ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

[NCommander]

I utterly lost it with the space-ship. Here I was thinking batexcrements insane builds only happened when the planets were tiny. Then again, you retrofitted your base into a rove,r into a ship and god knows what else. I'm not sure how 6.4x GPP compares to RSS but if they're remotely similar, serious props for sending that thing to Rald without engineer readouts. 

[CatastrophicFailure]

On 1/14/2018 at 9:40 PM, Geschosskopf said:

Well, after all the work getting that ship to Rald, it does seem anticlimactic that she only lasted a few frames.

And then I had to promptly delete her to keep from exceeding my active vessel limit. 

On 1/20/2018 at 4:06 AM, NCommander said:

I utterly lost it with the space-ship. Here I was thinking batexcrements insane builds only happened when the planets were tiny. Then again, you retrofitted your base into a rove,r into a ship and god knows what else. I'm not sure how 6.4x GPP compares to RSS but if they're remotely similar, serious props for sending that thing to Rald without engineer readouts. 

6.4x is about 7.5km/s to low Kerbin Gael orbit, I think RSS is like 9.5. Typical transfer to Rald is 1800m/s, 500-700 to capture & circularize. I'm still shocked it worked as perfectly well as it did. Perhaps it begets a new idiom:

Spaceman, know thy launcher. 

[CatastrophicFailure]

Year 8, Day 78...

The time has finally come. After a few hours floating in the water and mumbling to themselves, Triti, Lodvin, Haylotte and Jencine claim to feel much better. Stinky has been hiding since this whole mess began and still has no idea what the flarp just happened. A few final preparations remain.

While the others towel off and toss out the last of their, er, pirate gear, Jencine sets about trimming down the Raldbase. It's time to put away silly things.

...that we sent there in the first place.

 

This will cut some weight, and restore some much-needed frames.

 

Like Atlas, a quick shove sends the last of this nonsense off...

 

Is this really our legacy for this place? Litter and debris scattered over the face of a once-pristine planet, even the bottom of the sea? Could we have brought these four Kerbals to the very edge of insanity, all in our insatiable quest for science? Are we out of touch?

No, it's the children crew who are wrong. Any last science we can grab?

With the reconfiguring complete, the Raldbase turns around, and heads for the return ship.

 

...which is a surprisingly short distance away. I think we came mighty close to that whole "shivering of timbers" thing...

 

And finally, we are here. Or they are. The crew is oddly muted with the prospect of going home finally within reach.

 

Once more, Jencine has work to do. It seems in their haste to start shivering, the crew neglected to extend the solar panels after landing the return ship on remote, and now the batteries are dead.

 

The RCS system it didn't even have fuel for apparently needs a fix, too.

 

The RaldBase has managed to refine a few drops of fuel and oxidizer. It's not much, but every little bit helps, and the experience in doing so will no doubt prove valuable down the road.

 

...and Jencine pauses for a quick nap in the squishy green mush covering the surface.

 

Lodvin's gone back to mumbling about sand again. It seems he snuck board the return ship before anything could be documented.

Haylotte takes a moment to do a last reset on the base's science equipment. The saga of the RaldBase is likely far from over, and it may yet be needed.

 

Then it's Haylotte's turn up the ladder...

 

...and down into the heavily-shielded crew pod.

 

Jencine has one final task. The RaldBase will be losing even more superfluous, trying to restore more of its former speed. And framerate.

 

But those water engines did prove useful...

 

These empty fuel tanks, too. Could use a bit more protection, though...

 

Jencine takes one last, long gaze at her reluctant magnum opus...

 

...then heads up the ladder...

 

And finally, it's Triti's turn. Who actually volunteered to come here, clinging to the side of a spaceship. We'll have to update her BadS credential.

...and hope she's forgotten about the year and a half of threat's she made. That cake is long gone, now. It was starting to grow hair anyway, but that's never shied Vlad away from food...

 

Looking much more svelte, the RaldBase proceeds off on autopilot to a safe distance.

 

The final checks are made. There's no profound parting words or catchy one-liners. 

3... 2... 1... ignition!

 

Up at 30... drop tanks clear...

