What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Vermil]

On 6/20/2016 at 3:37 AM, Astrofox said:

Hey Guys! I have a video!

 

I made it myself!

This was based upon the stuff I mentioned a bit earlier, and I finally got a video to work!

Anyway, the reentry stuff begins around 9:50 in.

Sorry that there's no sound and that it's blurry.

 

Great stuff!

I particularly liked the flat-spin re-entry. Lot's of velocity shed high up in the atmosphere.

 

[Vermil]

Okay, there've been some big internal discussions in Vermil Space Agency lately. They've been triggered by many different circumstances, an Eve expedition becoming more and more un-indefinitely-postponable, Dr Vermil Kerman's knot in the stomach at risking his precious astronauts on serious missions, Mission Control's tantrums over the 1.1 disturbances in physical laws, Cerly, Eilla and Asdra's frantic desire to also go to Laythe. Jebediah and Bill's frustration over stagnation in all-new projects. Dr Horst von Kermin's frustration over the lack of innovation and progress from Kerbadyne and Rockomax. They all come down to the same key questions though: What next? What direction?

Bill had brought Dr Horst's attention to the SpaceY corporation some time ago, and Dr Horst and Mission Control had ever since tentatively pointed out the advantages to Dr Vermil, careful to not antagonize his loyalty to Kerbadyne.

Now, after a couple of days of recent Orpheus testing, Dr Vermil suddenly pulled Dr Horst aside:
       ”- Contact this SpaceY and fill out an order for those bigger tanks. We can always just have a look at them. It's just taxpayer's money. There's plenty more where it came from.”
       ”Of course. Will do”, said Dr Horst, puffing on his pipe and taking out his obsolete sliderule and fiddling with it just to look cool and important.
So behind Dr Vermil's back, Dr Horst, Bill and Mission Control exchanged high fives. A few days later the crates arrived.

Dr Horst and Mission Control spent days unpacking. But their faces became longer, more pale and concerned.
       ”These things are all nice and fine but this is not what what was in the catalogue. It's the tanks we want”, Mission Control whined.
       ”Yes, where are the tanks? We've double checked so many times now that I think we can conclude there's something wrong”, Dr Horst said miserably.
       ”Who reports to the Director?” Mission Control asked, even more miserably.
       ”Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm supposed to be the technician here, so you will lose less face by appearing stupid when you call SpaceY”, retorted Dr Horst, polishing his bifocals.
        ”I'm gonna call SpaceY?”
        ”Yes, please do.”

Mission Control: ”Vermil's Space Agency here. We ordered some rocket parts from you recently. The crates have arrived, but I'm afraid we cannot find the 5m and 7.5m tanks?”
Jockey Kerman, SpaceY customer contacts: ”Well, we've put some deliveries on hold, until you provide formal confirmation of your qualification.”
Mission Control: ”Qualification?”
Jockey Kerman: ”Yes. Why so surprised? Same as always. You need to fill out science point reports.”
Mission Control: ”- Oh, science points...”
Jockey Kerman: ”Exactly! That's four deliveries. We require you to send us paperwork on a total of 5000 science points for Massive and Gigantic structure and rocketry. Will that be a problem?”
Mission Control: ”No, not at all. No problem.”
Jockey Kerman: ”Well, goodday to you then”

Soon enough Dr Horst and Mission Control were joyously slapping each other's back and revelling, as crate after crate of big beautiful fuel tanks and rocket engines were unpacked by the staff in the VAB.
Few days later, Dr Horst had hacked together a simple, but big single stage rocket. Extremely enthusiastic Jebediah, Bill, Bob and Valentina sat in the cockpit.

 

 

Mission Control held a speech for all the other assembled astronauts and engineers. He was in a very boisterous mood. That sexistic swine even used the occasion to affectionally pat the bottoms of some of the female astronauts. Cerly & Co probably let him without resorting to violence, because he had finally promised them a Kronos_D expedition. As soon as the Kronos_D was ”sufficiently evolved and tested” (which he gave no timetable for).

And as Mission Control put it in his speech: ”...With this launch, the Vermil Space Agency's exclusive reliance on Stock Parts officially ends.”

[GwynJHawke]

Sent what I call a Heavy Atmospheric Probe to Eve. It arrived in less than 40 days after it was launched with a Kerbol perigee halfway between Moho and Kerbol. Damn but it sure was moving fast at perigee. Problem was that I entered Eve SOI at about 7,000m/s. I didn't have enough fuel to make an orbital insertion burn. So through a little bit of trial and error, I managed to expend all my fuel reserves to decelerate and lowered my Eve perigee between 70,000 and 65,000 meters. Any higher and the atmosphere doesn't slow the probe enough. Any lower and the heat shield doesn't offer enough protection and fails to the extreme heat. I had to err on the side caution and ended up going with a perigee just under 70,000. If I went lower for a single pass through the atmosphere, the terrain I landed on was mountainous and the probe would be destroyed. A second pass through the atmosphere would take me to a nice gentle plain to land on.

Moral of the story: you can get anywhere fast with enough DeltaV, but slowing down is a problem.  That, and the transmission rates for science that's transmitted from Eve really sucks

[purpleivan]

Flew my first IVA mission with launch, docking with a target vehicle and re-entry.

Almost two years of playing KSP and it's the first time I've thought to do this, but I think there'll be more of this for me in the future, especially for docking.

 

Edited June 21, 2016 by purpleivan

[luizopiloto]

Upgraded my shuttle's lifter...

[cubinator]

32 minutes ago, luizopiloto said:

Upgraded my shuttle's lifter...

That's an awfully big booster...where's it going? I can't see how you could make LKO with that ET empty. Or is this in a scaled-up solar system?

[Slam_Jones]

Built a new rescue chopper for my Career save, which has effectively double the range of the previous models, while somehow simultaneously being bigger and less expensive.

Oh, and it has sliding doors that open and close around the center compartment, so that rescued victims don't feel like they're about to fall right back out again.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Slam_Jones

[cantab]

Forgot the sepratrons on the boosters and clonked the tail. They should be identical.

Wonder how she'll re-enter now. Fortunately this isn't an "official" mission.

 

[kBob]

Got a step closer to my go anywhere do anything rover, no more worries about flips and rollovers.  Need to made an amphibious version and need cargo room.

 

[luizopiloto]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

That's an awfully big booster...where's it going? I can't see how you could make LKO with that ET empty. Or is this in a scaled-up solar system?

That orbiter is heavier than normal ones because it have a panel made heat-tile protection under it...
It's rated for 50T payloads to LKO... and can reach 500Km Orbit using ET for insertion, then, ET de-orbit itself... :3

[Kertech]

Didn't realise1.1.3 had come out till steam decided to auto update (just when i had gotten so bored of revisingthat I allowedmyself some ksp time! 

built a new station

Built a smaller station for experimenting on animals

and larked about with space y

[Van Disaster]

Got fed up with staring at the "Plant flag on Mun" contract, so... planted a flag on Mun. That lander was a *very* tight fit.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

and did some science, obviously. There were many explosions at this point.

Spoiler

Once I verified the pod IVA was actually working ( ie, on the way down ), docked in IVA - after EVAing someone over to turn the lights on, because I forgot to add a probe core to the plane...

 

Spoiler

Nert's atomic engines are pretty. If someone has a MM config for B9 parts to add LH to the fuel switch I'd appreciate a copy, before I have to go and write some... the default patches won't work because B9 parts already have fuel switching.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Van Disaster

[Vermil]

1 hour ago, kBob said:

Got a step closer to my go anywhere do anything rover, no more worries about flips and rollovers.  Need to made an amphibious version and need cargo room.

 

Only one problem. The more wheels you put on a rover, the worse it works. A consequence of KSP's fabulous wheel physics. I don't know how it affects the case when not all wheels are in contact with the ground, but I'm sceptical.

My ideal is the one-wheel rover, which unfortunately leads to some issues. There is a conflict between getting weight on the single powered wheel for traction, and being able to steer. So while this is a brilliant perpetuum mobile on flat ground, it actually don't work as a Rover.   ...yet...

 

 

[HoloYolo]

I went to Ike and landed on the North Pole. I think you can guess why.

 

Pics:

 

[Deaf3279]

3 hours ago, kBob said:

Got a step closer to my go anywhere do anything rover, no more worries about flips and rollovers.  Need to made an amphibious version and need cargo room.

 

how do you moved ... hud/display/whatever it called to right? i tried move mine it wont let me

[suicidejunkie]

SSTMinmus spaceplane Luna completed a 4x Contract Combo by landing on Mun to act as a 5+ Kerbal base.

Unfortunately, I tried to take off horizontally instead of following procedure and using the nose puffs to set up a vertical launch.

Two quick explosions later due to lack of atmospheric lift, the Munar "base" will be sticking around a lot longer than planned.

 

With 200 days of lifesupport remaining, Lannand and crew have been told to sit tight and allow 60-80 days for replacement engines to be delivered.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

I completed my first Jool probe, Newer Horizons - Flew by Laythe (122km), Tylo (744km), and Vall (408km)

Look!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7rivm6jkme99q1/Screenshot 2016-06-21 22.42.44.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lt1lgkbaz677mc/Screenshot 2016-06-21 22.45.27.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5xal5yj1ox9stn/Screenshot 2016-06-21 22.47.16.png?dl=0

Not bad huh?

[LaytheDragon]

1 hour ago, HoloYolo said:

I went to Ike and landed on the North Pole. I think you can guess why.

 

Pics:

 

After seeing the 1.1.3 patch notes and thread, I knew the Magic Boulder was the most likely secret tidbit added into 1.1.3. I wont be surprised if you do or do not find the Magic Boulder in Ike polar orbit.

Spoiler

Quote

5 hours ago, mythbusters844 said:

It doesn't say this anywhere. What are you talking about?

Look at the top of the post.  It hints at the possible addition of the Magic Boulder.

Quote

and we even found time to hide something small in the game that we’re sure a lot of long time fans will appreciate!

Also, more hint at Magic Boulder, a pass on asteroids:

Quote

* Dramatically improve resolution of asteroid textures, while simultaneously improving their shader performance by 400%. New shader can have very subtle desaturated brown/red hues sometimes.

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by LaytheDragon

[HazelPine]

Got 1.1.3, KSP runs again! Somehow my FPS almost doubled compared to 1.1.2, but that may be the lack of mods. Got up to 52 FPS while flying a big rocket around, and after the rocket exploded and I looked at the sky the FPS hit the 80 FPS limit, so I'm happy.

Also, explosions! And not noticing the VAB was collapsing. I guess I'll do a stock carrer, just to be sure this time...

 

[Grenartia]

On 6/18/2016 at 2:47 PM, Fearless Son said:

If I might recommend, try swapping some of those RAPIER engines with Whiplashes.  Yes, they do not perform as well in thin atmosphere and at high speed as RAPIER engines do, but they do have a lot more thrust in the midrange.  It sounds like your trouble is getting your spaceplane into the optimal envelope for the RAPIER engines to go all-in, and the Whiplashes might help you get there.  

Weird thing is, I actually did try that. I had a 2:1 ratio of RAPIERs to Whiplashes. I think I'll try reversing that for my next attempt.

On 6/18/2016 at 8:49 PM, Van Disaster said:

This should probably go to a different forum at this point - without seeing pics it's hard to tell what's wrong, but that does sound like you've too much AoA & the drag is killing your craft.

No pics today, I actually crashed a craft for once though pilot lived & recovered, but tsk, terrible.

I'd supply pics, but I'm not at my desktop right now.

On 6/20/2016 at 0:51 PM, moogoob said:

Worked on building super-lightweight lander probes, this time my self-imposed challenge was 1. to use the Stayputnik and 2. to make it all monopropellant driven. Most importantly, I had an idea to do it simply and without any reaction wheels. My propulsion is a single place-anywhere at 100% thrust, attitude control is via a single 4-way block at 20% thrust at the top of the craft. Roll control is in theory a problem, but I didn't experience any issues in my attempt.

I'll see what else I can do with the concept!

 

You could mount linear RCS on the cubic octagonals if you needed the roll stability.

On 6/20/2016 at 3:00 PM, Fengist said:

Played with a few boats... and a submarine

 

It has always been my dream to see a Kerbal version of Hunt for Red October.

On 6/20/2016 at 3:32 PM, fourfa said:

Turns out (after doing the math by hand), RCS Build Aid computes it.

Thirdly, I make TWR to be 4.3 in Kerbin orbit.  This thing can land and return to orbit of the smaller bodies - Eeloo through Gilly.  I never realized it, but a single place-anywhere thruster is actually a lot of thrust relative to a tiny probe like this.  Have a look at the 0.625m or 1.25m RCS tanks (better weight ratio) - you can actually use a ton more fuel if you want.  

