What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Selective Genius]

I constructed a space station thingie using the Konstruction mod for the first time. Those welding docking ports are pretty neat!

I have installed the main habitation + science lab and Power/heat management truss. How should I expand it more?? I was thinking of adding another Truss which will act as 'shipyard' for assembling and maintaining Orbital Tugs and Duna spaceships. I am playing on 2.5x Kerbin so reusable orbital tugs are a must have if i dont want to go bankrupt. I could also add a couple of fuel tanks. Anything else that I should add?

[sir rocket]

got some mods for the japris stellar neighborhood space race and tested then out

[vv3k70r]

Is there a way to connect nuclear engins under RCS control? I just found them so powerfull for bigger vessels.

[Death Engineering]

I updated my "Played Hours" time for KSP on Steam.   

 

(I never "launch" from there hahaha, get it??)

[Death Engineering]

11 hours ago, Selective Genius said:

I could also add a couple of fuel tanks. Anything else that I should add?

Nice station! 

How about a way to refuel from a Minmus mining station. Either cook the fuel in Minmus orbit or drop Ore canisters down to Kerbin for processing at your station?

[Guest]

 

Spoiler

 I also added music to older videos that really need them

 

 

[vv3k70r]

Bob is on its way back from poles lowland, he is traveling fast on solar power around 40m/s

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198104150385/screenshots/

rovers are bad, reactions wheel are awesome.

[cyberKerb]

Tested a new install and had Val take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this game. Location is Duna in the craggy 'thing' from Duna restoration.

[Popestar]

Today, in the continuation of the Caveman Challenge, I got my first rocket into orbit.  18 tons/30 parts is hard, but what I learned about how to make it work is far more valuable than just slapping stuff together and punching the gas.  And, as if that wasn't enough, I earned enough science to complete tier 4 of the tech tree.  This means I need a scant 900 more science points to finish the challenge.

[Kerbalwerks]

I do not use steam, I do not think I would want to see how many hours I have put into KSP.

[Kerbalwerks]

The above was never a grand plan, they just came about slowly over the past few years, the game has provided me a way to keep my mind focused and creative in a crazy world.

 

[eberkain]

I got my first satellite into orbit on a new JNSQ Unkerbaled start using only 0.625m engines. 

[Corona688]

I almost caused this game's first nuclear accident -- a kerbal almost re-entering in the nuclear tug that was sent to rescue him.  I should have counted delta-v more carefully.  900m/s may be the fastest intercept I've accomplished in this game, barring asteroids.

The encounter was made and the kerbal re-entered without the nuclear tug.  The nuclear tug has been given a new head, and now works in low orbit deorbiting the massive quantity of debris that has built up in orbit, siphoning the fuel from any pieces which happened to possess it to further its journey.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Corona688

[scottadges]

Today in KSP, I went to space. And this time I didn't get stuck there!

Having just installed a minty-fresh version of KSP 1.10.1 and completed updates for my core mods (QoL + Basic Graphics), I did a first boot of KSP and tested everything with a little basic orbiter (the Mk1).  

That gave me an idea: I should do a playthrough that ONLY uses Stock parts and NO part clipping in my vehicles. I figured while I'm at it, I should challenge myself to NOT use any of the automated MechJeb tools (which tbh, I utilize exclusively for ascents, maneuvers, etc.).

So a quick re-design of my original orbiter, another quick launch, and I present to you my Orbiter Mk2:

What happened to the Mk1? Yeah, it didn't have enough fuel for a proper re-entry, so I got stuck scraping the atmosphere at 65Km for quite a while to finally get the orbit down.

Personally... I think it's ugly as sin.   See, my preferred build style heavily uses ReStock/ReStock+ along with Near Future Everything, Stockalike Station Parts Redux, and various BDB parts. For this playthrough, I'm leaving all that at the door and going Full Stock to try to "get back to basics". We'll see what kind of vehicles I come up with!

And hopefully in the process, I will get a little bit better at the core mechanics of this game.

Edited November 21, 2020 by scottadges

[Corona688]

I've been having to do contracts to pay off an upgraded R&D and one of them turned out to be this mean part retrieval mission:

An empty BACC, but still a giant unwieldy thing liable to blow up mid-reentry.  Had to fire the retros all the way down, including the sea landing.

[Draconiator]

Getting back into the game because I have more RAM now.  Trust me I had 4GB before, and I have 8GB now, and makes a HUGE difference.  And as usual I forgot some stuff my first launch back....

This time I forgot to check subassemblies, I have a complete Duna probe package in there...wit that I wouldn't have had to make these solar arrays....bleh

 

[Urus28]

I'm testing a new rover for future Mun exploration... This first result will need some rework, the wheel configuration is too soft and unstable.

[scottadges]

Today was another milestone day in KSP. One of those days where you accomplish a few things, learn a few other things, load up half a dozen saves (trying not to kill Jebediah), and basically avoid running out of fuel at all costs.

My Mun landing (loosely Apollo-style) went pretty smoothly doing it completely manual. And I actually made it to the surface of the Mun!

