Jarin

That's a rather different gameplay concept, having to pay to discover and track planets before they even show up on the map. No visual obscuring of the surface, just hiding the planet altogether, so you can't go there at all (unless you're exceptionally lucky). I was hoping for something without the time/money sink tied in.

1. Plant flags at both ends of the runway. This helps you visually line up from a distance, as well as giving you something to target for approach. 2. Know your terrain and line up on the runway from a long way out. The grasslands to the west are all less than 300m altitude, so make that your target altitude for approach. Once you pass the final hill, drop altitude to the runway, which is at exactly 70m altitude, so aim for 80-90 on approach. 2.5. If you did both 1 and 2, plan your approach by keeping the "target" marker on your navball exactly on the 90 degree line, or due east. That way you know you're on a direct approach to the runway. 3. Test your planes and see how slow you can fly without stalling. Try to keep level flight while dropping speed and raising your nose to compensate until the plane falls out of the sky; then you know to keep above that speed. Remember, the slower you're going on approach, the easier it is to correct your aim. 4. Don't be afraid of the runway. Practice landing on the grass, sure, but even with only one upgrade, the runway is a perfectly acceptable landing surface. (It always felt cheap to me to land on the grass, then taxi onto the runway for full recovery value)

Instead of jumping in disagreeing (lots of people have covered that side nicely) I'd like to see what you're trying to do that you need more 0.625 power for. Maybe some design assistance would do the trick.

Was trying to build the workshop Got it sorted by paying through the nose to hire and train a couple smart engineers, then flying them out. And yes, the workshop is an absurd boost. The same team that got 0.9 productivity before is getting 13 now, with the workshop built. Now I have a problem that I'm slightly more confident isn't my fault. I'm sitting on 13.8% MetalOre according to my Magnetometer, but my auger isn't pulling up anything. It just shows "n/a" for rate. Am I missing something?

Liking the stockalike mechanic design here. That discovery blur looks pretty good, too. Any idea on time-scale for implementation there?

Okay, I'm not sure if this is a bug, an install issue (figured out below), or if I'm just doing something wrong. Let's see if I can properly show what's happening. Here's my build setup. That's a survey stake casting that shadow on the right. Here's my build window And then again, immediately after I click Build. Note the alarm immediately coming up saying the build is completed. No amount of warping is moving anything. It's almost like no... work... is being done. Huh. I should probably check- Well crap. Apparently I have some *really* dumb kerbals in here. Currently onboard: Is there any way I can arrange these three to actually get my productivity positive? Or do I need a full crew replacement?

Is there any mod that lets me view a craft's balance stats outside the hangar? I'm working on some utility cargo craft, and I need a way to load balance properly. (I.e. "should I just park this big rover in the center of the cargo bay, or do I need to transfer fuel forward before takeoff")

So it's not just a warning, it actually stops functioning? Dangit, no manufacturing outpost for me yet. Oh well, I can be patient.

That it is. And yet every attempt I've made at a heavy cargo SSTO that actually looks nice has failed, while this flies like a dream. Life isn't fair.

So I'd intended this craft as a stock cargo lifter, but didn't notice until I uploaded it to KerbalX that my Mk2-2.5m adapter was from MK2 expansion, and don't feel like fixing that here, so meh. I'm still proud of the design so I'm sharing it anyway. Meet the Firefly. Full album here Designed for station component lifting, it comfortably puts 57t in LKO (Mk3 long rocket fuel tank used as test payload). Average efficiency flight profile leaves 600d/v in the tanks for orbital maneuvers and rendezvous. Takes shameless advantage of magic autostrutting to keep the payload in place. Just pick the biggest central part of the cargo and select "autostrut heaviest part" and it'll lock into the engine pylons with no fuss. I'll probably fix the adapters in the next couple days; just have to decide what I want to replace them with.

Oh shoot, that's right. I totally forgot about the complete lack of axial tilt, and perfectly circular orbit. Their calendar would be lunar, then entirely celestial-based.

"Generic winter festival" is typically a workable story point.

Huh. I'm solidly in the minority on Vall and Pol, apparently. I figured those were pretty universal. Interesting.

I only do one run, no lobbing and diving (though after seeing 1650m/s on airbreathers alone, I might change that), but here's what I was doing: Low-altitude acceleration to somewhere between 600 and 1000m/s, then shallow climb, hitting 1300m/s before I pass 20km. From there, I flatten out, adjusting my pitch by watching "Time to AP" in KER, and keeping it moving in front of me. Typically kick in the orbital engines around 1450m/s (I just wait until the jets stop giving me acceleration), and continue just barely pushing the time-to-AP, which has me flying fairly close to prograde horizontal all the way out of the atmosphere. Kill engines and coast once AP hits around 110, which is around 40-50km; then coast. I'll regularly have a positive-alt PE before I cut the engines.

Wow, so the Mk2 really is the worst of all possible options. That's... even more disappointing than I thought. I think it's time to seriously start talking rebalance here.

Go install RO and leave me my fun rockets, dangit.

I have broken at least half a dozen rovers this way. Especially since trim overrules "SAS Only" settings on reaction wheels.

A pile of radially-attached SRBs. Edit: To clarify, a stack of enough SRB to loft you sub-orbital, then stage those off, so you're left with several more SRBs and your passenger capsule. TWR 5+ means 5+ Gs, so you can estimate it in the VAB.

That helps, thanks @diomedea. Separate heat question. I know Thermal Control Systems (the deployables) draw heat from an entire craft, but how far away do the non-deployable heat dispersers draw from? Do they have to be attached directly to a heat generating part? Or one step away, I assume, since our primary heat generators (drills, refineries, nukes) don't have surface-attach... but is it further than that?

Nah nah nah, trade earned rep for cash. Your rep doesn't go down, it just goes up more slowly. Which means you keep getting the same level of contract you like.

Trade rep for funds. This gives two birds with one stone. Extra cash, and slowing the difficulty climb of contracts.

@diomedeaSo basically, just like SOI, atmosphere is an abstracted hard border. I'm having trouble actually forming any practical advice out of the science above, though. Help? 1. Does "positive flux" in the atmosphere mean that the radiator is doing nothing? 2. How does that affect my previous question about heat management for offworld mining and refining on Eve/Laythe? I've managed to explode refining-rig components on minmus before, let alone someplace that removes all my heat-management ability.

Okay, as I use SSTO spaceplanes more and more, this is becoming more of an issue. My current series of light shuttle fly a shallow enough ascent profile that their PE is around 40km by the time their AP hits 70. This means I spend a LOT of time in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. So here's the issue, heat sinks appear to basically not work at all as long as there's even the slightest hint of air around you. Compare screenshots below of just below and just above the 70km line. The heat bar on the right is my cockpit, incidentally. If I'd taken the shot closer to 60km, you'd have seen a very nice cherry-red outline glow as it neared overheat, despite the TCS right behind it. Is there any way around this? Am I missing something about KSP thermal mechanics? There's other bodies with atmosphere, why are thermal control systems almost completely inoperable here? How are you supposed to cool things like mining/refining on Eve or Laythe?

Tell that to my attempts at a cargo SSTO.

... okay, from test flights today, I can say that the extra impact durability can be worthwhile. It's a heck of a lot easier to drop an out-of-control aircraft below 50m/s impact speed than it is to drop below 20.