KSK

Yep - another verb for the dictionary: Corda - to agree. The 'a' ending shows that it's an old word (recall that another old verb 'skirna' - to cut, also has an 'a' ending) and fairly basic to kerbal society. Haven't quite made up my mind whether its actually irregular. And thanks once again to @Plecy75 for keeping the downloadable version up to date!

The next chapter is up... Politics Donman clasped his hands behind his back and stared across the central plaza to the Capital building. His gaze travelled slowly over the great Arches, each symbolising one of the six Regionalities of Kerbin, each anchored by two of the smaller, but still impressive, out-buildings given over to the administration of that Regionality. Four of the Arches were grounded in the light spilling from every ornately carved doorway and every arched window. The Wakiran and Firesvarn Arches were grounded in darkness, staff recalled to other administration centres on another continent. The evening sun threw oddly angular shadows from the statues decorating the nearest out-buildings and the flag of all Kerbin drooped listlessly against its pole, as if cowed by the flaming evening sky. Across the great central Dome, a gap-toothed chequerboard pattern of brightly lit office windows stood out against the twilit stonework. Donman sighed and went back inside, nodding briefly to the guards as he walked past. Head down, deep in thought, he strode along the corridor and up the stairs to his chambers. Retrieving the coffee jar from where he'd abandoned it on Corsen's desk, he busied himself setting a fresh pot on to brew. For a long minute he stared at his red-eyed, haggard reflection in the mirror by the door. Then he shook his head and walked through to his office in search of eyedrops, casting a weary glance at the stack of old books on their cart as he went. Some time later, moister of eye and fortified by hot caffeine, Donman carefully set his empty mug down on the edge of his desk before pulling on a pair of white archivist gloves and opening the leather-bound book in front of him. Delicately, he turned the yellowing pages until he found his bookmark, placed the square of silver filigree on its stand, and began to read. For the next couple of hours, he worked his way steadily through the book, pausing occasionally to jot down a note or look up a cross-reference in another, equally old book. Eventually he pushed his chair back, rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, and swore feelingly under his breath. Can't invoke Article 24 without declaring for one side or the other or declaring against another Regionality altogether. The Emergencies and Global Unity Act looks like it'll be useless unless we can broker a ceasefire. I don't have a Right of Conclave because I am Conclave. Donman set his jaw, reached into his desk drawer and found a sheet of headed notepaper and a fountain pen. He paused then, reluctantly took out a small hand press, a sheet of thin wax discs and his seal of office. Setting them to one side, he uncapped his pen and began to write. He hadn't got any further than a perfunctory 'Dear Mr President," when his phone rang. Groaning at the blinking red light under its keypad, Donman pushed his letter away and picked up the receiver. "Mr President?" He frowned, nodding impatiently at what he was hearing. Then his eyes snapped open. "They did what? Commander Valentina survived? Thank Kerm for small mercies. But where in the seven smoking hells were those planes? I thought they were under orders to keep to Wakiran airspace at all costs?!” Anger rapidly turned to consternation. "Fifty kilometres south of the border? We can prove that?” Donman sat bolt upright in his chair. "That's ridiculous! The second Fleet are under strict orders to remain within the Jhazi Straits and surrounding coastline! Chadwick and Aldwell know the trouble we had getting permission to sail through Veiidan waters - what in all the Blighted Groves do they think Wakira and the Confederacy would do if we sent Gusden any further west? That fleet is there to secure our medical relief operations - end of story!” A bleak expression settled on his face as he listened to Obrick’s reply. "I don't think we have a lot of choice. We promised medical aid to any kerbal involved in the fighting. If our relief workers need to go armed in order to protect themselves, then so be it." He listened intently for several long minutes then fell silent. "Wakira, Mr President," he said at last, propping his forehead on one sweating palm. "We offer succour to all but we stand with Wakira." He laughed shortly at Obrick's reply. "One of the few ways we could, although I doubt anyone will be any more receptive to tales of sapient Kerm then they were last time, especially after an Article 24 declaration. What's that? No - apart from Article 24, it seems the only guaranteed way to force a session of the Twelve Pillars is for one Pillar to be impeached... or to resign." There was a long pause. Donman glanced at his seal of office lying on his desk. "I hadn't got much further than the usual pleasantries before you so kindly interrupted." Shred that damn letter, Don. We can talk about that once we get out of this mess and even then you'd better hope you can write faster than I can. —————— Enely led the two legalists up the hill towards Jonton’s hut. One of them raised her eyebrows at the three stacked rings braced against the Kerm trunk and the ropeways winding between them. The second just nodded and murmured something to his taller colleague. Enely caught the words ‘Sage of