New Horizons Travelling Circus -- INTERLUDE: Everything is Broken

[Geschosskopf]

25 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Neat! That is a lot of science! No explosions, hopefully?

No explosions, no inexplicable heat, all copacetic.

 

Quote

I have seen bases shift due to collider issues, which is why small bases are better than big ones (and why the distribution system exists).

Yup.  I believe we had that discussion a while back   Anyway, despite some slight slipping and sliding of base units just sitting on slight slopes without being nailed to the ground, no harm done and resources are flowing hither and yon without direct physical connections.

 

Quote

Anyway, really cool to see Sonnah, that is a classy gas giant. Makes me want to put OPM into my next career game.

Well, Sonnah is in New Horizons, not OPM.  OPM is really incompatible with New Horizons.  You CAN use both together but they don't make Keplarian sense because OPM is an extension of the stock system while NH is a total remake of the solar system.  Sonnah is in NH, orbiting the sun about halfway between where Duna and Dres are in stock, but both those planets are moons of Jool I think, which is the next planet out from Sonnah and considerably further out than Jool is in stock.  Kerbin is a moon of Sonnah, as are Mun (Iinwards), Aptur (same distance ans Kerbin), then Eli and Serran further out.  Here's a pic of the inner Sonnah system to show this:

 

Kerbin is in an essentially circular orbit.  Aptur is in a somewhat eccentric orbit but has the same period as Kerbin.  It thus appears (from Kerbin) to orbit Kerbin retrograde, although it really orbits Sonnah, not Kerbin.  Due to the impossibility of keeping anything in Kerbin orbit long-term (a Kopernicus problem if Kerbin isn't a planet), I'm making Mun my shipyard for interplanetary ships.  Ships built there will go part in a low Sonnah orbit to await their transfer windows.

 

 

 

[Just Jim]

6 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, Sonnah is in New Horizons, not OPM.  OPM is really incompatible with New Horizons.  

yeah.... rats!   I really would love to try out New Horizons, but I'm using OPM right now, and I don't know how I could make both work.... Oh well, guess it's something for down the road...

Edited July 31, 2016 by Just Jim

[Geschosskopf]

7 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

yeah.... rats!   I really would love to try out New Horizons, but I'm using OPM now, and, well.... rats....

Well, you're the one who keeps saying "The saga of Emiko Station is far from over", so you have only yourself to blame

NH is a completely different experience than anything based on the stock system, which is why I'm doing it.   It has nothing in common with playing in the stock system.  While all the stock planets and moons are there, they're totally scrambled (most are moons of gas giants) and there are somewhat more new planets and moons.  The whole thing about living on a moon instead of a planet, and being rather further out from the sun than normal, makes you rethink everything you're used to.  So I recommend doing what I did here, and starting a parallel universe.

[Just Jim]

19 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, you're the one who keeps saying "The saga of Emiko Station is far from over", so you have only yourself to blame

NH is a completely different experience than anything based on the stock system, which is why I'm doing it.   It has nothing in common with playing in the stock system.  While all the stock planets and moons are there, they're totally scrambled (most are moons of gas giants) and there are somewhat more new planets and moons.  The whole thing about living on a moon instead of a planet, and being rather further out from the sun than normal, makes you rethink everything you're used to.  So I recommend doing what I did here, and starting a parallel universe.

After... if... Emiko is finished, I'm definitely going to give this one a shot.  I really like the idea and added challenge of Kerbin being a moon.

Oh, and I love Grumby Luden....  grumble grumble.... 

[Garibaldi2257]

you can use OPM with NH, its got built-in support, the only thing is.... then the system becomes HUUUUUGE, like some transfers could take literally decades to a century or more.

[Just Jim]

8 minutes ago, Garibaldi2257 said:

you can use OPM with NH, its got built-in support, the only thing is.... then the system becomes HUUUUUGE, like some transfers could take literally decades to a century or more.

That's OK, Emiko is weird enough... maybe a little too weird. 

Anyway... I'm sorry this got off topic.

Question: Did the entire strip mining base spin 45°? 

[Geschosskopf]

20 hours ago, Garibaldi2257 said:

you can use OPM with NH, its got built-in support, the only thing is.... then the system becomes HUUUUUGE, like some transfers could take literally decades to a century or more.

So, given that OPM is supposed to be grafted onto the stock KSP system, which doesn't exist in NH, what happens whey you use both?  Does OPM get appended out beyond Vanor at Kepler-friendly radii?

Edited July 31, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[Garibaldi2257]

On 7/31/2016 at 5:56 PM, Geschosskopf said:

So, given that OPM is supposed to be grafted onto the stock KSP system, which doesn't exist in NH, what happens whey you use both?  Does OPM get appended out beyond Vanor at Kepler-friendly radii?

basically, yes.

[Geschosskopf]

EPISODE 12: Roid Rage

Spoiler

 

When we last saw the Circus, Mission Control was taking a break from Munbase operations to check out the small asteroids ("moonlets") recently discovered within Sonnah's ring system.  It was thought most of these would be icy, and thus be good sources of materials to make fusion pellets.

NOTE:  These are my own creation using Custom Asteroids, inspired by similar things in the OPM system.  NH comes with some Kopernicus asteroids but those don't include these.

Anyway, at this point in time, the Circus knew of 4 Sonnah moonlets, an A and 3 Cs.  Based on previous experience, the Boffins designed a ship they though capable of wrangling a C and sent it off to the rings.

 

Then they had to attend some other business.  When Mission Control came back to the optimistically named Roid Wrangler, the Space-Y interstage adapter had activated its cloaking device.  It must have still really been there, but it looked pretty strange.  This was a sign of things to come.

 

Anyway, as their first target, Mission Control selected the outermost moonlet, which was a C-size.  Bizarrely, despite being out in the cold part of the solar system, it appeared to be fresh, glowing magma.

 

There wqas some fear that the molten rock would melt the Roid Wrangler, but this wasn't the real problem.  The real problem was the mass of the thing.

 

No wrangling this beast.  So Roid Wrangler moved on, this time going for the innermost moonlet in the interests of getting there quickly.  This one, another C-size, also had surprises in store.

 

 

So now the Roid Wrangler moved to the central moonlet, which was the 3rd size-C available.  This one at least had no creepy glowing cracks, but its ominous blackness had its own flavor of creepiness.  And it was.....huge.

 

Well, that left the A-size moonlet, which was back out near the edge of the rings.

 

So at this point, Mission Control renamed the ship to "Roid Sniffer".  Wrangling was definitely not happening.  It turned out that the 1000-ton C-size they'd visited first was by far the lightest thing they'd found.  And none of them seemed to have all the makings for fusion pellets anyway.  This was getting depressing.  Even worse, when Roid Sniffer cast off from the A-size rock, The Kraken had a go at the video feed.

 

But while Roid Sniffer had been wandering around, 4 more moonlets had been detected:  2 Ds, 1 C, and 1 B.  And by this point, there was some curiosity to see how big moonlets could get.  So Mission Control decided to check out one of the new D-size moonlets.

 

 

By now Roid Sniffer was down to about 2500m/s.  It doesn't appear to be good for anything except determining the mass and composition of moonlets---it sure can't move them.  As moonlets don't seem to be worth messing with and are mostly totally impractical to move, there doesn't seem much need to keep on investigating them.  But the ship was expensive and could still be useful as an orbital tug or tanker once Munbase BBQ starts making ships, so Mission Control decided to keep it available.

However, everybody was in a bad mood.  And orbiting Mun were 2 probes that had long out-lived their usefulness and which no customer had wanted repositioned.  One of them had to die.  So the Boffins picked the obsolete, low-res SCANsat and sent it to its doom for a motivational gratuitous explosion.

 

Tune in next time for something hopefully less frustrating.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[Angelo Kerman]

Those pictures of the Roid Sniffer skimming along the rings of Sonnah are just fantastic!

And note to self: find a way to add IVAs to large asteroids so they can be hollowed out and used as hab modules...

[Geschosskopf]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Those pictures of the Roid Sniffer skimming along the rings of Sonnah are just fantastic!

Well, at least some good came of what was otherwise a complete waste of time, energy, and money

Seriously, I haven't messed with asteroids very often or very recently.  Are these masses the new normal?  Used to be, that should would have had no problem with a C-size.  Even Emiko Station is a lightweight compared to most of these things.  I mean, max acceleration measured in MILLIMETERS/sec^2 ?!?!?!?!?  Ain't no way I'm moving these things (except maybe that orange-striped tiddler, which was "only" 1000 tons....).

CustomAsteroids can define the composition, location, and frequency of appearance of asteroids but has no control over size (at least it didn't last time I checked).  But these are WAY heavier than what I'm used to from stock, so something's going strange.

 

Quote

And note to self: find a way to add IVAs to large asteroids so they can be hollowed out and used as hab modules...

That would be nice.  An 80,000 ton rock (I'm still reeling from that---there have been smaller aircraft carriers) should have a lot of space inside

I was thinking of using RoverDude's Asteroid Recycling Technologies, which hollows out asteroids as you mine them, then allows you to use the empty space as a fuel tank.  Adding crew spaces is the next logical step.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[UnusualAttitude]

6 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Seriously, I haven't messed with asteroids very often or very recently.  Are these masses the new normal?

