Forgotten Space Program

[Cydonian Monk]

10 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Great chapter!  I suppose future expeditions will have to go armed and treat all Ancient Ones with extreme caution.

Thanks. At the very least any future "rescues" may get locked in an inert cabin for several munths to "decontaminate."

[SpaceplaneAddict]

14 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Thanks. At the very least any future "rescues" may get locked in an inert cabin for several munths to "decontaminate."

Decontaminate what? And why?

[John JACK]

2 hours ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Decontaminate what?

Hidden shovels and/or Space Madness cases, I presume.

[Cydonian Monk]

It's been a soggy and entirely too interesting of a day today in Houston, most of which I spent bailing water and launching rockets. My car might now smell a bit like a sewer, but at least nothing mechanical seems to have taken on more water than normal. No water in the air intakes, transmission looks ok-ish, and the exhaust drained nicely when pounded on with an angry fist. And it still runs, which is more than some of my neighbors can say.

So let's move on to the bit about the rockets....

--

Memories of the Storm

The Sulphur 4 was launched without much in the way of fanfare, and was halfway to the Mün before any of the kerbals at Pioneer Base were aware of its existence. Identical to the Sulphur 2 in every way, the Sulphur 4's launch was entirely routine, and handled completely by the onboard computer system.

As the Sulphur lacks the fuel required to transfer to the Mün, land, and take off again, the S-4 had to top off at the previously discovered "Thing" in Münar orbit. (Pequoni 2.) This entire operation - docking, refueling, and undocking - occurred entirely at night, as is only right and proper.

It was hoped the landing at Pioneer Base would take place during the day, but unfortunately the clock was against them. And so, in what had to be one of the more difficult blind landings in the history of the agency, the Sulphur 4 and its onboard kOS computer, were allowed to land at night, near an inhabited facility, as is about as far from right and proper as one can get.

The kerbals then got to make their way to the Sulphur 4 lander, in the dark, trying desperately not to trip over rocks or bits of the old, recently exploded lander. Not an easy task, even with a headlamp!

All of them except for Macfred, that is, who had to go round up all the undamaged RTGs he could find. (Something he should've done while the Sun was still up, but claims to have simply forgotten. 

The RTG hunt at Pioneer Base was remarkably successful, as Macfred found two on the recently exploded lander (two that didn't set off the geiger counter, that is, meaning their blutonium cores must still be safely contained). Three more on each of the two "old" base modules (removing them would render both modules dead, but following the explosion they were so full of holes they were unlikely to ever hold an atmosphere again). And four from the last remaining rover.

They were starting to wonder if the Sulphur 4 would still be able to take off from the Mün!

Once everything was gathered up (and glued to the back of the sacrificial rover), Macfred set about installing them on the base of the Sulphur 4. All twelve of them. Four they would take with them to Jool, the other eight would remain behind for other future missions. (Assuming Kelgee Station doesn't achieve critical blutonium mass and fissile itself, that is....)

At some point during the RTG relocation process, the World's First representative burst into Mission Control with a new plaque, as such representatives are oft to do. Macfred had apparently started constructing the first outpost on the Mün, and was to be commended upon his return to Kerbin. (No doubt the party they throw for him will be most prodigious.)

Kitting-out complete, Macfred made one last inspection circuit of the lander, and then bounded aboard. Time to go home! Once again Gletrix was assigned the honor of piloting their craft into orbit, where they would rendezvous with yet another Mün Thing to explore.

And what a thing it was, too. The large orange cylinder the kerbals had started to associate with fuel was a welcome sight, meaning they could hopefully top off the S-4 again from this station. First things first, though, they needed to make sure the base was unoccupied. 

And they had no idea of how to do that short of taking a peak in the windows. And they what would they do if it was? Run away? No, there was really nothing to be done except dock up and hope for the best. They were four kerbals, and so far their adversaries had only shown up in units of one. Surely four, able-bodied, mostly sane kerbals could take on whatever ills lurk inside this tin can. Right?

So they just up and docked with it.

As it turns out the station was empty. Completely empty, save for its atmosphere, though apparently left in some sort of a hurry. Several bulkheads were open that should've been closed, half-eaten snacks were floating around the cabin, someone's plans for what appeared to be a football match marked in wax on one of the windows. Generally, a mess.