Barkton’ and smiled to himself. The front door opened and Jonton stepped outside to greet them, leaning heavily on his walking stick. Both legalists did a swift double-take before recovering with an obvious look of embarrassment. “Forgive my surprise, Keeper,” the shorter one said diffidently, “but I was led to believe that you were… indisposed.” Jonton nodded. “I was until very recently.” He gestured at his stick. “And I’m looking forward to the day I can leave this behind. But please - come on in.” He hobbled through to the kitchen where Meleny and Thombal were waiting with Gerselle around the table. Once everyone was seated, a cup of fresh coffee or djeng in front of them, he found a convenient spot against the wall and leaned back with a sigh of relief. “I hope nobody minds if I stand here - I still find sitting for any length of time uncomfortable.” He looked at the two legalists, gathering his thoughts. “How much did Erlin tell you?” he asked at last. "Almost everything I believe," replied the senior legalist. "Including a digression into some significant breaches of established Grove law, although there I am informed that you have special dispensation from Chief Ambassador Donman." The tone of her voice stopped politely short of outright disbelief. She ticked the main points off on her fingers. "You are about to engage in an...undertaking at Gerselle Kermol's Grove. Yourself and Gerselle have a daughter, Joenie. You believe this undertaking may be hazardous to the adult kerbals involved and therefore wish to register Meleny and Thombal Kermol - and the Kerm of this Grove - as Joenie's guardians." Meleny and Thombal nodded solemnly. ”Finally you wish to give both Meleny and Thombal power of attorney to speak on behalf of the aforementioned Kerm." She coughed. "I must be honest, Keeper - I'm not sure I completely understand your last request." "It's straightforward enough," replied Jonton, "but neither Gerselle, Elton or myself were sure about the legal technicalities." "Elton?" asked the second legalist. "Pardon me, Keeper but I don't think we've met an Elton Kermol. Or should that be Elton Kerman?" "Neither name suits him very well," said Jonton calmly. "Elton is the Kerm of this Grove and he's looking forward to meeting you both. If everyone has finished their drinks, we can go through.” He led the skeptical looking legalists through to the sleep room and waved at the rows of bunks. "Please make yourself at home. All the bunks are much the same so pick any one you like. We can bring extra pillows through if need be. Once you're comfortable just rest your head against the leaf clusters and Elton will take it from there." Both legalists looked startled at that. "You want us to Commune with the Kerm?" one of them said doubtfully. "I do," said Jonton, "Once you've both had a chance to talk to him, I'm hoping you can find some legally binding way for him to grant Thombal and Meleny power of attorney to speak for him in mine or Gerselle's absence. We'd also very much appreciate some advice on writing him into our wills.” The senior legalist raised her hands. "As you wish, Keeper." She nodded at her colleague. "We shall see what we can do for Guardian Elton." She smiled faintly at Jonton's surprised expression. "It's been many decades since I was kermol, Keeper but I was always taught that the Kerm were guardians of the Groves." She walked over to the nearest bunk, lay down and, propping a pillow under her neck, tipped her head back into the waiting leaves. By the time Jonton joined them, Gerselle, Thombal and Meleny had already paid their respects to Elton and had moved quietly back, to let him speak to the legalists without distraction. The Communion crackled with intense curiosity, awe and a barely suppressed excitement. Elton stopped in the middle of a sentence and Jonton sensed his sudden regard. <good afternoon, Jonton> Good afternoon, Elton. I brought the legal advisors whom Erlin recommended. <yes, I have been speaking to them. They think very clearly and do not fear new things - we will need more kerbals like these> A brief sense of sorrow washed over Jonton but was swiftly replaced by fresh excitement from the senior legalist. This is incredible, Keeper - we apologise for ever doubting you! No apologies necessary, answered Jonton. If anything, I should apologise for being quite so cryptic but Elton can speak for himself far better than I can speak for him. And I would speak with him for much, much longer if he has the time. For now, I can assure you that it will be a straightforward matter for him to grant power of attorney to Thombal and Meleny. A simple declaration in front of everyone here and then we can sign the agreement bel-oncordaan, that is, outwith one contracting party, witnessed by myself and my colleague for Thombal and Meleny and yourself and Gerselle for Elton. Thank you, said Jonton gratefully. For a long minute he turned inward, sensing the ebb and flow of emotions through the Communion link. Our undertaking at Gerselle’s Grove, he said at last. How much did Erlin tell you about it? Very little, came the answer. He didn’t think he was the best person to talk about it although he did assure us that it was of the utmost importance. It is, said Jonton simply. To cut a very long story short we think we can awaken Gerselle’s Kerm in the same way that Elton awoke from mine. And if we can do that for one Kerm, we can do it for all Kerm. There was a stunned silence. That would be… wonderful, said the legalist at last. I don’t… I don’t think I have the proper words for what it would