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IMHO there are no rational reasons, leaving only various irrational motives like - territorial expansion for expansion's sake. want to have yet another planet, not caring about whether it is already occupied or not or whether it will be actually of some use to you - xenophobia - exterminate us because we are not them. - religious zeal (essentially the same as above, only with a lot god talk) - food harvesting/slave trade because some rich degenerates somewhere in the galaxy prefer "natural" flesh to identical grown in a test tube (or living slaves to robots )

Okay as always when i want to REALLY show off, things go terribly wrong. For some reason it does not get exported by unity right. or imported into KSP right. Still debugging. But yeah. Showing off still! Texture is preliminary. I want to add a second grime layer and color chipping to the container and frame Okay here is my thinking behind this design: After reading this and the old topic on the old tanks. I came up with one main conclusion: The hexagonal shape went not so well with the other KSP parts. So to counter this i made an octagonal container type tank with a round frame and struts. The rather large ports on each end that connect to each other.. Well no matter if you have ore, metal or rocketparts. All three are bulk materials that normally cannot be streamed through a pipeline. Thus the docking port alike looks. Texturewise i like to go into a slightly more gritty direction. Hey we talk mining operations. Even (or especially) on other planets it gets around ruff. The new tanks show this. corrosion, show of usage, color chipping from handling and so forth. I even think about little dents on the tank with with bumpmaps. I also will not continue to do symbols to indicate the contains. rusty red would be ore, blue would be metal and maybe whitish could be the rocket parts. All over all i look at them as oversea containers. Technically its pretty slim. 1034 tris and two 512² textures (diffuse and normal) I'd like to make two sizes for each diameter type. one 1:1 size/diameter thing and one 1:2 (as you see above). since the CFG files allow rescaling. this should be cake. (but even if not. adjusting them in unity is just as easy). Thoughts? PS: most of the time today was spend digging into Unity ;-)

Can I assume the plugin you talk about is by Snjo?

If you start mixing up KSP names with real names, it's a sign you should play more KSP. Whenever I talk about 'the moon' to people and about spacey things I say 'moon' but think 'mun'. This has gotten so bad that, when I was talking to a freind of ine on facebook, I continually said 'Mun' without question until he stopped me and pointed out my error... I also tend to call kerbin earth in many of my youtube videos (Shameless self advertising: See my signature) However I don't really tend to mix up the other planets... I think my subconscious realises it is a different solar system and so treats it as such. Or perhaps I don't play enough KSP...

I like this, but I also like the idea that if you capture something significant in the photo it should be worth a lot. I'm not sure how you would implement that (could be as "simple" as asking the SCANsat guy how he did his code to detect anomoly's, or maybe even putting the the coordinates of known ones like if you are within X number of meters). But it seems that if one were to capture an image of magic Boulder or a monolith, that should be worth a lot. Just some random thoughts. Here is an experiment idea but you may need to talk to flex racks guy. In flex racks there is a pic of his tubes (looks like those tubes you take blood samples in). Anyway, it would be cool to run a chemical analysis on a surface sample. Collect sample, place sample into the tubes part, sample is destroyed but could give bonus science depending on where you are? Sorry about rambling.

