Tw1

I wonder if things like everyone's rep and post count, rep, join date etc. could be archived, then artificially set, like how they do for official profiles. These things can be helpful, as they do offer a little info about the people you're talking to. I mean, you can tell some with thousands of posts probably has a little experience in things. Potential new features do sound cool though.

Very impresive! Welcome to the Kerbal Forum Proper! That's quite an entrance. I like your composition and lighting. The photoshoot of the mechjeb pod almost seems real. Microscopic nitpic, thrust in a vacuum looks quite different in reality, but that is how it is in KSP, and that issue is dwarfed by how cool everything else is. I think my favourite would be the one with all the kerbals. What are they doing out there, I wonder....

I'd rather the base game not waste memory on parts that aren't going to be around for that long. But if they re-use textures, (And maybe meshes), that wouldn't be a problem. But still, they might just end up as clutter in the parts list.

So, I have decided to revive this as a pre-0.90 sort of thing. Might continue post release a little. If any one is interested in contributing a drawing, you'd be most welcome (linework only is fine). Part two: A meeting of minds. Bob: "Someone's coming! I knew we'd get caught!" Bill: "Quick! Hide!" They dived beneath some bushes. Harv: "Bill? Bob?" Harv started to turn around. Someone behind him: "Was that firework yours?" It was another young kerbal, only a few years older than himself. Image by TW1, with tree by Rhyunix Wernher: "It was very impressive. I'm Werhner." Bob: "It wasn't Park security. Phew." Bill: "It was ours. :)" Wernher:" Your rocket, it inspires me. Do you think you could build one bigger?" Jeb(Covered in dirt, bruises, and soot): "Oh yeah! Let's make a bigger one! Bigger is awesome!" Bob: "But Jeb, we don't have any money left!" Wernher: "I think, that if we made one big enough, we would be able to reach the Mun." Bob "Wait... you mean you can actually go there?" Wernher: "I think it is so." Bob: " Just think of what we might find! ..... Bill! Jeb! I can get us more money. Let's do it!" * * * * * Next time: "Plans" I have decided to update this one in small bite size chunks, as an experiment. Each bit might not stand so well on its own, but we'll see how it goes.

Damn. Editing in BBCode is half the fun sometimes but as long as it still works... I hope those negatives prove incorrect, it would be quite disappointing to have those things reset. Is it worth it? Is there a reason behind the change? Vbulletin seems to work...

You know, while it is an honour, (as far as internet points go,) there's not a lot of practical benefit to having high rep. What if people with a certain level of rep were allowed a few more images in their signature? *Hint, hint* *nudge, nudge* :wink: Edit: Welcome, Pecan!

No, but I have a movie voucher that needs using.

It would make sense to give then some boosts. Personally, I like to think of Bill as the engineer, and Bob the scientist. I find Bob gets a lot more scared than Bill.

I'm interested to hear what the details will be. Its is mostly stuff under the hood, or will the format of profiles and posts change? Will we need to replace links in sigs and whatnot? I assume things like rep, and post count will be preserved.

I've heard some try to claim the Soviets were faking it too.

So much this. The same realisation inspired me to write the blog I quoted earlier. We have good gameplay systems for building the spacecraft, and a good system for getting it there, but not a lot for once you've got to your destination. Stock KSP isn't really suited for missions other than apollo style short visits. This could be cool, and is something that could be done through contracts. But I'd love to be able to cruise across Duna or Laythe without knowing what I'll find, and have sensors pinging way. Drill in one place and get one reading, and drill a bit further on, and get something slightly different. Exploration with nuance, that would be my ideal. Agreed, but I don't think making it harder and more grindy is what anyone here has suggested so far. Some things that take time would be cool, but should be warpable. (Like how kethane mining is.) The earn points to unlock parts system does its job well, (though it can be a bit grindy) but doesn't really live up to being called 'science'. It's not really about the tech tree. I'd like there to be something beyond the tech tree. Ideally, something that isn't going to be used up.

The changes to SAS is one thing I'm slightly worried about. But, of as probes can take over when there is no pilot, then it might be ok, and only be a bother in the early part of the game, pre-unlocking everything.

Simcity 4, another of my favorites. Are those the roundabouts from the NAM? Their modding community is still going strong.

An Orion reenactment? Nice! I played some career. With NEAR, and only SRBs. Jeb has only survived one landing so far. Also, far after too long, I have finally posted a new installment of Oceans of Eve. The most special effects intensive one so far. Available from your local fanworks forum. Read today!

