What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Neptunium_69]

Vall mission cus I’m bored

[stephensmat]

Meet my latest invention.

I've been making an effort to replicate the promised KSP2 in KSP1, via mods and such. The weakest link is, of course, Colonies.

I've upgraded my computer in anticipation of KSP2, so I can run most of it, but to save loading times and fight back the Kraken, I have a preference for Mods that add functions to existing parts, rather than create too many new ones.

After some experimenting, I settled on Simple Construction. Turning Ore into Metal and metal into parts, then using the docking ports as an 'anchor' for construction, either in space, or landed.

So I spent a portion of today building a Mobile Construction Rig. Something that could dig, refine, and construct, then move somewhere else and do it again.

As always, getting it off Kerbin was the hardest part.

Since it's a Rover, I needed a Rig that could land it somewhere, without using Parachutes.

It's not pretty, but it has everything needed to make construction sites, including retractable legs to keep my Mobile Rig exactly in place.

I might even use one of the Colony Parts Mods and build a proper Outpost here.

One Probe Brain on top, to detach and fly the Landing Frame away, leaving the Rover behind.

The key to keeping the weight down to was use the 'Four Engine' Adapter to put small tanks, and smaller Refiners in the middle. One large tank for the finished Machine Parts, needed to build things.

Here it is in 'Production Mode, raised off it's wheels, with Solar Arrays and radiators. Lo behold, I have a Rover that can create outposts, rockets, and modules wherever I drive it.

But wat really makes it versatile, is the fact that the 'Newly Built' things come out attached to any Docking Port that I care to name. To that end, I put an inflatable Docking Ring on an extendable pylon, and then mounted the pylon on a rotation part. I can point this Docking Port anywhere in 360 degrees, with clearance from the Rover.

Even better, the Landing Rig can be attached to Booster Drives in Space, so I can recreate the landing on the Mun, on Duna, and probably half the other Planets/Moons. With a little bit of luck, and a few dozen hits of F9, my "Golden Age of Expansion' is just getting started.

[miklkit]

21 hours ago, Cavscout74 said:

I've done pretty good with the small sleek ones but the bricks - both flying & building - have not been my strong suit.   Looks like you are getting the hang of it

That one is carrying a rover and needs a LOT more range.  It will be redesigned.  This one is passengers only and while it looks sleeker it hardly performs any better.  And yes I'm running out of crew and need to hire more. 

[Hi_123]

Rescued kerbals from orbit, built mun rocket.

[Scarecrow71]

So, I sent Valentina to the Moon today in an effort to clean up the contract that I somehow couldn't complete with Bob (collect a Moon stone and return it to Earth).  Landed at the North Pole biome (contract says it can be found in Midlands, Mare Nectaris, or North Pole biome)...and couldn't find one.  Am I missing something here?  Do Moon stones not exist in KSRSS?  It's hard to see if they are even there due to the overabundance of terrain features, and I am not sure I can complete this without cheating my way through it.

Anybody have an idea of what I'm supposed to look for?  Do they look the same as in the normal stock game?

[ColdJ]

Have relesed Version 2 of my Mod HotAirBalloon.

Have added a gas filled balloon, deck chair and deck chair balloons, a Zeppelin, a biplane and monowing plane. Typing in HOTAIR will bring up all parts. The "HotAirBalloon" folder should be installed straight over the previous or you can remove it first if you like. Nothing has changed for the original model except for some extra tags in the config. Have included a "Craft" folder with the Zeppelin built with 3 planes underneath. Please look in the custom control section for how I have it set up.

[Qwotty]

Docked a refueler ship to my science station ship pictured before refueling for its trip to Minmus by hand, using the navball instead of Mechjeb. 
I tried using MechJeb's Docking Autopilot, but it ended up not working, and using automation for the final part of the docking process had kept putting me in situations that were less than stellar. Like an explosive impact caused by a drop tank collision due to the refueling ship use of them, that of which was something similar to a scene from the 2013 movie "Gravity". 

Luckily, it was refueler that took the brunt of the damage, and not the science station. 
Had that been the case, an unmanned refueler probe would have killed my manned ship's crew, but luck had allowed them to continue their mission. 
The Docking Autopilot's partial then total lack of cooperation had me stuck floating around, like a spacewalk without a tether — but I did not give up. 

For me, the real trick in that nail-biting docking drama was switching between my two ships like a space traffic controller on overdrive — one hand on the controls, the other toggling between ships faster than a Mun slingshot trajectory. Prograde icons became my North Star in the cosmos, guiding my ships like celestial compass needles. Pointing them at each other felt like directing lost Kerbals back to the VAB after a wild launch mishap. "Keep your on the prize." was the motto that was on my mind as I was doing the docking.

[IllicitMedic]

Just doing some testing of a 5m cargo plane, this is the "flying lab" version, it has a mobile lab in the back as well as science instruments for atmospheric research & training kerbonauts. It also has a rover for ground based research, etc, the rover is also capable of being dropped via parachutes if the ground conditions prevent landing.

It has a 4h45m flight endurance in its current config, the cargo variant is dependent on payload.

Edited July 3 by IllicitMedic

[king of nowhere]

I tried a kerbalism nanodiamond caveman run. i failed.

not (much) because of the additional limitations of life support, but due to kerbalism science rework.

kerbalism did

- remove all the ksc mini-biomes that gave a much-needed science boost to nanodiamond caveman challenges.

- made goo a global experiment; you can only run it once per planet, instead of once per biome. goodbye to another big chunk of early science

- flying low crew report has become global; you can only collect it once, instead of once per biome over all kerbin.

- space low eva report is also global, no longer biome dependent.

as partial compensation:

- flying low baromether is biome-dependent

- you get a new instrument, the geiger counter.

- probe cores have a handful of specific experiments

 

Still, I gave it a try.

Getting the easy experiments (goo and reports from early flights around the ksc) doesn't even net enough science to unlock the first node. I could get there by biome-mining, but that's time consuming, so I took a test contract to get early access to decoupler, and built a suborbital jumper with nothing but flea boosters

the flea-based suborbital jumper

And an improved version, that can get to high space. barely

with that, i brought home enough science to unlock engineering 101, which includes the thermometer and geiger counter. the thermometer is a welcome, if limited, addition to the science options. the geiger counter... it gives exactly 0.1 science points for every kerbin biome. plus 0.8 total for crossing both radiation belts.

Still, with that and a few biomes I got basic rocketry, which gives access to the first orbiter.

The main reason to unlock the first orbiter is that the contract pays 1 science

Then I went squeezing every possible bit of early science I could

this contraption managed to bring Val in low orbit, to collect an eva report. worth 1 full science point!

This improved version could get to space high, for 1.5 science points!

Alas, t's not enough. I collected all science I can get from kerbin orbit, and while I still have to mine kerbin biomes, each one only gives 0.8 science (0.2 for thermometer flying low, 0.1 for crew report, 0.1 for radiation scan, 0.1 for thermometer, 0.3 for eva report. remember, neither flying low report, flying low EVA nor goo canisters are available in individual biomes).

I run all the math, and determined that if I stripped all kerbin biomes, I would get to 13 science. not enough to unlock survivability.

So i tried a Mun flyby. It's potentially possible.

this thing, on a lucky day, can get to orbit with 1100 m/s left

can I return from Mun without maneuver nodes, without quickloading, and with only 250 m/s? I didn't have a chance to try. After a couple hours, I got a message that Jeb was dieing. You see, with kerbalism life support kerbal breath, and they produce CO₂. That has to be scrubbed, but the scrubber consumes electricity. the battery lasts approximately 1 hour, then the CO₂ is no longer removed. It accumulates for another hour or so, until it reaches 2%. then the kerbal starts to suffocate.

so yes, eventually it was life support that killed me.

so, I can't go to mun without a source of electricity. the engine produces electricity, of course, but i don't have enough fuel.

