Galane

The MJ version I'm using does docking quite well. TGT+ both on each other's docking ports that have been set to control from here. When the range drops to a few meters, turn off smart ass on the docking ship and enable the autopilot. Switch to the other ship and set smart ass to kill rotation, otherwise it'll try to follow every wiggle of the docking ship. Offset docking port? Not a problem. Dock to the side, dock to the end, in the middle, cfg modded 3-in-1 omni docking port, not a problem. It does have some oddities. On some ships it will fire some engines from a higher stage, seems to only happen if they don't have a decoupler in the same stage, but sometimes it doesn't. For example, my Smart Kinetic Energy Transfer Module V4 (OK, it's a missile). I put separatrons on it for a terminal boost phase to see how much accurate range* I could get. Well, with the missile's liquid fuel engine as its first stage and the separatrons in stage 0, MJ will fire the sepratrons at the same time as the orbital insertion/maneuver stage. Rocket explodes. Swap the positions of the missile's engines in the staging and it doesn't fire the liquid engine. Deactivate the engine on the OIMS, throttle up then pop the space bar. The sepratrons light and burn out then MJ fails to automatically light the last stage. Pop the spacebar again and it lights. This also happens with some landers even though the stage 0 engine is paired with a decoupler. Going down on stage 1, it burns out and MJ won't cut it loose, but will put the gear down and let the ship crash. *Best so far, around 3,000 meters against a booster stage with 4 orange tanks in parallel. Can also hit non-bundled large diameter targets from 2,500 meters. Small diameter, got to be closer. Tiny diameter? Forget it. The 'secret sauce' is the KSPX tiny size reaction wheel. Replace the I-beam with a small Kethane scanner, add another battery and it's a 'swords to plowshares' kind of thing... What would be a nice addition is a warning in ascent guidance for when turn end altitude is set higher than orbit altitude. Common sense to always check and make sure it's not set that way. Crazy things happen when it is. I always check it when I change rockets, don't know when it's going to pull out some different ascent path settings since I started fiddling with that instead of trying to make every flight work with the default. If MJ could save the ascent path as a small file with the same name as the craft file, that would be very useful. No more having to check and adjust it once it's dialed in because it'd automatically apply the settings to match whatever's on the pad.

Download this version. It has all the control parts pre-modded with integrated MechJeb. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/21mechjeb209/

Soylent Kethane is made out of Kerbals! It's Kerbaaaaaaallllls!

Updated the mission report thread with the redesigned Kleveland 2. Need to get an orbital refinery expansion built and on its way to Mun, and a refinery on its way to Minmus. Expansion will just be one of the big converters and an orange tank with a couple of docking ports. If Kleveland 2 can get back off the Mun, another one will go to Mun and one to Minmus. Next project, building a Kethane rover around an 8,000 unit Kethane tank. Would be nice if I could dummy load the Kethane tanks for better testing on Kerbin. I like overpowered landers and rovers. If they can lift on Kerbin they can lift anywhere with lower gravity.

Here's Kleveland version 2. Only 8 more parts than the first one and it drives straight. Hmmm. Less % of fuel left than the first version, but started with double the amount, and it did the entire landing on its own fuel. I kicked loose the completely full final stage in Mun orbit, but kept the quicksave from just before in case this one can't make it back to orbit either. More ground clearance, 10 engines which are setup with two action groups. One toggles the outside middle pair, the other toggles the four innermost ones. I had it land from 10KM on the 8 inner engines. Might have to try it on just four. With the two outers off it can lift on Kerbin right from engine start, so it should have plenty of power to go up with a full Kethane tank. Question is, does it have enough fuel? (Must remember to turn the reaction wheel back on before attempting liftoff!) The landing was down in the crater a ways so I drove up on this ridge to get some free altitude. Will most likely explore a good looking hill nearby to see if I can get to 5KM. I'd thought about sticking on the smallest Kethane converter somewhere, but that'd add more weight. Would fix the not enough fuel to orbit problem...

What about having scanning work only at 1x when the focus isn't on the scanner? Then at warp it quits. If you want faster scanning you have to sit there and watch it scan. If that's a possible compromise it would be a good balance and make it more worthwhile to deploy scanners across the system so that at least some of the time they'd be working when you're not watching paint dry staring at it scanning.

Do cells have to be rescanned to show the reduced amount as kethane is extracted? So far I've only pulled 4K each from two cells and the amount on the moseover popup on the grid didn't drop.

