xtoro

Able to get cargo the size of an FL-T200 up into orbit, along with longer things of similar diameter, and then return and land. I'm only talking 2-3 tons though. But I need to get bigger things up there. I'm trying to fly up the first part of a new space station which includes a hitchhiker storage container, batteries, solar panels, large docking ports, RCS fuel etc. It weighs in at 6.5 tons. This pretty much rules out using the MK2 cargo bays because of the size alone, so I'm building up on MK3 parts. I tried using the Carina-Sagittarius craft that was posted earlier in this thread just to try it, but it can't get my station piece up there, it's just too heavy. I'm liking having a new challenge but pre-1.0 it was cake to get something like this up using an SSTO plane. My attempts continue...

I think we should start using the word "heat" or "hot" to describe crafts. Like stock+heat, or HotStock. Suggestions?

Odd. Did you post about it in support? What linux distro are you using? I really did nothing. Fresh install, it installed itself and all drivers no problem, I didn't have to do anything. Then it updated everything. I plopped ksp into my home folder and it runs perfectly. In fact, I've never once had a crash. I also leave it running for weeks at a time, I just ALT+TAB out of it to do other stuff, or close my laptop lid and it goes to sleep. Open the lid and it resumes like nothing happened.

I didn't read through all the replies, but all I have to say is: Linux 64-bit That's the way to go, and the most stable. Nowadays you don't need to know much to get it working. Installs easily and if you DO have any issues, google is your friend. Running Kubuntu 64-bit latest build.

Just wanted to throw out another option that I don't think was mentioned, which I used myself: Using an unmanned refueling ship for a large "mothership". Here's my refueling ship. It can take 2 karbonite tanks with it, or 1, or none. This gives flexibility to land on moons to mine and convert depending on the gravity of the body. Lower gravity moons can use both karbonite tanks. It will land, mine and convert into fuel. Again, if the gravity is low enough, not only can it refuel itself, but it can also take the full tank(s) of karbonite back up to the mothership and convert into fuel once docked. It's not very large and doesn't hold a whole lot of fuel, but even with several trips, it can refuel my orbiting mothership and the landers on it. Is it efficient? Yes and no. It does the job of keeping the mothership refueled and ready to head to the next planet/moon, but it can be wasteful in regards to spent fuel to land and take-off every time. But, that's only if you consider the amount of karbonite being extracted from the planet. If you run this mission over and over and over, yes, you will eventually sap all the moons dry of fuel. But for a few missions, this works quite well. Here it is being towed behind the mothership (between the large boosters). Here is the whole mothership will all its landers docked. The mining lander is between the large boosters (left side of pic) which are only used to get to Eve. So this is just another alternative to setting up large fuel depots for long missions. Just take a small mining/refueling rig with you and refuel on the way! This is what I'm doing with my mission/story in my signature.

Apologies guys, things have been crazy in real life since xmas. I also lost my entire HD including the game and had to recover everything. AND I'm getting married in 2 weeks, but don't worry, Avalon is far from dead, the story is just beginning!

I also have dozens from dozens of versions... I mostly play with all mods Installed but sometimes I like to create a challenge for a specific mission and I limit myself to what mods I use. Also shortens load time. Basically, instead of creating new saves in a game, I just make a new install...

I'm having trouble reproducing it but I did notice that sometimes my memory usage is approaching the limit of 32-bit... I'm looking for another small mod to add to see if it happens again.

For some reason this really bogs down the game. I went from running at ~98% speed with a 200-part ship to ~30% speed, and it takes forever for scene changes (VAB/Space Center/Flying etc). I also can't exit the game properly anymore. It asks "are you sure you want to quit?" I click on yes and everything freezes... Removed the mod and everything works fine again. Tried redownloading and reinstalling, same deal. BUT, it only does it on Win32 bit, on Linux 64bit it's fine... These are all ksp versions 0.25. Using: B9 Davon Throttle Control Firespitter FS Hangar Extender FTT Karbonite MechJeb

