Geoff-AU

KSP1 frustrated the excrements out of me sometimes. But I still logged an embarrassing number of hours and did a lot of really cool stuff. Sequels rarely live up to the hype but if it's a different version of "more of the same" I'll still be happy. Anything above that is a bonus. I haven't read a damn thing about KSP2 aside from it's releasing in <14 days, I'm only here because the forum sent me a password reset email. But I will grab KSP2 on release day and have some spectacular failures, you can count on that.

this looks awesome, thanks!

Made a mission to land on a few of Jool's moons to pick up loads of contract points, the last one was Tylo (the other moons were tiny so required less dV to get off again, I knew I'd never make it back off Tylo). Final approach my surface speed was 200m/s and I had 260m/s of fuel left. Ooooh this is gonna be tight (you use extra fuel on the way down since it's hard to instantly cancel out movement). Was burning short and hard and as late as possible in order to slow my entry. Ran out of fuel about 10 metres above the surface and although I had dropped under 10m/s, without fuel I saw it rapidly climbing through 26m/s as the probe hit the surface... ................wait.... it didn't explode! it landed! Got my science done and transmitted back to Kerbin woohoo!! contract complete! I've had other badass moments, maybe some bigger ones.. but that's the most recent

This mod sounds promising. One of the things I found really frustrating with going too far down the path of "realism mods" (FAR, DREC, RSS/RO, etc) was that it was impossible to balance the game such that it was still fun. It got harder, sure.. but DREC seemed to alternate between too easy and too hard, and the engine packs never worked nicely (the engines were the wrong size, wrong thrust, had nodes in the wrong place, wouldn't build shrouds or something else). FAR on stock kerbin made it too easy to achieve orbit, but on RSS it was bloody impossible to achieve orbit (not FAR's fault, the rockets weren't big enough.. but just saying too many mods unbalances the game). For 0.24 I went back to STOCK, I wiped all my mods and it's awesome fun. I'm interested in trying NEAR as a standalone mod (and maybe DREC again, if I can get the parameters right) but any more than that ruins the balance of the game or makes it do really annoying things that prevent you from flying missions effectively.

install FAR

would love to see the packaging made easier. I found it pretty challenging to download a cohesive set of mods that made gameplay reasonable.

The real question is what do you want from the game? If you want a harder KSP that is more realistic, check the realism overhaul thread (there is a lot to install to get this working nicely though) If you want a bit more realism, install TAC life support. This requires that you provide food/oxygen/etc resources for your kerbals or they will die. TAC is fairly easy though, unless you increase the resource consumption rates, but it gives you something extra to think about. If you want to develop a large network of satellites and unmanned probes then Remote Tech 2 is probably more your style. My must-have mods and reasoning: FAR - because the stock aerodynamics leave a lot to be desired. FAR is awesome. Deadly Re-entry Continued - because you should have realistic heating and die in a fire if you go in too steep or attempt a ridiculous aerobrake to slow down. (note if you are not using realism overhaul you need to edit the config file to make it work properly) Engineer / MechJeb - for TWR and delta-V stats (engineer is better as you can calculate for other planets) Precisenode / Mechjeb (for maneuver editing) Procedural fairings (or AEIS parts pack) - because payloads need protection and an aerodynamic shape Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - because wobbly rockets are silly.. Kerbal Alarm Clock - never miss a maneuver again! Lazor docking camera - because real astronauts have a camera to help them line up. They're not panning around with external views.

some neat rockets here.. time to reinstall RO etc and set up a space station or Mun base. Also, will be using TAC life support so the missions can't be too long.

fantastic mod, much better than ISA. keep up the good work!

One of the wacky ideas I was trying recently was a rescue system consisting of multiple Mk2 cockpits to rescue a whole space station full of Kerbals. Using FAR, DRE, Procedural fairings, the fairing is a bit over the top with so many command pods inside it but I never let that stop me before! I have DRE set up with exponent 1.12 to make re-entry realistic. The problem I have is detaching each craft so they can re-enter separately, once they drift 5km away from each other they get killed! I would really like the option of simulating all atmospheric interactions to their conclusion even if the craft was on the other side of the planet. My plan was to have a whole flock of capsules parachute down, would have looked cool if I could pull it off but instead I ended up killing a whole bunch of Kerbals because they drifted 5km away (the parachutes were on auto deploy so would have done an unassisted landing otherwise).

haha it's an amazing learning experience eh? here's a neat website for calculating transfers. basically, to make transfers easy you should start from LKO (low kerbin orbit, 70-100km equatorial circular orbit). You can then use this calculator to work out the correct time to transfer to another body. http://ksp.olex.biz/ I highly suggest you break down the process into easier steps, eg: 1) Establish a nice circular LKO, and then return your craft to Kerbin without killing your Kerbals. 2) As above, but transfer to the Mun using the above calculator. Circularise your orbit around the Mun, watch it zip by underneath you for a few minutes and then return home. 3) As above, but land on the Mun. Basically follow the steps a real space agency would take, they do it that way for a reason (although I gotta admit, strapping a large amount of propellant under you and blasting towards a distant object does sound like a fun idea!). This game is very rewarding once you start figuring out how things work. Landing on the Mun is going to drive you crazy but once you've conquered that (and docking, which is also hard), you really can zip anywhere in the Kerbol system and explore.

