What did you do in KSP2 today?

[Socraticat]

I set up a Twitch account some time back and I've been prepping it for regular streaming. Last night I loaded in some of my favorite crafts before choosing one to go to Minmus. Here's the highlight reel:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2003167957

I'll be at it again tomorrow at 9pm if you feel like dropping by, or want to follow for when I start broadcasting "For Science!" next week!

 

 

[Mikki]

Rovers will be a big thing during this winter, and we can rove around on top of rovers as my Kerbal clearly prove here 

Spoiler

The forum feels more and more like the calm before the storm.

[Joker58th]

Today I added the Destiny module to the ISS.  Nothing too exciting.  I decided not to follow the exact build order of the real ISS as I'm not interested in moving stuff around after it assembled.  Next up looks like the Quest airlock module.

[Casellina X]

I combined a few of the crew pods and modules for a trip to Minmus. It was a poorly planned and though out mission in response to the forum giveaway. Part of me wanted to visit the Kerbin Ice Caps but I didn't have the patience to do a plane. Maybe I can do a simple hopper rocket later on.

Other than a lack of struts, which I rectified after this failed launch, it wasn't the worst design to come out of my VAB.

I did have to fuss with the gravity turn a bit. The rocket was both responsive and sluggish. No RCS, only reaction wheels and gimballing. But well on our way to orbit.

This was either the last bit of the circularization burn or maybe the burn towards Minmus. As you can see, the extra strutting I added to keep the damn thing from wobbling.

Prior to circularization. All of that beautifully flat space to land... Well I said screw that, I'm aiming for a crater. Not only a crater, but a crater near the pole (I saw one that looked like it may be hiding a secret.

I cut loose the transfer stage as it became very apparent that I couldn't screw around too much due to lack of EC. But screw around I did.

By this point I had plotted a course to the north pole somewhat near the crater I picked out. You see my craft, wanting for EC, doing just what I could to be in a position for a decent landing.

On a better trajectory we start probably the 2nd descent into this crater. Did you know it's dark in the dark? Well I didn't. Spoiler alert: it's dark!

I included no extra batteries, solar panels, nor any lights. So this was shaping up to be a complete and utter failure. It took a few panic burns and out of control spins to get out of this situation. Didn't capture any pictures because I wasn't even sure I could get back to the ground without exploding. I did have 1 or 2 touchdowns prior to this but the pitch black environment combined with just not knowing what sort of incline I was on just wouldn't let me do it.

But joy of joys we made it down safely. I took <SOME_KERBAL> Kerman out for a brief jump.

All 18 who made the trip with their accompanying flags. For the life of me I can't figure out how to orient them correctly. A quality of life feature would be to allow for rotation after planting. And this is probably my last mission of the year.

[Joker58th]

Continuing the ISS build, I added the Quest airlock.  Afterwards, I noticed the station starting to wobble so I decreased some of the reaction wheel strength which seemed to help but we'll see.  Next up would be the PIRS docking compartment.  

[savkerbal]

I landed on Vall and returned back to Kerbin orbit(Because of forgotten parachutes).

[Aeolica]

A Mun hotel design

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Aeolica

[Socraticat]

My first-take today was not great. I'll stick it out and try to work around this- maybe it's because of the engine as a heat shield? I dunno... I'll stay terrestrial or munar. But really not a great first 20 minutes. I made sure to post in Bug Reports. You should too!!!

 

[Audaylon]

The "For Science" update is amazing.  Fixing all the bugs that I've had an issue with.  Such as 'opening a cargo bay disables air intakes' and 'decouple objects ruins the camera'.    

Most of all, BOATS!!!  All the "boats" I've crafted do not wobble uncontrollably in the water and do not generate "magical" thrust anymore.  (cries in magical thrust)

This will make a SpaceX like water landing on "Of course I still love you" or "Just read the instructions" much easier to do.   So many things I want to try.

[Scarecrow71]

Been playing around for an extended period for the first time in...gosh, I don't know how long.  Been having a ball, though, with all the missions and the tech tree and such.  I've gone through:

• Launch first rocket
• Go sub-orbital
• Go orbital
• Test buoyancy
• EVA in orbit
• Do some science on the launchpad

The only mission I've got left right now is to orbit the Mun, and I'm going to send a probe there for that one because, well, we'll need communications at some point, right?

I have run into a pair of odd bugs.

1. Applying a fairing is easy.  But as soon as I attach any other part to the fairing (Cockleshell fairing, to be precise), the fairing loses its agency colors and just goes grey.
2. I've attached a radial SRB (Thumper), set it all up, and then taken that off the rocket and then done the symmetry.  At times - and I cannot reproduce this with any amount of accuracy - the stage the SRB is in shows 0 dV and 0 TWR.  Odd.

All told, I'm loving this.  Cannot wait until tomorrow when I get to do more stuff!

[Socraticat]

Second Take and done for the day. Everyone else is really into the game finally, so I think I'll just sit and watch for a while. It's good to see the hype train back on schedule. Just remember not to use the Swivel as a heat-shield.

[KincaidFrankMF]

Loving For Science so far! They might want to introduce some kind of part limit mechanic though. I reached orbit & returned safely on my first launch, only to be told in Mission Control that

Spoiler

there'd been a complaint about failing to breach the atmosphere.... 

- which seems a bit odd!

[Chilkoot]

1 hour ago, KincaidFrankMF said:

- which seems a bit odd!

It's a scripted event, and an allusion to the flame wars b/w Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic over the Karman Line and their respective space tourism programmes.