Printed paraphernalia told them this station had been known as Pequoni 1. It was a small station, with accommodations for no more than two kerbals for any long-duration stay, and nothing in the way of science experiments or crossword puzzles to keep their minds occupied. 

Placed into such a low orbit (20km), all were surprised it was still in orbit. Another surprise was the discovery of what could only be another Mün lander, docked at the port opposite the Sulphur 4. Macfred spent some time digging through the lander while the others busied themselves exploring the other parts of the station.

--

Meanwhile back on Kerbin, Project Argon was in full swing.

A robust communications network is a prerequisite for interplanetary exploration. It's one thing if your probe fails to send back data because it's on the far side of the Sun, it's another thing entirely if your crew can't get instructions for fixing the water reclaimer and then dies of thirst. Placing relays in a variety of orbits was therefore something the agency had always intended to do.

While each of the three Neon Heavy relay satellites had a single 100Gm dish, these were never intended to be the main link to every ship in the outer planets (Dres, Jool, Eeloo), instead they were to link up with another relay that would then handle distribution. And Argon was the next leg in that network.

Designed around a common platform, each Argon satellite will be able to link with up to three other interplanetary targets, with a fourth link back to Kerbin. Four satellites would be launched now, before the departure of the Jool expedition, while another four would be launched in half a year's time. Two of each set of launches would be placed into an orbit between that of Eve and Moho (Argon 1 and 3), while the other two would reside between Duna and Dres (Argon 2 and 4). 

To make the network as robust as possible, the odd-numbered Argon relays would cross-link with the even numbered relays. One of each set would point a dish directly towards Kerbin, while the other would link up with one of the three Neon Heavy satellites. (The fourth dish is always assigned to the "active vessel".)

Each of the four launches was conducted by an LV-07 Crescendo, with an average lift-off mass of 182.70 tonnes. The first stage of the LV-07 was enough to loft the payload clear of the atmosphere, after which the second stage completed the circularization into the craft's parking orbit. The second stage then relit once more to complete the Kerbin ejection burn. 

Many munths later the third stage will perform the capture burn to place each of the four satellites into their intended solar orbits, after which it will be discarded to become interplanetary debris. The final satellite includes a fourth stage engine for any future course corrections or retirement burns. 

We'll check back with the Argon relays in 140 days (or so) for the first two and 451 days for the second two. The second set of satellites will have launched before all four of the first set reach their target orbits.

--

"Interesting." Macfred was busy digging around in the lander's radio equipment, fiddling with the computer terminal attached to it when Thomlock drifted in.

"What's that?"

"It's a radio. Something we invented after you left. Lets you talk to kerbals that are too far away to scream at without lots of string and tin cans."

The look Thomlock gave him would've turned steam to ice. "Ok smartack, I know that. What's it you find so 'interesting'?"

"Well, the lander's radio has an auto-transcription module. See?" He pulled up a list of recordings on the display and pointed at one, "See, that's us now."

Quote

< Cabin-DMO-03 : Ok smart ACK, I know that. What is it you find so interesting? >
< Cabin-UNK-17 : Well, the lander's radio has an auto-transcription module. See? >
< Cabin-UNK-17 : See? That's us now. >

He scrolled through a few entries and transcripts faster than any kerbal could ever read. "This is also the first time I've ever found intact audio data on any of the old ships." He paused over an entry and pointed at it. "See, here's one from several years ago. Definitely from before this place was abandoned."

"Ok kid, play one. Let's hear these ghosts of your not too distant past."

"Hmm." A bit of scrolling and he decided on an entry. "Ok. This one looks like it was recorded during a Mün landing."

