A Harder Edge: Nanocrystalline Diamond Caveman challenge attempt (Chapter 9: The Home Stretch) (DONE)

[IncongruousGoat]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my (possibly ill-fated) attempt at the Caveman challenge on the hardest difficulty possible- Nanocrystalline Diamond.

I'll be rigorously documenting my attempt, at least in the beginning, because nobody's done this before, and the more information I can pass to anyone trying this in the future, the better.

For those unfamiliar with the rules, the rules are as follows:

1. No mods that alter gameplay.

2. Career mode, no facility upgrades.

3. The goal is to gather the 1188 science required to unlock all tech nodes available in the tier 1 R&D center

Difficulty settings for Nanocrystalline Diamond are as follows:

No, seriously.

Before I begin, I would like to give my thanks to @dvader and @MinimalMinmus for paving the way for higher difficulty tier attempts, to @The Dunatian for hosting the challenge, and of course to @GoSlash27 for starting the caveman challenge.

Now, without further ado, here's the first chapter of the attempt:

Chapter 1: What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Spoiler

Well, here we are...

Let's get started, shall we?

I would like to grab First Launch and Gather Science, but trying to do that would leave me effectively as bankrupt as I am right now, so I'm grabbing Escape the Atmosphere for the advance.

Our first vessel, the noble Wednesday Morning, 3 am. She may not look like much, and she really doesn't have it where it counts, but it's all I can afford.

Jeb, I need you to go for a walk. A long, long walk. I'll be good for you, trust me.

Jeb ran all the way to the VAB, and then all the way to the water, which is over a mile from the launch pad. Why? Well, the science was good, and you get World's Firsts bonuses for splashing down if you run into the water.

A decent haul for a first launch, but we'll need a lot more before this is done.

I think it's high time we launch something, don't you think?

The mighty (huh? what do you mean, it's not mighty? it's got a whole solid booster on it!) The Sun is Burning. Most of the solid fuel has been stripped out of the booster to save on cash.

Welp. On the first launch attempt, Jeb fell off the rocket and wasn't able to climb up. Guess I'll just have to recover it and try again...

The second attempt went much better.

Much science was gained. We've nearly got enough to unlock a node, but we can't afford a science launch. There's only one option...

The most classic caveman device, the science roller, seen here in its minimal configuration. The Sparrow only has 100 units of EC, so we're going to have to be careful not to run out...

Now, normally only one Mystery Goo experiment can be retrieved from any given biome. However, this science roller has 2 capsules. By storing 1 copy of the mystery goo results from each biome in each capsule, we can increase goo science yield by 33%, netting a whole extra science point. It may not sound like much, but in an NCD run, 1 science point is a large bounty.

After rolling all over the space center, Jeb returned the roller to the runway for maximum return value.

Science returns in the spoiler:

Spoiler

Whew. Heck of a haul. In fact...

It's enough to unlock some of the tech tree! Now we're cooking with fire.

Enough fire, in fact, to go to space with, which is what Richard Cory is designed to do.

That look like space to you? Looks like space to me.

Hooray, science!

Space was nice, but it's time to go to orbit.

At The Zoo is a study in clever solutions to stupid problems. Liquid boosters were too expensive, so I went with a staged solid approach instead. Radial decouplers haven't been invented yet, so the radial boosters are attached to an inline decoupler that connects to the bottom of the center booster. Thermometers are too weak to survive re-entry attached to the capsule, so they go on the parachute instead. The list goes on.

We have a liftoff! This design had to be tested several times in a test save, mostly due to heating issues on the way up and on the way back down.

Booster cutoff/sep

Center booster long gone, burning for orbit.

Wahoo, we made it! This challenge is looking more and more possible by the minute.

Don't forget to grab this contract. I need the money.

Hair-raising re-entry

Home safe

That's a good yield. Just 4 more science and I can get the barometer...

I leave it to the reader to determine what my naming scheme is.