I haven't use a rapier yet. Just read the discussions. Have you ever heard the expression "jack of all trades, master of none"? Sounds like this engine is it. It will do a bit of everything, but of course that's a compromise. If you want a fantastic jet engine, use a jet. If you want a fantastic rocket engine, use a rocket. If you only have the weight budget for one engine to do both, use a rapier. It's a case of pick your compromises and it sounds like Squad have got it right if they are creating this sort of debate!!

I agree.. I am happy with KSP as a single player and would prefer resources. If I ever played multiplayer I would just end up sabotaging everyone else's efforts via deliberate Kessler syndrome. muhahahahaha! I think multiplayer (unless it's forced co-op) would detract from the positive self-learning that KSP currently encourages.

wasting time on a forum rather than playing KSP panels! *loads KSP*

Well, to put it in simple terms KSP is better than any EA game ever made. So if you've ever bought an EA game and been disappointed you owe it to yourself to break this rule just once

Worthwhile considering is that SAS should be as close to the centre of mass of your rocket as possible to have the biggest effect. The SAS module is trying to spin the rocket around the SAS's own location (that's how reaction wheels work), so if you stick it right up one end of the rocket it will be less effective. RCS is the opposite, because the forces are generated perpendicular to the rocket's body and you want the RCS modules at the extremities to provide the largest amount of torque. If you clump the RCS modules in the middle of the rocket you are wasting mono.

^^ yeah last time I tried that my Kerbal became a secondary fireball.. needless to say it didn't end well.

For all you guys waxing nostalgic, if you haven't seen this video of the Apollo flight computer being made you are missing out: The whole thing is worth watching but when they start showing how they were hand-assembling the logic boards etc (approx 17 minutes in) it blew my mind.

I'd love it if the VAB popped up a window confirming crew choices before launch. I've tried to launch unmanned return vehicles (they have a pod, but I want it empty) and every time I revert to the VAB to fix a minor thing it re-fills the craft. I tried saving the craft with no crew to no avail, but rather than save crew details in the vehicle file I would prefer a popup window as crew details may change depending on the flight objective for a multipurpose craft. Having it default to an empty craft would be best, and have an "auto-fill" button that takes the first kerbals available and sticks them in the pod.

hahahaha that's brilliant. I've made several of those mistakes before as well. haven't used a kerbal jetpack to adjust a probe's orbit but I like your style.

+1. Since the rules change for science etc in between versions I don't mind. It's like playing a different game each time!

Thanks guys. Good tip about the separate parachutes, that would come in handy! I think I unlocked solar panels last time I played so I can transmit the results several times to achieve the same end. Just realised that after landing one part with science payloads intact I got a LOT more points than previously, I guess I wasted several missions by jettisoning my parts and letting them crash

Something I just thought of last night.. if I have a science lab and a mystery goo container and "Keep" the experiment results in LKO.. do I need to land my craft with said modules intact in order to gain the points from the reports I'm keeping? Or can I jettison everything besides the command pod and as long as I land with the pod/kerbals alive I still get all the points?

I held off using Mechjeb until I reached the point where I was relatively comfortable doing it all myself. That means: getting to orbit, docking, transferring to another planet, landing (still not brilliant at this!). This basically constitutes an understanding of the game physics. MJ then becomes a way of efficiently doing what I know I can do already, allowing me to get further in the game doing bigger stuff like a Jool or Eeloo mission. Yes, I could screw around with a maneuver node timing and Delta-v until I got a good transfer, using some of the wonderful tools people have created on the net, but having a computerised assist speeds up gameplay a lot. If you use it as a helper before you understand the underlying game principles then yes, it would make things boring because you've skipped an objective of the game (learning how the physics works). If you use it after that point then you're only skipping things you already know. The great part about mods is they're a personal choice. It lets you customise the game to get the experience you want from it.

Agreed, I don't want a checklist because then you're just grinding for science points. I have used the forum for help figuring out what is and isn't science though, since the game doesn't really indicate what to do (yet). Yep, this is good and I've done similar too, I didn't realise you can take EVA reports on the ground on Kerbin and that there were different layers (ground, atmosphere, near space, far space) as well as biomes. It's a good learning experience - the only thing is making sure you're not repeating missions too often to collect 1 new type of science. But at the moment there seem like enough places to get science from that this isn't an issue. Agreed, Career mode should give you missions as well that point you in the right direction. In addition to a science tree you should have a mission tree that has science-related goals eg "take a sample from Kerbin's grasslands/highlands/ocean" or "report on the goo characteristics in orbit". This prompts you to discover how to take the sample, so you get your Kerbal out in the open and start clicking on stuff and then go "Ah! Here's an option for taking a sample". Once you unlock the early missions you get missions like "report on the different biomes from Munar orbit" and you need to use your science points to build a suitable spaceship to get there.