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

[RAINCRAFTER]

Anyone notice any similarities to Duna Attacks by Matt Lowe and Kerbfleet?

I was just thinking.

Great Job BTW, @Kuzzter.

Terrified Landings!

[Dman979]

In Chapter 10, theres some exposition about the whole ritual challenge.

Specifically,

Quote

"Ah, yes. That's fortunate," said the Spy Boss. "We would have had to put the whole mission on hold and not interfere until one of you was dead!"

"Indeed," said the Commander. "Formal challenges are rare these days... but they always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times!"

https://i.imgur.com/836fH1N.png

Kenlie wrote that, so he obviously knows how to delay the plans. Might this be his strategy? Just like Kerbals are bound by GO:0, Kerbulans seem bound by this custom.

 

 

And Kuzzter- I take back what I said earlier about Kerbfleet canon being clear.

There were 8 cases throughout the all of Kerbfleet comics, and they all came in this episode, with the rank device in that position.

1 of them was in a corner, and badly lit.

2 of them were on Evil Jeb

1 of them was on Jeb, well lit, but in a corner

1 was on Jeb, top center of the page.

1 was on Jeb, top left of page, hidden in an inset.

1 on Tedus, floating in the bridge

1 on Tedus, sitting in the bridge, nearly hidden by the belt.

 

The one on Gene is the first time that the eye is really drawn to that particular feature of the suits. In addition, none of the characters not listed have their rank badges in that position.

Finally, there's this:

Spoiler

Tons of medals, all in roughly the same place. The one on Shirley's upper-left chest looks pretty similar to the LTK rank insignia, too.

 

So I take it back. Consistent? Yes. Clear? No. Perhaps it's different for you as an author/player, because you see these suits all the time, but as a reader, this part is more than a little pedantic.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Dman979
Changed tone, changed words for clarification, changed abvr. for correctness

[Alpha 360]

The amazing thing, Zhetaan, is that I am reading Gene Kranz's book, Failure is not an option. 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Alpha 360
"Kouston, we have several problems, but that doesn't matter so we want to continue on with the mission."

[Mister Dilsby]

4 hours ago, Dman979 said:

The one on Gene is the first time that the eye is really drawn to that particular feature of the suits. In addition, none of the characters not listed have their rank badges in that position.

[snip]

So I take it back. Consistent? Yes. Clear? No. Perhaps it's different for you as an author/player, because you see these suits all the time, but as a reader, this part is more than a little pedantic.

The rank insignia are not central to the story, so it's not something I usually prioritize when I'm posing Kerbals for screenshots. When you really need to know someone's rank, I put it in the text...as you may have noticed from your recent survey it's really hard to have a reasonably-sized rank feature on the uniforms that actually shows up on screen, especially when the Kerbal is strapped in.

The style on Gene, Jeb's, and Tedus's uniforms is unique to Air Service. You can also see Samantha's single gold 2LT bar and Tedus's double silver Kaptin pretty well in this shot:

Spoiler

Sarge of course has sarjint's stripes on both sleeves. Everyone else has a Fleet rank which follows US naval tradition, and ST:TNG convention. I found this the easiest to render and see in-panel.

--Enzins have a single pip on the right breast and no sleeve braid (look for Nimzo)
--Junior Lootys and Lootys have a single sleeve braid, and two pips. The Jr Looty's second pip is dark.
--Looty Comders and Comders have two rows of sleeve braid and three pips. The Lt Comder's third pip is dark.
--a Captin has two rows of sleeve braid, extra braid on the tunic closure, and four pips.

Here's a group shot where you can see them all at once, though it's a little small for good resolution. Again, it's usually not important to be able to tell an officer's rank visually in every panel--but when it is, like in the example above, I do try to pose everyone so it's easier to see.

As for Admiral Shirley's very crowded uniform, I'll let her give you the same explanation she gave Mort:

Spoiler

Clear?  

