Jump to content

Show off your awesome KSP pictures!


NuclearWarfare

Recommended Posts

Here are a few pictures from my first honest-to-goodness manned flights to Jool system. The basic plan was to send a small 1-man lander (Daedalus) to Jool docked to a big propulsion unit with long legs (Icarus).

First, I made a prototype (Icarus1/Daedalus1). Here you see it on the right, with the lander on the bottom. In the foreground is a Pegasus refueler, sent to top off Icarus' tanks after reaching Kerbin orbit.:

10536797566_1e16198b09_b.jpg

And sent it to Duna as a proof-of-concept/shakedown cruise:

10547671774_3d90cdf318_b.jpg

There I observed an interesting change in orbit representation based on Sphere of Influence. First, the orbit as seen by Duna, as Ike caught up to me:

10547826504_c26740217e_b.jpg

And now the orbit as seen by Ike, once I'd passed into its SoI:

10547829396_c0d6a84019_b.jpg

The concept tested out, but the lander seemed a bit underfueled, so I made a slightly beefier version called Daedalus2. Finally I was ready to head out to Jool with the Icarus7.

10619435976_f305ef9fd4_b.jpg

Icarus7 made it to Jool and arrived with fairly empty tanks, so I sent a robotic Icarus6 with extra fuel to resupply it. The rendezvous--in a big, slow Jool orbit beyond the outer moon--was far harder than I expected, probably because of the enormous distances involved compared to a Kerbin orbit. Gosh that maneuver node is fiddly! But I managed it.

Then I spent way too much fuel getting into a low Laythe orbit, but I was eager to see that world up close. The lander wasn't rated for a moon as big as Laythe, so I had to content myself with the view from space.

10646493216_fb140af987_b.jpg

Back at Kerbin, I decided to send a modified 3-seat Icarus8 with an empty seat reserved for the Kerbal already orbiting Laythe. This time I'd bring LOTS of fuel, including 4 big tanks to the front of the engine pylons.

That required two flights of a special tug which carried up two tanks, then decoupled and docked with them, using RCS to maneuver them in place. There was not a lot of clearance! Assembling that ship in orbit with the tugs was some of the most fun I've ever had in this game.

Here I am in Low Kerbin Orbit, placing the last outboard fuel tank with the robot tug:

10646634033_2768daa808_b.jpg

Then the tug topped off the Icarus's internal tanks with the last of its own fuel, leaving only enough to retroburn and deorbit itself.

10646439636_4529caf178_b.jpg

10646404535_9509780615_b.jpg

The last thing Icarus8 needed was a stripped-down Pegasus as a big fuel tank. I thought maybe I'd keep the Pegasus as a lightweight ferry in Jool system, but that didn't pan out. Here you see Icarus8 finally blasting for Jool.

10646423395_936e1fb201_b.jpg

I paused during the long 15-minute burn to cast off pairs of expended outboard tanks, carefully maintaining symmetry.

10646660573_5c5173b732_b.jpg

The two ships did finally hook up in Laythe orbit, but once again docking proved to be INCREDIBLY difficult. I suspect it's a math precision problem, as my ships didn't just float peacefully beside one another but slowly drifted apart with increasing speed. I'd done such maneuvers with these ships in Kerbin orbit with ease, but here the strange acceleration was so great my RCS thrusters weren't even able to overcome it. So my plan of transferring Daedalus2 to Icarus 8 proved nearly impossible.

At one point I simply jetpacked Daedalus' pilot over to Icarus8, and used that ship's main engines to catch up with Daedalus and (eventually) nose into its docking adapter. But I realized a surface mission would be impossible under these conditions, so I sucked the lander dry of fuel and discarded it. Thus ended my first serious battle with the Space Kraken!

Finally I decided to head home, and found a course that would fly me past Eve since it seemed convenient. I've never been there either. Here I am on my way out of the Jool system, after a mission time of 468 days:

10646177725_0ac8d95365_b.jpg

You can tell these poor Kerbals have been out in space too long. I'll just leave this here :) :

10646195754_8ee7dc3331_b.jpg

I'll most more pictures once I get to Eve.

Edited by pebble_garden
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been playing like a total noob today. I had two collisions with my ships and the station i'm building right now.

Had to replace the whole Solar Module.

Two kerbals in Eva going to their quarters, they will be the staff of the station.

6Dh3FTb.png

y7CsI4Z.png

The Station is not yet done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Testing out the new beta of SCANsat, it was very helpful getting me to the desert pyramids. Only problem was, I flew over the spot marked on the map twice and still didn't see any pyramids. So on the second pass, I popped my chutes and cut the engines for a soft landing near the spot where the map was marked. Still didn't see anything. Once I got Bill on EVA, the camera switched and then I saw them:

fzeg.jpg

Seems there's been a sand storm and they've been buried. Walked Bill over there and did the camera under the terrain trick again and found he was standing on top of them:

ivj5.jpg

Guess I'll have to get a shovel out and start digging.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Random Screenshot Dump!

Career Mode:

9ftND71.png

Yes, I successfully engineered a plane using only winglets, SRBs, and radial decouplers for skids.

oj51u9I.png

It's a pretty good glider...

LdeQZLL.png

But landing it is a pain.

pwJANRe.png

So I designed an ejection system to land when I'm done gliding...

4woBBcG.png

But the engine/wing section wasn't done when I was. It kept gliding for a minute and 39 seconds.

Sandbox Mode!

A5SkWW9.png

My newest and greatest plane, the Tilty McTilt! This is post-touchdown mode to keep it from taking off again.

5MnZrgN.png

Did I mention that it has a hinge? This enables it to have a positive AoA for short takeoffs and a negative AoA for short(er) landings. It also looks really cool.

Mod for the hinges is Infernal Robotics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

KSP_DynasoarRawr_PolarFlight_zpse7fee3a0.jpg

The Dynasoar Rocket-Assisted Winged Re-entry (RAWR) vehicle, in my still-early days in Career Mode. Doesn't glide too well; more of a (not-very) steerable missile... but it gets into orbit or handles high-inclination suborbital shots to odd biomes.

KSP_Peewee_OrbitShot_zps13a5251b.jpg

In my sandbox mode game, the Arro Peewee Mk2 is a brand-new single-stage to orbit reusable probe that weighs under 7 tons. (Design inspired by the "building small" thread, though I forget whose design I sacked and pillaged to make the Peewee.)

-- Steve

Edited by Anton P. Nym
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...