imply. To be honest, I’m not sure I do either, said Jonton. But from personal experience I do know that awakened Kerm could mean an end to the Law of Territory. He waited expectantly. But that would mean… Wild hope flared across the link. Please tell me that means what I think it does? It does, said Jonton quietly. I know that Kerm do not need to fight amongst themselves. If we can awaken them and speak to them, we can explain the danger that the Seeding puts all of us in. And if we can do that, then… then we may be able persuade them to draw in their territories - and so create enough room on Kerbin for all the Kerm yet unplanted. A sudden maelstrom of emotions churned the Communion link to near insensibility. Instinctively, Jonton tried to damp them down, Enely and Gerselle hastily following his lead. Then Elton came forward, a vast, calming presence helping everyone regain control. <we can speak of this later. For now, tell me what words I must speak to guard my Joenie> The two legalists conferred for a moment and then, hesitantly, spoke to Elton. <very well> Elton paused, absorbing the unfamiliar language. <then I Elton, Guardian and Kerm of this Grove, do hereby grant Thombal Kermol and Meleny Kermol, jointly and severably, the rights and responsibilities to speak for me in all matters pertaining to the guardianship of Joenie Kermol and the estates and worldly properties of Jonton and Gerselle Kermol. Let any of those present, state their disagreement with no fear of coercion nor fear of censure nor fear of reproach> All seven kerbals remained silent. <Then by the laws of Grove, Enclave and Council, as we have spoken, let it be done> —————— “…Nordham Bay. Firesvarn air support was severely impeded by defences around the town itself and by anti-aircraft fire from the Kolan 2nd Fleet commanded by Admiral Gusden. We don’t have accurate casualty numbers but losses are thought to be moderate to heavy depending on who you ask; pilot losses significantly less so.” The Chief of Fleets cleared his throat. “Firesvar, predictably, are pointing to this as evidence of Kolan aggressive intentions. Kolus - equally predictably - point out that the Firesvarn aircraft were defeated by defensive facilities, installation of which has now been shown to be fully justified.” The grim silence around the table was broken by the clink of glass on lacquered wood. President Chadwick blotted his lips before tucking his handkerchief back into his pocket. “What of the Firesvarn fleets?” “The Northern Ocean situation remains unchanged, Mr President. Forces in the Wakiran Ocean are on high alert but so far as we can tell, Firesvarn efforts there remain focused on increased coastal and near-coastal patrols in an attempt to intercept any Children of Kerbin vessels.” “Do we have any indication that they’re operating any further afield?” The Chief of Intelligence glanced at her colleague who dipped his head in reply. “Scouting operations only, Mr President,” she said. “Purely systematic at present with nothing to indicate that they’re specifically watching ourselves, Doren or Wakira. Formally, I have several reports of violations of our territorial waters - to which we’ve turned a carefully blind eye.” Worried faces and angry murmurs rippled around the table. Chadwick contented himself with a nod. “Very good. And what of the Children of Kerbin? Do we have any new information there?” Under the table, the Chief of Fleets’ knuckles turned white but his voice remained unruffled. “No, Mr President. We watch for them of course but we deem Doren, Kolus and latterly, Firesvar to be of greater concern at present.” “Naturally, “ Chadwick replied. “And likely to remain so.” Across the table Chief Ambassador Aldwell pinched the bridge of his nose. “For how long, Mr President? Our sympathies to the Children’s goals, if not their methods, are well known. What happens when a Firesvar scouting patrol finds something that we cannot conveniently ignore?” President Chadwick raised his eyebrows. “Then we will of course lend any assistance we can, although Firesvar will understand that our resources are stretched very thinly. However, I believe we have made our opposition to unsanctioned Kerm planting perfectly clear and I trust that Firesvar will remember that.” “Erbabar-beldaonerba ebda berot pilla,” somebody muttered. Chadwick’s head turned. “Excuse me?” The deputy Chief Ambassador for Forseti looked up from her briefing papers. “An Old Kerba proverb, Mr President. The literal translation is ‘words possessed by those they rely on for words are half-truths’. Or in plain Kerba - the words of diplomats are but half-truths.” “I fear I do not see your point,” said Chadwick politely. Aldwell sighed. “My esteemed colleague is correct, Chadwick,” he said reluctantly. “We aren’t overtly supporting the Children but neither are we overtly opposing them.” His voice turned grim. “Wakira’s inability to prevent the Children’s incursions was sufficient pretext for Firesvar to invoke Article 24 against them, triggering a war which Kolus has now been dragged into. How long before our inaction provides a similar pretext?” Thank you. The Chief of Fleets’ hands relaxed for the first time that meeting. Carefully, he brought them above the tabletop, poured himself a drink of water and took a sip. “That would be my concern also, Mr President.” The Chief of Intelligence nodded. “We would also run the risk of providing a common enemy for both Firesvar and Wakira combined, possibly supported by Kolus.” At that, a clamour broke out around the table. Chadwick watched impassively, weighing