A realtime Career with no mods

[Tony Swallow]

Good morning! I have been playing a number of years but I'm a first time poster. Having used the forums as a source of information to help me out when I get stuck.

I have found that KSP is a game that suits me well. I have found that it is a really good learning curve. The first time I managed to dock I did so by meticulously following the tutorial and even then it took me the better part of an hour to do a really messy docking operation . Now I'm an "old hand" at docking, building things in orbit, docking lifters on top of craft on moons and so on.

I have started a number of Careers and I also have a sandbox that I "play" in for testing ideas.

With the release of KSP2 I found that my computer just doesn't have the capacity to run it. So I've started a new Career in KSP1

Part of the fun of KSP is that it is open ended so you can set your own goals and play it your own way.

For this career I'm doing something a bit different. I'm playing to get things accomplished as quickly as possible, in game time. This means that instead of building a ship that just enough Delta V and time warping months (or years) to the optimum launch window, that I'm setting up mining infrastructure and building ships in orbit that have lots of delta V to get places quickly.

 

My self imposed rules for this game are.

-  Playing normal difficulty.

-  I allow myself "revert to launch"

-  If I loose a kerbal (due to a mistake or more likely, the Kraken) I allow myself to revert to a savegame.

-  Likewise failing missions (I haven't yet) again allow revert to former savegame.

-  Stock Only! No Mods! (this makes knowing how much Delta V an orbital constructed ship has a real challenge)

-  No buying Kerbals! The only additional kerbals are those that I have rescued for Missions.   

 

At present I'm up to Day 60. Progress is exciting!

-  Mining operations on the Mun and Minimus

-  Communications net for Mun and Minimus

-  Science tree is now maxed out.

-  I have sent a sip to Eve with Communications satellites for Eve and Gilly as well as a Resource scanner Scanner

-  I have sent a ship to Eve (about day 55) with a mining unit for Gilly. There is a module for Science and a "InterPlanetary Transfer Pod" (IPTP) with space for 6 kerbals which will come back with sweet experience Kerbals.

- 3 asteroids already captured!

-  I'm building a ship to go to Moho. Almost assembled and half fueled up.

 

interesting things I have found on the way.....

-  When completing "into sol orbit" missions you can burn out and back, hard. You can do it in 3 days. However for the Kerbal to register as having got into Sol Orbit you have to have the craft in view as it exits Kerbins sphere of influence. It took me about 4 tries, sending the same Kerbals out, a lot of head scratching and a read of the forums to work that out. So hot tip, set an alarm clock for one minute and "sit" on the ship.

-  With refineries you don't need fuel for the return trip. Using the refueling at Mun and Minimus means that you can have smaller craft, smaller booster, the whole lot gets smaller. When coming back from Mun or Minimus I dock with a LKO station and transfer excess fuel. 

-  On the other hand, have spare fuel....

-  you can assemble ships in orbit.  By attaching Large Liquid fuel tanks together with decouplers you can build ships with 10K+ Delta V

-  When setting such a large ship on its way I burn to the point where a number of tanks are exhausted, detach them, and then burn them back to Kerbin for reuse. 

-  Refineries. You can "set and forget". Having a refinery close to the equator is more important than squeezing absolute maximum ore yield. Also, when looking for a location for a Refinery I'm looking for something as flat as possible. So I don't have to chase fuel trucks up and down slopes.

-     Sub-assemblies. Use them often! Especially for Boosters. That way you can select the "Thumper with pointy nosecone" hit 4 x radial and attach it.

-   You might have to play with sub-assemblies to optimise them.  I have a standard 7xNerv engine unit (7 x Nerv 7 x 400 Liquid fuel Fuselage tanks) that has now evolved to a Mark 3. Mark 1 had a single reaction wheel. that just wasn't enough.

