What did you do in KSP1 today?

[MythicalHeFF]

Made a 4-second clip about when my boat decided it wanted to be a plane.

 

[Nazalassa]

9 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

https://imgur.com/a/ogDl74e

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

Just a question: I tested it and it reached only 300 m/s with the panther. How did you fly it?

[stephensmat]

I can't believe it worked.

So, if you've been following (And lets be honest, you probably haven't), then you'll know I lost a ship. The Bowman was my first craft to reach Jool. Still not sure how I lost her, or the three Kerbals aboard.

So I had to build the SS Bowman-A  and keep going. The Bowman was my first craft with Nurv engines. So far the most miserable part of the construction process has been putting the engines together, and keeping them secure, wobble-free, and most importantly, aligned in the same direction. I often get about 20 degrees off axis for what I need them to do. It's been frustrating.

Then today, I asked myself: What if I launched three Nurv Engine Cores, plus Mark-3 fuel tanks; all in one piece?

I know. I figured it'd never work.  I can't believe I got it off the ground.

But it launched, and didn't come apart until it got to high-atmo. It was enough to make me keep experimenting. The thing cost almost a million credits to build, I lost the first one because it kept falling apart on the pad, and I must have spent three hours fiddling with struts, auto-strut settings, and stagings on the boosters. I had to keep a tight grip on it, and put it into a spin every time I jettisoned boosters, or the parts would collide when they fell away, but lo behold, I got there.

Meet my newest invention.

I call her 'The Chariot'.

She's got 7700 DV, she's powered by multiple RTG, instead of Solar panels, she's got her own rotation rings and RCS, a top-notch probe brain, and a Sr Docking port on the front. Put it all together, and it makes her the first Reusable Space Booster I've ever built. Her function will be to ferry smaller craft and Landers/station segments/etc, and put them in various positions around the system, before Returning to Kerbin for her next flight. Now that I've been able to launch one, I can almost certainly launch another, which means I have the beginning of a small fleet of 'interplanetary tugboats', available as needed, in a single launch.

Still can't believe it worked.

[swjr-swis]

1 hour ago, Nazalassa said:

Just a question: I tested it and it reached only 300 m/s with the panther. How did you fly it?

My apologies for the untypically terse post.

Ascent was a standard swjr-swis 'least-effort-results' technique:

• launch to runway
• brakes on, throttle full, fine control, SAS on
• set SAS to Orbit Prograde (this here does practically all the flying; just get your choice of beverage, sit back, observe, and leave that stick alone.)
• release brakes and stage to fire the jet
• let it roll off the runway  by itself, retract gear when off the runway
• continue to just sip your beverage while it accelerates -slowly at first- to supersonic speeds up to mach 2.8+
• wait until you reach 13 km altitude, then stage again to fire rockets
• watch Ap develop while sipping your beverage, cut throttle when Ap reaches 80km
• coast to about 15-20 secs before Ap
• circularize (it doesn't need a full blast of 15-20 secs, pace it)
• you should have just enough dV left to retroburn back into the atmosphere for reentry

I didn't test beyond just going up and coming back down. I could've added fuel for bigger margins. It's not even a fully built plane: no RCS, no solar panels or fuel cell, no antenna, no science instruments. Also I didn't go through recruiting 9 extra kerbals to seat. But it's easy enough to add those, plus some extra fuel, and it should still be able to make orbit.

The important bits are the angle of incidence added on the wing, and switching to the lighter, more efficient, and less draggy Terriers for the rocket stage. Other than that it flies itself with minimal interaction to orbit.

 

[Nazalassa]

53 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

I didn't test beyond just going up and coming back down. I could've added fuel for bigger margins. It's not even a fully built plane: no RCS, no solar panels or fuel cell, no antenna, no science instruments. Also I didn't go through recruiting 9 extra kerbals to seat. But it's easy enough to add those, plus some extra fuel, and it should still be able to make orbit.

My version has a big RW and a complete RCS system, plus 12 seats. I think it can make orbit.

Hold on — I'm checking.

The idea is to break every mission into two parts: one that brings the object of the mission (Kerbals, probes, etc.) to a station in Kerbin orbit, and then a shuttle to bring that to its destination. The SSTO is the first part.

[Nazalassa]

2 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

continue to just sip your beverage while it accelerates -slowly at first- to supersonic speeds up to mach 2.8+

I must've made something wrong, because it doesn't get faster than Mach 1 ...

Also, setting the SAS to orbital prograde is a little... tricky.

Wait, it works!

