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Alternis Kerbol Travelling Circus -- Episode 34: Over the Hills and Far Away


Geschosskopf

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  On 1/17/2018 at 1:38 PM, GregroxMun said:

When the volcanoes began to die out, some plants evolved to mimick the orange-red glow of molten rock for minutes at a time. When one plant started, the others would follow. Any herbivore wanting a feast would be discouraged. But the trees didn't get discouraged because trees can't get discouraged. So they grew around anyway.

Until the next update for Kopernicus Expansions Rekerjiggered comes out, I can not remove trees from Laythe's volcanoes. It would be so simple to do it too, but the one PQSMod I need to do it is unavailable right now. If you ask me the official Alternis Kerbol Developer's explanation is that there aren't any trees there and never were. :wink:

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Heheh, good theory :)

While you're at it, can you add some smoke and fumes to the volcanoes, too?

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  On 1/17/2018 at 2:11 PM, Geschosskopf said:

Oh.  I thought they'd just be another type of cloud.

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Sounds good on paper, works weirdly in practice. It’s what I did with Stock Laythe, but it took a bit of tweaking to:

1) get the volcanic clouds anchored correctly, 

2) have the clouds “roil”, as stationary clouds look weird,

3) get them to be thick enough without murdering my PC.

Definitely a workable option. 

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  On 1/18/2018 at 10:46 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

Thanks! They were 2-layers per altitude, one for steam and the other for yellow/sulphuric gasses, with three different altitudes depending on the “volcano” (thus the performance hit).

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Very interesting.  Perhaps you and @GregroxMun can compare notes and come up with something for Alternis Laythe that's not such a performance hit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

EPISODE 31:  I'm Ready

  Reveal hidden contents

Tune in next time for more of the slow spiral into damnation.

Edited by Geschosskopf
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EPISODE 32:  Grindhouse

This episode has very little action but lots of pretty pics of excellent mod parts.  I love @Angel-125's IVAs....

Having now gotten the new BIGBY station up, it was time to send up the crew so they could start grinding out Science!  The Boffins had cobbled together a massive new crew-hauler, the Shift Change Mk 3, capable of seating about 20 Kerbals.  However, for this trip, it only had 12 aboard, and only 10 of them, the sciencemates and artificersmates, would be staying.  The Circus' 2 newly shanghaied bosunsmate strikers would be coming right back after a bit of seasoning in orbit, to test the re-entry capabilities of the Shift Change Mk 3.

So, the full roster:

  • Bosunsmates:  Strikers Fergar and Hilhat on their first trip to space.
  • Sciencemates:  SM2s Shelbas and Billy-Bobford, SM3s Hudlong, Jean, and Beany, and strikers Wildous and Fredlong.  All the ratings were veterans of MOLE 2, Shelbas had landed on Pol, Hudlong had skimmed Mun, and Billy-Bobford had been to Bop.
  • Artificersmates:  AM2 Harbree and strikers Loton and Derbin.  Harbree had also been on Pol.

Anyway, the flight was almost a disaster but quick work by verteran AM2 Harbree saved the day and Shift Change Mk 3 reached orbit safely. 

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While waiting to sync up with the BIGBY station, the crew had a chance to appreciate all the extra elbow room of the new ship.  In fact, they enjoyed it a little more than they should have thanks to a field modification Shelbas performed.  The Circus was not amused but does cut its more salty hands a bit of slack, due to their having been institutionalized.

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Both the "Estonian" capsule and the D2 Briefing Room are 2-deckers with full amenities.  The crew really liked the "Estonian" having some insulation on the walls, especially in a soothing blue color.  The older pods had been rather drafty and depressingly industrial inside.

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The Briefing Room was also quite comfortable and was set up for LAN parties as a break from monotonous training videos.

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But all too soon, thanks to the BIGBY station being in a 750km orbit and Shift Change Mk 3 at 120km, the ships synced up.  Fortunately, by then the air scrubbers had broken the nitrous oxide back down into its more necessary components and the jovial mood passed.  In an hour or so, the rendezvous was completed and the crew got its first look at their new home.  The veterans of the old MOLE 2, who had been horrifying the noobs with tales of its privations, were favorably impressed.  However, another glitch in Shift Change Mk 3 nearly ruined things.

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The most senior sciencemates all piled into the Skylab and got to work on the 8 experiments that were pre-loaded.  Some of them were so carried away by having SO MUCH ROOM that they started bouncing off the walls before realizing they could in fact run around them.  They also were happy to note that although the Ice Cream Experiment was only 1/8 of their work, they had ample stocks to repeat their tests numerous times, just to be sure.

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Meanwhle, the artificersmates and junior sciencemates checked out the centrifuge, which would be their bunk room.  They found the gravity useful for pouring drinks but the view out the windows was strange.  The stars were going down rapidly to the left, up rapidly in the right, and slowly rotating around the kerb at the head of the table.  After consuming their grog rations, they found they had more trouble than usual staying upright.

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With the BIGBY crew all settled in, Fergar and Hilhat wasted no time in shoving off.  They had no desire to be stuck on a station indefinitely.  Much to everybody's relief, the docking ports unlocked with no problem.  However, capsule again wanted to explode.  Fortunately, Fergar had by then learned enough to apply the necessary duct tape.

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Shift Change Mk 3 at this point at a little over 500m/s left in the tanks.  From prior experience, Mission Control knew it took about 250m/s to de-orbit from low orbit in the standard, smooth descent profile.  Getting into that position, however, would take all the remaining fuel if done with just the engines.  Therefore, Mission Control decided to try aerobraking, using the new TRAJECTORIES software, rather than descending straight from high orbit.  After some early bad experiences with attempts at aerocapture and aerobraking in the uncooperative atmospheres of Alternis Kerbol, ships had been designed not to need either.  But that was long ago in the dark ages.  Mission Control therefore decided it was time to try again.

Things did not go as planned.  Rather than aerobraking, Shift Change Mk 3 ended up entering the atmosphere for keeps.  Having the OMS stage still attached complicated things.  But no harm was done, other than the thing landing far away and in the ocean, and Fergar and Hilhat were soon undergoing their first debriefing / dissections.

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Meanwhile, marshaling the TE-1 flotilla continues apace.  This mission is beginning to suffer from bloat, but transfer windows in Alternis Kerbol are few and far between, so it's best to make the most of them.  Besides, a trip to Tylo is a trip to 2 regular-sized and 1 super-sized planets, so there's a lot to see and do there.  And I really want to know what I'm getting into before committing a crewed mission there.

Tune in next time for more of the slow spiral into damnation.

Edited by Geschosskopf
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  On 1/29/2018 at 12:21 AM, Angel-125 said:

Centrifuge shenanigans again... I made the footprints on the lockers after watching a video on the Skylab astronauts running around. :)

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Yeah, that's a nice touch, even though the Skylabs don't rotate.  The actual centrifuge shenanigan is the problem with the external view of the IVA, as noted in the DSEV thread.

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Another chapter already? I just read the last one though!

I have to say, having been under nitrous oxide, I don't remember it being that great. Its made me all nice and light headed and woozy in a bit of an unpleasant way. But I was at the dentist so that might have had an impact.

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  On 1/29/2018 at 1:42 AM, obney kerman said:

2 chapters in 2 days? I'm in heaven.

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Well, the 2nd was simply 1 flight.  Not much to it, but I felt like showing off the wonderful IVAs.

 

  On 1/29/2018 at 1:53 AM, qzgy said:

I have to say, having been under nitrous oxide, I don't remember it being that great. Its made me all nice and light headed and woozy in a bit of an unpleasant way. But I was at the dentist so that might have had an impact.

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Dentists and nitrous always makes me think of "Little Shop of Horrors"  :D  Interestingly, nitrous was commonly used/abused recreationally for about half a century, starting in 1799, before its medicinal uses were explored.  Used to be, the upper classes would hold "laughing gas parties" where they'd have the gas flowing into the general air of the the parlor for everybody to inhale.  And these were the folks who could afford the best wine and whisky, so they must have seen advantages in nitrous :)   In fact, this still goes on today in a number of places, such as in dance clubs.

My own experience with nitrous, however, is also limited to the dentist.  In my case, when I was having my wisdom teeth pulled, first off they gave me a good whiff of nitrous before knocking me out with other stuff (including curare, believe it or not).  I LOVED the nitrous.  It was a buzz like having drunk a sixpack only without the full belly or bladder, or any sleepiness, or inability to think straight.  IOW, it was a lucid buzz that also brought euphoria and that made it easy to laugh at trivial things.  Then they knocked me out.  Over the next week or so, as my jaw ached and I even got a dry socket, I still thought it was all worth it for that bit of nitrous up front :) 

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Having grown up in a family of smoke eaters I know losing a coworker can be like losing family. It’s never good news and never easy. My condolences on your loss. 

 

Centrifuges - I’m about to start using those in a build too. :wink: Nice parts with very nice IVAs. 

I’m not sure what’s up with Trajectories. I’m guessing it isn’t happy with Alternis Kerbin’s new atmosphere. It’s never really worked perfectly in the “new” stock atmosphere, but once you learn its nuances it can be used as a decent estimator. Probably needs a config tweak for the planet packs. There’s some voodoo math involved, if I recall correctly. 

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  On 1/29/2018 at 4:59 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

Centrifuges - I’m about to start using those in a build too. :wink: Nice parts with very nice IVAs. 

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This is just the old one.  I haven't tried the new, deluxe version, which is a full wheel divided into quarters.  But Angel posted a bunch of pics as he was making it.  So it's got a bunk room, a lab, and something else, I forget.  But the last quarter is a disco lounge with all the lights and even a functioning jukebox :) 

 

  4 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I’m not sure what’s up with Trajectories. I’m guessing it isn’t happy with Alternis Kerbin’s new atmosphere. It’s never really worked perfectly in the “new” stock atmosphere, but once you learn its nuances it can be used as a decent estimator. Probably needs a config tweak for the planet packs. There’s some voodoo math involved, if I recall correctly. 

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Yeah, Alternis Kerbol has what is effectively Real Atmospheres.  I've found Trajectories works acceptable well with winged vehicles in this system, such as landing everything so far on Laythe.  But it doesn't seem to work well with non-winged things in this system.  Oh well, lesson learned.

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