Some of these could apply to many other fields of design too. 3,4, 7, 8, all sound familiar...

I give parts titles now. Titles are cool. * * * Dontop's Private chamber, Mun Seetop: "Now, if you'll look at the screens, I've got something you should see." Dontop: .... Dontop: "This is perfect! Call a meeting right away" * * * Mt Venus, Eve. [iNCOMING TRANSMISSION] Gene (transmitted message): "This is KSC. Good morning Watsan." As you'll recall, your support probe was originally bound for Laythe, then redirected when you decided to stick to your Eve landing plan." (at this, Watsan rolled his eyes) Gene: "Now, on board that probe, are several small landing packages. Fortunately, we built them with enough tolerance to operate in Evian conditions. Each consists of one wind power probe, and instruments for setting up remote weather stations. We want you to set them up as you travel across Eve. Attached are the control codes, I look forward to receiving the data. Watsan: "Will do." * * * Prograde City, Science lab 03 Mallie: "I've been lookin into the dust samples, trying to work out what keeps going wrong with our soil synthesis. And I think I've found something." Joefell: "Ooo, what is it?" Mallie: "I'm not sure. Some sort of chemical. I'm still workin on extracting it, but it reminds me of Kethane." "What do you think we should do about Dontop? Joefell: "I'm not sure. We have policies for when a base director dies, retires, or is no longer fit to direct, but I'm not sure Dontop quite fits any of that." Mallie: "Maybe if he'd agree to a medical check..." Seebus: "I have to agree with you guys. Prograde City needs a proper leader." Joefel: "Hi Seebus". Seebus: "Also, meeting in room Room A in fifteen minutes." * * * Sixteen minutes later... Room A, Prograde City main module. Dontop: "Thank you everyone for coming so quickly. This may be Prograde City's greatest scientific opportunity yet. This asteroid, VSV-320, is a small, C class asteroid, which our tracking team has determined will impact the West Farside Crater in a proximately two weeks." At this, a few kerbals up the back took the opportunity to look smug. Dontop: This unusual occurrence will give us an opportunity to to to ....." For a brief moment, Dontop looked like he'd lost his balance . Then Seetop quickly poked him in the side. Dontop: "Ahhh oh ... To study how a crater forms up close. So, for the coming week and a half, we must get ready. We've got to contact munar outposts, design texperiments, build debris shields, and begin moving equipment to the impact site." Seetop: "Now, we need to develope on a schedule for the mission, so we can all get out experiments ready in time. * * * In space, high over Eve. As the support probe began the orbit which would pass over Evepod, one small, semi-autonomous probe detached from behind the shield. I like to hum the Thunderbirds theme for this bit. Operating on battery power, it turned, and with a small puff of thrust, moved itself away. At the opposite side of the planet, the probe de-orbited, aiming for Mt Venus. Streaking through the atmosphere, constant small adjustments kept the probe on course. This took me about six goes, I recently installed FAR, was still mastering the aerodynamics. Watsan was out, working on Evepod's wheels when he saw the parachute open. It was coming down a few hundred meters to the west. Wastan waited, finishing up what he was doing, Then drove over to inspect it. Watsan (for mission log): "I have arrived at KSC's probe. It seems to be encased in a heatproof shell." Watsan could not make out what instruments this probe had come with, everything was inside the casing. He'd have to look at the logged data later. the attached type A standard container. Adjusting the Evesuit's external microphone, Watsan could hear the faint whir of the probe's internal turbine, converting Eve's ever present winds into electricity. Watsan: "Everything seems operational. I have collected the equipment package, and am returning to Evepod." Watsan proceeded with caution- the package was not excessively heavy, but you can't be too careful, carrying things in almost twice kervin's gravity. Watsan returned to Evepod, mounted the container on the storage rack, feed squishy, and settled down to sleep. Tomorrow, he'd start exploring the mountain. * * * Farside Canyon, Mun. Bill: "Bob, we should go to the ridge top. I'd like to examine these craters from above. Bob: "Alright." Bob: "Wow.. I really don't get how something like this could possibly form!" Bill: "Agreed. It's not the shape we'd expect for an impact at the base of the cliff." Bob: " I mean just look at it! It perfectly matches the curve or the surrounding cliff! If this was kerbin, I'd look for tectonic movement, some sort of folding, but Milly's old study was pretty clear this