A Noob's Journey to Jool

[Mister_Spaceman]

     Hello! EvilEmotaku here. You can probably tell by the title that

1. I am inexperienced in Kerbal Space Program.
2. I want to go to Jool.

     So. Let's make it happen. In this thread I, along with any potential readers, will with follow the journey to Jool. I'll skip past the initial game. Y'all won't need to read any of that boring stuff with the Flea SRB or anything. I'll start posting updates and a summary of the prior events once LKO has been achieved. Please note that these updates will be irregular, as I am still in school. Writing, homework, and missions take take time, too, so again, don't expect daily updates.I hope you enjoy the accomplishments and blunders that will follow me along my way the the big, green planet. I also want to say that any constructive criticism is welcome, as it will help me to gain experience, and speed up the trip to Jool and its moons. Again, enjoy this thread.

     So basically, my mission is to land at least one manned and unmanned mission on each of Jool's moons.

Spoiler

Okay, so as for mods, I plan on only using visual stuff. I might add DMagic Orbital science, but I also might not. I added DMagic because it doesn't exactly make the game easier, as far as getting somewhere, and it adds so much to the stock experiments. I also added contract packs to make the game more interesting and get rid of those pesky part testing contracts. If anyone can tell me how to make KSPRC work in 1.2.2 (namely the new textures. They make the Mun and Kerbin look so much better.), I'll definitely add it.

 

Mods:

Distant Object Enhancement

Environmental Visual Enhancements (Not working, need to fix configs.)

Kopernicus (Not really in use. It came with KSPRC, which didn't quite work.)

PlanetShine

RealPlume

Smokescreen

Scatterer

Stock Visual Terrain

Texture Replacer

Reentry Particle Effect

DMagic Orbital Science

Contract Configurator

     Unmanned Missions

     Grand Tours

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by EvilEmotaku

[cratercracker]

Good luck! I visited Jool 4 times (2 probes , 1 manned , 1 probe polar orbiter) After my experience of fly-bying joolian moons i can clearly say- Gravity assists may ruin your mission in a few seconds , think a lot while doing one.

[Alphard]

I also wish you good luck, I have only visited Jool once, Sarnus seems a lot more beautiful to me, so once in a month I send a mission there. I suggest some mods that scale up the distance of moons in Joolian system, unexpected encounters will be very rare with that. For electrics, I suggest the Near Future Electrical mod, and for bodies and antennas I suggest the Probes Plus mod. If you want to get some science once you are there, install DMagic Science Mod. I hope that helps. 

[Mister_Spaceman]

@cratercracker Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to keep it in mind if when I get to Jool.

@Alphard Thanks! I don't plan on using too many mods. For now, I'll only use visual mods. I can't seem to get EVE working, though. (My guess is the configs are wrong. I was trying to add the clouds from KSPRC, to no avail.) I don't plan on using any parts packs, at least for the time being. But DMagic is very tempting. I've used it in the past and it really improves on the stock science. Now that I think of it, I should add a mods list to the OP.

 

Almost into orbit. Summary coming soon!

Edited March 19, 2017 by EvilEmotaku
Added DMagic and Contract Configurator

[Mister_Spaceman]

(OOC intro) Alright, finally got into orbit (it's not hard, I just don't have a whole lot of time). So now we can start making real progress. Pretty exciting. I look forward to this thread, and I hope any readers enjoy it. Also, I kinda forgot to take screenshots of most of the Kopernicus mission. I usually don't log these, so it slipped my mind. I'll have pictures for the next mission, I promise. For now, we'll just say that Val's pics were overexposed.)

A flea rocket in the air, one of the first steps towards space.

Val's view of the mountains West of the KSC from her command pod. This picture was taken during a routine survey mission.

 

     In the quiet night, a low rumble began to break the silence. Kopernicus I (shut up, names are hard) lifted off of the dirt mound that barely passed for a launch pad. A column of smoke and flame pushed the 14-ton rocket through the air on its way to space. Valentina, the second pilot of the first ever astronaut class sat in her acceleration seat, pushed further back by the force of acceleration. The solid fuel in the side mounted boosters ran out, and the rocket continued on its way. By 10 kilometres, the rocket was tilted forty-five degrees towards the East, giving it the trajectory it needed to enter orbit with relative ease. As Kopernicus I accelerated yet more towards space, Valentina thought to the previous missions flown before the Kopernicus.

     Not much of anything to marvel at, the Genesis program gave the space program the needed kick to get it going. Starting with Flea rockets, little more than SRBs with command pods attached, the program quickly gained fame and funding from the Kerbal public. Not long after, the Moses series of rockets was rolled out to the launch pad. Flying routine missions to survey spots on Kerbin, one mission- Genesis VI- gave Jebediah Kerman the taste of space he and Val had craved. When his capsule Returned from a suborbital trajectory, he couldn't help but rave to Val and a few other employees about the experience. Days later, two new kerbonauts joined the force, drawn in by Jebediah's description of space. Bill and Bob Kerman were added to the first kerbonaut class as an engineer and a scientist, respectively. With its first victims kerbonauts, the program was off to a modest, yet great start.

     Flying through the air at a kilometre per second, the main tank of the Kopernicus rocket had drained itself of fuel earlier than predicted. The rocket was only at about twenty kilometres. Valentina decouple the tank and fired up the second stage rocket. Carefully watching the altimeter, speedometer, and fuel gauge. She was worried mainly about the fuel level. Given that she had to stage early, she wouldn't have much fuel to get into orbit, and by extension, out of orbit. She told mission control so, and after some talk, they responded.

     "Okay, Val. Our math shows that you have plenty of fuel. You'll have about ten percent left by the time you reach orbit. Continue as planned." Valentina followed orders and kept going. Minutes later, Kopernicus I and Valentina had breached the atmosphere. The little craft was finally in a suborbital trajectory. It didn't take long for the craft to reach its seventy-five kilometre apoapse. A quick burn put the craft into orbit. Valentina Kerman had become the first female Kerbal in space, and the first Kerbal ever to enter orbit. She rolled the craft so its window faced Kerbin and gazed down at the blue-green ball slowly whizzing past her. In her awe, Valentina almost forgot the secondary purpose of her mission. She remotely conducted a few experiments, and orbiting once again, initiated another burn at periapse to kick the highest point to over one million kilometres. Once there, Val ran a few more of the same experiments. Preparing for the third and final burn, Val rolled the ship to face Kerbin yet again.

     This view was even better. The blue and green marble sat hundreds of thousands of kilometres below her window, more beautiful than any Kerbal had ever known it to be. Val gazed upon the planet yet again. Taken aback by its astounding beauty. From this point, Valentina knew. Space was her home. She will do whatever it takes to see views like this. Whether it be Kerbin, the Mun, Moho, Laythe, anywhere, Valentina would live for any view like this. These views are and will be hers. No matter what. After lifting her camera and snapping a picture, Valentina initiated the return burn and jettisoned the spent fuel tank. An hour or so later, the capsule entered the atmosphere yet again. The wall of air was pushed into the capsule at thousands of metres per second, igniting and engulfing the tin can in a column of fire. The command pod pushed itself through the atmosphere, the air slowing it enough for its drogue chute to deploy. With chutes out, the pod gently splashed into the water, marking the missions end and implanting the spirit of curiosity and adventure into Kerbals forever.

 

The parallel reentry trails of the Kopernicus command pod and its spent fuel tank.

 

[Alphard]

Nice!

[Mister_Spaceman]

     Eww, that last paragraph was worded poorly. I'll probably fix that later on.

Edited March 21, 2017 by EvilEmotaku

[Mister_Spaceman]

Not a whole lot has happened. I did a goof and reset the game back to the Genesis Program (remember kids, make sure you actually quicksaved before you reload). So, I repeated a bunch of missions, and progressed a tiny bit. Upgraded the R&D complex and Astronaut Complex. You can expect an update tomorrow.