KSK

If you regard KSP as a tycoon game then yes we do have different definitions. And KSP does not fit mine - but thank you for insisting it does. SimCity. Says what it does right there in the title. As soon as you start the game it's blindingly clear what the goal is. Whereas your 'clear' overarching goals for KSP are anything but. Define a space program? That covers everything from pootling around in LKO to building a colony on Eeloo and everything in between. Hardly a clear definition. Assuming that the goals of your particular space program are to explore the solar system, then define 'explore'. Explore the solar system? Which parts of the solar system? (Given that a substantial body of players have apparently never gone interplanetary, I'm not being facetious here.) And how? Run a fly-by mission? Land a probe? Map out a planet? Find all the easter eggs on that planet? Land kerbals there? Bring them home? You can define it any which way you like. Which is one of the beauties of KSP. But clear it is not. Besides you appear to be missing my second point which is that a tycoon game should have "some element of strategy or planning that determines how well your completed objectives fit together to accomplish that overarching goal." KSP fails utterly at that. Say I decide that my space program is all about getting to Jool. I gather the funds, unlock the requisite science nodes, design my ship and go to Jool. Obviously I flew a lot of other missions first to get those funds and science points but those missions were completely disconnected from my overall goal. It literally does not matter how I chose to grind those funds or grind those points - the previous missions I flew are utterly irrelevant to how I then choose to get to Jool. They stand alone. Anything I put into orbit beforehand I can happily ignore - it has no bearing on my Jool mission. In principle, I could have flown a couple of thousand Kerbin survey missions in atmospheric craft, eking out those science points one by one, gradually building those funds. Then one day, I get up and go to Jool. That is not a tycoon game.

I think I have a narrower definition of a tycoon game than you. Whether it's a correct definition is another matter but it's narrower and I think it still encompasses your examples. I say think because I confess that I haven't actually played them, although I have played other games that I'd count as tycoon games and others (such as SimCity) where, as you say, the lines get a bit blurred. To me, a tycoon game has the elements you describe plus a clear overarching goal plus some element of strategy or planning that determines how well your completed objectives fit together to accomplish that overarching goal. I'll use SimCity as an example. The overarching objective is (duh) build a city. How big and what style is up to the player of course but at the end of the day you're still building some kind of a city. If the game is going to last any length of time you really need to take that one step further - the overarching objective is to build a financially sustainable city. All the various buildings you plop down (and spend money on) contribute to that objective in a more-or-less efficient way depending on player skill. If you don't develop a certain level of efficiency then the game ends because you go bust - hence the game includes planning elements too. Granted, SimCity doesn't include any 'complete objectives for money' elements although making money is certainly an objective in itself. I presume the same is roughly true of say, Rollercoaster Tycoon but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Overarching objective - build a rollercoaster park. Plan it well enough that it becomes profitable and (I'll take your word for this) complete various objectives to earn money as part of making it profitable. KSP on the other hand does not have an overarching goal. OK, I suppose 'build a space program' is a goal of sorts but it's certainly not a clearly defined one. Because of that, there's no real sense of the individual parts of your program contributing to that goal and there's no real planning or strategy involved. Or if there is, it's very rudimentary. Therefore, I don't count KSP as a tycoon game. Now, there's plenty of planning and resource management at the individual flight level. But so far as the game as a whole is concerned, the only thing an individual flight needs to do is come in under budget, so you can (eventually) grind sufficient funds to move on to bigger flights. That's it. KSP isn't so much a tycoon game as a linear string of puzzles joined end to end.

ASCII art graphics. Hey - it worked for Dwarf Fortress.

For #2, I'm also pretty sure that you can right click on the target planet and there's an option to zoom in and see your projected orbit relative to it. Getting the zoomed in view with the maneuvre node in a convenient place as well can be tricky though.

That would be @ap0r's engine. Thread is here and it's also stickied as one of October's Threads of the Month. Edit. I like the idea of having a shout-out to ap0r in the game. Perhaps a slightly upgraded version of the LV1-R "Spider" could be included using the same part model but a different texture (say with a coloured band added) to make it stand out. It could be called the Advanced Prototype 0 - Radial, or AP0-R for short.

Good luck with all that CF. KSP might be a time-suck but from personal experience it's got nothing on moving house and still less on buying that house before moving into it!

