Adventures with WildBlueIndustries - Blueshift and Kerbal Flying Saucers

[Ooglak Kerman]

Val seated herself in the main Kerbin Admiralty conference room.  Seated with her in the room were Gus Kerman himself, head of KSC Space Operations, and Eng-5 Thomus Kerman - leafing idly through a copy of Warp Illustrated.

Gus: I'll be direct.  Eng-5 Thomus is assigned to your ship.  Your Warp drive will have its Scotty.

Valentina thought to herself: "hmm.. Sweetie will be happy with this.  Plus, he's pretty cute.  This could be interesting."  But amended that thought - Scottys were notoriously uninterested in anything or anyone other than their Warp and Gravatic engines and famously lacking in "normal" social niceties.

Gus continued: The orbital science station at Eve has an "issue".  A piece of debris holed the main fuel tank and they lost all of the liquid fuel and oxydizer before the on-board Eng-3 could EVA and patch the hole.  Impact debris also damaged 2 of the 4 solar arrays and a third was damaged during repair attempts.  One of the fuel cell arrays was also damaged but has been repaired.

Thomus: Bloody eejit.  Swingin' his muckle hammer aboot.  Wanker.

Gus: The Kerbals on the station are fine, but they have had to suspend all science research and place the station onto minimal life support since their electrical generating capacity is below minimum.  We need you to take your ship to Eve with repair supplies and get that science station back on-line.  Your comms will be upgraded for the requirements of this mission.  There are other consideration and your mission plan will be updated once you arrive at Eve.

Val:  Umm... Wouldn't Captain Chad and KWS-2 "Are We There Yet" be a better choice?

Gus: His ship lacks the fuel capacity needed to fully refuel the station.  Likewise Jebs ship lacks that capacity and in any event is busy asteroid mining to fill his tanks.  There is a crew shuttle departing in 1 hour.  You and your Scotty be on it.  Dismissed.

Thomus: Weel lassie.  Lets be aboot it shall we?

Off of the Minmus gravy run it seems, thought Valentina.  Jeb continues to be right about "new normal".

[Ooglak Kerman]

The trip back to her ship was uneventful and once docked, they attached the new comms suite and cycled in through the lock to the ship.  The Scotty disappeared aft into engineering without word - soon followed by:

"Heh-ya Warpie Lassie..."

"Scoootyyyyy.. MmmmmmmMmmm...."

"Ooookayyyy..." thought Valentina.  She checked the system and sure enough, there was clearance for immediate priority departure to Eve.  "Well... off we go then..."

[Ooglak Kerman]

Val pulled up the orbital plot.  Huh... Eve is the other side of Kerbol.  Remember when this would be a problem.
Straight shot takes us inside the Moho orbit --  maybe not.  Ok.  shoot for Duna till past Moho and straight to Eve.
Flight computer says.... hahaha... 13 minutes.  More "new normal"

Val:  "Thomus - we ready for warp?"
Thomus: "Aye"
Val:  "Sweetie - you good?"
Mmmmm hmmmmmmm

Clean Warp engine start - no drama.  Nice!  Throttle up and watch Kerbin disappear like a soap bubble. 
Likin' this new normal.

Meanwhile - out in deep space, WS-8675309 "Hold Mah Beer" is busily grinding up another asteroid and working to fill up their resource tanks.

"Ahh.." Jeb says to himself,  "Bob is busy in the science lab.  Bill is minding the drills and converters.  Got nothing else to do.   I'm gonna play me some more 'Earth Space Program'"

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

On final approach into the Eve system, Val was puzzled to find some unidentified targets in the system.  "First things first - lets get that station fixed" she thought.

Thomus made quick work of the repairs and they refueled the station.  About then, new orders were received to investigate the new objects - but not get closer than 25m.
Two quick rendezvous later, Val was alternately thinking..
"Well... the warp engines sure change everything.  That took no time at all" ...and....  "holy crap.  What the heck were those?  That should get the League Of Smart Technologists excited." 