-  A single Nerv "tug" is really efficient, but I found that moving a full tank (or tanks) needed 10+ minute burns. When operating in the Kerbin/Mun/Minimus system the burns are too long when you have things landing, or renfueling  

-  You don't need all the tech tree.... I got some missions to repair satellites that had Advanced scanning units aboard them. One the mission was complete I took the scanner back to LKO to attach to a scanner satellite. Saving not just the cost, but far more importantly the need to have tech tree maxed out before using it.  

-  How you think about how "hard" it is to get to places changes a bit. The closer a planet is to Kerbol the shorter the orbital period and the more often a launch window comes up. In this context Moho is "easy" as although there is a greater delta v requirement than other planets the opportunities to transit are more frequent.  

-  The alarm clock is critical! I get something on it's way and set a clock. There is no way I could keep track of what I have out there without it. I have developed a shorthand for the descriptors so I know what I'm doing next for example "Mun Heavy Liquid fuel station ren" means that the Heavy Liquid fuel lander will be rendezvousing with the Station in Mun orbit.  

 

What next!

-  Get that Moho ship on it's way! plan for that is to get to Moho, refuel and then burn to Eve. Kerbols from both Moho and Eve trips will then be coming home

-  Build a new ship to get to Duna and set up a mining operation there as well. Perhaps on Ike

-  Set up a network of "recovery" ships that will sit in orbit around Kerbin and "catch" IPTP's as they come back home. I've alroeady set up marker buoys for this purpose.

-  Start cleaning up Debris from completed missions where rovers and satellites have been repaired. Get some money back and tidy things up!

I'll be doing the odd update, next time screenshots.

Cheers

 

[Tony Swallow]

Taking a trip by Electric Seaplane - Completing Missions in a relaxed fashion. 

I'm up to Day 76 now and much has been accomplished. But this is all about a leisurely tour by seaplane.

I received two missions,  

One to take pressure readings at various altitudes (two below a low altitude, Two above 18,000m) as well as an atmospheric Analysis.

The other to take Seismic readings on the ground at a location nearby....ish...

I haven't played around with aircraft much in the past. Simply shooting a rocket into suborbital and trying to get readings on the way down was going to be tedious and wasteful. So time to learn to fly!

I have a "lot" going on. There are alarm clocks in place for spacecraft going here and there and everywhere. So It was impractical to wait for a "gap" between alarm clocks for a long flight. I needed something that can land on water and ground, so I can take a 20 minute or half hour window to "hop" closer to the destination. 

Also I wanted to try an electric vehicle so it could recharge as it goes, giving it a functionally unlimited range. Does limit flying to daytime. But that isn't a real issue as I can wait to day and "hop" away.

It took a LOT of experimenting and learning and reverting to launch. But eventually I made a craft that I'm happy with. The eventual craft is a gull wing seaplane with two electric rotors driving 6 fan blades each. I used two motors contra-rotating as the easy way to eliminate torque issues. It is stable enough to attach two small "science rockets" which I launch when the plane is landed to enable me to take the upper atmosphere pressure readings.

Seaplane in flight passing the Airfield island east of KSP. Note the two Science Rockets strapped to the upper wing.

Landed in the ocean

 

Straight and level flight. Getting up to an impressive 220+ m/s on electric motors, even with the rockets. Without them it gets up to 250 m/s which is starting to get close to the sound barrier!

Landed and ready to Launch Rocket No 1! Note the landing gear that is on the bottom of the pontoons. Needs to be retracted to land on water!

Even with one rocket launched it handles well!

Rockets away! And getting over 250 m/s!

Conclusions and observations

The craft is fairly stable and easy to fly. Care has to be taken in taking off and landing on water, especially to prevent it from "nosing in" and flipping on its back. It will get into the air at about 32 m/s. It makes a good platform to this kind of mission where there are multiple landings in between.

Time warp is a problem. The craft loses speed/altitude. So instead I set it going for the horizon and do some dishes or fold away the washing, checking every 5 minutes or so to readjust the attitude.  

EV Aircraft in KSP are WAY Overpowered! to be getting close to the speed of sound on solar power alone is a little bit unrealistic!