The thing is, Career Mode isn't much of a tycoon game either. I posted the following on a different thread but I'm wondering if it's maybe relevant to this one too? Please note that it was written before details of the latest update (Kerbnet and such) were released, so the first paragraph is slightly outdated. I think the rest of it is still on point though. "To me, Career mode is Sandbox with a couple of not very interesting constraints. We have a science point grind which drives a very basic tech tree mechanic and a mini-quest generator which lets you grind for funds. Then we have an almost entirely pointless crew experience mechanism with some not very logical rewards and a bare bones base-upgrade mechanic. The way the tech tree is set up doesn't give you a great many options for gathering science and most of those options are dependent on building upgrades or are sufficiently far down the tech tree to be essentially irrelevant. Combine those two factors and you end up with very linear gameplay that you have to try really hard to break away from. There's been a lot of effort put into simplifying the game mechanics because complex game mechanics were deemed not to be fun. The problem is that now the game mechanics are too simple to allow for many interesting decisions, trade-offs or choices. Career mode doesn't really know what it wants to be and therefore fails at being anything in particular. It's not an exploration game (which would play really well with the underlying concept of a peaceful species going to space for the sheer fun of it) because you know pretty much all there is to know about the Kerbol system right from the start. It's not any kind of story driven game - and I don't mean a tightly scripted set of missions and cutscenes because that would a) be too limiting and b) most likely be way beyond Squad's budget to do well. I'm thinking more of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri which has story elements and distinct characters woven through it whilst still remaining a pretty open ended strategy game. The kerbals on the other hand are just the same old green, googly eyed rocket fodder that they've always been. We know nothing about them, we're given no reason to care about them, either collectively or individually, there's no worldbuilding at all to speak of. We don't even know why the kerbals have a space program, which is a fairly major flaw in a game called Kerbal Space Program. It's not a character driven game or crew management game - see above. It's definitely not a tycoon or resource management game. Not when the answer to most of your problems can be boiled down to 'grind more satellite missions (or whatever your personal flavour of cheese may be)' or 'visit another Mun / Minmus biome'. Nope, Career Mode is just a sandbox (albeit a brilliant one) with constraints that feel a bit arbitrary, and progression which manages to be a bad combination of too linear, and too vague. Some folks clearly like it and that's great but for me it just falls flat."

Not a big fan of this idea to be honest. Adding contracts to have the player remove junk from orbit would be cool, although those contracts would probably run into the same problems involved with identfiying genuine junk that others have pointed out already. But imposing a penalty on players for leaving junk, especially at the beginning of a career game when they have the least number of options for dealing with it - that seems a bit harsh.

Efficiency. The more closed your cycles, the less you need to import from Earth. This is the main reason but also: Aesthetics. Tourism is one of the few things Mars will have going for it commercially, so lets not spoil that unspoiled wilderness with piles of radioactive waste. NIMBYism. Life on Mars is going to be psychologically challenging anyway, living in close proximity to lots of people in a fairly confined space. Why make things harder by fouling up the neighbourhood with spoil heaps and clouds of toxic gas. Resources will be limited so hiding all that junk over the horizon probably won't be an option either. Expansion. The starter colony will presumably want to expand at some point. Expanding through open-air nuclear reactors doesn't sound fun. Habitability. Mars might be a crap tier planet (debatable) but it's probably the best one we've currently got after Earth. Lets not make it any worse than it has to be.

OK, shifting the question of food supply back a step - what is the minimum set of nutrients needed for producing food and how do we set about getting them? What can we get from Mars in the early days of a colony? What do we need to bring from Earth? How might food production develop over time? I'm defining food broadly - plants, insects, microorganisms, livestock, meat-in-a-vat. Whatever.

