other associates, were kept in the loop through regular electronic messages. Then one day, this message arrived: ________________________________________________________________________________________ From: KerbalSpaceCenter.org. To: KSPnetwork, leangreenflyingmachine@ksc.org, Sciencesofspace1@ksc.org, BillKerman@ksc.org,..... Subject: Visit! ________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear KSC Crew The construction of phase one is nearly complete! Soon we will be on to detailing, and finishing interior fit outs. Soon, we will have a fully operational space centre. At this stage our construction team is willing let in with a limited mount of visitors. To Bill, Bob, and Jebediah: As our most experienced, and well known astronauts, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could come to inspect the center first hand, to get your thoughts, test things, and perhaps generate some promotional material. Are you free in the next few days? I will send a plane over. At the moment, the center is not ready enough to let everyone see, but rest assured, you are all expected at The Grand Opening. More details to come soon, if everything goes to plan. Sincerely, Gene Kerman. Flight director, and acting head of KSP. _______________________________________________________________________ Sure enough.. Jeb: "Bill! You ready?! I can see the plane arriving!" Bill: "Almost. I will be with you in a minute." For some reason, the pilot from KSC had insisted they wore pressure suits. Bill was already suited up, but there was something he intended to take with him, something that he had yet to find. Carefully, Bill searched his files. He found it. He pulled out a long, sturdy tube. Inside this particular file, were the technical drawings, part lists, and all the details needed to create one particular spacecraft. The W Planet Explorer. Now an outdated and inefficient design, but as the ship that made him the first man on Duna, Bill had a sentimental attachment to this craft, and was sure KSC could use the plans somehow. Tucking the craft's file under his arm, Bill proceeded down the corridor- "Oh! Bill! I thought you had gone already. " It was Milly Kerman! She was also carrying something under her arm. Milly: "I have a small favour to ask you. I was going send it will Bob, but he's out already. Would you mind taking this to KSC?" Milly passed a long tube to Bill. Inspecting the tube, Bill found a label. KSC Craft File: Dash Wing Starfighter MK V Bill: "I'm sure this will be in the archives somewhere. That craft was pretty advanced." Milly: "I Know, but it was my favourite one, and I've got good memories from my time in them." Bill's own memories from that craft were...mixed, but- Bill: "Alright then, I'll take it." Milly: "Thank you so much. Have a good time today!" Now with two files under his arm, Bill continued on his way- "Um, Bill? Could I get you to do something for me?" Bill turned around and there was Melmy Kerman, holding another craft file. Melmy:"I, Um, would like you to take this to KSC. It's the ship that first put me the Mun." Bill inspected the file. Bill: "I remember this. Not sure we still use all these parts" Melmy: "It would still be good to make sure it's archived properly, you know, for historic purposes." Bill: "Sure. Why not." Jeb and Bob were probably already at the plane. Taking this third craft file, Bill began an awkward jog, hurrying down the corridor... Duney Kerman: "Hey! Bill! I need ya to do something for me! -------------------------------------------------------- Several kerbals and several craft files later, Bill finally made it out the door. He could see what looked like an Albatross 3 down by the landing strip. And Bob and Jeb were definitely there. Bob: "I can't believe they still haven't come up with a plane that can seat more than three on the inside. Why couldn't you have arranged a commercial flight to take us there.?" Jeb: "Come on Bob! The view will be great! And this keeps everything in the hands of KSC." Bob: "But-" On closer inspection, it was pretty clear what Bob was worried about: Bill was not overly concerned, those things had held up to the forces of reentry- not that that would be needed on this flight. Probably. Bill: "Hey, have you got room in the hold for these?" He showed the pilot all the craft files he was carrying. Pilot:" "Probably, but that's a lot of tubes. What have you got in there?" Bill: "These are old craft designs, to be taken to the archives. The guys wanted to make sure they were on record." Pilot: "Sure, I'll take care