Superfluous J

I forgot that the basic (non-Fine-Print) contracts require you to return the data. I was thinking the Fine Print stuff where as soon as you take the reading you complete the contract. You're right, this wouldn't work with just "return science from space!" contracts.

It doesn't have to be random. Have parts degrade as a function of time. So going to Mun or Minmus, nothing would ever break. Going to Duna or Eve, the weaker stuff would break. Going to Jool, everything would break. ...unless you bring a single engineer with you so he can keep everything running at 100%.

I imagine he got into Kerbin orbit, and stayed there doing EVA reports of every biome (after upgrading whatever gives you that). And also declining every contract until he got a "science from space around Kerbin" contract to do with his EVA'd guy. But that's just a guess.

Actually just an alternate Mk1 capsule that functions similar to the inline Mk1 cockpit would be awesome. Make it a cylinder, maybe half the height of the Mk1 capsule. Then you can make your own 2-seater by just stacking them. It would make the lander can a bit obsolete but the lander can is light enough that I'd probably still use it.

I like it. Especially the idea of just getting brushed up against means damage. Parts could have a damage percentage based on just getting bumped. Another idea, a very nerfed implementation of the Dang It! mod, but if you have an engineer anywhere on your ship nothing ever breaks (unless you crash of course). And instead of the parts just breaking they take a small percentage damage. You could get alerts when they're 50% damaged so you have to send an engineer to the ship to fix it. To reduce click spam, just have all damage slowly repair up to the on-staff engineer's skill.

I launched a base to Mun to fulfill a contract, and only when I landed it there did I realize I forgot the antenna. So I sent a probe with an antenna and a docking port (2 of them actually) and landed it on top of the base's docking port.

When the barn does make it back in the game, I'll install the mod (that I'm sure someone will make) that makes the farm what you get in tier 5.

I think it'd be cool if each part had 2 tolerances. Breaking tolerance would be how fast the item can hit the ground and not break. Destruction tolerance would be how fast the item can hit the ground and not explode. If two numbers are the same (or if Destruction is lower than Breaking) then the part never breaks, it just explodes. I think most structural and storage parts should be like this. If you hit the ground below the lowest tolerance, the part is fine. If you hit the ground above the Destruction tolerance, the part explodes. If you hit the ground above the Breaking tolerance, but below the Destruction tolerance, the part goes into a broken state. It cannot be used until repaired. Parts could also have a rating (from 1 to 5) for how good your engineer needs to be to fix it. This should be listed on each part along with both tolerances. Also: A level 5 engineer should be able to do the two most useful things from KAS: Attaching struts and fuel lines. Maybe just from a current fuel line or strut connector (like one that broke off) but ideally command pods could have a small supply of each as an optional, mass-free resource addition.

Going by the first post, I was under the assumption that this was not a request for help but more of a "can it be done" sort of thing. And it turns out it can

I can't help you but that explains why I couldn't find any data on which Kerbal had what job in the persistent file.

You may be able to free-return-trajectory it. (EDIT: Ewwww, not withtout patched conics you're not. Planning that by hand and executing it without game feedback would be a real bear) I almost want to try this. Actually I do want to try it. "No-upgrades mun mission, lowest tech wins"

I'm not sure I understand the problem? Rule 5 doesn't say you have to single stage to anywhere. All it says is you must launch the vehicle in one launch. Seems reasonable. If you want to allow orbital construction but not allow refueling later, I'd suggest you modify rule 5 to say that you can launch any number of ships and do anything you want, but as soon as you take one reading from one biome, no new ships may be launched. But really I don't see the need for it.

If you could drill up to docking ports this would be trivial. Without them, you could launch your lander into LKO, then launch a transfer stage with a bowl-like front so it can get up against the lander and then push it into a transfer orbit. Then, if necessary, the bowl could slow it down again or the lander could have the dV to slow itself down.

Sorry. Then yes. By burning horizontal instead of vertical you would in a theroretical perfect universe save fuel. In our actual, practical universe the act of turning your ship on the surface before firing your engines imparts enough thrust on your ship to introduce significant errors in your results, enough that they will easily hide any gain. From the wiki: "Gilly's odd shape and fast rotation give the surface near the peaks an apparent velocity near 5 m/s." Also: Sidereal orbital period 4 d 11 h 56 m 27.4 s Sidereal rotation period 7 h 50 m 55 s

Gilly is not tidally locked but its gravity is so small that the fuel you spend correcting your orbit after decoupling something is significant enough to render every (reasonable) method of landing on it similar. Really. It takes thousands of m/s to get there, and 20 or so to escape its SOI. If you instead spent 40 who'd care?

Haha I came here to ask for this

Add me to the "I want them on the screen. Not the map. Not the navball. The screen." camp.

Any time the problem is due to a game bug, I think it's reasonable to use any method at your disposal to fix it. For example, you go EVA and your guy teleports kilometers away moving really fast, it's okay to HyperEdit him back to near the ship so he can actually get back. Also, I personally think biome maps should be part of the game, so now it's okay to turn them on when I want them. I also in one career used whack-a-kerbal to destroy buildings before starting to give myself an extra challenge

You asked...

Thanks to playing KSP almost daily for almost 2 years, (and FTL almost daily for 2 years) I've got quite a backlog of games I've barely (or just not) played (or even installed). So no. No Steam sales for me.

Like I said. You don't understand my point of view and while I understand yours I don't agree with it. Nothing either of us says to the other will change either of our minds. I'm just hoping that next time I'll be able to change Squad's. Or more accurately, convince Squad to NOT change theirs.

That'd be cool. I imagine it'd be like the subassembly area. Drag a ship there and it goes in the "everywhere" directory. And you can overwrite/delete them too.

Is that a mod with the transponders, I assume? You very likely are destroying SOMETHING. Hopefully that mod you have lists what was recovered. To avoid this, you could wait a second or two before igniting the next engine to let the SRB fall a bit further behind. Put the rocket and decoupler in different stages.

A Mk1-size (Maybe a little taller) capsule with room for 2, that's earlier in the tree than all those. Say on the 3rd tier. Would make rescues a bit easier too.

Huh. It doesn't do this with RCS, at least not for me. Haven't tried it with engines yet.