Synapse

Let me engage in discourse then. The reasons are detailed in other threads for example no use for anything other than a pilot for your entire space program. A Mk1 hitchhiker is absolutely necessary. Why should there be a career progression which forces you into a certain order? There shouldn't. The explore phase 1, 2, 3 simply restructures the mission meaning that if you can't achieve a return trip for example, you still get a mission reward for phase 2, however if you wish to follow the phase 1, 2, 3 format it provides a realistic series of missions charting a certain body. Exploration is currently over for each body way too quickly and the only reason to return for the arbitrary procedural missions. Hence a player may finish the Mun missions with nowhere enough funds or experience to go to Duna, yet the mission progression implies they should. Likewise, testing parts at the moment is mundane and unoriginal. The attempt to integrate procedural generation is a cop-out for writing good mission content. I'm not saying there's no place for procedural generation, but that it can't be a placeholder for a career mode. Personally, I'd like to see you be able to choose which body to explore more freely, for example being able to choose any planet from virtually the start. The exception is clearly the opening mission line into space, which is mainly there to assist new players in learning curve. I don't dislike planes, but the selling point of this game isn't that it's a great plane constructor. Yet 50% of the parts are aimed at these aircraft. Why it has been acceptable for the nuclear engine to fit a mk1 body but not a mk2 for 8 or 9 versions of KSP is beyond me.

apology accepted

THE KSP CAREER The KSP career mode has the opportunity to provide a interesting challenge + gameplay element to guide the player through a space-agency progression. At the moment however it is simply a set of arbitrary numbers and constrictions on construction. Missions – procedural generation provides interesting game play following the ‘completion’ of career mode and to supplement income however should not be the key element of career mode. Remove procedural generation for 50% of missions and have a natural career progression line. Separate out procedural missions from “career†missions so the difference is clear ie. 3 official missions, 5-7 procedural missions per mission screen. Revamp missions particularly test missions: 1. Test command module when new command modules are unlocked by science by “run test†in LKO or performing a mission “successfully reenter the atmosphere with the command moduleâ€Â. 2. Test engines. Enable a new “Run test†animation for moving parts (engine 30 second thrust and cool down, gears fold and run, parachutes open. Remove pointless test parameters (certain height and speed and location and staging) Exceptions should be the science equipment (test mystery goo on Duna mission, for example) 3. Enable missions to photograph rather than crew report using a IVA camera facility. 4. Implement these missions using a new 3-part exploration mission line a) Explore phase 1 – transmit scientific data in SOI, attain orbit, perform an EVA report in orbit Explore phase 2 – photograph a landing site, land probe on body, transmit surface data (can be a suicide trip) c) Explore phase 3 – plant flag on body, EVA report on surface, collect and return a surface sample (return trip) Note that all three phases can be completed by a single mission, but encourage slow progression (Eve surface sample mission for example cannot be completed without a return mission) but phase 1 and 2 are relatively easy. Likewise Munar phase 3 is much simpler mission than Duna phase 1. This will literally solve a bunch of progression problems with missions. New part – to encourage probe reconnaissance create a surface sample drill which can be attached to probes but requires substantial electrical input. Surface sample can be analysed using science module or brought back via automated. KERBAL EXPERIENCE Engineers – class is currently defunct. Give additional abilities such as the ability to improve efficiency of batteries and solar panels by performing work on them in space. Create a tether which can be used by engineers for EVA. Higher the engineer skill, the better batteries work and solar panels are more efficient. This will virtually fix the engineer part without resorting to 2000% lame “fix broken parts†aspect of space travel. Attributes – remove Courage and Stupidity as they are altogether and replace them with intelligence (affects engineering + science), courage (improves craft reactions + stability), agility (improves EVA manoeuvrability and survivability). PARTS Parts general - KSP caters to a increasing number of space plane enthusiasts which is damaging to the game as a whole, as KSP fills a niche of space exploration rather than plane constructions. Many players will never unlock or use spaceplane parts so emphasis on them is ill advised. Propulsion – Either revamp the nuclear engine width or add the option of a fairing...see below Structural – add a fairing part to encompass both the Nuclear Engine, and potentially an Apollo 11 style landing module. This could be the “jettison†element, simply to fit the mk2 size fuel tanks. At the moment nuclear engines pose an unrealistic design element – length is fine but no reason to have obtuse width requirements to ship design.... please fix this A Mk 1 Hitchhiker module is essential to allow players to gain experience with their scientists or engineers in the early stage of the game, while a pilot flies. The Mk1 command pod is insufficient for this due to shape and function. Add a mk1 hitchhiker module which can fit in a standard mk1 rocket design. Science – add a utility for gathering surface samples, a photography unit for photographing from orbit and add science functionality for photographing biomes (to replace EVA report above biomes).