I scanned Minmus at 50x speed while keeping an eye out across space at the progress of the Kleveland kethane miner/rover towards Mun. I got to learn how to use the fine tune closest approach function of MechJeb because it lost the Hohmann transfer plot on the Munbound ship. Once Kleveland was in a tight orbit, I put it on 2x warp and went to bed. Next morning it had enough mapped to pick out a spot to land.

The wheels look like they're straight on my Kethane mining rover but it has a pull to the right. Not so bad in testing on Kerbin but on Minmus it's difficult to keep it from doing spinouts. Here's the wheel parts of the craft file. What do I change to make the wheels point perfectly straight ahead? PART { part = wheelMed_4294377284 partName = Part pos = 3.55579,33.96711,2.078393 rot = 0,0.7071068,0,0.7071068 attRot = 0,-0.5000001,0,0.8660255 mir = 1,1,1 istg = 0 dstg = 0 sidx = -1 sqor = -1 attm = 1 sym = wheelMed_4294377142 srfN = srfAttach,trussPiece3x_4294377304 PART { part = wheelMed_4294377142 partName = Part pos = -3.617311,33.96711,-2.062999 rot = 0,0.7071068,0,-0.7071068 attRot = 0,-0.5000001,0,0.8660255 mir = 1,1,1 istg = 0 dstg = 0 sidx = -1 sqor = -1 attm = 1 sym = wheelMed_4294377284 srfN = srfAttach,trussPiece3x_4294377162 PART { part = wheelMed_4294377000 partName = Part pos = 3.557416,33.96853,-2.063938 rot = 0,0.7372773,0,-0.6755905 attRot = 0,0.4617487,0,0.8870109 mir = 1,1,1 istg = 0 dstg = 0 sidx = -1 sqor = -1 attm = 1 sym = wheelMed_4294376858 srfN = srfAttach,trussPiece3x_4294377020 PART { part = wheelMed_4294376858 partName = Part pos = -3.618935,33.96853,2.079332 rot = 0,-0.6755905,0,-0.7372772 attRot = 0,0.4617487,0,0.8870109 mir = 1,1,1 istg = 0 dstg = 0 sidx = -1 sqor = -1 attm = 1 sym = wheelMed_4294377000 srfN = srfAttach,trussPiece3x_4294376878

Gravity is a real drag. Especially when your Kethane miner doesn't have enough fuel to get off the Mun. AARP's first Kethane mining rover. A complete lack of ideas for a name resulted in the fallback Kerbal position of "Adding K to every word", thus Krover. It wasn't until Krover was on his way to Minmus (following a Kethane scanning satellite that was already there) that we realized it was likely very lacking in power and didn't have any lights. Then someone came up with the bright idea to put Kethane scanners on the rover and use it as the satellite before landing on the Mun. Saved a bunch of time, not having to send two ships. Here's Kleveland in the VAB. Here's Kleveland launching. (Krover launched at night so no pic.) That booster stage is the product of many failed launches of the Minmus scanner satellite, trying to keep those blasted Mainsails from ripping it apart. The small engines strapped onto it were extras for the rover launches. Krover on Minmus. Amazingly, those 3x2 panels don't destroy each other as they track the sun. He's very skittish to drive in low gravity, especially since at least one of the wheels is apparently out of alignment despite appearing to be straight. Krover got filled up on Kethane and is back in Minmus orbit, easy as can be. Can't say the same for Kleveland! Yes, he is perched near the top of a steep crater rim, fortunately already aimed in a prograde direction. Unfortunately the descent stage was cut loose a bit too soon and dear Kleveland is around 30 second short on fuel to be able to get up to even a 4KM orbit. I broke out the infinite fuel cheat for the first time just to salvage the 4,000 units of Kethane then drained Kleveland of everything but enough RCS fuel to deorbit it. I did get a few empty hexes scanned on the way down. Was quite fun with several very close passes of crater rims. The Minmus Kethane scanning satellite. Simple as can be, with eight 1x6 panels for plenty of power and a big fuel tank for lots of orbit changes. With the scanner front and center, a way was needed to dock for refueling in Kerbin orbit. This lash up provides a docking boom and RCS thrusters that can be cut loose to save un-needed weight. MechJeb had no problem at all with the offset docking port. Once the wheel alignment issue is taken care of, a new Kleveland will be built (minus the scanners) with Moar Power and sent to Minmus, along with a Kethane refinery ship. It's undecided if the Krover-Kleveland Kethane mining rover design will be upgraded with a larger fuel capacity and other changes to enable it to lift from the mun with a full tank - or if an all new design will be required. With the alterations I think it'll take, probably won't resemble the original much at all. The original Krover may be retained in use on Minmus despite its problems. It's already there and has at least proven it can get back off the surface. Won't know if it can land on its own (without the original descent stage), fill up on Kethane and return to orbit again after the refinery tops up its fuel and oxidizer. The plan was to have Several Krovers shuttling up and down from Minmus and Mun. The refinery ship design is quite simple, with an omni docking port on its nose for easy expansion. A multi port docking module is planned to sandwich between the current ship and a second Rockomax 64, carrying four more of the giant solar panels.

Isotopes of liquid and gas elements are always mixed in with their "standard" version. Various methods have been developed to separate them, chemical compounding then refining, centrifuges and others. Isotopes of solid elements can vary in concentration, even within a small sample. One that methods of separation are fairly widely known is Uranium. One method refines the ore into uranium oxide (AKA yellowcake because that's what it looks like) then converts it to uranium hexafluoride gas. That involves the extremely corrosive element fluorine. The hexaflouride gas is run through long and narrow centrifuge tubes (like spinning a pipe at several thousand RPM about its lengthwise axis) to separate the heavier U238 from the lighter U235. The gaseous uranium is then somehow converted to solid uranium metal. Deuterium (AKA heavy water) is an isotope of water. It's not that much heavier than normal water. Dunno how it's separated from water, but you don't want to drink it straight.If Kethane is a gas then a Kethane Isotope Centrifuge Separator part could be used to separate out the isotopes, as long as you've also included separate tanks for each one. Using only single tanks when storing it would keep them all mixed and it should work the same as the regular Kethane mod.

I run one notch down from max on quality, and have anti-aliasing off. Haven't noticed anything other than the heat glow on the Mainsail and Skipper is a lighter shade, doesn't start out a dull red and quickly goes up to almost white. The smaller engines heat glow looks the same.

Pieces like those would be ideal! A girder connector pack that's just all the possible ways of having 2 to 6 nodes on a cube would be very nice. Hrrmmmm, still couldn't make a complete square due to the inability to have a node connected loop but a square cornered "U" shape braced with struts or a plate could be very useful. So would being able to stick the sides of struts to things like decouplers. For my Minmus Kethane scanner satellite I wanted to not have anything on it it didn't need. With the scanner front and center there wasn't a place to put a forward facing docking port to refuel the booster for the TMI (Trans Minmus Injection) so I made a jettison-able refueling boom. Put four of the small radial decouplers on then had to stick four of the smallest stretchy tanks to them because the girders and Oscar B tanks don't work that way. 8 short and one long girder stuck to the ends of the small tanks, a few struts and I had a disposable rig for docking and fueling which could be dumped when no longer needed. Docking Autopilot handled the offset port just fine. Side-sticky girders would've made this easier to build with a lower parts count. I built a rover last night with four long girders splayed out from a 4,000 unit Kethane tank. Should be able to land on Minmus then take off again. It can fly on Kerbin after the two LV-909's burn about 1/2 the fuel in the pair of FL-T400, though the "ruggedized" wheels didn't like my manual landing... With care it can be driven around in Kerbin gravity and even with abuse it doesn't collapse under its own weight. I'll have to get a picture of Krover and its near twin Kleveland (to be a bit modified from Krover, which is currently in Kerbin orbit).

I put four of the small Kethane scanners, spread out on girders, hoping to scan more than one hex at a time. Didn't work for that but did scan Kerbin at 50x warp without skipping spots.

Then it's firing another stage before the current one is finished burning.

Yes, it moves engines around in the list during flight. The issue seems to be that MechJeb sees engines not paired up with a decoupler or separator as "fair game" to assign as needed to lower stages if it calculates there's not as much thrust in the current stage as it figures there should be. I know auto staging can be shut off completely, and also stopped after any stage, but it should also be able to automatically run any staging setup that works fine when manually staged - simply by following the list as it's assigned in the editor. Setting it to 0 and going through a large number of launches to make an SSTO rocket put a heavy lander into orbit (on the default ascent path) was how I knew when I'd finally achieved my goal of having it finish the circularization burn with just a wisp of fuel left in the booster. Until that point it'd run out, stage off then fire the lander's engines to finish.

Usually the rendezvous autopilot leaves the ships with a bit of closing speed. If they both have a decent turn rate you can just set Smart A.S.S. on both to TGT+ and they'll eventually dock (assuming you've set both ports to control from here and as each other's targets) completely hands off. Leave RCS off, it can make the ships chase each other's docking ports and they'll just rub around instead of going straight to connecting. To speed up docking, I tick up the throttle just a little for a very short time, then when the ports are close together I enable the docking autopilot on one ship, click off on its Smart A.S.S. and set the other ship to Kill Rot. Leave it on TGT+ and it'll delay the docking by trying to chase the other ship's port around. You can also hit H to use RCS with the docking autopilot (or with both on TGT+, RCS on and autopilot off) to boost the forward speed a little (the autopilot will reverse thrust to slow it back down when you let off H). That helps for shoving it forward that last tiny bit it sometimes takes a few minutes to move to dock. With MechJeb, docking is the easiest part of KSP.

