"Plan Kappa" - A KSP graphic novel (Jeb is back in Chapter 53! Well, kinda.)

[Parkaboy]

Intro:

What would you do if the world was going to end in 3 years? This story tells what happened when the scientists on the Kerbal Space Center found out about Kerbin's impending doom, and what they decided to do about it.

Plan Kappa isn't just a graphic novel told in the same style of Kuzzter's Duna Ore Bust and Eve: Order Zero series. It's also a complete career game report, covering (with varied levels of depth) all the missions of this condemned save game. It follows a few simple rules (By Volume 3, however, those rules no longer apply):
 

Spoiler

1. On Year 4, Day 1 something will happen that will render Kerbin inaccessible. No new missions may be launched after that. The brave kerbonauts must put as much hardware they can in orbit before that time.

2. There's a "cooldown" time of 10 days before any new launch. This means that the deadline matters and that only a maximum of 128 launches is possible. Our brave kerbonauts will have to get all the science they can with less than that, so they can escape their fate.

3. Airplanes can be launched without worrying about the "cooldown" period, if that vessel has been used previously and was recovered intact. The idea is that a plane needs only refueling and the landing strip needs no refurbishing.

4. There's a cooldown of 30 days for any building upgrade. Other than the Tracking Station, no building that was recently upgraded can be used until after this period.

5. All "rescue" missions must be accepted. There's an in-story reason for that.

I'm playing a mostly-stock career game in normal difficulty, but with no crew respawn and with entry purchase required on Research. The only mods used are Mechjeb (I like to delegate, especially when I need to take screenshots), Kerbal Alarm Clock (sorely needed for this campaign), HyperEdit (only for testing purposes), KAS, KIS, Pathfinder and OSE Workshop (for basebuilding and offworld construction), and a few other mods that help with the storytelling, such as Free IVA and Kerbal Animation Suite.

Chapters:

Volume 1 - Plan Kappa:

- 1. The countdown

- 2. The trouble with Val

- 3. Sightseeing

- 4. Orbit

- 5. Flyby

- 6. Rescue

- 7. Ahead of their time

- 8. Diverging

- 9. Correspondent

- 10. Timey-Wimey Ball

- 11. Munwalking

- 12. It's full of Jebs

- 13. Bob's conspiracy

- 14. Despite the Plan

- 15. The kerbal who went to Minmus

- 16. Running on fumes

- 17. Days of a Future I'd Pass - part 1

- 18. Days of a Future I'd Pass - part 2

- 19. Days of a Future I'd Pass - part 3

- 20. Plan Kappa

Before Volume 2:

- Interlude

Volume 2 - The Last Days of Kerbin

- 21. Jeb has a bad feeling

- 22. The Hardihood Headache

- 23. Short on Delta-V

- 24. From Gilly with Love

- 25. Plan Yellow

- 26. 7 Days of Khristmas

- 27. New Year's Eve

- 28. The Unity Theory

- 29. Into the Unknown (Kerbfleet-Kappa Crossover Prelude)*

- 30. Crossover - Part 2*

- 31. Crossover - Part 4*

*These chapters are pieces of a multi-part crossover with @Kuzzter's Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey. Click here for the full story.

- 32. The Cabal

- 33. Hostile Takeover

- 34. Plan Omega

- 35. Sitrep

- 36. Long Distance Call

- 37. Unpredictable Effects

- 38. Waning Mun

- 39. Birds, Snakes, an Aeroplane

- 40. Last Flight of the Bad-S

Before Volume 3:

- Interlude

Volume 3 - The Fateful Fifty

- 41. Scattered

- 42. The Meaning of Life

- 43. Fabien and Jeb's Excellent Adventure

- 44. Enemy Within

- 45. Hard Choices

- 46. The Eve Survivor

- 47. Bob's Hope

- 48. The Warning

- 49. Sightings

- 50. How I hate Gilly

- 51. Glexit

- 52. Not Exactly a SSTO

- 53. Trial and Error

Here's the first chapter. Hope you enjoy the reading!

Edited April 26, 2017 by Parkaboy

[Mister Dilsby]

Wow! I love the concept, the story, and the graphic design is truly outstanding! I think I can learn a thing or two or seventeen from you, Parkaboy--well done!