[Superfluous J]

16 minutes ago, Chilkoot said:

It's a scripted event, and an allusion to the flame wars b/w Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic over the Karman Line and their respective space tourism programmes.

They should script it to check and see if you actually breached the atmosphere, and modify the line accordingly.

[KincaidFrankMF]

1 hour ago, Superfluous J said:

They should script it to check and see if you actually breached the atmosphere, and modify the line accordingly.

Agreed. Must admit I didn't get the reference, though I remember when that happened!

[Chilkoot]

1 hour ago, KincaidFrankMF said:

Agreed. Must admit I didn't get the reference, though I remember when that happened!

The problem is that the schtick carries over for 3 briefings, so it will take some work for them to retool - if they bother to modify it.  Fortunately no voice work involved, so changing something like this is much easier than, say, quest dialogue in Starfield,

[Aeolica]

Mun palace

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Aeolica

[Yskonyn]

I graduated from Kerbin Orbit missions to a round-trip between Kerbin and Mun! Very proud of Jeb! He was brave, only screamed five times! XD

 

[Scarecrow71]

Powered up the game for about 30 minutes this morning as I knew I had the mission to reach Munar orbit.  Sent up a small probe with some antenna and solar panels because I know I'll need to have some form of communications relay at some point.  And I didn't want to send Kerbals up just yet because that would mean I'd have to bring them home to collect the science they gain.  And considering the next primary mission is to land on the Mun, it just made sense to use a non-sentient object.  Anyhow, I've unlocked most of Tier I with but a few launches now.  Pictures!

I cannot overstate how excited I was to simply get to the Mun this morning.  Like, I've done this a bajillion times in KSP1, and am currently working on a KSRSS Moon landing as we speak.  But for some reason this just felt...I'm at a loss for the appropriate word here.  I'm excited and nervous and awestruck and giddy all at the same time.  Over something I've done countless times before.  Man, did 0.2 hit the nail on the head!  Great job, @Intercept Games with this release!

[Poppa Wheelie]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:37 PM, Poppa Wheelie said:

I went to the Mun and back, using only the tech from "Starting Rocketry", the first node in the tech tree of the upcoming For Science! release.

In this topic on 7 December I posted the above.  Today I did a new Kerbin return to see if it was possible to return from Mun with no heat shield.

I don't think this will work with the current version of the heating system.  I just put an identical vehicle into a 12,000,000m orbit above Kerbin (a little past Mun's orbit), then at Ap I lowered the Pe to 60,421m (almost 100m lower than the mission above).  But the lateral fuel tanks overheated and blew up almost immediately (while still above 60km).

Next, I put the vehicle in a LKO and lowered the Pe to 60,495m.  The lateral tanks also overheated and blew up well above 60km (64,548m, in this case).

So, I'm not sure if it's possible to return from orbit without a heat shield.  I don't intend to try again any time soon, at least until we get an updated reheating model, or until someone else figures out a way to return from orbit without a heat shield.  Maybe you have to zero your horizontal movement and fall straight down?  Someone else is welcome to give that a try.

Small but significant update:

I ran a little experiment to see if I could get a capsule with parachute from orbit to the surface of Kerbin by focusing on velocity at the 70km mark (versus my normal reentry focus of Pe setting).  I made several runs, but these two show the boundaries within which success is possible:

• Velocity at 70km: 1998m/s - FAIL
• Velocity at 70km: 1684m/s - SUCCESS!  With heat warnings

Edited December 22, 2023 by Poppa Wheelie

[Scarecrow71]

2 minutes ago, Poppa Wheelie said:

In this topic on 7 December I posted the above.  Today I did a new Kerbin return to see if it was possible to return from Mun with no heat shield.

I don't think this will work with the current version of the heating system.  I just put an identical vehicle into a 12,000,000m orbit above Kerbin (a little past Mun's orbit), then at Ap I lowered the Pe to 60,421m (almost 100m lower than the mission above).  But the lateral fuel tanks overheated and blew up almost immediately (while still above 60km).

Next, I put the vehicle in a LKO and lowered the Pe to 60,495m.  The lateral tanks also overheated and blew up well above 60km (64,548m, in this case).

So, I'm not sure if it's possible to return from orbit without a heat shield.  I don't intend to try again any time soon, at least until we get an updated reheating model, or until someone else figures out a way to return from orbit without a heat shield.  Maybe you have to zero your horizontal movement and fall straight down?  Someone else is welcome to give that a try.

In KSP1, I could return from the Mun with a Kerbin Pe of ~30km.  That's directly from Mun orbit to a Kerbin Pe of 30km, and while I would see heat effects, I wouldn't lose parts.  Today I tried the same thing, and not only did my radial tanks blow up, but the lander can - which had a heat shield on it - overheated and blew up.

I think the heat effects system is overcharged, so to speak.  I'm going to re-try doing this with ~90% of the heat effects, and then tune it from there until it matches KSP1.

[Xacktar]

Got the 'Lil Chonker' mission to put 200 tons of something on Minmus and tried to fulfill it with this monstrosity. 

Unfortunately, too much fuel was lost so it did not count. I have to return to the drawing board and figure out how to do something worse, but with greater efficiency. 

Also did some landmark tourism, and, um, 'normal' kerbal activity.

[Vanamonde]

Transmitted science from Mun orbit.

[Audaylon]

♪ I'm different, yeah, I'm a Dolphin ♫

 

[gmiddlemass]

Made my first rovers today, "Sojourner" and "Opportunity"

Now I just need to figure out how to launch and land them on Duna...

Edited December 21, 2023 by gmiddlemass