Search the Community

Hello everybody, can anybody explain, why I am getting 40% transmit bonus on science data transmitted directly from KSC launchpad? I am using only Comunotron 16(-S) antenna, transmitting Mystery Goo or Thermometer data and no other vessel or satellite is in the game. I haven't installed any game mod. I've read many wiki pages (of course https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/CommNet and https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Science) and I've searched for information here on forum and generally on the www, but all I found is that the transmit bonus applies only while transmitting through any relay antenna. I think that this isn't my case. I suppose the transmission goes directly from the vessel to the KSC. Can anybody explain what's going on here? Thank you!

Hello there! The following AAR will follow my current Galileo Planet Pack science campaign - with a minor twist being the inclusion of as many mods as my machine can withstand. There are no solid objectives I put in front of myself - obviously, visiting every body in the system is one, but this is pretty much a no-brainer in this game (what else would one play for, other than visiting other planets?). Anyway, without further ado, I invite you to read up! I Breaking the Blue Every journey has to start at some point; the first step has to be taken one way or another. And so does the story of the Gaelian space program. Before the distant worlds are reached, we first need to break through the blue canopy above our heads; to reach into the black void of space. And in order to do that, we need to find ways to kick ourselves away from the ground and - what is even more important - come up with a way to get back in one piece. First attempts were rather modest; a short series of single seat, suborbital vessels dubbed Jumper was conceived, with their objective being crossing the threshold between the atmosphere and space. This objective was accomplished in third launch - during which Varyag became the first kerbonaut to enter space, as well as perform a brief EVA at the flight's apogee. Also of note was the second launch, when a modified capsule performed just a short jump to test the recovery system. This ambitious design, however, failed miserably, with lander legs giving way under the capsule's weight - luckily, without injuring Varyag in the process. At the same time, development of sattelite devices proceeded as well; the result was a small apparatus, dubbed Stardust, which was launched into low Gael orbit following Jumper 3 flight. Stardust was a simple device, its only scientific instruments designed to measure Gael's magnetic field, exosphere density and temperature. It also lacked solar panels; internal battery supply lasted for just a few days, after which the satellite became a dead derelict. Jumper capsule served as a basis for the first orbital craft in Kerbal history; Zenith 1.Weighing just short of 3 tons, the capsule provided life support for just a few days in low Gael orbit - but it was the first time a Kerbal was able to look at his planet from above. The full reusability concept tested during Jumper 2 flight has been discarded for the time being - still, the Zenith capsule has been designed specifically with reusability in mind.

Science - Full reward! Now finally up and running in 1.7.3! Ground experiments from Making History are excluded and will function normally again! What it does: Some experiments require you to do them multiple times at the same location to max out your science gain. If you, like me, don't want to do it this way this mod is for you. It just makes you get the 100% science-reward the first time you do the experiment. But only if you recover it. This mod does not get rid of the penalty for transmitting data, it only affects the execution of an experiment. Here is what it does "in action"; Fresh game, first time on the launchpad, full green bar: Needs: Modulemanager Download/Source: Download from Spacedock Source on Github Thanks to @Malah and the guys from the ckan IRC it is now in the repository, thanks alot.

Hi guys, I picked this game up on the last Steam 75% sale and it's really addicting. I'm having a blast. I started a career, and landed on the Mun for the first time yesterday, which was so cool. My first lander had all the science I had unlocked with it, and the full price to get it there was around 43k. This feels so expensive since my Mun orbiter for tourists is only 25k. How cheap can I get a science lander to the Mun to hit the biomes? Any thoughts on my design that I can improve? Thanks! Here are some images. https://imgur.com/a/uv6Ent0 I can get to orbit with boosters, and empty the lower stage tank to get Lower orbit, then burn for Mun intercept. If a poor launch, I might be a couple hundred Dv short. If I land without mistakes, I have 300-400dv of fuel left in lander, but if I have troubles, I can easily burn through that.

