Returning after 3 years is hard

[Cairol]

Hey there.

I was not kerballing for about 3 years. But good games last longer than bad decisions.
So here we are. 3 years later. Ripened and with some gray hair. (not kidding, my mums genes really hit me lately...)

Updated the game and got to work.
A basic Kerbin orbital satellite system it should be (with RemoteTech).
Business as usual.
...
Or not so usual.
Heck, I was unable to read the "Multiple Launch View" diagram of my favourite Remote Tech Visual Planner.

And Google didn't help me either. Old bugger.
But hey, I'm expierienced. I don't need those stinkin' diagrams...
So I patched together my first little rocket with 3 minimalist satellites as payload. "EFFICIENT" it's called.
Well, I was at "Mark VII" until that thing could properly perform it's mission without running out of dV.
I was thinking about grabbing my old, trusty check list assortment. But as said, I've done this stuff a million times...
Now, deploying those 3 sats went as follows:
Attempt 1:
Got near the AP to deploy Sat 1, hit SPACE and realized, that I forgot to activate the Communotron on the sat and I also forgot to attach an antenna onto my deploy vessel.
And I also only had a pilot in that capsule and no enigneer. So...... R.I.P. that satellite.
(I have an internal rule, that only Engineers can fiddle with tech on EVA. So no EVA for manually extending that antenna)

Attempt 2:
Successfully decoupled 1st sat. Told MechJeb to circularize at next AP. But....it didn't budge.
So I was like: "Hey, MechJeb, dude, bruh, lad, ... why you not turning that thing into the prograde stellar wind?"
I was double-checking the sat and my blueprints.
Then I realized why the OCTO2 core is much smaller and lighter than the OCTO.
I first thought I was smart to use the OCTO2, because it's exploiting the games obviously wack balancing of probe core weight/feature ratio.
Also, 2 is better than not 2, right? RIGHT?
But in reality, those idiots of Probodobodyne forgot to include reaction wheels.
And RCS is for beginners. So, R.I.P. that satellite too.

Attempt 3:
This time I got them all deployed.
But after the second sip of my victory tea, I realized, that those sats were not nearly as evenly spaced as they should be.
In fact, the most of the time, they didn't have a connection to each other or the KSC.
Found out, that I had interpreted that Visual Planner diagram completely wrong and was deploying those sats in a way too high orbit to reliably work with Communotron 16's,
and also, the battery capacity was so tightly measured ("EFFICIENT" it's called...), that the antennas would disable themselves at < 20% EC.

Attempt 4:
I let those other 3 sats in orbit and flew 3 new, slightly improved ones up there and again deployed them.
But again, the spacing between them was horrible. So even with 6 sats up there, the signal coveage was spotty at best.
So I went to sleep.

Attempt 5:
Today I upgraded those sat blueprints to make them actually viable (and more EFFICIENT!).
And then took my Deployer Mk VIII to bring them in a fresh, unhumilated orbit.
This time, I had figured out how to read that obsolete Multi Launch View diagram. So the 3 sats finally ended up in 120 degree spacing.

Next Mission:
Deploy 2 polar orbit satellites.
I built an abomination of a COM sat with 9 dishes on it, to cover the whole Kerbol system (as a relay at least). I also didn't forget to attach stuff via electric servo hinges.
Just to give the kraken something to eat.
Nailed the design for my large deploy rocket (honestly, that thing I put together in 5 minutes "just worked" - and not in a Bethesda way...)
Brought those sats up there.
But then I did realize, that I had no clue how much dV I need to get them to highly eccentric orbit. So ofc, I didn't have enough with me.
So I didn't even try to, aborted the mission, de-orbited the payload and set up my re-entry.
And at about 40 km above ground, I realized, ..... I didn't bring parachutes on my perfect large deploy vessel that "just worked".
In my despair, I tried a powered landing over land. If SpaceX can do it, I can too. I'm an IRL engineer after all (who doesn't do rockets or anything remotely close to it ofc)
I actually almost did it with my poddle engine, but my pod got separated from the tank/engine part at impact and tumbled into a rock wall and exploded.
But hey, I didn't give up on Valentina and erm.... Cris..fred until the very end. XD

So at that moment, I realized 2 things:
A) Even with gray hair, I DO need my old checklists and tipps & tricks docs
B) This game is still as much fun as it was 3 years ago.
 

Have a good one! And keep the blue side up! Wait....that's not for space flight..... Welp.

 

[Vanamonde]

Welcome back.