his options. He let the clamour subside before tapping his glass on the table for attention. Gradually the room quietened as all eyes turned towards him. “So what would you suggest?” he asked. “Veiid,” said the Chief of Intelligence bluntly. “We reach out to Veiid and, through them, to Doren proposing an alliance against the Children. With Doren on our side, we can persuade Firesvar that there is no further need for them to trespass on Confederacy territory.” Chadwick’s eyes bored into hers. “Whilst betraying our people’s most deeply-held principles?” he said quietly. The Chief of Intelligence didn’t flinch. “No, Mr President. Whilst upholding those principles and upholding your publicly stated policy. However well intentioned, the Children’s misguided Kerm planting betrays the right to life of many Kerm for the sake of one.” Around her, the room fell deathly silent and she saw Chadwick’s expression harden. “Naturally, each member of the Alliance will be responsible for searching their own territory. If we find any Children operating from the Confederacy we deal with them sympathetically whilst reaping the diplomatic benefits of preventing further unsanctioned Kerm planting.” She locked eyes with her President. “With respect, Mr President, the alternative is running a growing risk that Firesvar will find us to be harbouring the Children. I believe the consequences of that discovery are obvious.” Aldwell held his breath. Chadwick’s expression remained stony. “Why Veiid?” he said conversationally. A murmur of agreement rippled around the table. “Veiidol ebda balsathona,” muttered the Forseti deputy Chief Ambassador under her breath. Chadwick sighed. “If you insist on demonstrating your erudition in Council, Madame Ambassador, might I suggest you read an Old Kerba grammar first? I have many excellent examples in my personal library which you would be welcome to borrow.” He flicked a glance at Aldwell’s deputy, now blushing dark green. “I believe the expression you were searching for is ‘Veiidol ebda beldasathona.’ Whilst the Veiidan Council are indeed bureaucratic to a fault, I would hesitate to describe them as useless items.” He turned back to the Chief of Intelligence. “Now, as I was saying before we were interrupted - why Veiid?” “Because alone, neither we nor Veiid have the political capital to persuade Doren of the benefits of an alliance,” said the other bluntly. “Together we might, particularly if we can also demonstrate the effectiveness of Confederacy-Veiidan cooperation first.” Chadwick absorbed her words unblinkingly. “Indeed,” he said. “Particularly as I suspect that Veidd will also be rather happy with the diplomatic benefits.” He looked at his Chief of Intelligence thoughtfully. “Very well. I want to see a position paper and heads of terms for a declaration of alliance by the end of the week. In the meantime, myself and Chief Ambassador Aldwell will speak to our Veiidan colleagues and propose a summit meeting.” —————— Silently, Enely watched Gerselle at work, his thoughts a roiling mix of trepidation, happy memories, and sorrow, mingled with an undercurrent of guilty excitement. Jonton stood by her side, leaning heavily on his walking stick with one hand, holding Gerselle's tools with the other. Enely watched him bend forward and take the fresh Kerm cutting out of her hand, completely absorbed in the sight of Gerselle painting leaf paste over the exposed branch stump. Gerselle peered at her work critically then, satisfied, handed the bowl of left over paste to Jonton. She took a pruning bag out of her poncho pocket and shook out the loose charcoal dust before slipping it over the stump and pulling the drawstring tight. She looked up to see Jonton staring at the cutting in his hand. "Here we go again, Jonton Kermol," she said softly. Jonton dropped the rest of the pruning gear into his own poncho, hobbled over and put his arm around her in an awkward one-armed hug. "Here we go again," he repeated. "We'll do better this time though, love. You, me and Enely - we'll do it right. And your Kerm is just a sapling compared to Elton - that should help with the..." He stopped, fumbling for the right words. "It should help," he said at last. Gerselle didn't reply. The two Keepers made their way to the planting site, Enely following them at a discreet distance. He wasn't surprised by the crowd of kerbals waiting for them, from both Jonton and Gerselle's Groves. Fredlorf and Ferry waiting solemnly at the front. Silently, everyone watched Gerselle plant and water the cutting, watched her unfold a wickerwork screen and arrange it carefully around its stem. Enely watched her and Jonton work their way through the crowd, offering a reassuring word here, a moment or two of explanation there. He saw one or two of the eldest kerbals inspecting the leaves of the the nearest mature Kerm trees then, apparently satisfied, walk away. Others stood by the wickerwork screen, reaching over to touch the new cutting and even, Enely was bemused to see, caress it, running their fingers over its leaves. Gradually, the crowd dispersed, leaving their thirty-eighth Kerm alone in the soil. It was, Enely thought, a sign of the respect that the villagers had for their Keepers that the whole event had passed quite so peacefully. But why not? They've seen the Law of Thirty Seven broken, they've seen Jonton survive his time spent an-Kerm. Most importantly, they've all had a chance to Commune with Elton. He shook his head. Besides - we'll be watching the new sapling. For black leaf spots if nothing else. << Chapter 73: Chapter 75>>

Yup - great story telling. Although I must confess that my immediate thought was that the chapter title was referring to a rather different Winston... I think I'm having a bad day.

Glad you've been enjoying it and thanks for de-lurking to let me know! I can't quite thank you by posting the next chapter I'm afraid. It's all written but I want to do the re-reading and editing with a clear head. Cheers, KSK.

Design a collectable card game in which each planet gets its own card. Problem solved. Seriously - kids can memorise vast quantities of complete gibberish if it isn't something they're told they have to do. For example, I swear my 8 year old nephew knows the name, special attacks and probably parentage, notable battles and personal life story of every Pokémon out there.

Typographical Error leads to new Orbital Science. As long time readers of the Kerbal Chronicles will be well aware, spaceflight is an exacting business. Over the years, small misunderstandings and failures of procedure at the Kerbin Space Agency have been the root cause of both their most spectacular explosions and their greatest triumphs. Nevertheless, yesterday’s misunderstanding has to rate as one of the more bizarre ones that this correspondent has ever reported. The third test flight of the KSA’s new spaceplane Untitled Spacecraft 42, was going extremely well until, twenty minutes prior to their orbit circularisation burn, Science Specialist Bob Kerman opened Snake Locker No. 2, in search of a bag of savoury ration snacks (corn flavour). He was therefore somewhat perturbed to find that what he had presumed to be a cheaply sourced and mis-labelled component (no doubt found lying at the side of the road), did indeed contain a number of rather confused corn snakes! After a brief interlude, during which the Mission Control distinctly heard Mission Commander Jebediah Kerman screaming at Bob to “get those *redacted* snakes off my *redacted* spaceplane!” Bob managed to calm his friend and long-term colleague down. After all, as Bob pointed out: “we’ve been hauling Mystery Goo into orbit for years - and we still don’t know what on Kerbin that stuff actually is. We don’t have anything to fear from a few harmless snakes.” This correspondent understands that the snakes are adapting well to micro-gravity and are providing new insights and designs for possible on-orbit semi-autonomous robots. As a bonus, the crew of Space Station Untitled Spacecraft 24 are reported to be thrilled with their new pets, which are now featuring prominently in the regular television broadcasts from the Station.

