What did you do in KSP1 today?

[RizzoTheRat]

I took on a contract to put a station in Mun orbit...before realising just how heavy 4000 liquid fuel is when you don't have any of the big engines yet, hurray for asparagus staging. 

 

Still I now have a big enough fuel dump in Mun orbit to allow Bob to visit all biomes, as well as do the 2 rescue contracts outstanding, one of which is near the pole hence the rather excessive 2500m/s in the lander.

Edited January 3, 2020 by RizzoTheRat

[Lapis]

On 1/2/2020 at 5:26 PM, Francois424 said:

[snipped for brevity]

are those the new stock textures?

Edited January 4, 2020 by Vanamonde

[Okhin]

Finally build the biggest thing I've done in KSP. It's a bit heavy on the part number (due to the light I guess, it's a bit over 500parts), and rendezvous with it takes a full minute of loading when reaching 2300m. But it is self sustainable, can host 50kerbals in beds, and hold parties with almost twice that number of kerbals.

Also, a Kraken wace hit the KSC.

But it was worth it. And I could still launch during the kraken attack, so I guess it was ok.

The rest of the mission report  details some various aspect of it. And some loveed up tries at sending too much draggy things in space. I also need to find what mods eat that many RAM (I'm hitting the 15GB of RAM used by KSP alone).

 

[Arco123]

28 minutes ago, Lapis said:

are those the new stock textures?

Hmmm, well the new stock ones on mun and kerbin look amazing. Much better than 1.7.3 or SVT. (What I think.) On land it is amazing. 

[Retro Starship]

(1.8.1, Making History, Breaking Ground, Kerbalism and many mods)

So Gene Kerman said last night (on my lvl 5 career mode), "Here I have a great mission for you. We need to test the massive LFB KR-1x2 "Twin-Boar" Liquid Fuel Engine"  today!  Valentina says great, it should take off really nice at the newly upgraded launchpad. Gene said no, you wont test it there. I dont care how you do it but it needs to be tested only in space. In orbit and at 560,000 meters up! With only enough fuel to get you home as well. Val says oookay, at least you want me to come back! 

Here is that massive engine from wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com that Val needs to test:

Man, 300s of isp with 2000kN is a cool engine with no less a monster tank.

Here is Vals mission. (the twin boar is in the middle) She is covered by a protective shell inside a PPD-12 cupola:

The rocket she built is called Lazercat 1. Over 4800 delta V should be enough to get this BOARing job done, lol....

5......4......3......2.....1...ignition sequence start... launch!

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Now to test the engine at 560,000m and I got to a high 857,000m as well for apoapses to do the retrograde burn to come home. Had more than enough fuel to get back and Val was happy to see that as well. Man, what a tank!

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Welcome home Val! Now check here for some science and do a recover to get back to KSC. Job well done!

Well I do have to say, I did try this once before to test this twin-boar surrounded by a bunch of twin-boars to see if it could handle the trip. No it did not work well. Too heavy and ugly! Too many tanks so to speak with weight issues, rather than a few smaller tanks/engines and some nice solid fuel boosters. You really have to watch your TWR and balance that out with your missions along with deltav. I'm sure it can be done with a massive twinboar city approach, but I was concerned with the basic parts of what lvl5 gave me including the only free-bee which was the twin.

With Sandbox extended parts I am sure a better design would have worked just as good if not better.

(and to answer anyone's question, yes I did this mission twice!) 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Saturn5tony
fixing some spelling errors

[Francois424]

3 hours ago, Lapis said:

are those the new stock textures?

Nope I am still in KSP 1.7.3, which means the old textures.  Tho I am running EVE, SVE (the Kerbal-Sized Real Solar System equivalent) so it certainly helps.
One thing to note is that I do own a 3440x1440 monitor, so those pictures are very crisp as a result. 

Still holding out on a pure 1.8.1 runthru at this point as I really want OPM and Kopernicus isn't ported to that version yet.  And some old mods are getting some attention and they have lots of nice pieces I want to play with.
I might re-run another KS-RSS when/if all the new textures Squad are doing will be complete and that the RSS authors put it in. (PS: giving Uranus it's rings could go a long way too :p )

 

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

How is this thread so popular yet so old

[Castille7]

9 minutes ago, έķ νίĻĻάίή said:

How is this thread so popular yet so old

I'm guessing it's like writing a hit song, you just don't know which one is going to be so popular

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

Just now, Castille7 said:

I'm guessing it's like writing a hit song, you just don't know which one is going to be so popular

Well yes true

[Vanamonde]

19 minutes ago, έķ νίĻĻάίή said:

How is this thread so popular yet so old

People are still doing things in KSP today. 

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

15 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

People are still doing things in KSP today. 

“What did you do in Ksp today”

Thread made in May 18, 2013

Spoiler

Just joking!

 

[Angelo Kerman]

With lots of help, I finally set up JNSQ in KSP 1.7.3. I'm still working on the fine tuning, but once that's done I can gather up science and do some preliminary missions for my next mission report/story. Maybe I'll do a To the Mun precursor story...

