What did you do in KSP1 today?

[fleventeen]

1 minute ago, Akagi said:

You could clip 10000 wings together

lol. The craft has plenty of lift, but the issue is actually the engine performance. In the current config, if I use the engine with adequate thrust, it is comically large compared to the rest of the craft. So I need to rebuild it based on the mk3 parts. 

[Lisias]

Today I decided that it's more than due time to play Blimps on KSP 1.12.3.  

So I updated Hooligan Labs Airships to it! 

Parts that were problematic (sinking on KSP 1.3.1, being skyrocket on KSP 1.4 to 1.11 or just blowing up in KSP 1.12) were fixed and they are now working flawlessly… From KSP 1.3.1 to 1.12.3 , no savegame was left behind!  

 

 

Ascending on the kerbal way!!! 

 

Craft available on Kerbal-X and on my site.

A Release Candidate for HLAirships is available on this thread.

[fleventeen]

2 minutes ago, Lisias said:

Today I decided that it's more than due time to play Blimps on KSP 1.12.3.  

So I updated Hooligan Labs Airships to it! 

Parts that were problematic (sinking on KSP 1.3.1, being skyrocket on KSP 1.4 to 1.11 or just blowing up in KSP 1.12) were fixed and they are now working flawlessly… From KSP 1.3.1 to 1.12.3 , no savegame was left behind!  

 

 

Ascending on the kerbal way!!! 

 

Craft available on Kerbal-X and on my site.

A Release Candidate for HLAirships is available on this thread.

Onward and upward!

[DunaManiac]

Took the MKFT-1 down from Service Station 1, where I have currently moored Jewel 1 in lieu of the Kerbin Starbase, which is still under construction.

Unfortunately, when I transferred the fuel around, I accidentally unbalanced it, with me only noticing 20 seconds away from my suicide burn, causing me to almost crash it while I hurriedly pulled up TAC fuel balancer.

However, it landed safely, and I had Irsey get out and attatch another joint socket to hook up the MKFT-1 to MSB1.

Meanwhile, I took up the Beluga-class SSTO carrying the Laythe Exploration and Operations Satellite.

I have the LEOS stowed for now.

 

[Joker58th]

Today I launched the first section of my very first career space hotel.

Spoiler

 

[Akagi]

Well, yesterday actually, but I started making a mod with @Nazalassa as the other half of the mod crew!

 

[Nazalassa]

Here I am ;D

[dci]

Exchanged ISRU rover, which I sent to Island Airfield days ago with redesigned version.

Now, instead of a boat I used this aerial crane:

4 KAS winches are more than enough to keep this rover and crane itself stable during transfer.

Crane itself is about 13 tons, rover is about 21 tons, but I tested this crane up to ~53 tons payload simulator (3 big ore tanks + some stuff around) from runway to VAB roof with about 5 km test trip. Each KAS winch should hold up to 400 kN stress, so if crane isn't controlled too aggressivelly, links should not break even with heavier payload than was tested.

Landing...

Time to return old model back to KSC. Now with only one winch (because of only one connector on rover), so I needed to be cautious. 

Almost there.

...and this will happen, if you press wrong AG... KAS winch got stress over 400 kN and connection was broken. At least, there were no Kerbals inside, although cabin seems to be in one piece and fall should not be so deadly.

...shame on me...

This mission took almost exactly half of fuel capacity.

KAL-1000 toggles between two modes of level flight, power mode with maximum RPM, other for eco mode with minimal RPM possible. In power mode, blades are almost at 0 degrees, in eco are at 5+ degrees. I used it almost every time to trim vertical speed in high power mode. Two fuel cell arrays are not necessary for EC supply and I will probably remove one of them.

Takeoffs and landings were controlled manually, for flight above water I locked steering to wanted direction and pitch using kOS and controlled only blades angle, but this drone is stable enough without kOS help. But because in its power mode is real beast, it can accelerate towards its payload and damage it badly, if blade deploy angle is wrongly set with I and K keys pressed for too long. Enabling precise control is highly recommended.

I was wondered, how inferior are all surface cranes I built in past to this workhorse.