 

With a final burst, the return ship makes a stable orbit. The crew spare bittersweet gazes toward their home for the last few months...

or, well, Triti does, since she's the only one with a window.

 

The remaining fuel is burned for the transfer. It will be another dicey passage through both world's radiation belts with an already highly irradiated crew, but the heavy shielding should stem the damage.

 

After a long, long time, they've done it. They've persevered. They're home.

Almost. There's still...

The ROMBUS plug aerospike heats up fast. It was hastily constructed for the much slower entry speed at Rald, there's no telling if--

 

Um... that's supposed to happen...

 

...that, too...

 

...perfectly normal, nothing to see here...

yeesh.

 

We... um... we knew that was going to happen...

aye, yai yai...

 

See? They're perfectly fine...

 

The engineering team absolutely designed the return ship to disintegrate around the recovery pod, completely expected...

 

Um... look at the pretty light show! Oooh, ahh! Oooh, ahh!.

 

Medium-rare but unharmed after burning through their own ablator supply as well, the crew plummets home.

 

Aaaand... we're on the mains, checks are good!

 

Splashdown!

 

And now, no doubt tired and possibly battered and weary after their long ordeal, the crew awaits retrieval. 

Which may take a while, since they ended up coming down on the far side of Gael. We've sent Vlad in a rowboat, but he's still trying to drag it down to the beach. Maybe we should help him.

We stowed a pack of cards or something in the capsule, right? Old magazines? Air freshener with a long label? Oh... darn...

 

Edited January 22, 2018 by CatastrophicFailure

[insert_name]

that capsule is sitting pretty low, how heavy is the soyuz return pod?

[CatastrophicFailure]

19 minutes ago, insert_name said:

that capsule is sitting pretty low, how heavy is the soyuz return pod?

Well, it’s lined with 20mm of lead shielding, so... 

[insert_name]

18 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Well, it’s lined with 20mm of lead shielding, so... 

ah that would do it,  at first I thought that the fuel tank was what provided the shielding

[Geschosskopf]

4 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

And then I had to promptly delete her to keep from exceeding my active vessel limit. 

I again salute the most epic flight of the short-lived Baitfish.  A capital ship for an ocean trip....

 

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

the Triti

I suppose "Triti" is now an honorific.  And probably the head of a clan....

 

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Is this really our legacy for this place? Litter and debris scattered over the face of a once-pristine planet,

Don't worry, the Ancients died from burying themselves in litter.  It's just hard to tell these days due to the squishy fungal mat that carpets the planet-sized garbage dump.

 

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

the Raldbase turns around,

I dunno.  In the configuration it still had then, I think "comes about" would have been more appropriate than "turns around".

 

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Jencine takes one last, long gaze at her reluctant magnum opus...

And it was a great accomplishment.  Only a few stray chest hairs caught in the joints  

 

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

The engineering team absolutely designed the return ship to disintegrate around the recovery pod, completely expected...

That's the way I'd have built it, too.  A bunch of gratuitous explosions that  actually served a useful purpose as insulation.  Bravo for doing it so well

 

[CatastrophicFailure]

6 hours ago, insert_name said:

ah that would do it,  at first I thought that the fuel tank was what provided the shielding

Kerbalism is a cruel mistress.  Basically doubled the mass of the lightest 3-kerb pod I had. Which led to other issues, like...

5 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

That's the way I'd have built it, too.  A bunch of gratuitous explosions that  actually served a useful purpose as insulation.  Bravo for doing it so well

 

but there go my plans for using the design as a fully reusable Rald Shuttle. That engine was bugging me, anyway. No gimbal (hence the verniers), and MechJeb makes it wobble all over the place. But I have something else in mind... eventually. 

5 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

suppose "Triti" is now an honorific.  And probably the head of a clan....

 

... 

oh, for flarp’s sake...

tho I may have to steal that..l

[NCommander]

As a follow up to this, I was skimming the Kerbalism thread, and it looks like it may track debris. You might want to go through the flight center and clean out the kesslar syndrome. It might get your active vessel count up. I also wonder if it's having a bad interaction with the 6.4x scaled planets.