This is my first craft thread, so advice would be welcome if I am in conflict with any conventions. LKO stats have been adjusted for 1.8 aero changes (improved performance for this craft). Big Plane to Anywhere (figuratively) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1875714661 (Nice try, Bill, but I don't think this is what they meant by "long range ISRU craft"...) Well, it's been a long time coming. I'm mainly a rocket guy, but when I do find myself in the Spaceplane Hangar I very easily get obsessed with fiddling with my designs, more so than with the rockets. Anyway, I think I've finally gotten this to the point where I no longer have to be ashamed to put it in view of the public. Let me know if I'm wrong! If I'm being honest, the series of planes that this is a culmination of probably began life as the concept, "like my first spaceplane, only bigger". But eventually an actual mission materialized: to carry a scientific exploration team to Laythe and (almost) anywhere else with a complete science package and ISRU that wouldn't take months to refuel with. One development I'm a bit proud of was the realization that I could attach radiator panels to the reaction wheel that was adjacent to both of the drills and the refiner, elegantly taking care of all my core heat xfer needs. This development allowed me to finally have a truly streamlined airplane, since I had formerly had medium TCSes attached to the exterior. Two panels and two small TCSes have less than the mass of one of the two medium TCSes, let alone the aerodynamic improvement! The small TCSes (middle of picture) are for actual part cooling, and aren't necessary, but having at least a little active cooling capability is handy from time to time, e.g. cooling off during a multi-orbit aerocapture. (The panels are terrible at non-ISRU cooling in general, and the ones on this vessel in particular are nearly useless at it.) The construction of this spaceplane does not use offsets at all, nor any part clipping aside from the wings tilting into the nacelles. This was a design choice. Table of Contents: Statistics: immediately below the table of contents Atmospheric flight characteristcs: Balance; Lift; Takeoff; Ascent; Reentry; Landing: approach, normal, water, parachute Vacuum flight characteristics: Takeoff; Landing Miscellaneous: Docking; Adjusting balance; Water landing; Water movement; Design choices Edit history Postscript (action groups) Statistics: —Parts: 100 —Mass: 111.35 tons (57.15 dry) —Cost: 401.29 kilocredits —Vacuum Delta-V: 4.6k to 4.7k depending on if you have oxidizer or nothing but liquid fuel. (counting ore tank, since you can refine it into fuel) —Engines: 4xRAPIER, 4xNERV (0.25 TWR on NERVs if the LF/Ox tanks are empty) —Landing gear: 2xLY-60 in rear; LY-60 and LY-35 in front. (35 for better taxiing and runway takeoff; 60 for rougher terrain and lower takeoff speed) —Mining: 2x large drills, large converter, 2x smallest ore tank, M4435 Narrow Band scanner, Surface scanner (Surface scanner can refine M4435's results) —Science: all experiments; 4 places to put science in addition to the lab (Cockpit, probe core, 2x storage unit) —Communications/Control: Communotron 88-88 (normal direct antenna); RA-2 + RC-001S (with one pilot, can control a probe that lacks direct CommNet connection) —Docking: 1.25m only; no RCS. See Miscellaneous for tips. —Airbrakes?: Yes, 4. Retract before landing. —Parachutes?: Yes, 6 plus 2 drogues; positioned to be moderately rear-heavy, but this is adjustable via fuel movement. Enables safe landing in any terrain or water. —RTGs?: Yes, 8; can permanently run lab and SAS at full strength —Fuel cells?: Yes, 3; can permanently run drills and refiner at full capacity —RCS?: Sort of; 6x Vernors under the nose to assist takeoff/landing in airless environments —How much delta-V is left after making LKO?: Even a pilot worse than me should reliably get to LKO with 24-2500m/s remaining before the +203 from refining the ore tanks. My best so far is 2667 (2870) and I seriously doubt this cannot be bested by an actually talented pilot. Test flight landed on Minmus with 1213 dV remaining. Also goes direct to Mun. —Amphibious?: Yes: can land in water on parachutes or aeronautically, and can take off from water (but only below 25% fuel). See Miscellaneous for details. Atmospheric flight characteristics: —Balance: The center of mass is almost exactly on top of the center of lift both full and empty, in the back half of the rear cargo bay. (About 16.3m from the front of the 26.8m craft, or about 61% of the way to the back.) If you want the CoM to move forward after takeoff, you can lock the tank behind the cockpit (this LF should not be needed to make orbit). This also can help counteract the already mild tendency to nose up at high speed (see below). See Miscellaneous for a tip about rebalancing the craft. —Lift: Tendency to nose up or down while SAS is off is not violent at any speed; very slight down at low speed (<200), a bit up at high speed (300-1000), and very slight up up during final speedrun. —Takeoff: Fully loaded, it can be lifted off the runway at 83m/s (lower on rough terrain due to upslopes) on main wheel (100 for smaller wheel). Consider using the small wheel on runways or flats to gain more speed before liftoff (due to lower angle of attack while on the ground). Left to its own devices it lifts off at the end of the runway at about 99m/s (112 for smaller wheel). —Ascent: After the 1.8 update, it no longer has to stop ascending to break the transonic speed hump. My flight plan, which may or may not be optimal, is: Set at 5° above horizon; it will gradually dip a bit to 2-3° but recover by itself. After going supersonic it will tend to slowly climb in attitude; stay at 5-7° until about 15km altitude, then begin dropping to 2-3° in order to extend final speed run in the 18-22km altitude range. (If you're feeling lazy, you can just let SAS do its thing all the way to 1000 m/s or so.) Activate NERVs when RAPIER thrust falls below 200kN. By the time thrust falls below 60kN you should be around 1500m/s +/-50; switch to rocket mode when jet+NERV acceleration is unacceptably low and aim for the top of the prograde circle (or a little higher or lower, to taste). When oxidizer runs out, drop to prograde lock; the NERVs should be able to maintain or increase your time to apoapsis. —Reentry: It's recommended that fuel be moved foward to the tank behind the cockpit for reentry for extra stability. For example, in testing, given a 100kmX15km LKO reentry orbit and only 500 units of fuel remaining, a neutrally balanced craft struggled to maintain a 40-45° pitch without using airbrakes, while a craft that moved that same small amount of fuel forward had no trouble. It should be noted that the balanced craft had no trouble with a 30-35° reentry profile. 1000 units of fuel (~10%) balanced forward is enough for a radial out pitch to stabilize forward instead of flipping out. Use caution if returning from other celestial bodies; it's not recommended to dig deep into the atmosphere on the first pass without decelerating first. —Landing approach: If airbrakes were used, retract prior to landing as the bottom ones may be destroyed otherwise. Perfect balance and generous control surfaces make it relatively maneuverable for a Mk3 spaceplane. Since it takes off near empty at 53-60 m/s (on big/small front wheels) the stall speed on low fuel should be similarly low unless I'm mistaken. —Landing normally: Try not to touch down at more than 5m/s vertical speed. The fairly wide rear footprint means it should be pretty stable and modest testing has borne this out. —Landing in water: This plane is capable of a safe aeronautic landing in water, which was successfully tested at 25% fuel, but parachutes are recommended for landing in water or very rough terrain. —Landing on parachutes: Even heavily loaded with fuel, this vessel can land safely on its complement of parachutes, but use of engines to help soften the landing is encouraged. The Abort action group opens doors for the parachutes and triggers them. Vacuum flight characteristics: —Takeoff: Fully loaded and on a flat surface, the Vernors are not quite strong enough to lift the nose for vertical takeoff in Munlike gravity. Instead, get forward motion and it should be able to lift off shortly with the help of the thrust attitude, especially if the vehicle runs off the top of a hill. Use of RAPIERs is recommended unless terrain is very flat. —Landing in vacuum: dV can best be conserved by a "reverse takeoff" posture, where final approach retains some horizontal motion while vertical motion is very low, but this is not easy. It is probably more practical to descend on the engines rocket-style, and then transition to horizontal when near/on the ground (fall on the wheels). This has been tested on the Mun. Be careful to keep the plane level (don't let it roll on its side or you may lose a wing). The Vernors can slow the fall of the front end, but this should not be necessary in Munlike gravity. Miscellaneous: —Recommended docking procedure with this vessel is as follows: 1. Rendezvous; 2. Make a close approach (50 meters dock-to-dock* or less), then cancel relative motion; 3. Align to the desired docking port, and accelerate a little for final approach. This technique has been highly successful on larger versions of this vessel docking with still larger vessels. *(Bear in mind that when approaching tail-first the engines are almost 27m closer to the target than the docking port, and flipping tail-to-nose will bring the docking port of this craft when normally balanced 32 or 33 meters closer to the target due to where the vessel's pivot point is. A dock-to-dock separation of 50m would mean a real distance facing away of 23m and 17m after flipping). —When altering the balance of the craft (e.g. to put the CoM more ahead of the CoL), keep in mind that adding fuel to the rear and front LF tanks in a 2:1 ratio will be approximately neutrally balanced, i.e. will keep or return the ship to close to its starting balance. —Water landing (via parachute) was tested on Kerbin at 75% fuel. If your splashdown attitude is close to vertical, your docking port may be at risk of destruction as you rotate down, but this can be prevented by using the Vernors to slow your fall. (Presumably similar precautions should be taken if landing on Tylo.) —The top speed in water is 38.7 m/s when full. The top speed on low fuel is uncertain because during testing the plane unintentionally took off. In subsequent testing, the vessel was able to intentionally lift off when top speed in water was about 70 m/s, when fuel fell to between 20 and 25%. (Highest speeds were obtained when fuel was moved forward and SAS set to prograde.) —Why the precoolers? Although the shock cones more than meet the needs of normal flight, I like the idea of having strong static airflow for those, ahem, "off prograde" situations. They are also handsome. —Why the everything? This design was not arrived at minimalistically; I'm sure there is a lot you could cut, starting with the rear parachutes and airbrakes. But I wanted a feature-rich craft, and those are features, and it is Minmus capable, so there. Having said that, I do still welcome criticism if you think anything is too blatantly unnecessary. —Why no offset? I just didn't want to use offset; a little bit to neaten up the often messy intersections of aerodynamic parts is okay but I often see it used in a way I think of as exploitative. So in a way the only minimalistic thing about this design is the offset and part clipping, which was a design choice. —After the 1.8 atmospheric changes, this plane can actually fly on a 3R+3N configuration, but taking away two nacelles worth of LF completely negates the benefit. It's slightly less dV, significantly less TWR, and a more annoying ascent path; why bother? Well, I could probably just yank one jet off the regular design (keeping 4 NERVs) and limp to orbit, but the dV gain (112 I think) is, while noticeable, quite modest and I would be nervous about sending it to Laythe untested with that much less atmospheric performance. So, how do you like the plane? How do you like the post? Comments and questions welcome. Edit history: 1.1—9/28/19: Added vacuum landing notes. Added "Miscellaneous" section. Made major changes to vehicle (reduced RAPIERs from 6 to 4, replacing two Mk3 side pods with four Mk1 side pods). Edited text accordingly. 9/29/19: Added Minmus picture. Edits to vacuum landing notes and other things. 9/30/19: Swapped location of RAPIERs and NERVs (reducing tailstrike risk); minor text edits. 1.2—10/4/19: Minor adjustment to front wing AOI and location; small but critical adjustment to rear wheels to eliminate drift on takeoff. Added location of CoM to "Balance". Added "Takeoff"; edits to "Ascent" and "Landing Characteristics".) Finally changed top picture to reflect new version of craft. 1.3—10/5/19: Added "Communications"; added more detail to CoM location, "Lift", and "Takeoff"; added RA-2 to vehicle and replaced bottom pair of shock cones with NCS tanks. (Reduced cost by 3300, increased wet mass by 0.91, dry mass by 0.11, part count by 3) 1.4—10/10/19: Updated "Landing in vacuum" to reflect finally testing Mun capability; added "Takeoff in vacuum". Removed 1 fuel cell (3 remain) in the belief that this was enough for even maximum ore concentrations, subject to review; please let me know if this is found to be wrong. 10/11/19: Added water landing/movement/takeoff details. 10/13/19: Added postscript. 10/15/19: Added table of contents. Reorganized flight/landing characteristics. Added detail to docking. Updated photos (10/5 changes), minor text changes. 10/16/19: Added "Reentry", minor edit to "Ascent". 10/22/19: Altered commentary on small TCSes. 10/23/19: Removed Z-4K battery after finding a way to mount the drills on the reaction wheel and still fit them through the cargo doors. Added small ore tank for symmetry in new location. (Cost reduced by 4.2k, mass increased by 0.675t wet but reduced by 0.075 dry. Battery capacity reduced from 5710 to 1710.) Updated cargo hold picture. 10/26/19: updated "Ascent" to reflect 1.8 aerodynamic changes. Redid Minmus test—new photo. Postscript: the action groups: 1: RAPIER toggle (on/off) 2: NERV toggle (on/off) 3: RAPIER mode swap & air intake toggle (open/shut) 4: All cargo bay doors toggle (open/shut) & small thermal control system* toggle (deploy/retract) 5: --- (nothing) 6: Drill toggle (deploy/retract) 7: Surface harvester toggle (on/off) 8: Fuel cell toggle (on/off) 9: Obtain all possible science, including crew report 0: AIRBRAKES toggle (deploy/retract) Lights: default (all lights turn on or off) Landing gear: default (all landing gear extends or retracts—note that this is NOT a toggle) Brakes: default Abort: The top cargo doors open and all parachutes deploy. It's possible that some parachutes won't deploy if the doors aren't already open; just press the button again. *(Note: the interior thermal panels are always on by default)

