WhiteRaven22

Actually, I still haven't tried career mode yet. This was just the normal creative mode. I'm bad enough at this game. Science limitations would only make me worse at it. I was debating over this forum or the general one. I decided to post it here due to the new lander design and the update of my assembled-in-orbit ship design that I started in an earlier thread. I won't feel too offended if the admin move it to another forum though.

Duna & Ike: A Disaster Mission A while back I got the idea to build a modular craft for my first trip to Duna and Ike. (thread) This ship was a disaster. I hadn't yet learned the value of fuel efficiency. The ship made it to Duna orbit (just barely) and ran out of fuel. It ran out of fuel in a highly elliptical polar orbit, I might add. Two stranded Kerbals in a weird orbit around Duna. So I redesigned the same ship with much more efficient engines, went and rescued my stranded Kerbals (I wish I had taken more screenshots of this epic adventure), and continued the mission as planned. Had enough fuel to do both Duna and Ike landings and return to Kerban safely. Turns out the lander was a disaster as well. I had designed it as a clever two-shot lander that could be used for both Duna and Ike. In the end, I did manage to land on Duna (took six tries to get it right) as well as Ike (took two tries), planted flags on both and returned to Kerban safely. Everytime I plant a flag, I always watch the sunrise, even if I don't always remember to get a screenshot of it. Dres: A Pleasure Cruise Just recently, I decided to revive the craft I used for the rescue mission to Duna, do some modifications, and go plant a flag on Dres. This mission (in stark contrast to the Duna/Ike mission) was flawless. I didn't even have to load a quicksave at any point in the mission. I also remembered to take more pictures this time. Once again, this was one of my assembled-in-orbit ships with a very heavily redesigned lander (due to all the problems I had on Duna and Ike). Saying goodbye to Mun on the way out of Kerban's SOI. A few tanks of fuel and many orbital maneuvers later, our goal is in sight. Down we go. I hope this lander works better than my previous models. Fantastic! Plant a flag... ...and wait for sunrise. A couple more tanks of fuel and many more orbital maneuvers later, home is in sight. Recovery ship collects the Kerbals and pushes the last stage of the Piecemeal VI into a fall. Mission complete.

I like the upside-down failed attempts in the background of the first two photos.

I think the developers may be subtly hinting that this module is for use in a space station.

It's a cool concept, but it reminds me too much of the wobble that space craft do when they are about to fall apart in the atmosphere.

The Magic Boulder was a fairly well known easter egg in the game up until recently. Here's Scott Manley's video about getting to the Magic Boulder, back when it was still in the game.

Just found out I could use custom flags today. I'm very happy.

Maybe that's why they took the Magic Boulder easter egg out but left the code for it in the game. Maybe they're going to make it into a comet.

Cool! I'll keep that in mind. A trip to Duna and Ike is next on my list.

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed. I'm assumming from Mun and Minmus, that's counterclockwise looking down on the solar system (North pole of Kerbin visible) or East rotations and orbits.

I think there used to be a chart for this somewhere on the wiki, but I can't find it anymore. I'm trying to figure out which direction each planet orbits the sun, and which direction each of the moons orbit their planet.

That's alright. It was originally planned to be more of an exercise in modular/reuseable ship construction. And I can always manually deactivate a few engines to help preserve fuel. The other good thing about this design is it's very refuelable (as I just proved about 15 minutes ago by topping off the liquid tanks and the monoprop in orbit). If this ship is in orbit around a distant celestial body with questionable reserves of fuel for the return voyage, I could always build a second one (or something like it) and use it as a disposable refueling vessel to rendezvous with the first one. That, and as always, use very carefully planned orbital manuevers and transfer orbits and make good use of "window of opportunity" situations. Also, I'm already designing an upgraded version of this in my head that involves 10 tanks and 5 engines (basically a double-length version of the one I have now) giving me a little better range.

Space motorcycle. Awesome!

I'm at three of the four outer tank-modules now, and it's getting easier the more I do it. Having both ships pointing due north (relative to Kerbin) helps as well because then the orbit just causes them to roll, not tilt, so that's one less dimension to worry about. The fact that all the parts are similar to each other is nice because I don't have to redesign the launch vehicle. I'm going to go do the last one now.

In a 200km orbit around Kerbin, running my first ever construction of a craft in orbit. (thread)