Patupi

Not to be confused with Sir Cumspect the round ABOUT knight, or Sir Reptitious, the sneaks about knight.

Oh yes, though I had the RPG book I never actually got a game together unfortunately. Read the collected edition of the fiction of that though... not that the RPG universe bears much resemblance to the books. !Science as a skill makes so much sense when you consider what people do in movies, TV etc.

The exclaimation point is mandatory you know. Science! is not to be ignored, or put upon... though it doesn't mind a little stroking (Yes, I'm kind of a cat person. Not by choice. I got adopted)

Don't be silly, it's Kedi! Jedi is just a silly word.

Awwwww! Now you've gone and ruined a perfectly good misconception. Spoilsport! Dang good action scene, well worth waiting for. All hail the 'It's safe now' trope. Words to never utter under ANY circumstance!

OK, normally my verbal verisimilitude is exacting in efforts to instantiate the correct level of descriptive verbosity but... WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I Dun run outa stuf ta reed! Yeah, I've finally caught up to all of Valentina's shenanigans. You're doing magnificently lad, keep it up!

I know precisely what you mean. I've written a lot, but have only completed one short story and one Timeline/story. I have tons of ideas and half made stories (one a grand epic that was to be a trilogy... and the first book is still half written a decade later). The timeline story I finished was only done because of the feedback (spacebattles and althistory.com in that case) so I know how that matters. What ever gets you to do it take it. Go with it! If this is the result, or even something close to it you deserve some rewards. And as for this not being hard scifi? Piffle! I've seen far weirder aliens than Kerbals in hard scifi epics, and less believable ones, at least how you represented them. You even implicated that there might be a reason for the Kerbol system's weirdness (whether you have an actual reason or just attribute it to 'Krakenesc happenings') so yeah, I treat it as hard Scifi. Keep up the good work!

OK, first, to paraphrase a friend. THAT THERE WAS AN AWESOME THREAD! Magnificent tale, well thought through (even if partly on the fly), well fleshed out characters, flowing plot with no dead spots to drag, and a very entertaining narrative. Plus mixing Hard scifi, Terrors from beyond time, and laughter... that takes serious skill, or just mind bending luck (and if you have the latter darned well use it!) All I can say is thank you for giving us this gem. Unfortunately a week or so ago when I noticed this I (with my chronologically aimed thinking) thought to start it with Whispers, then go on to Shadow. Yeah, kind of spoiled the big ending there for me, knowing who was who in the finale. Might want to add in that starting with Whispers gives serious spoilers for Shadows. I stopped at Act II of Whispers as it was obvious it was going beyond Shadows, so I still have some yet to read YAY! Ahem, anyway, thanks again for a very engrossing read. Keep it up. And seriously, if you can just get involved enough again to do an original tale like this... SELL IT!

Right now I'm pausing, considering getting more memory for my computer as tthings are rather slow right now. A pure stock take would probably be much easier (though even there KSP seems slow right now). The sluggishness is not in flight but in switching views and still getting crashes in the VAB every now and then. Plus I don't think I'll be using shuttles if I do take a stab at this or your new one. With the newer aerodynamics things are even tougher (for those of us that didn't use FAR much in the old days at least) than they used to be, and I had trouble with space planes then too

OK, things are not going well. Right now all I've done is spend 11,841 space bucks on simulations... that failed miserably. The reason? I went against my normal expertise and attempted to make a plane work. HAH! Me and planes do not work well. I did go for a space shuttle analogue though, vertical launch, but coming back the damned thing keeps flipping out, plus stability is an issue.... I may have to rethink the entire thing. Plus I've spent all my points on the SPH instead of the VAB as I was planning on one Cargo Shuttle and one personnel STOL spaceplane. If I redesign now I'm probably going to have to restart from scratch and use the VAB instead. Rockets I know, planes.... yeah, not so much. This was my attempt at a shuttle, using side booster rockets only. I did manage to get it to orbit successfully with maybe 70 dV to spare (though it was a 70km x 100km orbit, so lower would have been valid) with a dummy cargo of 35 tons. My initial plans were for sections to be launched that likely would be a little smaller than that, so it would have worked, but there is no point in reusability if I can't get the darned plane back down in one piece! Lets face it, I'd be happier with rockets anyway.... they make a more impressive bang when they blow up (EDIT: I know what needs to be done to stabilize the shuttle. I already have the center of lift behind the center of mass, both fueled and dry, but upon re-entry the center of drag needs to be behind the center of mass and I'm having difficulty getting that right and keeping the other balance the same. I kept the main fuel tanks for the central orbiter on either side of the cargo bay to make sure the center of mass didn't shift much when the fuel was used, but this meant that, with the engines at the rear, the plane has it's mass more to the rear. Enough that it flips out when it gets below 40km on re-entry. I tried airbrakes to attempt to shift drag rearward without affecting lift, but things aren't working well. Things heat up and blow up... a lot.)

