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

[max_creative]

1 hour ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Dres Awareness?

 

Stay Determined . . .

I hope Dres awareness... My Dres 5 and 6 made orbit today.

More pages @Kuzzter?

for science! For snacks! For Dres!

Edited April 3, 2016 by max_creative

[rlin]

What next for NOM-based meal subsitutes? Gâteau NOM chocolat?

[Geschosskopf]

58 minutes ago, rlin said:

What next for NOM-based meal subsitutes? Gâteau NOM chocolat?

NREs:  NOMinally Reconstituted Excrement.

[Mister Dilsby]

19 hours ago, max_creative said:

My Dres 5 and 6 made orbit today.

Congratulations! I look forward to visiting your mission report thread.

2 hours ago, rlin said:

What next for NOM-based meal subsitutes? Gâteau NOM chocolat?

Really what I need to do it take the index of a Julia Child book and just write NOM somewhere over every entry. Fortunately French has a lot of "non" sounds in it so there are plenty of opportunities. 

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

NREs:  NOMinally Reconstituted Excrement.

Right, that's the stuff KSMC drivers pack when they're surfaceside for a long haul. Some of the NREs come in 'boil-in bags' that you can just drop into the nearest purple puddle on Eve. With a surface pressure of 5 ATM it's a perfect unholy union of pressure cooking and sous-vide!

So, I haven't been completely idle on KSP since April Fools. I did take Intrepid 40 days ahead in her journey, which would have gone much quicker if (1) I didn't insist on stopping every 20 days to send the science data home, and (2) if time warp actually made the transmission happen any faster. I'll admit I would be a bit more inclined to tough it out at extreme low fps if I didn't see 1.1 coming right around the corner. 

Meantime, I'm working on stuff I know I'll need for the next chapters of the story. I guess it's not too much of a spoiler to tell you I'm building some new Kerbulan warships and fighters. Very happy terrified with how those are coming out. I'll just say this about the Mk2 Kerbulan anti-ship homing missile: remember all those shots of Kenlie Kermulan blowing up hapless capsules and targets around Eve? I used TAC Self-Destruct or other "special effects" to make that work. 

I don't need TAC Self-Destruct any more. 

[max_creative]

3 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Meantime, I'm working on stuff I know I'll need for the next chapters of the story. I guess it's not too much of a spoiler to tell you I'm building some new Kerbulan warships and fighters. Very happy terrified with how those are coming out. I'll just say this about the Mk2 Kerbulan anti-ship homing missile: remember all those shots of Kenlie Kermulan blowing up hapless capsules and targets around Eve? I used TAC Self-Destruct or other "special effects" to make that work. 

I don't need TAC Self-Destruct any more. 

You need more explosions. A lot more explosions. And some more pages. 

For explosions! For kerbfleet!

[Starhawk]

6 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

I don't need TAC Self-Destruct any more. 

Uh oh.  Sounds like the danger for our brave but vastly underinformed Kerbfleet crew is increasing with every move Kuzzter the Kerbulan Empire makes!

Happy Concerned Nervous Anxious Frightened landings!

[max_creative]

22 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Congratulations! I look forward to visiting your mission report thread.

Well, I don't have a mission report... Or pics... Yet... But I will have one. Maybe. For Dres! I'm just sending stuff to orbit to prepare for my Dres awareness mission. And a Dres CTV and Dres 5 made my first docking.

[Geschosskopf]

19 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Right, that's the stuff KSMC drivers pack when they're surfaceside for a long haul. Some of the NREs come in 'boil-in bags' that you can just drop into the nearest purple puddle on Eve. With a surface pressure of 5 ATM it's a perfect unholy union of pressure cooking and sous-vide!

Having cooked actual GI MREs in repurposed coffee cans full of tepid water marginally warmed over oil lamps made from empty nylon sandbags immersed in buckets of jet fuel, that actually sounds rather good, if you're hungry enough   I served back in the days largely spanning the gap between being able to cook the old C-rats over homemade stoves burning globs of C4 explosive and MREs having water-reactive heating sleeves.  So mostly I ate cold MREs with only a bit of hot food at the front and the back of my career, and that odd interval in the middle when we lacked adult supervision and could season our meals with toxic smoke.