Edited June 10, 2018 by IncongruousGoat
Rename

[GoSlash27]

I just want you to know... We're all counting on you

-Slashy

[MinimalMinmus]

Wow, that's a nice one!

I'm also quite proud you used one of my designs to go to space!

As Slashy said... every caveman is watching you now... Will this end in a legendary victory? Or a fiery inferno? I can't wait to see!

As a further encouragement, my favorite caveman tip: Cargo bays>>heat shields!

[dvader]

You know you're playing on hard difficulty when overheating Goo canisters is more of a concern than Jeb overheating. They are 800 bucks each!

I will follow this with great interest. The interesting part comes next with the tech tree choices.

No guts no glory!

[GoSlash27]

1 hour ago, IncongruousGoat said:

I leave it to the reader to determine what my naming scheme is.

I gather at some point you'll have a vessel named the Benedictus?
Excellent cavemannery. Darn near $30,000 is a veritable fortune.

Best,
-Slashy

[IncongruousGoat]

21 minutes ago, GoSlash27 said:

I gather at some point you'll have a vessel named the Benedictus?
Excellent cavemannery. Darn near $30,000 is a veritable fortune.

Best,
-Slashy

Thank you! We'll see how well it serves me in the missions to come. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do at this point. I've got a number of ideas bouncing around, but the need for science really limits my options.

And, yes, there will be a Benedictus. One of these days.

[dvader]

I didn't go past the next 2-3 techs when I did my paper planning. You need 20 science for the Reliant but I can only do Mun flybys with that so it may not be much help.

Buying the barometer instead for 15 science isn't great either. You get about 4.92 total science from high/low atmo and space. With 0.36 science per kerbin biome, you need about 28 biomes to cover the purchase cost. Sure, if you actually visit 28 biomes you will get a lot more from EVAs, temp measurements etc so grinding biomes is an option.

So, to me it seems like the next step is either a lot of grinding, something sneaky (like Kerbal on ladder to space for EVA reports) or something really clever and unexpected.

I'm looking forward to the next part.

 

[Mr. Peabody]

8 minutes ago, dvader said:

So, to me it seems like the next step is either a lot of grinding, something sneaky (like Kerbal on ladder to space for EVA reports) or something really clever and unexpected.

I'm looking forward to the next part.

 

Big brother is watching...    Seriously, I hope you mean a kerbal riding a ladder to space. Kraken and ladder drives are forbidden by the official rules.

@IncongruousGoat, This should be very entertaining to watch. Good luck and have fun! 

[NotAgain]

Wow. Good luck, I'll be watching this quite intently.

[Zhetaan]

I have to congratulate you on your engaging presentation.  Your style does keep the customer satisfied.

[IncongruousGoat]

Well, here's the next installment. I'll try to post updates at least semi-regularly, but I can't make any promises. Real Life has a tendency to get in the way.

Chapter 2: You Spin Me Right Round

Spoiler

Well, I'm back. When we'd just left off, we'd retrieved some good science from orbit, but it wasn't quite enough to unlock one of the T2 nodes. To this end...

...we accepted some contracts. To be perfectly honest, this wasn't for science at all; this was just to make some more money, an ever-present need in a career such as this.

Behold, the mighty (what do you mean, it's not mighty? Look at that liquid engine!) Keep The Customer Satisfied, intended to do exactly what the name suggests.

We even got some science out of it. This isn't going to be nearly enough, though. It was at this juncture that one of the eggheads in R&D realized we hadn't actually figured out how warm the space center is. Which meant it was time for another science roller. Two of them, in fact, since one ran out of charge halfway through its mission.

This one was pretty much like the last one, with the addition of a thermometer. It was while operating this (and the science roller that followed it) that I discovered a few things about the KSC. First off, the VAB Main Building is a separate biome from the VAB. Same goes for the SPH Main Building and the SPH. Secondly, the thermometer readings I was able to get for such silly situations as "flying over Kerbin's VAB" were worth a whole 0.6 science each. The trifecta of new instrumentation, new biomes, and a profitable situation resulted in a relative treasure trove of science.

