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

[Torgo]

3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Exactly. It launched full and Tedus dead-sticked it into the water, so I don't have the ability to transfer fuel forward. But of course, having too much fuel is a problem that's easy to solve

You'll have to rename it to the Valdez first. 

[Mister Dilsby]

12 minutes ago, Chemp said:

Well, Kuzzter still has his best pilot available to pick them up: Jeb!

Actually my best available pilots are a two-kerb team, Effive and Effnine Kerman. You may have worked with them yourselves, once or twice  

But hey, this should give you a pretty good idea of what I did--or at least, what I tried to do:

So--I'm not sure if this is a 1.1.3 bug or a 'feature', but with Skimmeroo splashed down, the crew could not perform the 'climb out' or 'clamber' action AT ALL. This became very disconcerting when I had Bob jump over the side and could not get him back aboard, even using the ladder, or having him stand on the submerged wing... fortunately Effnine was passing by and was able to haul him up.

Similarly, Bob has no way to get out of the onboard luxury hot tub (there's an RTG back there somewhere) that was once the science bay. Yes, there's a ladder, but it's not really for climbing, it's really just to hang onto when grabbing data. I recall now that I-- that is, Bill--only tested getting in/out of the bay with the prototype parked on the runway.

And if you're sharp-eyed, and/or you actually read the dialogue, you'll have noticed that uniform-of-the-day for Laythe is IVA suits with helmets. I figure if the atmosphere is thick enough to fly a plane with stubby wings, it's thick enough for the lighter and more fashionable option. 

Next up, Tedus will attempt to beach his jetboat, drain the science bay, and hope that Bob will be able to climb out then. Or maybe he'll fall out of the bay before they get there--climbing problem solved, but since I already know he won't be able to get back aboard while Skimmeroo is splashed, he'll have a nice long swim ahead of him  

[Dman979]

6 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Next up, Tedus will attempt to beach his jetboat, drain the science bay, and hope that Bob will be able to climb out then. Or maybe he'll fall out of the bay before they get there--climbing problem solved, but since I already know he won't be able to get back aboard while Skimmeroo is splashed, he'll have a nice long swim ahead of him  

I can't wait to see your cork model in PowerPoint.

 

Do you think he'll have to go to space in the flying bathtub?

[Chemp]

3 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Actually my best available pilots are a two-kerb team, Effive and Effnine Kerman. You may have worked with them yourselves, once or twice  

Oh, those two... Yeah, that team is unbeatable! But Effive has sometimes the nasty habit to take the wheel/ruther/joystick before Effnine can intervene. When that happens, all hope is lost.

Bob said:

AAAAHHHHHH!!

I did NOT see that coming! Poor Bob

But why are you not heading towards land? Can the Skimmeroo lift itself out of the water?

[Mister Dilsby]

7 minutes ago, Chemp said:

But why are you not heading towards land? Can the Skimmeroo lift itself out of the water?

Maybe it can, maybe it can't--but I'm pretty sure Bob would not survive the trip to orbit inside the cargo bay. If you meant "why not fly the ship to land", the slope of that shore is way too steep to attempt a landing. You'll see when they get a bit closer  

[Dman979]

1 hour ago, Chemp said:

But why are you not heading towards land? Can the Skimmeroo lift itself out of the water?

He is, you just can't see it here. He's turning around- the thrust is going in a circular pattern, and the title is "Turnabout is Fair Play." Oh, and he's pressing the "A" key.

It can lift itself out of the water. You see those things in panel 3 on the bottom of the boat?

HERE----->

 

It took me a second, but those are landing gear. (I thought they were floats at first.)

Edited December 6, 2016 by Dman979
Added that Kuzzter is pressing "A."

[Mister Dilsby]

33 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

He is, you just can't see it here. He's turning around- the thrust is going in a circular pattern, and the title is "Turnabout is Fair Play."P

Thanks, I missed a "not" in @Chemp's question--(and pssst, spoiler the quoted page please  )

[Dman979]

3 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

(and pssst, spoiler the quoted page please  )

I tried, but the text next to it didn't format correctly.

[Starhawk]

Bob and Tedus really do have a lot of fun together, don't they?

I must say I was surprised at how low Skimmeroo sits in Laythe's oceans.  Looks like Tedus is having no problem getting the ship out of the water nonetheless.  Never having built a floatplane, I had not considered the implications of landing in otherworldly bodies of water.  If Bob still can't get out, I'm sure Tedus can do a couple of barrel rolls or something.

Hm, Bob might have some concerns about that plan.

Happy Concerned landings!

[KAL 9000]

If Bob is floating away, a flying ferret will rescue him.

[rlin]

Well, at least they aren't stranded. Again.

9 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

If Bob is floating away, a flying ferret will rescue him.

Are you referencing this?

[Mister Dilsby]

11 minutes ago, rlin said:

Are you referencing this?

Ah. @KAL 9000's comment makes marginally more sense, now.