Kerbalism give me access to monopropellant fuel cells, though, incorporated in the crew pod.  i tried it, and one hour later jeb suffocated. turn out, that fuel cell consumes oxygen, and pretty fast (the crew pod has enough for 5 days under normal use). and I haven't unlocked extra oxygen tanks yet.

but ok, i only need to find a couple science points somewhere, and then i can unlock oxygen tanks and use the monopropellant fuel cell and reach mun.

alas, what put the final nail into the coffin was discovering that the 10 units of monopropellant included in the crew pod only generate a dozen units of electricity. it only gains a few minutes of life support. and I can't put any extra monopropellant, because - you guess - i haven't unlocked mono propellant tank.

even if I could launch two crew pods together and still somehow have enough deltaV, life support is still insufficient to reach mun. I'd need to unlock basic science to get the first real source of electricity. it takes 45 science. and while survivability unlocks the barometer, that gives 15, maybe 20 science points from flying around kerbin. and it doesn't work in space. i'd have no way to get the remaining 25 science.

so, pure kerbalism nanodiamond can't be done. Ok, technically i could fulfill tourist contract until i improve reputation a bit, which would allow the private science contractors policy, that would give science every time i earn money. but that would take an ungodly amount of time and, more importantly, it would make the challenge meaningless.

now i'm trying to figure out how to keep kerbalism life support and radiations while keeping the normal stock science, and try with that.

 

 

[stephensmat]

I've been Experimenting with Simple Construction and Kerbal Planetary Base Systems.

It hasn't been an ideal partnership just yet.

But, with a little work, I got my first proper Surface Base sorted.

[dok_377]

Did the final certification test of my Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon style vehicles. They're now fully ready to launch kerbals.
 

Spoiler

And a couple of bonus shots from in flight abort test.
 

Spoiler

 

[Scarecrow71]

On 7/3/2024 at 2:03 PM, king of nowhere said:

I tried a kerbalism nanodiamond caveman run. i failed.

not (much) because of the additional limitations of life support, but due to kerbalism science rework.

kerbalism did

- remove all the ksc mini-biomes that gave a much-needed science boost to nanodiamond caveman challenges.

- made goo a global experiment; you can only run it once per planet, instead of once per biome. goodbye to another big chunk of early science

- flying low crew report has become global; you can only collect it once, instead of once per biome over all kerbin.

- space low eva report is also global, no longer biome dependent.

as partial compensation:

- flying low baromether is biome-dependent

- you get a new instrument, the geiger counter.

- probe cores have a handful of specific experiments

 

Still, I gave it a try.

Getting the easy experiments (goo and reports from early flights around the ksc) doesn't even net enough science to unlock the first node. I could get there by biome-mining, but that's time consuming, so I took a test contract to get early access to decoupler, and built a suborbital jumper with nothing but flea boosters

the flea-based suborbital jumper

And an improved version, that can get to high space. barely

with that, i brought home enough science to unlock engineering 101, which includes the thermometer and geiger counter. the thermometer is a welcome, if limited, addition to the science options. the geiger counter... it gives exactly 0.1 science points for every kerbin biome. plus 0.8 total for crossing both radiation belts.

Still, with that and a few biomes I got basic rocketry, which gives access to the first orbiter.

The main reason to unlock the first orbiter is that the contract pays 1 science

Then I went squeezing every possible bit of early science I could

this contraption managed to bring Val in low orbit, to collect an eva report. worth 1 full science point!

This improved version could get to space high, for 1.5 science points!

Alas, t's not enough. I collected all science I can get from kerbin orbit, and while I still have to mine kerbin biomes, each one only gives 0.8 science (0.2 for thermometer flying low, 0.1 for crew report, 0.1 for radiation scan, 0.1 for thermometer, 0.3 for eva report. remember, neither flying low report, flying low EVA nor goo canisters are available in individual biomes).

I run all the math, and determined that if I stripped all kerbin biomes, I would get to 13 science. not enough to unlock survivability.

So i tried a Mun flyby. It's potentially possible.

this thing, on a lucky day, can get to orbit with 1100 m/s left

can I return from Mun without maneuver nodes, without quickloading, and with only 250 m/s? I didn't have a chance to try. After a couple hours, I got a message that Jeb was dieing. You see, with kerbalism life support kerbal breath, and they produce CO₂. That has to be scrubbed, but the scrubber consumes electricity. the battery lasts approximately 1 hour, then the CO₂ is no longer removed. It accumulates for another hour or so, until it reaches 2%. then the kerbal starts to suffocate.

so yes, eventually it was life support that killed me.

so, I can't go to mun without a source of electricity. the engine produces electricity, of course, but i don't have enough fuel.