Mmmm, science. Enough science that I have to make a serious choice. I had two options at this point: Unlock the Reliant, or unlock the barometer. Unlocking the Reliant would allow me to (with some effort) pull off a flyby of the Mun, with all the science that would entail. Testing in a dedicated save had shown, however, that a flyby mission would be difficult and dangerous to pull off, and the returns wouldn't quite be high enough to justify it. Unlocking the barometer would leave me limited to Kerbin, but would bring with it a whole bunch of pressure data.

Before I made that choice, though, there was one thing I wanted to do. A caveman classic, something I had never done before:

Build a Kerbal cage and get EVA science from low space. I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured it couldn't possibly hurt. Assuming I didn't screw up, of course.

Step 1: Insert Kerbal into cage

Step 2: Launch (but very carefully...)

Step 3: Profit!

Hm. Not quite the science return I expected. Oh well. I still have money in the bank. Now, back to that decision...

In the end, I went with the barometer. Doing some back-of-the-envelope math confirmed that science farming Kerbin's biomes would prove a profitable venture, especially given the amount gained from flying low.

It was at this point that I made my first true mistake.

Namely, I accepted this contract. Now, just looking at the requirements and the payoff it should be clear that there's no way I'm turning a profit on this one. The best I can hope for is to minimize the loss and leach as much science out of this as possible.

Keep The Customer Satisfied II is just a modified At The Zoo, changed by adding an empty heat shield and by re-arranging the science. Unfortunately, the additional mass of the heat shield makes it incapable of reaching orbit. Fortunately, I don't quite need to make orbit to land where I intend to...

Today, in a brave new move for the space program, we head north instead of east.

Such magnificent desolation. Now let's get out of here, it's freezing.

Oh, wow. That's... more than I expected, actually. This biome farming thing is more lucrative than I expected. My hare-brained scheme may just work.

There's something I'm forgetting. Something I haven't done yet.

Oh, that's right. I need to drain the space center of its pressure data. Lemme get right on that.

Well, that went well. Only 2 more science to go before I can get the Reliant. And then... the Mun awaits.

Sorry if this chapter seems drier and more technical than the last one. I had to make and then justify a pretty serious choice, and it's getting late as I write this. With each passing minute, more of my wit seems to slip away.

Edited March 23, 2018 by IncongruousGoat
Typos and bad wording

[MinimalMinmus]

Don't give up! You're already farher than any of my tries!

Also, don't worry too much about the Mun transfer with reliants. It's quite doable, and using a 2-stage rocket I still had a rather comfortable amount of dV left. The trick is to juuuuuust enter the Mun's SOI. No risk at all! Now sign this waiver stating I'm not responsible if the mission remodels itself in a way evoking a fruit of the genus Pyrus, I'm not responsible.

[IncongruousGoat]

7 hours ago, MinimalMinmus said:

Don't give up! You're already farher than any of my tries!

Also, don't worry too much about the Mun transfer with reliants. It's quite doable, and using a 2-stage rocket I still had a rather comfortable amount of dV left. The trick is to juuuuuust enter the Mun's SOI. No risk at all! Now sign this waiver stating I'm not responsible if the mission remodels itself in a way evoking a fruit of the genus Pyrus, I'm not responsible.

If only it were that easy. The thing is, with science returns as low as they are I can't exactly afford not to get Mun space low science, which means shenanigans are going to be required. I have a couple of thoughts as to how to pull it off, but it's going to be interesting. My real concern is that I'm going to run out of science before I unlock all the parts I need. 45 science for the materials bay, another 45 for the Terrier, and then 90 (90!) for docking ports. I'm pretty sure it has to be in that order, too. I don't think I can deliver meaningful payloads to orbit without the Terrier.

Well, I guess I'll just have to keep pushing forward. If I fail, so be it. Whomever comes next can learn from my mistakes.

