Landwalker

Stock air, yes (I was initially using FAR, but then dumped it). Launch profile, probably garbage...

The last version I played was 1.0.4. I'm using the SETI tech tree with CTT, and haven't progressed super-far. Second-tier rocketry, basically.

The first stage isn't actually burning that violently (you know, by controlled explosions standards). I artificially ran it at a lower TWR (around 1.8 - 2.0), stretching out the burn. My concern isn't "Do I have enough TWR to carry more fuel," it's more "Given my calculated dV, I should be able to get this thing into orbit, but can't." Certainly, if I wanted to, I could just grossly overbuild and get a 5,000 dV craft packed with fuel into orbit every time. But that would be inefficient and expensive, and I'm trying to avoid inefficient and expensive solutions to my already inefficient and expensive problem. The COM issue, though, is one that I was wondering about this morning. I didn't have time to test anything before work, but tonight I'll try reducing decoupler strength (and/or maybe using a stack separator instead, and/or using some sort of fueled-decoupling solution) and also paying more attention to the upper stage's COM. Given that I'm already throttling back my TWR to prevent it from going crazy, I may also try replacing the Reliant with a Swivel and scaling back on the stabilizing fins. Hell, I might throw out the second stage engine entirely and try to do the whole thing with just a single launch stack (and maybe a couple of small SRBs if extra oomph off the launch pad is necessary). Honestly, at this point, I would probably benefit most from seeing examples in action. I've tried to find some videos, but the ones I found were both not very recent at best (clearly outdated at worst) and not very design/profile/mission-efficient (things like "Oh you can get up in 3500m/s but I'm not going to because this is just an example of getting up at all," or overbuilt 2.5m single-stage stuff). If anyone has (or is willing to create) examples in action, especially if they are similar in spirit to my original design effort (the spirit being a launch system to deliver a small prove into low orbit, and then deorbit and recover it), I would much appreciate it.

I actually had to Google "Kerbal Space Program caps lock". Believe it or not, I already knew about "soft mode," I just didn't know caps lock was related to it. I've always just used Left Alt.

Well, as-stated, I clearly am doing something wrong. Knowing that I'm doing something wrong, however, without knowing what that something is, is not as helpful as people seem to think it is. You're half-right. All of my builds so far have been 1.25m stacks. The failed Circe is no exception. I do have a heat-shield, though. It's in between the black-and-white circle of service bays just under the probe core and the top-most decoupler. Worthless for reentering from LKO it may be, but removing it will just increase my total dV. And since I already have 4,100m/s dV, "give myself even more dV that I can waste" doesn't seem like the solution. I'll try reducing the force of the decoupler between Stage 1 and Stage 2 (which in the original picture is right below the marked Pug engine). I considered doing that last night, but ran out of time. Good to know about the ISP and altitude. Thanks for that info. I figured some people wouldn't know about the Pug, which was why I made sure its stats window was in the picture. It has significantly better ASL ISP than the Terrier, but slightly worse Vac ISP and less than half of the thrust. The relevant points here, I suspect, are "slightly worse Vac ISP" and "less than half the thrust." I'll keep that in mind. While the mass shouldn't be an issue (since that would be reflected in dV numbers), it's possible that an excess of drag is causing me to burn up more dV than I should be burning up.