[Ultimate Steve]

Two interesting facts:

1. I ended up playing chess against myself (I have no life) with half of the pieces and somehow I actually won (well, either way I would win, but the me with half of the pieces did).

2. The lunar module on Apollo 12 was called Intrepid. I did not know that until five minutes ago.

[Mister Dilsby]

On 12/5/2016 at 9:37 PM, Starhawk said:

I must say I was surprised at how low Skimmeroo sits in Laythe's oceans.  Looks like Tedus is having no problem getting the ship out of the water nonetheless.  

And now he's out! But it looks like he's going back in again! WHAT WILL HAPPEN?!!

So yes, Skimmeroo does sit low. It's not THAT much lower than on Kerbin, but it's apparently enough to make a difference. Of course the first thing I did after landing was run some "simulations" to make sure I could get back to orbit before making the landing canon. I found that I could not in fact get to takeoff speed the "normal" way (if you want to see an "abnormal" way that actually works, stay tuned  ). I think this is due to a few factors:

• lower buoyancy wets more surface area of the ship, increasing drag (observed)
• local 'water' has higher viscosity, increasing drag (a hypothesis, not tested)
• lower air density requires higher takeoff speed 

This might be a great topic for a masters thesis on extrakerbinal hydro/aerodynamics  

Edited December 7, 2016 by Kuzzter
mis-ordered pages first time

[DarkOwl57]

HAHAHA SO MY IDEA WAS A SUCCESS!!!

[Mister Dilsby]

4 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

HAHAHA SO MY IDEA WAS A SUCCESS!!!

Go ahead and give yourself a cookie, but I had already played through all this (and more) before I even posted them de-orbiting  

[Starhawk]

11 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

local 'water' has higher viscosity, increasing drag (a hypothesis, not tested)

Hmmm.  Interesting hypothesis.  I'm afraid I'm more likely to have said "Water's water.", but I'm not a genius chemist or engineer.

I would assume lower atmospheric density and sitting lower (thus increasing drag) are the most significant factors,

I loved the line about the itches.

Happy landings!

[KSK]

We'll get the WheelMice to write a thesis:

"Voyaging to Laythe without getting soggy - a comparative aerodynamic and hydrodynamic study."

--- squeek.

[Zhetaan]

2 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

• lower buoyancy wets more surface area of the ship, increasing drag (observed)
• local 'water' has higher viscosity, increasing drag (a hypothesis, not tested)

I'm not certain that Laythe's oceanic viscosity is a defined property, except in the sense that it affects drag.  Buoyancy results from density, however, and that is defined.  For Skimmeroo to sit so low, the ocean has to be less dense than the ocean on Kerbin.

Of course, this coupled with the fact that it is liquid under 273 K (even at the poles!) means that there's something in those oceans that isn't water (well, none of it is water, given the scale of the system, but I'm willing to suspend at least a little of my disbelief).

Salt is the popular choice, but salt increases the density of the solution.  Skimmeroo ought to float higher if there is a lot of salt in the ocean.  On the other hand, there is a possibility that is less dense than water, mixes well with it, and has excellent anti-freezing properties.

Would you be averse to 'discovering' that Laythe's oceans are full of ... 'hydrazine'?  

[Mister Dilsby]

49 minutes ago, Zhetaan said:

Salt is the popular choice, but salt increases the density of the solution.  Skimmeroo ought to float higher if there is a lot of salt in the ocean.  

Right, I had the same thought regarding salt which is why I had Bob throw in the line about "dissolved gases". Maybe there's so much sulfur dioxide or whatever else is in the air that makes it unbreathable that it's seeped into the oceans, enough to lower the overall density *waves hands*. I really hadn't considered any other options--

49 minutes ago, Zhetaan said:

Would you be averse to 'discovering' that Laythe's oceans are full of ... 'hydrazine'?  

--huh. Huh! Well...I suppose we won't know for sure what it's made of until Bob gets his samples back to Intrepid for a full analysis.  

[Deddly]

Then again, how about something really simple, like there is no dissolved salt in Laythe's oceans, wheras there is in Kerbin's?

[Dman979]

25 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Then again, how about something really simple, like there is no dissolved salt in Laythe's oceans, wheras there is in Kerbin's?

Do you use Occam's Razor to shave with or something?

[Zhetaan]

31 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Then again, how about something really simple, like there is no dissolved salt in Laythe's oceans, wheras there is in Kerbin's?

Then there would be ice at the poles and everywhere else it goes below freezing.  Laythe has a minimum surface temperature of 247K, or -26 deg. C.

At that temperature, it's too cold even for saline solutions--below -21.1 deg. C, you get ice with salt inclusions, as though it were a flawed gemstone.  There could be other salts, of course, but you can only depress the freezing point just so far--there pretty much has to be something else in Laythe's oceans.  Water and salt just don't cut it.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Zhetaan

[Deddly]

Laythe does has ice at the poles, doesn't it? Or at least...it used to.

[Dman979]

5 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Or at least...it used to.

Must be global warming. Now, what could cause that?