[Mr. Peabody]

4 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

If only it were that easy. The thing is, with science returns as low as they are I can't exactly afford not to get Mun space low science, which means shenanigans are going to be required. I have a couple of thoughts as to how to pull it off, but it's going to be interesting. My real concern is that I'm going to run out of science before I unlock all the parts I need. 45 science for the materials bay, another 45 for the Terrier, and then 90 (90!) for docking ports. I'm pretty sure it has to be in that order, too. I don't think I can deliver meaningful payloads to orbit without the Terrier.

Well, I guess I'll just have to keep pushing forward. If I fail, so be it. Whomever comes next can learn from my mistakes.

Are you sure about that order? If you can get the terrier you can probably also get high orbital science which might be enough to unlock the materials bay. Though it could work the other way round. It would be beneficial to work out a spread sheet so you know exactly how much science you can get from different areas, therefore enabling you to find which parts are needed in what order.

[IncongruousGoat]

Just now, The Dunatian said:

Are you sure about that order? If you can get the terrier you can probably also get high orbital science which might be enough to unlock the materials bay. Though it could work the other way round. It would be beneficial to work out a spread sheet so you know exactly how much science you can get from different areas, therefore enabling you to find which parts are needed in what order.

I already have high orbital science, actually. I was able to get that using my Thumper/Swivel launcher, which is just about able to do it.

I am pretty sure about that order, and my reasoning goes thus: I can use the materials bay to science-farm Kerbin for enough science to get the Terrier. With the Terrier, I can get materials bay science from the Mun and science in general from Minmus and high Kerbol orbit. If that's enough to get docking ports, great. If not, I can use other means in order to get more science. There are contingency plans in place in case things go bottom-up. Once I have docking ports, of course, I can go literally anywhere. At that point it just becomes a matter of determination.

You're right, though; I should make a spreadsheet.

[IncongruousGoat]

I admit, I'm starting to lose my optimism. Gathering the needed science to get Terriers and docking ports looks like it's going to be a lot harder than I anticipated. I'm pushing forward, though. I should be fine. Should.

Anyways...

Chapter 3: The Mun is a Balloon

Spoiler

The space program has a slight problem, and by a slight problem I mean a major hole in our plans. Namely, we have no stable source of income. Considering the pittance we've been getting so far for contract completions, an unlimited fountain of money sounds like a good investment.

I think I've found one. (And, no, it doesn't involve cheating, although it sure feels like it.) Meet...

...the survey contract. Specifically, the survey contract that tells you to do a thing above a given altitude. The thing is, these contracts never exactly specify how high above.

In order to exploit this, the VAB crew designed Fakin' It by... well, stripping down a leftover At The Zoo booster. What, you thought I planned these things out 10 launches in advance? Please.

Launch went swimmingly, with the vehicle ending neatly parked in a low polar orbit. Now the real work could begin.

The process was simple. Use the tracking station to warp forward until Fakin' It looks like it's going to pass over a survey site...

...then switch the the vessel and do the requisite science. When a contract completes, go the mission control and get a new one, cancelling contracts to get an appropriate one to show up if need be.

After maybe 45 minutes of this, the financial situation of the space program was looking much better.

Now that we have infinite money, it's time to get some science. This vessel, the first in the Somewhere They Can't Find Me series, is intended to farm the grasslands.

No, not for wheat. For science. What did you think I was talking about?

The scientific return from the grasslands was just enough to unlock the Reliant, which will be integral to future plans.

Plans such as a Munar flyby. Unfortunately, we'll only be able to graze the edge of the Mun's SOI. There's only so much one can do without a good upper stage engine.

At this point, it seems necessary to explain why Go Tell It On The Mountain has a Reliant as its upper-stage engine. I (or rather, my computer) ran the numbers. As it turns out, you get more delta-V from using the Reliant as an upper-stage engine than you would from using the Swivel, for a vehicle of this size. The .25 t you save more than counterbalances the 10 s loss of I_sp.

One very slow liftoff later...