Yeah, after more attempts (and more failures), I've realized a few things: Piloting Issues I didn't / don't know what the preferred launch profile is, so I have been going at it too steeply. I am not good at actual piloting, especially as far as "subtle" maneuvers are concerned. Whenever I try to make flight adjustments, I seem to either have no effect whatsoever (less common), or cause erratic, herky-jerky behavior in the craft. I had a shower thought that perhaps this is a result of me not disabling stability assist during maneuvers, causing the craft the careen back and forth in a tug-of-war between my all-or-nothing inputs and the desired bearing of the stability assist. I'll have to put this to the test and see if there are any improvements to be made. Craft Design As @HvPpointed out, the Pug rocket has poor atmospheric performance. I had actually thought about the Atmospheric/Vacuum differences and, believe it or not, had considered them, but the dV chart I rely on specifically stated that given values were "vacuum dV". My rocket had 4,100+ m/s of vacuum dV, so I felt like I was good to go. However, the Terrier's atmospheric performance is even worse, so I'm not sure what to do here. In order for the Pug (or Terrier) to be viable in the position I have them in, they need to be able to engage at high altitudes or space. The nature of my designs has tended to result in the first stage burning out no higher than 26-27km (and that was on my too-steep profiles). I'm probably losing a lot of efficiency from the Pug because it's being required to operate in the atmosphere too early. This is probably also why in my previous attempts at a shallower launch profile, I couldn't even get out of the atmosphere at all. Perhaps I should consider a heavier, more versatile rocket in the Stage 2 role, like the LV-T45 Swivel. Alternatively, perhaps it would make sense to redistribute more towards the first stage—the problem is that I feel like the gains to be had there are marginal. For some reason my crafts seem to be... not very cooperative. Some of this is obviously on me (see Piloting Issues #2). Some of it is probably also on me, except that I don't know exactly what it is. This includes things like my upper stage cartwheeling out of control, for example. Unless I know why things happen, I can't fix them. I'll try to incorporate some of the new knowledge (particularly about launch profiles) in my next tests tomorrow night and see how much (if any) improvement I'm able to see.

Thanks for the feedback. I suspect the radial parachutes are the culprits for the aggressive yawing—I was indeed single-mounting them (I didn't think they were significant enough to throw off an entire craft). I managed to get this thing into a roughly 80km orbit while consuming 3800m/s dV, which is by far my best result. Unfortunately, I don't really know in detail what I did differently. The Pug engine has significantly lower thrust (25 kN in a vacuum) compared to a Terrier (60 kN), slightly worse vacuum Isp (330 vs. 345), but significantly better atmospheric Isp (150 ASL vs. 85 ASL). It does not have gimbal capabilities. The Terrier is almost certainly the better choice for this craft, but I hadn't unlocked it yet in that career save. I tried rebuilding a variation on my initial "problem rocket" with some changes: No fins on the upper stage, no SRBs, no radial parachutes, and I slightly redistributed the fuel to put more in the lifter stage and less in the upper stage. I tried replacing the fins with non-controlling winglets, but the rocket handled worse than a barge until around 10km, at which point it completely lost all control. The reaction wheels in the OKTO probe core and the small inline reaction wheel part just couldn't exert any influence over the rocket. This one weighed in just shy of 4,300m/s vacuum dV. It handled pretty well for the first stage (at least, I thought so). I put on about a 7-8º angle pretty early on, rode that to around 200m/s (around 3.6km), and then locked prograde on the SAS. I tried to keep my TWR under 2.00 for the whole duration. I ended up with an angle of around 45º anywhere from 16km to 20km, and at first stage burnout, I was between 25º around 23km and 35º around 27km. But the second stage basically came cartwheeling out of the decoupler with nothing to stabilize it—the same problem I ran into originally—and ruined the whole launch. This occurred multiple times, so I have no doubt that there's a fundamental flaw in the second stage. I don't know why it exits the decoupler so... badly. It seems to do this regardless of whether it "comes out firing" or whether I decouple with no throttle at all. Given that the second stage is a failure (and given that I don't know how to fix it), I can't evaluate my launch profiles any further than that.