All of the angst about resources is not, I expect, strictly about resources as such. Consider... what is it, exactly that people like about the idea of resources? Speaking for myself, and several other regular posters who have explicitly stated this, and perhaps the forum in general, the thing that we liked about resources was that it gave us some kind of "objective", or goal. But what exactly do we mean by that? Does the science system do the same thing? That's also a goal... but several players, including myself, see a difference. In fact, given that the squad statements are to the effect that resources were turning out to be grindy, I suspect that squad was discovering that resources worked too much like science points, and we have already experienced the "grindy" problems with science points. So, here's the dealL KSP is, at its core, a sandbox. So when we talk about goals and rewards, what would we mean? Here are some common objective-reward types. 1) Plot advancement. This one is obvious, but KSP does not, and will not, be a game based around a plot, so the objective-reward system in KSP can't be to advance the plot with the reward of seeing how that plot unfolds. 2) An alternative to a plot based game is an empire building game. Terraria is such a game. While there is no plot, there are a number of stages of progression through the game, from basic mining, to crafting, boss fights, a transition to a whole new mode with interactions between various parts of the environment, and so on. 3) An extension to empire building games is to see how the "total system" you have built behaves under the various automatic processes that occur within it. The canonical example here would be Sim City. There are certain processes occurring... traffic, population movement, etc, and as you build your empire your challenge is to optimize these processes, with the reward being a well functioning, elegant system where, say, traffic flows perfectly, the population is happy, and so on. Tycoon games would fall into this category. 4) There are other kinds of objective-reward systems as well that are, conceptually, simpler. For example, an entertaining little pre rendered video when the player achieves something is an objective with a reward. A lot of older games fall into this category - simple shoot-em-up games with a little cutscene once you have won the game. I think what most people expected from resources would be a conversion from a pure sandbox into a type 2 or possibly type 3 game, in which your space program is a form of empire you would be building, because that is the kind of thing that people who have done a lot in the game tend to do by default. They have bases everywhere, satellites everywhere, fuel stations, big intersterllar motherships in various places, and so on. What they are missing right now is something that connects all of those disparate things together into some kind of unified whole... an empire if you will. It's easy to see why resources would play a role in a game like that (analogously, ores in Terraria). And so the fact that Squad has dropped resources may suggest to some people that they have dropped the concept of making that transition. But there are a couple of problems with that expectation. First, as far as I know Squad has not said whether or not that kind of shift in gametype was something that they intended to develop, so assuming that resources was leading up to that might be mistaken. Second, if Squad do intend to make that transition, there may well be other ways to implement it that do not require resources in the way that we have been discussing them. So I put the question to the readers out there: What kind of objective-reward gametype would you ultimately like to see? Type 0 - strict sandbox, just what we have now. No change. Type 1 - Plot based (this seems unlikely) Type 2 - Empire building Type 3 - Empire building with systemic interactions. Type 4 - Identical to type 0 but with "cute" rewards, like little cutscenes on certain achievements. Type x - Something else! Describe your own (but I don't think I've left much out here, so be clear about why it's a different category)

Oh sweet, had no idea that even existed! Talk about an effective ad campaign.

Sorry, I had to resurrect this topic, becouse I am feeling all mighty. Lol, what are you talking about Kege? Derail the topic? I guess my question was very inside of this topic. But well, if you dont wanna talk, I will understand.. snif snif. . . . . . . I am still here... lets said that "it can work", can you give more details how you will balance this? with examples.

Yay! But I have some questions 1. By processing lab do you mean the stock one? If you do that's a pretty game breaking bug you have their. 2. Any chances of pictures with all the new models? 3. Did you ever talk to UKD_lethal_dose about part models? He said he might send you a message, but all has been quiet and I wondered if anything happened.

This is a story based around a sort of space race between Kerbal Russians (the Llima Confederacy) and Kerbal Germans (The Democratic Crayolan Republic). I like having a series of pictures for each part, simply because I find it easier to write with something visual to go on, so pretty much every part of the story will have a little album, plus a bit of other writing from the perspective of the strange Liam Tinkerton McPinkerton. If the text is hard to read, here's a link to the actual album: http://imgur.com/a/L0aZV The Diary of Liam T. McPinkerton: Day 1 The Crayolans approached me one day when I was having the last of the freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches I brought with me. They smelled slightly of bleach, and their faces were immaculately clean. Jebediah tells me that their entire nation is surrounded with some great big wall to keep out the neighbours, because all of them seem to be actively at war with their republic except for us. I have spent a decent portion of the day figuring out whether we are kind, or everyone else is just animus, and have yet to decide. They asked me if I knew where Wehrmund is, and so I presently told them - to do so is polite, regardless of any tension or Jeb's outright xenophobia towards the citizens of the DCR. My voice was muffled by the milk biscuit turning back into ice cream in my mouth, but they seemed to understand. Other than the fact they walked off in the wrong direction. I heard good news from the KSC though. Apparently me and Bob are going to get the chance to test a lander headed for Duna on Minmus and Mun. They say that the interplanetary satellites are picking up strange SSTV signals, some showing strange men stood silently on the flat Dunan plains, some showing the more hilly areas of Duna. The thing that apparently intrigued Gene Kerman was that debris appeared to be visible from the surface of Duna - this Gene, of course, being the one at KSC, not Geneny who stays with us. They say they're alien signals, but despite being a suspected* alien myself, I'm skeptical of how liveable Duna is. Estimates put its atmosphere so thin it's only visible during noon, and its temperatures low enough to cover your mouth in hoarfrost and your skin in freezer burn. Jebediah has been scaring me a bit with his talk about the Crayolans. Some of it seems to be backed up by fleeting comments Gene makes sometimes. Apparently they're getting ambitious enough to try and send 106 metric tons of metal into orbit to dock with the station. 106 tons! If anything goes wrong, we're done for. I think I should ask KSC for escape pods...