Meanwhile, a couple of screenshots:

Bill & Jeb pose for a publicity photo as they simulate a space mission on KSC grounds. I mistakenly have EVE installed It's a bit dark and rainy at KSC today.

Bill is about to enter the Habitat Simulator as part of the Kerbal Academy's Engineering Boot Camp training.

As a result of the science gathering around KSC- practicing making EVA and crew reports, testing new science experiments, and the like- KSC saved up enough Funds to purchase an old trainer airplane. Jeb took the trainer on an endurance flight to the Island Airfield as part of his pilot training. Along the way, Jeb flew over Welcome Back Island (WBI), headquarters of Wild Blue Industries.

The trainer made the full 550km in about 3 hours of flying time- and crashed onto the airfield. But the science was saved!

[purpleivan]

Val headed out to the mountains West of the KSC, to checkout The Goat, and yep... it can climb mountains.

This mountain.

Confident in the vehicle's abilities, she headed out to the Dessert Airfield to set a time on the first leg the Dakar 2020.

An early attempt (there were a few that ended in mysteries crashes near the start) was interupted by quicksand.

Val eventually made it to the finish line, in a time of 10:45, but then had to apologise to the owner of ther flag for flattening it.

Edited January 4, 2020 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

More driving shenanigans in the Dakar 2020 (stage 3), which was probably the weakest stage for The Goat, as the first half of the stage was pretty much flat.

The Goat tops out at only about 45m/s on flat ground, but can maintain fairly high speeds on steep terrain, which unfortunately stage 3 had little of.

The stage was completed in a time of 10:36, after numerous previous attempts ending in failure, many while descending the steep drop down the mountainside near the finish.

So close.

Edited January 4, 2020 by purpleivan

[Retro Starship]

(1.8.1, Making History, Breaking Ground, Kerbalism and many mods)

Well last night I got a real easy contract to just test a Rockomax BACC Solid Fuel Booster!

175s isp and 250kN in the air is not bad at all!

Very easy to say the least. Most of you are saying, "yea, yea, bacc thumper, who cares..." Just needed to test it at the launchpad and call it a day. But I thought for a moment, I wonder how nice it would be to use it with a minimum of liquid fuel as well to get into orbit and have enuff to get home. So I did some experimenting using a capsule, heat-shield, decouplers, some small tanks and the swivel engine.

Came up with this tiny 3 banger with a little liquid fueled topper and 3 fins! Total boost to orbit is a nice 4348 Delta V too.

 

Got to an OK full orbit of 71km to 100km with more than enough fuel to do a nice retro back to any place in Kerbans equatorial area. Obviously I went east at the initial launch.

This may be old hat to most of you but being somewhat knew here, it amazed me I could get to orbit and have enough fuel to return with a very simple rocket. I will call on this one for future career tasks for sure. At least for low orbital stuff. Jeb though looks really happy about this and I am not completely sure why?

Oh cost.. Not bad for just over 10,000 kerbucks as well. Jeb had to pay for it out of his pocket too. Maybe thats why he's so happy. Maybe Nasa would not front him the money for this one!

[Stratzenblitz75]

Today, I went fast: 

 

[rettter3]

Well, I made this prop plane:

https://imgur.com/a/XM0u4y5

It accelerates with 31.4m/s² (when SAS disabled). Fun to fly and needs a very short distance for takeoff.

508 parts in total

one crew (more possible)

42RTG's

Edited January 4, 2020 by rettter3

[amarillo114]

46 minutes ago, Stratzenblitz75 said:

Today, I went fast: 

 

Wow! That's impressive! :-D

[KerikBalm]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:30 PM, Arco123 said:

Hmmm, well the new stock ones on mun and kerbin look amazing.

Kerbin has new stock textures now?

I hadn't noticed... Not at home now to check though. I was away from ksp since 1.8.0 dropped -played with new SRBs, and waited for kopernicus to update. Got tired of waiting and usedH to test duna electric VTOLs while checking out the sweet duna textures. What do the updated kerbin ones look like?

[NHunter]

I've landed on Scaythe

Such a flat area... To bad the gravity is so high - it'd make quite a decent place for a large EL base.

 

[Francois424]

( KSP 1.8.1 -- ReStock, RealPlume, EVE + Astronomer Visual Pack )

Last time I had finished designing my Laythe Seaplane.  Today I focused on my Moho Rover/Hopper (called the Moho Crawler).
So after spending a lot of time designing it, it was time for the Moho Trials.

For the landing process, simulated from a 30k orbit around Moho, I opted for a regular Jumbo-64 and a 'Skipper'.  Does the job just fine !

The dual drills can refill a 1.5k ore tank (tucked-in at the back) which the 2,5m Convert-o-tron (glowing orange) then turns into fuel, even on the go !

Got nasty terrain?  No problem!  The 'Moho Crawler' can fly over it... Like here with it's landing gear raised.  Autonomy isn't too bad either, but better not to push it.