of that, but why don't they just bring them along on opening day?" Oh. Yeah. I guess nobody thought of that..... ---------------------------------------------- The flight plan would have them landing at the Space Center while the morning was still quite young. This being Kerbin, the sun would be right overhead. Kerbin is a strange planet. It may not look it, but it is unstable, with a lithosphere prone to sudden periods of change. One such era of geological change had happened in between the ending of the last space program, and the beginning of the next, resulting in some significant changes to the landscape surrounding KSC. As our friends are just about to notice- Jeb: "Wow! Those mountains are magnificent!" Bill: "Sure are. Chad (The pilot), have there been any problems at KSC? I know some places have had substantial uplift.." Chad: "Nup, not at KSC. We had a few problems with the old island airstrip, but a solution was found. It's not perfect, but it works." Jeb eyed the mountains with excitement. He'd got lost there testing rovers, back when they were flatter, but man, now they had potential! He couldn't wait to get his hands on a plane, and go dodge some peaks! Bob was still a little nervous. What if the funds weren't as good as they claimed? What if the new buildings had been built on the cheap, or the space around them been sold off for shops and apartments to get the money? That wouldn't suit a space center at all. Sure, he'd seen the pictures, and read all the updates, but it wasn't the same as seeing it for yourself. Wouldn't be long now... Chad: "And there it is!" Bill: "Wow. That looks... really good. It looks professional." Jeb "Is... Is that a bigger VAB? YES! AWESOME! WOO HOO!" Bob: "Jeb! Don't let go of your seat like that!" Chad took the plane downwards and set it down... next to the runway. Chad: "It's just been surfaced, I don't want to damage it. Also, you might want to keep those helmets on for a bit, lots of fumes about." Yeah. Sure, Chad. ----------------------------------------- Jeb: "New Space center! Woo hoo!" Bob: "The pad looks the same." Bill: "Probably the only thing that didn't corrode away. " A large rover rolled over to where the guys had landed. Out hopped two media kerbals, one member of the admin team, as well as one Gene Kerman himself. Gene: "Welcome! It's good to see you all here! Bill: "It's good to be back!" Gene: "Come this way! I've got to show you the new place!" First stop: The Space Plane Hangar. The old hanger was built to provide an alternative to the VAB, after Kerbals discovered wing based flight. The home of aircraft development for many years, its successor had many improved features, ready to take space plane technology even further. And it was also much bigger. Inside, aircraft, rovers, and other pieces of technology can be made for testing. Jeb: "I'm loving the new tower," Said Jeb, with a curious grin on his face. With his remote, Gene triggered the giant sliding doors, and they stepped inside. While Bob and Bill were inspecting scaffolding on the walls, Jeb noticed a modified Aeris 3A over in the corner, surrounded by engineers. He headed over. Jeb: "What's happening?" Jack Kerman (An engineer): We've got a new reaction wheel system, that should be better than the old SAS. It has been installed in this plane, for testing." Jeb looked to the left, then to the right. A big, cheesy smile came over his face. Jeb: "Has it been tested with manned flight yet?" Jack: "Uh....." Truth be told, not a single member of the testing team had been willing to step inside even a rover with the new SAS equipped. Gene: "Now, there is something I'd like to show you guys in the underground parts depot. If we go this way.." Jeb: "Can I catch you guys up? There's something I'd love to do first" he said, making a sideways nod towards the plane. Gene half-frowned for a half second, making a very quick judgement call... Gene: "Alright! See you soon." He reached for his pocket communicator. Someone should be sent to man the control tower, just in case. And checking if that what that media group was up to wouldn't hurt either. There would be plenty of other opportunities for Jebediah to see the rest of the new space center. He'd seen all the plans and photos, anyway. Turning back to the plane, Jeb saw that all the engineers had mysteriously disappeared. Jeb's smile became a full on grin. He fired up that basic jet engine right there and then, before he'd even left the hangar. SAS held him steady, as he turned and flew... Towards the mountains! To be continued!

