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Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-END OF CHAPTER 21! (and hopefully not so many talking heads in 22!)


Mister Dilsby

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1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

Oh yes, I think I will--X5 actually went pretty well, more on that later :)

.....

You're right! Well, I guess that makes up for only getting one point per like rep now. :)

I'm glad you're making progress on the SSSTO.  I think making a long, skinny Mk2 flying boat is the best way to avoid somersaulting on landing.  When the tail hits and swings the nose down, you've got lots of buoyancy with lots of moment arm to stop the swing in its tracks.  This long fuselage, however, does require a lot of thrust to get up to flying speed, a lot of wing to make that flying speed as low as possible, a lot of thrust to overcome the airborne drag of all that wing, and lots of control authority to horse the thing off the water once it's going fast enough.  I've so far only been able to do this with the big engines in Mk 2 Extension.

Speaking of rep, I notice you now see a digital readout of the exact number.  I wonder if there's a way to hide that ;).

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Regarding Laythe buoyancy, I did a quick test and anything that floats just fine at Kerbin will still float, just sit lower into the water, so, you'll have to account for that. Also, Laythe water may be more viscous or something, I dunno.

Kolonial%20Sci_screenshot_2015-12-01--06

Kolonial%20Sci_screenshot_2015-12-01--06

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1 hour ago, smjjames said:

Regarding Laythe buoyancy, I did a quick test and anything that floats just fine at Kerbin will still float, just sit lower into the water, so, you'll have to account for that. Also, Laythe water may be more viscous or something, I dunno.

That's really interesting. The water would have to be less dense for that to be so, since the gravity on Laythe is lower. Hm. Well, Bill will certainly run a simulation once we get a design we like in live Kerbin testing. Speaking of which...

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Both of Mort's lines are absolutely hilarious!

That was all wonderful.  Thank you!

Happy Concerned landings!

eta: Loving the lander.  It obviously flies very nicely.  And 'boats' very well too, apparently. :)

Edited by Starhawk
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Nice craft! I wonder if the pontoons can be ejected in an emergency.... They could then be lauched as unpowered torpedoes. Though what would be the use of that for Kerbfleet? ;)

Om another note, am I mistaken in seeing multiple breaches of General Order 2 here?: "No dangerous Mission shall risk more than the minimum crew required to accomplish it."

Edited by Deddly
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46 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Both of Mort's lines are absolutely hilarious! :)

Isn't it amazing how just a little snark can turn him back into a fan favorite? We're such fickle creatures :D

24 minutes ago, Deddly said:

I wonder if the pontoons can be ejected in an emergency.... 

Om another note, am I mistaken in seeing multiple breaches of General Order 2 here?: "No dangerous Mission shall risk more than the minimum crew required to accomplish it."

1) That's not a bad idea--if nothing else, ejecting them would remove a lot of mass. Hm.

2) Nope--by Kerbfleet standards these missions are not considered 'dangerous'. :D We're talking about water impact with a hardened cockpit, and no need for a rescue.

3 hours ago, Scotius said:

:D Can't wait for more misadventures of your test pilots.

Thanks, doing it this way is loads of fun for me. Besides the opportunity for hilarity, it gives me a chance to re-introduce the team after the great big post-Chairkerb reset at the end of E:O0. 

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Hmm. Does it get to orbit, though? Not much of a spaceplane if it doesn't, although I suppose you could launch it on top of a rocket- either Orange Knight-style, or inside a fairing. Now that you're not concerned about funds... who needs recoverability? :P

 

And I don't see any RCS systems on there. Might make docking a bit hard, no? Speaking of which, I don't see any docking port, either. It doesn't look like it's a long-term craft. How will Kuzzter solve this problem? Find out... in the next installment of "Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey!" Don't touch that dial!

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Parachute landings and SRBs to take off again? Sepratrons to tilt it up?

5 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

That's really interesting. The water would have to be less dense for that to be so, since the gravity on Laythe is lower. Hm. Well, Bill will certainly run a simulation once we get a design we like in live Kerbin testing. Speaking of which...

Fun fact about buoyancy, gravity doesn't matter. There are special tanks for high-g situations where the buoyancy will apply pressure to your feet to stop you from blacking out.

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21 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Dman, it's a prototype, so there's not much point adding superfluous systems to it until a working system is developed.

very true, but I don't see any monopro capacity, except if it's hidden in the cargo bay. It might make sense to add at least some weight, now that the ditching system works.

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18 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

very true, but I don't see any monopro capacity, except if it's hidden in the cargo bay. It might make sense to add at least some weight, now that the ditching system works.

More to the point, I see no docking port.  No point having RCS if you don't have a docking port.  Now, if this is just a crew shuttle and has enough fuel to land under it's own power without refueling in LLO, with the crew switch happening via EVA, neither of these is an issue.  But that would kinda put a kink in using the bird to brind down various resources if needed, so I figure the production model will be able to dock.  And also have a crew cabin because shuttling only 2 Kerbals at a time would be a pain.

So I'm with @Dman979 in thinking the X5 is just a "proof-of-pontoon" vehicle.  Adding a docking port, RCS, and crew cabin will make for a much longer vehicle requiring more macho which means more fuel and the CoM / CoL thing to recalibrate after all these changes.  I doubt the production version will have more than a slight family resemblance to this X5 :)

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8 hours ago, smjjames said:

Regarding Laythe buoyancy, I did a quick test and anything that floats just fine at Kerbin will still float, just sit lower into the water, so, you'll have to account for that. Also, Laythe water may be more viscous or something, I dunno.