So let me start by saying that I haven't played KSP in over two years. Everything I might have known once has either been forgotten (by me) or changed (by the devs). So with that level of ingorance in mind, let's roll: I'm trying to get into LKO. A very simple problem. I've consulted dV maps (at least, the most recent one I could find). I've used KER to assist in building my craft. I've put together what I thought was a pretty decent composition. After much struggle, I finally managed to barely get the upper stage of this thing into orbit. As in, I hit a periapsis of 70km with less than 9 units of fuel left. I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know if it's a design issue, but nothing screams at me as the guilty culprit. I don't know if it's a "My launch and ascent trajectories are garbage" issue, becaue I don't know what the optimal ascents even are at this point and haven't been able to find much information out there that's more recent than version 0.20-something. All I know is that even with over 4,100 dV, I can only achieve orbit by the absolute slimmest of margins, and irregularly at that. If anyone has any advice on this specific design, ascent trajectories / gravity turns in general, or anything else that would help me go to space consistently, I would be very appreciative. (As far as mods go, I'm using a lot of mods, but FAR isn't one of them, so I believe the aerodynamics should be "stock.") P.S. If you're wondering why my top-most propulsion stage has four Delta-Deluxe Winglets on it, it's because that stage, like seemingly all of my craft, has a tendency to try to flip to the left (where "left" is the side of them that is closest to the VAB when sitting on the launch pad). I have no idea why this happens. I added the winglets in an effort to provide a small amount of drag and control surface steering in the upper atmosphere. It was somewhat successful. Edit: After multiple attempts with both my original (posted) craft, and with a different experimental craft in Sandbox mode, I'm still finding that it takes me on average around 4,200m/s dV in order to achieve a roughly-80km orbit. This seems to happen regardless of how I tweak my launch profile or rocket design—either I'm spending 4,200m/s in order to get into orbit, or I'm not getting into orbit.

Show-off.

Launched the Circe I, intended to be the first probe in orbit around Kerbin. Didn't quiiiiiiite make it... I ran out of fuel with a periapsis of about 67 km. In my rust, I probably have terrible launch angles and gravity turns, which I'm sure had something to do with it... I just don't know exactly what the problem was, or the right way to go about fixing it. As a result, Circe I failed in its attempt to become Kerbin's first artificial satellite. Hopefully the financial setback won't cripple the space program entirely...

Peculiar... that's how I was doing it, too, I think. In any case, I have it working fine now using the 1.3 RangeMachines TextureReplacer that Galileo directed me towards.

*Rubs bleary eyes* After more than two years away from the game, I finally returned, went through my enormous mod setup process, and reacquainted myself with the game. After several failed attempts, I even managed to launch my first rocket past the 18km mark! Small steps, man. Small steps.

Ah, perfect. Thank you very much for the direction, sir. And best of luck with the TRR work.

I'm coming back to KSP after over two years away from the game, so go gentle on me here, I'm in full-blown idiot-mode... I've installed TextureReplacerReplaced. I have added some textures from other sources (Scart91's texture pack for heads and suits) to ...\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\TextureReplacerReplaced\[Heads/Suits, as appropriate]. However, nothing is showing up in-game that's different from stock in this regard. Can anyone coddle me and help figure out what I'm screwing up here?

I can tell by looking at that screenshot that there is something wrong: You have the wrong tech tree. Not sure how. Did you install the modpack from CKAN, or otherwise? (Pre-Post Edit: As Nori said, looks like CTT itself might be missing). If you have SETI-CTT installed correctly, it should look like this:

That's the SETI-Contracts part of the SETI modpack. It replaces, I think, almost all of the stock "progression contracts" like "Go 150m/s; travel 7km from KSC; reach an 11km altitude," but also, if I'm right, other more "explore-y" ones as well. If you look back through the KSSLTA's progression, you should see these sorts of contracts showing up. So far, I have completed the following: 18km Altitude 18km Altitude, Manned Flight Escape Atmosphere Orbit Orbit and Recovery Manned Orbit and Recovery Kerbin Powered Landing Manned Kerbin Powered Landing Manned Prolonged (72-hour) Orbit So the next items on the itinerary for KSSLTA as far as SETI-Contracts jobs go are "Munar Flyby" and "Manned Orbital Docking" (mKOR in the SETI table below; "Orbital Rendezvous" seems to mean "Actually Dock" rather than just "Get close to each other"). If you go to the SETI Thread, it has the Contracts broken out on their own as a sub-mod (technically, SETI right now is a collection of submods rather than a single overarching mod), but the "progression contract tree" looks like this: Edit: Speaking of contracts, I've noticed a curiosity in mine: I'm not getting any "Rescue Mission" contracts, even though I've unlocked EVA in the Astronaut Complex and have completed manned orbits. I'm using several contract packs, so I'm not sure which (if any) of them are responsible for this. Yemo has confirmed that it isn't a SETI issue, but if anybody else knows what the possible culprit here is, I'm all ears eyes.

