indigo_dc

Until recently, my laptop (an alienware) was so, so bad it could barely run the game on the minimum settings in a 1024x window. Now I have a new laptop I want to see just how good the game can look! I've been trying to use the latest release of CKAN to integrate all my mods - the game simply refuses to even load and crashes without errors. So I am reverting to doing things manually and would like to know the best way to install various graphics mods that is known to work on 1.0.4 I have tried installing the following all together using CKAN plus any mandatory ones it recommended on top. Active Texture Management Astronomers Visual Pack - all options, 4k textures where I have that option Planetshine Smokescreen Distant Object Enhancement Environment Visual Enhancement Even installing "only" these makes the game crash on startup Is there a guide somewhere which shows what I can achieve and what order I should installl the improved graphics mods? Once I get the graphics stuff sorted I was then planning on installing things like remote tech, life support and so on. I tried looking for a sticky but can't see anything.

Well done for thinking outside the box to bring the important science - and the kerbals - back safely.

Thank you, seeing that people are still reading is a great motivator for continuing to document it It'll likely be a day or two before my next update. If people want requests for side missions etc. then let me know and I'll try and work them in!

Another cool update, cheers man

Episode IV - Eve or Bust Landing on Eve and returning to orbit. That's the task ahead. It's made slightly more complicated by the fact our Eve lander is on a weird orbit with no fuel and an extremely bored pilot. Let's not forget mechjeb isn't working so this is now 100% manual, I don't even have the data readouts. To begin I need to get the Eve Explorer refuelled and back on mission so Bill Kerman heads out with the Spider to see what he can do; Macry might be the better pilot but he's exhausted. My first effort to rendezvous generates a close enough encounter - screenshot515 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr but the Eve Explorer at periapsis is moving almost a kilometer per second faster than the Spider. Bill watches in stupefication as it rockets past him - he hasn't a hope in hell of catching it. In the end the Spider needs to put itself on it's own elliptical orbit, meet up and apoapsis when speeds are slowest, swing back down to periapsis and burn almost all it's fuel to get into a circular orbit. Piece of cake! screenshot518 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Bill is worried. Very worried. The fuel situation is pretty dire even though they are in a much more circular orbit - he isn't sure they have enough to get back to the Pollux. Chad politely reminds him that the Eve Ex is carrying a full load of kethane and Bill is sitting on a refinery. Looks like hauling all that kethane to Eve paid off in the end! There's sufficient kethane on board to fully refuel the Eve Ex and leave Bill enough to get back to the Pollux! With resupply complete there really is nothing left to do but to head on down. Both Bill and Chad EVA together and Bill motions Chad to turn on the private short range radio. screenshot522 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr "Chad... you know a few of us in the office... we, well, we... don't rate your chances of returning that highly." Chad just smiles. "I've been in this game for years now", BIll continues, "I've probably fried myself with radiation. You have it all ahead of you. If you wanted to trade places, to continue in the Pollux, no one would think badly of you". Chad bangs his helmet gently against Bill's - he'd forgotten to cancel his forward thrust momentarily, stupid EVA suit - and thumbs his radio on. "I know", he says, "I've always known it was a one way trip. But it's one hell of a trip, eh?" The two look at each other for a long moment before Bill shakes his hand, "Safe trip, see you when you get back". "Thanks", smiles Chad before turning around and savouring what could well be his last moment in space. screenshot520 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The pair clamber back into their respective ships, give one last wave through their windows and undock. screenshot529 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Chad nearly gives Bill a heart attack when he brushes extremely gently against the solar panels... though they don't break! "Who teaches these kids to fly??" thinks Bill The descent profile is entered and executed. This is it, Chad is committed now. Accounting for the thick Eveian atmosphere and it's rotation he aims to overshoot a narrow strip of kethane rich land. screenshot531 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The landing is timed to touchdown just as a new dawn arrives on Eve and the pre-dawn glow over Eve is stunning. Look at that beautiful sky and who knew Eve would have a GREEN glow? screenshot533 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Wow - the colour of that atmosphere is simply majestic, look at it! screenshot537 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Chad doesn't get much time to admire the view though as his ship slams into the upper atmosphere at nearly FOUR kilometres per second. Even after slowing to 3km/s the re-entry is ferocious. screenshot539 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Parachutes pop at 38km up - at this point, mission planners assumed the craft would have comfortably slowed to well below 1km/s but Chad is still racing through at almost 50% faster than predicted. screenshot541 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He casts a nervous glance out of the window - screenshot542 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Thankfully the furnace of re-entry abates and his descent shifts to near vertical, still decelerating rapidly. screenshot563 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He seems to be coming down at an interesting spot near the shores of what seems to be a huge ocean. A win for the science team! Man that sky! Awesome! screenshot564 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr screenshot571 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr As he approaches 1km in altitude he gets particularly nervous... on the last unmanned Duna missions the force of the parachute opening literally ripped the landers in half so he needs to make sure he's descending at slower than 50m/s... it means burning fuel but he NEEDS to be sure he lands. screenshot568 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The chutes open! Two small solar panels mounted on the command pod fly off and crash to the ground but the bulk of the ship is intact and it touches down at a graceful 6m/s! For the briefest of instants it begins to topple but with instinct born from years of flying Chad quickly rights himself and stabilises the lander. He is DOWN! Checking his ship he notices another design flaw - when adding the kethane drill some enterprising engineer replaced one of the landing legs to fit it in and forgot to replace it. Shaking his head but still smiling he begins suiting up for EVA. screenshot572 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He gingerly exits the capsule and as the rulebook demands, attaches himself to the safety winch. Stepping to the edge he notices something else - someone has actually added a ladder! Though not sure who, he silently thanks them - bungee jumping off the side of a rocket and faceplanting into Eve's soil was not the brightest idea in his opinion - and begins descending. screenshot575 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr They even fitted an extendible ladder for him! Someone clearly noted his wariness about the "fling yourself off the top, we have a rope" approach and quietly rectified it! screenshot576 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He steps off the bottom rung and detaches the safety rope. screenshot577 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Chad Kerman is on Eve.