This, more than anything else. Pretty much every time I was getting stuck with some aspect of KSP, the answer was to stop worrying and learn to love the navball. I don't recall one single 'a-ha' moment though.

Mun Cheese Discovery 'Discredited by Facts' Dinkelstein Kerman vindicated at last Sky-high public excitement over yesterday's ground-breaking news that the Mun really is made of cheese, was brought back to Kerbin with a bump this morning. After working through the night on a fix for Untitled Spacecraft's balky camera, engineers at the Rockomax Conglomerate were startled to discover that their Munar probe had successfully sampled a partially eaten packet of cheese flavoured snacks, presumed to have been left on the Mun by a previous team of kerbonauts. After several minutes of feverish speculation about the identity of those unknown explorers, an unnamed intern at the Kerbal Space Centre suggested that the engineers 'turn the camera around and look for them'. As the camera slowly rotated, stunned dignitaries and VIPs were treated to a panoramic view of the Munar surface, marred only slightly by abandoned items of equipment and a large flag bearing the logo of Dinkelstein Kerman's Construction Emporium. Dinkelstein's oft-repeated claims to have been constructing and flying spaceships long before anybody else, are well known and have led to widely reported public tensions between the irascible construction company owner and the Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society. In this correspondent's opinion, members of that learned Society will be eating their words today.

Mun Cheese Discovery 'Discredited by Facts' Dinkelstein Kerman vindicated at last Sky-high public excitement over yesterday's ground-breaking news that the Mun really is made of cheese, was brought back to Kerbin with a bump this morning. After working through the night on a fix for Untitled Spacecraft's balky camera, engineers at the Rockomax Conglomerate were startled to discover that their Munar probe had successfully sampled a partially eaten packet of cheese flavoured snacks, presumed to have been left on the Mun by a previous team of kerbonauts. After several minutes of feverish speculation about the identity of those unknown explorers, an unnamed intern at the Kerbal Space Centre suggested that the engineers 'turn the camera around and look for them'. As the camera slowly rotated, stunned dignitaries and VIPs were treated to a panoramic view of the Munar surface, marred only slightly by abandoned items of equipment and a large flag bearing the logo of Dinkelstein Kerman's Construction Emporium. Dinkelstein's oft-repeated claims to have been constructing and flying spaceships long before anybody else, are well known and have led to widely reported public tensions between the irascible construction company owner and the Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society. In this correspondent's opinion, members of that learned Society will be eating their words today.

Thanks!

It would be an obvious target. One of the reasons I thought I'd check if satire is actually required or desired. That does seem more likely.

Badie - please could I have a quick sanity check on the contest? "Satire: A genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement." Do you really want satire? It doesn't really seem to fit the spirit of the game or these forums somehow, although perhaps that's just me. We don't really have much to satirise either for that matter but I guess folks will find something. Thanks.

How about the Ministry of Truth then? Seems appropriate for a pseudoscience sub-forum. But yes - or rather no. Please no.

A long, prosperous and fruitful life. Of course, fruit always goes down well when served with.... ...cheese.

The Library has non-fiction shelves for exactly that kind of thing but I really don't have time to trawl through the forums at the moment. If you could send me a list of links to your 'science behind' threads (preferably by private message), I'll happily add them.

Aye!

A long overdue appearance by Kerbfleet! Congrats @Kuzzter!