As expected, once she filed the initial report and pictures, orders came to return to Kerbin orbit.  "Sigh..." she thought.  "Probably back to refueling runs"

[Ooglak Kerman]

From the Kerbin Admiralty:  Graviolium Detected in Jool Orbit

In the course of surveying the Jool system, the scientists aboard Warp Ship KWS-2 "Are We There Yet" in command of Captain Chad, detected the presence of graviolium in orbit of the gas giant Jool.  Careful surveys revealed that the graviolium was concentrated in a narrow band at 9000 KM altitude above Jool.

Graviolium is found in very small concentrations in orbit of Kerbin and the scarcity of that vital resource for warp operations made the harvesting it a necessity in spite of the small returns.  The concentration of graviolium at Jool is estimated to be enough to support a greatly expanded Kerbin warp fleet.  Scientists at the League Of Smart Technologists are confident that similar graviolium concentrations are to be found around all of the gas giant planets of the Kerbin system due to their immense gravity wells.  A mission to survey the Sarnus system is in the planning phase.

In the meantime, KWS-2 "Are We There Yet" will be dispatched to place graviolium harvesting satellites in Jool orbit and to increase the communications relay capacity of that system.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Jeb was engrossed in his game of "Earth Space Program" and working on a tricky aerocapture at Venus when the comms alarm went off.
"huhhhhh... don't they know I'm busy?" he muttered.

He shut down his game and checked the incoming comms message.  "Well... hot diggidy dang!  Cool!" he exclaimed.  "Bill.. Bob.. checkitout.  We got a mission!  We're off to Dres to check out a thing that shouldn't be there".

Bob: I compute the probability that I will be one to perform close investigation to be......
Jeb: Strap in boys... here we go!

[Ooglak Kerman]

Jeb warped them into orbit of Dres and then a rendezvous to investigate the unidentified space anomaly that had been detected.

Jeb:  Wow!  Cool!  A triangley sided thingy.  And it's full of stars
Bill:  <points to Bob>
Bob: It might be prudent to have someone else poke it
Jeb:  We'll grab it with the claw and drag it back to Kerbin.  They can worry about it.  I got Earth Space Program to play

[Ooglak Kerman]

From the Kerbin Admiralty: New Science Warp Ship Launched

A new Warp Research Ship - WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" - was launched under gravatic power from the Space Center today.  Commanded by Captain Pados Kerman with 1st Officer Eng-5"Scotty"  Frolie Kerman, WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" is shown here taking on a complement of graviolium from resource shuttle "Please Sir Can I Have Some More" prior to embarking on a short training mission to the outer planets of the system.

WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" is designed as an extended duration scientific research vessel and will have the mission to seek out and explore new places and unusual objects in the Kerbol system.  They will also chart potential suitable landing sites for later missions.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Tasked with investigating an unidentified object detected in orbit of Laythe, WSR-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" found an alien ring that appears to be a replica of that discovered in the Eve system.  Upon closing to within 50 meters of the object, it communicated an offer of two destinations - leading the on-board Sci-5's to conclude that this might be a warp ring.  The orbital characteristics were carefully catalogued so that it could be visited again later and studied in greater detail.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

Continuing to the Sarnus system, WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" took note of 2 unidentified objects in orbit of Tekto - the furthest moon of that system.

The outermost object turned out to be one of the enegmatic tetrahedrons full of stars and the innermost was another of the alien rings.  After closing to within 50 meters of the ring, another communication was received - this time offering 3 different locations.  The on-board Sci-5s have increasing certainty that these rings are part of a warp network and are recommending high priority testing of the capability.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

From the Kerbin Admiralty: Discovery of Alien Technology

The initial voyage of warp research ship WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" has gone from an initial shakedown and training voyage to one of fantastic discovery and science.

Numerous unknown objects have been detected in orbits of planets and moons throughout the Kerbol system and some have been surveyed and determined to be of alien technology unlike anything seen by the Kerbin League Of Smart Technicians.  In particular, there are rings that appeared to be part of a warp transportation network located in the systems of Eve, Jool, Sarnus, and in an eccentric orbit of Kerbol.