Lancer V / ComSats Ker-1-E2 and E3  Radio Free Kerbin UT Y1-D164-H4-M48 √135,438 – §16.8– Ʀ51% *bzzzrt* After an unexpected facility-wide loss of universe integrity, the Kerpublican Department of Tourism enacted several directives to change the parameters of the universe and ensure a resumption of resort activities. Checking back in on Valentina, it was noted that she had been in orbit for only four days so far, and for all intents and purposes nobody could identify any measurable degradation in her already slightly suspect psychological faculties. As Val was provisioned with enough supplies for three and a half months (dramatically more than necessary, but you always want to be on the safe side when it comes to guarding against unforeseen munchies), and as Lancer V was still in a position to continue communications with the impaired ComSat Ker-1-E1, she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Design promptly commenced on the next ComSat, with the engineers taking care to account for the dramatic electrical failures of the agency's first effort. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D164-H4-M48 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D172-H3-M13 Launch Time: UT Y1-D174-H0-M5 [*]Mission Objectives Set ComSat into an 802km equatorial orbit within 2,500km of ComSat Ker-1-E1. Operate all antennae for entire orbit without losing power. [*]Construction ComSat Ker-1-E2 Probodobodyne OKTO2 MRS Reaction Wheel, 0.625m Stackable Modular Girder Segment FL-R10 RCS Fuel Tank Inline RCS Block FL-A5 Adapter (0.625m to 1.25m) FL-T200 Fuel Tank LV-909 Terrier Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) RealChute Radial Chutes (Silk, Single, Main) (4x) Illuminator Mk3 (8x) OX-2L 1×3 Photovoltaic Panels (3x) Z-1k Rechargeable Battery Bank Communotron 16 (4x) Reflection KR-7 Kerbal Engineering System TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Second Stage (4x) Sepratron I (2x) RealChute Stack Chute (Nylon, single, main) FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine (15% Thrust Limiter) TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Trident 1 Launch Stage AE-FF1 Airstream Protective Shell, 1.875m H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank (3x) HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) HGR Radial Booster Tank (4x) RealChute Radial Chute (4x) Wing Strake [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 60 Height: 20.7m Mass: 74,116kg (28,050kg oxidier; 22,950kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,360m/s [*]ComSat Ker-1-E2 Part Count: 31 Mass: 3,333kg (550kg oxidizer, 450kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.28 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,207m/s [*]Second Stage Part Count: 9 Mass: 3,273kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.93 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,220m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 20 Mass: 67,135kg (26.4t oxidier; 21.6t liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.32 Delta-V (Surface): 2,762m/s [*]Construction Time: 7d, 4h, 25m (167,086 BP at 1.00 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √39,120 [*]Crew None. With no other ongoing projects, all of the resort's attention was devoted to the construction of the next satellite. By the time rollout was complete, Valentina had been in orbit for thirteen days, effortlessly surpassing the twelve-day test. In order to take advantage of Lancer V in setting up the remainder of the ComSat network, and since Valentina's microphone had a remotely-activated Mute function, Mission Control instructed her to remain in position until continuous satellite coverage was established. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D161-H1-M0 Mission Time: + 12:04:24:00 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §2.70 Salvage Recovered: √5,985.7 Success  Launch a kerbal into stable orbit around Kerbin and keep them there for 72 hours. Success  Act as relay with Mission Control to set up first communication satellite. Pending  Deorbit and land in a previously unresearched biome for scientific research. Pending  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Manned Orbit for 72 hours!1 √57,600  §4  Ʀ18 [*]Science Collected Temperature Scan while high in space over Kerbin  §2.70 Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman None. ComSat Ker-1-E2 had an early-morning launch to take advantage of the positioning of the two orbital relays already in position, although by this point Lancer V's slightly higher orbit had caused it to fall too far behind ComSat Ker-1-E1 and become obstructed by Kerbin itself. Despite this, both Lancer V and the first ComSat would be able to