Kerbalism give me access to monopropellant fuel cells, though, incorporated in the crew pod.  i tried it, and one hour later jeb suffocated. turn out, that fuel cell consumes oxygen, and pretty fast (the crew pod has enough for 5 days under normal use). and I haven't unlocked extra oxygen tanks yet.

but ok, i only need to find a couple science points somewhere, and then i can unlock oxygen tanks and use the monopropellant fuel cell and reach mun.

alas, what put the final nail into the coffin was discovering that the 10 units of monopropellant included in the crew pod only generate a dozen units of electricity. it only gains a few minutes of life support. and I can't put any extra monopropellant, because - you guess - i haven't unlocked mono propellant tank.

even if I could launch two crew pods together and still somehow have enough deltaV, life support is still insufficient to reach mun. I'd need to unlock basic science to get the first real source of electricity. it takes 45 science. and while survivability unlocks the barometer, that gives 15, maybe 20 science points from flying around kerbin. and it doesn't work in space. i'd have no way to get the remaining 25 science.

so, pure kerbalism nanodiamond can't be done. Ok, technically i could fulfill tourist contract until i improve reputation a bit, which would allow the private science contractors policy, that would give science every time i earn money. but that would take an ungodly amount of time and, more importantly, it would make the challenge meaningless.

now i'm trying to figure out how to keep kerbalism life support and radiations while keeping the normal stock science, and try with that.

 

 

I have long followed your Caveman exploits, and I wish I was half as good as you at designing craft so I could take on a harder level of Caveman challenge and complete it.  The fact that you even attempted nano-crystalline with Kerbalism applied is a testament to how much this game really can be pushed with just a bit of imagination and can-do attitude.

With that said, I'm curious as to how this would have turned out if you simply went for the administrative boost.  Knowing that the level of science points one gets from the extraordinarily low percentage means you'd have to get to docking ports as early as possible, which (as you stated) isn't really possible unless you did the science contractors policy and farm science points that way.  I myself have never used any administrative policies in any game I've played, Caveman or otherwise, because I simply never wanted to use them.  But now you've got me curious as to how long it would really take, and if it is feasible.  I'll never use Kerbalism because I don't like the added brainpower needed to deal with life support in this game (I'm on the side of "yes, it's a life-like game, but that's too life-like for me" of this particular fence).  But I'm curious now.

Keep it up, though!  I would love to keep seeing your exploits and adventures!

[king of nowhere]

1 hour ago, Scarecrow71 said:

 

With that said, I'm curious as to how this would have turned out if you simply went for the administrative boost.  Knowing that the level of science points one gets from the extraordinarily low percentage means you'd have to get to docking ports as early as possible, which (as you stated) isn't really possible unless you did the science contractors policy and farm science points that way.  I myself have never used any administrative policies in any game I've played, Caveman or otherwise, because I simply never wanted to use them.  But now you've got me curious as to how long it would really take, and if it is feasible.  I'll never use Kerbalism because I don't like the added brainpower needed to deal with life support in this game (I'm on the side of "yes, it's a life-like game, but that's too life-like for me" of this particular fence).  But I'm curious now.

 

well, the game was only spawning test and tourism contracts. for some reason, recovering a vehicle was not paying back the command module, so testing at the launchpad for pennies was actually performed at a loss; but contracts to test parts splashed down culd be done easily, and thye paid some 1500 to 2000 funds - meaning a net gain of 1000 per such test, after removing the cost of the crew pod. that was my source of money - though, that being a test run, i actually cheated my money, as before spending weeks farming boring contracts i wanted first to see if the challenge was possible at all.

those contracts didn't pay reputation. I needed a minimum reputation treshold before i could activate the [money to science] policy. but tourist contracts did pay a reputation point. they were a financial loss, though. a two-seater needed to bring a tourist in a suborbital jump would cost around 10k, almost none recoverable, and the tourist would only pay around 1000. but it would give a reputation point. i needed some 400 more reputation to reach the point where i could unlock the administrative policy.

let's keep round numbers for the sake of calculation, and assume i would be able to pay a tourist contract for every 10 test contracts. in this case, i would have needed to conduct 4000 test missions, and carry 400 tourists, and then i could unlock the policy. it would give 1 science every 12000 funds, iirc, which means (if it even does give  0.1 points every time I run a test contract, rather than rounding down to 0 for values too small), that i'd have needed some 400 more missions to unlock basic science - which would give both the stayputnik probe core, and the first real source of electricity by unlocking extra batteries.

