Long-term Laythe Mission (pic heavy) - ^_^ With Part 45 ^_^

[macdjord]

I'm sure there were plenty of new fishies in the sea that wanted to interact with a Big Hero astronaut.

Especially when it gets out that he has a history of naming planetary features after girlfriends~?

Plus, I'm sure he got plenty of kisses on the cheek from girls who thought it was plenty sweet of him to do that for them - even if their lives had moved on to much to 'thank him properly'.

[Cydonian Monk]

Never a moment's rest for the old gang, eh? Send them off on a ski trip to the South Pole for vacation or something. "Team-building exercise."

Based on my rudimentary understanding of the Kerbal Experience system, most of them should now be 5-star, top-level kerbals. (Were this not a sandbox save.) Skilled enough to tie their shoes and open the hatch. Too bad they can't pass that knowledge on through osmosis - you could use them to train raw recruits.

Duna should prove interesting. You still had a small base crew there, right?

[Brotoro]

Duna should prove interesting. You still had a small base crew there, right?

No. I've done very little with Duna (because I found Laythe so interesting). And some of the stuff I did on Duna (my Duna Direct mission) was in a different universe.

[Redhaze]

What takes the most time is writing it all up. If *I* had more free time, I could crank these out faster.

I feel you there. I don't nearly put in the same amount of text and story in my own chronicling, and it *still* takes more time than the actual gameplay.

Excellent. If only we could get commissions from Squad for convincing people to buy their game.

Yeah, that's basically what KSP-TV and the associates program is about, isn't it? You should poke Rowsdower, Errrr KasperVld, about it! Protest!

[Cydonian Monk]

And some of the stuff I did on Duna (my Duna Direct mission) was in a different universe.

Ah. That's what I was thinking of. Hadn't realized you'd done that in a separate save. What about that circumnavigation of Duna?

[Brotoro]

The Circumnavigation of Duna was done with an unmanned rover (although the rover was equipped with a cockpit to carry a kerbal, none was included). That rover is still on Duna, and would be usable by the Duna Mission crew -- I expect that they'll go visit it, since it's in an interesting location.

[Redhaze]

That does make me think, though, how do you plan to get about on duna? You can't just use fuel-efficient jets any more, Pretty much any (expedient) maneuver is going to involve fuel-guzzling (and rather boring) suborbital hops.

[Snarfster]

Shamefully copied this design:

Finally an SSTO that I can use both on Kerbin and Laythe. Just need to hide some RCS tanks in it and a minimal amount of life support supplies.

THANK YOU!

[Redhaze]

Heh. I've been using similar designs for a while. I find them to be far more useful and easier to operate than winged SSTOs. A fleet of these actually fulfills all my cargo-lifting needs, bringing up to two big oranges into orbit at once.

I'm a little afraid of 1.0, though. The rebalance might nerf the jet TWR, which is the base of the whole thing. Slightly less afraid of the atmo rebuild, since i already build 'aerodynamically', but there is the possibility that that the decreased atmospheric delta-V loss might be compensated by making Kerbin bigger, requiring more rocket Dv. Of course they might also nerf airhoggers, but I do relatively little of that anyway.

[Parkaboy]

Looking forward to the new Duna series! Would you consider having a modular base on the red planet? I mean, a base where new pieces are adding by docking on the surface, instead of just parking a new habitat nearby? That would be awesome!

[FlyingPete]

That does make me think, though, how do you plan to get about on duna? You can't just use fuel-efficient jets any more, Pretty much any (expedient) maneuver is going to involve fuel-guzzling (and rather boring) suborbital hops.

I reckon Ion-power has to be the next best option. Something lightweight with plenty of wing area and a few ion engines on the back.

[Brotoro]

Looking forward to the new Duna series! Would you consider having a modular base on the red planet? I mean, a base where new pieces are adding by docking on the surface, instead of just parking a new habitat nearby? That would be awesome!

I'm still testing out the surface docking in my "Duna Yard" at KSC.

[Patupi]

I'm still testing out the surface docking in my "Duna Yard" at KSC.

From my own experience docking sideways is tricky. Your gas tanks' method of linking up will likely be something to handle it. Have two mobile bases get close to each other with down facing ports, then have something move between them with two upfacing ports, and lift up to dock to both. It'd need some jiggling of the two bases to get things in line first, but should work.

Of course there is always the claw, but it doesn't look right to me, plus there are some weird issues with the claw if the claw isn't on the selected vehicle.