Quote

< OpenFreq-MLA-12 : No hurry, Ros, just a few million watching on TV. >
< OpenFreq-MLA-01 : I've got it. Got it. Hang on. >
< OpenFreq-MLA-01 : Here. Elley. Here. One plaque, one flag. Fresh from Kerbin. >
< OpenFreq-MLA-12 : Rosuki has just brought me the flag and the plaque we'll use to commemorate this landing site. Hold on while we get this planted. > 
< OpenFreq-MLA-12 : And so we name this spot Jonbald's Rim. Today we're honoring the explorer Jonbald Kerman, famous for having conducted an extensive exploration of the Mün, or rather the Island of the Mün, way far back in the early days of sail. >
< EVA-MLA-01 : Go to the suit channel! Now! >
< OpenFreq-MLA-12 : What? As you can see Rosuki is now flailing her arms wildly and pointing towards her helmet radio. We'll be right back folks. >
< EVA-MLA-12 : What? You know we're in the middle of... >
< EVA-MLA-01 : Jonbald's Rim?! Are you out of your mind? You'll blow his cover! >
< EVA-MLA-12 : Relax, Ros. Nobody knows he's the same Jonbald. How could they? >
< EVA-MLA-01 : Oh, you don't think they'll notice we just named some random spot in the middle of nowhere Jonbald's Rim? There isn't even a rim here! >
< EVA-MLA-12 : Hey, it's not like it's the real Jonbald's Rim. And what're they going to do about it? Fire us? Strand us in space again? Of course not. At least Jonbald will get a kick out of it. >
< EVA-MLA-01 : [inaudible] Look, when this blows up on us you're the one that gets to explain it to Elite. [inaudible] Go back to the main frequency and shut up about Jonbald. Ok? >
< EVA-MLA-12 : You're the boss, boss. >
< OpenFreq-MLA-12 : And we're back folks. As you can see we've landed in the middle of the Farside Crater, a feature only recently discovered.... >

Macfred paused the playback. "What was that all about?"

"You got me, kid. That one voice sounds familiar." Thomlock reached over Macfred's shoulder to scroll through the transcript. "We should probably send all that back to the lab. See what they think." Macfred ignored him and went back to look at newer transcripts.

"Here's another one. Last entry before we came aboard."

Quote

< Cabin-MLA-04 : So the station's still here. Try the radio again. >
< Cabin-DST-07 : No dice. If the other two are aboard they're not responding. >
< Cabin-MLA-04 : Or not listening. Ok, let's get docked up. Elley will know what to do. >
< Cabin-DST-07 : This doesn't make sense. Why did all the radios stop working? They didn't die like this last time. >
< Cabin-MLA-04 : Your guess is as good as mine. Ok, hard dock. Equalizing. Atmosphere looks good, opening the hatch. >
< Cabin-MLA-12 : Welcome back you two. Ros was worried. >
< Cabin-MLA-04 : Ros is always worried. Besides, Archie here broke the radio with his screaming when we drove off that cliff. >
< Cabin-DST-07 : I still say you're insane. Let's report back to Kerbin, see what [inaudible] >
< Cabin-MLA-12 : No can do little monk. Radios have been dead as dead for several hours. Rosuki says plan change. We go back to Kerbin. Now. So let's get moving. >
< Cabin-DST-07 : Are we abandoning Plan Cornstalk already? >
< Cabin-MLA-04 : Plan what now? >
< Cabin-MLA-12 : Maybe. Maybe not. Too soon to say. It's not like Plan Blue Jacket has been going all that well either. >
< Cabin-MLA-04 : Ok, stop. What's this madness you two are going on about? >
< Cabin-MLA-12 : Hereny, the list of things you don't know would take up an entire book. Rosuki will fill you in on the way back to Kerbin. Now let's go. >
< Cabin-DST-07 : Here, take the snacks. >

"And that's it. Nothing more."

Thomlock pushed away from the console and towards the door. "Best pull a copy of all that. See what your kids in the lab think about it. Like I said before."

"Way ahead of you."

 

Navigation: Next Post

Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[cubinator]

Imagine how creepy it'd be to come up to an unknown station orbiting a barren world, dock, go inside, and find no one and a mess, like it was abandoned in a real hurry. My first thought would be: Why did they leave so fast? There must have been a very good reason. Is that reason still here? If it is, I should leave too...

[DMSP]

Maybe it was that evil old person (too lazy to flip back a page)

[Cydonian Monk]

10 hours ago, cubinator said:

Imagine how creepy it'd be to come up to an unknown station orbiting a barren world, dock, go inside, and find no one and a mess, like it was abandoned in a real hurry. My first thought would be: Why did they leave so fast? There must have been a very good reason. Is that reason still here? If it is, I should leave too...

Very, very creepy. Except it's par for the course for these kerbals.

[The Error]

It says something about this space program that they're going to need intelligence analysts for some of the stuff they find.

[superstrijder15]

1 hour ago, The Error said:

It says something about this space program that they're going to need intelligence analysts for some of the stuff they find.

