Is there anything the game lets you do that you won't?

[KevinW42]

I don't use any life support mods, instead I use the self-imposed restriction that for any extended mission the mothership has to have twice as many seats as crew members instead of just jamming three kerbals in a Mk1-2 command pod for a 6 year mission and calling it a day.

[Snark]

My list:

• Using the science lab
• Letting a kerbal die, ever
• Sending a kerbal on a one-way mission
• Autostruts
• Part clipping (other than occasional trivial/cosmetic)
• Allowing any probe control at all when no CommNet connection
• Spaceplanes

Can probably come up with a few more, but those are probably the big ones for me.

[James Kerman]

I don't do Kerbin science except for before the first launch. No MPL's until after I've maxed the tech tree.

Unfortunately my space program defines stranding Kerbals as "colonisation".

[Waxing_Kibbous]

I never do the probecore+scientist combo- if there's a Kerbal involved there must be at least a pilot. Pilots always fly the other guys. With the new pilot control feature I may allow probe+non-pilot in that a pilot still has to be controlling the probe-d vessel.

Aero-planes Too much finesse involved, I prefer brute-force methods.

Killing a Kerbal on purpose, but if they die that's what happened. Makes it more exciting!

Reverting crashes, I've come to accept my mistakes. I do F5 though, I've had some weird lander tipping happening on occasion. You get out, fly off, come back and there it is tipped over somehow. F9 is only for oddities.

[kball]

So interesting to see different peoples' philosophies on terminating debris. I'm still in my first KSP career and only recently have I started restricting myself in this regard - currently I allow myself to terminate any debris that's in orbit, grounded on Kerbin, or grounded near a base. I figure this has the added benefit of leaving interesting breadcrumbs wherever my missions have touched down on other bodies if I do any staging there.

At some point I'll present myself with the challenge of designing rockets that don't induce Kessler syndrome around Kerbin, but until then i need to clean up the garbage dump that would be LKO.

For now I think the only things I disallow myself are probe control when out of comms range and part clipping.

Edited December 14, 2016 by kball

[Tyko]

1 hour ago, Snark said:

My list:

• Using the science lab

I've modded the science lab to only give 1 science point per data point and an RP rule that only one Lab can EVER research a single piece of science. Combined this means that for all the work of getting a lab into place I can double my science from a particular experiment. Since i'm using USI Life Support, it's quite a bit of effort to establish and run the lab - enough so that doubling the points seems fair.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Tyko

[WanderingKid]

16 minutes ago, kball said:

At some point I'll present myself with the challenge of designing rockets that don't induce Kessler syndrome around Kerbin, but until then i need to clean up the garbage dump that would be LKO.

Most of my terminations are actually items that should de-orbit themselves but don't due to the on-rails nature of the game.  I'll happily terminate anything that has a periapsis under 70km at Kerbin, for example.

Otherwise I'll terminate just to clear up the load file, the game eats enough memory for me as it is right now.  It is funny to watch some random gas tank whizz past you during launches sometimes, though.  "what was THAT?!" 

Things I won't do:

• One-way missions... on purpose.
• Roll around the KSC at the beginning of a career to soak up the 'flagpole' and other random biomes.
• Use control adjustment mods. Information, absolutely... Mechjeb and the ilk... no.  Don't care if you do, I just won't.
• Make my Kerbals come home for experience.  Screw dat.  The debrief isn't where they learned something.
• Use Alt-F12 for more than activating GUIs

[adsii1970]

7 hours ago, Red Shirt said:

This interests me. What do you do with the parts? I'm assuming using KIS/KAS? I've never got the hang of them.

Yes. I am using KIS/KAS. The "engineer-crewed craft" has several containers for putting in parts removed from the discarded debris. I've a few mods that have everything from antennae, four-way thrusters, and other parts that can be "recycled." I will also drain any excess fuel, mono-propellant, and snacks and place into the containers and tanks. These items will then be transferred to any craft running low on supplies or needing repairs that are in orbit. I use the plastic explosives available in the KAS/KIS system to blow up any debris not salvaged.  Solves some problems and allows me to have fun.

Once the "engineer-crewed craft" is full of supplies AND if there is no need for the supplies, I go ahead and reenter Kerbin's atmosphere and "recover" the craft after it lands.

7 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Well, yeah, but what if they go wrong?

[edited by adsii1970 for relevant content I want to comment on]

I have not had that happen yet...

[Alpha_Mike_741]

12 hours ago, Leafbaron said:

Every flight is a simulation until proven otherwise

Finally! I plummet  kerbals when testing  simulating new vehicles and of course ,LES systems .

 then I revert to VAB/SPH and call it a day soooooo.... ehm I don't often kill my kerbals 

Spoiler

But when I do , I make sure to scream its a simulation multiple times  

And also I try to minimize my use of cheaty reaction wheels (or MM patch them to use monoprop)

[Guest]

If I did update my game (which isn't something I won't do, but it'll probably be a long time before I consider it worth dropping my heavily modded install for), autostrut would be the big one for me. I use KJR and KKS so it's not what it does that bothers me, but the way it does it seems a bit bizzare. Instead of simply strengthening all connections, they gave us a tool to... weld any two parts together regardless of how they're physically connected, and made it better than actual struts for some reason?

Edited December 15, 2016 by Guest

[Sharpy]

14 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Long trips in a Mk. 1 capsule. I've been in the backseat of a car for 12 hours at a time, no need to make my Kerbals suffer for 75 years like that!

Well, yeah, but what if they go wrong? I had a catastrophic event on one of my stations once- an entire 50 meter Brussels sprouts-beam of escape pods started shaking and ended up destroying the station, and each other. I had sooooo much debris up there, it wasn't even funny.

The space station may have a couple escape pods, but normally I keep A BUNCH of these in a separate craft in LKO. Both for rescue missions from LKO and to let anykerbal in need of return to Kerbin be able to do so.

Great most of my interplanetary missions have no "land on Kerbin" ability whatsoever. The lander of given planet is left in orbit of that planet (may return if there are any stranded kerbals to be rescued; they may use it to fly to Kerbin.) The space station with the whole crew returns into LKO, picks the science and boards the drop pods. The station itself enters "museum orbit" - or is refurbished for next mission, in orbital dock.

[Terwin]

I won't let Kerbals die.

I also will generally not strand them due to pilot error.  Design error, sure, but if the cat stepped on the keyboard, or I was not paying attention and did not fire the braking thrusters when I needed to, I will load or revert however far back I need to go.

Of course deign errors that lead to a stranding are few and far between when you have ISRU on virtually all of your manned missions...

I also do not send gender un-blanced crews more than a few minutes outside the Kerbin SOI.  (usually 4: pilot, engineer, 2x scientist in lab)

 

Also, as I am using USI-LS, I don't send anyone past the Mun out without plenty of elbow-room.

 

[Magzimum]

When I read the thread title I was "Ooooh, I have some good responses to write here!!"... 

And ... 

On 12/14/2016 at 7:45 PM, razark said:

Kerbals are not an expendable resource, and shall not be treated as such.

... then...

On 12/14/2016 at 8:49 PM, worir4 said:

I never let a kerbal leave the Kerbin system without at least two other companions. (Who wants to drift in space forever by them selves, eh?)

... I read...

23 hours ago, KevinW42 said:

[...] I use the self-imposed restriction that for any extended mission the mothership has to have twice as many seats as crew members instead of just jamming three kerbals in a Mk1-2 command pod for a 6 year mission and calling it a day.

... the thread... 

22 hours ago, Waxing_Kibbous said:

I never do the probecore+scientist combo- if there's a Kerbal involved there must be at least a pilot.

... And all that needed to be said was said.

Hear hear!! 

[Wjolcz]

I can launch the materials science bay whatever thing.

But I won't.

[Overland]

Goto another planet other than kerbin...its my home.. I know what it looks like and how its gravity works ..ive known its terrain for a long time and driven it for years

I used hyperedit to get to duna a few times.. Been on ilo or dres .

My train floated over the horizon

Not impressed

Back to kerbin!

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I try to do everything that the game will allow me to do, except I will go to extreme lengths to make my craft look nice and realistic.

On 12/14/2016 at 11:28 AM, Foxster said:

[...]

On the Kerbals (i.e. disposable meat-based science-experiment-reset modules) issue: I disagree. At best, a stranded Kerbal is useful protein for a follow-up mission.  

Do you play Rimworld?  

[Big Kerbie]

Space flight is a dangerous profession. Thus being said, sometimes Kerbals die. I will do everything possible to minimize the risk for said daring Kerbalnauts, but like Ivan Drago said, "If he dies, he dies". I won't revert a mission if there is an accident where a Kerbal is stranded or dies or they die because he or she has been stranded for so long they run out of life support.

I won't use hyperedit. Nope, not gonna happen.

[idamoofus]

If I have two Kerballed ships designed to dock together, I make sure there's a logical path from one capsule to the other. No giant RCS tanks between the capsule and the port. Goes double for stations. I make an exception for parts like the 2.5-meter probe core and battery, since there's clearly a "hole" in the center large enough.

[septemberWaves]

I refuse to launch a crewed vehicle without some sort of abort sequence. Technically it's not usually needed, since reverting flights is usually an option, but even so I will always make sure that crewed vehicles launching from Kerbin will have some way for the crew to return to the surface in case of a launch failure. My launch escape systems don't always take the form of a LES tower like those on the Apollo spacecraft, but there always is some option for safe recovery of crew.

Some of my more interesting LES designs involve engines on the command pod itself, or in the case of a shuttle, decoupling the main engine followed by separating the external fuel tank and gliding down to safety.

This is also quite helpful because I also won't revert a flight in a career save if the problem was due to human error. I'll revert in case of bugs, or I'll use a quicksave in particularly complex situations (usually landings that I have little experience with) but for the most part I won't revert.

Edited December 16, 2016 by eloquentJane

[Darth Pseudonym]

 

I don't like folding parts inside the ship. I will very occasionally nudge a part to hide a particularly ugly piece inside a fuel tank or crew section (aeroshell bases are a big one there), or slide a wing slightly into the body for aesthetics, but having overlapping body components is a big no-no for me.

[Omaha]

On 12/14/2016 at 4:37 PM, Leafbaron said:

Every flight is a simulation until proven otherwise

I like the way you think.

I don't use docking mode.  RCS on, two handed: left hand rotates, right hand translates.  It can get hairy, but space is a dangerous place, folks.  (Actually I avoid docking mode because one time I hit the spacebar to toggle between angular and linear mode and for some reason the game thought I was in staging mode so it jettisoned my service module and left me with a command pod drifting right past its target and into a permanent orbit.)

 

[Leafbaron]

thank you! @Omaha

[Justin_Kerbal]

If I get too far into a mission and have a failure I won't revert to launch.  I try to find a solution to the problem.  A recent example was launching a ship in two parts with the intention to assemble them in orbit.  They had different docking ports though so they couldn't connect.  Rather than revert I launched a third vessel with a connector to solve the issue.  If NASA spent millions getting two ships in orbit and they couldn't connect, they would have to engineer a solution rather than starting over.  That's how I play.