canyon was an impact feature!" Bill: "Bob. Do you think these craters could be an act of Squad?" Bob: "Squad? As in the deity?" Bill: "Yes." Bob: "No, I don't believe a superpowered old man who lives in the stars. ." Bill: "Squad is not a man. He's not even Kerbal. Squad is made of several persons. Besides, the fact that we've found artifacts not only on Kerbin, but on the Mun and Minmus, which bear His name should mean something." Bob: "I don't know, I prefer the ancient aliens theory. Both might as well reasonable explanations for the crater phenomenon, given the bizarre data we've got so far." * * * (Author's note: this scene may be deleted in future) Bill: "Bob, do you have the list of landing sites? Could you tell me what's next?" Bob: "OK. We're to check in with the base near here. Then the next one is. 0° 8' S, 136° 42' E." Bill: "I recognise that. Retrograde crater, there's a fuel depot there." Bob: "57° 39' N, 9° 9'E." Bill: "Umm, Mack's pit, lowest point on the Mun? Odd choice..." Bob: "18° 32' N, 49° 2' E. " Bill: "Site of the first Mun landing? Hmm..." Bob: "And 12° 27' N, 39° 11'' E." Bill: "That's the arch near old Mun Base One. Right on the edge of the Northwest Crater. Might be interesting." * * * Mt Venus, Eve. The clouds had come in thick, along with a rise in temperature, and according to the instruments, humidity. Visibility was still quite high, as Wastan prepared to set of. He would be making use of an automated guidance system, enabling him to pre-set routes based on satellite data. This would leave him free to observe, except where manual intervention was necessary. He was quite impressed by how the route was shown on the helmet HUD. Fancy computers. What will they do next? He arrived at the south eastern ridge at dawn, pausing to watch the sunrise. The mist brought back memories of his days climbing kerbins mountains. It looked bracingly cool. The reality was quite different, but that didn't stop Watsan turning down his suit internal temperature, just a tiny bit. At the western face, Watsan made several, three hour long EVAs to inspect the cliff face. The large slope of regolith between the exposed rock was an enigma. In higher gravity, the angle of repose (angle soil sits at) would logically be lower, yet here it was, sitting on a slope greater than one in one. Digging about, Watsan began to suspect Eve's carbon-rich seas had a role to play here. A tar like residue seemed to glue the soil* particles together, giving the ground a consistency somewhere in between softfall and silly putty. Stay still for too long, and you'd start to sink in. *technically not soil. But it's nicer to not have to always say "regolith". The north face was a lot gentler, sloping down to the sea. Here, Watsan noticed small channels, running parallel down the hills side, possibly rivulets, formed by some sort of precipitation event. Watsan chose a small mound to be the first of his remote weather stations. After making sure the ground was firm, he planted a flag. This will serve as both support and antenna. Then, he brought out the box of parts, and bolted them on. Watsan: "KSC, you have your first Eve weather station." He looked around. Watsan: "First weather report: cloudy, with a chance of boiling to death." * * * West Farside Crater, projected impact side Dontop: "Today, we make history once again! First kerbals to witness a munar impact up close!" Dontop: "Instruments, what's your status?" Mallie: "Thermometers, seismometers, everything is lookin' good." Dontop: "Cameras?" Dudbus: "All set, on standby to record!" Dontop: "Tracking?" Edu kerman: "We have just received a visual from Mun Satellite 5. Asteroid 18 minutes from impact, and we now have 98% certainty it will land within 50 meters of the projected spot." * * * Edu: "Asteroid 6 minutes to impact. " Dontop: "I want anything that is not critical, anything that could interfere with the fine instruments shut down. Life Support reprocessing, Long range coms, shut them all down." Edu: "But sir, what if someone tries to contact us?" Mallie: "We can remove any interference when we-" Dontop: "DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID! Shut them DOWN." Edu: "Yes sir! Right away!" Mallie: "What's with the sudden angry outburst?" Edu: "Two minutes to impact!" Dontop: "Everyone at the ready! We need as much data, and as many samples as possible. Stay behind the shields until impact is over, and beware of falling ejecta!" From behind their shields, (Or technically, while peeking over them,) the kerbals of the Mun base turned their eyes skyward.... Who would want to miss somthing like that? Dontop: "Go! Go! Go! * * * Meanwhile: Conference Room One, Admin building, KSC. Gene: "... bringing us one step closer to completing our goal of manned landings on all known planets, inspiring