But about what? About the things they find or about the kerbals doing the finding?

P.S. Should I use what of who here, as what is about things and who is about persons, but I got both...

[Cydonian Monk]

8 hours ago, superstrijder15 said:

About the things they find or about the kerbals doing the finding?

[In best Kosh voice]: Yes. 

-- Edit! --

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by Cydonian Monk
Edit: Found a link!

[Geschosskopf]

On 4/19/2016 at 8:52 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

It's been a soggy and entirely too interesting of a day today in Houston, most of which I spent bailing water and launching rockets. My car might now smell a bit like a sewer, but at least nothing mechanical seems to have taken on more water than normal. No water in the air intakes, transmission looks ok-ish, and the exhaust drained nicely when pounded on with an angry fist. And it still runs, which is more than some of my neighbors can say.

Geez, glad it wasn't any worse for you.  I well remember Tropical Storm Allison dumping that much rain and you expect such things from such things, but this normal-rain-on-steroids you all have been getting (this is twice now, right?) just isn't fair.  Sitting here just east of you, I watched with dread as that wall of rain approached only to see it fizzle into nothing over the Atchafalaya Swamp during the night.  Bizarre.

Good luck with it.  I figure we're in for these El Ni\ño conditions all year.  It'll probably be my turn next.  We're due a hurricane about now.

 

On 4/19/2016 at 8:52 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

And what a thing it was, too. The large orange cylinder the kerbals had started to associate with fuel was a welcome sight, meaning they could hopefully top off the S-4 again from this station. First things first, though, they needed to make sure the base was unoccupied.

And they had no idea of how to do that short of taking a peak in the windows. And they what would they do if it was? Run away? No, there was really nothing to be done except dock up and hope for the best. They were four kerbals, and so far their adversaries had only shown up in units of one. Surely four, able-bodied, mostly sane kerbals could take on whatever ills lurk inside this tin can. Right?

4 mostly sane Kerbals with a shovel.  And not just any shovel but one that has tasted blood already.  Surely they didn't leave such a proven and mojo-imbued artifact behind on the vandalized base?  It would just feed whatever bad juju was already there, making it even more of a trap for the next expedition.  No, better to take it home as evidence for the eventual trial of that crazy banana gardener-turned-pirate, and it case it might be needed on the way home

 

On 4/19/2016 at 8:52 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

Thomlock pushed away from the console and towards the door. "Best pull a copy of all that. See what your kids in the lab think about it. Like I said before."

"Way ahead of you."

So here's the question....   If this was only a few years ago, and millions were watching on TV, how come none of today's Kerbals remember it?  Even though they remember the famously dead Thomlock enough to name a moon after him?

 

On 4/19/2016 at 10:30 PM, cubinator said:

Imagine how creepy it'd be to come up to an unknown station orbiting a barren world, dock, go inside, and find no one and a mess, like it was abandoned in a real hurry. My first thought would be: Why did they leave so fast? There must have been a very good reason. Is that reason still here? If it is, I should leave too...

A real Mary Celeste  sort of thing, eh?  But isn't discovering mysteries and diving into the unknown what exploration is all about?  Blank areas of maps that say "Here there be dragons" aren't always lying.  I've got fully filled-in maps of the swamps around here that still say that and with good reason.

https://flic.kr/p/wD3mf5

So, if you're an explorer, you have to expect that at some point you'll meet a dragon or something even worse, like an inherently hostile and well-armed foreign culture.  Comes with the territory.,  But you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.  And without the danger, where's the thrill in exploring?

[Commander Zoom]

"It's not safe out here!  It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate appetites both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid."

(one of my very favorite Trek quotes, by Q or anyone else)

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

4 mostly sane Kerbals with a shovel.  And not just any shovel but one that has tasted blood already

This reminded me of when I smashed my foot with a shovel last night reclaiming a parking lot XD I'd forgotten that happened

My foot hurts again

[Cydonian Monk]

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

4 mostly sane Kerbals with a shovel.  ....  Surely they didn't leave such a proven and mojo-imbued artifact behind on the vandalized base?

That and their KAS wrenches. Someday they might even have power tools. Big metal wrenches and a shovel should be more than a match for any critters they might stumble upon. At least critters smaller than a spaceship.

