kerbomatic

KSP just keeps getting better and better! Loving the contract-driven space program with the very specific missions. Thanks Squad!!

I launched a probe into the exact same orbit as Kerbin, just some distance ahead (or behind, doesn't matter at all). Then you can try a maneuver node on its orbit and estimate when to launch. No extras needed Technically a guess but accurate to within a day I'd say...

Just chiming in to say that I'm a huge fan of Kurt's KSP videos and that I'd like to see some kind of rescue mission

Enjoying not wasting so much RCS fuel while docking

I felt that using 'Jool' in my first attempt was a bit of a cheat, so substitute with 'Jovian' (that's Make Each Kerbal Do Daring Jovian Encounters) ... Also, Many Enterprising Kindergarteners Don't Deliberately Juggle Eggs. Hard mode attempt after the procrastination break... Edit: There we go: Merciful Elephants Gave Kittens More Milk Delaying Indefinitely Directing Jaguars Longing Viciously To Breed Plentiful Emus

My first attempt: Make Each Kerbal Do Daring Jool Encounters

I agree: In any situation running your CPU & GPU at full speed (there is free software out there you can use to test your system that way) it should not overheat. Ideally a game *should* use all power available to deliver the fastest gaming experience instead of slowing things down just so it doesn't use all your processing power. Having said that, in practice you may have a laptop that overheats too easily for whatever reason so I do recommend you test your system at full load to see if it doesn't get too hot and if it does, take precautions.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching that. Also, isn't the height of the launch support thingy already limited by the height of the VAB? Edit: ninja-ed

... when the camera viewpoint changes abruptly during ascent. You can't see it just yet, but your rocket *did* just break in two.

Here's an illustrated (partial) mission report of my first trip to Duna, semi-RP style. After visiting the Mün and Minmus, the Kerbal Space Program set its eyes on Duna, the next logical target. Kerbal scientists had been speculating that the delta-V required to get there was not all that much more than what was needed to get to Minmus, although by how much they couldn't tell. So it was decided to assemble an expedition from two standard 'Kerbster III' general utility craft and a heavy lander that had been proven to be capable of landing on the Mün and making it back with fuel to spare. It wouldn't be able to land on Duna but perhaps it could attempt a landing on Ike. Five brave Kerbals volunteered for this long range mission. They knew they wouldn't be back real soon. Between two capsules and the lander there was space for ten so it wasn't too cramped. An intercept to Duna was plotted and the Poodle was fired up. Waving goodbye to Kerbin. This is where things took a wrong turn. Unfortunately no pictures are available - they appear to have been erased and the crew of the Duna Explorer mission refuses to tell what happened. What is known is that just after leaving the Kerbin system, a fine-tuning maneuver was planned. Due to a mix-up of the 'control from here' buttons it appears that instead of accelerating, the combined craft fired in the wrong direction. After expending several hundreds of delta-V the crew realised that Kerbin was catching up with them. The expedition entered a wide orbit just outside the Minmus orbit. At this point the Kerbal Space Center ordered the crew to come home and give up. However, during their deceleration burn the crew realized that they had a unique opportunity for a Mün slingshot out of the system. Before KSC realized what was going on the expedition was on an escape trajectory out of Kerbin again. All they heard over the radio was a quick 'Screw you guys, we're going to Duna!!'. Needless to say their trajectory was not ideal and it took them quite a while to get there, but finally on day 213 Duna was in sight. In the meantime, a rescue mission led by Bill, Bob and Jeb was assembled but that is a story for another day. Getting close to Duna. Prepare to break. Several aero-breaking simulations type 'F5/F9' were run before settling on a final approach. Break, break, break. Since this was the first time getting into orbit around another planet, the Duna Explorer mission ended up in a polar orbit by accident. This was not going to help the expedition get into orbit around Ike, but at least they had a chance to do some extensive studying of Duna from orbit. However, they eventually figured out a way to get to Ike anyway, needing a relatively modest amount of delta-V. This image actually shows the 'rescue' craft that will feature in the next mission report. Orbital gymnastics. Beauty-shot near Ike. Made it to Ike orbit. These last maneuvers took almost all the remaining fuel with no opportunity to land so the crew is currently pleading with KSC to send some fuel. While the Duna Explorer mission will not be the first to land outside the Kerbin system, they will go down in history as the first crew to reach Duna despite messing up majorly early in the mission. To be continued...