16,000 tonnes seems seriously out of whack for a Class A. The largest Class E I ever dealt with was about 2,800 tonnes, and about 2,000 tonnes by the time I got it to LKO with a tug (this was, by the way, in the Alternis Kerbol system which is another great adaptation that places Kerbin as a moon of a gas giant, in this case Jool).

Spoiler

...and that was so long and tedious to do that by the time I had my almost-infinite-supply-of-free-fuel-in-LKO I was so sick of the whole business that I never touched that save again. 

So, maybe there have been some changes to the size and masses of asteroids in 1.1.3..?

Good to see you're heroically sticking with this and making the most of the unexpected...

And yes, I do listen to the tracks you link (excepted when browsing on a mobile device, I can't stand listening to music on a cell-phone...), and as you have probably noticed by now, I thought this was such a good idea that I shamelessly stole it from you for some of the Camwise Logs... so, thanks.

[Geschosskopf]

@UnusualAttitude

Thanks for the input and props.  I'll have to inquire more about Custom Asteroids and Kopernicus roids, too.

This NH game is interesting to say the least.  I need to hurry up and finish my Munbase.  1.2 is beginning to loom on the horizon.

[Angelo Kerman]

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

@UnusualAttitude

Thanks for the input and props.  I'll have to inquire more about Custom Asteroids and Kopernicus roids, too.

This NH game is interesting to say the least.  I need to hurry up and finish my Munbase.  1.2 is beginning to loom on the horizon.

Eek. If It's really coming soon, I need to finish up my mods!

[Geschosskopf]

On 8/2/2016 at 10:35 AM, Angel-125 said:

Eek. If It's really coming soon, I need to finish up my mods!

Not yet in experimentals, so I figure about 1 month.

[ElJugador]

Really? I figure about 2 months, minimum. The pace of updates has really slowed down since 1.0

[Geschosskopf]

On 8/5/2016 at 1:00 AM, ElJugador said:

Really? I figure about 2 months, minimum. The pace of updates has really slowed down since 1.0

Seems about the same speed to me, which IMHO is too fast.  It would be nice if they spent more time fixing stuff.

 

And hey, 3000 views!  Thanks!

Anyway, on with the show.

----------------------

EPISODE 13: Industrial Disease

Spoiler

 

The 1st thing that happened was the long-awaited arrival somewhere of the Travelling Circus' 1st interplanetary ship, the Atell MagSat Mk 1.  Being a very early ship that was really pushing the limits of technology at the time, it plans to do lots of gravity braking to save fuel, and that might not be enough for the job.  This encounter is the 1st such maneuver, a fly-by of Eve.  Eve, BTW, looks beautiful with KASE installed.

The Boffins immediately noticed the probe was getting somewhat toasty so were glad they'd stuck on a couple of radiators.  Although Eve is about as far from the NH sun as it is in stock, the sun must be hotter for solar panels to work at rated power out at Sonnah.

Anyway, after passing on the sunny side of Eve, MagSat Atell's Ap had been pulled down to between Eve and Laythe, and its Pe was down near Arin, it's actual destination because Atell is actually a moon of Arin.  The hope now is to do some more gravity braking off Arin although this might take a while.

 

With that out of the way, Mission Control turned its attention to Phase III of Munbase BBQ.  This involved sending out 3 more units, all uncrewed:

• A Geothermal Plant with 2 Hot Springs.  While each previous industrial unit had its own, this had proven to be slightly insufficient so it was hoped this would solve that problem.  Also, Munbase BBQ needed more power for the planned Phase IV anyway.
• StripMiner 3, same as the last 2 except for no crew pod.  Phase IV will need considerably more mining capacity than a single StripMiner can do.
• TankFarm 1, a set of 5 tanks counting the central Conestoga.  1 for Fusion Pellets, 1 for Minerals, 1 for LFO, and 2 for RocketParts.  This is mostly in anticipation for the arrival of Phase IV, the actual shipyard stuff.

 

 

After the obligatory skimming of Sonnah's rings en route, the Boffin's prepared for the little flotilla's arrival.  They were spaced out far enough apart to not cause too much problem, although the 1st arrival needed to capture about the same time the 2nd was entering the SOI.

 

First to come down was the TankFarm.  Sadly, its skycrane landed far, far away where no cameras could watch the crash.

 

Bill trundled TankFarm 1 over near the ruins of StripMiner 1, then tried out the new explody wheels.  These were quite entertaining  and Bill sent back a recommendation to use them in the future.

 

Next came the Geothermal Plant.  This already being tall and tippy thanks to having 2 stacked water tanks, the Boffins had used a pair of side-mounted rockets instead of the inline folding skycrane.  Boffin Bill and his artificiersmates eagerly anticipated that shedding these tanks would result in a glorious gratuitous explosion.  And it did.  Several of them, in fact, first when the boosters collided directly over the unit, then 2 more as the boosters spun away and crashed obliquely, resulting in explosive cascades.  Unfortunately, one of the boosters came down nearly on top of the newly installed TankFarm 1.

 

The Geothermal plant ended up near StripMiner 2.  Its wheels, however, were not rigged to explode.  Bill assigned Marllian to get it up and running, and she was grumpy about having to wrestle the heavy wheels into the storage bays, even in Mun's gravity.  I mean, no gratuitous explosions...

 

Finally. it was time for StripMiner 3.  Its skycrane actually achieved Munar escape velocity, but on the bright side, its one's wheels were actually supposed to explode so there was the promise of some explosions.  Sadly, this is harder to set up than it looks, so they didn't work.  Sara was assigned to defuse the bombs and get this new unit up and running.

But fortunately, the bombs in the wheels absolutely were not triggered by the electronics and radios in Sara's suit.  Soon she had StripMiner 3 up and running, so the ISRU unit started makiung LFO for the new TankFarm.

 

With this, Munbase BBQ Phase III was complete.

 

The next phase hopefully will get the shipyard up and running.  The designs for those units are still undergoing extensive testing back at KSC.  Tune in next time to see if this can be made to work. 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[Cydonian Monk]

41 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

.... then tried out the new explody wheels.  These were quite entertaining  and Bill sent back a recommendation to use them in the future.

1 out of 3 ain't bad?

[insert_name]

Have you done a manned sonnah upper atmosphere return mission yet, because they can provide a fair bit of science. just be sure to stay above 255k and you will be safe, you can even eva, just don't let go of the ladder

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, Cydonian Monk said:

1 out of 3 ain't bad?

Yeah, better luck next time.

BTW, have you noticed in all this that everything coming from Kerbin that lands at this base always lands in the dark as is only right and proper?  This is an accident of geography.  The base is slightly south of the equator and Mun is slightly inclinded to Kerbin's orbit, so ships arriving from Kerbin are in slightly inclined orbits.  So there's always a wait to land until the base passes under the ships' orbits, and because of when the ships arrive in the Munar "day" thanks to the timing of the transfer window, the time to land is always just after sundown at the base.  I suppose in a several years, when Sonnah is on the other side of the sun from where it starts, this might go the other way, but for now, it always reminds me of your story

 

9 minutes ago, insert_name said:

Have you done a manned sonnah upper atmosphere return mission yet, because they can provide a fair bit of science. just be sure to stay above 255k and you will be safe, you can even eva, just don't let go of the ladder

Nope, I never have.  It actually hadn't occurred to me to do that.  But anyway, I'm tired of the Sonnah system.  It's time to see something else, hopefully something custom.

[Cydonian Monk]

2 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Have you noticed in all this that everything coming from Kerbin that lands at this base always lands in the dark as is only right and proper?

I had, and that makes sense given the orbital alignment of NH. You can also run into similar lighting issues in the stock Kerbol system, though you obviously have a bit more control over which Münar orbit you launch into.

[Geschosskopf]

EPISODE 14: Worker's Song

We now bring you your regularly scheduled gratuitous explosions, plus some make-up ones.

With Phase III of Munbase BBQ complete, it was time to move right into Phases IV and V, which would see the thing finished.  Phase IV consisted of 2 ships, both relying on Keridian Dynamics technology, one a furnace and the other a 3D printer.  The former could extract Metal from Ore (very slowly, very inefficiently) and the latter could make RoketParts out of Metal.  First off was the Furnace which required a rather massive 5m lifter.

The 3D Printer wasn't nearly as heavy so got by with a 2.5m rocket.

 

Ironically enough, both of these somehow arrived over Munbase BBQ in local daylight.  The Furnace had just enough time to land before the Printer hit Mun's SOI.

 

Maglie, the most experienced artificersmate still available, brought the massive thing in for a smooth landing (actually, she just watched the computer do it).

 

The traditional skycrane launch went off  beautifully, although the initial tumbles just outside the window did cause Maglie some concern.  Still, the explosions were worth it.

 

Then Maglie trundled over to her assigned parking place near the ruins of StripMiner 1.  This time,the Boffins back home had gotten the pyrotechnics wired up correctly and all 8 wheels erupted simultaneously in a fabulous explosion.  This even impressed sciencemate Geofrod, who perhaps has now spent too much time on Mun cooped up with a Boffin and a bunch of artificeersmates.

 

Just minutes after the dust settled, it was time to start bringing in the Printer,   This was crewed by Karphie on her first trip off Kerbin.

 

This skycrane crash was particularly spectactular, with 5 or 6 major explosions and several smaller ones.

 

Parking the printer went quite well, too.

 

Once the smoke cleared, Phase IV was complete and the new units immediately got into making RocketParts, which went into TankFarm 1 for the time being.  There's not much Metal in Ore, apparently, so the Furnace goes through industrial quantities of it to make a little Metal.  That's the bottleneck of the operation, requiring the full attention of both operational StripMiners.  Both the Furnace and the Printer have small tanks for their raw materials and prioducts, while the Wild Blue system moves them around.  Both units need their own nuclear reactors, however, to produce the immense power required.  The system looks like this:

 

So that completed Phase IV, at which point Munbase BBQ looked like this:

 

The Kerbals toiled, the great machines rattled and roared, dust, smoke,and steam wafted around, and several hundred RocketParts had been completed by the time Mun was back at the next transfer window.  This was the signal to launch Phase V, the last additions currently planned for Munbase BBQ.

The main thing in Phase V was the Keridian Dynamics Mobile VAB, a huge hollow silo housing 12 more Kerbals:  Gilree the bosunsmate to run the Survey Station, sciencemates Mitzor, Megris, and Luden because they're smarter than the average Kerbal, and artificersmates Genelan, Anxy, Wiling, Ludbin, Mobe, Aldgee, Elris, and Thombald to do most of the actual work.  This again required a 5m rocket.

 

The addition of 12 more Kerbals would bring Munbase BBQ's compliment up to 21 and it only had housing for 12.  So the other half of Phase V was the Habitat consisting of 4 Ponderosa Casas on a Conestoga, to provide 16 more bunks, for a total of 28.  This leaves some guest rooms for transient personnel.  This wasn't really any different from the previous Wild Blue units, just different inflatables on it.

 

Again these tried new routes with mixed results.  Still both arrived when the sun was shining over Munbase BBQ.

 

The Habitate came down first.  Sadly, its skycrane disappeared over the rim of the crater and its wheel explosions weren't very spectacular for some reason.  Once it was parked near the Pathfinder unit, Jedley, who wasn't doing anything at the moment in the ISRU, got out to inflate it and install the satellite TV dishes.

 

Then, with drumrolls playing over Munbase BBQ's PA system, the Mobile VAB and its crew of 12 came down.  Its dual skycrane units collided without hurting each other overhead, then wandered off lazily.  One crashed on the slope behind the base, the other left the crater.  This was something of a disappointment.

 

Fortunately, the explosion of the 8 wheels was the biggest bang yet.  It was a good way to end construction of the base.

 

Once Gilree got over being pranked (the science- and artificersmates had known the explosion was coming), the whole crew got out for the obligatory flag-planting.

 

Getting to work first involved Genelan planting the necessary survey stake, the point at which completed ships will mysteriously appear.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew began studying the blueprints of the ships they were going to build.

 

While he was outside, Genelan noticed the LZ marker flag had fallen over again so he replaced it.  And with that, the construction of Munbase BBQ was officially complete.

 

So there you have it, a shipyard on Mun.  In the future, the ruins of StripMiner 1 will likely get rebuilt as a plant to make FusionPellets but right now, there's no real need for that.  Phases IV and V seriously depleted the Circus' bank account so it's time to start earning contract money again.  Fortunately, apart from the cost of shipping the crew to Mun, future interplanetary expeditions can be built and fitted out for essentially nothing, all made of Mundust.  So now it's time to go places.  Tune in next time for maybe some of that.

Edited August 9, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[Angelo Kerman]

Congrats on getting Munbase BBQ up and running!

[Mister Dilsby]

What great stuff! Explosions galore, of course, but what I really like about these updates is the exploration of mods I haven't tried yet. Building an infrastructure to make rocket parts offworld looks like loads of fun--I might look into that in the future for a Laythe base.

[Just Jim]

16 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

What great stuff! Explosions galore, of course, but what I really like about these updates is the exploration of mods I haven't tried yet. Building an infrastructure to make rocket parts offworld looks like loads of fun--I might look into that in the future for a Laythe base.

That is seriously tempting... 

Edited August 9, 2016 by Just Jim