A really satisfying experience! I now have a lot more confidence in making aircraft!

Happy reading and Flying

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Tony Swallow

[Vanamonde]

Water landings are always difficult, regardless of design. 

[Royalswissarmyknife]

14 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

Water landings are always difficult, regardless of design. 

And water takeoff's

Well we dont talk about that.

[Watermel00n]

On 9/14/2023 at 5:30 AM, Royalswissarmyknife said:

And water takeoff's

Well we dont talk about that.

Especially with scatterer...

[RevanX_LSR]

On 9/17/2023 at 12:10 PM, Watermel00n said:

Especially with scatterer...

doesn’t scatterer make it easier to takeoff and land?

[Tony Swallow]

My first Interplanetary Mission - Going to EVE

The first planet that I'm visiting is Eve. I'm doing this in two parts. Firstly sending a ship with satellites to set up a communications relay around both Eve and Gilly. This is followed up by a ship with Kerbols, Infrastructure for mining on Gilly and a Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2 with all the sensors I need to collect sweet science.

But why two ships.....?

The optimum launch window for Eve comes up relatively early from the start of a new Career. The Comms relay ship has been constructed and launched as early as possible to take advantage of the minimum Delta V requirement. At this point I did not have the tech tree fully explored so I had to "make do" with what parts I had. Of note is that I got a mission to repair a satellite that had a Narrow-Band Scanner attached to it. I hauled the satellite back to my Kerb Station and used an engineer to attach it to the eventual scanner satellite. 

The Comms ship in transit. Note the "7 Nerv Interplanetary Module Mk1" at the base. This has a RA-15 Relay Antenna nested in the 2.5m service bay. More on this module in a later post. There are 6 comsats, 3 of them have dual RA-2 Relay Antenna that will go into orbit around Eve, ensuring bulletproof connection to Kerbin Commnet. The other 3 have dual HG-5 High Gain Antenna to go into orbit around GIlly. On the front is a Scanner satellite with the Narrow-Band Scanner attached This will go into a polar orbit around Gilly. For fuel I have a Mk3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage (5,000 Liquid fuel). I would have used a Mk3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage Long (10,000 Liquid fuel) but I hadn't unlocked it yet. This ship will enable me to set up the Communications network around Eve and Gilly, ready for future arrivals!

The "Main" ship was constructed in Kerbin orbit from components launched in multiple launches. Empty fuel tanks were launched, sent to either the Mun or Minimus and filled using the mining operations on these moons. For propulsion It has 5 x "7 Nerv Interplanetary Module Mk2" (More on the evolution of the Nerv engine module in a separate post) There are a total of 11 x Mk3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage Long (110,000 Liquid fuel!) joined with Decouplers and reinforced with Struts. This process of "nailing it all together" takes a bit of Engineer EVA time. When Launching the four "side" tanks are run dry. Then the tanks and engine modules are separated to be turned around to go back to Kerbin. Then the burn continues, draining another 4 tanks. These are joined together with a single 7 Nerv module to go back to Kerbin. This stack will take a long time to get home due to the high velocity and limited fuel. 

There are 6 kerbins on this ship. 3 x Pilot, 2 x engineer and 1 x scientist. 

The payload of the ship is 4 modules, An interplanetary Transfer Pod (IPTP), a Science module, Mining module and Transport T

Ship Constructed, prior to Launch - Yes, it's a monster

Front end view

Closeup of the front. The IPTP is at the front, with the engine turned off for launch. This is the only module that "has" to come home to Kerbin

Second from the Front is the Science Module. This has been loaded up with Data so a scientist can work on it in transit. It has a fuel cells on the side which will be attached to the Mining unit when it gets to Gilly.

At the rear is the Mining module. There clampatron Senior on the side will be anchored to Gilly and the Mining module will be docked to it . In front is the "tug" which will be used to transport tanks from Gilly Orbit to the Mining Module, docking on top. 

