steuben

You can achieve a pretty good first approximation answer by doing some with high school physics. First you need the burn time to zero velocity which will be V0*F/M. derivation is left as an exercise for the reader. Then drop that into V0t-Mt2/(2F), again derivation left as an exercise, to get the distance to stop. Add that to the height above ASL of the terrain and Jeb's your pilot. Your second approximation answer is less simple. As Snark has mentioned you will have to factor in some heavier math because mass and force are not constant. The trivial case of no atmospheric change in ISP is ignored for the moment. This will require probably require some of the terror math </legion voice>Ordinary Differential Equations</legion voice>... whimper. You can for the most part use a basic linear approximation for the isp curve. The mass is the same... Okay I can do this. Just not right yet. I'm going to need some space. Here, hold my beer. Basically, this approximation and it's kin are the reason why Rocket Science is synonymous with smart people only. ODEs and matrix ODEs are not some of the nicest thing to work with, or learn about. Your third approximation answer does not exist. No it doesn't. 'cause drag is voodoo mathamagic. So forget about it. It just doesn't exist.

Inside the forth wall: "The First Interregnum ended like super-saturated solution after a seed crystal is inserted. That seed was a kerbal called Reinhardt Kerman. His genius allowed the creation and development of the first FTL drives. His drive and ambition lead to construction of the Cygnus-class starships. His dedication lead to him being lost with the first of the Cygnus ships." Outside the forth wall, that kerbal was a narcissistic psychopathic polymath genius. Who may have stolen some of the work on the Goo that allowed the drive to be developed. I'm still not sure how he survived without him being involved a tragic accident with an airlock... with him on the black side. And the ship wasn't lost... he stole it. I can't say I'm happy that plot thread turned into one big caper. Here's the problem I have, constructing the industrial history of the Cygnus project, from conception to first launch. Period -1 - The program is suffering from post-tech tree malaise, like most players it sometimes seems. Period 0.1 - Dr. R figures out a FTL drive based on the Goo Period 0.2 - Dr. R starts the Cygnus project Period 1 - initial mining and fab modules are lifted from Kerbin to ... somewhere. Münar orbit and surface probably. Period 2 - first orbital yard... somewhere and fuel mining plant on Minmus. Period 3 - first Cygnus-class orbital yard. Period 4 - time passes Period 5 - first Cygnus-class launch The first orbital yard is basically a bootstrapping orbital manufacturing facility. The bulk of the construction of modules for the other stations and space yards are built there. Specialty modules and equipment will still be lifted off Kerbin. At least until during later in period 4 then most of the specialty stuff will be lifted from the Mün. I'm trying to figure out where that somewhere should be, and if I'm missing any details in the flow, or if there is anything I should keep in mind. The setting is about a 4.5 on the Moh's Scale of Kerbal hardness.

Lucky. I'm doing well if I'm just breaking even on my ideas to stories ratio. One of the bits of advice I've run across is to jot the idea down in a notebook, bag it, tag it, and cross ref it. Even if it doesn't get used right away they can suddenly fit else where in the story. Or turn in to a bit of Omake, or just additional bit of world building that exsist only in the bible. I'm on my second notebook of such things for a different verse, and have two on the go for the story lines here.

and you can't do that in career mode?

Define "Fun" Fun: amus--</Sigourney Weaver voice> Dang, got to remember to turn of that silly computer. Define "End" End: the term--</Sigourney Weaver voice> Gah! You're thinking about it from the wrong direction. The tech tree and the contracts are not the point of the game. Finishing the tech tree isn't the end. The contracts are only there to provide some general pointers of direction. KSP like Minecraft has no end. Just things you do in the middle.

focusing on the construction portion of things. most of them look like they do much more than i need. the mod library thread doesn't seem to help much. or maybe i'm just misreading things. 1. is there a mod that i can drill for ore, and then process it into parts/crafts? 2. simple to use. It looks like Extraplanetary launchpads and Ground Construction fits the bill.