Episode III Things are finally underway. The Eve Explorer (EE) and the Pollux are on course for Eve and the excitement in mission control is palpable. Having left Kerbin first the Eve Explorer is scheduled to hit orbit first. Fuel is low - very low - because not only had we not planned to independently boost the craft to Eve but we also accidentally included a full load of Kethane. Considering the plan was to fill up on the surface this is a really silly oversight. Not QUITE as silly as the other oversight though... there is no kethane refiner onboard so we can't top off our rocket fuel when we land, though in theory we shouldn't use much to get to the surface anyway. Still, seeing Eve grow larger as we approach is quite something. screenshot280 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr It's really getting quite large now. Look at the size of that thing. It's certainly no Mun! screenshot283 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr I have nowhere near enough fuel to get a stable orbit but all is not lost - while still a few days out I nudged my trajectory just enough so I'd approach Eve to within 65km - 75km. On Kerbin that's technically within the atmosphere and with Eve allegedly having a much thicker one I'm hoping it's thick enough to aerobrake me down into an orbit. After an absolutely a hair raising aerobraking manoeuvre we're left with 100m/s delta-v and we're in the most bat**** crazy orbit imaginable! Still... it's an orbit Sadly no images as it demanded full attention. screenshot286 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The EE then goes into parking mode waiting for the Pollux to arrive. Luckily there are plenty of freeze dried meals onboard. During the month long interplanetary cruise the Pollux begins the process of refining kethane into rocket fuel but a previously unseen design flaw manifests itself - there is no physical connection between the refiner and the fuel tanks. Luckily though, the plucky engineers in mission control figure out a workaround. By transferring fuel from the extended capacity landing module attached to a docking port into the main tanks, the kethan refiner can then feed the landing pod. It's slow and needs a lot of manual effort but it's viable. The mission can continue! So long as we don't lose that pod... The Pollux retracts all life support and habitation bays ready for it's own aerobraking approach; although I suspect the habitation/farm decks could survive the heat I really can't take the risk. This shot just before I also retract the solar panels (which certainly WOULDN'T survive!). screenshot291 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Lined up and waiting for things to get hot.... screenshot300 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Hmmm, the trajectory is a bit high for my tastes so I nudge it down lower into the atmosphere. screenshot311 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Here we go! At this point even Jeb, normally as ecstatic as a Labrador puppy to be flying, has a worried look on his face. screenshot323 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr I realise quickly that I'm too high and not slowing down enough so engage engines. screenshot325 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Success! Sort of. I'm in orbit but I can do better than that - screenshot326 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr At apoapsis I setup another skim through the atmosphere to circularise my orbit. This time it looks even hotter :S screenshot338 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr But it offers one hell of a view from the chap sitting in the observation cupola! screenshot337 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr That's better - I use the main engines to circularise and the crew of the Pollux start breathing again! screenshot351 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr At this stage we only have about 3000m/s delta-v which puts the crew into something of a quandry... they have yet to try landing on Eve's moon Gilly and they don't know how much delta-v the Spider will need for a return trip but given their recent experiences getting the Pollux into orbit they suspect it's going to need a lot of fuel. The vote is unanimous - before any exploration can commence the Pollux needs to be refuelled. Macry Kerman clambers into the Spider and deftly undocks before picking up the kethane modular miner. He has an intercept with Gilly plotted in - not easy, it's on a very wild orbit - before he realises that there is no kethane mapping radar on the Spider. Just in time he cancels his Gilly insertion burn and returns to the Pollux, the only vessel with a kethane mapper. screenshot356 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The events that follow are still somehow unclear but after undocking the kethane miner, Macry hands over control of the pod back to the Pollux for docking. screenshot354 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr However, the pod approaches the Pollux at far too high a speed and with a resounding clang that echoes throughout the