kildjan

Just took this lovely screenshot when entering Eve's atmosphere today !

Two differents generations of all-in-one spaceships/rovers : On the left, an old ship I built revision after revision, it's pretty big and has a lot of parts, but it still goes pretty well. It can hold 2 kerbals, so I used it for my Mun saving a long time ago. I've stopped using it since I built the new model on the right, but I still have some versions of it on the Mun, Eve, Duna and Laythe. On the right, the new one I've been using for about 3-4 months now, 1 kerbal, much more compact, optimized in every way, like the solar panels deploying exactly between other parts, the ladder (on the back, visible on the last picture) deploying only a few cm above a retracted solar panels, and a complex multi-ion engines system that can generate from 100 to 1200t of thrust depending the configuration (accessible with 6-9 keys, shutted down with 0), allowing to fine tune exhaust power at landings depending the gravity (soo much usefull on Gilly...). It also has, like the old one, some top engines (accessible with 3-4 keys, shutted down with 5) so that I can do a reverse thrust without rotating the ship. It has been slightly modified since this picture taken on June 28th, but these are just minor upgrades like some antennas and lights. You can see the latest version on the 2 last pictures, on Eve. This ship has landed on almost every planet and moon with a solid surface on the solar system, replacing old or automatic vessels one after the other. I would say its only problem is that you have to be careful with brutal accelerations when in rover mode, for its not really long for its width (unlike the old model which despite its height is very stable on its 8 wheels). But this can be avoided by slightly engaging the small top engines, and I don't want to add more wheels for it would then be too big and with too much part for a 'compact' rover of about 10t.

I actually have more than 40 ships, probes and rovers on every place possible, even Gilly (so hard to stay on this one...) and a probe on sub orbit (10 000 km) above Kerbol. I found the lower limit after which it explodes, but I don't remember what it is. I also have some on strategic places, like Kerbin poles, Moho north pole hole (still did not manage to find the south pole hole...), etc. Also there is a probe launched to explore the limits of the solar system (if there is one...), cruising at 950 000 m/s and currently at more than 5 billions km away... but I cannot load it anymore, it crashes and the probe disappears... so I just keep watching it getting away in the tracking station. Here are some examples : Kerbol Sub Orbiter : Moho North Pole Explorer : Kerbin South Pole Explorer :

It needs a lot of precautions, and actually I only extend the panels at the very last moment. But still, I cannot do the same with the ones on the existing part, so it's a very cautious approach, as vertical as possible, with if possible no rotation in the last 100 meters, only lateral RCS.

This is mine, built with some modded parts, but not that many. Mainly unrealistic ion reactors, quantum struts, and few other things, but the solar panels, life modules, docking ports, etc are all stock. I made a first version with simple docking ports, but later found that a quad docking port system makes it easier to dock at the right angle. It weighs more than 340 tons, has more than 1600 parts, and is made of 5 docked ships. Even on a high end system, it lags as hell, and the last docking maneuver was really long and complicated. You can see that it has a lot of free docking ports, the limit being that it's almost unplayable to add more parts to this monster... It orbits at a bit more than 83 000 km from Kerbin, on a polar orbit, near the limit of Kerbin attraction.

Hi ^^ Also, I cannot find the way to add my avatar... is it normal (like only possible after a certain time or number of posts) ?

Here it is... http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183021814

Hi kerbonauts ! I just posted a thread here to introduce myself, but it does not seem to appear... I'm guessing it's a bit filtered and will appear soon.

Hi, I'm a KSP player for some months now, first on the trial, then with Steam, and I finally decided to register here. I'll check the forum in detail soon, but I mainly registered here for I wonder if there is a way (other than turning the physics bar full right) to have a smoother experience with BIG ships. I'm currently trying to assemble a big space station at about the maximum orbit possible around Kerbin (a bit more than 83 000 km to keep a small margin), my station is now a heavy 330+ tons and more than 1500 parts monster, and even on my big system (i7-2600k, 16Gb RAM, GTX590 3Gb, SSD, etc), and even with the physics bar turned at full right to slow time while calculating, it's horribly slow and lagging as hell... It's mainly built with stock parts, except for big ion engines (with tanks, scoops and all that's necessary) and quantum struts. Also, the docking procedure is a bit hard with big ships, for it's pretty impossible to have a good view while docking long 100+ tons pieces together. Appart from that, this is one of the funniest and most time consuming game I've played in years ! Congrats and keep improving it !