The problems came trying to get back to orbit... And there were a few. (see spoiler)

Spoiler

Here's how it went down:

1. Completing my first landing went very smoothly. But then I realized, it was from waaaay too high (~40k munar orbit) and I had burned almost all my fuel, leaving only 240 m/s to lift off. That was reload #1.
2. Starting from a lower orbit (~15k) was better, but I still didn't have enough fuel after landing. Even though this craft has around 1400m/s of dV, I was using too much fuel on the descent. (Note: I usually do this with wildly over-built craft that can carry 3-4K dV and land from 50-60Km orbits) Reload #2.
3. My third landing was the most successful, starting from a 9K orbit - which I'm sure everyone reading this realizes is *barely* high enough to clear some of the taller crater edges. But it worked: ~850m/s of dV remaining at landing. Whoohoo!
4. Next was circularizing... Even with 850m/s, it was a challenge to get into a stable orbit. I managed to get a high enough AP at around 6K with a fair amount of fuel to spare, but I had started too late... and was way past apoapsis... and descending... heading for a crater edge... and: Quick Reload (#3 for those counting).

Finally, on my last attempt, I was able to get my apoapsis up to a respectable 23k while my PE was still only at 6-7km in a wildly-not-circular orbit. And let me tell you that was an interesting ride, skimming above craters until finally climbing. Somehow I managed to leave ~15m/s to raise my PE to a respectable 10km or so.

Since I was out of fuel, I had to rendezvous using my orbiter still parked at 9km orbit. Thankfully, it had close to 1900m/s to adjust orbits and get close. But if you've ever tried to rendezvous at less than 10km above the surface of the Mun, you'll know there's not a lot of room to spare.

That, and it was the first time I've done a manual RDV in probably... 2 years? (MechJeb auto-rendezvous is there for a reason!  ) So I worked the maneuver nodes carefully to match planes with the Lander, then figured out my phasing orbit, then carefully slid into the approach, and killed my speed at target. Voila ready to dock!

Anyway, after a successful manual rendezvous, transferring remaining RCS fuel, then double-checking the crew were also transferred to the Orbiter, I undocked with the Lander Mk1 and left it in a stable orbit around the Mun.

Now it was time to transfer back to Kerbin and land the full crew safely, which... is a tale for another time!

(Personal Note: Some of you reading this may be asking, "Why is he making a deal about doing stuff manually? MechJeb is cheating anyway". But for me, it's been strangely empowering to remember how to do these things in-game and have success in small things like a proper landing and an efficient rendezvous. It's made this game a lot of fun again.)

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by scottadges

[Guest]

making some progress on the colony. S_gamer made the far left, I made the left, Redstone Warrior made the right but I flew it for him, then last Clayton made the refinery

[eberkain]

First manned orbital flight in JNSQ Unkerbaled Kerbalism, lol..  Comeon baby hold together...

[KerrMü]

A few weeks ago I had a "little problem" with my PC. Long story short: My career and all craftfiles from 2020 were wiped out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I´m going to wait for the next update before starting a new career game. At the moment I´m just rebuilding my favorite crafts or messing around with useless stuff. Friday (a veeery boring Corona-stay-at-home-friday-evening) I decided that all the orange suits need their own ultimate ride to work. Hours of happily wasted time later:

Jeb is the Kerbonaut #1 so he simply HAS to drive a Corvette.

Bob as a scientist (biology/geology) needs to go places. -> Landrover

Val still owns her old Lada. It´s reliable, cheap to run, she can mend it by herself, she simply loves it. She´s more into jets anyway.

Bill and the classic Porsche? You know, good old kerman engineering

And now, as I found out how useful flags are to build cars, almost every other car I´ve ever build in this game is obsolete. (sigh)

 

And the other day I built a small helicopter that worked really well exept:

it doesn´t float without floats. (duh!) So I added some... and a bit more... and still a bit more... till, a few days later:

This was my favorite ship when I was a kid, I think it still is. I always name the first interplanetary exploration ship in any career "Calypso".   Pretty soon I´ll have to figure out how to build mini submarines. No idea how that works.

At last a beauty shot:

Stay safe and play videogames

Edit: Small update

That was fun , but I think this is enough for road vehicles for a little while. good night/day to you all.

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by KerrMü

[eberkain]

Wow @ those cars, I'm sad I can only like the post 1 time.

[N_Danger]

I went after an asteroid again. In the most kerbal way. My boosters had boosters!

And they exploded! 

I put something big and ugly into orbit...

...with a mainsail and 12 thud core stage. And many, many struts.

I then caught an asteroid (a small one this time). And wrangled an asteroid into orbit for the first time! A real elliptical one but it is an orbit.

We have re-named it "New Mun"

 

 

 

[Corona688]

Today I leveled up in KAL and built a fully-functional quadcopter.

Yaw, pitch, and roll are controlled using the rotors alone.  Reaction wheel is at 0% authority.

[Corona688]

"cannot quicksave while about to crash"

Well thank you for your confidence BUT I LANDED IT

Once again, no reaction wheel, only robotics.