ship, it careers into the docking port and everyone onboard feels a tremor as the port is wrenched off. Though warning klaxons sound the whole event is over before any emergency evacuation can take place. The Pollux suffers no further damage but it has lost the ability to attach both of it's pods... you can see the docking port on this image floating away in front of the solar panel. screenshot355 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Steve Kerman quickly hops into his suit and out of the airlock to inspect the damage screenshot357 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr At least it's a clean break. Though he suspects it's a vain effort he speeds off after the gradually receding docking port... though he's not the biggest fan of heights and he can't bear to look down on Eve. screenshot358 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr As suspected there is nothing to be done and the port can't be salvaged. Steve heads back. screenshot362 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Though not a disaster - we still have two docking ports - it's a significant blow to the mission. Furthermore, because of the kethane refinement/refuelling issue the extended capacity pod is now mission critical and can't risk being moved. Though this could mean writing off a portion of the latter parts of the Tour, right now the crew are determined to continue. Indeed, without refuelling they aren't going far! Macry redocks the Spider "the wrong way round" and everyone holds their breath as a course to Gilly is plotted and the engines fired up... remember, this kind of configuration nearly tore the ship apart in Kerbin orbit... screenshot367 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr It works! Sort of. Jebediah quickly realises that any acceleration above 4m/s2 introduces an uncontrollable wobble. Though the autopilot can compensate for it, it's an annoyance and something that will need to be factored in to any further course corrections. Gilly is a tiny moon and, as hinted at previously, a real bugger to hit with an orbital transfer. The autopilot flat out refuses to cooperate and fails to find a solution. Not one to be put off Jeb does the maths in his head and flies the whole burn manually! screenshot374 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr We're on course for Gilly! Though the crew are excited to be visiting another new sight there is a lingering undercurrent of tension. Will it have kethane? How hard will it be to land on? Will anything else fall off the Pollux? Is the Spider robust enough to handle a dozen or more refuelling missions? Everyone is glued to the readouts and displays as the Pollux approaches it's encounter with Gilly. Finally it swings into view. screenshot376 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr And within seconds it's nicknamed "The Potato". It's just looks like a large asteroid! All radar mappers are activated as soon as possible to quickly find out if Gilly holds kethane... screenshot378 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr However the kethane mapper is the full focus of attention. The first sector scanned is devoid of kethane, and the second, and the third. The crew clamp down on a rising sense of panic. The only sound is the quiet beep of a negative return. Suddenly the scanner lets out out a resounding *chirp*... Kethane! The whole ship - and mission control several minutes later - erupts into applause! There is kethane, the mission is still on! screenshot383 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Macry suits up and heads to the Spider and although the crew on the Pollux look at the topography map of Gilly and notice it's the most undulating terrain they have ever seen, Jeb dispells any fear with a glance - he has total faith Macry can land the Spider safely. Getting it back without smashing off another docking port is his silent fear mind you. Macry doing what he does best, receding quickly from the Pollux. He notices that his approach to Gilly isn't exactly a normal deorbit burn, rather instead a near vertical plummet! The gravity on Gilly is so low he's only moving at a few metres per second which he quickly realises means he needs far, far less fuel. In fact, it should easily cut the number of refuelling landings! screenshot384 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Descending in silence. Again, it's in the dark... what is it with me and night side landings/dockings?! screenshot400 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr A few hundred metres up Macry realises the landing is coming down right onto a steep incline so he pitches over at the last minute and takes it onto a somewhat shallower slope. Touchdown! screenshot387 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He's made it! As Spider pilot he has the honour of being the first Kerbal to land on a body outside the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system screenshot386 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He plants his flag and the Johnney Kerman Memorial Station is born. screenshot405 