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Uh, thanks! Actually, the "sixth finger" is merely a catchy title for that particular Outer Limits episode. That characteristic was insignificant in relation to the primary development of the character: a much larger brain, and its attendant abilities, which included telekinesis and telepathy. If you watch the entire episode starting from part one, you will see the individual develop over the time of the episode, rather than being changed instantly.

Video:

Once I determine that an update is working properly (to my knowledge, that is), I install KER and the parts I've made so far (fueled parts). That means within 15 minutes or so. Then I install MechJeb.

You want us to take a guess, but then you remove some significant variables out of the process. Then you want us to assume that homo sapiens never "showed up". They did show up, along with their ability to alter the environment and themselves (to a greater degree than other life forms). Your original premise is the "next step", not an alternative situation. Accordingly, I choose "The Sixth Finger", an episode of the original Outer Limits series; starring David McCallum.

There is a third "test". If its free, get it. If it costs money, perhaps get it. If its expensive (your interpretation here), don't buy it; at least not until it comes down in price.

I've got a brother that has KSP but he's more into Space Engineer because its easier for him. Regardless, I'd recommend stock parts at first (Career mode is perfect). I also recommend one mod: Kerbal Engineer Redux. You might show your Dad one or two Manley tutorials (from the newest series). Otherwise, either let him tough it out while you are there or if he asks if you want to play a little, make sure he watches you and that you are doing something fun. It might be that he simply thinks the Kerbals are childish or not needed. A little game play can get him past that.

I've used MechJeb and KER. In career mode I prefer KER. Its a good mod that mostly stays out of the way during game play (and during construction).

I've also had issues sometimes with the axis shift. When that happens, I've rotated it in Blender. The issue was regarding texture edge orientation on a part. I have 4.3, but I've not done animations, so lucky me.

For me, its two "tests". If you are unsure, try the demo. If you like it and it runs well on your machine (the first test), then the second test applies. I like games such that no matter who is at your place, I am comfortable playing the game and those around me are comfortable and having fun too. That includes parents, kids, friends; all that. If that bothers you (the idea of gaming with all those people around, or any of them around), then see if the settings allow applying language/ gore filters. Otherwise, consider either not buying the game, or just playing it alone. But for me, half the fun is those with me watching the action, or playing the game themselves.

Ah! And in my post above, I forgot to write that I am a fan of 3 symmetry, so I not only use the LV-N to get around once I'm "up there", but I am using 3 of them. I usually have fuel to spare once they have fulfilled their purpose. But to each their own; that's half the fun of KSP.

Very good tutorial so far! As for the quote, I think you meant something like "unless you have already been playing in career mode" , in regards to having existing craft files in the VAB. Looking forward to your continuation of this series!

Now you are not required to export from Blender as a .dae file. Unity imports the .blend file fine. Of course you also import textures (I think it doesn't matter what format they start in, but I use .png). The model and texture files go into an asset folder for the project you are working on; so that's easy enough. When you export from Unity for use in KSP, the model is in .mu format. You may select a format for the texture; default for KSP is .mbm. Good luck!

Since there are many forum members for whom english is not their primary language, I give them the benefit of a doubt; meaning in this case that the title of the OP may not be so much a trick question as it may seem.

You've read the preceding posts; pretty good information there. Each engine has its uses (and is completely useless in some cases). Check out the graphs linked in my sig line; they compare engine performance tests. Easier to read than the chart they are based on. Edit: the blue is the maximum mass, the orange is the maximum altitude reached when half the maximum starting mass is non-fuel. As for the LV-N, those are the only ones I use for orbit to orbit flights.

I'll give it a try. I think he is referring to a command pod (or multiple pods or RGUs if they are returned attached to the same craft). In practice, I try to return both my pod and attached to it any science modules, just in case it helps, now or in a future update.

The problem might be with the duplicate mesh. Since my parts do not consist of small details (like landing gear, for example), I do not create a collision mesh. However, in Unity, I set my rendered mesh to "collision" also. Make sure the collision setting is checked as "convex".

Yep. It was fun the first time I got it correct, despite the 'less dependable' info out there.

Or they might wonder why we put so many preservatives in the tasty food which we provided for them.

I agree with you. I think its sad that we (humankind) haven't been back to the Moon since the early 1970's. But rather than lament that we have no bases or industrial infrastructure yet on the Moon, I am a proponent of going back in a concerted effort, prior to setting up shop on Mars or in the vicinity of an NEO.

I'm not into MineCraft, but I have friends who do a "let's play" type series.

This IS a discussion about possibilities, as opposed to probabilities. Any real Martian terraforming would require enormous amounts of effort, energy and time. As for turning Mars into an ocean paradise; I don't think anyone here really expects that, artwork notwithstanding. However, melting the polar ice (of which much of it is CO2) would increase the air pressure. I also don't expect that we'd see the surface of Mars attain one BAR of pressure. I think we'd be lucky to attain half that. The remaining water melt will not form oceans or seas. However what water is there would add moisture to the ground, humidity to the air (which would not be breathable) and some seasonal streams, rivers and possibly lakes. There would really be some crater lakes there. If there is no native flora (algae-like or bacterial) which can generate oxygen, we'd need to introduce it and seed it there. According to Phoenix lander data, the "soil" contains chemical nutrients. Even then, it would take a long time before anyone could breath the air in situ. In the meantime, we should take care of planet Earth.

I occasionally use jets as boosters. As for the fuel use, when flying rockets (as opposed to planes or SSTO planes), so little fuel is used that I either just tie the jets into the rocket fuel tank(s) or I stack a small rocket fuel tank onto each jet. The mass of leftover oxidizer is less than the mass of unused jet fuel in the tanks you were using, and of course now the oxidizer can be set to empty anyways. Yes, with jet boosters, I always stage them first, prior to igniting the rocket engines and releasing the clamps. Very little fuel is wasted doing so. As for jet efficiency, check out the graphs in my sig line.

Welcome, Drelam! I too am old fashioned in many ways. However, KSP is very fun. I think you will like it here in the forums.

There are several related threads going on now; I'll just restate some comments I'd made in these. I don't advocate a "one task, one goal" approach to expanding the human presence (via personnel or robotics). I favor reaching for several opportunities during the same timeframe. I can easily see private enterprises doing so, in order to fill in what they consider profitable niches. Yet governmental resources will tend to go toward what is perceived to be the popular public notion (i.e. going to Mars). I favor that, as well as mining NEOs, returning to the Moon and going to moons of the gas giants (especially Titan). I favor sending probes to Venus, as there is much to learn about it. I think that in the interest of learning from small steps first, that we be on the path toward reaching the above objectives before we set out to tame the Hell that Venus and its atmosphere are. That's the path that industry and government will follow, if a return on investment is expected within a single human lifetime. Even then, these will be significant challenges.

Besides silicon and oxygen, the most abundant elements in the Martian crust are iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. Elements such as chlorine, phosphorus and sulphur are much more common on Mars than Earth. The Phoenix Lander returned data showing Martian soil to be slightly alkaline and containing vital nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chlorides, all of which are necessary for living organisms (as we understand them) to grow. The rarefied atmosphere contains trace gases such as argon and nitrogen. It has concentrations of thorium, which might become a "fancy power source" at Mars in the future. I'm not too concerned about platinum group metals or rare "earths" (or is it "rare Mars"?), from an investment point of view, since if the market were flooded with those commodities, the values of their terrestrial cousins would drop. Oh sure, there could be bragging rights to "this is MARTIAN palladium, not like your sister's Earthy palladium", but the same is true for Martian dirt. As for CO2 and water ices; those are extremely exciting from a colonization and industrial point of view, as are the other things mentioned above. All the more reason to shoot for Mars. Edit: as for Venus, it also has ground based resources; its just extremely difficult to get to them.