Hi, i found this in Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/app/id542397575 it was a Rocket Build App, i talk withe Programmer on Twitter yesterday (i have nightshift, i think was the another yesterday) i would bring new levels. This App has curently 8 Missions and a Free Play Mode, you must launch some stuff an Build Rockets... sry for bad English (my German was better ) i go to Sleep now..good Day/Night

Episode 3, where I clean up some science points in near-Kerbin orbit, grab some high orbit points, and unlock some techs that set up future missions to Mun and Minmus. (At the beginning, I talk about going to Mun in this episode, but that didn't happen, instead that will be in Episode 4 coming out tomorrow.)

Just don't understand why Chinese people would talk about some history instead of saying "we should avoid this topic".... Didn't the gov have told'em to do so?(JFK, Im mocking the gov...) And do you even know that in Chinese text books they don't even teach physics in the right way......This is one of the worst thing that I feel sad about.

Nice to see someone's father has similar experience, though my father really went there, if I remember it right when my father told me when I was only three. Obviously my father escaped and so I would be here and type, but not ok for some of his budies..... It seems that the students are not only vangards but also victums, because they don't really want to talk about that history anymore. Or at least my father and mother don't. (They met in their university.) It was a pain for them, because most of the students even didn't understant why they wanted to do so, maybe just because it was cool? I don't know, and I don't really want to know. A little bit too much and too messy too, but just want to express how I feel...

After Apollo-Soyuz and cooperation with another socialistic dictatorship I don't think this argument holds ground. And please, USA is the last country to teach others about human rights with its long history of genocide (Native Americans), slavery, bigotry, racism and violence against the minorities. There are plenty of examples and as a USA citizen you probably know more of them than me. But human rights? Go to Iraq or Guantanamo if you want to learn something about human rights. Hell, what about Japanese American internment in 1942? And I don't even want to start talking about constant warfare - since the United States was founded in 1776, it has been at war during 217 out of 237 years of its existence. Anyone remember Obama getting Noble peace prize while leading two wars? Of course PRC is even worse (as godless commies ) and it's only natural since USA is a modern western republic based on the Enlightenment ideas but come on, that doesn't give anyone the right to moralize - the last person to do this is some jingoistic hawkish cold war veteran WASP and one of the 1% senator Besides, it's obvious nobody gives a damn about human rights in China - USA governement is afraid of PRC stealing all their technology, that's the reason as you pointed it out. I don't even know how country de facto allied with Saudi Arabia can talk about respecting human rights. But to stay on topic - it's a good thing IMHO that his going away. Sooner or later some cooperation will be required, even if only as a political gimmick to ease the tensions between two most powerful nations on Earth. And in the long term, I think that China won't have to steal American tech - it could be the other way around I think. And hey, cooperation is a must if Americans want China to let them into their lunar base in 2030s

That's why I hate the censorship, not only because it will take a bit more effort to share YouTube videos to friends - you banned the chance of slander but also banned the chance of communication. But, frankly speaking, there may not be many ones who can be neutral to these histories and may not be many places where things can be objectively discussed. And, in fact I don't like to talk about history, as I'm neither good at it nor interested in it. I'm living more in future I think. Fun fact 1: The students are the vanguards of the time, and the students in the college I'm in were the vanguards of the vanguards of the time, from the 5•4 movement to the protest against US Embassy after the bombing of Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. Why? Because my college is nearer to the centre of Beijing~ Then is Liu Xiaobo, we actually have the trandition of rebellion~ Luckily there's Mo Yan to make a balance. Fun Fact 2: The ex-principal of the college in our neighbor is one of the major contributor to the Great Fire Wall of China. Once he was in the campus of THU, then the students there shouted... "XXX! You *********!" "May your child have no ass****!" Well, they were usually gentle... Fun(?) Fact 3: Edit: My memory had some mistakes... So this is the confirmed version: In the early period of 6•4 incident, my father wanted to meet my mother and had to pass through Tian'anmen, but was grounded by my grandmother's sister.