I managed to tack an elevon 1 to the trailing edge of a FAT455 ACS, visually, and the .craft seems to indicate that it is attached... somehow. But, when the fat surface moves the elevon stays put.

trial and error reading forum threads asking slightly absurd, but somewhat plausible, design questions. KER

Yo dawg, I heard you like control surfaces. So I put some control surfaces on your control surfaces so you can.... yeah I got nothin'. So here's the question. If I attach a control surface, say an Elevon 1, to the trailing edge of an Elevon 1, do I get more control force than if I put two side by side? edit: and having just tried it the stacked surfaces don't follow the trailing edges of the previous surface.

There're two ways: 1. You'll have to go into the part's .cfg file edit the lines atmosphereCurve { key = 0 320 key = 1 280 key = 6 0.001 } higher numbers are better ISP 2. build a module manager patch... somehow.

Any mods?

One answer I've gotten in the past is 1kn of torque for each ton of craft.

@KSK as I think about my library, "On Writing" is worth reading. My ex-SIL lent me the book. Years later I added it to my library. But, it is pretty high level memoir stuff... which is what it is. Better than Bradbury's book, which came across as "I'm great, it's insanely easy for me, and you'll never be as good as me." Thinking about the general case, the Core Library Trifecta... dang. The effects guy is out for tea... would include it. In order of increasing resolution, "On Writing" as mentioned. "How NOT to Write a Novel", for the tropes level stuff. "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print" for the red/green/blue lines in Word stuff. The rest of my writing library is specality stuff, "Fight Choreography: The Art of Non-Verbal Dialogue", "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy", "World-Building (Science Fiction Writing), etc.

just about. there's a fair bit of place holder there. <rand.name> the name of the kerbal <rand.gender> male/female <rand.job> scientist, pilot, engineer <rand.TF> True/false <rand.between 0,1> something between 0 to 1

In the black magic section of techniques you can just add more entries to the ROSTER section of the persistent.sfs Excel or spreadsheet software of choice will help to create the 100 or so you're after.

I'm going to tip toe into mods on this one... or maybe I'll end up jumping into the deep end. I'll looking for recommendations for a mod, or a minimal set of mods, that would let my develop active colonies on the various moons/planets. like Alien Legacy or Millennium: Return to Earth. Okay. I've realised that this is really two questions. so I'm going to break it apart and focus it a bit. 1. life support mods. the reqs: - the basic three things: air, food water - no/low dependency on other mods 2. construction mods. the reqs: - build parts - attach parts - launch ships- no/low dependency on other mods notes: for easily launching ships, Extraplanetary Launchpads looks to be the option. unless I'm going to get hardcode and use kis/kas

/me winces Okay. You'll have to bag it and tag it then, and do a heavy edit and restructuring run afterwards.

Generally shorten the sentences. Sentence length reflects speed. You seem to have a pretty sedate riot going on there. Fire + Meat = Good. Fire + Spacestation = Bad. In the black, fire suppression is number two only to hull integrity. you'll have to Handwave it. For consideration, if the rioters or their supporters have gotten to the fire suppression systems... what else have they gotten to, or could they get to? How will station control deal with the fire if fire suppression is down? Given this is the first 250 words you may have addressed this in the next 1000 words. But, some of it should be brought forward. You'll have to rework this one. It's a bit awkward. But it is also a place you can squeeze some exposition. Not much, you don't want to break the flow. attackers or victims? speckled? bleeding from cuts? painted? covered? another spot for rework this one. perhaps, "she flashed back to her childhood. another riot, other rioters, same(?) reasons. it didn't matter. they beat her father to death as she watched." you can swap "same" or "different" there to add a bit more depth to the setting. if you go with same that means this has been an ongoing or recurring issue for some time. if you go with different that means other things like general long standing unrest or dissatisfaction with the folks in charge. Break that paragraph up. It's hard to follow, and figure out who's saying what. Shouted and exclamation points are redundant, one or the other... actually drop the exclamation points. I think I read somewhere you get to use one of them every 15,000 words. You've used two in the first 250. Sorry, it's a bit red pen heavy. It's heavier than I like to receive anyways. Are you following the nanowrimo approach to writing it or a conventional approach?