[Parkaboy]

Wow! I love the concept, the story, and the graphic design is truly outstanding! I think I can learn a thing or two or seventeen from you, Parkaboy--well done!

Thanks a lot! I doubt I can top you on the storytelling, but I know a thing or two about design. I guess we can learn from each other. ;-)

[Gaarst]

Really cool concept and comics !

Waiting eagerly for the sequel

[Scotius]

"Or maybe too short..." There should be ominous "Dun Dun DUNNNN!!!" playing in the background Very good start - you got me hooked.

[Terwin]

The 'Accept all rescue missions' rule adds a bit of Russian roulette, one or two 'low Kerbol orbit' missions and you could get into major trouble due to needing to spend all your funds to satisfy them.

Do you intend to add some sort of off-world launch-pads at some point? Otherwise any lost parts will become irreplaceable after year 3...

I foresee lots of Kerbin surveys in your future unless you restrict planes as part of the 10 days per launch restriction. (if planes are also restricted, you probably need ISRU ASAP so you can reuse a single launch several times)

Does a KSC science rover or a pod or used to either pop-out a kerbal or recover data from a reusable vehicle count as a launch?

Good thing the science tree can be filled in the Kerbin SOI...

[GDJ]

Okay, good start. You have me hooked so far.

[Parkaboy]

"Or maybe too short..." There should be ominous "Dun Dun DUNNNN!!!" playing in the background Very good start - you got me hooked.

I guess the "Dun Dun DUNNNN!!!" was implied? I definitely had it on my mind while writing that line...

The 'Accept all rescue missions' rule adds a bit of Russian roulette, one or two 'low Kerbol orbit' missions and you could get into major trouble due to needing to spend all your funds to satisfy them.

Do you intend to add some sort of off-world launch-pads at some point? Otherwise any lost parts will become irreplaceable after year 3...

I foresee lots of Kerbin surveys in your future unless you restrict planes as part of the 10 days per launch restriction. (if planes are also restricted, you probably need ISRU ASAP so you can reuse a single launch several times)

Does a KSC science rover or a pod or used to either pop-out a kerbal or recover data from a reusable vehicle count as a launch?

Good thing the science tree can be filled in the Kerbin SOI...

Yeah, I think I'm going to need to invest in science, ISRU and large rockets as quickly as possible. Setting up some refueling system will be essential in the long run. At the beginning, though, the characters won't know what's coming, so the first flights will be business as usual.

I don't plan on using extraplanetary launch pads, though. The challenge will be to have hadware on hand that's flexible and reusable. After the 3 years are up, there will be some things to do before the end of the story, and I think they're doable if I get the right hardware in space beforehand.

And I don't intend to do any launches just to grab science from KSC. I'll have to get what I can while doing other missions.

[Starhawk]

Beautifully done!

Looking forward to more.

Happy landings!

[Nich]

Very nice comic style, I am definitely hooked. My only complaint is the front matter ruined a lot of the surprise. If you wanted to explain your rules I think you should have worked it into comic form. (Have Bob mention the next rocket will not be ready for 10 days) Also you must be using 24 hour days rather then kerbal 6 hour days which kind of kills the lore for me

If you want to change it PM me and I will delete this post so I dont give away any spoilers

[Parkaboy]

Very nice comic style, I am definitely hooked. My only complaint is the front matter ruined a lot of the surprise. If you wanted to explain your rules I think you should have worked it into comic form. (Have Bob mention the next rocket will not be ready for 10 days) Also you must be using 24 hour days rather then kerbal 6 hour days which kind of kills the lore for me

If you want to change it PM me and I will delete this post so I dont give away any spoilers

Yeah, I though a while about not giving away the plot beforehand, but I concluded the concept was important for the readers to decide if they were interested. Don't worry, there are still many details that will be revealed gradually. And I was using kerbal days, not 24 hour ones. I agree that's an important detail immersion wise.

On another matter, I just noticed I made a very stupid mistake. I used a sandbox game for the first chapter, so all the buildings are upgraded when they should be tier 1! I'll have to fix that, redo some scenes... Continuity is very important!

[Mister Dilsby]

Yeah, I though a while about not giving away the plot beforehand, but I concluded the concept was important for the readers to decide if they were interested. Don't worry, there are still many details that will be revealed gradually. And I was using kerbal days, not 24 hour ones. I agree that's an important detail immersion wise.