I really doubt it. With the population over 1 billion and totalitarism, there will be troubles. I don't know what GRC stands for, but if you think Tiananmen massacre shouldn't be mentioned to children, you've got some twisted values incompatible with a free society. Probably thousands perished during those days, either being killed on the street or under torture in prisons, like what probably happened to the famous, so called "Tank Man" who used his body to stop a line or army tanks going towards the protesters. This man had some serious balls and may he rest in peace because that's the way how a country is loved. No country is sacred and innocent, but there aren't many developed countries that hide such blatant crimes and shove totalitarism propaganda down their citizens' throats. USA is among the leading countries in the world responsible for many sickening crimes, but people there have the freedom to know and discuss such stuff. It is analyzed, there are university courses about such things, you can talk about it in the press without the fear of getting arrested, etc. Granted, Chinese government is not as bad as the one in North Korea, but it is much closer to it than for example Norwegian one. I understand you might get into trouble because your government censors your Web access (your access to Google is totally skewed), so know that I'm not trying to pull you into a discussion. I just needed to clear some things.

Life is used to be cheap in China but not for now and for future. And, of course in history book that incident will not be mentioned. There's already GRC stuffs in history book, asking us to teach children more things like that? That's enough, don't want to talk about it. The only thing I want to say is, Chinese gov is not as so good as someone said, but not as so bad as someone said either. Plus, it's actually pretty good and efficient(?) to take "human rights" as the tool to attack other countries in politics. Plus 2, as far as I know... Chinese are also not happy with US' external policy. … and China has grasped the chance to develop when US ignored China and focused on the Middle East, so things nowadays is a little different with 1990s. Plus 3, use historical perspectives to analyse the history, that's what I learned in history class. Oops, talked too much.

OK, folks. I've got a build that implements basic relaying. Antennas will look for nearby relays that can talk to Kerbin, and will use the "cheapest for me" target. So, if you're at the Mun with any antenna, and have a comms satellite or mothership in Munar orbit with a medium dish antenna, it will always transmit "via" that nearby relay instead of going back to Kerbin. This does NOT attempt to do anything with resource consumption on unloaded ships; if you build a giant chain of whip antennas all the way to Eeloo, a ship at Eeloo will use the nearest relay on the cheap even though technically going through all those relays would be less efficient. If you're looking for that level of challenge, RemoteTech is probably the solution for you. I have done almost zero playtesting with this yet, so I'm considering it to be an experimental build and not uploading it to SpacePort yet. A new .dll is available here; just drop this over the previous AntennaRange.dll and you're good to go. You'll need AntennaRange.cfg from a previous version (no changes there, don't worry). So, if you're game for it, please go test and let me know how it works for you! Otherwise, once I've had a chance to do more than the basic "does it work" edge tests, I'll get a new package uploaded.

I think you can solve the problem with how the three resources (Science, Money, and Reputation) are earned. Science, as we have seen, is earned by what you do on your trip and where you go. Money is earned by accepting contracts to go on various trips (take this Kerbal to the Mun and back, take this one to Duna orbit and back). And Reputation is earned by how quickly to accomplish it depending on the mission (if you take 500+ days to get to Duna and back your reputation returns are nill). This along with the alarm clock idea mentioned earlier allow for multiple missions at a time of vastly different durations while penalizing spamming the time-warp button. (Speaking of ruining immersion, I just watched this Scott Manley video http://youtu.be/HIjqvLcsz8g in which he nearly completes the tech tree in two flights... but oh yeah, the second flight takes over 2000 days. I really enjoy Scott's videos, not trying to pick a fight, but in my mind that's a big part of KSPs "Time Problem" when you talk about anything other than Sandbox)