 

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

So here's the question....   If this was only a few years ago, and millions were watching on TV, how come none of today's Kerbals remember it?  Even though they remember the famously dead Thomlock enough to name a moon after him?

Answers in time.... Time in riddles.

 

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

A real Mary Celeste  sort of thing, eh?  But isn't discovering mysteries and diving into the unknown what exploration is all about?  Blank areas of maps that say "Here there be dragons" aren't always lying....

So, if you're an explorer, you have to expect that at some point you'll meet a dragon or something even worse, like an inherently hostile and well-armed foreign culture.  Comes with the territory.  But you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.  And without the danger, where's the thrill in exploring?

Exactly. 

 

As for the rain, we got lucky this time and we didn't get the big second round they were talking about. (Maybe today?) May not get so lucky the next time. It's been eight years since Hurricane Ike. When Ike hit, the area where I live was mostly open prairie - I was literally on the edge of civilization. Now, I can drive through mile after mile of endless cookie-cutter two-story McMansions (home starting in the $290s!), and something to the tune of 200,000 people have moved into what used to be this nice, wide-open land. That water has to go somewhere, so now it floods everywhere instead of on the prairie. I weathered Ike in place. Another big storm comes along this year and I'm running for San Antonio and taking half of everything with me, Jed Clampett style.

[Geschosskopf]

16 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

As for the rain, we got lucky this time and we didn't get the big second round they were talking about. (Maybe today?) May not get so lucky the next time. It's been eight years since Hurricane Ike. When Ike hit, the area where I live was mostly open prairie - I was literally on the edge of civilization. Now, I can drive through mile after mile of endless cookie-cutter two-story McMansions (home starting in the $290s!), and something to the tune of 200,000 people have moved into what used to be this nice, wide-open land. That water has to go somewhere, so now it floods everywhere instead of on the prairie. I weathered Ike in place. Another big storm comes along this year and I'm running for San Antonio and taking half of everything with me, Jed Clampett style.

In the early 80s, I lived in the vicinity of FM 1960 and Steubner Airline.  It was the same story there back then.  When I got there, 1960 was 2-lane and called Jackrabbit Road through cow pastures.  When I left several years later, it was 7 lanes through a heavily built-up small city.

Yeah, 8 years since Ike.  That one sideswiped me on its way to you, knocking down whatever had been left standing by Gustav the week before or had been propped back up since.  That was a bad time.  And so we're both due for another.

[Cydonian Monk]

Another quick note about KSP v1.1: I downloaded both the OS-X and Windows store versions last night. Windows was missing the 64-bit executable, so until the store download is fixed I can't comment. (The Steam version has it, but I'd rather not play it through Steam nor copy the Steam files over.)

The OS-X version on the other hand was able to load this save for the first time in 2 years, using close to 7GBs of reserved memory and 4.2GBs of actual RAM. Score. My MacBook Pro has 16GBs of RAM, same as the desktop (at the moment), so I may once again be able to play KSP while away from the big iron that's anchored down in the livingroom. 

As for bugs, I discovered that when the game encounters any vessels with parts that aren't loaded (such as missing mods), it deletes EVERY vessel that comes afterwards. So for this save it loaded Baile Speir, said "NOPE", then Nope'd most of the universe right out of existence. Yay. Obvious solution is to make sure all the mods are accounted for. Most are. 

 

As for when I plan to switch over - I'm in no hurry. I intend to launch the Jool expedition before switching to KSP v1.1. I'm not sending any rovers, so the only wheel "fun" would come from the Aluminium Laythe Exploration Craft. And if anything else breaks in transit thanks to the update, well, that's just part of the fun.

All told it should take me a week or two to finish launching this mission, kraken willing and the creeks don't rise, and I expect that'll be enough time for the mods to update. And the ones that don't update by then I'll just fix on my own. (I'm already aware of at least one that's been abandoned with no intent to update again, but it might not be on my list in the OP so I'll not point fingers.)

I half expect we'll be on KSP v1.1.2 by then anyway. 

[Geschosskopf]

32 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The OS-X version on the other hand was able to load this save for the first time in 2 years, using close to 7GBs of reserved memory and 4.2GBs of actual RAM. Score. My MacBook Pro has 16GBs of RAM, same as the desktop (at the moment), so I may once again be able to play KSP while away from the big iron that's anchored down in the livingroom. 

A consummation devoutly to be wished.