Mushrooms apparently. Although supplement tablets are pretty light - compared to the cost of shipping everything else out to Mars, they're not going to be that expensive. I don't think animal farming will be practical early on, if ever. Certainly to begin with, animals will be a - literal - waste of space and oxygen, although I suppose you could argue for the psychological benefit of having companion animals around. On Earth, lifestyle arguments notwithstanding, you can make a good case for livestock farming on marginal agricultural land - if you have the space to spare, animals are pretty good nutrient concentrators. However, on Mars, any agricultural land is created from scratch by the colonists - and under those circumstances I think the food and water inputs required to raise animals would be much better used for growing crops. Regarding protein - plenty of plants are protein complete including potatoes. Or legume/grain combinations such as rice and soybeans would also work. Potatoes, rice and soybeans can be grown hydroponically. Soybeans can also be flavoured every which way. and you'd probably want to, again for psychological reasons. If you really, really want meat on Mars it's probably more efficient to ship freeze-dried stuff from Earth. On a purely personal note (speaking as a meat-eater so no particular dietary axe to grind here), I find it just a bit depressing that battery farms would be a priority for a Mars colony. If they're looking for a frontier lifestyle, the satisfaction of being part of something extraordinary and helping to build that with their own two hands - I doubt they'll care much. Anyone shipping out with SpaceX looking for Disneyland: Mars is going to be in for a rude awakening long before they get there.

I don't think that will be a problem. Calcium perchlorate should work OK in a candle (?), giving you calcium chloride rather than sodium chloride and calcium chloride solution can be electrolysed, although brine is more usual on Earth. I'm spitballing here though, don't know how well calcium perchorate will react with iron.

I've got an alternative route to hydrochloric acid, Greg which might be a bit easier on Mars. Might. Step 1. Direct iron reduction. Natural gas is partially oxidized (with heat and a catalyst 2 CH4 + O2 → 2 CO + 4 H2 These gases are then treated with iron ore in a furnace, producing solid sponge iron: Fe2O3 + CO + 2 H2 → 2 Fe + CO2 + 2 H2O Silica is removed by adding a limestone flux. Step 2. Perchlorate candles 4NaClO4 + 4Fe ---> 4NaCl + 2Fe2O3 + 5O2 Step 3. Electrolysis of brine to hydrochloric acid. Rationale. Iron is generally useful for lots of things (as a catalyst in the Haber process if nothing else) and its also heavy. Producing it in-situ rather than hauling it from Earth is probably going to happen somehow. Reducing iron ores with carbon isn't ideal - making coke on Mars might be tricky. On the other hand we have boatloads of methane, assuming that we're going with the SpaceX plan of using methalox engines for our Mars vehicles. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen (aka syngas) are also useful to have around if we're bored of using them to reduce iron oxide. Not sure if there's much to choose between brine electrolysis and perchlorate electrolysis. The latter sounds nastier to me but I don't have anything other than gut feel to back that up. Brine electrolysis does at least have the advantage that we've been doing it forever and so have plenty of experience with it. Also, the perchlorate candle step produces iron oxide which can be recycled through Step 1.

Hey folks, As per Nibb31's request, I've started a new thread for discussing Martian colonisation, agriculture, living-off-the-land etc. A couple of observations to start. Perchlorates aren't neccesarily bad and could be quite useful provided they can be extracted and processed safely. Perchlorate candles, for example, are a well known emergency oxygen supply. Plus you get sodium chloride as a reaction product, so you get some lovely Martian salt to go on those Martian potatoes. Also Martian regolith wouldn't make a bad starter for making soil. It'll need a load of water and organic material for sure but it's got plenty of vital minerals.

Possibly, but like many other things that are supposedly 'part of our nature' it can be overridden or constructively rechanneled by social or cultural forces. Otherwise democracy would never have gotten off the ground. I also have to disagree with Nibb31, or at least add a big fat 'sometimes' to his assertion that competition is favoured by evolution. There are examples where cooperative behavior has demonstrably been favoured (termites and bees for example) and plenty of other examples where symbiosis has been favoured instead.

And so it begins...

Another possible explanation for the squeek. It's a safety precaution. Kerbfleet Engineering Regulations mandate that the primary narrativium vents must be routed via the wheel bays to allow prompt grounding of the plot in the event of a story overload cycle. The *squeek* is merely the sound of escaping narrativium. See also: Plotivium overpressure vessels and Fourth Wall autostruts.

Not quite random but not particularly significant either. When I was writing Jonton's original Kerm planting expedition, six companions for the new Keeper, each carrying six Kerm saplings just seemed suitably ritualistic. Thirty six saplings plus the actual seed made thirty-seven. The number stuck, even if the rest of that expedition isn't really consistent with the later Kerm chapters. Oh - the chronology problem with the last chapter. You've probably spotted it already but I wanted the start of the last chapter to pick up from the end of the preceding one rather than revealing Elton and then effectively doing a 'cut to commercials'. Then of course, Erlin's call to Donman wasn't going to wait for anything but at the same time, I wanted it put on hold for another Council meeting as a way of showing everyone that something really serious was going down (as opposed to mere trifles like uplifting a new sapient species and possibly solving the Kerm crisis along the way )Therefore, I didn't have any apparent room to fit in the reason for that Council meeting. The solution of course was to present it in flashback, or in this case via Enemone's report. Not a particularly difficult solution I'll admit but it took me a while to see it. As for pulling it all together - without wishing to spoiler anything, I plan to borrow a trick from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsdawn and hopefully finish the story on a high note whilst leaving it at a place where everyone can see how the future is going to unfold (in broad outline at least) even if the details are left as a (possible) story for another time. Then I can skip ahead a bit in the epilogue whilst using it to tie up one last story arc.