EDIT: Actually, what I've mostly done (though not on Duna) is to fly a vehicle down above and dock on a port by landing on it. On Minmus or the Mun it's worked well for me, but with higher gravity it'll be tricky. Wish the standard maneuvers included aligning to an angle relative to the planet like Smart ASS does. Holding the nose vertical and using RCS is about the best way to do that and aligning manually with the navball... not fun.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Patupi

[Rath]

Brotoro if you need money try making this a book (it's better than most of what I have to read for school, and those are called "classics")

[Sesni]

Brotoro if you need money try making this a book (it's better than most of what I have to read for school, and those are called "classics")

Squad would probably have an issue with that.

[DaserTheGamer]

Heck no better time to use that reference from a know youtuber: "Far Lands or Bust!"

[Yukon0009]

Will this be continued, or will you be entirely focused on Dev Duna?

[Brotoro]

When I think of things for the Laythe crew to do, I will do them. But I already done most of the things I could think of, and put the hardware in place that I think they'd need. Eventually, I want to put resource exploitation in place, since that was part of the original plan. For the immediate future I'll have a lot more to do in the Developing Duna thread. But if I get bored with endless red landscape, I expect that I might feel the call of the blue sandy world.

[Redchrome]

I just spent the last couple of weeks reading this off and on. This has been a fun read, and gives a bit of the history of the game. It's fun to see what parts were added when, and what mods people were talking about.

Assorted comments:

Emilynn has a sort of Joan Jett (there's a good name for a female Kerbonaut) look going on. Good job!

Also, I notice your story even passes the Bechdel Test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test

How did you attach the 'radiation shields' (those tubular things made of square plates) around the nuclear engines on the launch pad?

When you boosted out of Kerbin orbit with a 'train' of multiple tugs, it made me think of the Mars4Less proposal, which involved boosting cargo bound for Mars out of LEO with a stack of 4 (possibly reusable) boosters. Each one would thrust at periapsis, then be discarded, the whole stack spiraling outward until the final booster would push the payload past escape speed. The earlier boosters would still be in Earth orbit, where they could be comparatively easily recovered and re-used for the next launch.

I am amused by the flying kraken hidden in the background of one of the images in update #40.

[Brotoro]

Wow...I pass the Bechdel test. I'm pleased about that.

The radiation shields around the recycled nukes are put there by attaching a decoupler to the BOTTOM of the nuke, then building the strips of structural plates up from the couplers (with eight symmetry, I think...maybe six symmetry). When the decouplers are fired, the shields fall away (and there are angled girders on top of the boosters to bounce the shields off to the side). The nuclear engines are still contained in their normal fairings at that point until those engines are activated...then the fairing halves fly away.

Just so people recall what we're talking about (from episode 25):

Also...Just because krakens have chosen not to eat so many spacecraft lately doesn't mean they aren't still around.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Brotoro

[Redchrome]

After posting my query about the radiation shields, I figured out how it was done. Thanks for confirming my guess!

Now to start reading some of your other adventures...

[Redhaze]

Just because krakens have chosen not to eat so many spacecraft lately doesn't mean they aren't still around.

Out of curiousity, how did you draw it? Just drew a vaguely kraken-shaped black silhouette, or something more advanced?

[Brotoro]

I took one of the views of the dead kraken on Bop (I had taken lots of shots of it from many angles in preparation to choosing pics for the episodes), traced it with the magnetic lasso, maybe fiddled with the tentacles a bit, filled it with black, selected various parts that I figured would have been lit from the mostly backlit sunlight angle, brightened those areas up (feathered the selection first), then resized it small...and that's about it, I think.

tl;dr: It was 'shopped. You can tell from some of the pixels, and from having seen me use quite a few 'shops in my time.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Brotoro

[Redhaze]

Ah, right, now i took a closer look at it, You can see some of the back-lighting. Subtle, I like it!

[Valley]

Hello. Been reading your mission and not done yet, but just wondered if you were still having issues with Rover Autopilot with the Mech Jeb? Because, I have been testing it and, after some mistakes, have learned how to use it - outside of the mystery explosions....*cough*

If you still need help with it I will place some advice in a spoiler. If not - or you still prefer to drive the Rovers, never mind.

Using a Fueler I need to get into position anyway. And it has a nice Rover already in the area to help it.

But what if you have no craft to target?

I mean "M" to get the map.

Of course, always make sure you have the "Front" you want selected to "Control From Here" and be careful about IVA - unless you are using Jet Cockpits the "Front" may become "Up" and Mech Jeb becomes confused.

And thank you for such a wonderful universe to visit!

PS - Excuse any spelling mistakes or grammar as I am American and proper English is not our language. We use improper English.