All 35 Nerv's roaring to push into interplanetary space.

Now the burn is complete and the ship is on its way.  All but 3 of the Tanks have been dropped. There is enough Delta V left to get into orbit around Eve and Gilly.

When the ship gets to Eve I'll be setting it up to do the mining, get the science and ultimately come home with more Experience Kerbins More Posts to come.

 

 

 

 

 

[Vanamonde]

That is a great big old ship. Have you considered making a re-useable version? That was my favorite project in KSP1. 

[Tony Swallow]

Yes I have. The way it's built it is all theoretically reusable. The fuel tanks and engine units can be refueled ready for the next mission. The 4 tanks and 2 engine units that were the first to be "dropped" have already come back to Kerbin for reuse. The single engine unit with 4 tanks is currently floating between Kerbin and Eve and will eventually come back into Kerbin's Sphere of Influence. When that happens I'll "catch" them and get ready for another run.

There has been a bit of an evolution of engine units, and probably not at the final iteration yet.  I have been slowly decommissioning the earlier variants as they come back to Kerbin Station.  I'll do a full post on  that at some point in time.

As for the Payload components. I'll see how they go. I dare say that by the time I'm looking to launch Eve No 2 that I'll have come up with a better/more efficient refinery and so on. Time and playing will tell! 

[Duke MelTdoWn]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:17 AM, Tony Swallow said:

The "Main" ship was constructed in Kerbin orbit from components launched in multiple launches. Empty fuel tanks were launched, sent to either the Mun or Minimus and filled using the mining operations on these moons. For propulsion It has 5 x "7 Nerv Interplanetary Module Mk2" (More on the evolution of the Nerv engine module in a separate post) There are a total of 11 x Mk3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage Long (110,000 Liquid fuel!) joined with Decouplers and reinforced with Struts. This process of "nailing it all together" takes a bit of Engineer EVA time. When Launching the four "side" tanks are run dry. Then the tanks and engine modules are separated to be turned around to go back to Kerbin. Then the burn continues, draining another 4 tanks. These are joined together with a single 7 Nerv module to go back to Kerbin. This stack will take a long time to get home due to the high velocity and limited fuel. 

Ship Constructed, prior to Launch - Yes, it's a monster

As Vanamonde said, what a huge ship! That is a good amount of Nervas, I guess you have pretty decent thrust/weight ratio for an interplanetary ship?

I try to get away with much less TWR, for example my Gilly ship Pannychis only has 5 Nervas in total (TWR 0.23). Are you using split burns/periapsis kicks to reduce the time needed for the Kerbin escape burn? I saw a good tutorial here: Kerbal University: Maneuver Splitting

And I might have something for you to shorten the time needed for orbital refueling. A month ago I constructed the 'Behemoth' Mining System. It allows you to ferry 120 tons of ore from the Mun to Kerbin orbit in one go. https://kerbalx.com/Meltdown/Behemoth-Mining-System

Edited September 21, 2023 by Duke MelTdoWn

[Tony Swallow]

17 hours ago, Duke MelTdoWn said:

I try to get away with much less TWR, for example my Gilly ship Pannychis only has 5 Nervas in total (TWR 0.23). Are you using split burns/periapsis kicks to reduce the time needed for the Kerbin escape burn? I saw a good tutorial here: Kerbal University: Maneuver Splitting

And I might have something for you to shorten the time needed for orbital refueling. A month ago I constructed the 'Behemoth' Mining System. It allows you to ferry 120 tons of ore from the Mun to Kerbin orbit in one go. https://kerbalx.com/Meltdown/Behemoth-Mining-System

Thanks for the suggestions and advice! I haven't tied a split burn yet. But It is something that I want to wrap my head around as if I can save on the total time to transfer then it's a definite plus. I'll check out the tutorial.

The Behemoth looks really cool, as well as the reusable launch system! My mining infrastructure has been a bit of an evolution with trial and error. Definitely better than it was, but no doubt more room for improvement. ONe of the things I need to consider/investigate is the advantages/disadvantages of converting ore to fuel on a moon as compared to moving Ore to Orbit and doing it in orbit.  

