KSP2: New player; mission to mun involving stranding Bill Kerman, ship falling through the ground, editing JSON files and more.

[mrjsonkerbal]

Had my first "successful" mun mission. No doubt there are things I did not know/understand that could have made this go better, but I had fun despite all the unexpected challenges.

First, here's the GPT'd version of my mission to make it more fun, or just skip that and see the steps below.

Quote

In the year 2023, the Kerbal Space Program launched an ambitious lunar mission, with the fearless Bill Kerman at the helm. His mission: to boldly set foot on the moon, a celestial body shrouded in mystery and cheese.

As fate would have it, Bill's lunar landing was a touch too exuberant. He managed to plant his feet on the moon's surface but found himself marooned, his trusty spacecraft now a fuel-less hunk of metal. Bill was stranded, but not forgotten. Back at mission control, they hatched a daring rescue plan: send Valentina Kerman, space pilot extraordinaire, to bring Bill home.

Valentina rocketed to the moon, her heart set on saving her compatriot. The landing was far from textbook, but she touched down a mere 10 kilometers from Bill. Surely, they thought, a brisk lunar stroll would reunite the two astronauts. The universe, however, had other plans.

As Bill lumbered toward Valentina, he and his ship inexplicably fell through the moon's surface. This was no ordinary lunar quirk; it was a bug, a glitch in the very fabric of space-time! The heroes at mission control sprang into action, tinkering with the JSON save files in a desperate attempt to right this cosmic wrong. Alas, their efforts were in vain. But hope springs eternal in the heart of a Kerbal.

A eureka moment: time-warping! By manipulating the flow of time, the moon could be rotated, allowing Bill and his ship to emerge on the surface once more. But their troubles were far from over. Now 42 kilometers apart, the two astronauts faced a grueling journey to reunite.

Bill, the eternal optimist, clambered into his glitched ship and somehow managed to launch it skyward, before landing and shaving 20 kilometers off the distance. He then donned his trusty jetpack and blazed across the lunar surface, only to run out of fuel a mere 5 kilometers from Valentina's ship. Undeterred, Bill trudged on, dreaming of a hero's welcome.
Upon reaching Valentina's ship, a crushing realization set in: her vessel had also fallen prey to the insidious bug, rendering it incapable of returning to Kerbin. Despair loomed large, but the indomitable Kerbal spirit refused to be extinguished.

With renewed vigor, they turned once more to the JSON save files. Scouring through lines of code, they found a previous save with Valentina's ship upright and functional. The moon's lack of storms and wind couldn't possibly have toppled the spacecraft - this was a bug, and they were going to fix it.

And fix it, they did! Bill boarded the now-upright ship, and together, they rocketed away from the treacherous lunar surface, hearts swelling with relief and triumph. With deft orbital maneuvers, they made their way back to Kerbin, their homecoming heralded by a graceful re-entry and a perfectly timed parachute deployment.

In the end, Bill and Valentina were saved, their harrowing adventure a testament to the resilience, determination, and ingenuity of the Kerbal spirit. The mission, against all odds, was a resounding success, and their tale of lunar derring-do would be remembered for generations to come.

 

And here's the actual mission step by step:

1. Flew Bill Kerman to the moon.

2. Ran out of fuel.

3. So Bill is stuck there.

4. Send Valentina Kerman in a bigger rocket.

5. Valentina arrives and lands about 10km away - not ideal but OK and I’m new to all this so a 10km walk can’t be too bad right?

6. Switch control to Bill Kerman. Bill + the ship fall through the surface of the moon. BUG.

7. Play endlessly with the JSON save file trying to move Bill and his stranded ship back up onto the surface. Can’t do it.

8. I discover that time warping moves the moon around Bill and his ship so I just need to rotate the moon until Bill and his ship are above the surface. Do this, and end up 42km away from Valentina and the rescue ship.

9. Start walking. Even with time warping, realize it will take a long long time to get this done.

10. Head back to Bill’s ship and realize that it is on its side and has a little delta v in it. Manage to get Bill back in, and blast his ship upright and then land it back on to the surface and lose about 20km off that distance.

11. Get Bill and his jetpack moving across the surface, and run out of jetpack fuel about 5km out.

12. Walk the rest of the way to the ship.

13. Arrive at Valentina’s ship. It has bugged out and fallen on its side.

14. Unlike Bill’s ship, Valentina’s ship is WAY TOO HEAVY to do any slick weird maneuvers back to upright. We’re doomed. Or are we?

15. Go back to the JSON save files that we unsuccessfully used before.

16. Valentina’s ship WAS upright when it landed, so I found a save file and overwrite the broken side ways location of Valentina’s ship with an upright older version. (It’s the moon. It’s not going to blow over in a god damn storm this is a bug.)

17. We now have an upright ship and Bill can board!!!

18. We get off the moon and leave the moon sphere of influence as fast as possible.

19. From here it’s a pretty easy sequence of orbital maneuvers (and we have the fuel!) to get back to Kerbin.

20. Re-entry goes smoothly, I remember to arm the parachute and we land safely.

21. Bill and Valentina are saved. The mission is a success. 

[Vanamonde]

No pictures? :'(