i'd also needed several dozen missions to biome farm all of kerbin. they would entail launching an orbiter 2 (it arrives orbit with 1100 m/s, which can be used to kill orbital velocity fast and drop with fairly good precision. even then, small biomes like badlands and tundra would be hard to pinpoint). each such orbiter would then require 11 test missions to farm money. or, i could have just farmed more science once i unlocked the policy.

hey, now that i break it down that way, 5000 missions seem relatively feasible. they are short ones, probably can be done in 5 minutes (more for suborbital tourists, but test contracts in the sea are fast), so we're looking at 100 hours. more or less what it took for the orbital assembly of navis sideralis neanderthalensis. but so extremely boring, falling into the sea 4500 times.

 

once i unlocked basic science, i could start getting more science from unmanned mun and minmus flybys. that would give enough for general rocketry, which would unlock "test the terrier engine" contracts. with probe cores and terrier engines, i could land unmanned probes on mun and minmus, farming enough science to unlock solar panels and docking ports. once i got solar panels and docking ports, i could start building bigger ships one module at a time, and i would have no limits. i was actually planning to end the run with a duna mission; with what i learned of manually calculating orbital times in the previous jool run, it would be feasible.

or, i could have just kept on gaining science by money.

 

[Scarecrow71]

Today, in my KSRSS career, I got a contract to drop a rover on the Moon.  The contract stated that the rover needs to be functional as a secondary contract would be forthcoming once the rover was up there.  So I set off designing a rocket with a rover and getting that into orbit.

I'll state up front right here that there is an entire stage on this thing that never got used.  Wasted funds and fuel, as it were.  However, I'm on record as stating that in the mid-game, funds are pointless.  And I'm not worried about them as I had ~2 million at launch (and that's after building this thing).  Anyhow, I get into LEO and then set up a maneuver to get to the Moon.

I like how that second shot there makes the Moon look like it's got some gold sombrero or hat.  But, I digress.  I put this thing down on the Moon in Mare Orientale...and then had an issue getting the rover out of the service bay.  I apparently clipped the fuel tanks too deep, and it couldn't get out on its own.  Thankfully - and this will probably be the only time I ever say this - the Kraken showed up and flipped the service bay almost nearly back into orbit.  The spin somehow dislodged the rover, and after spinning and bouncing a bit, landed upright.  WITHOUT A SCRATCH.

The service bay, complete with a probe core and antenna and some batteries - yep, I forgot solar panels on that thing - is upside down but functional.  I am contemplating sending up a repair mission to right that thing and add solar panels.  Because I've got CommNet enabled, having a probe on the surface with an antenna could become very helpful with future flights to the Moon and controlling probes and such.  Anyhow, after landing, I got a secondary contract that was auto-accepted to drive this thing to 3 different sites on the Moon.  Easy money.  Remember how I said above that I don't care about funds?  I've got ~3.5 million now after landing this thing and driving it around now.

This landing is significant for me.  I can design rovers, but I am no good at designing cargo containers to get them where I want them to go.  This is only the 3rd rover I've ever landed on another body, and only the second in KSP1 (I've landed 2 on the Moon in KSP1, and 1 on Tylo in KSP2).  I seriously struggle with designing the cargo bays, trying to figure out how to not just get the thing to another body, but fuel and engines to land it.  So getting this one done is a big step for me.

[Delay]

While this wasn't today, recently I tried out Deferred!
...I'm gonna have to remake my personal TUFX configs, but overall it makes the game look a whole lot better (performance I couldn't really test because I don't have problems with performance right now, anyways).
So congrats @blackrack, Deferred gets the totally meaningless "Delay(-ed) Seal Of Approval".

However, I do have a problem with either it or the modified TU release, because my parts are all somewhat transparent. Not sure if there are extra steps I missed or if this actually a bug?

[ColdJ]

Released my HeliCarrier Mod.

https://spacedock.info/mod/3652/ColdJ's HeliCarrier

 

[Poppa Wheelie]

I posted a tutorial on how to read the dV Map.  It includes a section on mission planning using the dV Map.  The examples used here are done in KSP1, but the whole thing applies equally well to KSP1 and KSP2.

Enjoy.

 

[Scarecrow71]

Continuing on with my KSRSS career playthrough, I've received a pair of contracts - one from Exploration, and one from ASEB - to do an uncrewed fly-by of Mars.  I loves me a whole bunch of the red planet, so off we go!

What you see there is Horus I on the launchpad, followed by a shot in LEO.  Nothing major for a satellite, with just a core, some batteries, solar panels, and a thermometer.  Why the thermometer?  Because I also have a contract to return the first science from Mars.  Transmitting temperature doesn't lose all that much science, so I figured "why the heck not".  Anyhow, the transfer window was more than a year out, but one thing they teach us at the LKSA is to have patience.

Once I got to Mars, I picked up a contract to orbit the red planet.  Easy science.  And funds!

Now that I've got a satellite there, I'll think about doing an unmanned land/return mission, followed by a manned land/return mission.  But first, I have to go put a new antenna on that poor thing orbiting Venus.  Oh, and do an upgrade on the cargo carrier for my Moon rover to set it upright and add solar panels.  Lots of stuff to do!

[blackrack]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:20 PM, Delay said:

While this wasn't today, recently I tried out Deferred!
...I'm gonna have to remake my personal TUFX configs, but overall it makes the game look a whole lot better (performance I couldn't really test because I don't have problems with performance right now, anyways).
So congrats @blackrack, Deferred gets the totally meaningless "Delay(-ed) Seal Of Approval".

However, I do have a problem with either it or the modified TU release, because my parts are all somewhat transparent. Not sure if there are extra steps I missed or if this actually a bug?

Sounds like you didn't install the modified TU

[Delay]

1 hour ago, blackrack said:

Sounds like you didn't install the modified TU

Huh... Maybe I grabbed the wrong copy.
I'll try it again later to see if I can reproduce it, since I removed Deferred for the time being.

[Scarecrow71]

Sent up a mission to the Moon to turn that service bay debris into a working antenna.  Unfortunately, I landed so far away that I had to drive the rover to the lander, attach the parts to the rover, then drive it with my engineer in tow to the service bay.  Took me more than an hour just driving in real time, but I got it done.

I took some solar panels, a ground anchor - and someone will need to tell me how this actually functions because it can still tip over? - and some octagonal struts to make it look like a tower.  Then I took the probe core and the antenna off the service bay, and voila!

This might be the start of a Moon base.

[GluttonyReaper]

Finally got a chance to mess around with some of those beautiful volumetric clouds with JNSQ (thanks @blackrack & @rbeap!)  now that I have some (slightly) more powerful hardware... and wow does it deliver (ignore the giant fireballs, I think I have something wrong set up with my Waterfall SRBs)

Alas no Parallax as of yet (darned MacOS), but wow this game can look incredible when you pile the right mods in. I've been doing a Kerbalism play through this weekend with JNSQ, which has turned out to be a pretty brutal combination... still, it's nice to feel a little challenged again after so long. I haven't even managed to get an unmanned landing on the Mun yet, and putting any kind of half-lengthy mission up seems risky until I have docking.

Edited July 7 by GluttonyReaper

[Cavscout74]

My long abandoned "Out of the Sands" career is plugging along again.  All the old info is lost, but the save is still intact.  Well into year 11 now, with the first manned Jool mission approaching their destination.  For today, a survey satellite arrived in a polar Laythe orbit

Also had a few crew transfers & an LKO rescue, so I've been making use of my Lightning spaceplanes regularly

I don't usually bring them into DSC, but this rescue mission used up a good bit of my dV to pull off, and it was just worked out cheaper on dV to set her down in the desert than try to reach KSC.

[anis]

a mini shuttle capable of delivering a couple of satellites to orbit :

and my first minmus return SSTO :

Very sad about KSP2 , I hope the forums last as long as possible.

LONG LIFE KSP 1 !

[miklkit]

The Brick is working!  Kept adding wings and engines and it made it to Minmus with lots of fuel to spare.  Discovered a problem with the docking clamps on the rover as they would not clamp again after it returned from the test drive.  Left it there and it turned out that the Brick was a little nose heave but still flew well and landed dafely on the closest notamountain.