Pushing the boundaries of known science, Capt. Pados Kerman maneuvered WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" into the Kerbol ring and was instantly transported to orbit of Eve.

The League Of Smart Technologists are clamoring for additional missions to more closely examine these artifacts with the purpose of possibly adapting the technology into Kerbal propulsion and communication systems.  Asked how they thought the alien warp ring technology could be used to the benefit of Kerbal-kind, the spokes-Kerbal responded "...we are not entirely sure.  We do not know the way"

[Bej Kerman]

On 3/11/2022 at 1:15 AM, Ooglak Kerman said:

In spite of having no prior experience with Warp Ships, Lt Chad was able to maneuver the ship into an eccentric orbit around Vall with a dangerously close perigee - well inside the warp cutoff limit - and rescue the crew from KWS-1 and return to Kerbin.

In recognition of his skill and bravery in this rescue, Lt Chad was promoted to full Captain (5-star) and given permanent command of KWS-2 "Are We There Yet".

Looks OP - I'm saying this as a matter of fact and not to offend you, but this sounds like what a Mary Sue would do in a story, like Rey fixing the Millennium Falcon mid-flight despite having 0 prior experience with it and instantly learning how to use a lightsabre. Chad had no experience with warp ships before, how did they do this?

Edited April 5, 2022 by Bej Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

9 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

Looks OP - I'm saying this as a matter of fact and not to offend you, but this sounds like what a Mary Sue would do in a story, like Rey fixing the Millennium Falcon mid-flight despite having 0 prior experience with it and instantly learning how to use a lightsabre. Chad had no experience with warp ships before, how did they do this?

No offense at all.  It all works in exactly the same way that the Star Trek "Heisenberg Uncertainty Compensator" works for the transporter.
"Very Well Thank-you" 

Allowances have to be made for a story line.

...and you can adjust an orbit with warp power to be elliptical - dipping in close to the planet and back out to a region where the warp engine would work again.  Obviously, Capt Chad was a very quick study.  Well done him.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Oh..  @Bej Kerman I am flattered that you have taken the time to read through my posts.  Thank you for that.

[Bej Kerman]

2 hours ago, Ooglak Kerman said:

No offense at all.  It all works in exactly the same way that the Star Trek "Heisenberg Uncertainty Compensator" works for the transporter.
"Very Well Thank-you" 

I won't dwell on this, but characters at the forefront of the story, and technologies invented to save on special effects and allow the story to resume quicker, are wholly different.

2 hours ago, Ooglak Kerman said:

Allowances have to be made for a story line.

I feel like proper character development wouldn't harm the story so much as make it properly compelling - after all, the struggles of Luke Skywalker got more people into Star Wars than Rey not doing anything to earn her skills.

1 hour ago, Ooglak Kerman said:

Oh..  @Bej Kerman I am flattered that you have taken the time to read through my posts.  Thank you for that.

No problem - not a lot of stories here focus on far future technologies 

[Ooglak Kerman]

Some Notes on My Usage of the WildBlueIndustries Mods

WildBlueIndustries mods I have installed:

• Blueshift
• Kerbal Flying Saucers (KFS)
• WildBlueTools (ships with KFS)
• KerbalActuators (ships with KFS)
• ClassicStockResources (ships with KFS)
• Buffalo
• Pathfinder

Other mods directly impacting the WildBlueIndustries mods:

• Outer Planets Mod (gives you the extra planets - Sarnus, etc)
• GU_Parts (Gives you the much larger antenna needed for the extreme ranges of OPM)
• CustomBarnKit (upgrades the Tracking Center to level 4 for the extreme ranges of OPM)
• Galaxies Unbound (on a separate game for testing right now.  it will be added later)

Many part/play settings in the WildBlueIndustries mods can be modified if you know where to do it.  I have adjusted the following from the WildBlue stock settings  to fit with my personal style of play:

• My Stock ISRU will make fusion pellets.  This gets turned on with Blueshift, but then back off if you have KFS and/or Far Future Technologies
• MicroISRU provided by WildBlueTools.  I've adjusted some of the input resources needed to make specialized things that are needed
• Alien warp ring provided by Blueshift.  I've adjusted the graviolium tax (units per ton of ship)
• Rendezvous distance for the Blueshift warp engines (increase in distances to account for my ineptitude - which is decreasing)

This is not an easy set of mods - particularly if you do not want to use the graviolium cheats.  I found fusion pellet resource dependencies to be personally problematic.  Sorting out the usage of warp engines in planetary systems was steep, painful, and explody at first.

A mod worth mentioning is Waterfall.  It provides some absolutely stunning effects - especially the warp effects - and the work that @Angel-125 did to integrate it is amazing.  I removed it, since with the warp engine running I just do not have time to admire the effects - being that I'm on the map view.  Things happen fast in warp.  First time using warp with waterfall - I was admiring the effects.... aaand splattered all over Duna.

If you are looking to modify the behavior of these mods, the only hint I will offer is to get familiar with the .cfg files.  Doing so has enhanced my enjoyment and understanding.

If you are using any of the WildBlueIndustries mods, I'd love to hear about your experiences.  Again, a massive shout-out to @Angel-125 for the work that went into these mods.

[Ooglak Kerman]

While in the Eve system, it was deemed a perfect opportunity to investigate the alien saucer found previously by Valentina.  After making a rendezvous, pilot-5 Mitrim Kerman was sent EVA to investigate and was able to gain entry to the saucer.  Sci-5 Virgar Kerman was then EVA'd over to assist in the investigation.

They were able to determine that the saucer was powered by the same sort of technology (though more advanced) than the Kerbal warp ships, but that this vessel lacked graviolium and other necessary resources to be powered up.  The vessel was Kerbal habitable so Mitrim and Virgar remained on-board while WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything" moved away to a (hopefully) safe distance.

Jeb was pulled away from his game of "Earth Space Program" by the incoming message alarm.  <grumble grumble>...  Uhhh?  Well.. hot dang.  We got ourselves a mission boys!  WRS-42 scored themselves an alien saucer and it needs refueling.  We're the ones to do it!

Jeb:  <interupts Bill and Bob> let's get rollin'!!!

[Angelo Kerman]

That saucer was fun to make- and a challenge. I had to find a bunch of images of the easter egg, and then make a part that looked as close as possible. Nice to see it being used.

[Ooglak Kerman]

WS-8675309 "Hold Mah Beer" barreled into the Eve system in true Jeb fashion and performed a rendezvous with the alien saucer.  Couple of times of claw it.... claw it again... claw it harder and they had a grip.

Graviolium, Propellium, and Xenon gas were transferred in quantities deemed sufficient.

Jeb: Bill.. out ya go.  Stick one of our spare antenna onto that thing.  Looks like they need one.
Bill: Aye lad.  Back in a flash.

After WS-8675309 "Hold Mah Beer" had moved themselves to a hopefully safe distance, Mitrim and Virgar started what they hoped was the correct power up sequence for the saucer.

Mitrim:  Ok..  power levels coming up
Virgar:  Results consistent with our lack of equipment.  Static charge levels are rising very fast.  We need static charge emitters.  And a Scotty.  The engineering systems keep growling at me.
Mitrim:  Yeah... shutting down...  I'm pretty sure WRS-42 has a spare Scotty they can lend.  We'll need to beg, borrow, or steal some static charge emitters though.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

Jolted from a nap by the incoming message alarm, Valentina opened the console and scanned through the incoming tasking order.  "Well.. looks like that saucer we found at Eve is causing some excitement" she thought.  "Huh..  we're to rendezvous with the cargo drone they sending up now and receive some parts to take to Eve.  Okayyy"

Val checked the orbital plot and sure enough, there was the cargo ship coming up from the Space Center into rendezvous orbit.  "Well... that's just crap" she muttered..  "couldn't wait till we were in a good position for rendezvous.  Guess we better warp on around Kerbin and get into position"

Val:  "Thomus.. we got a mission.  We ready to maneuver in warp?"
Thomus: "Aye Lass"
Val: "Sweetie.. you good?"