[Tony Swallow]

The Second Interplanetary Trip - MOHO

Having got the ship on the way to Eve the question was "Which Planet Next" and the answer of course was Duna. But then I had a look at launch windows . I have used https://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ for planning which is a really valuable resource.

I found that getting a ship to Moho would be no problem..... But If I could get the launch underway sooner then I would have a window to get from Moho to Eve. This way I could get the "double whammie" of getting the experience of not just a Moho landing but Eve as well. But.... The longer I took to get away from Kerbin the less Delta V I'd need to get to Moho, but the later I got there the more Delta V I'd need to get from Moho to Eve. So the Race was ON! Build and fuel a Ship as quickly as possible!

The principal behind the shi[ is the same as the Eve ship. 3 Pilots, Two engineers and a Scientist. Bu this time I assembled most of the "Hub" in the VAB and launched it to the Mun with just enough fuel to get there. The "payload" Component was launched separately. Then the whole lot is assembled in Mun orbit, fueled up, and launched!.

 

The "Hub" in Mun orbit. ready to be mated to the Payload and more tanks.

Not the best shot. The Payload heading to the Mun from Kerbin

Assembling the ship in Mun Orbit. Note the "Construction Tug" on the side which has lots of RCS and reaction wheels so I can move the ship around easily. Also I have used the IPTP (Interplanetary transfer pod) to move a tank into place.

From the Front. The IPTP has had Parachutes added to it so I can drop it straight back into the Kerbin Atmosphere if need be. The Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2 Module has the Satellites for the communications array and the scanner sat attached to it. I've taken a slightly different approach with Science Experiments. With everything in a module that can be attached to wherever it needs to go for landing. The refinery module has the Senior Clampatron which will be attached to the surface, and the refinery docked to it (I hope I have enough cooling). The  The "Tank with Wheels" will be landed onto Moho and mate with the refinery. I've done this for 3 reasons.

1  -  It's more storage on the ground

2  -  It can maneuver to the Liquid fuel lander (Milk Cow) to refuel it, with enough Liquid fuel on board to fuel the Milk Cow in one trip

3  -   It has a Clampatron on each end on hinges. This enables me to raise and lower them as required to dock with the Refinery/Milk Cow

In this picture the Milk Cow is missing! That's because I used it to do fuel runs from the Mun to the ship. I needed to refuel it quickly! 

Fueled up and ready to go

Full throttle! Again there are 35 Nervs at the base. But added to that is the 8 Nervs of the Milk Cow, adding their thrust! A total of 43 Nervs at once

From the Front

Now this is where it gets interesting. Four of the Tanks are empty, so they are dropped off

 

The drop tanks and their engines will be turned around to be used in the next iteration.

Burning further and faster.

Now down to 29 Nervs. The TWR is a bit lower then the original ship, but not by much..... 

Three more tanks are empty! So the ship is reassembled and three of the tanks are turned around.

 

I should have a shot of the ship in interplanetary here....

 

The Ship is on it's way. On schedule to get to Moho with enough time to get science experience and send the IPTP to Eve to join up there. An update when the adventurers get there!

 

[Tony Swallow]

Adventures in Asteroid Harvesting!

"These ARE the Roids you are looking for"

I am now up to Day 70 and I have already captured three asteroids. One to go into orbit around the Mun, One for Kerbin and one landed at Kerbin. Right now I have four missions to capture asteroids in play. One for an "A" class, two for "C" class and one to capture an "E" class asteroid.

I assemble ships in orbit in a similar way that I have been assembling Interplanetary ships. Filling them from mining operations on the Mun or Minimus and then sending them out to capture and return. One challenge I have is that I have found and tracked about 250 Asteroids so it becomes hard to find the "right" asteroid to capture. Anything that comes into the Kerbin Sphere of influence is easier simply because you can zoom in and only see the asteroids that are close. It goes without saying that it tends to be easier to capture asteroids that are closer to home!