[KSK]

Crystal clear. And may I say for the record that the Intrepid launch sequence still gives me chills. For me, Its right up there with the Build, Fly, Dream and Jebediah Kerman Begins videos as a statement of what KSP can be. And those videos have been my constant muses for the past three and a bit years.

Thanks @Kuzzter

[Zhetaan]

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

As for Admiral Shirley's very crowded uniform [...]

I feel the overly pedantic need to point out that you're still technically following Star Trek customs here.  There seemed to be at least as many admiral's uniforms as there were admirals--there were five or six different variants in the TNG era alone, I think--so I tend to consider Mort's questioning in that panel more indicative of his complete lack of understanding of the uniformed services than anything else.

Of course, that makes his 'Aye, aye' at the end more cheeky than anything else, but I figure that he was in a position to get away with it.

[DarkOwl57]

11 hours ago, RAINCRAFTER said:

Anyone notice any similarities to Duna Attacks by Matt Lowe and Kerbfleet?

I was just thinking.

Great Job BTW, @Kuzzter.

Terrified Landings!

OMG I LOVED THAT SERIES!!!!!

[Mister Dilsby]

53 minutes ago, Zhetaan said:

I feel the overly pedantic need to point out that you're still technically following Star Trek customs here.  There seemed to be at least as many admiral's uniforms as there were admirals--there were five or six different variants in the TNG era alone, I think--so I tend to consider Mort's questioning in that panel more indicative of his complete lack of understanding of the uniformed services than anything else

Lol--but no, surely that is NOT a regulation uniform. Perhaps it was something young Midshipkerb Shirley saw long, long ago when she briefly met the legendary Horatio Kerman, and it made such an impression that she resolved to wear one like it if she ever reached such a lofty rank herself.

Presuming Val survives this and gets promoted at some point, I think she'd just wear a lime tunic with some extra braid. Maybe a shoulder board if I can ever figure out where those go in the texture map  

[DarkOwl57]

Wait.... How did we go from an epic pre-battle sequence to a uniform discussion?

[KAL 9000]

Can we have a link to the Intrepid launch sequence and images of all the uniform ranks.

[Mister Dilsby]

2 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

Can we have a link to the Intrepid launch sequence and images of all the uniform ranks.

Ah, you must be new here  Links to imgur albums for all the chapters are in the OP. The chapter where Intrepid launches is called, strangely enough, "Intrepid Away!" 

As to images of all the ranks, I think you can see enough of them in that chapter, and in the rest of the comic. I'm afraid I don't have the time to go find an example of each one for you. Feel free to flip through the Imgur albums if you'd rather not look in the thread.

Further information may or may not appear in the "canon" thread, the link to which appears in my sig. Anyone is welcome to help me out by posting links and writeups there--I will incorporate the good stuff in the OP. Otherwise, I don't really engage in research projects for the benefit of readers who could maybe go find the stuff themselves given the resources (like the canon page, and chapter links in the OP) which I've already provided  

[Zhetaan]

1 hour ago, DarkOwl57 said:

Wait.... How did we go from an epic pre-battle sequence to a uniform discussion?

It's an action comic.  You have to keep up with the sudden changes.  

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

Lol--but no, surely that is NOT a regulation uniform.

That's Admiral to you, and the Admiral Shirley is in a position to write some of these regulations (even if they only apply to her).

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

Presuming Val survives this and gets promoted at some point, I think she'd just wear a lime tunic with some extra braid.

Implying that she has a choice in the matter only proves the point that admirals have options to customise their uniforms.  Not that it's really likely, of course:  after this, whether or not you make a comic for it, you still have at least three other places to go (and OPM, if you go for it, adds more, not to mention that whatever the resolution with the Kerbulans, someone's going to need to oversee the situation there), and Val strikes me as the kind of person who--especially after this--would take Kirk's advice:  'Don't let them promote you.  Don't let them transfer you.  Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there, you can make a difference.'  So maybe Val will settle for a special Captin's bomber supplies-pod-delivery-pilot jacket like the one Picard wore.

[DarkOwl57]

I have decided to do this one thing for my own good.

Due to a lack of participation in my War story (See the link below to check it out), I probably won't try to make another series. It was a good run; I had a maximum of 76 comments on my second story; But I feel that I'm losing an edge. I don't know what to do really... I'm trying my absolute hardest to bring attention to it and work my best to write good quality chapters... But it's not working. I feel like I've failed in some way. @Kuzzter, @Just Jim, @Draconiator, and all the other writers, I thank you for inspiring me to write my own stories, and I hope you all do better than I did.

[Mister Dilsby]

1 minute ago, DarkOwl57 said:

I have decided to do this one thing for my own good. [snip]

Very sorry to hear that @DarkOwl57. I encourage you not to give up--but instead maybe to find some different ways forward. We have a thread for writers to talk about writing which is a better place to discuss that kind of thing  

[max_creative]

8 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

I have decided to do this one thing for my own good.

 You're an amazing writer (definitely way better than me)! Please don't make me a sad max_creative! 

Wait... I have an idea...  

[something]

Shock cone intake, probe core, fuel tank, Rapier. Kerbfleet should have the potential to produce state-of-the-art  guided weapon systems with an incredible amount of dV...

[Mister Dilsby]

5 minutes ago, something said:

Shock cone intake, probe core, fuel tank, Rapier. Kerbfleet should have the potential to produce state-of-the-art  guided weapon systems with an incredible amount of dV...

Oh yeah, sure...Wernher's come a long way from wiping out the Allied command structure with a single, precision W-2 strike hasn't he? And we also know from the Zweischenspiel that he "has the potential" to do exactly the same thing, but with a nuclear warhead. 

But, would he? 

And, would Kerbfleet?

That question, gentlekerbs, is pretty much the central premise of this story.

[Whirligig Girl]

6 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

As for Admiral Shirley's very crowded uniform, I'll let her give you the same explanation she gave Mort:

  Hide contents

 

The real reason is that it would surely break my heart if you changed her uniform. I remember the day I tailored it like it was only two years ago: that is, not very well. Good thing I kept a journal that day. ^{Ah yes, the days when reputation had those awesome titles, and we had reputation points instead of replikes.}

This story's climax seems to be approaching just as fast as the current Mark Farinas Trekcomic. (Start here) What a world.

Edited January 6, 2017 by GregroxMun

[Dman979]

 

On the topic of uniforms, Kerbfleet and otherwise...

 

During the American Civil War, it seem as if there are as many General-rank uniforms as there were generals. Grant, for instance, wore a cavalry hat like @Kuzzter's and a frock coat, but Sheridan wore a French Connection hat much like @ManeTI's. Jackson wore the uniform of a Confederate general, with the hat from a VMI cadet. Early wore a Hardee hat, and Hardee wore no hat. In short, general officers (and, to a lesser extent, colonels and below) had as much freedom of choice as they wanted.

Since Kerbfleet is Mildly Military, it makes sense to me that flag/star officers get to pick and chose the parts of their attire.

[StupidAndy]

I just re-re-re-reread the ENTIRE kerbfleet series... O_o

great job @Kuzzter! cant wait for the next pages!

[The solid fuel chemist]

As soon as I heard the words "suit up" the airwolf theme started playing in my head. This is possibly the most satisfying thing I've ever seen on the forums. It's the thing I think a lot of us were waiting for this whole time. For the story to reach this point is truly exciting. Also, I think it's high time that Kenlie released his inner badS that I hope for his sake, is there.

Edited January 8, 2017 by The solid fuel chemist

[Mister Dilsby]

Thanks all! Good day today designing stuff; there's something...crazy I'm building for the next part...or I should say, re-building. I got it working finally; pages coming when they come!

[0111narwhalz]

3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Thanks all! Good day today designing stuff; there's something...crazy I'm building for the next part...or I should say, re-building. I got it working finally; pages coming when they come!

[panic intensifies]

[Mister Dilsby]

[rlin]

Did they have to find the zeros on the days since a deadly incident chart?

Spoiler

From EO0: