What did you do in KSP1 today?

[dci]

Finally did the last thing, I still didn't. Landed on Eve and returned to its orbit.

Spoiler

First placed some relays around planet

Descent configuration. Two refuells, last on low Eve orbit.

Entry.
At about 50 km vessel flipped by 180degrees, but vital parts survived reorientation, just one winglet, solar panel and antenna has gone.

Slowed enough to jetisson shields and open chutes.

Landed, flag planted, sample taken.

Ascent through atmosphere moments after lifter stages decoupled. Sorry for no pics from liftoff, I tried to drive this instead of taking them. 

Back on orbit! Vessel had about 400 m/s reserve, so I refuelled it using Gilly Tanker/ISRU lander, and transferred to Gilly.

Gilly flag for XP hunting.

Delivery to departure orbit. Vessel is now refuelled and released, waiting for its transfer window to LKO, where I'll recover it using ordinary LKO grabber for contracts.

 

 

During this mission I also managed two ongoing ones.

Returned Jool moons expedition back.

Spoiler

As vessel was refuelled on Pol orbit, it has enough fuel to circularize Kerbin orbit. Ready to atmosphere entry.

Trip gave pretty enough science. I have two strategies active, 25% science to money and other 25% to reputation, so without them it should be about 12k.

 

 

and did Eeloo landing party into Craters biome, which is last one unvisited by previous unmanned landers. Vessel is now on way back to Kerbin.

Spoiler

Arriving to orbit

At surface.

 

[Nazalassa]

11 hours ago, Kerb24 said:

I didn't know you could put tourists in external chairs.

Well, I'm not sure of that...

I'll try.

[panzer1b]

Revamped all my smaller AKS warships to unify the asthetics and generally make em look cooler imo.

Part counts have gone up a bit overall, but its not that bad and i can actually load all 4 of these in 1 spot without the lag becoming unmanagable (but yeah, im so NOT loading in a cruiser alongside this many ships).

Anyways, the largest of the sorta series, the Nebula class frigate is pretty much the most capable of these things, NTR engines, 3K dV, optional kraken drive on certain variants of the thing, turreted firework cannons and a overclocked main gun that is similar in firepower to SRMs (what i call the ibeam+sepatron weapons).  Its also armored with MK2 bay hull which makes it near impossible to 1 shot kill with any weapon that is 1.25m in size (there is only 1 angle that is even remotely possible to 1 shot it using some of the larger 10-15t warheads, but even that isnt 1005 guaranteed to kill).  Also the smallest ship i have that carries a pair of heavy torpedoes which with decent aim can reliably split most conventionally armored vessels (provided i aim at a ship's weakpoints).

The Supernova class frigate, basically the Nebula's sister ship but designed to be dirt cheap.  Regular 909 engines, 2K dV, 16 SRMs and 2 generic guided missiles.  Nothing to write home about but in universe its usually exported (due to lacking of any advanced tech) and makes a good frontline ship that is easier to replace if it does get destroyed.

The Eclipse class heavy corvette, completely redesigned it from ground up as the old one was just trash and i never really liked any of the previous iterations much (they were utilitarian and a bit lighter/smaller, but their looks were just lame as it was basically a MK2 hull with some fuel tanks to the sides and a teeny bit of wing surface to make it look like something.  Now it not only looks amazing imo (id have to say if i had to pick 1 design i made recently this 1 gets top grade for appearance) but its actually a capable warship at least for its size and weight.  Has 4 internally carried medium drones (they are comparable to the Supernova's missiles firepower wise but shorter so they fit and fire out the bottom of the ship, and well 4 SRMs on the nose for point defense duty (or to give it something to do once its out of guided ammo).

Finally the Nova class light corvette, the only AKS ship that is not only as primitive as you can get (this one has RCS but the base model lacks even that), but is designed to be disposable and even useable as a kamikaze once ammo depletes (the bridge is optionally manned).  Armed with pretty much the best combo ive found for short range, SRMs and a RT-5 SRB which can do some serious damage to larger ships like cruisers and such.

So yeah, now to work on BCorp's fleet as the only ship im truly 100% happy with in the asthetics dept is the Broadsword frigate, and that ship is terrible at anything but being a damage sponge for medium or light weapons.

[N_Danger]

I rotated 3 kerbals from KSS-1 with a new set bringing up a new Hab module. 

After a few days I launched a rover to Eve.

All was going well until separation from the transfer stage in preparation for entry.

  

I (re)learned that the rover SAS not only has no hold retrograde, it is very weak. And I lost all control of the orientation of the vehicle.

At least there were explosions to watch.

 

[SpacePixel]

What one more thing that oughtn't fly?

An attempt at cargo VTOL SSTO, but with some caveats. First, not a VTOL - can't take off vertically fully fueled and loaded in air-breathing mode. But then again what you have this huge runway for?  Second, barely an SSTO - drag is so great it's a miracle the thing even reaches orbit. But I don't mind it at all, considering the dropship vibes and how awesome it steers thanks to independent thrust vectoring of engine nacelles. 

[Nazalassa]

Dude, you don't have to go to Duna to get blueberries. You can buy them at the store, they'll be cheaper.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Nazalassa
strawberries

[Geonovast]

8 hours ago, SpacePixel said:

how awesome it steers thanks to independent thrust vectoring of engine nacelles. 

Did someone say Crazy Ivan?

[ColdJ]

Apologies ahead for the length and number of pics but I actually role played in KSP today.

Started off by taking my new Flashback, One Kerbal rocket for an orbit of Kerbin. It has a dual mode engine and if you pilot it right you can go and orbit and then when ready deorbit and come back down. It is very slippery though so a lot of fuel gets used to slow back down to a speed that the parachute can be deployed.

On my way.

Spoiler

 

The view from up here.

Spoiler

Parachute deployed.

Spoiler

Repacked the parachute and awaiting recovery.

Spoiler

Decided I might have enough left in the tank to get to the island but got impatient and went full throttle for a bit.

Spoiler

As such I used up too much fuel and didn't make it.

Spoiler

Then I wondered if I could retrieve it with Thunderbird 1 and winch with magnetic claw. After a long period of trying to drop the claw on to it I finally got it only to have it snap straight away. I landed TB1 in the drink and sent the pilot out to reattach. Took off well and started back only to find that having over 3 tonnes swinging around was not such a good idea and lost it again.

Spoiler

So did what I should have first and sent TB2 with TB4 out to get it.

Spoiler

After carefully getting it into the pod I secured it with the floor magnet and redocked TB4.

Spoiler

Thunderbird 2 then recovered and redocked to the pod and took it back to the island and all ended well.

Spoiler

[Caerfinon]

Team Zissou dives down to the marina to get ready for a mission.

With a little help from their friend @ColdJ they are protected from the elements with their fashionable new beanies (Toques!). 

 

Now if they could only remember which pier they left the sub at.... 

[panzer1b]

A bit of derping around with new concepts for my smaller ships.

Made a "ramming ship" which is supposed to be the new iteration of BCorp's dagger class corvette, but i have to redesign it a tad to make it actually a good rammer (it can do it and those ibeams on the nose cut through anything with weak or no armor like fighters). but it seems that when i ram it into something the ship almost always takes a bit of damage to the engine pods or the top/bottom (especially so if it bounces off rather then getting embedded in its prey.  Still, i do like the somewhat unorthodox design and i think ill make this into a pirate vessel (remove the wing shielding and angle some of the parts a bit so it looks mashed together and not cleanly attached.  Not that BCorp uses corvettes much due to how useless they are (no real armor, meh firepower, ect, itll kill a pirate ship that is also more or less unarmored, but forget fighting AKS with these things...

Thats what happens to a slightly modified Eclipse after unloading all 8 of the light SRMs (7 impacted the target, 1 miss).

And thats why you do NOT get into a brawl with anything thats equipped with PDC turrets, unless your ship is  full on heavily armored brawler thats designed to take hits.

A few more shots and well all thats left is the core itself.  Granted, while i did intentionally not armor that corvette since it wasnt intended to get shot at given its mostly for escorting freighters and such, not frontline combat against any competent enemy, it was remarkably difficult to hit at normal PDC range and i actually wasted around a third of the ventral turret ammo to get 4 solid hits in that basically evicerated everything but the core cockpit, the armored ram, and the rear engine.

Ramming speed!  But yeah, completely mediocre given how hard it is to control a ship with 90% of its RCS shot off, and without electricity left for the reaction wheel in the forward pod.  It just bounced off doing minor internal damage (dislodged some internal fuel tanks that were empty, and also separated a missile from teh ship but it remained fully functional so its possible to just claw to it and still use the thing.

And the main gun finishes the job (although i had to literally get into ramming distance to score a hit on something with the frontal profile of a starfighter).

Flying through the wreckage, that never gets old in any space game (just gotta watch not to slam into any of it).

Made the main cannon have retracting doors, they dont really do anything to stop weapons fire (its such a small thing to hit the odds of ever getting a weapon down the gun barrel is like 0), but i think it looks really cool to have the doors shut after destroying something.  the weapon system is also reloadable as the lower angled piece with the airbrakes and various control surfaces opens up enough to allow me to slide another set of firework ammo in from below.  Not a huge fan of the way it looks over the standard variant with just SRMs in teh nose, but maybee ill redo it later using a hinge/hydraulic thing to just move the original cover out of the way.

[SpacePixel]

Dangerous, and without a good reason

Well, here's your daily product from the nonsense factory! So, I've been contemplating mobile aircraft carriers, and by mobile I mean ones that I can send someplace without a soul-crushing slideshow. In a stroke of brilliance I decided to get rid of the runway - surely you don't need one at all if you're moving fast enough. Hence, this hydrofoil with big-S engines. Moving at cool 380 kph, it really does render a runway redundant. What it does not render redundant is piloting skills - if you think carrier landings are hard, try landing on something ten times smaller! Actually though the relative speeds can be pretty low and with decent airbrakes it's possible to touch down relatively easily.  

Edited August 21, 2022 by SpacePixel

[N_Danger]

Undeterred by the failure by the Eve rover. A rover to Duna is launched. 

It will try a sky crane arrangement for the landing so it cannot fail like the the Eve rover. I'm sure a different failure mode will present itself. 

On the way to Duna. Course correction scheduled in about 180 days.

We then send up a supply module to the KSS-1.

We identify our parking spot.

And while it was a hairy docking, no paint was traded.

[Krazy1]

On 8/19/2022 at 3:55 PM, Nazalassa said:

except that it can't go supersonic

A Panther in "wet" afterburner mode should go supersonic. I'd dump those rocket engines and try again. 

[Nazalassa]

Just now, Krazy1 said:

A Panther in "wet" afterburner mode should go supersonic. I'd dump those rocket engines and try again. 

I put two of them, it's going Mach 2.5, but it's still not a SSTO...

*sigh*

[Nazalassa]

On 8/20/2022 at 12:58 AM, Kerb24 said:

I didn't know you could put tourists in external chairs.

You can (I tried)

[Pipcard]

Ame-no-Uzume - Japanese Venus Balloon Mission (RSS/RO)

2037-10-19 - Ame-no-Uzume Venus Habitat/Ascent Vehicle with transfer stages | mass: 1180 t

[Hotel26]

"What did you do in the kerbal Space program today??"

Flew.  Pretty much.  You know...  the usual test pilot stuff.

Comin' home after a long day in Space...  Some of it pretty routine.

(It's not easy being a Test Pilot.  "No ladder"; I'm noting that in the Test Flight log.  They won't change it though...)

Edited August 22, 2022 by Hotel26

[swjr-swis]

48 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

(It's not easy being a Test Pilot.  "No ladder"; I'm noting that in the Test Flight log.  They won't change it though...)

 

"Don't complain to us about the 30 m/s drop in orbital dV. Some test pilots apparently prefered to have a ladder..." - overheard in the SPH corridors

[Hotel26]

Just now, swjr-swis said:

"Don't complain to us about the 30 m/s drop in orbital dV. Some test pilots apparently prefered to have a ladder..." - overheard in the SPH corridors

"You hang around jet engines all your working life...  you start to whine, you know."  It breaks the routine.

[Kerb24]

Landed 2 Kerbals on Gilly. 

[SpacePixel]

Land torpedoes!

What? 

Why? 

For the life of me I couldn't design decent stock air-to-surface missiles. They did hit their targets, but had a bunch of specific launch requirements. So  I came up with a much worse alternative solution from all perspectives except looking cool, of course.  The land torpedo has to be dropped from <15 m and moving slower <100 m/s. Also, the terrain has to be either completely flat (icecaps, KSC), or at least relatively smooth. The rest is pretty straightforward - set the SAS to 'Target' and soon enough the unlucky craft will meet with a 190 kg metal slug at some 900 kph. Such a meeting generally has desirably disastrous consequences, provided the landing gears don't randomly send the torpedo wobbling all over the place, which happens a little too often. So all you explosion-thirsty maniacs better stick to regular missiles and asparagus rockets...

[Bej Kerman]

On 6/19/2022 at 4:42 PM, GDJ said:

Simple, but striking

[Nazalassa]

I made a roll-roll-roll...

(yes the track is corrupted)

[swjr-swis]

1 hour ago, SpacePixel said:

provided the landing gears don't randomly send the torpedo wobbling all over the place, which happens a little too often.

Tip: you need at least 5, or in stock symmetry terms, 6, sets of gear to achieve more predictable behaviour. Wheels as coded in KSP no longer register as touching terrain when their angle to said terrain is 45 degrees or greater. Resulting in very randomly triggered  'hard' non-wheel collisions and friction on gear that are set at exactly 45 degrees.

[swjr-swis]

On 8/20/2022 at 12:55 AM, Nazalassa said:

Forgot to say, but I tried to make a SSTO with an Economy class. It works well, except that it can't go supersonic

https://imgur.com/a/ogDl74e

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hu0ybf2diwmfs6/Naz-SSTO.craft?dl=0