 

With a 5-star engineer (in the small cockpit at the back) this craft easily doubles if not more it's flight time.  The more I use Ore tanks as fuel tanks, the more I like it.
Converting everything while driving/flying normally is very nice.  Of course, Moho provides 100 ec/sec to each of the 2 gigantors, and 15/sec on each of 2 large flat panels on the top (for 'noon time').
It's a bit clunky to fly, but once you get going it's decent.  On land it can push 20-30m/s relatively safe... but more than that is asking for trouble.
A Communotron DTS-M1 ensures contact (even to the KSP proper, provided I am on the good side of the planet).
Lots of lights, and the usual science experiments inside a 2,5m cargo bay.

Also, I noticed that there are no ~128 thrust bell engines in KSP at this time.  I was looking as I could've replaced 8 parts with 2 on this design.  No biggies tho, I was mostly in green-clock mode
The closest are the Radial "Mk-55 Thud" but since I wanted the engine on the undercarriage nothing really fit, oh well, not a big deal.

So my Moho craft is ready for when I start my next campaign.  

Edited January 5, 2020 by Francois424

[Arco123]

On 1/1/2020 at 6:48 AM, purpleivan said:

Just completed the write up of the 2nd part of my entry to @Robonoise Apollo 13 recreation challenge, that requires a successful trip to the Mun, followed by a "failed" one with the same vehicle.

First time I did any siginificant amount of manouvering of a spacecraft without the aid of SAS.

Mission write up is here, these are some edited highlights.

Flight 1.

Docking with the Munar Module (MM).

Approaching the Mun

Touching down

On the surface.

Heading back inside.

Liftoff.

Return

 

Flight 2.

Another liftoff.

Oh no... center engine cut out.

Heading to orbit on four remaining engines.

Disabling CSM power, engine and both vehicle's SAS units.

Burning to put them on a free return trajectory.

Returning to Kerbin.

Saying bye, bye to the MM.

Heading for a safe landing in the desert.

What visual mods? I NEED TO KNOW!!!

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, Arco123 said:

What visual mods? I NEED TO KNOW!!!

KS3P, Scatterer, SVE and EVE.

[BadOaks]

I tried out my rover base on Duna last week. Most of it went well except the version I packed up for the mission apparently was before I added vernier thrusters for pitch control, so the landing was a bit sketchy and I wasn't able to do suborbital hops. Next time!

Transfer vehicle Adamant arrived in orbit and sent a lander down to the planet's lowlands where it met up with the rover base. Valentina, Bill, and Wehrpond piled into the rover and spent a year on the surface doing science stuff.

And got a chance to appreciate the beautiful Dunan scenery.

At the end of the year I was able to get some cool shots of the return to orbit as well.

Full mission album

[Francois424]

( KSP 1.7.3 -- Kerbal-Sized RSS )

While waiting for the 'Poseidon' mothership to reach it's Saturn insertion maneuver I received an alarm from the trusty KAC.
I had forgotten it, but I had sent a Uranium cargoship to resupply the Uranus Station.  It had just reached it's deceleration burn point... And a very long one indeed.

Uranus atmospheric deceleration... It got very VERY hot.  But since this thing has *abysmal* Thrust-to-Weight, I take all the help I could get.

The second burn at around the height of the station.  Notice that the moon Titania is now lower altitude than the station, making for some nice views !

The cargo ship in final approach of the station.  12'500 unit of Uranium is very heavy... Turning the station was easier, but once aligned . . .

 . . . the docking was extremely easy, if a bit laggy.  I was worried the RCS jets would be anemic, but they did the trick rather nicely.

 
Then the crew undocked the Cargo from the CargoShip, and sent it on it's way.  It was decided it would be a waste to decouple the 300k Xenon container... so we kept it !

 

Unfortunately, the cargo ship ran out of electricity mere seconds after firing up her engines.  You see, there was no uranium left in it's reactor and had been taking it from the crate instead... Oops?
Oh well, I wanted to de-orbit it into Uranus for show anyways but I just deleted it as debris instead.  I roleplay it as the station crew making spare parts and recycling the electronics and stuff.
So the station now has a 25k capacity Uranium container, and an extra 300k Xenon container.  Pretty good all things considered.

I also brought the extra crew (including the rover crew and the original orange-shirts) back home using a Warp ship.  @RoverDude had made some hyper-ring and it proved useful.
Unfortunately I have very little pictures of the trip, but I have the most important ones :

The 'KSS Warp' (yeah uninspired name, it happens) just arrived in the Uranus system... And needed to do a ~8.5k deceleration burn.  Ultimately made it to orbit and picked the crew up !

The next pick-up was on Mars... Where we had those 2 crew-members driving that Martian look-alike land train, remember?

And finally the return home . . .  which happened the regular way via a good old Holman transfer from Mars to Earth.  I kinda had to as I almost ran out of dV.


A quick burn later and we gently glided back to the ground . . .


 . . . Which almost killed us.  Fortunately, even tho we hit the ground at ~18m/s, nothing broke (except a few kerbal arms)  .

 

Warp ships are very much OP.  However I did not have it in me to plan another 5-18 years voyage to Uranus and then same thing to get back.
And I am at the end of the tech tree with 40k accumulated science, and I was in a hurry (back to work tomorrow).  Let's just say my Kerbals had a Breakthru  
The only thing left is that Saturn expedition, then my 1.7.3 experience will truly be over.

Thanks for reading !