I'm a bit concerned by the first part of rule 2.2h: "Content with no proof of concept or factual basis (e.g. "free energy" machines)" If strictly enforced, that rule would kill off a lot of the threads on the Science and Spaceflight subforum, a great many which tend to be science fiction threads or (relatively) well mannered discussions about scientific misconceptions. "Content with no proof of concept or factual basis" is also an oddly broad exclusion considering that this is a forum dedicated to a fictional space program based set in a physically implausible universe. Now, I trust the moderators' discretion and I don't believe this is likely to be a problem in practice, but I'm still not keen on loosely worded guidelines. A good rule of thumb when drafting contracts (or forum guidelines ) - if you don't need it, don't include it!

Fraid not. Way back when I started the thread, I originally intended to build them all and post screenshots for folks to build at home and maybe play along with the story. That didn't work out for a variety of reasons, not least because I'm no great shakes as a builder - my craft tend to be fairly utilitarian and dull. Also, the First Flight space program hasn't actually progressed beyond crewed missions to the Mun, a good handful of probes to Duna and a couple of probes to Jool - which in gameplay terms is really rather boring! I'd be interested in seeing your version of Val's plane though if you'd care to give it a try. Most First Flight fighters are basically racing craft modified for light air-to-ground or air-to-sea attack missions (Val's aircraft at the Battle of Humilisia could carry a grand total of one torpedo), or perhaps fitted with a single cannon for air-to-air combat. So, single engine, built for speed and maneuverability, very lightly armed. As we've seen, Firesvar are starting to field more effective warplanes, equipped with 1st generation infra-red guided missiles. Those are probably the first purpose built jet fighters on Kerbin but will be equivalent (at best) to 60s era Terran fighters.

Thanks! Good to see you back on the thread and sorry for not replying sooner - real life has been getting right in the way these last couple of weeks. Those are some interesting observations on Old Kerba too - another excellent example of folks seeing more in it than I ever imagined! Thanks also to @TheKosanianMethod for dropping by with a generous sprinkling of likes! As for that terrible territory - more to come on that in the next chapter before we take another brief digression into spaceflight. Rough cut of the next chapter is about 2/3 done, so I'm hoping it will be done by Sunday if I can find more than a couple of hours to string together at a time. Don't hold me to that though. For now, I can definitely say that a lack of writing time doesn't equal a lack of thinking-about-the-story time, and I've finally figured out one of the remaining missing links in the Kerm story arc!

Fine for a mod but I wouldn't want to see it in the stock game as it currently plays. If - and it's a very big 'if' it were implemented in stock, I'd want to see the following features added too: Ability to simply buy in whatever fuel I need, so that I can get in with running a space program without having to run a mining conglomerate too. Have different fuels and manufacturing facilities. Maybe I can't be bothered building yet another mine at an arbitrary distance from KSC but I'd be quite happy to try turning some of that seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. A rewrite of the early tech tree so that I can at least build a decent land-going vehicle to transport the mining gear, or some mechanism for automagically building a mine wherever I want. If I'm forced to cobble a mining rig together out of girders, aircraft parts and Mk1 capsules then forget it. Having a bit of extra logistical challenge to building rockets isn't a terrible idea in itself but the current stock game is woefully ill equipped to implement that challenge. After all we're dealing with a game where ISRU and off-world resource harvesting has been boiled down to one magic resource (ore), one magical means of extracting that resource and one magical means of converting it into whatever we need.

I don't think that's terribly likely - in fact I'd venture to say that it may well be infinitely improbable. But just be sure, I'm gonna be making a point of checking any abandoned lavatories for locked filing cabinets. Especially if said lavatories are sporting a sign telling me to beware of spotted felines.

They don't believe the evidence from the last time it happened - I have zero faith they'll be any more amenable to reason this time. As for the SpaceX announcement, right now I'm torn between excitement and skepticism, certainly with regard to the proposed 2018 schedule. And at the risk of being a thorough wet blanket, I really, really hope this doesn't turn into a half-cocked dongle-waving contest between government (SLS) and private industry (Falcon) to put a crew around the Moon. Because that way lies Go-Fever and Go-Fever never ends well.

Woah! Now *that's* how you throw in a plot twist.

In principle, to study how microgravity affects their growth, both directly and through other effects caused by microgravity e.g. lack of convective cooling. A lot of technologically important materials (including metals) are crystalline or polycrystalline - can they be engineered to have new and useful properties by growing them in zero-G? More helpfully for space industry fans - are any of those properties useful enough to warrant scaling up space-based manufacturing?