Well.....  that's interesting.  The "mysterious fluid erroneously referred to as 'water' in KSP" is either a completely different substance on Laythe than on Kerbin, or has a different density, or both.

Here on Earth, real water's density can vary considerably depending on how much gunk is dissoved or suspended in it.  Anybody who's ever swum in the Great Salt Lake, Dead Sea, or similar salinity-enhanced water has surely noted they've floated MUCH higher in such briny fluids than in swimming pools or even the ocean.  Kerbin has way more land area than Laythe so more dissolved salts wash into Kerbin's oceans than Laythe's, so you'd expect Kerbin's oceans to be saltier and hence things to float higher there, even though the gravity is slightly higher.

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1 hour ago, Scotius said:

Oh, look - Mort recovered from his brain-crash :D And he seems more relaxed to boot. Did you sent him to some tropical island with plenty of kokonuts, scantily clad kerbelles and free umbrella drinks? :D

Nope, just took a lot off his shoulders. It's rumored that after Val's epic coutroom speech Mort's heart 'grew three sizes that day'-- but we're not really sure whether they have a circulatory system or not, so that can't be confirmed.

1 hour ago, Dman979 said:

Hmm. Does it get to orbit, though? Not much of a spaceplane if it doesn't, although I suppose you could launch it on top of a rocket- either Orange Knight-style, or inside a fairing. Now that you're not concerned about funds... who needs recoverability? :P

Oh, I'm pretty sure I can get the final version to orbit--if not the present one! Stay tuned, indeed!

1 hour ago, waterlubber said:

Fun fact about buoyancy, gravity doesn't matter. There are special tanks for high-g situations where the buoyancy will apply pressure to your feet to stop you from blacking out.

You're right! I always forget that: lower gravity makes the fluid weigh less, too. 

29 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

So I'm with @Dman979 in thinking the X5 is just a "proof-of-pontoon" vehicle.  Adding a docking port, RCS, and crew cabin will make for a much longer vehicle requiring more macho which means more fuel and the CoM / CoL thing to recalibrate after all these changes.  I doubt the production version will have more than a slight family resemblance to this X5 :)

That is correct. Love the term 'proof-of-pontoon'! I always put RCS on last, for the reasons G suggested. Pretty sure I have room in the bay, or maybe I'll put a small RCS fuel cylinder on the aft node, maybe a shielded port there as well.

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1 hour ago, Dman979 said:

very true, but I don't see any monopro capacity, except if it's hidden in the cargo bay. It might make sense to add at least some weight, now that the ditching system works.

Every command pod has mono storage AFAIK.

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

More to the point, I see no docking port.  No point having RCS if you don't have a docking port.  Now, if this is just a crew shuttle and has enough fuel to land under it's own power without refueling in LLO, with the crew switch happening via EVA, neither of these is an issue.  But that would kinda put a kink in using the bird to brind down various resources if needed, so I figure the production model will be able to dock.  And also have a crew cabin because shuttling only 2 Kerbals at a time would be a pain.

So I'm with @Dman979 in thinking the X5 is just a "proof-of-pontoon" vehicle.  Adding a docking port, RCS, and crew cabin will make for a much longer vehicle requiring more macho which means more fuel and the CoM / CoL thing to recalibrate after all these changes.  I doubt the production version will have more than a slight family resemblance to this X5 :)

I would imagine the lack of docking ports and RCS thrusters is down to the fact that this is a WIP.

As far as the crew cabin goes, I would think that depends on the mission profile.  As you point out, if you change the configuration that much you have to change a whole bunch of other stuff to get the balance right again.  I guess time will tell. Kuzzter will tell.  Ninja'd!

Happy landings!

Edited by Starhawk
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7 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Every command pod has mono storage AFAIK.

I would imagine the lack of docking ports and RCS thrusters is down to the fact that this is a WIP.

As far as the crew cabin goes, I would think that depends on the mission profile.  As you point out, if you change the configuration that much you have to change a whole bunch of other stuff to get the balance right again.  I guess time will tell.

Happy landings!

Yeah, but not enough for repeated dockings and rendezvouses.
I think we can all agree that this is a proof-of-pontoon, especially because Kuzzter just said so. :P

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7 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Yeah, but not enough for repeated dockings and rendezvouses.
I think we can all agree that this is a proof-of-pontoon, especially because Kuzzter just said so. :P

Well, you only need enough for one docking.  You can refill each time you dock.

But, yeah, I was ninja'd by the man himself.

Happy landings!

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2 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Well, you only need enough for one docking.  You can refill each time you dock.

But, yeah, I was ninja'd by the man himself.

Happy landings!

Very true- but you also need a docking port/klaw! :P

Happy Splashings!

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6 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Well, you only need enough for one docking.  You can refill each time you dock.

But, yeah, I was ninja'd by the man himself.

Happy landings!

The landings going on now are anything but happy :(

Side note: While stalking Kuzzter, I learned that he is sending a capital ship to Jool. He was asking about a way to take helmets off in space, for the bridge of the ship. Kenterprise perhaps?

Edited by Sanic
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