(I think it's stuck a mach 1)

 

If you want to try my version:

https://kerbalx.com/Nazalassa/Karganien-Mk1

Edited August 23, 2022 by Nazalassa

[ColdJ]

16 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

I made a roll-roll-roll...

Ooooh. What about an I beam monorail like in the Thunderbirds?

[Nazalassa]

Currently:

P.S if anyone knows why the wheels are like that... I mean, the side wheels are "normal", but the center wheels are offseted in the white part of the part. Why?

[Nazalassa]

More about the monorail! (video download)

https://github.com/Nazalassa/Misc/raw/Misc-files-to-host/ksp-monorail.mov

[swjr-swis]

4 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

(I think it's stuck a mach 1)

I looked at the version you placed on KX. The monoprop tanks and the batteries you added are in the airflow, and creating enough drag to prevent the craft from going supersonic.

If you can do without the extra back row of EAS seats and move the RW to the back, make sure the MP tanks and batteries stay inside the cargo bay shielding, that should make the difference.

[Caerfinon]

On 8/21/2022 at 2:41 AM, ColdJ said:

Flashback

Took @ColdJ's Flashback rocket out for a spin.  To infinity... and beyond! 

Using the air breathing engine to hop around the space center 

It's a pretty sweet ride and the classic 50's Sci Fi vibe is very cool 

[Nazalassa]

More roll-roll-roll.

17 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

The monoprop tanks and the batteries you added are in the airflow

(oops)

[Nazalassa]

(still about the monorail: it's hard to find an efficient track part! Horizontal Mk2 and vertical Mk2 don't work, Mk3 is unstable, the round ones are even more unstable, and the square-shaped parts are all to small!)

[ColdJ]

3 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

(still about the monorail: it's hard to find an efficient track part! Horizontal Mk2 and vertical Mk2 don't work, Mk3 is unstable, the round ones are even more unstable, and the square-shaped parts are all to small!)

If that track is made up of craft you put together in the SPH then that is very impressive. How many pieces did you have to fit together out in the world?

[Nazalassa]

3 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

If that track is made up of craft you put together in the SPH then that is very impressive. How many pieces did you have to fit together out in the world?

I did 2 km with Mk3 fuel tanks, however I'm planning to divide the track into segments that will be launched to their detination (which will be... Pol? Minmus?) and placed there, linda like Stratzenblitz75 did for his Dres bridge. So... I don't know, maybe 1 km segments? Or 2 km. I don't know.

P.S as my KSP doesn't want to load mods with DLLs I couldn't use hangarExtender 

All done within pure stock game.

[ColdJ]

4 minutes ago, Nazalassa said:

P.S as my KSP doesn't want to load mods with DLLs I couldn't use hangarExtender 

All mods?

I couldn't stand not having WASD camera tools/editor to build craft, especially the ones bigger than the SPH.

[Nazalassa]

33 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

All mods?

It's stuck at "loading part upgrades" (I already searched for some simple and manual way to solve the problem but haven't found really simple manual ways).

When I don't have mods it doesn't...

BAH, anyways. I'm doing with it.

[ColdJ]

3 minutes ago, Nazalassa said:

When I don't have mods it doesn't...

Sounds like a particular mod that uses a MM patch to change the behaviour/resources of parts is causing your problem. Hangar extender or WASD shouldn't have anything to do with parts themselves. If in doubt you could provide Lisias with your KSP log to see what is borking. Or there is the time honoured method of trying 1 mod at a time to see if it happens with that particular one.

[Nazalassa]

9 hours ago, ColdJ said:

trying 1 mod at a time

Well... That's exactly what I've done. Not only for WASD camera, but I also tried (of course) hangar extender and kOS, both of which have DLLs. None has worked.

I haven't tried with pure part packs (= no DLLs mods) but I think these should work properly.

[Nazalassa]

(OK it works with pure part packs. The problem is the DLLs.)

[Akagi]

On 8/21/2022 at 6:43 AM, panzer1b said:

snip

What are your "guns"?

[Beamer]

Due to RL I haven't had time to play much, even less so to document my exploits. That doesn't mean nothing happened though! An overview of a few months development:

OMB Demolition Enterprises sponsored a new 'Tiki bar' concept for Minmus City. It includes a bar with seating for about a dozen Kerbals under a nice umbrella, entertainment centers for the guests, and a high bandwidth antenna used to receive the latest Kerplunk competition broadcasts from Kerbin for display on a large external screen. Here it is being tested on the launch pad, by now it has made its way to Minmus City where its inhabitants have received it with much cheers. The famous Mayor of Minmus City, Jebediah Kerman has personally set up a betting office for the Kerplunk matches in the local Jeb's Junkyard facility. The guys from the Minmus City Bike Garage did some poking and prodding in the innards of this structure and it seems that there is enough equipment to actually broadcast back to Kerbin from this thing. Rumours are OMB is planning to set up an officially KIA sanctioned K1 race track on the flats of Minmus, but it's possible those rumours are fed entirely by the dreams of the Bike Garage's employees rather than OMB Demolition Enterprises' actual plans.