You mention that one of these designs gets into orbit - this sort of implies that some of the things you're trying are overkill and can be fixed by improving your efficiency (in staging, for example). Alternatively, you could consider docking a separate ship to the base in orbit and taking it to the Mün that way. Depending on your docking skills, this is much easier and potentially less frustrating than creating laggy rocket with a thousand struts.

I docked a big L-shaped section trying to re-arrange my space station once. What a pain in the L. Probably took me 2 hours or so. Planning a space station before launching it is for wimps

Well this seems to qualify, sort of: Yesterday I spent about an hour trying to (re-)dock with a booster stage that I forgot to remove the fuel from. Then, after several run-ins with the thing it finally dawned on me that it had no docking port My logic: part A and part B had been uncoupled by selecting 'decouple' on the docking port. Therefore, we can re-dock. Wrong! Only part A had the docking port, not part B. Also I forgot to give part B any way to collect energy. Now I will have to design that fancy debris collector I saw on youtube the other day (forgot who'se it was) to de-orbit this thing... I can't assign the debris icon to it (it has no energy) and hitting 'end flight' feels like a bit of a cheat.

Sounds like you want to hear reasons not to use Steam. I am not using Steam myself but I hear it will keep track of how long you have played your Steam games (?). I don't know if it does this for alpha-stage games like KSP as well. This may or may not be something you are interested in. Also, some people prefer to deal with a 'trusted' outlet with regards to their online payments, in this case Steam. I have not heard anyone say that there's anything extra you would get with Steam... (Certainly hope not.) As to chrischambers' present - your friend must have opened a KSP store account, in which case he'd need to transfer the credentials to you so you can continue to receive the latest updates. That'd better be legal to do, or otherwise gifting this game to others would be very unattractive.

Had to look twice to check if that was really an upside down capsule Now, please, do tell... There must be a story behind this!

The Oberth effect basically means that you get better performance from your engines at higher speeds. Going to a higher orbit means you increase your speed so it is sort of the opposite of what you say. My first thought was that you could have a station with a highly elliptical orbit (much lower periapse than apoapse) and then have a higher speed at the 'bottom', but you'd still need to spend the energy to match orbits and dock. I don't see the real energy savings apart from re-fueling your interplanetary vessels as late as possible (say, just before achieving a Kerbin escape trajectory). Please, someone correct me and/or provide some actual numbers. Edit: Note that just because you see the planet move below you faster doesn't mean your velocity is higher. Just check your orbital velocity on the nav ball.

Hi Dodrian - my NVidia is a little bit older (7300) and I find that the nvidia-173 driver generally offers faster performance for me, as opposed to the latest drivers. Check it out...

Just wanted to report that, other than also experiencing the mouse scrolling problem, I couldn't get KSP to run full-screen at first. However, after loading 0.19.1, exiting, and starting 0.20, it now runs in full-screen. Go figure Running the 0.19 must have (re-)set something somehow. I haven't experienced any other problems so far.

Thanks that's very useful information - I had the exact same problem but didn't think much of it.

Ferb, I Know What We're Gonna Do Today! I'm sure I'll enjoy planting flags immensely. Thanks team!

My system is pretty close to Xaryn Mar's but with an older NVIDIA card and it runs on Linux. I know I'm below the minimum specs so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on future updates not adding a lot of 'bloat'. Or, alternatively, that I will be able to buy a new computer before the final version comes uit

...and that's what I like so much about KSP. Failing can be more fun than success. It makes for great stories. Good luck with your future shakedown cruises!

Yes the shrouds come with certain add-ons and there is something that is called the deadly re-entry mod iirc. You should be able to find all of this at the Spaceport. I believe there is even something that adds some sort of life support requirements but I don't use mods myself.

Apart from pointing you to the sticky threads with all kinds of information, I recommend playing around with maneuver nodes. Click on your orbit in the map mode and drag the symbols to see how your orbit would change. Then make it intercept the Mün and once you manage that, execute the maneuver. Hope that helps. Edit: just to add that you can have a lot of fun with the demo so don't feel bad about that.

Should have known someone actually made the Enterprise in KSP I had been thinking about how close one would get using stock parts. And indeed, the warp field does not work like linear thrust. Historically, warp nacelles have been seen practically anywhere relative to the saucer section short of ahead of the saucer. There's no reason why they couldn't be though.