OPM Grand Tour

[lukavago]

So I figured it's time to start documenting my most ambitious space program yet, and since all of you lovely people will be reading, I'll be a lot more inclined to make progress. So let's get started shall we?

So it's obvious from the title that I'm doing a grand tour with the OPM mod installed. I'm doing this in career mode on normal difficulty with regular settings. I have a whole bunch of mods installed (105 at last count) so I won't go into all of them. The highlights? MechJeb, the Near Future family, DeepFreeze, Mark IV, OPT, and Kerbal Atomics. Oh, and OPM, what with it being in the title and all.

So what are my actual goals you ask? I have a lot of those too. To keep it simple, I'll just tell you what milestone I'm on and what all it entails. You'll get an update from me once I complete a milestone. Milestone 1 was easy, get to space. Jeb got all of the initial distance and speed records, he was also the first Kerbal to strap himself into a rocket, but Val beat him to the punch for the two big ones, first to space, and first to orbit. Jeb got the first mission because he's Jeb, but he and Val swapped seats every flight, Jeb was just unlucky that his orbital attempt fell 3km short.

Now I didn't take any photos of what I called my testing rockets. It's just the first bit's of the game and unlocking the bottom of the tech tree. Instead, I've got prototype designs for y'all to take a gander at.

Now those are very much works in progress, the station has already had a major overhaul since I snapped that shot, but they do give you an idea on some of the things I've been working on.

So what's next in stage 2? In a nut shell, Kerbin. I'm gonna rip every last bit of science that I can out of Kerbin by dropping into every single biome. My first satellites will go up and begin mapping for stage 3. Stage 4, I'm gonna visit temples, and abandoned launch sites, and every other thing I can find, and my first communication constellation will go up sometime during all of this. After that, I start reaching a little further out and doing what I can to truly unlock the tech tree.

So here is what I need from y'all. I have names for things I've already designed (or are currently designing), but I don't have a name for my manned craft that's gonna drop into all these different places on Kerbin. So let the first round of suggestions roll in. I'll go ahead and mention that my probes I've already come up with are named after various bugs, my landers after birds, and just about everything else after people. Oh, and my lifters are named after the Greek alphabet, not that they are anywhere close to finished. I think it'll be fun to see y'alls thoughts.

Any rate, thanks for taking the time to read about my attempt at what will likely be the most challenging thing I will ever try to do in KSP.

Edited April 21, 2017 by lukavago
typo edit

[Zhetaan]

To continue the animal theme, let's go with mammals.  I'm not certain whether you're making individual craft for each biome, but that is my assumption because anything else would require a shorter list:  therefore, this list should cover your needs.

Ice Caps -- Caribou
Northern Ice Shelf -- Lemming
Southern Ice Shelf -- Crabeater
Tundra -- Marten
Highlands -- Wildcat
Mountains -- Ibex
Grasslands -- Aurochs
Deserts -- Xerocole
Badlands -- Bison
Shores -- Platypus
Water -- Beluga

[lukavago]

Zhetaan, your suggestions are great. The only ships that get distinct names are ones that I plan on never recovering, like my Explorer Class that will actually do the grand tour. My Kerbin missions will have many rockets that all have the same class name, with numbers attached to the end. However, I don't want all these cool names to go to waste, so 6 of them will go to my lifters, and the rest will fill in for what I need in the Kerbin System. Also, the Platypus is an amazing animal, I love that you included it.

10t - Lemming                        Mun Missions - Platypus

20t - Marten                            Minmus Missions - Aurochs

40t - Xerocole                         Any and all subs will be named after whales, the first one being call the Beluga class

60t - Ibex                                My SSTO's will be named after seals, starting with Crabeater

80t - Wildcat                           And finally, my biome missions will be the Caribou class rocket, the anomaly rockets getting distinct names after Santa's reindeer.

100t - Bison

[lukavago]

Alright folks, things move quickly in the early game, so this post will cover milestones 2 and 3.

So thanks to some creative naming from Zhetaan, our brave kerbals went to space on the brand new Caribou class rockets. The Caribou's went up into polar orbits with either Jeb or Vall, and all the science I had to put on them. They are also ridiculously overpowered, one time getting into orbit without even touching the 3rd stage. Oops......

As you can see, Jeb also earned his first star, and the distinction of being the first Kerbal to land at the north pole.

With enough science gathered to unlock solar panels, it was time to put the flat Kerbin argument to rest once and for all, and move on to milestone 3. As such, I'm proud to introduce to you the first in what will be a long and successful probe family.

The Bumblebee ScanSat family of probes will ensure that we know where we are going on all the various planets and moons in our system. They are our vanguard, and will often times be the first thing into new and exciting systems. With a beautiful cosmic dance, they will tell us the best locations to visit and how to get to them. Our first Bumblebee is in a polar orbit around Kerbin, and is busy telling us how tall all the mountains are. 

It took over three days, but we now have maps of Kerbin, and that juicy science from the scans will help pave the way for the rest of the Bumblebees.

Now milestone 4 was to send Kerbals to all the various Anomalies around Kerbin, but my Bees arn't quite advanced enough to know that they are there yet, so my Kerbals don't know that they are supposed to go there yet. Oops. Good news is that I can move to milestone 5 for now and come back. Now milestone 5 is to map Mun and Minmus, as well as to set up a coms network for both. That means Kerbin will have to get it's own version first, and Jeb and Val should get some high orbit flights under their helmets. Bob and Bill are silently hoping that they will continue to escape notice from the powers that be. (hahahaha, not happening)

Full Gallery - Part 1 - Part 2 and 3

 

[lukavago]

And I'm back, this time having skipped a few steps and accomplished part of milestone 7. Yeah, I'm bad at following my own instructions....

So in order to earn some money, I took a contract to get some Mun Science. The first of the Platypus missions launched with Jeb on board to ensure that we didn't lose a perfectly good rocket.

So off he goes. Once he got on the back side of the Mun, where KSC couldn't get in touch with him, Jeb decided to become the first Kerbal to land on Mun. Since this wasn't in the plan, no photos of this historic moment where taken. Thankfully Val was willing to head up and get the proper evidence for future history books.

Quick note about the flags I'm using. The flag was created by imgur user prwilliams, and I will be changing through the blue versions as my space program advances. So a special thanks to prwilliams for some wonderful flags.

Now with the Mun landed on (way ahead of schedule I might add), KSC is going to be in a mad scramble ensuring their backers that everything is fine and that this is a good thing while only slightly delaying a few scheduled launches. A few communication companies have some very interesting technology that they want to check out, and it might solve the issue of KSC not being able to talk to (and keep an eye on) Jeb at all times. Bob and Bill have managed to hide from management (for now), but they are running out of unlocked closets to duck into.

Sorry I'm a little thin on photo's and advancement. Uncle Sam had my attention this past weekend, and between that, the garage sale, and a fair amount of homework, I didn't get a lot of KSP time this week. If fact, I might be a bit spotty over the next couple of weeks as finals role up, but I will have at least one more update before the start of the summer holidays. The main milestone I want to reach by that point is 8, which would see Minmus explored, with maybe our first batch of probes to Duna.

Full Gallery - Part 1 - Part 2 and 3 - Platypus Missions

[TopHeavy11]

Nice! Can't wait to see more!

[lukavago]

Sweet, so I have a lot to cover, but I'm a lousy Kerbanaut who doesn't take a lot of pics when I'm supposed to. Any rate, lets move on.

I'll start off by saying that milestone 5 is complete. There is a working Coms Network around Kerbin (little redundant at the moment...), the Mun, and Minmus. Height maps of the moons have been generated and passed out to all potential Kerbonauts. My next missions will map biomes and find every single anomaly so I can go visit them. I'm really looking forward to the Green one on the Mun. But first, the ladies of Green Krew made the first historic landing on Minmus!!!

Here we have Val, Leetha, and Gibella smiling in triumph over Red Krew (Jeb, Bill and Bob). But I wouldn't feel too bad for the boys, they got to return to the Mun, and found something interesting.

That's right folks, we have our First Mun Arch, with Bob proudly standing atop it (only moderate soiling was involved)

So here's the part where I tell you what's next. Exams, followed by me moving from a tropical island in the Pacific to Massachusetts with a two week road trip thrown into the middle of my move for giggles. That's my way of warning you that I'm gonna be gone for a bit. If I can, I'll have the first of my new class of probes off the ground and waiting for transfer windows, and well as some important Anomaly missions done and knocked out of the way. If that happens, I'll be up to milestone 9, with only 6 skipped in the process. What's milestone 6 you ask? I'll let you know when it happens, but since it'll be a proof of concept, I really won't be able to skip it for much longer.

I think it's time I mention how I'm gonna organize my Kerbals. To start with, there will be four Krews. Each crew will consist of three Kerbals, and will be named Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow. These four Krews are responsible for all of my manned missions throughout the system. Blue and Yellow have not yet been activated, but they will be doing the actual tour when the time comes. But what about Red and Green you ask. They will work together to uncover all of the Anomalies that there are to be found. The Grand Tour is a publicity stunt, the Anomaly Tour will advance all of Kerbalkind. Now, none of the four Krews can support themselves across the entire system, so a series of stations, both manned and automated, will be built.The five Manned stations will have four Kerbals, 2 scientist and 2 engineers. Once again, I am asking for advice on names for these brave krews that will spend long periods of time floating in space.

That's all I've got for this update, wish me luck as I completely shift my life, and I'll get back to y'all as quick as I'm able.

Full Gallery - Part 1 - Part 2 and 3 - Platypus Missions - Strange Sights

(Hint - There is always a couple bonus photos in the full gallery)

[lukavago]

Hey everyone! So I finished this semester without the rapid unplanned disassembly of my brain and I'm now in the middle of my two week road trip across the country. Our first stop was at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas, and I figure that y'all would enjoy some of my photos. So without further ado, here we go.

As always, the links have a few more photos. I'll have one more photo drop from somewhere else I'm stopping at. Free fake internet points for whoever can guess!

Full Gallery - Part 1 - Part 2 and 3 - Platypus Missions - Strange Sights - Road Trip 1

[Alpha 360]

Keep up the good work!

MOAR!

Edited May 18, 2017 by Alpha 360
"Kouston, we have several problems, but that doesn't matter so we want to continue on with the mission."

[lukavago]

Hey everyone.

So this is just a quick update for y'all. I have finished my road trip, and I am currently working on finding a car and an apartment. Once those are out of the way, and I have an address, my in-laws will be shipping my computer to me. Then I can begin updating to the new update, and playing the waiting game on mods. Good news for me, it'll probably be 2 weeks before my computer gets here, giving all of the mods I use lots of time to update. Bad news, I'm waiting around for a while. As to my road trip, I owe y'all an apology. See, we where supposed to stop at another space related location during my travels, and that location is Barringer Crater. Sadly, we had to cancel that stop due to reasons that I will spare you. If there is demand, I'll post a few photos of the rest of the trip for y'all to look at.

[lukavago]

Alright, last update before we return to our normal programing

I have settled into my new home just fine, and my computer managed to make its journey around the world, but sadly not without casualties. My case took a rather rough beating and will need to be replaced, and my motherboard didn't make it. What broke on it? No idea, but it won't even give me error codes at this point. Thanks to a timely birthday present in the form of an amazon gift card, I am able to replace all of my broken bits and get my computer up and running again. In August..... right before I go to South Korea for two weeks.....

So yeah, I'll have an real update for y'all as soon as possible, but it'll probably be at least another week.

[lukavago]

And I'm back! After replacing my motherboard, the case, and a small heart attack when my CPU was dropped, I am back in the action. This update is rather small, but it introduces some very important Kerbals. Blue Team is making their grand entrance with a series of missions to get them up to a two star rating.

First up, time to pay respects to the greats that came before us. I know I'm a little late, but computer issues had to be dealt with first.

After that, a Monolith was discovered on the Mun, so we sent Blue team to check that out too.

They also had a landing on Minmus, but I forgot to take photos.

So with the contributions from Blue team, I pulled together enough science to unlock some docking ports, which means that it's time to build a station. So look here for future updates!

Full Gallery - Part 1 - Part 2 and 3 - Platypus Missions - Strange Sights - Road Trip 1 - Blue Team