OK, I was looking for a challenge recently and considered re-doing the old Duna Permanent Outpost mission but with more limitations. I did consider RSS/RO but so far, even with the current build just about ready for 1.1.3 I can't seem to get it to work with my machine without severe slow downs. However KScale64 will work. But, now Duna Permanent Outpost thread is over a year since the last post and I really didn't feel like necroing it, and this is the most recent Duna related one I could find. Anyone know of something where this would fit, or perhaps consider a separate scoring sheet for a 6.4x scale mission? A lot would change with this, not just the much heavier rockets (and more difficult to build re-useable rockets) but also times, including construction times. So far I've tested rockets in 6.4 scale to lift fairly large payloads to orbit, but non-reusable. I've never been good at space planes, but I have in the past done fairly well at reusable rockets. I'll certainly give it a go. If I do, even if no separate sheet does pop up here I might just post it anyway, even if it doesn't count it'll be fun. Sending screaming, fiery Kerbals of death to their doom as they make new rilles on Duna sounds like a fun way to spend an evening or fifty. At least there is a fix to stage recovery that is supposed to work with 1.1.3 right now so I think I have everything I need. EDIT:.... or maybe I'll just do a normal mission without KScale... *sigh* I had difficulty getting any reusable jet hardware working so I thought maybe it was the atmosphere being annoying (I already had Deadly Re-entry in) and the next time I ran KSP it crashed the whole computer! Black screen, though something was going on in the background but nothing would drop it out. I've been hoping for a real scale system for a long time, but the thing has NEVER worked for me. I don't know if it's just I'm cursed, but even versions that were stable and working fine for other people with that version of KSP just would not work reliably for me.

Oh this does look interesting! I wonder if it could be balanced in a +/- way? For example, on engines if you increase ISP, the thrust reduces slightly. Or mass increases slightly. Then increasing thrust decreases ISP etc. Overall, doing both upgrades will increase the ISP and Thrust slightly, but focusing on one or the other will get you far better results. Combining this with the diminishing returns would force people to make decisions on how they are upgrading certain engines. Not sure how it would apply to simpler items, such as fuel tanks. Increasing cost as dry weight goes down seems a little simplistic. Perhaps reducing heat tolerance? Or crash tolerance? I'm sure some variant could be done. It'd be interesting to see how this would affect a game, such as developing certain fuel tanks for use in re-entry vehicles and some for deep space work, limiting which of the vanilla types get modified for certain roles.

Or certain moons like Triton that have frozen nitrogen on the surface. Not sure there's an equivalent in the Kerbol system, though I guess Eeloo would come close

I think adding a key to that propellant chart might be an idea. I had to search through the forum to figure out exactly what the soot thing was doing, now the +0.01 and -0.01 makes sense, but it would be easier if there was a brief explanation of what the different tabs mean, even the obvious ones That would also help for things, like corrosion, that aren't implemented yet. Plus it could be updated once it IS implemented.

For mine it happened quite a few times with the 'Minmus Miner' craft. Most recently it even happened during acceleration when I was not on the map screen. I'd pretty much decided to abandon that ship and was building a rescue vessel to retrieve the science... I mean the crew of the craft. Aside from the save game I gave earlier here is the most recent log file I have. The failure happened quite a few times as I attempted reloading and adjusting the orbit around Minmus in different ways and different thrusts. Nothing worked. EDIT: Almost forgot the output log

I've had a similar issue, if a bit more pronounced, and it tends to tear my craft apart. It's a nuke powered mining craft around Minmus and given the low acceleration I didn't bother to use struts. My occurrence only happens during acceleration while on the map screen. Once I click back on the craft view I can see the ship wobbling more and more erratically, even if the engines are then turned off, then it tears itself apart. If the craft is not on the map screen when it accelerates it is fine, but as soon as I go to map, after a few seconds the oscillations begin. This is a stock game with no mods, windows 32 version, 1.02, and I'm adding my save game here

*Badum TISH!* And don't worry, the kerbonauts won't throw rotten tomatoes anywhere NEAR you. They don't grow on Kerbin (though I won't say what they WILL throw EWWW!)