provide independent aid in the current mission. By MET 08:30, ComSat Ker-1-E2 had settled into a stable 111×113km parking orbit, and preparations began to reposition it at the required altitude of 802km. More importantly, Mission Control had determined that ComSat Ker-1-E1's orbital period measured 1h, 32m, 31.99s (±0.01s), and so this same period was required for both of the following satellites. Unfortunately, while ComSat Ker-1-E2 burned into an 802×119km elliptical orbit without issue, Mission Control had failed to make the burn in a manner that would properly position the satellite relative to its sister craft, and so everyone was forced to wait until the natural passage of time had separated them to the desired distance and angleâ€â€a process requiring some 19 hours. However, the maneuver node was established and the flight computer programmed, so many orbits later, the satellite was on its way. After the maneuver, small tweaks were necessary at apoapsis to make fine adjustments to the craft's orbit, but by UT Y1-D177-H3-M30, ComSat Ker-1-E2 ended up with an orbital period of 01:32:31.996, well within the acceptable margin. The ComSat Ker-1-E2 mission was not without additional hiccups, however. Due to a mishap in the ascent angle of the initial launch, the Trident 1 lifter stage had burned up during reentry and was unable to be salvaged. It was also realized after the satellite was already in position that it had never separated from its intermediate stage, and consequently that stage would also be unrecoverable. Copious notes were made to account for these lessons in the launch of the third and final satellite. These notes were then promptly lost, but hope held out that the final mission would prove successful regardless. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D174-H0-M5 Mission Duration: Ongoing [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §0 Salvage Recovered: √0 (0.00%) Success  Set ComSat into an 802km equatorial orbit within 2,500km of ComSat Ker-1-E1. Success Operate all antennae for entire orbit without losing power. [*]Contracts Completed Partial  Create a communication network for Kerbin (4 satellites). √0  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Complete  Point a dish out from Kerbin √9,000  §0  Ʀ1 [*]Science Collected None Crew Decorations Awarded None. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D178-H0-M47 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D186-H1-M28 Launch Time: UT Y1-D187-H3-M40 [*]Mission Objectives Set ComSat into an 802km equatorial orbit within 2,500km of ComSats Ker-1-E1 and Ker-1-E2. Establish continuous communication network with KSC Mission Control. [*]Construction ComSat Ker-1-E3 Probodobodyne OKTO2 MRS Reaction Wheel, 0.625m Stackable Modular Girder Segment FL-R10 RCS Fuel Tank Inline RCS Block FL-A5 Adapter (0.625m to 1.25m) FL-T200 Fuel Tank LV-909 Terrier Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) RealChute Radial Chutes (Silk, Single, Main) (4x) Illuminator Mk3 (8x) OX-2L 1×3 Photovoltaic Panels (3x) Z-1k Rechargeable Battery Bank Communotron 16 (4x) Reflection KR-7 Kerbal Engineering System TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Second Stage (4x) Sepratron I (2x) RealChute Stack Chute (Nylon, single, main) FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine (15% Thrust Limiter) TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Trident 1 Launch Stage AE-FF1 Airstream Protective Shell, 1.875m H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank (3x) HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) HGR Radial Booster Tank (4x) RealChute Radial Chute (4x) Wing Strake [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 60 Height: 20.7m Mass: 74,116kg (28,050kg oxidier; 22,950kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,360m/s [*]ComSat Ker-1-E2 Part Count: 31 Mass: 3,333kg (550kg oxidizer, 450kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.28 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,207m/s [*]Second Stage Part Count: 9 Mass: 3,273kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.93 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,220m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 20 Mass: 67,135kg (26.4t oxidier; 21.6t liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.32 Delta-V (Surface): 2,762m/s [*]Construction Time: 8d, 0h, 41m (175,269 BP at 1.00 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √34,076 [*]Crew None. Mission Results1 Science Recovered: §4.86 Salvage Recovered: √9,183 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √12,291  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Telemetry Report from Mission Control  §0.18 Telemetry