I've currently got about 15 active flights in my playthrough and I'm not hitting unusual lag, but my gaming rig is beefy (abiet slightly dated at this point)

[Patupi]

Just caught up on this, and congratulations for a thoroughly astute rendition of bat&%$# crazy.

 

Though I still expected Vlad to stow away on the good ship Target Practise and use some African animal naming convention. The Dread Pirate Vlad the Impala just sounded too cool.

[CatastrophicFailure]

13 hours ago, NCommander said:

As a follow up to this, I was skimming the Kerbalism thread, and it looks like it may track debris. You might want to go through the flight center and clean out the kesslar syndrome. It might get your active vessel count up. I also wonder if it's having a bad interaction with the 6.4x scaled planets.

I've currently got about 15 active flights in my playthrough and I'm not hitting unusual lag, but my gaming rig is beefy (abiet slightly dated at this point)

Funny you should mention that, I was going to try renaming old things to debris to see if I could keep them around as relays without killing the game.  I don’t get lag, per se, the game just refuses to load if I have more than a couple dozen active flights. I’ve got so many mods at this point I’m continually amazed it works at all (y’all may notice a pattern with this phrase in this thread... ), so probably no way to chase it down. I’ll have to take a look at debris, tho, I thought I’d pretty much turned it off.

6 hours ago, Patupi said:

Vlad the Impala

I laughed way too hard at this. People stared, it was awkward... 

[Patupi]

23 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I laughed way too hard at this. People stared, it was awkward... 

My mission in life is complete. I can die happy now that the great Catastrophic Failure deems my meager humor to be worth a chuckle, nay a guffaw even. Dare I say... a giggle? Mayhaps I press to hard.

 

Or I just say Flarp it and keep on typing whatever junk comes into my head and hope something ends up funny. *Shrugs*

 

EDIT: I should say I had almost the same reaction to that... *shudder* post about the Scott Manley Heads... That seriously deserves a 'DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNN!' And possibly a barrel of bleach - Brain cleaning brand.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Patupi

[CatastrophicFailure]

9 minutes ago, Patupi said:

Or I just say Flarp it and keep on typing whatever junk comes into my head and hope something ends up funny. *Shrugs*

Well, that approach has been working pretty good for me.  Like:

9 minutes ago, Patupi said:

EDIT: I should say I had almost the same reaction to that... *shudder* post about the Scott Manley Heads... That seriously deserves a 'DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNN!' And possibly a barrel of bleach - Brain cleaning brand.

Mind clogged? Neural synapses caked with things you can’t unsee? Loosen stubborn buildup and leave mnemonic pathways squeaky clean with new Brain-O™️ brand brain cleaner! From Layland Wutani, the makers of TastyMush.™️

*Use only as directed. Do not use at all. May cause vomiting, seizures, uncontrolled flarping, visions of Krakens, and suspicious chickens. Layland Wutani and it’s subsidiaries will not be held responsible for any use or misuse of this product. Batteries not included. 

Edited January 22, 2018 by CatastrophicFailure

[CatastrophicFailure]

Addendum to report dated 8/78...

Well, Triti, Lodvin, Haylotte and Jencine are back at the space center again, safe and... mostly sound, in body if not in mind. The flight surgeon has pronounced them more-or-less physically healthy, despite the massive radiation dose. He says Lodvin's, er... growths... should go away on their own eventually, possibly without leaving any unsightly scars. Unfortunately for Jencine, there was no sign of any radiation-induced hair loss. Hey! After being poked and prodded and having enough fluid drawn for labs I'm amazed there wasn't an empty-straw-sucky-sound, the crew was thoroughly debriefed then rushed off to some nice comfortable, sensory-depriving padded quarantine cells for further observation some much needed rest. Initial results from the debriefings were... troubling, at best. I shall have to compile the transcripts into a separate report, once I can bring myself to read them again.

Moving on, there's some housekeeping in order. We do have a space program to run, after all. The crewed program has been put on... hiatus, for the time being. Radiation turned out to be a much more daunting problem than we first thought, but we knew it would be a challenge going into it. Dealing with the stress of long-term isolation away from home, though... this may be the real problem. The science team has a possible solution to both they've pitched, but we all found the very idea quite chilling. For now, we're going to concentrate on robotic exploration while the scientists refine their... concept.

I'm also sad to report that we've lost Thalia EXPRESS due to a failure of the main antenna, only weeks before a scheduled maneuver that would have brought another flyby of the eponymous world.

We still need to deal with the ailing UpLab before we completely lose contact with it, too. Fortunately, the solution there has been crammed into the back of the VAB for weeks now.

Me, I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet. The encounter with Gratian is coming up in just a few days, and after what we've all been through, everyone is looking forward to it. Ah, a nice, boring space probe. It won't talk back. It won't grow... things. It won't poke other things with a stick. It doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it just runs programs and it will never ever go crazy!

.

.

.

.

.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! *CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP* *SLAM!*

 

[Patupi]

10 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

The science team has a possible solution to both they've pitched, but we all found the very idea quite chilling.

Hmm, methinks you hath found the method to avoid using Kerbalism? (as far as radiation simulation goes)

 

Deep Freeze Continued mayhaps? Assume if they're frozen things can't possibly get any worse?

 

 

Did I really say that out loud?

Edited January 23, 2018 by Patupi
SpElLiNg!!!

[IncongruousGoat]

1 minute ago, Patupi said:

Hmm, methinks you hath found the method to avoid using Kerbalism? (as far as radiation goes)

 

Deep Freeze Continued mayhaps? Assume if their frozen things can't possibly get any worse?

 

 

Did I really say that out loud?

Hah. I think @Geschosskopf might have a few things to say on the subject of things going wrong with Deep Freeze...

*ahem* OPTC *ahem*

[Geschosskopf]

On 1/23/2018 at 10:53 AM, IncongruousGoat said:

Hah. I think @Geschosskopf might have a few things to say on the subject of things going wrong with Deep Freeze...

*ahem* OPTC *ahem*

Hehehe.  Well, just to be fair, the DeepFreeze mod itself worked perfectly in that game.  All physical, mental, and spiritual issues afflicting the Kerbals of that game were entirely my own doing, just to have an interesting story.  I know, I'm a bad person.  But don't blame the mod  

The only actual problem I had with DeepFreeze was that the multi-Kerbal freezer parts don't store science.  Given that the only crewed part of the ship taking the crew there and back was a freezer, this was annoying, so I just made a MM patch to let the freezers also freeze science.

[CatastrophicFailure]

The following transcript in an excerpt from Triti Kerman’s debriefing session in the board room of the Admin building the evening of her return. I thought it worth its own place in these reports. All of the Rald Four have been a bit... off, since their ordeal, but for Triti this seemed an unusually lucid and, well, vulnerable moment. The sum of these debriefings are being kept on a secured, need-to-know basis among the staff. This is the reason for the suspension of our crewed program. Before we can even think of sending our people any further, we need to know what's out there. What else... is out there.

*****

...Can you expound on that a bit?

[She shakes her head, but continues anyway.] It’s hard to describe. I thought the place smelled like chest hair and feet, at first, but, it’s like... how do describe a sensation you’ve never felt before? Like tasting color or seeing sound. We all felt it, but no one really wanted to talk about it. 

Then how did you know?

It’s that place. Something is just... different there. For a while I thought maybe it was the air, you know? Low pressure, low oxium, like breathing at high altitude. Messing with my head. But it kept on, even after we sealed up and went back to a full bar atmosphere. And then we reached the City...

[I nod for her to continue.]

It’s... whatever it is, is stronger there. Almost physical. And this crushing sense of... age...

So it’s... old?

Very old. I don’t know how I know that, I just do. 

Is it something that’s alive?

[She looks at me for a moment, as if confused by the question.] No, not exactly. Not dead either. These words, they... they have no relevance to it. 

Is it a presence? Perhaps some sort of entity we can’t see?

Not like that, either. It’s... again, it’s difficult to describe. It’s more like... memory... shadows and whispers...

Do you think it’s... malevolent? Was it trying to harm you?

Not at all. That’s giving to much... I guess... personality to it. It’s not a thing, but it has will. 

How do you mean?

I felt like it was... trying to show us something, but...

Yes?

[She looks at me.] But we are not ready yet. 

I don’t understand.

Exactly. Imagine... [She winces, she seems to have already thought this answer out, and doesn’t really like it.] imagine if you could show your mind to an ant. Could the ant understand it? [A shake of her head.] Of course not. It couldn’t even begin to. All it might grasp are the very basest things, images and feelings simple enough for its senses. And it would be terrified, such as an ant can be, in a way you might not understand. It wouldn’t know, you see?

Know what?

If the sensations were a threat... or a warning. 

[She draws in on herself, wrapping her hands around her elbows.]

So it... does mean us harm...

[She shakes her head again, forcefully this time.] No! But it wants something. Something from us. 

And what is that?

[For a while she ignores me. She looks out the big window, where Ciro has set and the starless, alien sky full of angry red clouds is just starting to appear.]

Triti... what does it want from us?

[Finally she looks back, and I see the tears welling in her eyes.]

Forgiveness. 

Edited January 25, 2018 by CatastrophicFailure
But wait! There's more...

[0111narwhalz]

Shadows and whispers? Well, this is a relevation!

Is this the reason our intrepid staff are on Gael? Or is it the reason GENE keeps spitting out roots? Maybe it made Vlad strange, and that's why it wants forgiveness. Hopefully not that one—Vlad can never be forgiven.

[Alpha 360]

OOHH! Is this series going to be the story after what happens in the Revelations of the Kraken!? Of the Kraken repenting of his destroying kerbalkind in the previous world? Or is he deceiving them after all?

Questions which do not have answers, but these questions should have answers. 

[qzgy]

I smell a crossover....

Sounds like it at least. I haven't read your other stories...... probably will start someday.

[Geschosskopf]

10 hours ago, qzgy said:

I smell a crossover....

No, you smell chest hair and feet

 

18 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

but for Triti this seemed... unusually lucid

I'll say.

 

18 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

shadows and whispers...

That sounds ominous

 

18 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Triti... what does it want from us?

[Finally she looks back, and I see the tears welling in her eyes.]

Forgiveness. 

Forgiveness for what?  Having to choose the form of the Destructor?  How much does Triti's CT scan resemble some sort of mythological dog?  Has she mentioned needing to find the Keymaster?

I'm surprised this transcript contains no mention of Stinky.  Stinky, being some sort of alien un-life form, and possibly knowing all the answers to the questions asked here, should be on the menu.  Or did Stinky come back with the Rald crew and that debriefing is classified?  Are those the real questions?

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[FleshJeb]

I started reading this thread last night, and finished this morning.

May your flarping always be uncontrolled, and your socks be ever filled with butter.

[CatastrophicFailure]

On 1/25/2018 at 6:49 AM, Alpha 360 said:

OOHH! Is this series going to be the story after what happens in the Revelations of the Kraken!? Of the Kraken repenting of his destroying kerbalkind in the previous world? Or is he deceiving them after all?

Questions which do not have answers, but these questions should have answers. 

Tidbits will continue to be dropped about in the coming weeks and months, for those who know where to look. I don't know if I'll ever explain the whole thing... but I might.

On 1/25/2018 at 5:25 PM, Geschosskopf said:

I'm surprised this transcript contains no mention of Stinky.  Stinky, being some sort of alien un-life form, and possibly knowing all the answers to the questions asked here, should be on the menu.  Or did Stinky come back with the Rald crew and that debriefing is classified?  Are those the real questions?

Crap, I knew I forgot something Er, why no, he hasn't been forgotten at all! The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, all things serve the Beam, and so on, and so forth... this, we do not speak of!

 

And having just watched Scott Manley's video on the Ultimate Enterprise, I just figured out how I could have done the sails much better, too. 

[Alpha 360]

12 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

all things serve the Beam

I'm just reading that series. Did you watch the movie or read the book. Or both?

Spoiler

In case folks don't know what we are talking about, it's called "The Last Gunslinger", the "Black Tower Series" Brilliant series which people should read.