Nyeti goes Unkerballed [modded Career mode]

[NyetiArts]

Introduction

I've been playing stock KSP, or visual mods only, for a while and reckoned it's time to have a go at a modded career mode playthrough.

I wanted something in the same vein as stock but with more and different challenges.  In particular I wanted crewed spaceflight to be more demanding, and uncrewed spaceflight to be more autonomous.  I settled on the following mods with UnKerballed Start, kOS, and Snacks! the headline performers.

Spoiler

Mechanical

• UnKerballed Start
• kOS
• kOS Prop Monitor
• Snacks!
• ReStock Plus
• Missing History
• Station Parts Expansion Redux
• SCANsat

Career

• Career Evolution Contracts
• Field Research
• Giving Aircraft a Purpose

Visual

• EVE
• Waterfall
• Chatterer

 

Episode 1

Mission 1: Sprite 1

As in stock KSP, there's not much design space for the first rocket, but unlike the 'Jumping Flea' it will be a completely unguided sounding rocket.

Each of my playthroughs have a different naming scheme.  This time round I'm using mythical creatures - so here's Sprite A.  It only needs to reach 200m so I'm only partly fuelling it.

Light the fuse and watch it go...

'Catastrophic failure'?  Nope, I fulfilled the 'First flight' and 'gather scientific data from Kerbin' contracts!  Onward to greater things!

[Vanamonde]

If you attach the fins at a tiny angle, your craft might go farther with gyroscopic stabilization, like a bullet.

[jimmymcgoochie]

You’ll probably find that anything Missing History adds, Restock+ does better; the only part of Missing History I use now is the patch to make the FL-A10 adapter into a fuel tank.

[Watermel00n]

Unkerballed start is good

[NyetiArts]

Episode 2

The next couple of missions are going to use the Sprite A with more fuel to reach higher altitudes.

Mission 2: Sprite 2

That's definitely the upper atmosphere there, fulfilling another contract.

Mission 3: Sprite 3

Fully fuelled, the Sprite A rocket shows its true potential and leaves the atmosphere, reaching an altitude of 90km.  That's two more contracts fulfilled!

With the data from the Sprite A missions our R&D department are able to roll out some exciting new technology.  Most important for our next mission are parachutes and BIGGER ROCKETS!! (ahem)

Mission 4: Sprite 4

The second-generation Sprite B sounding rocket is a rather bigger beast than Sprite A as it needs to be recoverable, and to do that it needs to lift parachutes and batteries as well as the Stayputnik core.  The smaller Mite rockets act as detachable boosters.

The command signal is sent and the parachutes deploy...

And Sprite 4 lands mostly intact, fulfilling my contract to recover a vessel from a suborbital flight!

 

Thanks for the comments and support on my first play report

21 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

If you attach the fins at a tiny angle, your craft might go farther with gyroscopic stabilization, like a bullet.

The Sprite rockets are supposed to be spin-stabilised in just this way.  It's not easy to get right though!

21 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

You’ll probably find that anything Missing History adds, Restock+ does better; the only part of Missing History I use now is the patch to make the FL-A10 adapter into a fuel tank.

Ah well, I've started now ^^

[Maria Sirona]

Hmm let me just follow 

[NyetiArts]

Episode 3

Mission 5: Fairy A flights

It's time to do something a little different: crewed atmospheric flight.

The Fairy A is a little twin-engine turbojet.  It's meant to be small and simple but is actually rather overpowered, and landing it can be tricky as it doesn't like to slow down.  But it otherwise handles well and has room for a few scientific instruments (which now include barometers).

Jeb and Val between them fly several valuable scientific missions and publicity stunts, easily reaching 2500m and even discovering a new base that we can use.

Mission 6: Imp 1

Flying aeroplanes is great, but this is a space program when all's said and done, and it's time to raise the standard by raising something into orbit.

Enter Imp A, a brand-new rocket with a liquid-fuelled second stage.  Significantly, those little Spider engines are gimballed, giving us a degree of control once the spin-stabilised first stage burns out.

Unfortunately there are no screenshots of the ascent.  It was nerve-wracking, let me tell you!  But...

... after a lot of panicking at mission control, Imp 1 fired its engines and boosted itself to a 123x490km orbit of Kerbin.  Our first satellite is go!

The money and data from our aircraft and satellite developments are going to be instrumental in taking the next steps towards the moons and planets of the Kerbol system.

The tech tree is filling out a bit, and KSC now has an upgraded tracking station, mission control, and kerbonaut centre.

[Maria Sirona]

17 hours ago, NyetiArts said:

Unfortunately there are no screenshots of the ascent.  

