What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Triop]

4 minutes ago, Noobton said:

I just killed Val after flying around the pyramids for 20 minutes to empty a tank and get a good CoM for landing, walking for 5 minutes, decided to jump while walking on the cliff behind the pyramid, turns out that jumping on cliffs is not a good idea.

Is the plane Ok ?

[GDJ]

Not much today.
-Completed a few Kerbin science contracts
-Nabbed a E class Asteroid (1033 tonnes, 90% mineable) and it's resting in a stable orbit just outside of Kerbin's SOI. I may look for another bigger E class or bring this one down to Kerbin orbit.

[Columbia]

In the words of Mark Watney's log on Sol 6 in The Martian:

"I'm pretty much *****d.

That's my considered opinion.

*****d."

My Mun mission was a success, after having successfully sent a rover there.

Then, on takeoff, for some reason, after turning a bit, the fuel tank overheated so quickly -- Too quickly for me to react -- then blew up.

The command module survived the 42 m/s plow into the ground, then kept rolling.

After having come to a near-stop at around 0.5 m/s, I decided to send a Kerbal to huddle in the rover.

He died upon exiting the Command module. Apparently crushed by it. Jesus.

So yeah. I now have two Kerbals stranded on the Mun's surface and one dead.

 

[Randazzo]

9 minutes ago, Columbia said:

In the words of Mark Watney's log on Sol 6 in The Martian:

"I'm pretty much *****d.

That's my considered opinion.

*****d."

My Mun mission was a success, after having successfully sent a rover there.

 

Then, on takeoff, for some reason, after turning a bit, the fuel tank overheated so quickly -- Too quickly for me to react -- then blew up.

 

The command module survived the 42 m/s plow into the ground, then kept rolling.

After having come to a near-stop at around 0.5 m/s, I decided to send a Kerbal to huddle in the rover.

He died upon exiting the Command module. Apparently crushed by it. Jesus.

 

So yeah. I now have two Kerbals stranded on the Mun's surface and one dead.

 

Hmm, perhaps the thud engines gimbal hit the tank with exhaust or something.

That's a bummer mission there.

[Noobton]

8 hours ago, Triop said:

Is the plane Ok ?

Fortunately the plane and all the collected science survived intact.

[JoeNapalm]

I replaced my motherboard and reinstalled Windows.

Take THAT, Kra -- !

Uh, you know what, I'm not going to finish that thought...best not to risk it.

 

 

-Jn-

 

[justidutch]

Last weekend I had made a trial SSTO plane with a gullwing configuration.  It made it easily to 80x80 orbit, so I then tried different versions with ISRU components on it, but couldn't get them right.  Last night I took my first attempt and successfully expanded it to make it a useful vehicle... for the most part.  It does reach a stable orbit with the added weight, but just barely, it will have to be refuelled before it can begin its explorations of the system.

 

Then after satisfied with that plane, I wanted to make the smallest SSTO plane I could conceive of, just for my own personal kicks.  I call it Uno.

I'm thinking to build two other versions of it, one replacing the docking port with cargo bay for small satellite delivery, and one replacing docking port with workings for ISRU stuff, though that might make it too heavy...

 

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by justidutch

[Fearless Son]

I stranded Jeb and Bob on Minmus, along with another stranded Kerbal they picked up.  Their lander is fine, but lacks the fuel to return on its own.  Plans are being drawn up to send a refueling rover drone to them.  In the meantime they touched down about ten kilometers from an unoccupied surface habitat I landed earlier for a contract, so they have a well-stocked shelter they can use until I can get them a resupply.  

I also worked on a heavy cargo lifting SSTO spaceplane.  Unfortunately the first few launch attempts were disasters.  I am going to have to rethink my design quite a bit.  Pictures will follow when I have something nominally functional.  

[Vermil]

... Well, the Arch is big. That is one thing the girls have discovered about it.

 

The mood is a sort of slightly conservative euphoric ecstasy.
Touching the Arch's surface does apparently not transport you to another dimension. Nevertheless, all three girls believe that it's an alien artifact. Very old artifact.

 

 

...And it's finally time for the traditional flag planting and group portrait. What better place than here.

 

The Arch seemed climbable. Asdra refreshed her memory about the RCS controls and tried them briefly. Then she started to make an attempt to climb the Arch.
There was a spiral twist in the arch that made her lose her hold and fall. She braked her fall with the rocket, but the other girls had enough:
"Leave it to someone else Asdra. Don't ruin a good day."
So the girls gave up attempts to climb the Arch. If there is a point in doing it, remains for others to discover. (Yes, I could have relied on F5/F9 and tried harder. But that's not my style. I'll do anything to save the life of one of my Kerbals, including F9. But I do not like try & reload gameplay. I don't like trivializing death. And I enjoy being careful.)

 

So the girls finished up and started the journey back. The first bit out of from the crater fortress retraced the same way, along the ridge. But as soon as the slopes became safer they eased down onto the smooth plains between craters. As they knew where they were going, and were no longer exploring or looking for something, they could keep to the same highways all the way. So while it was still a pretty long drive, it was easy and much faster.

 

The descent down into the 'small' crater where they left their rocket was child's play after all their previous difficult driving. Soon they could see the Firebrand_F.

 

So up they climbed to their little command pod. Not so spacious perhaps. But new diapers, soft drinks, lots of snacks and sleep for tired but content and happy Kerbals.

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by Vermil

[Draconiator]

Tweakscale has just become a part of my KSP, and was testing it out by building a really tiny probe:

 

[Vermil]

On 3/15/2016 at 6:57 PM, Fearless Son said:

Sounds like you have it thought through.  Those tires tend to be a little "skatey", but they do have just the right size for a lot of things.  The wider, flatter tries have more grip and motive power, in my experience, but this is not necessarily always desirable because they are almost too powerful, and tend to flip rovers more easily than the tires you choose.

As for getting your grip up, I have found propulsion to be an effective means of increasing rover traction.  Not to push it over the ground (or off the ground) but to push it into the ground.  The extra downward force will increase the pressure on the tires and increase their frictional value against the ground.  Higher friction means a tighter grip, which means more of the wheel's force gets transmitted into pushing the vehicle.  This is especially useful when on slopes, since you can literally leverage more of the power in the rover.  

It does not even need to be much propulsion, the tiniest LF/O engine you can get, positioned right in the center of mass, facing upward, and on a very low throttle, will do a lot for a rover.  Even an RCS port and a couple of monopropellant tanks will be effective.  These means do impose a resource limit on the rover's (effective) endurance, but unless you are planning on circumnavigating the Mun, it will probably be sufficient for most of the missions you might undertake.  

Nah, I'm not so sure I've thought it so through.    But I'm happy with how the solar panel and battery works. Charging is very fast and unless it's sustained uphill it lasts forever. I just modify and tweak things as I see needed or desirable.

A downforce rocket is a good idea though. I'm going to try to fit in that. It would only be needed in special spots and just a brief moment.

 

[Val]

After getting some feedback on my super-easy to launch, B-1 Polo Spaceplane SSTO, I made some improvements to it and uploaded a new version.

I made easier to control during final approach to runway landings (hopefully) and doubled the size of the cargo bay and max payload mass.

[GDJ]

4 minutes ago, Val said:

That be a bonny vessel! No skaliwags be board'n her, eh matey?

As for me, Built a big tug to get my newly acquired E-class asteroid back to Kerbin.

It needs alot of fuel and nuclear engines......it tops the scales at 8000 tonnes!

[Frank_G]

Brought up some more modules for Kerbin Orbital One... the station starts to take form.

And i constructed a little orbital service vehicle, which Lannie Kerman obviously enjoys a lot, after it was delivered to KO1. It was made for pulling smaller station parts, like science platforms and all sorts of sensor and antenna arrays into place.

[edit]

And a closeup of the orbital service vehicle, for all who care . I will upload it this weekend, together with the spaceplane.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Frank_G

[Fearless Son]

1 hour ago, Vermil said:

A downforce rocket is a good idea though. I'm going to try to fit in that. It would only be needed in special spots and just a brief moment.

Yeah, it is not something you need all the time, just when a little extra grip is important like going up a steep hill or during a turn.  I like to assign it to an action group easily toggled but not normally used on a rover, like RCS, and just enable and disable it as needed.  

You can kind of think of it like the way old locomotives used to pour sand on the tracks ahead of their wheels to gain traction when going uphill.  

[Francois424]

Today I managed to fix the "Hybrid-Ion Electric Pack" for 1.0.5.  With what I have learned fixing other old parts it was over in about 5min ( + 1hour of testing to make sure everything works)...  As far as I can tell everything is OK.
If course some parts are kind of useless now with the new stuff we got since 0.23 (last update of said mod), but it makes amazing end-game engines if nothing else.
3 happy kerbals made a turn around the Mün before returning to Kerbin. 

I also experimented on new rover design without much success, and Finaly landed a rover on Eeloo. 
It saddens me to say Eeloo is kind of like the Mün, but less interesting.  Still an interesting place for a base.

I did a Duna plane... it doesn't take off very well, it can't land very well either, but it flies like a real bird (6k D-V as well!).  Still a plane that can barely take-off and cannot land.... yeah.  Redesign time.

 

 

[Fearless Son]

5 minutes ago, Francois424 said:

I did a Duna plane... it doesn't take off very well, it can't land very well either, but it flies like a real bird (6k D-V as well!).  Still a plane that can barely take-off and cannot land.... yeah.  Redesign time.

Given the thinness of Duna's atmosphere, that does not surprise me.

[SSgt Baloo]

I did a bunch of different things, most of them planes.

I made a bunch of different variants of this thing, starting with this...

...and ending with this:

More here: http://s28.photobucket.com/user/SSgtBaloo/slideshow/17MAR2016

[hellblazer]

Finished my single launch station. Uses IR to unfold station.

 

[Kuansenhama]

Up until now, I haven't been interested in the military mods but today I decided to be open minded and give them a try. I was really impressed with the quality and robust nature of BDArmory, so major kudos to the maker(s) of the mod. I even managed to figure out how to use the autopilot dogfight competition mode. I don't really see a need for it in my usual career play, but it's very fun to play around with. Made a pretty sweet fighter jet if I do say so myself.

I so wish that fighter battle challenge I saw awhile back was still a thing. Even though I doubt my fighter would be that effective against those of you who actually know how to build proper planes, I'd still just love to see it happen

[Jett_Quasar]

I just finished my latest video.  I'll be posting the craft files shortly - just check my showcase page on the Spacecraft Exchange in the next couple of hours.

JR

Edited March 18, 2016 by Jolly_Roger

[Butterbar]

Gondwana Munar Base has completed Phase One of construction.  It is the second manned base to be built on the Mun, and serves primarily as fuel refinery and radio communication relay between the robotic mining bases to the east and the Munar colony to the west.   The base holds 18 Kerbals at surge capacity with a permanent capacity of 6 Kerbals.  It is currently crewed by two Kerbals and a advanced AI computer that oversees day-to-day operations as well as monitoring data from the Gondwana Radio Telescope.  The base has two mining rovers with a approximate range of 10KM, and is tucked inside a crater of a crater of a crater, only three kilometers away from the site of the first manned landing on the Mun.

[oversoul]

Kermini VIII 50y tribute flight!

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by oversoul

[Draconiator]

I used Hangar Extender to see just how large I can make a plane, and discovered that there's such a thing as TOO big. o_O

 

When I got all 322 tons of this thing into the air it was a victory, but I think something is off because it wants to bank to the left, and then well....here is the beginning of the end.

[Triop]

Today....Never mind...