 

32 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

As for bugs, I discovered that when the game encounters any vessels with parts that aren't loaded (such as missing mods), it deletes EVERY vessel that comes afterwards. So for this save it loaded Baile Speir, said "NOPE", then Nope'd most of the universe right out of existence. Yay. Obvious solution is to make sure all the mods are accounted for. Most are. 

Interesting.  Not having tried to load an old save in 1.1, I was unaware of this.  You might want to report this because it really should only affect ships with missing parts, not fully stock (or fully accounted for) ships down the line.

 

32 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

As for when I plan to switch over - I'm in no hurry. I intend to launch the Jool expedition before switching to KSP v1.1. I'm not sending any rovers, so the only wheel "fun" would come from the Aluminium Laythe Exploration Craft. And if anything else breaks in transit thanks to the update, well, that's just part of the fun.

Everything with legs is at risk.  As I understand things, legs are just wheels that don't turn, and wheels are just legs that fake turning.

 

32 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

All told it should take me a week or two to finish launching this mission, kraken willing and the creeks don't rise, and I expect that'll be enough time for the mods to update. And the ones that don't update by then I'll just fix on my own. (I'm already aware of at least one that's been abandoned with no intent to update again, but it might not be on my list in the OP so I'll not point fingers.)

I half expect we'll be on KSP v1.1.2 by then anyway. 

Well, you're creeks have risen enough already but I expect we'll be on 1.1.5 in about the same timeframe we got to 1.0.5.

[Cydonian Monk]

7 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Interesting.  Not having tried to load an old save in 1.1, I was unaware of this.  You might want to report this because it really should only affect ships with missing parts, not fully stock (or fully accounted for) ships down the line.

It might get reported. Might already be reported. I need to attempt to replicate it with a save that hasn't been copied forward through almost every release from 0.18.3 to now first. Should be simple enough to set up. Might have also been caused by a NullRef from a missing plugin, too. Just didn't have time to dig at it last night.

 

7 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Everything with legs is at risk.  As I understand things, legs are just wheels that don't turn, and wheels are just legs that fake turning.

Yep. I'll have to dry-test the LDAV and the Sulphur lander at Kerbin after the update. The crew might be forced to wave off the Laythe landing if it croaks. These types of things are expected. 

Edited April 20, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Don't touch me]

Hey, Are you Irish?

If so, Point for Dublin!

 

[Cydonian Monk]

7 hours ago, Don't touch me said:

Hey, Are you Irish?

If so, Point for Dublin!

Just a wee little bit by blood. Like 75% or so. Though not for five generations to be true. Quite a few of the old words live on in my melting-pot lingo, and my grandfather spoke a bit of Gaelic, though I don't know if he knew he did. He just knew the weatherman didn't know níl.

At this point I just look unmistakably Irish but I'm all [West] Virginian. 13 generations or so of it, if not more. And 0% Texan. 

 

Edit: Welcome to the forums!

Edited April 23, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Cydonian Monk]

Some (more) thoughts on mods....

With TaranisElsu moving on and ThunderAerospace closing shop , I've decided to stop using TAC Life Support and the other four TAC-LS parts mods (that aren't listed in the OP). This is something I'm going to do NOW so the Jool Expedition isn't lugging around extra parts that have to be hacked off with KAS/KIS. Obviously I have to keep the parts in GameData so the affected ships don't just get deleted, but I'm going to change them so they don't appear in the VAB. (I'll also have to work some vim-fu to delete all the TAC-LS nodes from every ship, more to cut down on filesize than to avoid the inevitable crazy glitches.)

I'm sure TAC-LS will end up in good and capable hands, but I'm not looking for a replacement life support mod just yet. Along those lines I must say that Kerbalism looks quite interesting, but it's not right for this save. Not yet. 

I've already stopped using Infernal Robotics, the FASA launch clamps, SCANsat, Universal Storage, Asteroid Day, and the Tarsier Space Telescopes. That was done because I was trying to keep the FPS above sea-sickness level while keeping memory usage in KSP v1.0.5 below 6GBs at launch. (Yes, I've been using the 64-bit hack (black magic) for almost a year now. Yes, I modified several plugins for my personal use in violation of their creator's wishes. I'm a hacker by trade. It happens. No, I didn't redistribute those changes. No, I didn't remove NyanCat because I do still have a sense of humour.) I'm not going to start using any of those again going forwards, at least not at first, mostly because I'm overloaded with options and because I _still_ want to play a sorta-stock game. (Har!) 