Chapter 5: A trashcan made for 2 At the launch Pad Jeb: last minute checks everyone, I don't want to die in a horrible explosion at 20km up. Richford: Jeb Relax! Jeb: Ill try to relax on top of 20m of explosives, yeah ill do that. Jack: What are you so worried about? the decouplers have been tested 18 different times each in different environments,the fuel pumps are working properly, everything's fine! Jeb: What if the new Lv808 fails and I'm stranded up in space! Bob: Jeb! what have you been drinking! you don't get stranded in space without an orbit and I'm up here with you! Jeb: I know guys, I'm sorry, I guess I'm just paranoid. Bill: Understood. Just let Bob do the important work and you try to relax. Josh: Besides, there is a special gift somewhere in the pod but I wont tell you where it is until you are in space. Jeb: Thanks guys, I'm surprised you're still here ever since my paranoia about this mission set in. 3 minutes later Richard: 5...4...3...2...1... and LIFTOFF of Jebediah and Bob kerman in Sky II Bob: Wow! this padding is really helping! Josh: Thank you. Richard: Everyone else off the line, only mission control can talk to the astronauts. Jeb: This is far better than the first flight! Richard: We took Loads of time and care into Sky II Jeb: Now I realize just how much I was worrying over nothing about! Richard: That's what we're here for! now go out there and become the first Kerbals in space! 3 minutes later Richard: Okay this is the big one, 5,4,3,2,1, VOOOOOOOoooooommm... Richard: That's the engine shutdown, now for the decuopler... Bob: That's one...two...three...four... and activating. BANG! Bob: Lower stage separation complete. Richard: Now activate the LV-808 Bob: Stage 3... stage three, stage three-three-three-three....ah! found it! vum vum vurm vuurm vuuuurm VURRRRMMRMRMM VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Bob: Engine nominal, check altitude and attitude Richard: Roger that Sky II, altitude at 34500 and rising, attitude... heading at 91 22' 38" at 68 34' 12" above the horizon. Jeb: Now it's coasting to space! Crowd: *cheers* President Ilthorp: and now welcoming the hero of our nation! Jebediah Kerman! Crowd: *cheers* Jeb: Thank you! Thank you! Bob: Just one thing before the party! Jeb: What? Bob: You're muttering in your sleep! *switches view to reality* Jeb: Huh? Bob: You're muttering in your sleep! Richard: Mission control to Sky II Bob: Receiving over. Richard: You two are about to cross into space, altitude 68300 meters and rising. Bob: Lucky timing, Jeb's just woken up! *ksp space music* Bob: What's this track? Richard: That'll be the music we selected based on altitude, well done boys, you're in space! Jeb: FIRST! Josh: Now about that gift, Jeb: yes? Josh: It's hidden underneath the flight instruction manual. Jeb: Over here somewhere... Oh HAH! Bob: What is it.. hahaha! O wow HA! Josh you sneaky little Kerbal! XD Josh: Proud of it mate Richard: What is it? Jeb: This is the bottle of Kermleaf cider i kept as a joke in case we became REALLY High on Kermleaf cigarette, I guess Josh took the meaning of 'high' to a whole new level! Josh: I found it in the junk pile when we were simulating an explosion of the LV-808 and saw the message. Jeb: I am SO the first kerbal to drink this.