FWIW, I think it's fine. The time limit is a major hook of your story and it's OK for the reader to see this on the "back of the book jacket" as it were, before it's revealed to the characters.

Very interested to see how you pull this off, seeing as my crew is just now making it back from Duna and it's already past your three year time limit. And then there's the crew around/on Eve!

[Seajay]

I've only just started using KIS/KAS but already the idea of playing this scenario without it is too much for me. Even if all your craft have the same docking connection, it's going to be so frustrating when you find that you desperately need a strut somewhere or you can't actually accelerate the resulting structure. That's the challenge I suppose, lots of careful thought will be needed about everything you put in to space. Best of luck.

[Starwhip]

On another matter, I just noticed I made a very stupid mistake. I used a sandbox game for the first chapter, so all the buildings are upgraded when they should be tier 1! I'll have to fix that, redo some scenes... Continuity is very important!

Whoops! XD

I didn't really realize it either until you said it. I play too much Sandbox.

Love your style!

[Nich]

What a brain fart I did some really fuzzy math yes you are right 128.8 launches if you launched on day 0

[Mister Dilsby]

What a brain fart I did some really fuzzy math yes you are right 128.8 launches if you launched on day 0

The rescues are really going to eat into that number--if it was me, I'd just build ONE very efficient ship with lots of seats for passengers. He could drive it around for months sweeping up stranded Kerbals, then send them down in batches of 16.

[Parkaboy]

I've only just started using KIS/KAS but already the idea of playing this scenario without it is too much for me. Even if all your craft have the same docking connection, it's going to be so frustrating when you find that you desperately need a strut somewhere or you can't actually accelerate the resulting structure. That's the challenge I suppose, lots of careful thought will be needed about everything you put in to space. Best of luck.

I never used KAS much. The mod is really interesting, but it tended to cause a few bugs and made one of my savegames unplayable... Playing stock might be a bigger challenge, but I think it's cool, since I'll be able to share ship designs with anyone who asks.

The rescues are really going to eat into that number--if it was me, I'd just build ONE very efficient ship with lots of seats for passengers. He could drive it around for months sweeping up stranded Kerbals, then send them down in batches of 16.

Well, when I said I had to accept all rescue contracts, I didn't said I had to do them right away. I think I can keep the number of rescues manageable if I take my time until, for instance, picking up someone in Mun orbit matches the objectives of another mission...

Oh, and good news! I've updated the first chapter with scenes that reflect the actual savegame, with tier 1 buildings. Chapter 1 is remastered. I just hope I don't end up like George Lucas...

[Starwhip]

I never used KAS much. The mod is really interesting, but it tended to cause a few bugs and made one of my savegames unplayable... Playing stock might be a bigger challenge, but I think it's cool, since I'll be able to share ship designs with anyone who asks.

Well, when I said I had to accept all rescue contracts, I didn't said I had to do them right away. I think I can keep the number of rescues manageable if I take my time until, for instance, picking up someone in Mun orbit matches the objectives of another mission...

Oh, and good news! I've updated the first chapter with scenes that reflect the actual savegame, with tier 1 buildings. Chapter 1 is remastered. I just hope I don't end up like George Lucas...

Seamless transition between the two.

Good luck!

[Mister Dilsby]

I just hope I don't end up like George Lucas...

Jeb still launched first in the 'remastered' version, so I think you're OK.

[Parkaboy]

Here's the second chapter, with moar mysteries!

[Sharkman Briton]

"Aliens"

[Starhawk]

Excellent drama!

This is a very interesting situation you're developing.

Happy landings!

[Parkaboy]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Also, I forgot to mention that I've updated the "rules" I'm following in the career game. I added a rule that says I don't have to wait 10 days to "reuse" a plane (as long as it's a plane that has been used before and was landed in the strip without damage. The logic is that in this case there's no assembly required, and the strip, unlike the launch pad, doesn't need to be refurbished. The 10 day cooldown time still aplies if it's a spaceplane with new cargo being added.

[Mister Dilsby]

What the what? Holy Moho indeed! I liked the effect you put on the "vision" ship, very other-kerbly.

[Scotius]

A ship from the...earlier save? Future? Is reality coming apart at the seams?