I don't need TAC Self-Destruct any more. 

Glorious!

You know, the main saving grace of Kerbfleet might be that they're such total pushovers.  Where's the Kerbulian glory in defeating them?  I doubt the Kerbulians have ever face somebody who lacked even the concept of fighting back.

[RocketSquid]

Ever since I learned that Kuzzter uses stunt doubles, I've been expecting a spaceballs moment. I'm imagining it now:

Evil Jeb: "Ha, you fools. Did you seriously think that you could escape the imperious might of planet Kerbulus?"

*Val turns around, revealing terrified expression*

Evil Jeb: "You IDIOTS!! You've captured their stunt doubles!"

[Geschosskopf]

29 minutes ago, RocketSquid said:

Ever since I learned that Kuzzter uses stunt doubles, I've been expecting a spaceballs moment. I'm imagining it now:

Evil Jeb: "Ha, you fools. Did you seriously think that you could escape the imperious might of planet Kerbulus?"

*Val turns around, revealing terrified expression*

Evil Jeb: "You IDIOTS!! You've captured their stunt doubles!"

And you know, , Dark Helmet's body proportions are quite Kerbalesque

, 

 

[Mister Dilsby]

16 hours ago, Starhawk said:

Uh oh.  Sounds like the danger for our brave but vastly underinformed Kerbfleet crew is increasing with every move Kuzzter the Kerbulan Empire makes!

 

15 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

You know, the main saving grace of Kerbfleet might be that they're such total pushovers.  Where's the Kerbulian glory in defeating them?  I doubt the Kerbulians have ever face somebody who lacked even the concept of fighting back.

Well, I wonder if this might be the time to disclose that the author, though presently an amateur boxer, holds a black belt in aikido--an art dedicated to escaping injury, and sometimes messing people up, without 'fighting back'. And 'underinformed' does not necessarily mean "unprepared', as we'll see in today's update!

 

[Deddly]

Ooh this is really good. The buildup of tension is almost unbearable. I can't wait to see what Kenlie sees (dirt on the lens, I'm sure).

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Good god, it's time for Kenlie to unveil Kerbulus...

Kenlie! You are our last line of defense!

 

Stay Determined . . .

[McFarnsworth]

Tension so thick you can cut it with a knife it's causing atmospheric drag!

You took that into account when plotting the trajectory, right?

[max_creative]

Yay a more pages! Val's chair is her evacuation seat! And- wait... Oh no! They will find kerbulus! And then get hit! Because it's "return with your missile racks empty, or not at all!" Although you can't really call them missile racks. They just have one missile under each wing. And there are no nukes. Just 96 RTG's.

[smjjames]

The Captian goes down with the ship... (not sure if the woman in the pic below is actually a Captian in rank, wiki says she's an officer)

Either that or the bridge itself is a flyable craft all on it's own.

Edited April 4, 2016 by smjjames

[Starhawk]

Dun dun dunn!!!

Wonderfully played.  I'm certainly 'on the edge of my seat command chair'.

I love that Kenlie has such a central role in the unfolding drama.  Who knows what powers are contained in the mind of a writer?

Thanks Kuzzter.

Happy Anticipatory landings!

[Deddly]

@Starhawk, what you should be worried about is the anti-Kenlie who presumably knows they aren't armed.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Deddly

[Geschosskopf]

10 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Well, I wonder if this might be the time to disclose that the author, though presently an amateur boxer, holds a black belt in aikido--an art dedicated to escaping injury, and sometimes messing people up, without 'fighting back'. And 'underinformed' does not necessarily mean "unprepared', as we'll see in today's update! 

True, akido is a good thing.  We train a bit on it in my job to deal with crazy people.  I was more thinking that Kerbulian societal advancement seems based on accumulating glory for amazing feats of arms (which includes cunningly backstabbing rivals as well as triumphant conquests).  The more powerful the adversary, the greater the glory.  But the flipside of that is smashing weak adversaries would lower your credit by giving the impression that you're too weak to play in the big leagues.  So I can see the Kerbulians showing up all armed to the teeth and shouting their warcries, obviously issuing a challenge, and then, when Kerbfleet doesn't even speak that language let alone accept, the Kerbulians would lose interest and go away

Anyway, so will Kinlie think he's totally crazy and now hallucinating, or will he realize he's a valuable intel source (but still crazy or he wouldn't have the intel)?