Hello everyone. Following a reddit thread, let me post here some thoughts about the current science system and what I'd love to see in KSP2. Currently, experiments give you science points. Some missions or achievements also give you a small amount of points. You use these points to unlock nodes of a tech tree. Nodes give you parts. Upgrading the RD Building allows you to reach further in the tree. You may (according to your career settings) need money to unlock each different parts. What I like about it. It's a familiar concept in games. It's easy to understand. Fancy parts are harder to get. What I dislike about it. All the experiments are equivalent (1). It encourages grinding science (2). Experiments aren't connected to unlocked technologies (3). (1) Science points are science points, no matter where they come from. (2) I feel like it's a lot of "go that high, go that far, bring thermometer, barometer, goo, come back" (3) I know the temperature of the North Pole of the Mun, my scientists can finally develop supersonic air intakes ! A system that I think would be interesting (I will most likely purchase KSP2 in any case but hey, my pride would be infinite if I can contribute) would be to..... Have missions to unlock technologies or parts. Yeah, revolutionary idea, right ? For instance, launching the first uncontrolled rocket "that high" would unlock basic control. Then the first suborbital flight unlocks higher vacuum ISP engines. The first orbit unlocks basic RCS, while the first rendezvous unlocks docking ports. And so on. You get the idea. EDIT : I think I got misunderstood at some point. I didn't mean that the "missions" or "milestones" would come one after the other in a predetermined sequence. You could have a tree as well. And chose how you want to progress through that tree. My point is just that instead of having science point requirement to unlock technologies or parts, you'd have to do specific stuff, or go to specific places. But not in a specific order. /EDIT Why do I think it would make sense ? Well, right now, you can basically have almost everything unlocked before you send your first interplanetary craft. Not so challenging. So it would be more.... less..... well, I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. But moreover, and especially with colonies and interstellar flight, it makes even more sense. Because... imagine making your first colony and.... you already have unlocked fancy habitat techs. Nah.... The first offworld colony must be a dusty sh*thole. Barely habitable. But from that experience your scientists would learn sustainability. And so on. That being said, a science point system can still be useful to either upgrade parts (cheaper, lighter, harder, whatever-er) or to unlock some better technologies. Like the first Orbit unlocks small RCS. Science points unlocks bigger RCS blocks or increase the ISP, or allows for LFO, ion or other kind of technologies. You've read so far. I'm flattered. What do you think about it ?