I'd like to build a rover frame using the stock long girders around the edges, but the lack of a corner piece with 4 or 6 nodes doesn't help at all. I'm planning to start Kethane mining Mun and Minmus, need to build a rover big enough to be stable on Minmus and strong+powerful enough to handle the craters on Mun.

Check out this http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/46569-WEB-Online-engine-cluster-calculator

I've run into this several times and had to redesign the rocket to work around it. I've even had it light up engines on upper stages with them burning away in the middle of the stack *without instantly blowing up the rocket*. With the exhaust blocked it doesn't add to the thrust. The latest instance was when I wanted to use some seperatrons as the final stage of my Armed Guard kinetic kill vehicles, to be lit up *after* the two Oscar B tanks were empty. But MechJeb insisted on re-arranging the staging and lighting the seperatrons with the orbital insertion/maneuvering stage engine and KABOOM. Seperatron exhaust is quite effective for carving bits off your rocket, or when properly placed, blowing the whole thing up. The trick seems to be that MechJeb will not re-stage engines from stages that have at least one separator or decoupler. It seems to consider engines in a stage with only engines as resources to reassign as it sees fit to make up enough thrust for the current weight. For Armed Guard I had to swap the positions of the liquid fuel engine and the seperatrons so they'd become the first stage, but then MechJeb won't automatically light the liquid engine. I guess that gives me a "Nahh, I don't want to smash that leftover booster." moment to abort rather than hitting spacebar. What is odd though is that MechJeb *doesn't* grab the single 48-7S down to the LV-909 with it being the second stage on the projectile, without a decoupler in its stage. The fix would simply be to not allow MechJeb to re-arrange the staging. I can't see where this would ever be a "feature" rather than a bug when you've painstakingly built a rocket and arranged its staging in a way that works when launched manually and serially staged using the spacebar. Where it does work perfectly is in correctly triggering stages that have only decouplers or separators, when fuel tanks connected to them are empty and only have fuel flowing *out*. I built a large SSTO rocket to put a two stage lander into Kerbin orbit, with pipes going in and out everywhere. All the fuel drained first from the outer, smaller tanks rather than dropping evenly in them all, but nothing dropped off because fuel was also flowing out to the outer engines. Once I finally got it to reach orbit without having to drop any pieces on the way up, the launcher was easy to convert to asparagus by changing the fuel pipes and moving decouplers in the staging, then sent it to the Mun just to test the lander there. Of course the lander also can land on Kerbin, no parachutes. Alan Aerospace Recycling and Packaging prefers the solid, controlled thrust of rocket exhaust over a piece of flimsy fabric.

Why are the KSP textures so large? I extracted the textures from Portal (to make some videos for a screen saver) and was surprised at how small most of them were. How do they look so good in the game?

I wonder if it'd be possible to use this mod to connect a pair of Kethane scanners as far apart as possible to speed up scanning?

I ended up with most of the deposits on Kerbin, especially the really good ones, under water. There's a really huge one just south of KSC. Can that be reset to see if they shift to more accessible locations?

The Squad reduced texture pack makes KSP playable again, even with the mods I have. Just got done with a few hours session, ended in a crash but that's typical. get the Kethane pack textures cut down in size and it'll be better.

Mods I have installed. MechJeb, ReStock, Stretchy Tanks, Procedural Fairings (and base decoupler), Editor Extensions, a few parts from KSPX, both onmi docking ports** (CFGs in the UbioZur Welding thread), Quantum Struts and Kethane. After adding Quantum Struts*, Editor Extensions, the PF base decoupler* mod, and Kethane - KSP has become very crashy for me. (Need to up this XP box to 4gig RAM!) Hopefully trimming down the stock textures will help that. Kethane has some massive textures that could be cut down some. 101 megabytes of .mbm files. That's likely what put it over the edge into crash in 15 minutes or less territory. Procedural Fairings has few textures but a couple of them are pretty large. *Have plans for them but haven't used yet. **Ever wished for a universal docking port? Nest the Clampotron Jr inside the Clampotron for 2-in-1, then nest that combo inside the Clampotron Sr for a "turducken" style 3-in-1 port so any port in the stormy sea of space can dock to it.