And I know you said monoprop only, but I got curious about the Ant LFO engine (same thrust, less mass, better ISP) as well as probe cores with reaction torque and ended up with this:

3807m/s dV, and can land and re-orbit any body except Eve, Tylo, Kerbin, and Laythe!

SCIENCE HAS GONE TOO FAR!

[kBob]

On ‎6‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 6:24 PM, Vermil said:

Only one problem. The more wheels you put on a rover, the worse it works. A consequence of KSP's fabulous wheel physics. I don't know how it affects the case when not all wheels are in contact with the ground, but I'm sceptical.

My ideal is the one-wheel rover, which unfortunately leads to some issues. There is a conflict between getting weight on the single powered wheel for traction, and eing able to steer. So while this is a brilliant perpetuum mobile on flat ground, it actually don't work as a Rover.   ...yet...

 

 

Well so far (other than VAB putting them on upside down by default) I've had no problems, I've put that thing through some pretty wild high speed long tumbling flips with no flat tires or unwarranted explosions as I was expecting...it just keeps on driving which ever way it lands and nothing explodes.   Actually when testing at full throttle and flipping it half a dozen times in quick succession I finally managed to get the headlight to explode but was otherwise unharmed.  It gets a bit hard to steer at high speed and full throttle, but I haven't played with any of the sliders yet and I plan on widening the wheel base and checking wheel alignment etc.   The tires have their motors off all power is coming from that Juno.   Maybe not having a Kerbal anywhere near it helps too.  In one flip it managed to land on its side but still kept travelling and picking up speed until I able to flip it again and get back on four wheels.   I was going to try to use landing gear as out riggers but this works better than expected.  Of course it doesn't do so well in water as the Juno losses its air intake  :

Typical flip:

 

@Deaf3279:

Edit settings.cfg in your ksp folder.  Find the line:

UI_POS_NAVBALL = 0

change it to

UI_POS_NAVBALL = 1

Note that if you have kerbal pictures in the display it will put the navball to the left of them, this just tells it to put it as far right as it can.

Edit Edit: That's actually the hard way, in any external view (or probably map mode for that matter), press Esc then choose settings and scroll down to near the bottom and you'll see a navball location setting and a bunch of others letting you size the various HUD controls...very nice addition I'd forgotten about.  This does not work in the space center or main menu.

Edited June 23, 2016 by kBob

[panarchist]

I gave my space station a load of fuel today:

As you can see, all the station residents were thrilled to get the delivery.  Next time I'll put some RCS thrusters on the back end of the ship - only the tug (the gray section with the RCS tanks and the 4 small solar arrays to the immediate left of the orange tanks) has RCS - not the tanker.

After refueling, I ejected the tanker by blowing the decoupler, and the tug is staying with the station for future use maneuvering loads.  Here's a better view of station and tanker:

I should note that this tanker was a real pain to dock due to the asymmetrical RCS thrust, and wobbled like crazy.  I had to position it out some ways from the station, align both ships to each other, and then creep up on the station with the controls in precise mode.

Edited June 22, 2016 by panarchist

[Puggonaut]

Tireid 1.1.3 yer its great but........still playing 1.1.2 coz al me mod work fine in that , will wait paitentley for the 1.1.3 Mod Updates . really feel for the modders every other week it seems there flogging there guts out updating there Add On's . Without them KSP would still be a great game but with them its nothing short of amazing , anyhow sorry to prattle on...........Today I did this........

Over 1200 Parts , 1 Space Station , 5 Spaceships an a Flying Saucer...why coz i can . So right now there is 26 Kerbals having a party . An i'm gonna have a beer myself

[DaMachinator]

I worked on a skycrane with aerospikes to drag my mod-added submarine from the runway to the ocean. It failed horribly, but the pilot survived!

[MaxwellsDemon]

Still 1.1.2'ing till a few more of my favorite mods (notably KAC and KCT) get updated.  I don't want to restart my whole campaign just for the patch!

Landed on Minmus for the first time in my 1.1 campaign, sent back loads of science; going to be able to upgrade R&D just in time to avoid bumping against the 500-point ceiling.