Past the Haze main lobby Please Note: Due to the loss of the original image uploader website, and my failure to keep a backup image folder, many of the pictures on pages 2-3 are permanently lost. Introduction: Hi. Before the story starts, I'd like to speak for a little. I have... commitment issues, and have started several stories here, but never progressed far on any. I want this topic to be different from my other ventures, but if it goes dead, that'd be why. My intention is for this to be a series of probably-not-that-short stories using my current science mode game. The premise? I'm kinda making this up as I go along, but so far it involves a space program attempting to survive in a Kerbin previously hit by an unnamed series of disasters (AKA the installation of visual mods), and get to the bottom of the convoluted story of why the planets look so different. All the while, Kerbin itself might not be safe. Quality and enjoyment are nowhere near guaranteed, and there will be early installment weirdness, but I'll do my best to make something decent. Story will start on the next post, listed here is the table of contents, a current modlist, a (WORK IN PROGRESS) character list, and a (WORK IN PROGRESS) organisations list. Table of contents: Story 1: Night Rescue, Chapter 1: Exposition Much? Story 1, Chapter 2: Undeniably Majestic Story 1, Chapter 3: Buck Story 1, Chapter 4: Alone at Sea Story 1, Chapter 5: Kerbal in the Water Story 1, Chapter 6: Fishing Story 1, Chapter 7: Contact Story 1, Chapter 8: Return Story 2: Phoenix II Story 3: Network Story 4: Oculus Station, Chapter 1: Core Story 4, Chapter 2: Minor Hiccups Story 4, Chapter 3: Onboard Story 4, Chapter 4: Telescope Start! Story 4, Chapter 5: Science Run Story 4, Chapter 6: New Mission Story 5: Eve probes, Chapter 1: The Plan Story 5, Chapter 2: Summit 3 Story 5, Chapter 3: Inquirer Story 5, Chapter 4: Survey Story 6: Shroud Lifted, Chapter 1: Hollywood Science? Story 6, Chapter 2: hey cool we found a dot Story 6, Chapter 3: New Guy in Town Story 7: Test the Waters, Chapter 1: Notions of an Idea Story 7, Chapter 2: The rest of the Idea Story 7, Chapter 3: Assembly Story 7, Chapter 4: Set sail Story 7, Chapter 5: Enroute Story 7, Chapter 6: Some assembly required Story 7, Chapter 7: Fission mailed Story 7, Chapter 8: On the road Story 7, Chapter 9: The pumpkin pie planet Story 7, Chapter 10: Can I go home now Story 8: Explore from a safe distance, Chapter 1: Recover vessel* Story 8: Explore from a safe distance, Chapter 2: Going coastal Modlist: Characters (spoilers): Organisations (spoilers): Situation report: Unfortunately, due to numerous obstacles and problems, including losing a great deal of pictures and the game deleting many of my story-important craft, Past the Haze is over. However, as soon as I get my gaming computer up I'll reboot it under a new title.

NO MORE SCIENCE! Here's my first mod. It introduces a new strategy that exchanges Funds for Science points. I made it because KerboKatz is not updated anymore and I think it was a great mod that changed the way I play career mode. WHAT IT DOES: You don't have to do science experiments anymore. Just keep hoarding money from contracts and when you're ready to unlock a new tech tree node just buy some science with cold hard cash. The exchange ratio is 1000 : 1. Here's the Google Drive link (because I've been waiting for the last 6h for SpaceDock to send me the confirmation email!): [Download link snipped by moderator, pending posting of source code; see note below] All you have to do is put the 'SciencelessCareer' folder into your GameData folder. Screenie: NOTE: It depends on your playstyle and how you want to use it but I recommend trying it with minimal science rewards. License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Europa Explorer is a project I have been working on to create a game inspired by real world science. You drive a robotic probe exploring the ocean on the moon Europa. You can download the alpha build from www.EuropaExplorerGame.com or Itch. This is a solo dev project by myself, so it is self promotion, but not for profit, so hopefully this post is within the forum rules. I have been doing bi-weekly video updates on my progress. If you want more info. Alpha 1 Update - Tools Alpha 2 Update - Systems Alpha 3 Update - World

I have a launch window for Eeloo coming up in about 120 in game days, and I am considering sending a mobile ground base all the way out there. The question is would it be worth it. I've noticed there are a few new biomes that I haven't observed yet, and the dwarf's terrain is flat enough to make long range drives worth it, but the distance from Kerbol makes solar power useless. So to power the electric wheels I'd need either a metric f*ckton of NUK's and fuel cells, or need to experiment with alternative propulsion methods. As I'm typing this I just thought of using NERV's to push it a long the ground, like I do with et engines on my boat bases. So anyway, does anyone think its worth it to send a mobile base out there? I'm probably going to do it. I like the idea of a nuclear rocket propelled ground vehicle. That makes me smile.

Background: There is photographic evidence of life in the deep oceans of Laythe. Kerbal scientists want more conclusive evidence. Funds are short, so private contractors are asked to bid for the chance to change the way Kerbals see their place in the universe. Build a lowest cost mission to Laythe, from KSC launch pad, to the DeGrasse Sea biome, do a Mystery Goo experiment, and bring the science back to Kerbin. The twist is: The Mystery Goo experiment must be done on the DeGrasse Sea floor. Rules: Stock parts (including Making History) only, no mods that change game and parts physics, - exclude command chairs (we don't want Kerbonauts going puff in the upper atmosphere), All other flight and aesthetics mods OK (except of course, NO Hyperedit, config file editing, etc). Please check with this forum thread all mods you intend to use, and list them all when submitting. The mission includes two Kerbonauts. At least one Kerbal needs to land on the surface of Laythe. It is optional whether the Kerbal goes to the ocean floor. Both Kerbonauts must return alive to the surface of Kerbin. No formation hang gliding. Spend the Kredits to include a chute, and land your Kerbals safely. No clipping of parts in a way that will change the physics / aerodynamics of the craft. Minor clipping (e.g. into fairings) is OK. Players may turn pressure limits off to avoid the Mystery Goo experiment exploding at depth. ISRU is allowed anywhere, but not on Kerbin. Craft must be fully fuelled for launch in the VAB/SPH Leaderboard will be in order of cost of craft in the VAB at launch (with and without recovery of craft) Leaderboard 1: no recovery @jinnantonix 32,985 funds. Video Craft ISRU equipped, staged spaceplane with dolphin-diving Laythe landing jet. @dnbattley 33,059 funds. Album Craft Cheapo Laythe Rocket (CLR) Mk 15 a.k.a. "The Pleasuredome". A non ISRU non-recoverable craft. Some very clever minimalist techniques are used. Congratulations on being the first on Leaderboard 1. Leaderboard 2: with recovery (cost in the VAB/SPH minus 90% depreciated recovery cost + cost of any components expended during the mission). @jinnantonix 52,865 funds. Album Craft. Low cost SSTO. Fully recoverable including the science experiment and attachments. @farmerben 90,650.26 funds. Posted here. Impressively big SSTO seaplane with ISRU, which can land and take off from the sea. Used RTGs to sink the goo to the sea floor. Rogues Gallery: For entries that don't quite meet the rules or objectives of the challenge, but want to submit anyway @bayesian_acolyte 26,593 funds. Album Craft file. Sandbox mode. Amazing SSTO which uses a lot of clipping to reduce aerodynamics “including overlapping NERV and Whiplash engines, a weird fairing, 4 fuel tanks on top of each other, and a few other instances”. Super clever minimalist design, showing the benefits of ISRU and spaceplane components for this challenge. Does not meet clipping requirements. If legal would have been a contender for winner in Leaderboard 2. .