Haha, you caught that name thing huh? Figured many would parts below... No it's not your ship Fenisse lol And you're right. The pod is the Odin pod from NovaPunch2, but I of course did some editing for the colors, the scorch marks, the cracks in the windows and the scratches and burn marks around the hatch. I was going to just photoshop the screenshots but found this actually easier. I also added the upside down antenna parts from Lackluster Labs, they're called "Commtower". And the "engine" part is a bunch of part-clipped pieces put together that looked cool. Thanks for the compliment. As for the mods, instead of typing them all out, I was lazy and did a dump of my GameData folder listing to copy and paste, and this is what I have: 000_Toolbar 0PinlineFairings ActiveTextureManagement B9_Aerospace BoJaN (Quantum Struts) CommunityResourcePack CrewXfer Firespitter JSI KASA KerbalJointReinforcement Kerbaltek KerbinSide KerbPaint Kethane KineTechAnimation KittopiaSpace Klockheed_Martian Lionhead_Aerospace_Inc LLL (Lackluster Labs) MechJeb2 medsouz (Kerbtown) ModsByTal ModStatistics NASAmission NavyFish (Docking Port Alignment Indicator) NothkeSerCom (Service Compartment Tubes) NovaPunch2 OpenResourceSystem ProceduralFairings Protractor ResGen R&SCapsuledyne (Taurus Command Pod) SelectRoot SH_mods SimplePartOrganizer Squad SurfaceLights TextureReplacer TimeControl TriggerTech TweakScale UmbraSpaceIndustries (Karbonite, Karbonite+) Wayland_Corp ModuleManager.2.3.5.dll toolbar-settings.dat update-aero-parts.rb 43 Mods total. I don't think I use all of them for Avalon but I'm not sure anymore. Too many parts... This isn't what I usually play with. I have a separate install for fun and it has over 100 mods. But because the Avalon craft assembled is almost 700 parts, I had to trim some mods down a bit to make my system happy Thanks guys! Soon.... soon. Xmas shopping time is upon us and it's a real time killer I do try to release more than one chapter in the same day when I can to make up for it, and I try to shoot for once a week. And this week is almost over...

Ah ok, I wasn't aware it was very localized spots. And i am looking for karborundum, not karbonite. I'll keep looking, thanks!

Wait, no nevermind, not working. KSP 0.25 32bit and 64bit and Linux 64bit (Same issue on all versions). Latest versions of the following are installed : Mechjeb FTT Karbonite, and Karbonite+ No other mods other than what's packaged with those listed. Made up a honeybadger mining machine with Karborundum scanner and drill. Land on Eeloo and the scanner tells me there is 0% karbonite and 0% karborundum. When deploring the drill, it says the extractor is offline. I have the HB reactor installed and plenty of power. Tried reloading and restarting, didn't work. Is the Karborundum portion of K+ not finished yet? EDIT: Same situation on Eve.

You do realize that NASA is made up mostly of people from other countries that aren't America right? LOL

Ignore this post... I got it working

There will be a space race when history repeats itself. As soon as someone finds a plentiful source of energy/fuel from off-planet, whether it be from asteroid or Mars or Moon mining, the race will begin to take hold of said sources of fuel and claim sovereignty. It will be just like all wars and battles over resources throughout human history, but this one will begin with a race to space to get mining supplies out there quickly. When that happens, it won't be long before there are spacecraft with weapons on board to either defend their stake, or to take it from someone else. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Haven't seen this yet but I plan to. I'm just hoping that KSP hasn't ruined yet another scifi space movie for me lol "You can't do that!" "It doesn't work like that!" "That wouldn't work to get a rendez-vous..." And so on...

Why anyone would put real life national flags on a ship in a world where there are no such countries baffles me. Besides that, I'll actually bite my tongue on the whole "freedom" thing as this would lead to a political thing which is against forum rules. I see this thread being closed very soon anyways.

I saw that, thanks a lot I did lots and lots of test runs and made my fair share of mistakes before getting it all right

Yep, again that goes back to the pod at the end of the wobbly part. The SAS doesn't know what the entire ship is doing, it only knows what the pod/probe is doing and where it's pointing. So if the pod/probe is wobbling, it tries to stop it, but it's fighting the rest of the ship that's swinging around at a different interval. So when the pod thinks it's pointing where it's supposed to be, the RCS turns off. But the ship is still bowed at that point. So when the ship straightens out, it moves the lightest part: The pod. Now the pod isn't pointing where it wants to, so it tries to correct itself again, and the cycle repeats itself over and over.