Report from VAB  §0.18 Telemetry Report from Administration  §0.18 Materials Study from Runway  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None. With the second ComSat now in place, the engineers dove into the construction of the final piece with previously unmatched ennui, but the ship was eventually completed nonetheless. The timing of the completion and rollout happened to coincide with Lancer V being in a position to coordinate with the other two satellites for complete coverage around Kerbin, allowing the launch to take place immediately and without regard to fussy things like "maintaining contact." By MET 05:30, ComSat Ker-1-E3 was in its 90km parking orbit and planning its maneuver to 802km. Unlike ComSat Ker-1-E2, this was properly scheduled in order to insert the satellite into the correct position relative to the rest of the network in a single pass, and at MET 42:30, ComSat Ker-1-E3 was in its final orbit with an orbital period of 01:32:31.996. As the contract required a two-day "shake-out" period to make sure the network wasn't withholding any of its lunch money (the agency originally misunderstood this as a "shake-down" period), and the testing was complete at UT Y1-D190-H5-M33. Complete coverage of Kerbin had been attained, and the reach of Mission Control had extended as far as Minmus. Not that the agency had anything near Minmus to actually communicate with. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D174-H0-M5 Mission Duration: Ongoing [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §0 Salvage Recovered: √11,567 (33.94%) Success  Set ComSat into an 802km equatorial orbit within 2,500km of ComSats Ker-1-E1 and Ker-1-E2. Success Establish continuous communication network with KSC Mission Control. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Create a communication network for Kerbin (4 satellites). √180,000  §0  Ʀ16 [*]Science Collected None Crew Decorations Awarded None. By this point, Valentina had been in Lancer V for almost 30 continuous days. Even the most jaded of the staff in Mission Control agreed that she may be demonstrating minor signs of stress when the animated conversations between her two hands devolved into physical and often violent confrontations (the right hand, it must be noted, was often the instigator). With the ComSat network in place, it was high time to deorbit Lancer V and get Valentina into debriefing and/or a psychiatric ward. As Lancer V was continuing to exhibit unusual temperature anomalies surrounding its service bay, the bay doors could not be closed due to the risk of internal heat. This required Val to "enjoy" reentry with the bay doors open and fingers crossed that the expensive instruments within would more-or-less survive. The craft's initial pass through the atmosphere was at too high an altitude, but a second, tight orbit later, the descent trajectory was confirmed, and Valentina reentered the atmosphere for good at MET 29:05:38:20. Although the desire had been for Lancer V to land in a more scientifically rich area, the actual landing site in the ocean east of KSC was still acceptable due to a contract requiring materials studies there, and the opportunity to observe the Mystery Gooâ„¢ in a more aquatic environment. Less than ten minutes after atmospheric reentry, Val had been recovered and wrapped comfortingly in a straitjacket for her trip back to KSC. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D161-H1-M0 Mission Duration: 29:05:47:41 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §10.28 Salvage Recovered: √19,349 (54.96%) Success  Launch a kerbal into stable orbit around Kerbin and remain there for 72 hours. Success  Act as relay with Mission Control to set up first communication satellite network. Success  Land in a previously unresearched biome for scientific research. Success  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Test RealChute Stack Chute in flight over Kerbin! √12,857  §2  Ʀ6 [*]Partial  Field Research: Materials study experiments on Kerbin. Materials Study from Kerbin's Water √5,515  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Science Collected Materials Study from Kerbin's Water §5.76 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Kerbin's Water §4.32 Recovery of a vessel returned from Kerbin orbit  §0.20 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman Mission Time  For more than 20 days spent in missions. Kerbin Orbit  For orbiting Kerbin. It's worth pointing out that this particular mission does not require the actual recovery or survival of the kerbal(s) occupying the orbiting ship. Just that they get up there and stay there for 12 days. Recovery is optional. How grim. But it means KSSLTA gets paid earlier!