Intro: So hear me out. The best way to get people back in the game is to make something new. Although I'm loving that they are making mods like infernal robotics a supported function of the game, it doesn't change the fact that a lot of us have been using those features for years. Same with the deployable experiments. everything added since the late stages of early access have been mods with the exception of their first dlc (which felt more like a groundwork than an actual feature in my book). With that said, there is one area of the content market that hasn't been touched, career mode and science mode. Besides for the rearrangement of the tec tree and the addition of a few new missions here and there, not much has changed. I've also thought the way these features have been implemented seemed a little shallow. What I want to suggest is a new overhaul for these two modes. The first part of this is looking at how it works in the real world. Science: (Continuing the comment the next day. Thought I would post it up here to avoid confusion) Problems with science: In real life, there isn't the direct correlation seen in ksp between science as we see it in the game and the advancements made in technology. The relationship in real life is 90% of the time closer to finding new problems we have to solve. This is never a problem in ksp because we are given all the information about all the star, all the planets and everything in between. what is the point of bringing a barometer to a planet where you already know everything about its atmosphere? In the real world, we had tests to see if space was a vacuum, we had to run many tests to see if we could pressurize a capsule, and we had little idea about any of the stuff we know until we sent something there to test it (Think about our recent visit of Pluto). Problems with technological advancements: The other problem with how career mode/science mode was made was almost systemic. I feel like what was implemented wasn't there original gameplan. I've come to this conclusion because of how little their parts actually fit into the tec tree idea they have implemented. The tec in the game was not designed to go into a tec tree. For the most part, the "tec level" is based on the size of a part and not actually how much knowledge was needed to build it. What I want to see is the implementation of iterative designs. My solution: Basically, you start out with a lot of junk parts. These parts look bad, don't work well, probably fail in environments outside of Kerbin sea level, and for good measure, have a base fail chance. Along with taking missions to study your solar system (of which you know nothing about), you would also take missions from your science team to help them improve your parts. unlike the test missions given off now. These missions would give you credits towards upgrading our parts. Along with these missions to give you credits. there would be general things like allowing engines to work in a vacuum, water, restart, throttle, etc. (All things we had to learn, and are still learning, in the field). This science would be collected by doing things like the barometric test and temperature tests we see in KSP today. A good way to think of this is the first capsule ou send to space should always be empty. It needs to be tested first. Without things like this, this game is missing out on some of the best parts of our job in exploring the world and beyond! Career: Problems with Career & the suggested improvements: The main problem with the career is how lightweight it really is. There is very little to it, and it's hard to actually mess up. This is fine for some, but I think a lot of us were originally hoping for a bit more. A lot of what makes career modes great is the management. You need to be able to see your expenses and take risks. Squad tried to implement this before launch with that one building no one ever clicks on but it really doesn't work that well. a career mode should revolve around time and funds managment. You should see how much it costs to maintain a team of engineers as well as how long it takes to build a rocket. An alarm clock and construction time should be implemented. You should be able to speed up the construction of a craft with part failure chance going up. you should be able to fire staff to lower your costs and hire them as needed. There should be a monthly/yearly expense report. These features would go a long way to making career mode a better mode. A few more ideas would be including things like kerbal konstructs, allowing you to spend money to build more launch pads as well as just more infrastructure. I don't like that particular mod too much because of how messy it looks but a lighter version of it could go a long way. The main point I would say is to look at a game like X-COM. It has a solid management system that would work beautifully in a game like KSP. even the kerbal upgrade sstem could be improved along the same lines.

I'm despratly looking for locations to get highlands and mountains splased down science. In earlier versions you could get those in many locations but now I'm unable to find any at all. Been traveling kerbin for ages now without success :S Anybody got some koordinates? Edit: It's solved, @Geolu_Henge 's solution stil is correct for 1.3.1.

PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR CONTENTS i. Preface by the Author ii. Contents 1. In which the endeavor is begun, and several missions are launched. 2. In which the Mun is flown by. 3. In which the greatest achievement ever accomplished by Kerbalkind... is. 4. In which a slightly greater achievement is accomplished, but with none of the fanfare. 5. In which Ike is landed upon. PART THE FIRST In which the endeavor is begun, and several missions are launched The first mission of this space program was an uninteresting one, a mission that you have doubtless seen many times before, so not much time will be spent describing it. For the few who at all care, a picture has been provided below. Fig. 1: The Kerbin 1 on its immensely dull flight It went up, and it came down. Construction was immediately begun on a new, more interesting mission. Fig. 2: The Kerbin 2 The Kerbin 2 pushed the boundaries of rocketry with its revolutionary new design, which still managed to look quite like many other craft. While it had a more interesting mission than the 1, consisting of not one but two science opportunities, it still suffered from the same fundamental dullness. Fig. 3: The Kerbin 2 in flight With the development of the Kerbin 3, the engineers at Science, Incorporated started to close in on the cause of this dullness, and equipped the Kerbin 3 with new features to fight it, such as more parts, a multi-stage design and a number even larger than its predecessor’s. Fig. 4: The Kerbin 3 The Kerbin 3 followed the ‘orbiter’ mission format, with a launch phase, a ‘circularization’ phase, a science phase, and a return phase. Some difficulty was presented in piloting the mission, its having no method of control for the first stage, but this was easily overcome. Fig. 5: The launch Fig. 6: The circularization Fig. 7: The return The efforts of these engineers were not entirely in vain, however, as the insights gained from this mission enabled them to take a step forwards that was almost visionary: eschewing the Kerbin naming scheme to call their next rocket the Mun 1.

Hello modders, I'd like to make a request for different types of science, because the current system is far too simple to my liking. What I would like is that science which is gained in a certain way can only be used to unlock items related to that category. For example, experiments that are run on the ground would give you ground-science that could be used to unlock wheels, landing gear and structural components; experiments in the air would give aerodynamics-science for wings, mk1/2/3 things and air-breathing engines, etc (and combinations of the above of course). Another option is that different biomes give different kinds of science, or that crafts with different components multiply science gained in different categories, or really anything that makes exploration a necessity and makes science more interesting. Disclaimer: this idea is largely inspired by Factorio with their different science packs that are used for different technologies, but without the whole logistics and with more physics. Edit: the way Astroneer handles science is also quite interesting, where you have to find artifacts, pick them up, and put them in a research chamber that needs power. I don't really see this working in ksp however.