Mmm Hmmm

"Life... it never fails to interest" Val thought  "who ever thought I'd name my warp engine 'Sweetie' and ask it if it was ready to play"

[Ooglak Kerman]

Aboard the alien saucer...

Mitrim: Just got a message from the Space Center.  Valentina is on the way with some parts.  It doesn't look like static charge emitters will be a thing though.  For some reason, they won't go into cargo and you can't pull them off a ship once they are placed.  That's pretty much unhelpful.  Sounds like they're sending KWS-2 "Are We There Yet" to drag us back to Kerbin.

Virgar: Fine!  Fine!  Just get us a Scotty on board before the engineering systems eat us.

[Ooglak Kerman]

In Eve orbit, Val was jolted awake again by the incoming message alarm.
"Okayyy..  Rendezvous with the saucer, attach a docking port to it, dock, and transfer Eng-5 "Scotty" Wibald Kerman from WRS-42 'Life, The Universe, And Everything' over to the saucer...  Huh... notice none of the other ships are closer than the other side of Eve" mused Val.
"Aye lassie.  Be acceptin th' facts.  We're expendable" said Thomus - in a kindly voice for a 'Scotty'
"I get it" she said..  "Lets get to this"
"Ahh..  thas me lassie" replied Thomus.

Shortly thereafter, they rendezvous with the saucer and Wilbald attached the docking port and they docked up with no exploding.  Wilbald - of course - transferred over immediately.  Much to the delight of the engineering systems.  No Kerbals were eaten.

 

Once docked up, Val cycled over to the saucer for a look around.  "You.. Are... Kidding.. Me" she exclaimed incredulously.. "You got potted plants?"

Edited April 8, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

From The Kerbin Admiralty:  Rendezvous of the Kerbin Warp Fleet

An alien saucer that was discovered in the Eve system has been the catalyst of a rendezvous of the Kerbin warp fleet as they attempt to retrieve this valuable piece of technology and bring it back to orbit of Kerbin to be examined.

Shown clockwise from the left are: KWS-2 "Are We There Yet", WRS-42 "Life, The Universe, And Everything", the as-yet named saucer,  WSS-42 "Please Sir Can I Have Some More", and WS-8675309 "Hold Mah Beer".

As the saucer does not appear to have warp capability, it is expected that it will be towed back to Kerbin by KWS-2 "Are We There Yet" after further testing of its capabilities while in the Eve system.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Jeb and WS-8675309 "Hold Mah Beer" got orders to investigate another unidentified object in Eve orbit and then survey Dres.  After a quick warp around the planet and rendezvous with the object...

Jeb:  Well... lookitthat!  Another saucer.  Them aliens were just cluttering up the neighborhood, eh.  Ok..  slight change to plan boys.  Strap in.  We'll grab it and drop it off in Kerbin orbit and then off to Dres.

Bob: Uhhhhh

Bill: Ermmmm

A short amount of time later...

 

"Ok!  Let's drop it here for the big brains and off to Dres!" exclaimed Jeb.  "To infinity... or somewhere closer!"

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

A quick trip out to Dres and they dropped into a 500KM polar orbit to perform resource surveys.

Bob:  Survey data indicates reasonably high concentrations of many valuable resources.  Blutonium, Precious Metals, Water, Minerite, Uranite, and Graviolium.  However Graviolium concentrations are low.  Jool is a superior source.

Jeb:  Okay then.  Who wants to land and look around? ....  nah.. me either.  Looks boring.  We gotta run out to Urlum and Neidon to survey them real quick and check out more unidentified things.  Then...  I got a plan for that saucer we dropped off......  Bill -- I'm gonna need a sign..

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman