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KSP is sometimes sold during Steam sales; I bought KSP (v.20 at the time I think) for about $16 USD. So if your budget is tight, or you like better deals, you could wait for a Steam sale. However, with KSP as popular as it is, sales may become fewer and fewer. I recommend that you play the stock game first. After you are familiar with it, or if it becomes difficult in any way, I recommend that you watch You Tube videos that interest you on the subject. After that, if you want other functionality or part, try mods from the SpacePort. Have fun, whatever you decide!

Nice looking design, Streetwind. My guess is that you don't want to cut your payload down any further. Of course, the solution is to add more dV by adding the appropriate fuel and possibly engines (where TWR is a concern). Good luck with it! Edit: I usually don't try to rival Whackjob. I can do minimalist craft: Interesting graph, PUNiSH3R, thanks for sharing it.

According to the followup episode, they plan on making trips back and forth to Earth and also they plan at least one Mars mission. For those who are following this Narcogen & Blackstar MineCraft gameplay, here is their site, the newest videos are always on their home page: http://osxcoopgames.net Enjoy!

Here's a 12 minute video: While Taylor's concept allows for dumping the critical elements of a fission core into a neutron absorbing pit in the event of "out of tolerance" performance (yes, its a molten salt and gas design; rejoice thorium fans), he proposes (but does not detail) a NERVA version. For propulsion, its primary use is understandably for transfer stages (and possibly for use at destination for power generation). For a NERVA in nil-G conditions, its not clear how the dump function might work. Perhaps utilizing neutron moderating rods instead?

Worked on an orbital probe:

I was really really wanting the LV-N (for transfer) and fuel lines (for launcher) when I made this monster (and playing stock):

Early in the tech tree (before I traded a slide show for fuel lines and other parts): Where I fear to tread: That bottom stage is just the transfer stage (shown without the LV-N). Only the Whack could look at that payload, yawn, grin and then start building the launch system with a gleam in his eye.

Living in the US, I have some friends who are not really well versed in the metric system. However, when I tell them that a meter is just a little longer than a yard, they can relate to that. So that is one way to introduce a metric length (if not the system) to little kids in the US too. Back more on topic, I do like the idea of the 1000 meter solar system scale walk. I would have liked that very much when I was a kid.

Another thing which I usually overlook due to lack of need is that you can stage not only engined tanks, but you can stage just fuel tanks, without engines being jettisoned with them. In fact, for really tough loads, I asparagus stage fuel tanks. This works as long as you have sufficient TWR for the specific application, such as launching. Edit: this assumes that you have radially connecting parts which allow fuel cross feed, such as struts (not strut connectors) or fuel lines.

Narcogen and Blackstar miss an area of the level, but they compensate by finding hard to find secrets: If you'd rather play than watch, get it free! http://marathon.sourceforge.net Free for iPad and iPhone too! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marathon-1/id419805412 See ya star side!

Good advice, and I hope you enjoy the parts!

Here's the You Tube link:

Sure! There are 12 fueled parts. 6 rocket fueled and 6 jet fueled. In each of those categories, there are 3 adapters and 3 caps (I don't call them cones so much because they are half spherical shape). The caps are for the 3 KSP stock sizes and the adapters are for connecting from large to medium, medium to small and large to small sizes. The 3 rocket fueled adapters have a translucent outer structure. I hope this helps!

That's in the Readme pdf. Likewise in all previous versions. The parts are shown assembled with stock parts too, for photo purposes. Edit: for context, the license is had in the Readme pdf which comes with the download.

Nice! It works in openOffice also (just had to reposition the pics, no big deal). Thank you for going to the trouble of making this!

Yes, yes, it DID take me forever to get through Career mode myself. Whether you have used my fueled rocket and jet parts previously or not, the latest version adds tech tree compatibility, as the player unlocks the parts during player progression. What's included? There are 12 fueled parts. 6 rocket fueled and 6 jet fueled, easily distinguished from one another. In each of those categories, there are 3 adapters and 3 caps (I don't call them cones so much because they are half spherical in shape). The caps are for the 3 KSP stock sizes and the adapters are for connecting from large to medium, medium to small and large to small sizes. The 3 rocket fueled adapters have a translucent outer structure. Get them here! Edit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ More details in the Readme.

Try Myth, by Bungie. If you like science fiction shooters, their Marathon trilogy might interest you. The Portal series is also fun if you like puzzle solving in a science fiction setting.

Too bad in the trailer the lunar lander also takes off with the descent stage. Since the craft is Apollo style, it would be a closer approximation if the ascent vehicle separated from the descent stage. Otherwise it looks like an interesting game.

For heavy transfer stages (not launch stages) I use an asparagus setup; not with engines, but with fuel tanks. Reduced TWR is not a problem in this case. SRBs are excellent for the reasons you mentioned. Also, their diameter allows them to fit radially between larger diameter parts, making for a reasonably compact footprint. Sure, the same thing is true of the 1.25 diameter liquid fueled parts, but then the advantages you mentioned come into play again.

Space is big, really really big.

Since Laythe has lower gravity, higher air density and lower O2 content, I think those are trade offs which allow reasonable Kerbin testing prior to launching Laythe missions. These pics are of my state of the art for Laythe. The first image is of the Lander/ Return vehicle and Rover Boat posing on the launch pad: I've successfully deorbited them using parachutes only. The image shows them connected, but I actually separate them during the deorbit process. Each lands separately. Each will "land" on land and also successfully splash down; desirable given Laythe's water to land fraction. The Lander remains upright, ready to launch. The leg girders separate once the Lander clears the surface, followed by the jet assemblies, outer tanks and aerospike assemblies once in orbit. This is due to the Lander being a return vehicle to Kerbin (using an LV-N); so this is definitely not an SSTO in the pure sense. It achieves orbit with more than enough dV for a Kerbin return. I might be able to asparagus stage the outer tanks, but right now they are "onion" staged. The science group at the front of the Rover is primarily for balance. Kerbals can do EVAs and collect science prior to their being detached in Laythe orbit, prior to deorbiting. In the version the pic was taken, a Goo canister fell off, but that was later fixed. The Rover Boat does well anywhere, using jets for water propulsion: The third image is not the entire mission package. It includes the Lander, Rover and the Kerbin-Laythe transfer stage. The single LV-N was removed for this phase of structural testing. The Transfer vehicle uses asparagus staging for the lateral tanks. At this point, I'm either going to need to make a WhackJobian launch vehicle to attain Kerbin orbit or move into the realm of docking and orbital assembly. As others are suggesting, if you are wanting a Laythe analog of an orbital workhorse, it should be very doable.

As has been touched on, SRBs are supplemental to the main engine(s). They can also be used in conjunction with liquid boosters.

Very nice work! I've already done career mode once but its fun to see anyway.

Ideal? Antimatter. The problems are production and containment. If those are overcome, it will be very efficient.

Thanks all for the help! So this should work: Edit: Yay! Actually, looking the code over, it seems that Flickr changed their code format a little, and I didn't catch it.