Hey y'all! This is going to be "soft-stock" (lightly modded, stockalike only) Science Mode playthrough. Basically this will be my new save for 1.7 Mods are (links coming eventually, but maybe not) : VISUAL Scatterer E.V.E. (SVE, Pood's OPM Visual Overhaul, etc coming at some point when I'm not dead tired from travelling) PARTS Airplane+ Stockalike Station Parts Kerbal Planetary Base PLANETS Outer Planets Kopernicus (obviously) More planets liable to spawn at any time. Outer Planets liable to disappear on updating the universe. UTILITY KER tbh I really like the new stock dV interface. KER might come later if needed though KAC Craft Manager And that's it! Liable to change at any time Well then. Let's go.

Im trying to write a story about a scientist who is working on something in the era of the New Republic. He does not believe in the Force. I just need something for him to be researching. It really isn’t that important to the story; it just has to sound cool and scientific. Also it can’t have already been done in Legends or Canon. I want a fresh idea. It cannot be - A time machine -A teleporter -A matter replicator -Synthetic tibanna gas -Synthetic coaxium (hyperfuel) -A singularity Weapon - Any type of droid -Anything to do with holograms -A food synthesizer - Anything to do with the Force or Midi-chlorians - A shrink ray -A freeze ray -pico and femtotechnology -A Dyson sphere or any type of megastructure. -Liquid metal armor or a nano morph In canon, during the Empire, scientists were researching methods to control droids, lasers that can punch through deflector shields and ship scale disintigrators. These ideas are therefore taken. I’m trying to look for something that was never researched until the era of the New Republic like kyber crystals weren’t until the Empire used them for a superlaser and even then, they had been used in weapons formation in the past. I’m looking for something that presumably hasn’t been thought of in the 25,000 years of time where almost everything has already been done.

The goal of this challenge: Earn enough science to research every technology in as few launches as possible. Participants should create a new science mode game on normal difficulty, or a normal base difficulty with the Comm Network turned off or modified. Weight limit: All launches must be below 250 tons. Tie breaker: Total science gathered is the tie breaker if multiple submissions use the same number of launches. All science around one pod: At the start of each launch, designate a main command pod (or probe core if unmanned). All science gathering activities (experiments run, samples gathered, etc.) for that launch need to happen in the exact same biome as that main pod. For the purpose of this challenge, the launch pad and other KSC buildings are not the same biome, nor is being in a different vertical area of the same nominal biome (i.e no science when landed on the Greater Flats if your main pod is in low orbit above the Greater Flats). The only exception is that doing an EVA report above the surface (by jumping etc.) in the immediate vicinity of a landed command pod is permitted. Command seats are not command pods for the purpose of this challenge. No clipping (mostly): Only clipping of structural parts, wings, and heat shields is allowed. Clipping of anything else is not permitted, except in very minor circumstances such as ~5% of a part overlapping with another. What's a launch? A launch is any time something is put on the runway or launch pad (and isn't reverted). Even if it doesn't leave the ground, it's still a launch. Assembling a ship in orbit from multiple launches counts as multiple launches. Banned parts: No ISRU (drills/refiners) - Obtaining pretty much all the science in the game is possible with a single ISRU launch, which would be quite tedious. No Mobile Processing Lab - Unlimited science breaks this challenge. No Ion Propulsion - Their crazy DV can be a big advantage in a weight and launch limited challenge, and I don't want anyone feeling like they are missing out if they don't wish to endure ultra long burn times. No EVA pushing: Eva pushing is not allowed. Mods: Using any non-stock parts, changing parts, changing physics, or anything similar is not permitted. Informational mods, piloting mods, and automatic science mods are fine, as long as they aren't allowing you to accomplish something that wouldn't normally be possible. Showing biome locations using the debug menu is allowed. Submission guidelines: Challengees should submit screenshots or video showing the vessels used for each launch, the exact science obtained when the launch mission is complete, and a brief summary of where most of the science was obtained. More detailed information such as craft files and mission reports are encouraged but not mandatory. Happy sciencing! Leaderboard: 1. 2 launches, 19317.6 science - bayesian_acolyte

The time has come for Kerbal-kind to leave our small blue oasis on Kerbin and venture out into the great beyond - to the unknown worlds that beckon us from afar like silent lanterns adrift in the night. We are resolved to go to Jool! To unlock the secrets of the unknown, and hopefully also to come back! Prologue: What follows is my account of the planning, execution and aftermath of the Magellan mission to the Jool system in my career save. I have spend the majority of my time playing KSP within the Kerbin system visiting the Mun and Minmus ad nauseum, and unlocking most of the tech tree. Besides Duna, I have never visited any other body in a career save. My goal in this career is to send missions to visit all the celestial bodies in the Kerbol system. Some will be manned and some unmanned. With a Jool transfer window approaching in 41 days, I have decided to take a bold step towards this goal by sending a crew of valiant (or maybe daft) kerbals to this giant green world and her moons. Magellan Mission The Magellan mission will take after the great explorer Ferdinand Magellan in attempting a feat which has never before been done (by me). To send a manned mission to the Jool system, take science data on all the worlds therein and return to Kerbin. I'm calling this a Jool-4.5 mission because unlike the Jool-5 mission reports from challenges, there will be no flags or footprints on Tylo, instead I will have a probe land and report back with science data. But the rest of the moons will be visited by Kerbals. Here is the mission patch for the Magellan Mission : The patch shows the silhouettes of Jool, Laythe, Val and Tylo against a backdrop of stars and backlit by the sun as the spacecraft flies by. It is modeled after the STS-41 mission patch. The motto is latin for "To the stars through adversity", and was totally Magellan's rallying cry on his voyage something I thought sounded cool. This mission report is primarily for my own benefit, as something to look back on when this mission is over, but I hope others will find it enjoyable as well. I intend to chronicle my thinking as it relates to mission planning, vehicle design and testing and mission execution in a matter of fact way, and not to write a story or a novel. Right now, I'm not planning to do much if any roleplaying from a Kerbal standpoint, but who know maybe I will get carried away later on. Notes about my playstyle: At this stage, I have designed the vehicle and a rough sketch of the mission plan. I build and test all my vehicles in a sandbox save and then copy the craft files to my career save. For testing purposes, I am allowing myself cheats to get the vehicle into LKO, but no testing will be done in the Jool system. This will hopefully force me to think more carefully about what conditions I will encounter at Jool and will preserve the newness of the experience for me when I actually fly the mission in my career save. I do use quite a few mods, but no part mods (aside from SCANSAT). The mods that I use fall under one of three categories: (1) Visual enhancements (2) Sounds/Effects to increase immersion and (3) Gameplay tools (ie KER) What's Next: In the next posts I will be showcasing the design of the spacecraft, and possibly doing some on-orbit testing. Once I unlock all the parts I need in my career save we will get onto the meat of the mission.