Can't help with most of those, but retry as the Soviet Union for 7. Instead of 'Game Over' you get a flash of a magazine called Pravda that states they've conducted 'Glorious Socialist Urban Restructuring'. You can keep playing as long as your 'health bar' labelled Propaganda is high enough.

Me I'm fascinated with these Human guys. I mean they're so pink and cute looking. Though I read somewhere that originally they were supposed to be carnivorous hermaphrodites, there is talk of making them omnivorous and actually having different genders rather than the one they show in game at the moment! I wonder what the new male humans will look like? EDIT: I mean seriously, I'm pretty sure they made the early ones look like that just to get young Kerbals to play the darned game! Their 'assets' are just ridiculous! Have you ever seen a Kerbal with eyelashes that long?!?!

Planes... Pretty much anything to do with planes.... I can do complex docking with no thrusters, I can land on pretty much any world (some requiring horrendous monsters of ships, but doable), I've docked vertically using RCS on planetary bodies (mostly low-g moons), I can do interplanetary transfers with stock stuff and eyeballing it, but planes have me beat. I have successfully built planes with very few parts, say one pair of wings and minimal fuel/engines, but beyond that no manner of balancing the fuel, getting the wheels stable, works... at all. Either the plane starts sliding from side to side on take off, or the thing is twitchy to fly and tends to flip out on a dime, or I can't land it without bellyflopping with enough force to take out a small moon. I don't know what it is with me and planes but no matter how hard I try, or how obvious the solution seems to be (Oh yeah, that'll do it... *CRASH*) it all ends the same. I've been flying since 0.18 and I think I've managed to fly one complete SSTO mission without crashing at the end of it. One.

I think that is a good touch. The only other way would be to do tiny little thumbnails... which probably would also spoil the flow a bit, and also be awkward to work out anyway. *shrugs* All I can say is I like the style and leave it at that

Very cool. Particularly like the Atlas D. Are those Rover bodies arrayed in a hexagon for the stage and a half coupling? Interesting take on that. I wouldn't have thought of that and would have still been messing with plates and girder sections.... and tons of struts

Congratulations on losing Jeb I'm sure he'll find his way back somehow. Yes, playing with things for keeps is more... interesting. It certainly makes things last longer... in a way. Well, the ships don't, but the game does Nicely done on the scripting, but you know you can insert imgur pics directly into the post even without those 'tiled' pages? Go to the album page, hit the 'edit descriptions' tag, then on the pic you want you can left click to enlarge, then right click to copy the URL. Then it's just and it's in the post. Just in case you weren't already aware of that and were doing what you had above to avoid spoiling the flow of your writing