I vote for Dres. the spooky atmosphere

1. make sure mechjeb has auto-warp enabled. 220 days is a normal time for a good window 2. watch videos on youtube for orbital rendesvous and docking 3. you can use a skycrane or attach parachutes to your rover

Very impressive. Here's my launch. I ditched the last stage just before landing, but I did fill up a little bit of fuel through the cfg file (I'm not entering the challenge, but I was asked to show my attempt) I recommend you do your attempt again with something instead of atomic engines. If you use a high TWR engine you should be able to scrape time off by getting up to speed quicker. Can somebody do this in 20 minutes or so?

I've managed 45 minutes. Pics coming. Some discoveries I made: You want to get up to speed quickly, so the Lv-909's I used weren't ideal. Wasted a lot of time accelerating when I should've been going fast already. A higher TWR would be better. Put more chutes to slow you down, then cut them so your descent speed doesn't go lower than 5m/s at the end. You shouldn't aim directly for Kerbin because of the gravity bend. A satellite on the ground serves as a good target market though. I'm sure somebody can beat my time with higher TWR engines.

Awaras - what I mean is opening your parachutes too early will waste you valuable time.

6 minutes is ridiculous. I managed 13 minutes, and that was with a top speed of 30km/s:

Is it possible? Have you tried?

Am I the only one who thought Sunshine was an awful film?

Lol, I'm pretty sure NASA would consider docking a ship together to visit pluto. I don't know why you think it's noobish. It's noobish to try to fit all that equipment onto one rocket

Attached are recent screenshots from my mission to Duna: Preview: I wanted to try a small glider probe. I arranged a 10k periapsis encounter with Duna, detached my glider and flew for a good 15 minutes through Duna's atmosphere making measurements and taking photographs of the surface. The probe could have flown for much longer, potentially circumnavitage-worthy, but there's not much to see on the Red Planet. Still a fun mission and some great pictures. Album here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/axenhmm05qawy1y/CR059m34hX

50 minutes, but I didn't read that you need to take Kerbals..

I know there's been a lot of races to the Mun, but not one back. This presents the following alterations: 1. No huge deltaV effort to escape the atmosphere, it's pure acceleration from Mun's surface. 2. You need to get your race vehicle to the Mun and landed outside of the competition. You can also construct a ship on the Mun, giving you potentially a lot more deltaV. 3. Kerbin's atmosphere will slow you down, so far higher re-entry speeds are possible. However timing parachutes will be difficult. The Challenge Take off from the Mun and land near or around the Kerbal Space Centre. The lowest time wins! A screenshot must be taken before Munar launch, and after Kerbal touchdown. RULES No Hyperedit -you must get your ship to the Mun first. You can even add additional parts by docking on the Mun, but no hyperediting. Stock Parts Only - mechjeb or Kerbal engineer are allowed, modded parts are not. No "Lithobraking" - your ship must land, not crash! At least your command pod/probe must survive. Leaderboard 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

You need to align your AN/DN to 0 degrees by burning north or south before you can make a encounter appear

It's a bug in the game...essentially when your orbit circularises AP and Pe should disappear and be replaced with a circularised icon

There are way too many entries for me to keep up with, so I really commend you all but it will have to be a open competition now ie without scoring. I really didn't expect such a response!

The best part is the drop shadow on your screenshots - how the hell did you manaage that?

Jesus Christ, good effort.

Aww, is nobody interested in this?

I designed the following spacecraft as a high deltaV rocket, newb friendly with a low part count. The result is Leviathan: The challenge is to use Leviathan in whatever way you see fit. A total launch time gives you 7km/s in 15 minutes. This ship has a lot of possibilities - it's capable of going anywhere in the system including into Kerbol, with up to 4 passengers and a full RCS tank. It can reach the Mun in 40 minutes. It also has docking abilities. Put your creativity to the test and show me what you can do! A test launch: Ditching the first stage: Still a lot of fuel to go: Final speed - 7km/s. And that's with a really inefficient launch profile. CRAFT FILE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr1c6b5klpgtfby/Leviathan.craft Sans Mechjeb https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ldgti5tq0i6lcn/Leviathan2.craft

Yeah I've never even built anything remotely as big as the VAB due to part limit. Been to Eeloo and back fine using orbital docking. I don't think it's realistic to launch a rocket directly to Eeloo anyway...

You pressed undo at some point and one of your fuel lines isn't connected. Re-check the whole thing, line at a time.

Amazon is a private website. If I access Amazon through a private ISP like Virgin, there's absolutely no sense of me going out in public. it's exactly like if I travelled on a private road through my property to someone elses business without ever touching a public highway. The person who said UK cops are never corrupt...LOL. There are so many stories of British police officers who are criminals themselves: sex abuse, rape, steroid or cocaine abuse, GBH etc.... I'd say they are more prone to becoming corrupt than a normal citizen.