Do you have a theory that you just want to let the world know about? Do you have ideas about the latest discoveries in astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology? There aren't really many places to do this stuff on the forums, so here's a thread that includes it all. Users are free to post their theories (try to make them short), comment on others', and express their ideas/concerns about recent science news. Theories about the Kerbol system and planets from mods are also allowed, because what's a KSP Forum Thread without KSP? To give you guys some ideas of what theories are allowed, here's a list of topics: Atomic and subatomic physics. Evolution of solar systems. Early moments of the Universe. Exoplanets and exomoons. Dark matter and energy. Any theory about the stock KSP planets and moons. Realism of Kerbal Space Program. The four fundamental forces: Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong Nuclear, and Weak Nuclear. Cosmic structures and clusters (open clusters, galaxies, nebulae, etc.). Our home galaxy! Dwarf planets and the Kuiper Belt. Planet 9/X/"Fatty" The evolution of the Universe. Alternate realities. Some other stuff. Go ahead an post your best theories! I probably will post some here, too, and edit the list of topics.

This is a place to talk about anything from boringly tame to wildly enlightening theories you may have heard or thought of.

Someone kindly show me where I can find Mod [X] Science for the game in version 1.5 If there is no functional Mod in the KSP 1.5 version I accept some other similar Mod that works on the KSP 1.5 version. Thank you guys!

https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-about-Vincent-from-Gattaca-1997-movie-he-is-a-hero-or-fraud

Hello! Welcome To The Second of Many What I've Done So Far in Career Mode, where I share with you what ive done so far in my new career mode! If you haven't looked at the last one I made about the career mode, I suggest you read that post first before reading this one, so you will know what has previously happened. So, this is what happened this time I played my new career mode. First, Ikicked off space tourism by doing my first tourist contract from the tourist plus contract pack, as seen in the images below (everything went well!) Next, after successful minmus flyby and orbiter missions, I did the first landing on the minmus and safetly returned back to kerbin! (Though I ran out of fuel so I had to push the craft most of the way back) The next few images show the actual landing, which was easy due to minmus having low gravity (only 2nd to gilly's, im pretty sure) After landing, I planted a flag and did some science for a contract. (Tell me who's on the flag, in the 3rd image below) So after that I took off and headed back to kerbin. Expect that I ran out of fuel and had to do this for about 20 real life minutes just to get back... Now, the spacecraft is approaching kerbin, and had a successful landing in a grassy area of land. And so that brings the end of the 70, almost 71 day long mission to land on minmus and get back. But I have one more mission to share with you, Luna 2. So yeah for another historical progression mission, this time I did Luna 2 (AKA Lunik 2), which impacted the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2 And that brings and end to the second post of this, I hope you see the next one!

Hello! Welcome To The First What I've Done So Far in Career Mode, where I share with you what ive done so far in my new career mode! If you haven't looked at the previous 2 posts I made about the career mode, I suggest you read those posts first before reading this one, so you will know what has previously happened. Post 1: Post 2: Ok, so now that you have read those 2 previous posts or have already read them, lets get started! So, starting this off, the first thing I did after completing the minmus flyby, was doing a mission to orbit it (for some more science), as seen in the pictures below! The orbit I was in was roughly 18,000 m by 20,500 m so I could get more low science data and do EVA reports as I flew over different biomes I also got this awesome image of kerbin and the mun rising over minmus from orbit. After doing a few orbits and collecting lots of science, I did a burn to leave minmus and head back for a landing on kerbin. (Notice the mun orbiting around kerbin in the background as it changes position.) After reentering kerbin's atmosphere, I landed this time (not splashed down) near some mountains and planted my first flag, as seen below: After collecting lots of science from the minmus orbiter mission and spending it on better parts in the tech tree, since I have the historical progression contract pack installed, I decided to recreate the Soviet Luna 1 mission next, which was the first spacecraft to flyby the moon. (More about it at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1) After a successful launch and burn into orbit, I did another burn to put the spacecraft on a munar flyby trajectory to put it into a solar orbit (like the real life mission). After entering the mun's SOI, I took a screenshot with kerbin setting in the background in 2nd/3rd image (you can call it kerbinset, since its the opposite of earthrise). So after ejecting the other stage from the spacecraft it changed the periapsis to just about 4,800m (which is dangerously close). Luckily the spacecraft survived the close approach to the surface and I got a good view of some rocks on the surface and later a kerbinrise (similar to earthrise). After that the mission was complete and I got the contract complete screen (as you can see below it shows what the acutal mission did, pretty similar to mine, but not as close) And so that brings an end to the first of many to come What I've done so far in career mode posts! I can't wait to share what I've done next tomorrow!