 

 

... and the remains of fallen rover from say 200m+ height. Kerbol sets during editing this reply.

As rover fell to its rear side, all cargo section is lost, but there is just minor damage to frame and chassis. I tried to build it tough enough and this design is proved through some crashtests, but not for such fall. OK, new item to todo list: Check, how it deals with similar fall, but facing down.

[DunaManiac]

On 4/26/2022 at 3:28 PM, DunaManiac said:

To continue the mission, I began the Beluga-class' first descent. It had performed well in testing, but many of my mk3 spaceplanes are unstable once their fuel has been depleted (which once led to the death of Bill in a mk3 spaceplane crash, I couldn't EVA him in time), which is why I was anxious.

It ultimately survived, but I found that it did need some weight readjustment, as when banking it threatened to become unstable. Towards the end, in order to avoid overshooting the KSC I had to dive steeply down.

Just as I was coming in, however, I found with a horrible discovery that the front landing gear could not deploy. As it was below a cargo bay, the game considered it to be inside it, causing it to remain locked. This always seems to happen to me. So I was stuck, with a broken front-landing gear, and about to land.

After some quick thinking, I used the plane's exceptional pitching power to keep the cockpit from destruction.

Thankfully, the plane survived the landing, with the only part lost being the OPT RCS nosecone at the front.

Meanwhile, after I edited Beluga 2 to remove the front landing gear stowed issue, it was ready for launch with the Laythe relays. Due to it being so long, I had to actually leave the cargo bay open so it would not clip through. I anticipated that drag would be an issue, and so I activated all 12 engines instead of the ordinary 8 rapiers.

Eventually, drag became to much for it and it stalled at about 300 m/s. So with great reluctance, I actually had to close the cargo ramp so the drag costs wouldn't be probhibitive.

As I reached space, I reopened it. Those relays sure are getting toasty...

In orbit, I separated the relays. However, I quickly found it was actually clipping into the structure of the Beluga. So I simply timewarped so that it would leave the bay without incident.

However though, these two missions had shown me the limitations of this craft. Originally, it was actually designed for Laythe. I assumed that since it could haul 2 Jumbo fuel tanks into orbit on Laythe, it would be similarly capable on Kerbin. That was not so, with these missions leaving me barely any fuel in orbit to work with. More oxidizer in the fuel mix is needed.

During reentry, the KSC was covered in a thick layer of clouds, obscuring i from view.

And touchdown! That concludes the launch of the Laythe relays, next is the launch of Deep Space 2.

 

[djr5899]

So after over 1400 hours of game time (not counting the less than joyous experience playing it on XBox before purchasing it for PC via Steam), I am FINALLY getting around to make myself visit every planet in the game with a manned mission.

With the exception of Jool (because you cannot really land on Jool, right?), my goal is to land on every planet/moon in the base game with a manned crew, setup the available surface science experiments, and return the Kerbalnauts back home.

I've tried this in the past when I had an older laptop that may or may not have begun smoking with any craft larger than 100 parts, and would always be like "OK, I've completed the Mun...again, and Minmus, again (x100), let's do Duna (maybe x10), but that's about it.  New laptop the past 2 years is much more powerful and capable of playing the game at a normal speed.

Not a very "impressive" screenshot, but, here's what I have completed in my journey so far.  Probably only my 2nd or 3rd time ever landing on Dres (and still need to send some fuel to get the crew home), and my first time ever landing on Gilly.  A lot more to accomplish...hopefully before KSP 2 comes out.  

[Axelord FTW]

The Gilly 'rover' has returned and was landed without a hitch. I tried to also land the engine section but it burned up in the atmosphere upon reentry. I also went and got the available science around Bop and Pol with the DS probe I had left in orbit of Laythe a little while back.
With science finally reaching over 10k, I was able to unlock the top-tier NSW engine, which means... CONSTRUCTION!