the next generation of astronomers to dream of worlds beyond. With your sponsorship of our Jool mission..." Suddenly- BEEP-BEEP BEEP-BEEP BEEP-BEEP BEEP-BEEP Mat Kerman(Integrated Integrals representative): "What was that?" Gene: "Just a fire alarm. I'm sure it's nothing we should worry about." Walt bursts in. Gene: "Walt! You're late! And what's with the suit?" Walt: "I'm sorry Gene, we've got to evacuate." Gene: "It's just fire." Walt: "This fire is in the storage facility. The crew were in the middle of storing recycled Lv-Ns. And that SRB shipment which ran late." Elle Kerman: "Gene, as your legal advisor, I must remind you that in a the event that a fire becomes likely to trigger an explosion which would result in nuclear material being spread, the UN requires-" Gene: "We evacuate all non-firefighting personnel from the complex. *sigh* Ladies and gentile kerbs, if you'll follow me, we must relocate. I know a place in town..." Gene had a lot of confidence in his firefighting team. They'd get things under control, well, they'd better. If they didn't, KSC would be set back by weeks. And need a lot of new paint and topsoil. Mt Venus, Eve. After a week of exploration, Watsan was ready to return to sea level. Here is a simulated image of the planned route down to the bay: This route was carefully planned to avoid excessive bumps, and maintain a slope of less than one in three- Evepod's designed maximum.* Thanks to the adjustments to the suspension, it performed admirably, only once did the journey need to be paused for wheel maintenance. *Does not include safely margins. As altitude fell, temperature, gravity, and air pressure all rose. At the foot of the mountain, the mist was thinker than ever. Visibility extremely poor. There was no guarantees driving in this weather. Watsan decided to call it a day, and went inside. * * * A few minutes later... Inside the Evepod. Watsan was settling down, and about to move to the science section for his daily medical tests, when he was noticed a status light change: This is a mini airlock used for bringing equipment or samples out onto the deck, or exposing them to the air. Basically, it's the science jr. part on the front. Odd. That shouldn't happen, those doors can only be operated from within the science lab, or from that would mean... Oh no. Watsan glanced at the jar. Empty. Fearing the worst, he turned to the window.. Quickly, Watsan pulled on an Evesuit, grabbed a helmet, and set the airlock to cycle at maximum safe speed. Once outside, he dashed around to the front, found Squishy still alive and twitching, Quickly, and carefully prised Squishy off Evepod's scorching hot surface and pushed him through the hatch. He cycled the airlock,(with external controls,) activating the cleaning system on the slowest setting. He got back inside as soon as he could, and began transmitting: Watsan: "Watsan Kerman to Prograde City. Watsan Kerman to KSC. My... my pet has been exposed to the Eve atmosphere. Suffering from burns. Please contact Joefel kerman. Please advise. Urgent. Over." He grabbed a weak, but still moving Squishy, placed him in the jar, and filled it with water. He waited for a reply. Nothing. Watsan: "Watsan Kerman to Prograde City. Watsan Kerman to KSC. Please advise. Urgent. Over." ... Watsan: "Watsan Kerman to Prograde City. Watsan Kerman to KSC..." * * *

Those kerbals just don't believe in ejector seats, do they? Nicely put together. My only criticism is some of the scenes where only there to look cool, but that seems to be the thing for these cinematics things.

Just did. The limiting factor is electricity. But this was with NEAR.

Not bad. Could do with a little more editing though, to improve the flow of events. Is this going to be stand alone, or the start of something?

Do you plan to continue past the Mun, taking inspiration from something post Mun race/alternate history? Or coming to that decision when it's time? Also, I may have made a parody version of your awesome banner for my OoE/CoM.... Hope that's alright...

Well done USA-lians. NASA and Lockheed know their stuff. I noticed that too! So cool.

Dumping the drogues seems a little wasteful to me. If only they could be retained, to avoid littering, without interfering with the main chutes.

I seen to have failed my sleep insertion burn. Woke up. 3 min from reentry? Cool.

I like how this image seems familiar, the images from orbit at this altitude reminds me of what we see in low orbit around little Kerbin. I'm going to sleep now, keep grabbing screenies, that would be nice for us who are on the currently dark side of the planet, we will appreciate it. That makes sense. So it is sort of meaningful. One nautical mile is 1852 metres apparently, for those reading the thread.

A nice, neat, compact little package. Nice job!