Cleaning Up OK, this was new. "And what are they exactly?" Gene said slowly to a disgruntled Dunkel. Not that that was different than the normal Dunkel. The grizzled Kerbal shot a glare at Gene, then stomped to the window and snapped the blinds up sharply. Outside in the lot were five trucks with dozens of cylinders already offloaded and sitting on the concrete. "That's what they are. Cryo-freeze chambers, a hundred of the darned things! We spend the better part of six months working on the problem and just when we're nearing completion they come down here, unannounced and dump these completed units on our doorstep! I swear, if councilman Carter were here right now I'd throttle him myself. Do you know how frustrating it's been this last month messing with cryogenic coolants and additives when I could have been tuning the prototype fusion reactor? Do you? NO YOU DON'T!" Gene just let it wash over him, but Dunkel did have a point. The government (not to mention the council) were getting more and more chaotic of late, saying one thing then changing their mind shortly afterwards. This just put the icing on the cake. "Fine. Take one apart and see if it meets your standards of approval Dunkel. Oh, and see if you were right on your design as well. I'd rather have a backup in case these things turn out to not live up to the claims for them. We do however have another problem." He said and pushed a memorandum across the table towards the aging engineer. Dunkel frowned and looked down then sighed. Picking it up he shook his head despairingly. "You've got to be kidding me. They want a reusable fusion shuttle? For crying out loud, we've barely got the tech started, let alone practical yet!" "True, but there is more." Gene said, nodding towards the report. "If you read between the lines in that thing there indications of off world use for this 'Shuttle', that the specifications they call for have significant EM and radiation shielding. The only place I know where that would be needed would be..." "...Jool. Of course, they're wanting us to send another fools errand out there. Typical." "To be fair Dunkel we have several plans in the works to go to Jool again, just not soon. However there is more. I've had communications from Umbra Space Industries. Apparently they have been getting government funding as well and are eager to test some habitat systems they have designed. I understand it will take a little while to get their equipment up to scratch, but it seems the government wants us to set up a colony. They just didn't bother to tell us." "This is ludicrous!" Dunkel said, screwing up the memo and throwing it across the room with a scowl. "What'll they think of next?" "Well, for now I'm trying to expand my contacts in the government, and I can tell you Dunkel I don't like what I'm hearing. There is a lot of nervousness and secrecy up there, more so than usual. Something big is up and they aren't telling anyone! For now I suppose we just carry on as usual, but if I find out more I will let you know. I know there is something big going on Dunkel, we just have to find out what." With a sigh Dunkel strode over to the door, but stopped before leaving, glancing back. "We are all set for tomorrow Gene, but if things keep going like this we're going to be stretched to the limit." "I know Dunkel, I know. Just do your best. I'm sure Ipdel will do us proud again." Dunkel snorted. "Huh, that love sick pup'll likely get us all killed! But what else is new?" He said before grinning and heading out. "True, true." Gene said with a faint smile, but his gaze returned to the cryo-tubes being offloaded. What was the government's big rush? He would find out! *** Ipdel straightened his suit one last time before dashing out. Late as ever. Fumbling with his notes he tried to go over it one last time, tried to think if there was anything he'd missed or got wrong. "WHOAH!" He gasped, skidding to a halt as Machel nearly ran into him at a junction in the hall. "Oh Machel! Uh, ready?" With a contagious grin she nodded. "Oh you betcha! First remote pilot in, what? Six months? We need the experience." With a haughty air Ipdel shook his head. "Oh hardly. Us geniuses excel at everything we do." "Like tying your shoelaces?" She said, nodding at his feet as she raised an eyebrow. "What?" He bent over so fast he almost dropped his notes again, then sighed. "Oh very funny Machel!" "Gotcha! See at Mission Control!" She said, already racing ahead. "That girl!" Ipdel said, but grinned as he raced after her. *** "Aaaand liftoff!" The launch was fairly standard. A bunch of boosters