KerbMav

There seems to be no way to make this work ... only one engine will stay attached, the other two will rip loose and float away.

Game still runs on: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHZ 4GB 800MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC CL5 P5K/EPU S775 P35 ATX DDR2 Samsung 500GB SATAII GeForce GTX 550-Ti, 2048MB (or 560?? donno ...) PC is in use since 08/2008 - bar the GTX 550 upgrade last winter - the newest hardware-monster-game being BF3 and some MMOs. I think a new one would be nice, but I am just not in the mood to also pay for it.

Finally docked the half-forgotten comm. module to my space station. Started building for a Mun-landing, lander looks good and can even safely land after ... launch trials ... on Kerbin. Rover works satisfactory. The rocket - something weird came forged into life here - it kinda works ... will have to post pics on sunday.

OK, switching the vessel let me take control by the Kerbal at least - but with only 70 units of monoprop I aint change any orbits soon. So either I try to pick up the Kerbal or I launch fresh fuel to let him rescue himself ... or orbit Eve and never land any time soon.

Took my new rescue boat to two stranded pods in Kerbal orbit - no accidental burning for the sun today - and with a few ounces of fuel left parked it 0m/s beside my space station. Didnt dock, this time i forgot to place RCS thrusters fore and aft ... my engineering brain cells are on vacation apparently, at least my orbiting skills are still up to the job. Sent an ion-powered rescue vehicle after the first rescue boat I de-Kerbined yesterday by dumbly not paying attention ... somehow the power lines are wrong, the engines dont get power from all solar sails, only from the batteries - course instabilities due to engine failure.

Sounds like KSP will be the game that gives us back time for our RL while playing? I did not leave Kerbins/Muns orbit yet, so mostly I am anxious if my fuel reserves are sufficient, my ship stays on course ...

Will try that, thanks! Does the alarm clock mod come with an auto pause function so I can leave the house ... ? I could not. There is a Kerbal inside, but I started with a probe core - if a probe core is the starting part, the pods come without keyboard and joystick it seems ... and as I wanted to fly-by-Kerbal I didnt pack any batteries or solar panels ... yup, overly hasty rescue attempt built by the cheapest provider ... sometimes games get horribly real, dont you think?

I let the game von 100.000x speed for seven ingame years but no close encounter with either Kerbin oder Eve - is there a mod or calculator out there to predict if the ship will enter the SOI of either planet to see if and what happens? Got dizzy while watching, centering on Kerbol made it easier.

And this little gem should be mentioned too: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/actions-on-the-fly/ A little bit click-heavy, but it gets the job done and if you e.g. (wanted to) rely on actions keys to use liquid engines as maneuvering thrusters but only in orbit realize you forgot to assign the keys in the VAB then this might save the day.

How do you get rotating stock parts? Well, if do doesnt mean accomplished ... Shot up a rescue boat to collect two crews stranded in orbit - missfired while distracted, emptied fuel tanks and put it into a Kerbol orbit crossing Kerbin's and Eve's. Watched the boat at 100.000x speed for about 7 game years - how to find out if it will ever interact with one of the two planets? Finally a reason to start designing that interplanetary cruiser. Redesigned the rescue boat and aligned orbit with the first stranded crew - again.

Beaten by Darth Trololoo

Finally wanted to get my five Kerbals (three the famous trio!) in failed mission pods without any fuel orbiting Kerbal back home - burned the wrong way while trying to get closer by pure engine power, wondering why I didnt get closer all the while ... this: So another more complicated rescue mission on my hands - luckily only one man ... but Squad is to blame! why cant we place empty lander cans when starting out with a probe!! This loyal Kerbals exile is on your hands!! *shakes fist in the air*

Somehow my first rockets were the most successful and reliable - or maybe my payload just moved to extravaganza ... Additionally my rockets alone can to get so heavy, that they seem to hover for half a second after "lift off" and burn through the fuel without getting high enough to attain orbit. I prefer staged rockets as it is mindnumbing enough to sort out separators and serpratrons and engines ... when there are only enough of them. The game does not always sort them well into the staging column. But I actually thought about assembling my space station in one piece on the ground and building a broad flat lifter around it ...

Designed a Mun lander/rover, but failed at launching it- the lander works (I think), but I somehow cannot get it into orbit today ... Launched the command module of my space station- provisional commander to be relieved soon, as it had an awsome intersect after only five orbits, so I could just undock my tug boat, catch the module and put the module in place in almost no time. Docked it - with a somewhat queer angle on the approach, but I seem to be a natural when it comes to docking maneuvers - makes up for my new inability to built working rockets for heavier payload ... a bit ...

I think you are using to many girders, so it becomes to "flexible" at these and starts to shake.

Its basically the same design, only with aforementioned changes. It still has SAS and a probe core in addition to a command pod - the game doesnt know these are just assist-o-hicles to be undocked soon. new pics

Un-wobble-death-ed my space station habitat, first successful docking in orbit, tweaking an orbiting the comm module for the station, played around with a lander design for the Mun, put together a rescue vessel for my five stranded Kerbals in orbit but couldnt get it out of the atmosphere?

"But Sherlock! It's the solar system!" I know I play to much KSP because when I am playing I cant make myself stop until it is 3am and my alarm clock tells me I have less then 4h left to sleep.

Well, I didnt have the nerve after all to launch the station module x times, so I made every change I could think off. As of now the station has not wobbled to death. Changed the design - or not - as follows: There is still at least one SAS connected via the command module used to steer the station into orbit. (Switching SAS on does not kill the station.) A (smaller) probe core is connected via a docked tug boat. (Yet just changing out the big probe core did not help in a previous test.) Both are docked on sr. clamps. Station and tug boat have NOT been renamed to the same name. (Someone suggested this elsewhere.) I also replaced the beam with a girder segment ... which at the same time made the solar panels not clip at their base anymore. Quite sure one of these to last points made all the difference - maybe I will launch it one more time with the beam but with not clipping offset solar panels ... sigh ... On a side note: First successful orbital rendezvous an docking completed! Next: Pick up the Comm module in orbit and fiddle it onto the habitat - this also will bring another probe core onto the station, lets see if it still behaves then.

You mean like the people contributing to the Wiki? I think another advantage might be that you can decide how many thrusters should point in any direction. A standard array of four quad-thrusters each at bow and stern translate up, down, left, right with four thrusters - but fore and aft with eight, so not equally strong and maybe "confusing" - and using more fuel in these two directions with a single tap on the key.

OK, thank you, I will report back after my first attempt to place a probe in Duna's orbit.

I have only been to Mun and back again - at first try - so I do not understand why there are so many mods to navigate the system? Is the course plotting ingame that insufficient? (Please dont just answer with yes or no, I am a curious fellow. ^^)

Reminds me of Grover and Kermit: "Stairs, which stairs?? *breath,puff,cough*

Best laugh for today! I seriously would try to grab the caspule with a robot arm of some sorts though. Either get the robot arms mod or one with an electro magnet and try to pick up the capsule that way.

ASAS, probe cores, command modules, docking ports, solar panels - whats the difference to a space station? Meaning, why does it not shake itself and wobble to death? Back to topic: Very nice designs, master!