It's not apparent from the screenshots, but the high TWR of this vehicle's upper stage makes heating a serious problem for the nose-mounted science equipment during ascent. It doesn't help that this particular booster has to fly an efficient (and therefore, shallow) gravity turn.

Side note: I've never been entirely sure whether to use steep or shallow to describe a gravity turn that curves quickly. If someone could clarify that would be great.

Ah, crud. I messed up the ascent. Calculating my remaining delta-V (based on the mass figure from the map view and the dry mass as recorded in the VAB), I only have 850 m/s, which isn't nearly enough. Oh well.

I guess we're just going to be getting high space science instead.

Not quite the result I had hoped for, but a decent haul all the same.

Let's try that again, shall we?

Getting toasty

That's more like it! Now we can get somewhere.

Onwards! To victory!

Just brush the SOI...

Setting up a shallow aerobraking. I don't have a heatshield on this; they weigh too much even when empty.

Oh, for Kerm's sake. I lost the goo canisters due to some bad orientation during the pass.

The yield without the goo is... underwhelming. Well, at least we got paid.

Third time's the charm

That's... even better than last time. If I were feeling adventurous (and had a thermometer and/or barometer onboard) I might have gone for the low space science.

But I didn't. That'll have to wait until a future mission.

 

Am I going to bring Jeb home, you ask? Not until I need another pilot. Bringing him home only to send him back up for more contract farming is a waste of a launch.

Progress has been steady so far, but I'm not sure how long I can keep the momentum up. It may be that I can carry on bringing in science until I get docking ports... or I might hit a brick wall, and be forced to resort to drastic measures. Don't worry, I have contingency plans in case I run out of science at any point. It's just that none of them are pleasant.

Edited March 28, 2018 by IncongruousGoat
Typos and grammar

[Mr. Peabody]

Looking good! I'm not sure if this will help you any but docking ports aren't necessary for eh... docking. This was done by a user in the Caveman Challenge 1.2.2.

Extreme caution is necessary though. I doubt if I could even do this, maybe I could.

[IncongruousGoat]

15 hours ago, The Dunatian said:

Looking good! I'm not sure if this will help you any but docking ports aren't necessary for eh... docking. This was done by a user in the Caveman Challenge 1.2.2.

Extreme caution is necessary though. I doubt if I could even do this, maybe I could.

<image snip>

Aw man, and I was planning to surprise people...

But, yes, I've had this in mind from the beginning. It was actually originally used by @MoeslyArmlis in 1.1 for his nano-crystalline diamond attempt. The original post/images can be found in the 1.1 caveman thread somewhere.  Much testing will be required before I have a workable design, although that thing with the radial fuel tanks might make a good pseudo docking port. The original design just used a blunt fuel tank end as a pusher plate. I was planning something involving girder segments, but now that I think about it using fuel tanks as structural parts makes much more sense.

Well, this attempt is no stranger to extensive testing, and I was almost certain that I would have to do this at least a little. The real question is if I can put it off until I have the Terrier, because pseudo-docking with a Reliant-based launcher will be painful.

Edited March 28, 2018 by IncongruousGoat
Word choice

[micha]

Way to go @IncongruousGoat!  Brings back memories of my Caveman days... although you are way more hardcore. Best of luck!

[IncongruousGoat]

Sorry for the wait, everyone. A combination of this chapter being extremely tedious to test and fly, distractions from the land of RSS/RO, and an increasingly busy schedule on my end led to this taking longer than I would have liked to put together. It's also not terribly long, but that's mostly because it's not very interesting. Well, it's not like I didn't expect the grinding...

Chapter 4: Nose to the Grindstone

Spoiler

Wait, what's a nose? Never mind...

When we last left off, we had 17.8 science. We need 45 to get the next node, which means we're short by 27.2 science. Now where am I going to get that?