Next chapter is up. Shaking the Pillars Elton uncoiled his leaves from Gerselle’s and Enely’s heads. Enely dumped his pillows on the floor and lay flat on his back, staring at the underside of the bunk above him. Gerselle peeled the damp electrode band off her head, the tacky, elasticated fabric tugging at her hair and sticking unpleasantly to her skin. She threw it to one side, rolled off her bed and helped herself to a mug of water from Jonton’s pedestal before pressing a second mug into Enely’s out-flung hand. Jonton stood motionless against Elton’s trunk, a thicket of leaves and skeins of electrode leads still cradling his head. <we have been as one a long time… Jonton> Elton stumbled over the unfamiliar word <I cannot quickly draw my leaves from you, though perhaps that is for the best> Perhaps it is, replied Jonton. Not being Kerm any longer - laying the burden aside - will be difficult enough. <I will help, and you will always be welcome to join me in working the tapestry> Elton paused <if I could use your word for it?> Of course, Jonton replied, I’m flattered that you’d want to - and that you think I’d be able to help now that I’m… <kerbal again? But a kerbal who knows what it is to be Kerm. For that you will always be welcome as the first amongst my Keepers> Jonton squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the outside world whilst he composed himself. What about the vines? he said at last. <vines?> Jonton tugged at the crooked vines still wrapped around his lower torso. These. Healing vines or just vines. <ahhh. Those too will take time to withdraw. Maybe longer than the leaf hairs. I am sorry, Jonton> No need to be sorry, Jonton replied. It’s no more than I expected…Elton. He looked up at the two medics and Erlin, still sitting dumbfounded behind their monitors. I’d better speak to the others but don’t suppose we could…commune again before I do? Only if you want to, he added quickly. This is beyond strange for me - I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you. <I can’t either> said Elton gently <I remember things of course but they’re like something shown by a kerbal. They happened but not to me. But we can talk of this another day. The other kerbals will wish to commune too - it is only proper that my first of Keepers should go first> The link yawned open and sunlight sparkled from the sudden tears that ran unchecked down Jonton’s cheeks. A soul reborn. A soul unleashed. No longer a shattered maelstrom of panic and fractured dreams. Not even the placid lake of a thirty-seven tree Kerm; wide but shallow, untroubled by wind or rain. Instead curtains of numinous fire ran from horizon to horizon, bathing the mindscape around him in the pure, unsullied joy of a being finally made whole and set at peace with itself. The sparks gambolled before him, familiar tools now, still to be respected but no longer to be feared or used as weapons of war. Centuries of stored memories stretched out before him, reaching back into prehistory; buttressed with the deep and comforting knowledge that they were there to be absorbed, studied and to bestow wisdom in that studying. Already flickers of lightning danced around him, illuminating and reshaping whatever they touched. Not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit, murmured Jonton in awe. <yes> said Elton. <strange words but I…> A fresh wave of joy lit up the mindscape. <I think I understand them!> “Is everything alright, Keeper?” With an effort, Jonton dragged his attention back to the blurry figure tugging at his hand. He blinked and the anxious face of the younger medic swam into view. “Keeper?” Jonton smiled beatifically at him. “Everything’s just fine,” he answered. The medic swallowed hard. “And… the Kerm?” At that, Jonton laughed out loud. “He,” he declared, “is much, much more than alright!” Three bewildered faces looked back at him. Then Erlin’s jaw dropped open. “Oh sweet… Are you saying…?” He stared wide-eyed at the great trunk behind Jonton’s head. “Gusemy needs to know about this I think,” he said faintly. “Preserve me, the Council… everyone needs to know about this!” He blinked. “But ‘he’, Jonton? Kerm are self-seeding plants for goodness sake. They don’t even…” “Kerm do have male or female Keepers though,” said Gerselle. She smiled at Jonton. “I thought I recognised his voice, love.” “A Kerm identifying with it’s Keeper,” said Erlin slowly. “Excuse me - his or her Keeper, I suppose I should say now. That makes sense…I think.” “I wish I could say the same, “ said the older medic with asperity. “Would somebody mind telling me just what on Kerbin is going on here?” “As I said to somebody else a long time ago,” said Jonton, “It would be easier to show than tell.” Hastily he cast his mind back to his communion with Gusemy, Obrett and Erlin and offered the memory of Erlin’s mental voice to Elton. This one has communed before but I’m not sure if the other two have. “Take a bunk, good kerbals,” he said aloud. “It doesn’t matter which one - they’re all much the same.” The medic glanced sidelong at Erlin and raised his eyebrows. Erlin nodded, doing his best to look reassuring. “I know,” he said, “That’s what I thought too the first time but it’ll be fine, trust me.” He studied the Kerm trunk again, the corners of his mouth turning up in an involuntary grin as his curiosity began to get the better of him. Confidently, he led the way over to the bunks and picked one nearest to Jonton. “In fact, I think everything’s going to be fine.” ————— Elton’s leaves uncoiled from the the scalps of three stunned kerbals. Erlin’s eyes shone with unshed tears as he stared wordlessly at Jonton. The older medic rolled over on his bunk, opened his mouth to speak only to close it again. He reached above his head, brushing his fingertips over leaves that, until moments ago, had been lodged in his brain. Dry, he thought. So impossibly dry. Reverently, he pressed his fingers against the whorled bark around the base of the leaf cluster. “Can we do this for all of them?” he said plaintively “We have to,” his colleague said softly. “We can’t just leave them… deny them their chance at that.” “I don’t think so either,” said Erlin. “How could we?” He buried his