It ain't talent, it's da skillz. Well... maybe a bit of talent. The greats have talent. But, mostly it is practice and study. And I hereby invoke the <milks the sky cow> Rule of three! <cue dramatic lightning> 1. Good writing comes from reading many good books and a few bad ones. 2. Good writing comes from writing many bad stories and a few good ones. 3. Good writing comes from being able to tell the difference between the good and the bad.

Chapter 9 Gus, Bob, Linus, and Aldald stood in the design hall. They were looking at the full sized blueprints of a probe on one of the walls. The science and engine sections were broken out into other blueprints elsewhere on the wall. On a table in one corner was a paper model of the probe and launcher. “We’ll leave aside the launcher for the moment,” Aldald said as he pushed up his glasses. “It is sufficient to get Scimon, and its up fueled variant, to an eighty by eighty orbit. Upon achieving orbit, Scimon will separate from the launcher. From orbit Scimon will perform a burn to enter a Münar flyby with a periapsis of twenty kilometers with a Kerbin free-return trajectory. Projected Kerbin periapsis will be forty kilometers. Upon entry to the atmosphere it will burn the remaining fuel and aero brake until airspeed is reduced to 250 mps. The parachutes will deploy bringing it to rest on the surface.” Gus looked at the model in the corner. “What’s the projected reliability?” Aldald pushed up his glasses. “For the launcher we are projecting 4 nines. For Scimon it is only two nines.” Gus and Bob frowned. “Most of the failure modes and uncertainty are a result of a lack of information about how propulsion and control will behave in Münar orbit,” Aldald continues. ”Re-entry to Kerbin also presents large amounts of uncertainty, despite our performance so far with the tourist contracts.” “Where’s the uncertainty in the control systems,” Linus said. “I thought the commands were all relayed from here to Scimon.” “They are,“ Aldald said. “The problem is the relay itself. There is concern that the conditions either on launch or in transit will affect the forward or back channels.” “What about a second set of radio equipment,” Bob asked. Linus shook his head. “Too much mass.” “Correct,” Aldald said. “In the event of failure of one of the channels, Scimon will attempt to use the remaining channel for both directions. If both channels fail after the exit burn, Scimon will still have a return trajectory to Kerbin. This will be sufficient to reduce speed enough for landing after two passes. The parachutes will automatically deploy once it is at a safe speed and appropriate altitude.” “No readings will be taken in the event of total radio failure,” Bob asked. “In that situation Scimon is set to automatically take four equally spaced samples,” Aldald said. “It will start at periapsis up to 2000 km on the outbound portion of the flyby.” “And all of that is less that a second set of radios?” Linus said. “Yes. Those automation systems mass approximately 50 percent less.”

Perhaps more the concept of romance as we understand the term is alien not understood by them. A case of Blue and Orange Morality rather than no word for peace. We can assume a construct similar to romance exists given they are viable species. But, yes it would be an interesting angle... but can be hard to do with out it seeming either random or understandable but weird, or both. If done right you can get something like LeGuin's Gethenians in "The Left Hand of Darkness"

Lo Var Lachland "lines of the countries"? and for Chris Kerman you may want to run through "Space Doctor" by Lee Correy, if you haven't already. He covers a fair bit of building space medicine, rather than space trauma control, from just after first principles.

my personal head-cannon is as follows: - jeb and val are not a couple - jeb and val have ... yeah ... whatever it is that kerbals do. which I won't discuss here. - everybody agrees that any kind of romantic relationship between them would last about 3 months. longer if they are on separate deployments - everybody agrees that any kind of romantic relationship between them would be a very bad idea. <epic voice over voice>this in a world</epic voice over voice> where some of the ships that are attempted to be launched are considered good ideas. - they are friends. not best friends. sometimes good friends. - they can, will, and have bumped heads really hard. but, they respect each other as top players of the game and will back down and back-up the other when the key argument had been made. easy... and promptly dates me... popular media reference Hawkeye and Margaret from M*A*S*H

The multiple tread thing that I've been using with The Groundbound series is an artifact of posting chapters out of order. I had to do it elsewhere. I didn't think it was worth the effort of juggling around posts to keep the order consistent this time... not sure if it was the right choice though.

You're in the right spot. You may either need to get them back to KSC or run them through a MPL.