From farming Kerbin's biomes, of course. Flying precision ICBMs isn't exactly my idea of fun, but sadly I can't think of any other way to do it. Science returns for the various flights (all of them variations on Somewhere They Can't Find Me) are in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Well, that helped, but I still don't have enough. What do I have left to do? Well, I can try and do a hug-n-shove maneuver with my Reliant-based launcher, but preliminary testing shows that that's really, really difficult. Maybe I can just glance off of Minmus' SOI, or...

Or...

Or I could have Bob ride a ladder into orbit.

Feelin' Groovy may look stupid... and it is. The fuel margin is razor-thin, it's almost painful to fly, and the ascent profile has to be perfect. Too steep, and Bob falls off the ladder when I pitch down to try and correct. Too shallow, and Bob burns up on ascent from the heating.

Our intrepid ladder-naut braces himself on the decoupler.

And we're off! It's too late for any regrets on Bob's part - Val isn't going to unlock the cabin door until all the EVA science has been collected.

Taking advantage of the first stage's pitch tendencies to manage the ascent.

First stage has separated. As long as I can keep the heating under control, it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

Orbited! Now on to the tedious part. The fastest I can go is 4x physics warp, because of Bob being on the ladder, so I had to do a lot of waiting around. Thankfully, it only took a couple of orbits to nail every biome.

Juicy, juicy science.

Biconic vessels make great re-entry vehicles. Bi-biconics? Not so much.

That'll do nicely. Time (finally) to go unlock something.

And he goes for... the Terrier. I was intending to go for the Science Jr., but some quick math showed me that I would actually get better returns from the new places I could reach with the Terrier than I would from taking the Science Jr. everywhere I've already been. Finally, an engine good enough to build an actual launch vehicle with. Time to start making progress again.

The next one will be both longer and more exciting, I promise. The grinding is done... for now, at least.

[Mr. Peabody]

It's awesome to see that you are still plugging away at it! 

[IncongruousGoat]

It's amazing what having a usable engine will do for your space program.

Chapter 5: Linear ICBM, Quadratic Booster

Spoiler

Now that we've invented a half-decent upper stage engine, it's time to start being a space program again.

At this point, my biggest problem is not figuring out where I can go, but where I should go. So many choices...

...or I could just go where the contracts tell me to go. That works too.

I Am a Rock is the first honest-to-goodness, no-nonsense-about-it good booster built by the space program. It's got something like 5 km/s on the launchpad, which is enough to go all the way to the surface of Minmus and back, if I really wanted to.

That'll have to wait until later, however. There's a lot of ground to cover before that kind of audacious nonsense becomes necessary.

After all the time I've been spending flying those kludged-together monstrosities I called "boosters", it's nice to fly something well-designed for a change.

You see that engine? It's at full throttle. I can fly all the way to orbit without touching the thrust limiter or throttle lever. That's what I call progress.

In orbit, and I'm still at more than half fuel in the upper stage. Time to go places.

Wait for the Mun to poke its head above the horizon, and burn for it.

Um. I wanted a close pass, but not that close.

One short correction and capture burn later...

I could probably circularize here, but there's no reason to go taking risks just yet.

Headed home

Safe and sound

Juicy, juicy science. And to think, this is only a glimpse of what's to come...

Another I Am a Rock launch. The contract system is being... unhelpful... (they want me to land on the Mun), so I've decided to go my own way. Who needs revenue, anyways?

One thoroughly uneventful launch later...

This time, we shoot for Minmus.

For pity's sake. This again? Well, I suppose it's better than missing Minmus's SOI entirely...

Much better. I'm only going for the high space science this time, so the periapsis altitude isn't terribly important.

At this rate, I'll be getting my next node in no time.

The contract system is still being its usual useless self. Eh. World's Firsts are almost as good as contracts anyways.

Headed to Minmus again. I liked it so much the first time, I just had to go back.

And, captured. At this point, I had enough delta-V left to go for a landing on Minmus, but all my experiments had been used up, so I decided to just head on back. A landing attempt will have to wait until later.