with skipper engines kicked the assembly up to high altitude before the ship's main engines kicked in. Those and it's internal tanks were enough to get it to orbit with fuel to spare, but then it needed it's extra fuel. "I'm reading a seventy seven by seventy kilometer orbit." Machel noted calmly. "Path is clear. No debris near vessel." "Unfortunately." Ipdel said with a grin. "OK GUIDO, tracking debris locus d9001" Gene said from the Flight desk. "Stand by for interception." "Roger Flight. Disengaging integral skippers, engaging LV-Ns. Plotting intercept orbit." The next twenty minutes were tense, but Ipdel and Machel focused on the task well, and soon their remote controlled ship was closing on a piece of orbital debris. A section of booster that had exploded after being jettisoned during the Munar Five mission. Closing to a kilometer from target the ship slowed down and began to edge closer. "All readings look good, rotation is minimal. RCS is reading green." Machel said quietly as the craft neared the burned piece of engine and fuel tank. "Green from primary claw mechanisms. All systems retracted and standing by." With a nod Ipdel acknowledged Machel and let her take control as it closed on target. "Twenty meter. Eighteen. Velocity is at two meters per second, decelerating.... ten meters." "Picking up some drift." Ipdel said softly, monitoring the velocity readings. "Correcting. Target within claw arms. Five meters.... Three.... two... Contact. Closing claws." "We have capture!" Machel said, the grin on her face infectious. "OK, checking payload stability." Ipdel said, unable to stop smiling himself. "We have some lateral drift, but payload seems to be holding. Suggest slow roll maneuvers. We might lose it." "Roger GUIDO." Slowly the craft rotated in place until it was pointed retrograde to their orbital path. "Engaging atomic engines!" Machel said with a grin. "Heh, always wanted to say that." Ipdel just shook his head as he watched the periapsis of the orbit dip lower and lower till it nearly touched the surface of Kerbin. "Braking path locked in. Cutting engines." "Releasing payload." "And payload is free. One piece of debris that won't bother anyone again." The tension in the room relaxed somewhat, though not completely. "OK, maneuvering for a radial prograde attitude and prepping for burn." Now they just had to make sure it was only the debris that burned up, not the craft! "Engines engaged, and periapsis is rising. Clear of atmosphere." Machel said with a chuckle. "OK, next target?" *** The next few hours were intense as they grabbed and dumped payload after payload, multiple pieces of debris being flung into Kerbin's atmosphere to burn up. "I think this is the last for today." Gene said calmly as they caught a booster one more time. "And after this stabilize the orbit and call it a day. We've done enough for now." "Roger Flight. Standing by to ditch main tank." Machel said, then turned to Gene. "Do we have confirmation of the refueling launch?" "Payload away!" Ipdel said, watching the booster descend towards the surface. "Prepping for boost. Engines engaged." Gene nodded to Machel. "Yes, two auxiliary fuel and monoprop tanks to be attached to the side ports. Current launch ETA is Oh four hundred tomorrow." Machel sighed. "Good. I'd hate for this to die after doing only half a job. If we can get that tomorrow we can stabilize the fuel status, ditch the launch tank and be ready for the next target." "Yes, but be sure to jettison the tank into the atmosphere. I'd rather not have our recycling vessel create more debris up there." "Roger Flight." A grin firmly plastered on his face Ipdel watched as Machel finished the burn and stabilized the ship, locking it down for the night. Damned that girl could fly a console! NOTE: Yes, this was done in KSP 0.23, so no claw as yet. I had to make do. The legs proved really tricky to get working right, holding the target, but jumping all over the place if you pushed to hard. Plus they didn't hold well. If I rotated to fast the part slid right out the side, even with the restraint arms between the 'claws'. In the end it worked and I cleared up a lot of debris. Not going to post all the pics from that. It got very repetitive, but was interesting to fly. The main ship however was seriously low on maneuvering fuel, so I did send up the 'refueling launch' just to keep it operating effectively. Mainly it was for the monoprop as the on board fuel was OK. All in all it worked very well. I was surprised. I figured it's be a disaster to fly that thing! Recycler + refueler tanks on side:

