Anton P. Nym

As I understand it 4x physics warp is about as much as SQUAD dares use... apparently physics calculations with bigger steps tend to shake craft apart even at low thrust levels. Unless there's a change there, we're "stuck" with the PB-ION's rather bizzare status as simultaniously grossly overpowered (wrt real life) and woefully underpowered (wrt undue demand on many players' time) which leaves it as a niche engine only. -- Steve

I think he's talking about the Rockomax 48-7S; I think the Skipper's fine with its balance between efficiency and thrust, but the 7S has a good thrust-to-weight AND a high efficiency... which breaks the balancing mechanism. (With enough patience and careful design, you could build a rocket using nothing but clusters of 7Ses that likely would be comparable to other builds. You can't do that with any other engine.) There's an argument to be made that the 7S needs to be nerfed to bring it back in line with its radial stablemate the 24-77. I'm not sure that a thread discussing the PB-ION is the right place for that argument. -- Steve

I voted "stay"; they may be OP compared to the real world, but it's a compromise between realism and playability. I've used ions extenstively with mixed results, and I've grown to like them despite the limitations. -- Steve

G-prediction would be great, but I think we'd need a more advanced maneuver node system to calculate that... I'm all for it if Squad can get one to include drag, as it'd certainly make it easier for me to make that [CENSORED] precision landing on words with atmosphere that I currently can't make. (grumble) -- Steve

There's the problem of stored heat; Venus's atmosphere is hot, and so is the rock making up its surface. Even with a perfect sun-shade it'd still take thousands of years to cool down enough to let liquid water exist on the surface. I was so disappointed when I learned that... but was encouraged when I learned that at altitudes above the sulphur cloud layer atmospheric pressures would support life; we could seed airborne micro-critters to create an oxygen layer there and use aerostats for colonies. -- Steve

Heavy Probe Bus "Fat Albert", after refuelling from Connestoga #4 in low Tylo orbit. Now to start raining probes and hope some end up intact... (Plan is to drop 4 "Popcorn" landers to practice before sending down two rovers, but I have another two "Popcorns" left over from Pol just in case.) -- Steve

Loading a minigame couldn't be patented by anybody recently... I remember playing an arcade game back in the early '90s (vector graphics, rotor for control) that had a "Breakout" minigame between levels to mask loading times. Demonstrating prior art would be trivial, and proving that it's an obvious consequence wouldn't be much harder. I wouldn't mind a "Lunar Lander" minigame at the start, myself, but I don't have much load time given that I play all-stock (no added parts to load) and put KSP on a solid-state drive. -- Steve

I did play a version on a VAX back when I was a kid... had a printed transcript of the crash, too, but I haven't seen it in more than 30 years. Ah, memories. -- Steve

Trial and error. Lots of trial and error... sometimes very big trials with very big errors. But when the dust settles and the payload's in orbit, it's worth it. -- Steve

I started building SSTOs because of the challenge more than any "practical" aspects, but after I got to Laythe (and discovered that the dry mass of my landers was enough to make it either a scrubbed mission or a much longer mission until I could send a LOT more fuel) I really started looking at making some lighter and more efficient crafts. I've just made one now that's about a third lighter than the birds I dragged out to Jool, and some unmanned SSTO probes with all-up weights less than half the fuel load of my old Skybolt designs. -- Steve

I do so very much hope that there's serious talk of calling it Elerium... -- Steve

Gospodin Tsiolkovsky and Comrade Korolev would like to have a word with you... -- Steve

Computers everywhere release their Magic Blue Smoke after trying to handle a 200-part craft? -- Steve

Did some experimenting with SSTO design and came up with the Arro Flechette. I'm still testing it's orbital maneuverability... it's a bit gutless under rocket power, so high-speed rendezvous might be a problem, but it's remarkably effective on its jet. (Even without airhogging it was still accellerating at 32km altitude.) -- Steve