Nearly there. Just need to get a bit more science. Where to get it, though? I could try sending a Kerbal on EVA to high space, or...

Or I could try and leave Kerbin's SOI entirely.

Headed out. All the way out. For reference, Kerbin's SOI is ~84 Mm in radius.

You'd  think Val would have something to say, being the first Kerbal in interplanetary space and all. But, no. Just a generic report. Maybe I should start mandating public oration classes for my Kerbonauts...

Point-and-burn navigation at its finest. Who needs fancy patched conics when you have the good old Mk. 1 Eyeball?

That looks promising.

And, there. That's enough. Seems almost too easy, considering how much work it was to get the 45 science for the Terrier.

Today, the intrepid Kerbals in R&D invent materials science, the cardboard box, and the battery. Great advances indeed.

Materials bays are great for science, but they have all the structural integrity of wet cardboard. Therefore, we use radiators as a literal roll cage.

What, you thought the space program was done rolling around the space center? Think again. There's science in them thar hills.

Due to a physics burp, we lost a panel. Thankfully, it didn't impede the rolling characteristics too much, and the mission was able to complete all its objectives.

Once again, collecting two copies of everything for maximum yield. The target's been set higher this time, at 90 science. The goal is Miniaturization, because that gives us docking ports, and with enough docking ports anything is possible.

Back to solid rockets already.

The idea was to make it to the upper atmosphere. However, this vehicle isn't exactly aerodynamically stable, so we fell short a bit. This is what I get for not testing things...

Piddling returns indeed. Hopefully the next attempt will go better.

Now with advanced "fin" technology.

Much better.

Still a low return. Meh.

It was at this point that I remembered that service bays A: exist, and B: are the best thing since sliced bread.

Shucks. More mistakes. This time, I emptied the fuel tanks in the VAB as part of a delta-V calculation, and forgot to fill the top one back up afterwards.

Let's try that again, shall we?

Much better.

Still waiting on those returns...

A bigger rocket, for higher space.

Just poking over the line.

Not only do service bays make good impromptu heat shields, they also serve as good emergency airbrakes. Their utility truly knows no bounds. Now, if only I had access to EVA chairs...

Better... but still not good enough. Hopefully the Mun and Minmus prove more fruitful.

Side note: I got tired of the game looking terrible, so I installed Scatterer and TRR. The sunflare is from Sunflares of Maar, and the skybox is Poodmund's Calm Nebula Skybox. I would have added Real Plume as well, but there seem to be some issues with the latest configs (some of the plumes are way too small).

[Mr. Peabody]

Looks great! Now that you have the LV-909 terrier you should be over the hump. I'll be looking forward to the next installment. 

Side note: What version are you running? I'd like to get my hands on that skybox.

[IncongruousGoat]

33 minutes ago, The Dunatian said:

Looks great! Now that you have the LV-909 terrier you should be over the hump. I'll be looking forward to the next installment. 

Side note: What version are you running? I'd like to get my hands on that skybox.

Should is a strong word. I said that a couple of chapters back, and ended up riding a ladder into orbit. My math says I should be fine, but that's assuming I can pull off a Minmus landing in a single launch. The numbers say it should be possible, but I haven't actually tested it out yet. As far as I'm concerned, I'm only definitively over the hump once I have both docking ports and a usable probe core. At that point, it just becomes a question of orbital assembly.

As to your question, I'm running 1.4.2. I'm not actually quite sure where I got the skybox from originally, since for this install I copied the files from an older (1.3.1) install. The best place to start looking would be the old Texture Replacer thread; it had a long list of available textures, which I think includes Poodmund's skyboxes.

[Mr. Peabody]

38 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

As to your question, I'm running 1.4.2. I'm not actually quite sure where I got the skybox from originally, since for this install I copied the files from an older (1.3.1) install. The best place to start looking would be the old Texture Replacer thread; it had a long list of available textures, which I think includes Poodmund's skyboxes.

I know where to find the mod, but only for 1.3.1. Will it still work in 1.4.2?