Heading to Eve A knock came on Gene's door making him look up from his reports. "Come in." He said bruskly, it had been a long day. The Kerbal entering was equally brusk, but given who it was that was hardly surprising. "Seriously. Eve? Does nobody tell me anything around here?" He said frowning at Gene. Gene sighed and looked up at Dunkel and reluctantly slid his paperwork to one side for the moment. "Yes. Eve. I know this is awkward, but honestly when I found out what Jedwig had planned it fitted perfectly." "PERFECTLY!" Dunkel said with almost a screech. "You want to send some darned fool kids off to a new planet with no preparation and planning? This is suicide!" With exaggerated slowly Gene pushed his chair back and stood up, heading over to the window looking out over towards the launchpad. "No Dunkel. This is Jedwig." Dunkel raised an eyebrow, but Gene continued before he could interrupt. "Seriously, do you think that boy did not] plan this thing every which way? He doesn't do anything without planning, preplanning and overthinking it. Sometimes to extreme. As to supplies and such? We checked to make sure, but yes he has everything set up. We didn't even have to add anything to make it a viable mission." Dunkel looked flustered, glancing around anxiously. "But... but why? Why'dja let him?" Gene sighed. "Honestly? To get the government off our backs. They have been pushing for a while now for us to extend our exploration further into the kerbolar system, but our funding hasn't been equally increased. They did however fund for this prototype ship. If Jedwig decides to take this off and do some of what the government wants they aren't going to stop or chide him for it, and we won't stop him either. Besides, how he did it is even more interesting. He worked with Mervey to ensure things went right and no-one found out. Since when have you heard of Jedwig relying on someone else for something like this? He's changing Dunkel, and, however much it irks me to say it, it's due to Jeb." Dunkel slowly nodded. "Maybe. That boy knows people that's for sure.... and rockets of course. Heh, and ladders. He's gaga about those!" "Yes." Gene said, keeping a stern expression. "I'm sure he is. Look, Dunkel, we have been under more and more pressure from the government of late, how is the research progressing?" "Well, the work on the ion drive is bogged down a little. The things are just not doing what they are supposed to! At least the test models aren't liable to rocket off the test stand and hurt passers by! But I'd say in a few months we should have it ironed out. The other part though... Those cryo-test beds they sent us aren't up to scratch. It'll take me a while to modify this so it'll work reliably, let alone be something we can mount on a ship. Why aren't we sticking with the hibernation pods?" "Again, orders from on high. Someone likes that the cryopods will hold Kerbals indefinitely once frozen. Hibernation they still age, though slowly. If we get them working there is also less risk with them. At least they have lower maintenance and control issues. All you need to to keep the Kerbals cold after freezing, no need for complicated lifesupport monitoring systems as on hibernation pods." "And... why?" Gene sighed, turning back to stare at Dunkel. "I don't know, and honestly something about the... fervor in the government for space exploration, and what specific advancements they are after, worries me. Something is up on the hill Dunkel, I just wish I knew what." "Aye. You and me both." *** "Take a good look at Kerbin folks. You won't be seeing her for a good while!" Jeb said as he swung the ship around to show the view better from the science pod. Jedwig floated behind him, a fond smile on his face as he gazed down on the sight of their homeworld. "It does fill one with a grand sense of humility doesn't it?" Jeb jerked slightly as if bitten, then slowly turned on Jedwig with a frightened expression. "OK, who are you and what have you done with Jedwig?" "Oh ha ha, most amusing Jebediah. Seriously, the view of our little corner of the universe like this, especially when we won't be seeing it for a while, does take your breath away doesn't it?" "Mmmm, yes. Though I never thought I'd hear you say those words Jedwig. Besides, it's your fault we won't be seeing the old gal for a while." "Oh, so now your on close personal terms with 'The Old Gal' Kerbin as well as the mun? How many girlfriends do you have Jebediah?" Jeb grinned and leaned back in the couch (tricky to do in zero G), with his hands laced behind his head. "Oh, one in every port... or least on every planet." "Sir!" Rolock said abruptly, startling both Jedwig and Jebediah. "Report all life support systems have been double checked and supplies accounted for. We are go for departure." "Heh, well we'll soon pass the last abort point so yeah, I think we will have to be. I hope you're happy with yourself Jedwig? You've suborned this entire mission, made me look like a fool, sent us all off on a fool's errand, and perhaps, just perhaps, ticked off Flight." "Gene? He didn't sound annoyed to me?" Jedwig said with a frown. "Maybe. Maybe you'll be lucky, but I wouldn't bet on it. You'll have to wait till we get home again to find out what your punishment will be. I'll eagerly await that announcement!" "As long as you don't give him ideas!" Jedwig said fervently. "Oooh! Thanks bud! Didn't think of that." Jeb said sitting up and reaching for the comms console. "DON'T YOU DARE!" Rolock sighed and left the command pod before it turned into a fight... or more joking. He wasn't sure which would be worse given these two's sense of humor. *** "Well, course confirmed. We're good for Eve rendezvous. Estimated at a little under two months there, little time for science, then three or four months back. We should have enough fuel to do a seriously non-Hohmann transfer back home." Jedwig smiled as he did the final checks. "Hmm, well we're on course now we just have to *shudder* go into hibernation." Jeb said behind him. "Actually, I had Rolock double check supplies earlier on this score, just to double check I'd got it right, but for this short a mission we have enough that you don't have to. Life support should be able to handle at least two awake the entire time for this mission, even assuming a long wait for a Hohmann transfer back to Kerbin." Jeb raised an eyebrow and peered out the window as Kerbin shone, distant and small in the window. "Well, that's a tough choice... the sheer unmitigated terror of hibernation or *DUN DUN DUUUUN!*" And yes, he actually said the 'Duns', much to Jedwig's chagrin. "... Spending months of flight time with you. How will I decide?" Jedwig just sighed. It was going to be one of those missions... still, would be interesting.