"Fat Albert" finally made it to Pol. I didn't really appreciate how small Pol is until braking into polar orbit. Popcorn lander probe "Pol 1" touched down with over 60% fuel remaining. It's canted like that on purpose, to catch the sunlight. After that shot, I skipped it further down slope to rest at the base of a crater; that way it'll stay put without having to keep the SAS on. It's twin brother, Popcorn "Pol 2", is in an equatorial orbit 15km up looking for another good landing site. I'd originally planned to put a rover down on Pol, but the terrain's too rugged and the gravity's too light I think; maybe I'll keep it as a back-up in case the first try at Tylo gets wrecked. Art-y shot from Popcorn "Pol 1", getting Jool and the Sun. Probe Tug "Brian" back at Duna burned low and fast into the Kerbin return window, taking with it the ascent stage of my Duna surface sample return probe. In 60 days, that capsule at the tip will be in the hands of Kerbal scientists... and we'll at last find out if the dust tastes like ketchup or paprika. -- Steve

Tried something new, now that the RAPIER is in the game; the Arro Mite (28 parts) SSTO. Got it into an 80km circular orbit with fuel and oxidiser left over; enough fuel to do a precision landing. Not the smallest or lightest, but I like it. -- Steve

That's the first mark of my Peewee SSTO probe, the smallest I fly. The latest version (no picture yet) has a shielded docking port* in place of the parachute, a radial chute, and landing legs. Tends to land with fuel left over, which suggests I could lighten it even further. -- Steve * No RCS though, which makes unassisted docking a bit of a pain. I built a dedicated RCS-only tender, the Aphid, to help with that.

SAS helps damp that out, but only to a degree; I find if RCS positioning is off by enough (or you don't have enough torque to compensate) then there will still be some unwanted motion to skew the maneuver. SAS will eventually damp that out but the orientation will be off at the end and require manual correction. -- Steve

I think fine mode's RCS thrust modulation was added in v0.21; I could be wrong on the version, but I do remember the devs saying it'd been introduced. -- Steve

The KSS Constellation rendezvous with the second of two Connestoga fuel tankers in low Laythe orbit, taking on fuel to support landing operations. I've already posted the first aerial reconnaissance mission; here's Shepcas, Nelnie, and Joniel after the first landing, on a convenient tidal flat near the equator. This island, if you're curious. And last, "Fat Albert" braking into an orbit about Jool that will intercept Pol in 5 days. The plan is to orbit Pol to drop landers and a rover, then move inward to Tylo for refuelling at its Connestoga followed by more landers and a rover. Then inward to Vall for more landers, and lastly if the fuel holds out "Fat Albert" will head up to Bop. -- Steve

Right click on the tank you want to reserve, then click the green triangles next to the fuel (and oxidizer, if there) bars; that shuts down fuel flow out of that tank. Now that Tweekables are in play, you can do that in the VAB/SPH and have it persist into flight. When you need the fuel/oxidizer again, right click on the tank and re-enable flow by clicking on the red circle-bars next to the fuel bars. -- Steve

-- Steve

You don't have to; I make liberal use of the radial intakes to "supercharge" the jets on my SSTOs and get good results that way without clipping. -- Steve

An alternative to making one massive launch is the "Kerbin Orbit Rendezvous" plan; put the transfer stage and lander up in separate launches, then have one dock with the other. To save further, you could even launch one or both with partially-empty tanks now (thanks to Tweekables) and then launch refuelling missions. It takes longer, but it makes for much simpler designs overall and could even save mass on the mission vehicles. -- Steve

Placement of the RCS blocks is the biggest part; as Cap says above, symmetrical about the centre of mass (either on it, or pairs of blocks on either side at equal distances from it) will do the trick. Another helpful tip is to leave SAS on; this will let the system make corrections for you if you're not exactly on-spot with your blocks. Since the CoM tends to move as you use propellant, it's hard to get it perfect for all cases. When you're up close to your target, hitting the Caps Lock key (if you're using the standard controls) will switch your RCS to "fine" mode to give you more precise control... this also automatically balances the RCS thrusters to compensate for shifts in the Centre of Mass and will help kill unwanted rotation. -- Steve