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr He soon realises that the Gilly gravity is quite difficult to walk in and each step sends him hundreds of metres into the air. Although fun to begin with he has work to do and quickly switches over to his jetpack for increased mobility. screenshot406 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Mining goes super smoothly and he soon blasts off back to the Pollux. It is by turns both easy and difficult operating this close to Gilly - the absurdly low gravity means any manoeuvre only needs a few m/s of delta-v to achieve but as a result it's easy for any trajectory to accidentally leave orbit. Even RCS attitude control can tip him over and he soon realises it's best to turn it off and use only reaction wheels to control his facing. screenshot408 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Just in case, the decision is taken to connect the Pollux and the Spider using their refuelling line rather than risk a docking. Things go well, though Macry is still a little nervous. screenshot409 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr As soon as the kethane and excess fuel is transferred over he swings back round to Gilly. This time he finds a flatter spot to land on. screenshot415 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Another refuelling sortie complete. screenshot418 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Now at this point I've flown five or six refuelling missions and it's taking an absolute age to do each one. Though it's simple to do, it's taking a lot of time and turning into something of a chore - I'm not exploring here, I'm a petrol station attendant. Jebediah quickly becomes bored so after a hushed conversation with mission control decides to stop wasting time. He's *landing* the Pollux on Gilly. The crew are frightened rabbits at the best of times but this sends them into a shrieking panic, running around banging into walls, each other, farmyard plants... so Jeb locks himself alone on the bridge to concentrate. Gilly soon rises up beneath the Pollux. screenshot421 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The trajectory is right on target but look how steep it is! screenshot422 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Getting closer now. Surface boulders are easily visible to the naked eye and despite their panic, the rest of the crew begin to calm down and look out of the windows... though scared, it's still cool! screenshot426 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Touchdown is suprisingly gentle and he uses a navigation beacon planted by Macry to guide the Pollux to a soft, safe landing. Cue the crew now running around into stationary objects, this time in excitement! They all get to visit Gilly! Macry follows him down using the lights of the Pollux as a beacon. screenshot429 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Easy does it.... screenshot433 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Success! screenshot450 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr With both vessels docked, Jeb unhooks the refuelling line, attaches it to his suit and zips over to the Spider. screenshot438 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Before reaching the end of the line and being yanked unceremoniously back to the Pollux... it's not QUITE long enough, the Spider is only a metre or so too far out! No problem, Macry fires up his RCS system and makes a short, controlled hop well inside the range of the refuelling line. screenshot439 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Jeb hooks them up and refuelling commences. Much much quicker, why didn't they think of this before? screenshot440 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr One by one, the entire crew leave the Pollux and pose for a team shot on the surface of Gilly. Jeb, ever the poster boy, leaves his suit lights on in broad daylight. screenshot446 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Time to go. Jeb punches in a custom ascent profile for the launch. screenshot451 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The Pollux returns to orbit, fat & heavy with it's belly full of fuel and kethane. screenshot456 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Rejoining with the Spider, now crewed by Bill Kerman to give Macry a screenshot453 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Returning to Eve needs three successive aerobraking manoeuvres so as not to waste all the recently-acquired fuel but for the crew this is now routine! screenshot466 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Back in Eve orbit. It really is a beautiful purple planet. screenshot473 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Here ends episode 3. Will it be possible to rendezvous with the Eve Explorer? Will it be possible to actually dock without breaking something? Will we be able to land on Eve and - more importantly - return safely to orbit? And given 0.22 has arrived rendering mechjeb impotent, will any of this nonsense be possible with me flying it ALL by hand! Tune in next time to find out!