I use two different "Capture Heads" depending on the size of the Asteroid. For smaller asteroids, "A", "B" and sometimes "C" I use a simple head with a Clampatron. But for Larger asteroids I use a "Head" that has Mining drills, crew space and ISRU, so I can get mine for fuel!

Lined up to capture a "C" CLass asteroid

TOUCHDOWN!

A "D" class in orbit of Minimus

Now that the Asteroid is in Orbit I can refill the tanks by doing some mining and send them off for the next task

An "A" Class asteroid with the "Head" Attached. The Parachutes will bring it down onto the surface of Kerbin 

Entering Kerbin Atmosphere. This is really dramatic!

[Tony Swallow]

Going Green

I am now up to Day 94!

The Eve Comsat ship is almost there! in another 10 day's I'll be setting up the Network. The Moho Mission and Duna Mission are on their way as well. But there is plenty of Career missions to keep me busy in the meantime.

I like the idea of a space program that is "green" From the very beginning I have made sure that boosters don't end up in orbit creating a web of space junk. Now I'm switching to the next phase. Instead of launching everything from expendable rockets I'm creating SSTO's (Spaceplanes) to get things into orbit so I'm not throwing away boosters to burn up in the atmosphere.

Having never built SSTO's this has been a bit of a learning curve, similar in scale to building the Seaplane. And similar to the Seaplane it has been a really rewarding process.

The First SSTO was a simple "Get some Kerbins to the Station" It has a capacity for 3 crew and gets the job done

Not the Best Screenshot. On the runway at night before launching

Then I went on to make small SSTO based around the Mk2 Cockpit. It carries 6 Passengers  to the Kerbin Station. This has become my "Taxi Service". The craft is easy to fly and has  good maneuverability. It Looks good as well, which I think is an important part of making craft. I have always wondered where one might use an inflatable airlock. This craft has a small cargo bay that opens for the airlock to extend and the solar cells deploy. The cargo bay has batteries, a probe core (tilted at 30 degrees for re-entry) extra fuel tanks and a reaction wheel all squeezed inside it.

MK 2 Passenger Space plane in orbit

The next iteration is the same as the last, except it also has a large cargo bay with a Junior decoupler at the rear end. This is just the right size for Career Missions where you have to put a satellite into orbit around the Mun or Minimus. These satellites can be built small enough to fit into the cargo bay.

The next step was making an SSTO with Space shuttle parts. This would enable me to put 2.5m diameter parts into orbit. I have a "standard" space station "hub" which other parts can be attached to. I wanted this craft to be big enough to carry this hub. It is a really good "workhorse" for various missions, Career missions where you have to put a station into orbit or land on the Mun or Minimus with a Viewing Cupola are easy to achieve, fitting into the bay with ease.  It also has capacity for 4 Kerbins which u useful for getting that VIP or Rescued Kerbin into orbit or back home. Although harder to control than the Spaceplane based on the Mk2 Cockpit it is still fairly maneuverable. When I Overshoot the KSP on re-entry I can safely do an Immelmann turn  and land at KSP from the East. For Takeoff it's a simple matter of opening the engines letting it fly off the end of the runway. I have the flaps as part of the gear action group so it's important that you keep the nose up as the gear retracts. After than you aim for 5 degrees and just let it do it's thing.

Punching into the upper atmosphere

In Orbit around Kerbin

Bay Doors Open and solar cells extended. The cargo here is a small satellite and some cargo bays (For bringing components of recovered rovers and satellites home)

This is an earlier version where I had the inflatable airlock. I changed this to the Shielded docking port on the nose as it "Looks Cool" and makes getting cargo in and out a bit easier. 

So I now have a stable of smaller SSTO's that enable me to get up and down, with Passengers and small to medium loads. The next challenge is getting Bigger cargoes into orbit!

Edited November 27, 2023 by Tony Swallow