Investigation Via EVA Bob scrambles to take screenshots of the images on screen and transmit them back to Kerbin. He received a message from KSC stating that they are to continue their investigation on the object. Bob has managed to establish orbit approximately 2 kilometers behind the object. Bob makes a request he wishes he didn't have to make. "We can't risk getting much closer than this, and I don't want to send a lander near it either. Jeb, you're going to have to go out and investigate the object, via EVA." Jeb looks surprised, but Bill cuts him off before he can say anything. "Hold on Bob. We need to know what it is. We need to analyse it, and I know how to use all our gear. I'm volunteering myself, and I'd like Wilbur to come with me. He's a technician and knows how to use this stuff as well." Bob thinks for a second and looks down between the seat to Wilbur, who is looking back up at him. Wilbur gives a nod. "I'm up for it Sir." "Ok, you and Wilbur, prep for EVA and grab your gear. And BE careful!" "You got it." Bill and Wilbur make their way to the maintenance bay to grab some portable equipment. Spectrum analysers, radiation detectors, thermal imaging scanners, etc. All the gear is being shoved into pockets. Wilbur is nervous and keeps looking at Bill waiting for him to say something. But Bill is too busy looking for gear, making sure it turns on, and finding a place for it. He doesn't seem worried at all. He's almost excited. "Bill? Do we even know if that thing is a weapon? Or has weapons? We've unarmed, sitting ducks out there!" "I don't know anything yet Wilbur, but I plan on finding out." He grabs 4 foot long steel bar, and a grappling harpoon gun used for grabbing and recovering any parts that may be floating away on EVA. It's sharp, and flies fast. It would make a good weapon to any living being. "Here, take these. Just don't aim that harpoon at me please..." Wilbur grabs the items and straps them to his legs. "Let's head out. We'll use Dusk as an airlock and go one at a time. I'll go first." He hits his transmit button for the radio. "Bob, we're heading out." "Roger." Bob replies. Bill makes his way out, followed by Wilbur. Bill thinks of the crew, and the Avalon, and comes up over the radio "We're pushing off. And Bob, if something happens to us, just go, just get out of here, don't worry about us." Bob doesn't know what to say in response. He knows that it would be the right thing to do. Save the rest of the crew, and the ship, by abandoning Bill and Wilbur. There's nothing else he could do anyways. He replies "Acknowledged Bill. Good luck." They fire their packs heading towards the object. "Matlorf," Bob says, "make sure you've got a good read on their vitals. Let me know if anything happens." "No problems, I'm on it." Bill and Wilbur are driving towards the object. They're about 800 meters away, and Bill stops. "Wilbur, there's no sense in both of us getting too close. Just wait here, keep an eye on me. If something happens, get out of here and get back to the Avalon as quick as you can." "But Bill....." "No, just wait here. I'll be fine." He fires his reverse thruster and spins around, continuing on towards the object. He checks for radiation and thermal signatures. He's floating right in the path of the radiation belt, but the levels are well below what the suit can tolerate. He starts reporting back to Bob. "Bill here. I've left Wilbur 800 meters back and I'm continuing on by myself." Bob shakes his head. Jeb turns to Bob "Why did he do that Bob?" "I don't know... that idiot...." Bill continues "I'm about 250 meters away. Looks like, maybe a satellite? I see antennas.... It's black and orange...." A few seconds pass... He turns on his camera and starts recording the situation. "150 meters away. It's not a satellite, looks like maybe a lander. For maybe 1 man, or 3 at the most. Actually, depends on how big the crew are I guess... Radiation below max threshold. Most of the object is cold, not much heat coming from it..." "It's definitely a ship of some kind. I see windows, and an engine. Looks like there's some kind of writing on it. Still no activity coming from it. It's just floating there." "Wait a minute, the writing.... I can read it! It says 'Space K', and below that it says 'Phoenix'... It's in English, but, it's not a Kerbal ship. Nothing I've ever seen before..." Back at the Avalon, Bob is recording all the audio and typing up mini reports, sending them every 20 seconds like a tweeting bird... "I can see some scorching on the lower hull. Still not getting any activity. The broadcast is still going, but that's it. The engine is spewing radiation, and it's the only heat source. The pod itself is stone cold." He swings around to the side. "I don't see any movement in the windows, and no lights, but I'm keeping my distance.... One of the windows has a pretty good crack on it..." "There's a door on the other side, and some more scorch marks on the upper part. The door is a normal sized door, something we would use." "Wait, I'm going in closer. Looks like, the window on the door is badly cracked too, and the door... There's... scratch marks, and burn marks around the door, almost like something was.... something was trying to get in...." "I'm moving down to check out the bottom. More burn marks, and, wait, these aren't landing legs... These are antennas. "Going below to check out the engine. What the? I think it's an engine...." "I've never seen anything like this before... I can't even begin to describe how this would work... Unless. Unless it's a weapon? No... Then where's the engine? It must be an engine...." "Swinging around to the top. Looks like a hatch of some kind, and some mechanical claws around a ring. Possibly a docking mechanism." Bob's mind sparks "Docking mechanism..... So, maybe this is only part of a ship. Maybe the other signal on the ground is the rest of it...." "Bob, have you picked up any changes with the sensors?" "No, nothing, all the same as before." "Roger, I'm going in for a closer look." Bill glides towards the windows. He peers inside, using his helmet lights to see. It's too dark, and the windows are tinted too much. He can just barely make out some shapes that looks like the inside bevel of the window. He tries the window on the door. No luck. But the sun is shining in through the front windows, and he can make out what looks like the silhouette of 2 seats, but he can't tell if there are any crew in there. He grabs the handle, and tries to turn it. "Clunk". It won't budge. If someone else tried getting in here with tools, then surely Bill won't be able to get in with his bare hands... Bill is satisfied that they're not in danger, for now. He wants to get a few more items from the Avalon and come back out. "Wilbur, I'm heading back to Avalon. Make your way there now. Bob, I'm coming back in. I need to get a few things. I'd say it's pretty safe to bring the Avalon closer." "Copy that Bill, when you get back, I need that camera. We're not doing anything else until KSC gets all the data and sends us instructions on what to do." Wilbur and Bill float back to the Avalon and get back inside. The data is collected from the scanners and the camera, and sent to KSC.

What makes your problem worse is when the pod or probe that you're controlling from is far from your center of mass and has many wobbly parts in between. So your SAS is using that as its reference point. So your pod is swinging around one way at a different speed than the main mass of your ship. You can make it much more steady by either strutting it to death, or the easy way is to place a probe core attached to the heaviest part of your ship near the center of mass. Just make sure it's pointing in the right direction.

So?..... Will there be an attack? (Secretly wishing there is )

We Are Not Alone The Lancer II is approaching the Jool system. Meanwhile, Bob gathers the crew in one of the habitats to brief them on the situation. "Guys, I know you're probably all wondering why I needed to talk to all of you. Long ago, KSC found signals coming from different location in our solar system, and this is part of the reason why we're doing this mission. When we were doing our Eve/Gilly landings, we found a signal coming from the Jool system. Now that we're here, we've discovered that it's coming from Laythe. We don't know what it is exactly, but what we do know is that it's not natural. In fact, it's a binary signal. Some kind of digital broadcast. This leads us to believe that the source is from intelligent beings that are at least as advanced in technology as we are. We do know that this is not something Kerbal-made. It came from somewhere else outside of our system. We've managed to capture the stream of data, but we're unable to decode it." The crew is silent, eyes wide. Nobody moves an inch. For some reason, Jeb doesn't seem phased by the news at all... "Now that that's out of the way, I want to let you all know that it wasn't my choice to keep this from you guys. It's a matter of national security. But I found it necessary at this point to let you all in on what's going on." The crew starts looking around at eachother. Wilbur quietly speaks up. "Are these beings dangerous? What do they want?" "We don't know. We're going to approach with caution. This is why we've been fuelling up at every moon since we got here. If anything goes wrong, we get the heck out of here ASAP. At this point, we only need to see what it is. One step at a time guys." The crew all start talking all at once asking all kinds of questions. Bob puts his hands up in a stopping motion. "Now hold on everyone. The plan at this point, is to get into Laythe orbit, and resupply the science kits. Lancer II will be there any minute now. We're playing this by ear folks. I'm going to send a report to KSC, and they will give us instructions. I'll brief you guys as the information comes in. For now, I've planned an aerobraking manoeuvre to get us into orbit. I know it's taking us in really close, but it will use the least amount of fuel so that we can leave again if we need to. So lets prep for braking. You guys with me?" Everyone nods. "Alright, lets get to it" The crew makes their way back to the command module. Bill and Jeb stay behind. Bill and Bob both look at Jeb. He calmly nods. "So, you knew about this the whole time Bob? Did you know too Bill?" "I did, and yes, I let Bill in on the situation not long ago to help me find the source of the signals. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, I was following orders, that's all." "No I understand. I'm just wondering why KSC felt that they couldn't trust me with this information." Bill cuts in. "There's lots of things going on here, and lots of outcomes. At first I was upset that Bob didn't tell me, but now, I understand why. We might not have even found anything. There was really no point in freaking out the entire crew." "Ya I get that. Well, we should get going right?" Bill and Bob nod, and the 3 make their way to the command module to prep for aerobraking. The Lancer II makes its final Laythe approach manoeuvres for aerobraking. And it's coming in fast at over 8000m/s At first, things look good It burns up hard But then it starts spinning out of control An attempt is made to use RCS to correct it, but it doesn't help. Luckily, it starts to gain altitude again. And ends up in an eccentric orbit This was almost a disaster, but it survived. A few adjustments and it was in a stable orbit. A self diagnostic reports that incredibly, none of the payload was damaged. Meanwhile, the Avalon sets a course from Bop to Laythe, another good transfer! The crew straps in and departs. Bob sends a status report to KSC, also informing them that he has briefed the crew on what they're looking for. A nice 24km periapsis should do the trick Avalon hits the atmosphere hard, but it needs to bleed off a lot of speed And for the first time, even the habitats and inflatable storage pods are burning up Luckily the HyperRing is protecting the ship. And the Avalon eventually glides back up out of the atmosphere. The rendezvous begins. Bill is working the scanners. "I'm picking up the radiation trail, and, it's a ring around Laythe.... Something in orbit is leaving a radiation trail." Bob leans over to Bill's screen. "Can you find the source?" "No, not yet. I think it might be on the other side of Laythe." "Right. Well, lets resupply the science kits while you keep scanning." They pull up to the Lancer II. Bob sends commands to it to start the resupply procedures." The last set of kits are docked, and the Lancer II pulls away. It burns retrograde to go crashing into the surface in one of the bodies of water. The Avalon now has 8 new science kits to carry on. Bob starts plotting manoeuvres into the computer. "Bill, is there any way you can tell where it is on the other side?" "No, it would just be a guess." "Well, we can either drop our orbit to try to catch up to it, or I can raise it so that it catches up to us." "Wouldn't it be better if we drop our orbit? Then we would gain some speed so that we can get out of here quicker." Jeb cuts in. "I agree with dropping down lower, but that just means we would be passing really close to it as we leave orbit. But we have a better chance of leaving quicker that way." Bob, looks over his 2 plotted courses. "Dropping down it is." They drop their orbit. Bill notices the radiation trail is getting stronger. "We're definitely catching up to it. The radiation is getting stronger..." Bob starting typing a message to KSC about what they're doing. He's secretly hoping that they reply telling the Avalon to get out of there and not approach it. Bill's console starts beeping and flashing. "It's coming up over the horizon now! I'm getting a 100% signal location." Bob rotates the ship pointing prograde. He's getting ready to punch the engines and leave. "What can you tell about it??? Is it moving?" "Uhhh, I don't know, I don't think so. Wait...." He starts punching in commands into the computer. "There's a second signal! It's definitely a separate signal!" Jeb puts his hands on his face "Oh no...." Bob has his hand on the throttle. "Where's it coming from? Are you sure it's a different signal?" "Yes, 100% sure. It's coming from.... the surface! It's ON Laythe!" 'TWO Signals?' Bob thinks to himself... "Is it right below the orbit of the other one?" "No, it's further north, and not directly below, it's almost below US now. It's very similar to the first signal we found, but even weaker." Bob is feeling panicked. The 4 crew members on the lower deck are all whispering to each other... "Ok, I'm going to slow us down. I need to get us into a higher orbit. Do we have a visual yet?" Bill starts scanning with the external camera. "I think so, give me a second...." Bob is firing all thrusters straight down towards Laythe to get some height and slow down their approach. Bill finds it. "It's pretty far away.... And I don't think it's very big... A satellite maybe? Or a lander? Zooming in...." An image comes up on the screens. Everyone's jaws drop. "There it is..." Bob says "It's really out there.... Can you zoom in more?" Bill sets zoom factor "There, that's maximum zoom...." Bob brings his face up close to his screen with his mouth wide open.... "Good Kod....."

Haha hate it when stuff like that happens. I did actually notice the backwards docking port on the exploded view, so I knew where this was going:D

Just wanted to throw out a thanks to everyone for reading and for the comments and reps. When I started posting Avalon I didn't think it would turn into what it is now. It was just something I started doing after my surgery since i couldn't do much, and started spending time with my laptop. So it's thanks to everyone for giving me the motivation to keep putting more work into it as I go along. I've spent so much time thinking of it and started writing things down so I don't forget because things will get, interesting. I actually already have plans for my next mission which will be a sequel/continuation to Avalon It just comes down to finding the time to create the sets, take the screenshots, upload them and write the text, which is quite time consuming. But I do as much as I can when I have time. Heck, if I had the time, I would write an entire novel with illustrations Thank you very much. Yes, it is a lot of work, but worth it, and I'm glad that people are enjoying it. The gameplay portion of my grand tour just kinda led to me adding a storyline to make it more interesting. So it just kinda happened And also, I'm planning on going back to the first few chapters and redoing the writing portion because I wasn't as "into it" at first.