The problem can arise that the game will lose it's appeal when the structure ends though. The trick is to do what MMOs do and keep adding more stuff for people to work towards, no matter how small the goal.

I've had the exact same shearing issue with all of my remote kethane refineries. Chutes open, craft splits down the middle. It is one reason I have yet to try a manned landing

So, a quick summary of the state of the Grand Tour... We have a mission director who has never landed a kerbonaut on anything more distant than Minmus. We have a kerbonaut stranded in Munar orbit in the remnants of the largest, most unwieldy vessel I've ever created. We still need a viable craft design that can fulfil the mining/return operations to refuel outside of Munar orbit. We still need a viable craft design that can return from the surface of Eve (not to mention Moho, Duna, Tylo & Laythe!) We'd best get busy... Remember clicking the pics opens a bigger version. ---------------------- After the initial panic and mass-confusion arising from the collision that wrecked the Arcturus, Bill Kerman finds himself in a ship designed for 15 kerbals with one hell of a view of the Mun. All in all, he's quite comfortable and after overhearing comments from Mission Control referring to the Arcturus as "Arcturus Station" he suspects that people back home realise they now have a perfect, fully functioning space station handily located in a 60km orbit with plenty of fuel, RCS propellant and kethane onboard. Things could be worse. Bill also has the pick of the food stores Still, Jeb is annoyed. He wanted to tour the solar system with Bill and he doesn't care what anyone else things so he drives the design of the Pegasus - basically, a ship that can carry upto 10 Kerbals and ferry them to/from any point in the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system without refueling. The Pegasus I suffers from that most ignoble of fates... namely "insufficient thrust" and it fails to reach orbit. Still, the design works admirably and after hitting the atmosphere the craft separates into three independent sections, each landing safely into the ocean - screenshot116 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr screenshot119 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Still, the sequel does better and the imaginatively named Pegasus II hits orbit - screenshot133 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr At the same time, the Grand Tourer design team have been hard at work and have a redesigned mothership under construction... cue a mysterious shot as it sits fuelling on the pad with a solar eclipse above! screenshot110 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Until the day comes it's ready for launch... screenshot169 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Here it is... The GT mark 2... The KSS Pollux... screenshot166 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr screenshot165 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr screenshot164 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The design learns from the stability lessons passed down from the Arcturus. Rather than have a long, thin ship with each element stacked on top of each other, this time the vessel is shorter and squatter to improve handling. The central core is a colossal kethane tank with a capacity of 28,000 units with four radial fuel tanks bolted to the sides, strapped onto Wildcat engines to give the best balance of thrust & efficiency. On top of each fuel tank are the habitation modules, alternately containing living space and the farms necessary to support the crew of 12. Auxiliary fuel tanks are also located within this structure to boost the total fuel capacity to over 62,000... or in other words, fully loaded, approaching 6000km/s delta-v, excluding the additional fuel available from converting the kethane. Atop the central column is the kethane refinery unit and ahead of this is the command section - a four-way connection hub hosts two radial docking ports, the surface mapping science instrumentation, a large crew cupola offering the best views of space on the entire ship and the bridge. The plan calls for three vessels to dock in kerbin orbit before boosting to stage 1 - Eve - and begin exploration. Using the forward docking clamp to attach by turns the ancilliary refuelling "tug" followed by the Eve Explorer the whole contraption will be boosted out of Kerbin orbit in one unit. That's as soon as the other two ships have a workable design... -------------------- With the Pollux in orbit it's time to load the crew. Jeb requests the first flight and no one dares get in his way. After piloting the Pegasus III to a rendezvous with the Pollux, at that stage he "forgot" to bring any crew with him... it's just him & his co-pilot. After briefly telling Mission Control he's "not forgotten about Bill" he fires the engine up once more and plots a transfer to the Mun. He clearly had no intention to deliver anything to the Pollux but there is precious little mission control can do about it! Jebediahhhhhhh! Samcott Kerbin, unsuspecting co-pilot, is clearly not impressed with this turn of events. screenshot131 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr (admittedly the game bugged and the crew I had loaded onboard mysteriously vanished when I hit orbit so I thought "what would Jeb do?" and decided a rescue mission was appropriate) Being an impromptu mission, Bill was somewhat surprised when a ship turned up on his doorstep bearing an elated Jeb and a by-this-stage-catatonically-terrified Samcott. Jeb pilots another pinpoint docking... screenshot148 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Why is it all my docking efforts are on the backside of moons or planets!! Certainly doesn't make it easy! After coaxing Samcott onto the Arcturus with the prospect of as much hydroponically grown cheese as he can eat, Bob & Jeb swiftly refuel, undock and head back to Kerbin. screenshot150 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Coming back into LOS of Kerbin, Mission Control blast the airwaves with demands for Jeb to come back immediately, he's grounded. In Jeb's absence they have launched another Pegasus shuttle to drop crew off at the Pollux and bring Jeb back... Permanently. Loading up the Pollux - screenshot162 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Mission Control didn't account for kerbonaut solidarity however and one of the crew members of the Pegasus IV wilfully gives Jeb his spot on the Pollux, taking control of the Pegasus III. Good old Merrim! screenshot160 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr With the Pollux fully fuelled and crewed focus now shifts to designing the manned exploration/mining vessel and the Eve explorer. Early efforts don't go too well - but test pilot extraordinaire Eble Kerman somehow manages to walk away from this - screenshot193 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr With booster problems ironed out the CEVAMTVTATTP II (crew exploration vehicle also mining transport vessel thing that attaches to the pollux) - hastily nicknamed the Spider II by it's pilots because of it's looks - hits orbit and ferries itself to the Mun to begin mining shakedown trials. screenshot196 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr As the Spider II begins it's transmunar voyage, a quick note on the design of the Spider here, ably assisted by a shot of the Spider II beginning a munar orbital insertion. screenshot219 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The principle is driven by two mission goals - Land on planets and moons that have a not-inconsiderable gravity well/atmosphere/both, albeit less of a roadblock than Eve. Conduct mining landings on lower gravity moons to resupply the Pollux. Initially the plan was to have two ships, one for "hard" landings and another for mining. This was a cause for concern - if one vessel failed, it'd mean writing off a large part of the mission (being unable to visit the larger moons or, more worryingly, not be able to refuel). In the end a unique solution was arrived upon. Have a reusable craft (the Spider) with modular payloads depending on the mission. For a refuelling mission a huge kethane tank and multiple mining drills to speed up the process. For a hard landing, an extended capacity fuel tank, also with mining capability to refuel on the surface. Each of these modular mission pods were also remote controllable so the Spider would ferry a pod to the surface of the moon, conduct the mission, return to the Pollux and detach the pod - this would then be docked by remote control with the Pollux. Here's an example of the kethane pod docking itself shortly after launch - screenshot228 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Pilots love the Spider, partly because the cockpit is based on the cupola modular offering a wonderful view and sense of space - screenshot218 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Shakedown trials looking good, Munar mining has commenced! screenshot221 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr With the kethane pod & Spider II safely back in Kerbin orbit and docked to the Pollux, the Spider III arrives at the launchpad to haul the extended capacity fuel pod into orbit. Disaster strikes on launch. To improve stability over the Spider II (which had a.... wobbly... launch to orbit), extra struts were added to the Spider III, including adding struts between the top of some of the second stage boosters and the NERVA engines on the Spider themselves. Post launch analysis showed that a structural linkage on the first stage booster sheared just prior to first stage separation. This caused the still-accelerating first stage to slam into the second stage causing a colossal explosion. Although the Spider III module was sufficiently far away to not be destroyed outright, the struts tore off all four engines while the vehicle was still on a suborbital trajectory. Without parachutes. The scene shortly after the accident with Johnney Kerman riding a cloud of expanding debris. screenshot231 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr His stricken craft. Note that as well as the nuclear engines having been completely annihilated the force of the separation tore off the underside docking clamp as well. screenshot234 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Mission Control spring into action. By sheer, happy coindcidence, Pegaus IV piloted by the eccentric Edwell is due to pass above the stricken Spider III. Without wasting a moment, Edwell plots a VERY shakey intercept trajectory and begins a deorbit burn - if he can get within a few hundred meters of the Spider, Johnney can make an emergency EVA and rendezvous. screenshot201 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr It's a vain hope though as the Pegasus doesn't contain nearly enough fuel to slowdown and intercept - but in trying, Edwell manages to deorbit his vessel though at least he survives the landing. screenshot207 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Mission Control are distraught. Edwell was the only hope and even that proved to be too tenuous. With grim inevitability Johnney has started to descend. He fires his RCS on full reverse in the vain hope of slowing down enough to perhaps survive the landing. screenshot235 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Alas it is not to be and he crash lands too hard and too fast. The Spider III is lost with all hands. screenshot238 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The first casualty of the Grand Tour. In the end, the Spider platform is deemed to unsafe for further Kerbin launches and the modular fuel pod payload is launched on an unmanned rocket and piloted to a Pollux rendezvous automatically. A sad day indeed. screenshot239 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr You can see here the Pollux with the Kethane pod and Extended Capacity pod to the left/right of the cupola behind the main bridge. All that remains now is the development & launch of the Eve Explorer portion of the mission. As any seasoned kerbonaut knows, getting to Eve and landing is a piece of cake. It's the getting back that's the hard part. Because of this, mission designers & engineering design arguably the most complex, unproven vehicle ever. Without seemingly learning a lesson from Spider III, it's launched successfully. screenshot248 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Here it is in orbit - screenshot251 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr It's design relies on the theory that although conventional rocket engines won't work on Eve, experimental Kethane turbojets WILL work. The approach is simple - use the Kethane jets to get to the very limit of their operating envelope and as that stage is reached, switch to conventional rockets. To further complicate the design and push the limit of the craft, multiple stages are planned to reduce weight on the ascent. Indeed, before launching from the surface of Eve, the first stage is to drop the mass of the kethane drill, large solar panels, parachutes etc. and as the second stage turbojets ignite even the landing legs are dropped. When the jets reach the limit of altitude, they drop, followed by two consecutive stages of twin rockets, ultimately leaving only a central, single rocket column topped by the cramped pilot's module. Even that has quad rocket engines to give it the push it needs to reach orbit! Hell, given the complexity of the superstructure and the associated weight, traditional ladders have been abandoned - to get off the craft and set foot on Eve the pilot exits the cockpit before attaching himself to a winch that lowers him to the ground and safely pull himself back onto the top of the ship. We don't know if it will work and the pilot who volunteers knows it could be a one way trip. With all three vessels in orbit and within rendezvous distance the final stage of the preparation begins. And with the amount of parts on screen, the KSP slideshow mode also begins! Step 1 is to dock the Spider on a rotated axis to the Eve Explorer (EE). screenshot261 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr So many engines! screenshot262 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr With the vessels successfully docked, the KSS Pollux is complete! Finally! screenshot267 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr That's one hell of a ship. screenshot265 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr However, a brief trial main engine burn to test stability reveals that the ship is simply too long and too unwieldy with so much flex in the different sections the whole ship bends at a 90 degree angle! THAT was stunning to see - sorry I don't have pictures - but seeing the Spider and EE perpendicular to the Pollux while still attached was frightening! Took all my effort just to safely recover it! An alternate configuration is trialled, with Macry Kerman (Super Spider Pilot) reversing onto the Pollux and docking the EE onto the top of that. screenshot269 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr Still this configuration is too unstable. With a heavy heart, mission control admit that getting to Eve in one ship just won't work so they make the decision to send the Pollux/Spider & the EE in convoy. EE goes first and is due to arrive at Eve about 3 days ahead of the Pollux/Spider screenshot275 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr The Pollux is MUCH more stable in it's new arrangement and follows on the very next orbit. screenshot273 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr WE ARE OFF!! The Grand Tour has begun!