Don't worry! I am determined to see railways in KSP sooner than later. But I also have a degree to work towards, etc.. Assuming the flu I had is leaving me, I might have some test parts to share in a week, give or take. Nothke's test track! Have a pic of it on the Mun. The track I'm testing next will be a little thinner, but not too much to cope with low gravity. Top will probably be 5 meters, (just a little wider than the tracks Hitler wanted.) bottom about 6, maybe more, as it would be useful to let kerbals walk about on the side. Then I need to work out how to make wheels, with them wheel colliders, and all that.

Don't worry it'd be pretty unrealistic to expect constant rapid development with something like this. A few days isn't much.

This eludes me as well. Would've been useful on a few occasions.

The plan: Bounce of Tylo, intercept Bop. Flawless.

Now, how to send them infinite time to work on this, the various other things they each make, and deal with non-KSP rest of life stuff...

I agree, they look terrible, they're also pretty cumbersome so far. But, if Nothke says yes, my planed modular bogie could be included with the city. This means I could lock in a more practical size track. Looking forward to seeing version two! Would we be able to get the textures used in it included in the shared textures? It'd be silly to add a new texture, when ones that are there already could be re-used.

Nah, Minmus is great for gameplay reasons- harder to reach than the Mun, but easier to land on. I'd miss it a lot if it was sent to the far regions of the solar system, even though it looks like it'd be more likely to form there. I don't see any solid reason for redoing what they've already got so far. They would've put a lot of thought into it.

Yep. As said, that's me. I have been quite sick the past few days, still recovering, so probably will be a few more days before I test the track shape. It is sized to be usable with an assembly of stock wheels, so the same standard could be used for Kerbin City, without people needing to download train parts from this mod. Something like this: I may rearrange things a little, so the track will be less tall, but not until I can think clearly again.

Just a heads up, the train systems we've been working on are monorail in principle, so the bogie you've got there, while it looks great, won't be compatible. But, you're welcome to help me with the railways mod if you'd like I'm making T-cross section modular railway pieces, which would be usable with stock wheels. E.g: Or, I might just offer a specialised bogie part for bundling with Kerbin City, if Nothke doesn't mind. Probably have the exact track dimensions in a day or two. Looks like that'd be a good spot, it would get the ocean breeze.

That was utterly awesome. The lighting, the animation.. Possibly the best video yet, and that's saying something.

Sure about including the hybrid pack? As much as I like them, you can just about land on the Mun with them if your craft is super light, and you fly very well.

I would be a fan of this. Ironcross has better looking parts, that recycler worked, but there was the no resource use in inactive vessels problem, and the annoying scrubbers that didn't start, or stay on. EsvDefcon's one didn't seem to go that far. Tac and Ironcross seem pretty similar in their goals, from what I hear. If they were to team up, the results would be pretty awesome.

Kerbal space program, stealth mode! What inspired my suggestion, was one time when I had too much delta-V in a booster, I turned around to eliminate it with the lasers, as some parts blew up, other parts kept floating in position. The same thing happened on Kerbin too, when I was clearing up debris at KSC. I recon such a system would work best along with having several of the most common mod parts loaded, to reduce the chance of invisible ships. If such a system is even possible, that is.

One problem with the update time theory, is it would mess up any transfer windows that other players had planed. Solar liner's idea, where it updates the orbit of other players, relative to the body they have an encounter with, sounds like a better solution. One thing I was wondering, would it be possible to just not load a missing mod part, and have a gap where it would be? Only the other parts, arranged as they are on that player's computer would be shown. Or would that not be feasible?

My take on Apollo also went with a side mounted rover, but with a special frame that would direct its deployment. "Science experiment packs" balanced it.

I hope the ability to land on the Mun, or other planets isn't locked when you start a career mode save. I mean, how would that even work? Would the Mun not be there, (which would be odd, not seeing it, then it suddenly appearing) or would it somehow block you with an "Opps, you can't do that yet" pop-up when you approach? Maybe the landing just wouldn't "count" and you'd have to go back after making the baby steps to get those points. The options that come to mind all seem terribly arbitrary, and immersion breaking to me. If you want to land on the Mun using only the most basic parts, and not bother with orbiting a satellite first, why shouldn't you? Assuming you've got, and are willing to risk that much funding, that is. Currently the missions that are possible to you are based on your ability as a player. This varies from person to person- perhaps a player finds getting an intercept easy, but landing hard. Their first landing might be on Minmus rather than Mun. A player who learns rendezvous and docking easily, but struggles with large payloads would plan their first interplanetary voyages quite differently to one who makes monstrous rockets, can't dock for their life. Funding, the need to research, and (maybe) life support will provide plenty of realistic limits. An "unlock mission" type mechanism would be quite cumbersome in this game, if you ask me.

I wouldn't mind a basic simulator that lets you vary gravity and air pressure, to test designs. Very basic graphics, removing much of the experience of actually going there. Load your Lander there, give it a go. Nothing more

This is such an cool compilation. The way everything fits together, the way bits have been fit to the song, the way it covers basically every aspect- very job. I have watched it several times over the past few days, and probably will come back to it more times. It's great. Also: We don't know, because this forum doesn't give an option to show gender. That's something I'd like, so we know which pronouns to use.

Something creepy happening there! You have a cool accent. Edit: Also weclome to the KSP forums, for real now!

Very cool images. I can imagine landing on that Moon...

I am surprised they didn't just break!

Welcome to the forums!