[Starhawk]

2 minutes ago, Deddly said:

@Starhawk, what you should be worried about is the anti-Kenlie who presumably knows they aren't armed.

Well, of course.  Why do you think I spend so much of my time in this thread 'concerned', 'nervous', 'anxious', 'frightened', 'alarmed', or 'terrified'?

Happy Concerned Nervous landings!

[max_creative]

7 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Well, of course.  Why do you think I spend so much of my time in this thread 'concerned', 'nervous', 'anxious', 'frightened', 'alarmed', or 'terrified'?

Happy Concerned Nervous landings!

Probably because of Kerbulus.

you say "[how you are feeling] landings!"

@SpaceplaneAddict says "stay determined..."

I say "For science! For Dres! For ect."

[SpaceplaneAddict]

12 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Happy Concerned Nervous landings!

It's OK Starhawk... we need to

 

Stay Determined . . .

[Mister Dilsby]

30 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Ooh this is really good. The buildup of tension is almost unbearable. I can't wait to see what Kenlie sees (dirt on the lens, I'm sure).

Ha! Wouldn't that be a letdown? Well, it's still an open question what he'll see, will he tell anyone, and what anyone makes of that information. I haven't decided all of it myself--stay tuned!

25 minutes ago, McFarnsworth said:

You took that into account when plotting the trajectory, right?

Not so much; really, I was going for the quickest path to Jool. No matter which trajectory we took, of course Kerbulus should be visible at some point for a kerb looking in the right direction. This is, I think, the first moment that might be possible--though I do have to do a little study on just how easy it is or it isn't to see a planet like Venus in opposition. That is, how many apparent degrees does it have to be away from the solar disk to be visible at all, and how does the instrument you use affect your ability to see it? 

23 minutes ago, smjjames said:

The Captian goes down with the ship... (not sure if the woman in the pic below is actually a Captian in rank, wiki says she's an officer)

Either that or the bridge itself is a flyable craft all on it's own.

That officer appears to be a Junior Looty  Lieutenant, J.G. As @Geschosskopf has pointed out, though, she would still properly be called 'captain' if in command of a vessel. 

20 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

I love that Kenlie has such a central role in the unfolding drama.  Who knows what powers are contained in the mind of a writer?

18 minutes ago, Deddly said:

@Starhawk, what you should be worried about is the anti-Kenlie who presumably knows they aren't armed.

Right and right. We'll certainly see more of the two Kenlies as things progress. I'd imagine each of them, though very similar in what/how they are able to see the other side, will react to that information differently. We've already seen that their superiors deal with it in different ways. 

14 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

The more powerful the adversary, the greater the glory.  But the flipside of that is smashing weak adversaries would lower your credit by giving the impression that you're too weak to play in the big leagues.  So I can see the Kerbulians showing up all armed to the teeth and shouting their warcries, obviously issuing a challenge, and then, when Kerbfleet doesn't even speak that language let alone accept, the Kerbulians would lose interest and go away

Sounds like a good thing to do on April 1st next year. "Well, I'm sure glad that's over! Let's get all our science, refuel, and go home! Yay!" But I don't think there's much chance of that. Kerbulans have had no trouble in the past blowing up completely defenseless stranded capsules, or even lovable francophone satellites. And remember, the Kerbals have something the Kerbulans really, really want: the technical know-how to construct nuclear weapons. 

12 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

Why do you think I spend so much of my time in this thread 'concerned', 'nervous', 'anxious', 'frightened', 'alarmed', or 'terrified'?

Now that's more like it. To quote Master Yoda, "You should be."

[Deddly]

10 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

This is, I think, the first moment that might be possible--though I do have to do a little study on just how easy it is or it isn't to see a planet like Venus in opposition. That is, how many apparent degrees does it have to be away from the solar disk to be visible at all, and how does the instrument you use affect your ability to see it?

Is this where we start talking about gravitational lensing again?

In all seriousness, Hubble can't be pointed too close to the sun, so it's a valid concern.

 

[SpaceplaneAddict]

49 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Now that's more like it. To quote Master Yoda, "You should be."

But we must also...

 

Stay Determined . . .