Commander Zoom

That's not how things work around here.

I have: One general station in orbit around Kerbin. 'Cause you gotta. One small refueling station in orbit around the Mun. This is where my Mun shuttle Bus docks when it's not grabbing incoming modules for the surface base and carrying them down. I plan on: Observation and emergency refueling stations in orbit around Duna, Laythe, and Eve.

Those of you who use MechJeb a lot know that sometimes, it's just useless. Not just the usual small glitches and bad judgment calls that require a manual override and put the lie to claims of critics that it does everything for you, but wildly out of control. If it were a kerbal, I'd say it was drunk. When this happens, I've found that the only way to fix things is to restart the game, and sometimes my whole computer. (MECHJEB, WUT R U DOIN? MECHJEB, STAHP) Yesterday... was one of those days. At first I thought it was my fault, as I was testing some new rocket designs. But after watching attempt after attempt start waggling and yawing all over the screen shortly after beginning the gravity turn, half of them failing even to make orbit, I decided to try launching a previously tested and reliable rocket as a control. Same result. I pushed the destruct revert button and went to bed. Today, after a fresh boot and a test launch, everything was fine. I got my new rockets into orbit and determined just how much delta v I needed in the lower stages to get them there. Now I'm ready to copy the "winning" version (out of three) back into my main save.

Hm. Well, if it comes to it, I guess I can use a radial chute, but it won't be as aesthetic. (Actually, in the configuration I'm assembling, it IS a radial part - sort of. I have an interplanetary craft core I want to stick limpet probes to, but when I tried launching it with them pre-attached, it didn't go well. Maybe I just need to put a little more booster under it...) So my current plan is to stick the probes on in orbit ... BUT, since the top of each is a mk16, nothing will attach to it (like a micro-tug, to do the sticking). So my current crazy plan was to send up the probes, attach them to the side docking-jrs, detach the RCS microtugs from the top heat shield, and have kerbonauts stick on the parachutes in their place. ... or maybe I should just try the pre-attached thing again, with a bigger booster. ;

I'd like to add the basic Mk16 parachute to the grabbable / storable list. (The radial is already on there.) While I think I can figure it out from the Part Modules page on the wiki, I was wondering if anyone else out there has already done so and can save me the time? If so, thanks in advance.

As an aside, can someone explain to me why the 48-7S is so OP? I don't mean how, that's plainly obvious from looking at its stats and performance; rather, I'm looking for an explanation (or even speculation) of how such a broken part wound up in the game.

For what it's worth, MechJeb also allows automatic control of speed and heading. You probably don't want to just set it and walk away, as it will quite cheerfully mindlessly drive right over cliffs and crater edges; but as someone else said, it's better than holding a button down.

OP: In one important area, they don't have the same stats: the ASAS masses almost twice as much (.5 vs .3).

Absolutely amazing work.

Just wanted to say that the 'restore node' feature makes an already great mod absolutely wonderful.

* "Mostly stock" - none of the big packs like NovaPunch, Bac9, etc. Just KAS, MechJeb and Procedural Fairings, plus utilities (Crew Manifest, Docking Alignment, HyperEdit (for easy testing around other bodies), RCS Build Aid, etc), cosmetic enhancements (City Lights and Clouds), and a few misc parts (e.g., ISA and now SCANsat for mapping, Hull Cam VDS, DROMOman for an extending boom, et al). * Nuclear engine exhaust isn't radioactive, but don't use them anywhere you wouldn't want a possible reactor breach or rain of fissionables. (Space and moons OK, Kerbin not OK, Duna and Laythe still under consideration) * The very first (sub)orbital and munar probes can be handwaved away into the background, and it's apparently career mode's intention that we do so, in favor of kerbaled flights - but when it comes to interplanetary missions, probes before kerbals. Have to have some idea what's there (not just a small spot in a telescope) before planning the mission. * NO ONE-WAY KERBALED MISSIONS. (If a round-trip gets stranded, a rescue becomes top priority.) * I don't run with any life-support mods, but "reasonable" accommodation should be made; no sending three kerbonauts to another planet in a single Mk 2 capsule. Operational/work spaces, hab and service modules, etc should be provided. (See below.) * Likewise, while I don't have Deadly Re-entry, some effort should always be made at simulating heat shields for atmospheric entry and/or aerobraking - Procedural Fairings, Goblin Enterprises' animated shield, or even just a conveniently placed Rockomax Adapter disc. * Crew-return vessels / lifeboats sufficient to evacuate all crew to Kerbin or another facility in an emergency, or allow for regular crew rotation. * All kerbaled flights now launch on tested and reliable Zenith boosters. * As a general design principle, better to have fuel left over than to run out. * Reversion and quickloading are fine - assume that the kerbonauts do plenty of training and simulating, and they have a ground crew backing them up and running the numbers on various scenarios, like what will happen if they aerobrake at this altitude - but whole new craft should be tested in a different save first, not in-flight. * Minimal use of part clipping, mostly to make things attach when the VAB refuses. * One transmission per science sample. (Already a rule for me, Squad's just making it official in .23) Not a real rule yet, but I'm trying to make it so: * Now that Procedural Fairings exists, there's no real reason not to at least try to make the rocket look halfway aerodynamic. Even tanker and hab-tower launches should at least have a pop-off large nosecone on 'em. (Some things can be fudged by assuming that they'd be assembled and strutted (with KAS) in space, without actually taking the time to do so. We just won't take any pictures of those launches.) Some examples of "reasonable habitation": Kerbin Station I has enough space, in theory, for 27 kerbals; the permanent crew is 12. (This works out to 3 per actual hab module, and not coincidentally, 3 per Rama X crew-return vehicle, one of which is semi-permanently docked to each.) It also receives supply flights "off-screen." Mun Base 1 started with three landers, each holding two pilots and four passengers; these have now been moved into a proper hab complex (with the landers retained as emergency escape craft, along with the shuttles that ferry new base parts down from munar orbit) and supplemented with additional base personnel, with the result that three of the hab's four wings are full and the fourth is given over to dining, laundry, etc. The base also receives supply shipments from home and is due to get a full science lab and greenhouse with version .23. (As an aside, empty orange fuel tanks from the base's tank farm have been rolled aside, partly covered with regolith, and converted into a safe if not particularly comfy shelter from solar storms.) Finally, the upcoming mission to Duna has the Brahma command and hab module, with four Hitchhikers plus two cupolas for a theoretical capacity of 18, but an actual crew of only 8; when they get to Duna, six will be going down in the lander (where another long-term hab will be waiting for them) while two remain on station. And even though I don't want the hard constraints of Ioncross, I went to the trouble of making non-functional copies of the oxygen tank module and recycler (themselves retextures of the large monoprop tanks; I could have just gone with that, but versimilitude) so that it looks right.

"Travelling Circus" is right. Dang.

Put a probe into orbit around Moho. Yeah.

Excellent work!

Oh, very nice! I've been using the big ones, but these are perfect for certain applications.

"Do you have a flaaaaag?" -- Eddie Izzard

Why do I suspect that once Jedwig clears Duna's SOI, the projected orbit is going to be very different from what he imagined?

In a word, yes.

Oh noes, not that! *shudder*

Curse it, I can't give you any more rep right now!

This right here, especially the last paragraph, is what I believe re: Laythe - including the explanation for how it can have significant amounts of free oxygen without life.

So awesome. I hadn't considered the technical limitations of dropping both capsules at once - I thought you might be setting up a situation where Hellou escapes safely, but Emilynn (due to heroic sacrifice or just plain bad luck) gets fried - maybe even deliberately not telling her shipmate everything until it's too late. Glad to see it didn't happen that way! (Edit: also, for your information, the glow of dawn on Laythe - at least in that shot - is more of a pale blue.)

Tried it tonight, and everything worked great... until I discovered that my second set of Procedural Fairings (one to get the whole thing out of atmo, the other to act as a heat shield during aerobrake) also did a fine job of getting between the Sun and the solar panels I'd put on the transfer stage, leaving me with dead batteries and a course that went through Jool. (I did get enough juice during the flaming tumble to jettison the fairings, which promptly ripped away everything delicate on the doomed craft, and to test the probe separation once the fire went out - which also worked just fine, resulting in five expensive paperweights falling to crush depth in a tight little group.) And this is why we restore from backups "run test simulations". The one I "actually" launch will have a damn RTG embedded in it. (Before that, I considered putting more panels on the inner fairing - no worries if they fail during braking, what matters is keeping the batteries topped up until then - but decided to go for the sure thing rather than trying to be excessively clever.) Monkeh: I didn't think of that before, and in any event, my habit is to match planes midcourse, at the AN/DN - which took, IIRC, almost exactly the 300 quoted by Traches, which is also in line with your figures. So, six of one, maybe?

ah - now that you mention it, I hadn't considered using an LV-N for the Grand Slam core - the Single and Double are both light enough to get away (and be more efficient overall, I believe) with 909s. And it's not like the nuke is going to wind up anywhere "environmentally delicate" ... possibly dumped into Jool itself. *goes and noodles a bit* EDIT: Yes, it looks like changing to an LV-N (and some other minor tweaks) might be enough to do the trick. I'll have to actually flight-test / sim it, see if it gets out to Jool, but... I'll leave this topic up for a while before officially changing and closing it, so that others can weigh in, but it's looking good. Thanks. Traches: If I'm reading the "subway" map right, it's about 1900 to get from Kerbin orbit to an intercept with Jool, yes? That would leave me, with the current 3k+ of my upper stage, another 1.0 - 1.5k for setting up the aerobraking and other miscellaneous maneuvers.

For illustration, as requested: (Interplanet) Janet, atop a Comet booster and "Single" transfer stage. The screenshots include Procedural Fairings, MechJeb, and the ISA Mapsat dish, but these have been omitted from the craft files below. MechJeb reports the total weight of the upper stage as 3.87 tons. The "Double" - two Janets on a slightly extended transfer stage with its own probe brain. Not yet tested in its current form, as Jool is coming up first in the transfer windows. 5.73 tons. The most recent attempt at a "Grand Slam" - note that I've added another transfer stage below the first, to be burned and discarded while still in Kerbin orbit. Doesn't seem to help as much as I'd hoped. A whopping 11.42 tons, which, again, if I were to continue, would probably mean switching from my home-grown Comet booster to the lightest of the Zenith family. And here are the craft files, where I hope I've stripped everything non-stock out: Janet - Janet Double - Janet Grand Slam The current mission plan for all of these is for the transfer stage to deliver the probes to the planets in question, retroburning or aerobraking for capture as appropriate; the probe(s) will then cast off from the core and seek their own orbital encounters with their ion engines.