face in his hands for a second before smoothing his hair back and lacing his fingers together behind his head. “We’ll need to find a better way though.” He flicked a glance at Jonton then shook his head. “Going an-Kerm nearly killed you and if you’d died, then who knows what would happened to Elton’s mind.” “That’s because Jonton went through it alone.” Four heads snapped round to face Enely, now sitting upright on his bed. “But nobody else needs to.” He looked Erlin in the eye. “Gerselle and I separated Jonton - the kerbal Jonton - from Elton by providing anchors for them to form around. What if we do that from the beginning?” “Go on,” said Erlin intently. Enely held out his hands. “Plant the thirty-eighth tree in a Grove,” he said. “Keep watch over it, make sure that when the black spots come, the Keeper and two Anchors are all communing. One Anchor supports the Keeper whilst he - or she - helps the Kerm. The other Anchor supports the Kerm. Perhaps that way there will be no shattering at all. But if there is, then we can learn from Jonton.” Enely looked at the former an-Kerm apologetically. “You fought to keep the shards of Elton’s mind intact,” he said. “and to keep yourself apart from them. I am thinking that was a mistake. Perhaps if the shards had been allowed to melt faster, then they might have healed faster too.” The two medics gaped at him. Gerselle frowned, scratching the bridge of her nose as she thought it through. “The two Anchors would need to practice communing first,” said Jonton slowly. “and let the Kerm get used to them as well as its Keeper.” “They’d also need to be carefully chosen,” said Gerselle. “One of them would need to know the Keeper very well and the other…” Her voice trailed away. Enely offered her a small half-smile. “Yes,” he said, “But I would be glad to. Perhaps a third Anchor to help me and to show others in turn? I do not think I could help every Kerm on Kerbin.” Erlin looked at them. “I think I need to make a call, “ he said at last. “Could I borrow your phone, Gerselle?” “Of course,” said Gerselle. “It’s in the kitchen.” Head whirling, Erlin walked out of the sleep room, shutting the door behind him. He retrieved his jacket from its peg, reached into a small buttoned-down, pocket inside and took out a plain embossed card. Mentally he ran through the procedure that Donman had taught him, took a deep breath, picked up the phone and dialled the number on the card. “Good afternoon, Chief Ambassador Donman’s office. How may I help you?” “Good afternoon. My name is Professor Erlin Kerman, from the Berelgan Institute. I’d like to request an advisory call with the Chief Ambassador please.” “I’m afraid the Ambassador is in a Council meeting, Professor but I shall arrange an emergency conference call at his earliest convenience. Do you have a number he can reach you on?” “I do,” said Erlin politely, “but I did request an advisory rather than an emergency call. Please could you inform the Chief Ambassador that this is a Bar-Katon matter, priority zero.” The voice in his ear sounded oddly strained. “I understand, Professor but please be advised that the Ambassador is in a closed Council session and cannot be disturbed.” A cold lump dropped into the pit of Erlin’s stomach. “Then I await the Ambassador’s pleasure,” he replied. “Please could you let him know that I’m with a pair of mutual friends. I believe he has their number but just in case.” Erlin read off the number taped to the base of the phone. “Thank you, Professor. I shall see that the Ambassador gets your message. Good afternoon.” “And a good afternoon to you also.” Erlin put the phone down and stared unseeingly at the wall, the cold lump twisting his insides into a savage knot. ————— Donman hurried into the Council chamber, eyes flicking around the table as he nodded to Obrick and took his seat next to him. Behind a carefully impassive face, his heart sank at the sight of the two empty seats opposite Lanrick and Burvis. Then the great chamber doors thudded shut and any last flickering hope of good news was extinguished by the stony Firesvarn faces in front of him. President Enemone stalked up to the podium, stabbed a finger at the microphone button and, with no further preamble, began to speak. “Good kerbals.” Enemone’s utterly flat delivery spoke more eloquently of her opinion of that greeting than any further words could. “Firesvar has convened this closed session of the Council of Twelve Pillars to bring you a report…” ————— The Lapwing long range search and reconnaissance plane jettisoned its drop tanks and turned north for Firesvar. Descending to visual altitude it began a methodical search pattern, looping back and forth over it’s allocated section of coast, its pilot scanning for any seagoing vessels. Halfway through his sweep he found one. A small ship tucked into a remote bay, a lack of wake marking it as riding at anchor. The Lapwing banked low, skimming over the waves, relying on speed and the low sun to protect it from any anti-aircraft fire. The pilot caught a glimpse of two dinghies pulled up on the beach, then he was past them, past the cliffs, over the nearby forest and banking sharply for a second pass. A flick of a switch and the centreline camera pod whirred into life, film clacking rapidly past the shutters. On the ground, a squad of kerbals broke cover, sprinting for the treeline, slowed by the heavy packs on their backs. The aircraft roared overhead, turned and came back for a third pass, the long coastal grass snapping back and forth in the turbulence of its passing. “Patrol craft two-zero-six reporting contact in designated sector delta-five. One vessel, two dinghies, crew sighted and confirmed making for treeline. Two-zero-six remaining on-sector till minimum safe fuel, recommend deploying pickup team asap.” The pilot paused. “Contact looks fresh, Control, if they don’t run first, pickup team may be able to repatriate.” ————— Enemone’s gaze swept the Council chamber before settling on Lanrick and Burvis. “Firesvar therefore regretfully informs Wakira of its decision to invoke Article 24 of the Bill of Land, effective immediately.” Her voice hardened. “Firesvar also reserves the right to invoke Article 24 