"Eve: Order Zero" -- a KSP Graphic Novel (POSTLUDE COMPLETE...bet you didn't see THAT coming.)

[Mister Dilsby]

Here's Kerbfleet's next big mission, to that great purple eater of ships, Eve! This comic will run concurrently with "Duna, Ore Bust" until that mission's thrilling conclusion. You can find some preview pages for this story at the end of Chapter 4 of the Duna book; naturally there will be more crossovers between the two, and I will be updating each book as I continue the flights in real time.

ETA 28 Sept 2015: I added links to the Duna, Ore Bust! chapters in chronological order. If you are reading the comic for the first time, go in this order

Read DOB Chapter 1 here

Read DOB Chapter 2 here

Read DOB Interlude One here

Read DOB Chapter 3 here

Read DOB Chapter 4 here

Read DOB Interlude 2 here

Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 1 and Interlude Here

Read DOB Chapter 5 here

Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 2 Here

Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 3 Here

Read DOB Interlude 3 here

Read DOB Chapter 6 (and end of that book) here

Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 4 Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 5 Here

Read E:O0 Interlude 2 (The Secret Life of Kenlie Kerman) Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 6 Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 7 Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 8 Here

Read E:O0 Interlude 3 (in 3 parts) Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 9 Here

Read E:O0 Chapter 10 Here

Read the E:O0 Postlude Here

And now--away we go! Thank you for reading.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Kuzzter

[windows_x_seven]

Poor Bob.

Nobody listens to him.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Who's Bob? He's in here!?

[HoloYolo]

Bob must be a DLC, because I can never find him.

[Mister Dilsby]

Poor Bob.

Nobody listens to him.

Haven't you ever heard the story of "the boy who cried abort"?

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Bob must be a DLC, because I can never find him.

I had to look up DLC, guess I'm not a gamer Yeah, you have to unlock him, costs 800,000 Lego studs or something like that. But hey, he's totally worth it, you'll see... you'll ALL see...

[Scotius]

Yes! New epic story of adventure, awesomeness and drunken hijinks begins And if you are keeping the score, my vote goes to Tedus for the Most Popular Kerbal. Bob is so going to suffer...

[Geschosskopf]

Best of luck

[McPoisoned]

There we go again :3 I love your reports!

[Redhaze]

Ooh! I know what bob's concerns about the atmospherikdipperkraft are!

...It lacks a 'hydrazyne' distiller...

[Mikki]

OMG i heartly laughed !

You have a real good humor, amazing

Kerbals should be named after you sir, Kuzzter Kerman, Humorist, *****

[Kagame]

Ooh! Kuzzter finally gave the Eve mission its own thread! Woot! *subscribed*

[FlyingPete]

"Permission to jettison science officer?" looking forward to more of this

[DMSP]

No Bob!

Ugh, I need some boo... Hydrazine...

[ZentroCatson]

And again: one of the best reads out there! Poor Bob has to fly in this not fully tested invention of Wherner, and of course there will be a lot of hydrazine on the journey!

[Mister Dilsby]

Best of luck

Yeah, I know, I'm going to need it if I touch Eve atmosphere with any of these ships. Kagame also warned me about it in a visitor message on my page (which, up to that point, I did not know was a forum feature!)

I am hoping to arrive at Eve with enough dV to brake to a safe capture velocity. That safe velocity is some function of minimum altitude/maximum density, but I don't know what that function is yet. Clauselle may have to do some "simulations" (F5/F9) to figure it out.

That, or V1.m.n arrives with a perfect "Goldilocks" heating model that makes all things simultaneously possible, challenging, and realistic based on a solar system many times the size of the one we're playing in

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Ooh! I know what bob's concerns about the atmospherikdipperkraft are!

...It lacks a 'hydrazyne' distiller...

Heh... not sure if that would be Bob's personal choice, but I bet Tedus will want some of that stuff.

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"Permission to jettison science officer?" looking forward to more of this

Thanks Pete (and too many others to quote!), very glad to have you aboard!

Edited July 17, 2015 by Kuzzter

[Redhaze]

Heh... not sure if that would be Bob's personal choice, but I bet Tedus will want some of that stuff.

Well, he's got to numb his concerns somehow.

[Edax]

I'm curious to know whether Bob is a horrible back-seat driver and neurotic control freak, or if Tedus is just a Kerbfleet conscript (via rescue mission) who stopped caring about anything long ago because he doesn't even get a paycheck.

[Mister Dilsby]

I'm curious to know whether Bob is a horrible back-seat driver and neurotic control freak, or if Tedus is just a Kerbfleet conscript (via rescue mission) who stopped caring about anything long ago because he doesn't even get a paycheck.

Hopefully all will be answered in the coming pages

This morning's fun was getting the Eve flotilla safely across the Kerbin SOI boundary. I was with the Hummlebee crew on Ike, noticed that the Gilly miner had crossed to solar orbit, went to it--and got the NaN Kraken! Quit game, looked at persistence file: Clauselle and Gregmore showed up in the roster as 'missing' and there was no sign of their ship. Fortunately I had a recent quicksave, and was able to get through safely by making each ship the active one as it crossed. All five (the three crewed ships and two probes) are now in solar orbit with a planar correction burn plotted and an Eve intercept solution! Will catch up in the comic as I can, there are a LOT of ships and screenshots to work with...you'll likely see the Duna mission update first, it's a lot less work.

[Starhawk]

Just got back and getting caught up. Very pleased to see the new thread!

"temporal anomaly" - hilarious!