Unfortunately, the Niven is big enough that launching from a launchpad is inviting the kraken. Even with cheats to support, the sudden shift in weight can lead to the whole base achieving a dozen times over the speed of light, in various direction. So, mobile build it is! As it is, however, the nuclear salt water isn't actually available at the factory, and the HEPF if a few kilometers east. This means... a rover! A huge rover. Initially set out to do a fully robotized launch platform that would lift the NSW-ES to its vertical launch position once fueled up, but I figured this was a lot of trouble. I effectively just slapped some wheels on the finished, standing product and set to building. It is currently driving in the background. It's kind of a problem that the HEPF is at the bottom of a crater, but it should be able to tip over and into if it goes at it square. If not, I'll go back to the drawing board.

 

EDIT: SUCCESS!
 

Spoiler

Getting out to check the terrain before taking the plunge.

Sketchy as all heck but I made it to the bottom. As a reminder, the NSW-ES itself weights over 150 tons, and that's without fuel.

https://i.imgur.com/SKgxyfs.mp4
Here's the launch. Really shoulda toned back the thrust on those... upscaled separatron. Erdin made it out alive, if maybe a bit unhappy about his command module being flung away like that.

Here it is in space. The Niven is a damn good engine, wew!

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Axelord FTW

[EndIris]

I decided Kerbin should look better.

 

[DunaManiac]

7 hours ago, EndIris said:

I decided Kerbin should look better.

 

Interesting. Can we see the new Kerbin as  a whole?

[MythicalHeFF]

On 4/26/2022 at 11:44 AM, Lisias said:

Hooligan Labs Airships

I haven’t heard that name in years..

[Lisias]

2 minutes ago, Jack Joseph Kerman said:

I haven’t heard that name in years..

Spoiler

 

[Br0wnie007]

Got a Jool encounter without orbiting kerbin. landed a probe on Eve then the Kraken destroyed its solar planels

[MythicalHeFF]

I did "science" by crashing an old spacecraft so I could use the seismometer.

**TARGET ACQUIRED**

Edited April 28, 2022 by Jack Joseph Kerman

[Akagi]

After reading this XKCD (image of the comic in spoiler), I realized my crashed Mun lander is techically throwing a shrapnel grenade of missile parts at the Mun.

Yes, I forgot landing gear.

Spoiler

 

1 minute ago, Jack Joseph Kerman said:

I did "science" by crashing an old spacecraft so I could use the seismometer.

**TARGET ACQUIRED**

Wh- what? Where? What planet pack? What is that body's diameter? It's tiny!

Edited April 28, 2022 by Akagi
And yes, I forgot to add the image

[MythicalHeFF]

2 hours ago, Akagi said:

After reading this XKCD (image of the comic in spoiler), I realized my crashed Mun lander is techically throwing a shrapnel grenade of missile parts at the Mun.

Yes, I forgot landing gear.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Wh- what? Where? What planet pack? What is that body's diameter? It's tiny!

Whirligig World by @GregroxMun. I built a small base on the tiny moon Thresomin (or as I like to call it, thrembo), with a 4 km diameter. 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Jack Joseph Kerman

[EndIris]

3 hours ago, DunaManiac said:

Interesting. Can we see the new Kerbin as  a whole?

It's not completely done yet. I still want to get scatters and all the anomalies and other launch sites working, write the little texts you get when you do science, and compatibility with Parallax and a custom EVE config would be nice, but at least it looks pretty good.

[Stewcumber]

I made a submarine that actually worked quite well. I got bored of driving it into the sea so I made plane to fly it out to sea and dump it from a couple of thousand meters.

It's probably my most cursed plane (or any other vehicle) I've made but it can kind of fly so it does the job. It's especially cursed compared to the sleek(ish) submarine.

I have no idea why this thing flies so well without a pilot, I thought without any pilot, SAS and with the weight suddenly removed it would be all over the place after detachment.

Also looks kinda cool from inside.

The tanks are pretty brittle so I have, eh, a few parachutes so I enter the water at about 5m/s, and also a bit nose-first.

It's highly maneuverable but also completely stable with no glitchiness. It can do 20m/s or so under water. Interestingly, if I dump all my ore / ballast, and then do max throttle to the surface it actually gains enough speed and altitude from its "dolphin jump" to be able to fly like a plane / missile and it flies pretty well for a submarine. 