against any other Regionality found to be aiding or abetting the organisation calling itself the Children of Kerbin. Good day to you all.” The two Firesvarn marched stiffly out of the Council chamber, leaving a stunned silence in their wake. Burvis turned a furious shade of mottled green and opened her mouth to speak before a minute gesture from a flinty-eyed Lanrick made her snap it shut again in a thin-lipped, humourless smile. Chadwick and Aldwell exchanged glances, impassive faces not quite hiding the sudden shadows behind their eyes. And no wonder, thought Donman, given their decidedly pro-Kerm stance. Aldwell mumbled a perfunctory farewell before leaving the chamber behind his President. Burvis and Lanrick followed closely behind. The Doreni leaders departed without saying a word. The openly worried Veiidan leaders nodded politely and left, leaving Donman and Obrick at an empty Council table staring at each other in disbelief. “Do you think we can stay out of it?” said Donman at last. Obrick pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think so,” he replied, “If anything, this should keep Wakira off our backs along the Northwest Border. I’ll order Commander Valentina to step up the patrols but pull back to our side of the border and stay neutral. Then I’ll need to call an emergency session of the Ruling Council - I trust you’ll summon the Enclave?” Donman nodded. “I will. In fact I think we should declare a joint session.” He paused. “What about Starseed?” “Fortunately,” said Obrick, “Rockomax and the KIS are still shouldering most of the heavy lifting there. I think we have to assume that the Wakiran contributions are going on hold for the interim but I’ll have to speak to Lanrick as soon as possible about securing Site D. The Skyhawk program is coming along well according to Lodan but still very much in the experimental phase…” “I hate to say it,” said Donman, “but what about Doren?” Obrick sighed. “Probably what they always do - stay neutral and extract as much political capital as they can for doing nothing. We need them to hold up their end of Starseed but Kerm knows what they’ll demand for it after Humilisia. He rubbed his forehead tiredly. “I need a drink.” “My office is closer if you’ll settle for a coffee,” replied Donman. “May as well start as we mean to go on,” said Obrick. “Lead on, Ambassador.” Corsen looked up from his monitor as Donman and Obrick strode into the office. “A short meeting, sir,” he noted. “Short and to the point,” said Donman heavily. “Any messages?” “Just one, sir.” Corsen walked over to the coffee percolator on its table and began scooping ground beans into the filter basket. “A priority zero call from Professor Erlin at the Berelgan regarding the Bar-Katon matter.” He looked at Donman apologetically. “I would have sent word immediately, sir, but under the circumstances…?” Donman waved it away. “Indeed. Did Erlin leave a number?” “On your desk sir.” Corsen saw the expression on Obrick’s face and added an extra scoopful to the basket. “I’ll bring the coffee through once it’s done.” Donman nodded his thanks and held his office door open for Obrick. It closed behind the two kerbals with a quiet but definite sounding click. Swiftly, he crossed the room and picked up the phone. “Good afternoon. Could I speak to Professor Erlin.” A pause. “Yes, he said. With respect, Professor, this had better be good. Yes, I thought it would be.” Donman sat bolt upright. “He did what? A medical team first? Well we can thank the Kerm for small mercies I suppose. So was the procedure successful?” Obrick’s eyes widened at the sudden expression on Donman’s face. “Very much so, Professor and more than you can imagine. Very well - please inform the Keepers that we’ll be there as quickly as possible.” A tone of wonder crept into his voice. “And I’d be obliged if you could convey my respects to... Elton and request an audience for myself and President Obrick. Thank you, Professor.” Donman put the telephone down and hurried through to the anteroom. Eyebrows raised, Obrick followed him. “…airport and have them prepare the Spirit of Kolus for immediate departure to Barkton. We’ll also need priority transportation from Barkton airport to the Grove.” “We’ll both need transport?” said Obrick from the doorway. ”Only, I seem to recall a large number of phone calls in my immediate future.” Donman began pulling files out of his cabinet. “You can do all that once we’re airborne. We’ll both need to witness this - only way to be sure.” “Witness what?” said Obrick impatiently. He was completely unprepared for the sudden fire in Donman’s eyes. “Something that we couldn’t have dared hope for, Obrick! I’ll brief you on the way, Mr President - we’ve got a war to stop.” << Chapter 68: Chapter 70>>

Yeah, that's the problem really. It's so out of scale with everything that came afterwards. Thanks for pointing me at the mod though. If it looks too weird, I might try the current Mk1-2 pod and the big Rockomax tank. At least the oil drum aesthetic would more or less fit Kerbal 1. Fantastic! A cover for the finished version would be wonderful and you should have a decent amount of time - it's not going to be finished for a while.

Still plenty to look forward to then! And we've got Val going to the Mun - what's not to like. Quick aside - the Kommissar would make one heck of a flight director if he put his mind to it. I did like the way you switched him from terrifying figure of the State to conspirator to person with a shadowed past to person giving a matter of fact briefing complete with all the correct technical terms. In a single chapter no less. Great stuff!

For twilight is upon us and soon night will fall. This is the way of all things. This is the way of the Kraken.

Oh I dunno. The thrust isn't great - I'll give you that. The drive itself though is pretty light, so surely that will help...? I'll get my coat.

On a completely different topic - somebody has a challenge for you Kuzzter. It's a bit taxing but I have faith that you're up to it!

It's on it's way I'm sure. I can't speak for the good author but I know I'd be fairly drained after writing those last two chapters and wondering quite how to start the next one.