lol, yeah, flying is always perfectly safe, its just the ground that is the problem!! UPDATE (sorry for the delay, I borrowed my neighbours internet so I was able to get the update and that's been a tad distracting) Looking at the HunterS and it's sleek streamline design Jeb felt pretty pleased, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing, that maybe he was getting away from what it meant to be truly Kerbal. So for his next mission he went back to a more Kerbalish design. The mission was to take a craft to Duna, one which would be able to glide in the thin atmo. Once the craft was deorbited it would rely just on wing lift to control its descent, no parachutes and its small engine and minimal fuel would only be used for the ascent back to orbit. And so it was that the DunaGlider was brought into existence. The challenge was how to get the glider into orbit, it had a very high lift but no where near enough fuel to ascend to LKO on its own. It needed an ascent stage, but any additional fuel tanks and engines added behind it also required lots of wings to balance the high lift forces exerted by the light-weight glider. After many failed attempts Jeb came up with an ascent stage which while small in terms of the number of fuel tanks, had a massive wing span. The ascent stage had 3 jet engines and 2 aerospikes and as little fuel as possible. It would use up some of the gliders fuel during the rocket stage of the ascent and the glider would then complete its orbit on its own 909 engine, using up most of its remaining fuel. The Glider could take a single pilot, but it also had an on-board computer that would fly it unmanned into orbit. This was the first aircraft to take off without a pilot! With perhaps as much lift as some of the larger craft, but only a fraction of the weight, the glider and ascent stage where practically land-phobic and leapt of the runway moments after the Jet engines fired up. Once into the upper atmo the ascent stage switched to its aerospike engines and pushed the glider into a wide suborbital path. Once in space, on a suborbital path, the ascent stage separated and the glider completed the orbit using its single 909 engine. The ascent stage, also equipped with semi-sentient control computers, would return and attempt a landing. It was not well balanced once separated from the glider so there where concerns that it would not be able to land at all. To that end it was also equipped with parachutes which it turned out were essential. As soon as it hit the thicker atmo is started to spin wildly out of control, never mind trying to land it, it looked like it was about to rip itself to bits. But once the parachutes opened the spinning stopped and it gently floated down to land. Actually gently was perhaps the wrong word because while it did 'land', the main section (engines, fuel tanks and flight computer) now sit, comfortably nestled in a pile of crumpled wings. This component would need some tlc before it could be reused! Now the glider was in orbit the next stage was to bring up a transfer stage that would propel the glider to Duna and bring it (and the crew of course) safely back home. The SSTO transporter was used to take the transfer stage payload up to orbit. Advances in science meant that this payload contained a hazard which had never been seen before, a single Nuclear engine. The transfer stage was able to take two pilots as it was decided that Jeb would need someone to talk to and make sandwiches during the long journey to Duna. Once in orbit it was dropped on a course to rendezvous with the glider and Jeb went back down to land in the transporter. The transfer stage lacked any of its own control systems so it was the systems on-board the glider that would complete the rendezvous and docking process. The gliders docking ports sit some way inside it so the transfer stage has two docking prongs that had to be carefully slid into the glider to make the dock. Finally Jeb and his trusted sandwich maker Bill boarded the HunterS (piloted by a new recruit Matrick). The HunterS carried a different load-out to normal, rather than its 4 standard science seeking missiles, it carried two larger probes which would be docked to the transfer module. One would be used to study Duna's moon while the other would take readings in Duna's upper atmo and do a higher resolution scan of the surface to help identify a landing site for the glider. Once in orbit and rendezvoused with the glider Jeb, Bill and the two probes transferred over. Bill was a little concerned to find that his quarters where right next to the nuclear engine, he was worried that this might effect his sandwiches. The single Nuclear engine started up and the two began what would be the longest ever mission to date. It's low thrust meant the burn time to get an intercept with Duna was over 10 minutes, 10 minutes of wonder and excitement for Jeb, 10 minutes of heart stopping panic for Bill. Within a few hours they passed Minmus's orbit and where now going (boldly) where no Kerbal had gone before. Before long they had left Kerbins influence and entered a Solar orbit. While in a solar orbit they took some readings to pass the time. The journey out to Duna took 65 days (or from Bill perspective 390 sandwiches). On arrival some course corrections where made to put them on a low pass to areobrake into orbit. For the first time they got a glimpse of this alien terrain. Jeb was thrilled to see it but at the same he realised that finding a landing site was going to be a tall order. Once in a stable orbit the two probes where released. The first one would make a couple of passes around Duna's moon, Ike. The first pass would take it within a few km of Ike's surface, then it would swing out in a wide orbit around Duna before coming back around Ike for a high pass and being slung back into a lower Duna orbit, where it would aerobrake and then rendezvous with the transfer module. Meanwhile the 2nd probe would enter Duna's upper atmo and scan for a good landing site (and do some science) Jeb transferred to the cockpit of the Glider, which was a bit of a squeeze as the cockpit was fairly well covered with protective wing panels. During tests on Kerbin he'd found that doing a little dance on top of the cockpit was the key to climbing in, in space it was a little harder but after bumping into it a few times he managed to board. Next the glider separated from the transfer stage where Bill would wait, managing the probes and preparing sandwiches for the return trip. After a very short burn the Glider had lowered its Pe to 2km above the surface, from here until landing it would not use its engine again. Initiallty the descent was very fast, but started to decrease as the atmo got thicker. As Jeb reached the 11km mark the glider began to lift up again and gain alt. Moving at around 800ms, Jeb needed to bleed of some horizontal speed and get closer to the ground. He pitched down and dropped several km before pulling up in a swooping maneuver, bleeding of his speed and returning to a level flight. After a couple more swooping manoeuvres he was down to just 2km above the surface and moving at 200ms. Now in the thicker atmo and moving much slower he was able to bank the glider and change course towards what looked like the most idea landing site. He was now skimming along above the surface maintaining a very gradual descent of just a couple meters per second and gradually reducing speed. He had to maintain enough speed to maintain lift, but at the same time needed to slow down enough to make a safe landing in this ruff terrain. After gliding for around 15 minutes he was now down to under 100ms and just a few meters from the surface. Ideally he wanted to be under 70ms for touchdown so he continued on, keeping his nose pitched up ever so slightly to maintain a level flight. The terrain here was favourable for a touchdown and he'd now reduced his speed to under 60ms. He pitched down ever so gently and the land came up to meet him gradually and in a friendly, totally unthreatening way, Duna was welcoming him in. Wheels down, prepare for landing; TouchDown!! Brakes!! BRAKES!!! The brakes where almost totally ineffective and he had to resort to firing his RCS thrusters to slow down and stop. Finally the craft stopped. Jeb had landed on Duna!! He lowered the craft onto is belly (to make climbing back onto it easier) and got out. The colours stunned him, this was a much more beautiful place than Mun, the horizon looked like it was on fire and Ike was being slowly roasted in it. He leapt off the craft and went round to the back where some of the science gear was located. The other science gear was hidden in the nose of the glider and quite inaccessible from out side. But he had various bit of string labelled with numbers in the cockpit that would pull open the goo and material containers. He'd do that later. For now he was going to go for a walk. Unlike his trips to Mun which where quite short on the ground, he had 10 days to wander about and see this new land. Meanwhile back in orbit Bill was watching the progress of the Ike probe as it approached the night side of Ike. Its path put it at a mere 5km and with the hilly terrain this was low enough that the probes lights could pick the terrain. As it passed its lowest point it ran some experiments before zooming off to enter a wide Duna orbit. (images "enhanced" so they're not just black) Once at its furthest point from Duna it ran some more Goo tests before swinging back around Ike and returning to a low Duna orbit. Meanwhile the second probe adjusted it orbit to rendezvous with Bill in the transfer module. The probes where equipped with transmitters in case it was not possible to collect them again, but the goal was to return them both to Kerbin. A few days later the Ike probe re-entered Duna's orbit and completed its rendezvous with the transfer module. Both probes where back safely, now it was Jebs turn to make a safe return. Before departing he transmitted a crew report back to KSC with the satellite dish housed in the Gliders nose cone and then prepared for take off. The Glider took off with ease and without needing to pitch up too much gained altitude rapidly. After some (not entirely optimal) rendezvous manoeuvres he arrived back at the transfer module and the two craft docked once more. They where all set for the return home but had to wait for a transfer window to open. Finally they where off, the Nuclear engine pushing them away from Duna and making Bill's sandwiches glow with yummy goodness. After another long journey the brave explorers could see their home world once more and prepared to aerobrake into orbit. Now back in LKO it was time to begin the landing procedure. The plan had been for the glider to separate and for Jeb to pilot it back to the runway at KSC. Then either Bill would deorbit the transfer module and parachute to land, or the SSTO transporter could come and collect the module and land with it. However Jeb decided to try something entirely different. Its still not yet known if Bill was in agreement with Jebs new plan, as he is still in hospital being treated for post traumatic stress. Rather than separating the craft they began their decent together. To begin with it maintained a steady heading but as it approached KSC control was lost and the craft started tumbling over and over. The high lift of the glider section fighting against the heavy weight of the transfer module behind it. The crew on the ground look up in horror and watched helplessly as this tumbling ball of fire moved towards them. It seemed that Jebs plan was fatal, but nothing had exploded yet and he still had a confident grin as he pulled the parachute deploy lever. Suddenly the craft levelled out, the drouge chutes now provided the lift in the rear that was needed to balance the craft and Jeb was able to turn it towards KSC. Slowly the craft moved towards KSC at about 10ms forward and 10ms down. Then as they passed over the land and just before the second chutes opened Jeb released the transfer module. As he glided away from it, its second chutes deployed and now it would land on its own. He knew thou that it would be irresponsible to not keep a close eye on it, so he banked around and headed towards it. Finding that the glider was now ultra responsive in Kerbins low atmo Jeb showed off a bit by passing directly under the falling transfer module As he turned around again for another pass he could see the module had touched down. He did a couple of low flybys to check that it had landed intact It looked fine so he turned to head to the runway and land. The glider was a litter resistant to the idea of touching down, but Jeb persuaded it and gently brought it in to land. The only damage to the transfer module was the LV-N had fallen off but that was ok, the science probes where safe, oh and so was Bill. The first ever InterPlanetary mission was complete. The Kerbals had taken their first step into the great beyond and returned safely, well Bill was a nervous wreck, but aside from that, it was a great success. Recovery of the Glider returned 1489 points and the transfer module brought back a further 932. Now it was a matter of desciding how to spend these 2421 points. The tree of science was now getting close to being completely understood. This is the level of understanding after spending the points from this mission; It would still require another 3050 points to complete it. Could this be done with a single mission? And where should the next mission take them? Jeb had much to ponder.....tbc

All the talk of trying to "story away" the lack of genders is just silly - what matters is people's first impression glancing at the characters, which is overwhelmingly that they all appear male, with male names. Kerbals may be aliens, but humans are still humans, and WE are the ones playing the game. Study after study shows that implicit biases strongly impact people's behavior. Explicit biases are ones you know you have, implicit biases are ones that you have, but that you don't think you have (or actually think you have the opposite). These implicit biases are affected, with no conscious control, by images that you see around you, and these changed biases measurably change your behavior. You don't realize that it is happening, which is why they are so insidious. Spend some time playing with the tools at Project Implicit, a Harvard research project that has been running for many years exploring this phenomenon: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ The point is that by showing only male characters, you aren't making people think "Oh, only boys can do space", because that is an explicit bias. You ARE changing their implicit biases, which impacts their future behavior. By adding different kinds of characters you aren't being "PC" (which means being nice just to make people feel better, but without actually doing anything useful), you are making sure that everyone who plays the game gets the same feeling of personal satisfaction. It isn't about pandering to any political group, it is about using research to make your games more fun and successful for a greater number of people.

Munar Five's trip to the Mun Jeb rocketed skyward once more, this time on the first ever space rescue. He was loving it! Besides, Loddan was fine up there. He had tons of air and power. Not a problem. Heck, Jeb would LOVE to be stranded up on the Mun for a while. Time to explore, to venture out on the regolith, to sweet talk the old girl. "You're looking good Munar Five." Caldin's voice came on the line. "Beautiful launch Jeb." With a jolt the Solid boosters disconnected and fell away and his main engines lit. "Hah, you made a smoke ring Jeb! Booster's last gasp I guess. Cool." "Is it my imagination Caldin, or are you more excitable of late? Can't imagine why?" "OK, OK. So I'm a bit over-enthused that I'm in the final part of the flight course. Come on, I'll be up there with you soon Jeb. Isn't that something?" "Maybe, but you still have to wait on the roster like the rest of us." "Wait? You?" Caldin said, feigning amazement. "Don't be ridiculous! The great and powerful Jeb waits for no Kerbal!" "Oh I'm going to hear no end of jibes from that line aren't I? I hate open channels." Caldin laughed as he watched Jeb soar up on his gravity turn. "Hang in there Loddan." He said quietly. "Help is on the way." *** "Loddan, you hear me good buddy?" "I hear ya Jeb. Just playing a round of golf. Wanna join in?" "Heh, no time bud. I'm in orbit over you now. I'll be de-orbiting in a few minutes. Better make best use of your time on the surface now. Oh, and I'll be coming in hot... just... because. So no guarantees on how close I'll land. Warm up your Flight pack. You'll need it." "Really? Cool. Never tried it out. What's it like in gravity Jeb?" "You'll love it, but I'd stay high. It's a pain flicking the vertical jets every now and then to keep altitude steady and you tend to bob a bit on long flights. Don't worry, you'll do fine." "Try to see if you can land close to him Munar Five." Gene's voice cut in. "I'd prefer that EVA One not try out his RCS skills if it isn't neccessary." "No promises Flight." Jeb said with a chuckle. *** A few minutes later and Jeb was soaring down across the Munar plains towards Loddan's position. "Gear out, lighting engines. Heh, love these things. Really over engineered them. Way too much thrust on these babies. Just the way I like em!" "Just keep your mind on your target Munar Five." Gene said. Jeb came in more vertical than usual, having braked hard on going overhead of Loddan's position. Below the familiar scene of the Alpha site swam into view. He could even make out the faint twinkle of Loddan's craft below against the grey of the surface. "Nearly down Flight. I think I see him. Going to be a little far West of his position. I'm pausing to see if I can shift east a little." He cut engines and did a little repositioning and then relit, pushing his arc east a little. Still not going to be enough and he didn't want to waste too much fuel and be stranded too! "Coming in. Altitude two hundred and dropping." In a smooth arc Jeb swept the familiar ship in and curved towards a crater rim on the other side of the one Loddan was on. With a light bump he was down, less than one and a half kilometers from Loddan's lander. Not bad! "Hey, Loddan! Pick up your IFF transponder. I'm landed west of you. Just a hop skip and an flight pack away. If you don't hurry I'm leaving without ya!" "I don't think so Jeb. I have the cab fare!" Loddan quipped back, but he sounded more relieved than his words gave credit for. Jeb wasn't surprised. This was the first major failure of the program. Not something you wanted to happen on your watch! "Well, get going. I'm waiting!" With a chuckle he heard Loddan's pack fire, lifting him from the ground. He'd be here soon.

Don't have much experience with them so far. But judging from the comments they are not the be all and end all for SSTO Spaceplanes. However they are another great addition to the SSTO Spaceplane builder toolkit. Which is what I was expecting actually - great work Squad! People also seem to talk of RAPIER vs Jet/Rocket combo as being mutually exclusive, when I think there's probably great ways to mix RAPIERS with other engines. Two of them and an LT-N would probably be a good combo. Mebe one LT-N, 2 RAPIER, 2 Turbojet for a larger craft.