I also tried propeller submarines but they're a lot more temperamental and slow.

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Stewcumber

[jimmymcgoochie]

Rendezvous, docking and double EVA in low Earth orbit.

[Akagi]

Career mode time

Beauty shot:

Edited April 28, 2022 by Akagi
I spent a lot of time learning English, I should know how to spell 'Beauty,' right? Right?

[Axelord FTW]

Quite a few things today.
First, I completed, launched and docked the crew+lab+storage (mono, lithium, rocket parts, misc)+a small onboard factory section to the NSW-ES in low Munar orbit.
Second, I sent up a tanker-probe to top-off the lithium stores. I kinda forgot about how tight the tolerances were for the octo-docking ports and I had to 'shed' some solar panels in the process by crumpling them against the side of the NSW-ES+ craft. Unfortunately, I kinda bumped them a bit hard and managed to break a few things at the same time. Namely, some large radiator panels and both reflectors.
Third, I sent up a small repair craft up. I forgot that you needed your engineer to be at least level 1 to repairs stuff, but I remembered that the NSW-ES+ had a lab on it, which solved the issue by leveling up the kerbal in question to 1.
Fourth, I built and sent up a very over-designed factory-starter/lander. Damn thing requires 18000EC/s to run, which means a fusion reactor had to be included. The deuterium and He3 required to run it, I lifted from Kerbin properly and flew to the Mun and did the transfer on the surface. I ditched the extraneous bipropellant RCS pods at this point. The ship has surprisingly good attitude control by itself.
Fifth, I lifted a mix of veteran and fresh recruits to man the NSW-ES+. It can technically accommodate 18 Kerbals, but I'm leaving the lander empty, writing the final manifest at 10 souls.

Damn thing overall has just over half a million meters per seconds of delta-v, and the lander by itself a few thousands. Shakedown voyage will be to Neidon (OPM), since both Sarnus and Ulrum already have missions staked for them. The Kerbin ejection will burn through 10,000m/s for a rather pedestrian voyage (compared to what it can truly do). Only thing I gotta be careful about is that the NSW-ES+ doesn't actually carry any scientific or scanning equipment and will have to fabricate small probes for that.

Spoiler

EDIT: I just passed a brain fart. Also known as a why-the-heck-have-I-been-busting-my-jewels-over-this sort of realization.
I don't need to land fully functional factories. I just need to land enough Rocket Parts and an assembly module to build a small, functional factory! I'm not giving up the ridiculous lithium-powered-Marvin-getting-shocked-ridiculous factory lander for the NSW-ES+, but I am dumping that whole scheme from now on. I'm trying to get about 8 contracts for Tylo completed, included Kerbal-ground stuff, and I couldn't figure out a way to make it work without going ridiculous overkill on the lander. After my little epiphany, I realized I just needed to land a bit under 6,000RP to build a Fatter Cricket factory rover. That was much easier to design for.  It's so simple compared to my previous designs! No even a single heat-loop to keep an eye on! Just an assembly module, and a big container of rocket parts on top of a (somewhat) ridiculous engine stack.

Kinda looking forward to that, as I haven't landed on Tylo, I think, since it was first introduced (v0.17).

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Axelord FTW

[king of nowhere]

Last week I finished building, testing, launching and assemblying my new mothership A'Twin.

now I watched helpless as the kraken feasted on it.

This is A'Twin just assembled. A straight, nice cylinder

I already tested on saves and reloads several times without problems, but this time the ship got twisted

This is a well-known bug of kerbalism, and sometimes it reverts spontaneously, so I was still optimistic

This is the Fat Man taxi, which I sent to the moon; I did manage to use it by carefully adjusting the thrust of the individual engines to compensate for the center of mass being shifted

But the next time I came back to look at A'Twin, I found it like this

Now I am a lot less optimistic.

But the next time, i found it even more twisted

Some parts even spontaneously exploded

I ragequitted and will leave ksp for a few days. then maybe i'll come up with some ideas to try and fix this mess.