I think some of Bob's concerns are probably very justified. Good luck with Clauselle's simulations for the aerocapture.

I see they didn't quite get all the issues with SOI crossing sorted out. Glad you did.

Thanks Kuzzter!

Happy landings!

[B-STRK]

NaN Kraken... that's scary. I may never trust SOI boundaries again!

(Although lately, I haven't been trusting a lot of things regarding Kraken-bait. )

Also a question regarding air flow dynamics, with the Gilly ore miner; since the heat shield (aerobrake, right?) is a bulkhead size larger than the parts behind it, have you observed it occluding the radially-attached drills etc. behind/shielding them from air friction (despite them being mounted on a part behind the part the heat shield is mounted on)?

[Geschosskopf]

That, or V1.m.n arrives with a perfect "Goldilocks" heating model that makes all things simultaneously possible, challenging, and realistic based on a solar system many times the size of the one we're playing in

We'll see. I've got a couple ships heading to Eve now myself. Just probes to test the "waters" of the levitating ocean--er, I mean atmosphere. They've got fairings, heatshields, and hopefully enough dV not to need any sort of aerocapture. The one thing they don't have is airbrakes. I keep forgetting to put those on spaceships. Seriously, airbrakes on spaceships instead of airplanes?

This morning's fun was getting the Eve flotilla safely across the Kerbin SOI boundary. I was with the Hummlebee crew on Ike, noticed that the Gilly miner had crossed to solar orbit, went to it--and got the NaN Kraken! Quit game, looked at persistence file: Clauselle and Gregmore showed up in the roster as 'missing' and there was no sign of their ship.

I don't know what the NaN Kraken is, but I do have a lot of ships go missing between Kerbin and Eve. Usually it's on the way back from Eve, about 1 week from Kerbin's SOI. Either they just aren't there the next time I load the game or, if I'm flying them at the time, suddenly the Hell Kraken (which seems to have morphed into the Blackout Kraken these days) drags them into the void.

I also have a lot of problems with the Mun Kraken. Interplanetary ships leaving Kerbin that pass close behind, but not through, Mun's SOI vanish with depressing regularity. Satellites in Kerbin orbit that pass near, but not through, Mun's SOI also frequently disappear.

While this is highly aggravating and annoying, OTOH it does give some old-time sailingship cachet to KSP. It's like how various parts of Earth's oceans acquired evil reputations back then. So when ships are near Mun's SOI, I think to myself that they're trying to round Cape Horn.

Also a question regarding air flow dynamics, with the Gilly ore miner; since the heat shield (aerobrake, right?) is a bulkhead size larger than the parts behind it, have you observed it occluding the radially-attached drills etc. behind/shielding them from air friction (despite them being mounted on a part behind the part the heat shield is mounted on)?

I have conflicting results from trying this myself. Sometimes it seems like the wider heatshield occludes radial parts behind it, sometimes it doesn't. I've seen others arguing about this, too. What I do know for sure is that the "MOAR occlusion" stuff supposedly in 1.0.4 has a big impact on radially mounted solar arrays. If your ship is angled only slightly to the sun, so that just a trace of shadow from the central stack falls on the base of the solar array, the entire array is "blocked" even though 99% of it is sticking out in sunshine.

[Mister Dilsby]

Also a question regarding air flow dynamics, with the Gilly ore miner; since the heat shield (aerobrake, right?) is a bulkhead size larger than the parts behind it, have you observed it occluding the radially-attached drills etc. behind/shielding them from air friction (despite them being mounted on a part behind the part the heat shield is mounted on)?

We're all going to find out together, I have not tested ANY of these ships in atmosphere And given what folks have been saying about interplanetary aerocapture in 1.0.4... we might not use those shields at all. I think I have enough dV for all the ships to brake clean in some kind of Eve orbit, and then as long as the Gilly lander makes it to ground, I can refuel them.

The one ship that might be marginal on braking dV... well, Bob might be annoying, but he's usually right.

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While this is highly aggravating and annoying, OTOH it does give some old-time sailingship cachet to KSP. It's like how various parts of Earth's oceans acquired evil reputations back then. So when ships are near Mun's SOI, I think to myself that they're trying to round Cape Horn.

Yes, I've thought along those lines as well. There's something romantic about a ship maybe possibly not coming through--I could handle that for probes, but not for a big crewed mission, especially when that mission is also fanfiction and I have a storyline plotted that does not include Clauselle being eaten by the Kraken!

[Geschosskopf]

Yes, I've thought along those lines as well. There's something romantic about a ship maybe possibly not coming through--I could handle that for probes, but not for a big crewed mission, especially when that mission is also fanfiction and I have a storyline plotted that does not include Clauselle being eaten by the Kraken!

Well, if you've got a story planned out, it's different. But I never do. Having an interplanetary ship eaten by the Mun Kraken just a few hours out from Kerbin is no big deal apart from the money spent on the hardware. The Kerbils are all expendable pressganged vagrants easily and cheaply replaced (thanks to Custom Barn Kit), and because I use Field Experience, all such newly pressed Kerbals are up to speed (thanks to Clockwork Orange-style indoctrination by the time they get where they're going. Besides, the few hours lost make little if any difference to the arrival of the exact copy of the previous ship.

[Edax]

If you have the delta V to slow down, it shouldn't be a problem. You can always stop by Gilly to get some gas. If you need to do any significant aerobraking in Eve's atmosphere though, then I fear this story is going to quickly become like Apollo 13. Or worse, Apollo One.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Edax

[Mister Dilsby]

Edited July 21, 2015 by Kuzzter