Good stuff I too have found it's giving me a new lease of life... and greater sense of caution & experimentation when it comes to building new vessels to accrue science! Currently I have Jeb & Bob stranded on the Mun after their engine fell off so I need to hastily design a rescue ship to bring them back using the limited parts I have available to me!

Bear with me - this isn't a dead thread, I did manage to get a lot of hours under my belt on a recent holiday but getting images online and the report typed up is taking longer than expected. By way of a sneak preview, I've only made a small amount of progress but it's as though every step of the way there is drama Wouldn't be KSP without it I guess!

I suspect point 1 is the source. I've since docked ships successfully (albeit with the standard clamp-o-tron, not the Sr.) so I might try again using a demo mission to validate. I'd much rather have a fully "ground launched" mission but at this point I've been wrestling with it so long and basically did everything I needed to I've reconciled the hyperedit needed to get it up there with the desire to see what story lurks in the rest of then solar system Mind you, given the destruction of the Arcturus I'll likely have another pop at it... I've already designed the next class of Grand Tourer

This and your first report are interesting reading Seeing how others take their first steps into space is great fun.

Thank you! The miner worked well until I needed to do accurate manoeuvres. Then the absence of RCS meant I was totally reliant on the reaction wheels and main engine and burning fuel rapidly led to uneven mass distribution. I hadn't realised I'd not fitted RCS until I came to launch from the Mun back to orbit - I'd let mechjeb handle the now routine task of landing on the surface. So when I came to dock it, or even just hold position within tether range, it was an absolute bitch to hold steady. Even mechjeb struggled and clipped another solar panel. I liked the design of having the kethane tank low to the ground, makes landings easier because the centre of mass is near the surface. I'll probably go with radial engines, I think the design was inadvertently asparagus which introduced an ungodly rotation Independent, lighter engines is the way forward.

Normally I'd take far more screenshots but parts of this adventure involved heavy manual flying... next time I'll improve the quality & quantity of pics