Good news, better news, betterer news, and KSSLTA exciting news! Good News: Apparently, OpenGL can use Anti-aliasing after all if I tell my video card to override the program, so no jagged edges. Also, inexplicably, dynamic shadows. Better News: OpenGL with forced anti-aliasing managed to run and remain stable for four and a half hours (and counting). Right now it's at 3.4GB and still running fine (started out at about 2.7GB, so the creep is still there, but slower and, thus far, not crashy). Betterer News: ComSat contract completed, continuous connection to KSC mission control established, communications possible out to edge of Kerbin SoI edge. Post should come tomorrow, as it's getting late here. Exciting News: With the completion of the ComSat contract, the next two major items on the itinerary are a Munar Flyby and a Manned Orbital Docking, so the KSSLTA is finally moving into the exciting stuff.

Had a ground-surveying contract on Kerbin at three sites near the southern part of those mountains "just" west of KSC. Since I can't land a plane for beans, I decided to just build a Science Mobile and drive there. It can't be that far, I thought. Oh. Wow. It was that far. I think I got about 30% of the way there, after countless quicksaves/quickloads due to spontaneously shattering wheels (I mean, I was pulling 14+m/s downhill, so I guess the shattering wasn't that spontaneous, just annoying), before I said the hell with it.

Two pointers: You can right-click on your parachutes (in VAB or in flight) and tweak their deployment parameters. The default for an armed parachute is to release at 0.04atm... which is absurd. Change that to about 0.5atm, and make sure the altitude setting for full deployment is around 1,000m. As long as you don't go barreling into the atmosphere hard enough to still be traveling at 280m/s+ when you reach around 6km above sea level, you should be fine even if you accidentally armed your parachutes in space. You can retrieve science from an orbiting probe without docking if you can go on EVA. Rendezvous with the orbiting probe, EVA from your manned orbiter over to the probe, and right-click each of the experiments to collect them. Then EVA back to the capsule and go home. Bonus OCD points for also deorbiting your now-useless space junk probe. Regardless, congrats on the recovery.

Fixed that for you. Curious to see what an Australian RSS game looks like. (Also enjoying that the agency's name sounds like "Zero")

If you look at the Parts .cfg file for each antenna part, it will tell you what that antenna is. For example, Tantares/Parts/VOSTOK/_Almach_Antenna_A.cfg has a line that reads "title = A961A Hoop Antenna"; /Parts/VENERA/_Fomalhaut_Antenna_A has "title = F020A 'Nova' Communications Dish". Etc.

With that setup? However many you want...

Complete with contextually appropriate color scheme. Good thing Melbe seems to be enjoying herself, because if I were Gene (or for that matter, Melbe), I'd be going crazy...

Yeah, I've noticed it doesn't happen in OpenGL. Seemed (seems) odd that I've started to get it since upgrading my machine, as it didn't happen when I was running DX11 on my old machine. Still, if the ransom note text was the worst thing I had to deal with and the game were stable, I wouldn't mind it at all. I'll throw something together on the support forum tonight when I'm home and can provide useful hardware specifics and see what folks there have to say, and also give OpenGL an extended trial run to see whether or not it's up to the task. (Very strangely, in my short test last night, I was getting dynamic shadows even with OpenGL... which I don't recall as being something that I should be getting. Not that I'm complaining. But DX11 and OpenGL both are behaving very curiously.)