Remote Tech, as much as I love it, is (still) in the hot seat. The impending Stock antenna changes will probably kill it off finally, at least once a light-speed-propagation-through-the-network control delay plugin that's not part of RT2 emerges (hint: I may write one). That won't happen until the stock antenna stuff falls on us, which I'm guessing is KSP v1.2. 

I'm on the fence with AIES, and only really started using it for antenna parts - though I've leaked into using its somewhat unbalanced engines in a few designs. And some of the fuel tanks in others. (They're such nice-looking yet simple parts.) I may blacklist it from the VAB like I'm doing with TAC-LS. Not sure. It's possibly an abandoned mod anyway, with carmics not having visited the forum since last year. I'll miss using it in RSS/RO if so.

Persistent Rotation is safe until the conservation of angular momentum is properly respected by KSP.

I've no idea what to make of the graphics mods and plugins yet for v1.1, and a couple I use have yet to be updated (though I'm in no rush). I'm considering adding Scatterer again, provided I can find a way to soften its "exceedingly hazy day" default effects. Been a while since I tweaked with it.

The tech tree.... I like the Engineering Tech Tree. I really do. I can't say anything else yet until I'm in v1.1.

Everything else I'll keep using, at least until this save has run its course. If KAC and TWP haven't been updated by the time I jump to v1.1 I'll just move on without them and add them back in later. 

Edited April 23, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[RocketSquid]

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The tech tree.... I like the Engineering Tech Tree. I really do. I can't say anything else yet until I'm in v1.1.

Everything else I'll keep using, at least until this save has run its course. If KAC and TWP haven't been updated by the time I jump to v1.1 I'll just move on without them and add them back in later. 

ETT, conveniently, already has been updated for 1.1!

Edited April 23, 2016 by RocketSquid
MOAR GRAMMARS

[Cydonian Monk]

1 minute ago, RocketSquid said:

ETT, conveniently, already has been updated for 1.1!

Yep.  I think almost everything that needs updated for me either already has been or has a Beta update out (or community patch of some sort).

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I'm sure TAC-LS will end up in good and capable hands, but I'm not looking for a replacement life support mod just yet. Along those lines I must say that Kerbalism looks quite interesting, but it's not right for this save. Not yet. 

I'm more worried about TAC Self-Destruct, a key element of my space program.  That is my single most favoritest mod ever.  Somebody had better pick that up, too.  

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Remote Tech, as much as I love it, is (still) in the hot seat. The impending Stock antenna changes will probably kill it off finally, at least once a light-speed-propagation-through-the-network control delay plugin that's not part of RT2 emerges (hint: I may write one). That won't happen until the stock antenna stuff falls on us, which I'm guessing is KSP v1.2. 

I'm quite curious as to what the stock system will bring.  I'm delaying all ambitious projects until I learn more about it. No sense building something that won't work in stock, or won't be continued after the stock thing appears.

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Persistent Rotation is safe until the conservation of angular momentum is properly respected by KSP.

Last time I tried that, it also did several other things which I didn't want to happen.  Does it still?

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I've no idea what to make of the graphics mods and plugins yet for v1.1, and a couple I use have yet to be updated (though I'm in no rush). I'm considering adding Scatterer again, provided I can find a way to soften its "exceedingly hazy day" default effects. Been a while since I tweaked with it.

Scatterer in 1.1 (1st time I've used it) looks great and is worth it for simply for what it allows you to do with oceans

[Cydonian Monk]

4 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Last time I tried that, it also did several other things which I didn't want to happen.  Does it still?

There's still some voodoo with PR, though most of it seems to be unlocked when in proximity of the claw. There's also a pretty nasty thing that happens if you dock two craft together without the plugin installed... especially when one is a big asteroid and another is a slightly smaller ship.... As I may or may not have recently discovered. Easy to fix if you know which files to delete.

Edit: Craft still pull a Crazy Ivan when crossing the Prime Meridian.  

 

4 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Scatterer in 1.1 (1st time I've used it) looks great and is worth it for simply for what it allows you to do with oceans

Absolutely. It's an amazing and wonderful thing.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Cydonian Monk