 

:{

CAn you pls replicate it in sandox or something

Edited January 28, 2022 by Maria Sirona
Accidentally wrote career

[BekfastDerp13]

3 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

:{

CAn you pls replicate it in sandox or something

I think that's a bit much for just one launch... It's just pictures

Edited January 28, 2022 by BekfastDerp13

[Maria Sirona]

33 minutes ago, BekfastDerp13 said:

I think that's a bit much for just one launch... It's just pictures

You don't decide it (neither do i)

[BekfastDerp13]

24 minutes ago, Maria Sirona said:

You don't decide it (neither do i)

check your message thing

Edited January 28, 2022 by BekfastDerp13
lets not argue in someone's thread

[BekfastDerp13]

Looks pretty good, I can't wait for more of this!

[NyetiArts]

Episode 4

Mission 7: Fairy A flights

The Fairy A flights continue, including barnstorming the Island Airfield hangars and pushing altitude records.  Val and Jeb take turns piloting and preparing for the next step in our crewed aerospace missions.

Mission 8: Fairy X-1

One of our outstanding challenges is to break the sound barrier and although the little Fairy A is capable enough at subsonic speeds, the Juno engines aren't enough to push it to Mach 1.  We need an elegant solution to this lack of power.

Hahaha who am I kidding, we're strapping a couple of SRBs on the side and lighting the blue touch paper   Mission accomplished!

Mission 9: Kobold 1

Where was I?  Oh yes.  Going to space today.

We need to launch a satellite and then deorbit and recover it.  The Imp rocket isn't very powerful or controllable and we need to lift parachutes and a heat shield into orbit.

The Kobold A rocket is a step up in power and sophistication, featuring three stages, reaction wheels, and most significantly an automated kOS launch sequence.

Once the solid rocket launcher burns out, KSC assumes direct control and we can perform the more finicky orbital injection while saving enough fuel for deorbit.

And there we have it, a 75x102km orbit, much neater than Imp 1.

Re-entry is successful and we splash down in the sea west of KSC...

... but I failed to make sure that it was positively buoyant, or that it could survive deep ocean pressures.  Oops.  I wasn't going for a depth record there.

But incredibly, part of the third stage survived re-entry and landed at KSC, successfully fulfilling the contract!  Onwards and downwards??

 

On 1/28/2022 at 5:17 PM, BekfastDerp13 said:

Looks pretty good, I can't wait for more of this!

Thank you!  I'm glad my first playthrough thread is giving people some enjoyment

On 1/28/2022 at 12:04 PM, Maria Sirona said:

:{

CAn you pls replicate it in sandox or something

There'll be plenty more launches, never fear.

Edited January 30, 2022 by NyetiArts
Posted halfway through editing, whoops!

[NyetiArts]

Episode 5

Mission 10: Gnome A ground tests

Some day we'll need to explore the surfaces of other worlds and not just by whacking into them at orbital speed.  Gnome A is a proof of concept rover, useful as a design exercise and especially for hoovering up all the Science around KSC, which we need for bigger rockets.

Mission 11: Fairy A flights

Jeb and Val meanwhile are pushing the (flight) envelope with the Fairy A, taking it to record altitudes above 10km and performing other worthy scientific studies.

Mission 12: Kobold 2

The Kobold automated launch vehicle is back with a slightly sleeker, fancier payload as we prepare to put our first polar satellite into orbit.  This time we're launching from Woomerang.

The payload separates in the upper atmosphere...

... and ground control take over.  The orbital injection goes off without a hitch, and our third artificial satellite is now in orbit!

[NyetiArts]

Episode 6

To the Mun!  And Minmus too.

Mission 13: Sylph 1

Our rapidly advancing research has opened up new design possibilities, foremost among which is the Sylph A launcher.  It has a powerful solid-fuelled first stage and liquid-fuelled second stage that can take a modest-sized payload into orbit.

This first mission is fully remotely controlled...

... and will fly past both of Kerbin's moons.

The probe approaches very close to the Munar surface, where a serious design flaw becomes apparent: the batteries aren't big enough to power a data transmission.  Oops.

Onwards to Minmus!

Having gathered some useful data, the Sylph 1 probe adjusts its orbit to return to Kerbin.

Unable to land or to transmit its data, it uses aerobraking to lower its apoapsis and ends up in a stable parking orbit.

That's several milestones reached, and two important contracts fulfilled!  Good job Sylph 1.

Edited March 26, 2022 by NyetiArts

[Akagi]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:35 PM, NyetiArts said:

Kobold

Am I the only one thinking Artemis Fowl? (e.g. Koboi Labs)