 

To the great delight of its crew members, Kerman Kerbolar Station has received orders to return to Kerbin for refueling and crew relief. According to one of the crew members, who wishes to remain anonymous, "Falling towards Kerbol is an unsettling experience" and "for the last 5 orbits, Bob started screaming at our apoapsis of 13 Gm and wouldn't stop until we passed our 1.5 Gm periapsis." Here is the station, fully unfolded from behind its heat shield, burning its 19 Ion engines at apoapsis for a Kerbin encounter after one more orbit. Once back in Kerbin orbit the task to refill its 28 large Xenon tanks and rotate its crew will begin. It still looks very clean and unscathed despite reaching a lowest periapsis of only 99,999 km above the surface or Kerbol:

 

Meanwhile the tourism business is as strong as ever, many amateur Kerbonauts have safely found their way back to Kerbin in the luxury they expect from the tourism branch of KSP. Here are a dozen of them returning to KSC enjoying the magnificent views from the comfort of one of our tourist class spaceplanes:

 

New developments are going on too, Moho, Eve, Duna and Dres and their moons have been open for orbital tourism for quite a while of course, with optional surface expeditions to all bodies except Eve. The station for the Jool system with its large mining base meant for Pol is well past the halfway mark, and a large expedition for Eeloo is currently in Kerbin orbit, fueled and ready to leave at the next transfer window in about 50 days. It consists of an orbital station, a 19 Kerbal crew lander, 2 small mobile mining/refining rovers and a big Surface-To-Orbit fuel tanker. Of course it will be a 5 year trip before it's in place, but at that point we will have sustainable refueling at all planetary bodies in the Kerbin system. Here is the station part refueling in Kerbin orbit at one of my asteroid stations:

 

One of my tourist vessels, dropping by Eve after a trip to Moho to refuel at Gilly and complete a few more tourist contracts gave me my first level 5 crew member, the pilot leading the expedition, Valentina Kerman. Here she is skillfully parked on top of my Gilly Mining Rig to refuel before the trip back to Kerbin:

 

Watching the tiny moon's shadow crawl down the ship as the sun appeared over the horizon gave our boffins a crazy idea. If you've ever looked at the poles of Gilly you may have noticed both of them are located in a depression, surrounded by mountains. Our boffins asked the not so obvious question: Is it possible to build a structure, exactly on the pole of Gilly, that is high enough for a solar panel at the top to always be in sunlight? They were happy enough to find out, I swear you give these guys a 65 million budget and they come up with the craziest ideas. The answer, in case you are curious, is yes, but, very very carefully:

 

At a fully built up and extended height of 256.5 meter on a diameter of only 2.5 meter, built exactly on the North pole of Gilly, the solar panel at its top will generate around 50/s electricity during the moon's entire rotation. Here we see Bill precariously balancing on the top of the solar panel to get an accurate height measurement:

 

So far this experiment has not left the sandbox yet, but it probably will. It requires 3 launches, the base, the top spire, and a launch with 4 'spacers' to put in between them, each of them rockets tall enough to reach the VAB roof by themselves. Stacking them on top of each other at Gilly is absolutely projectile vomit inducing... if you've ever flown a lander exactly over a pole you'll know why. The slightest lateral movements will shift your north pole a great deal and cause nauseating camera swings and rotations all the time. Furthermore it has to be 'naturally balanced', enabling any form of SAS with radial out or surface up instructions will instantly explode this thing. Shooting the fireworks at the top or just jumping off and watching the moon rotate beneath you as you slowly drift down to the surface (it's a LONG fall at 0.03 m/s^2) makes it all worth it though.

 

[Bej Kerman]

29 minutes ago, Beamer said:

if you've ever flown a lander exactly over a pole you'll know why. The slightest lateral movements will shift your north pole a great deal and cause nauseating camera swings and rotations all the time.

Did you try putting it somewhere near the pole but not on it?

[Beamer]

8 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

Did you try putting it somewhere near the pole but not on it?

I proposed this to my boffins but they objected that it would not answer the question and therefor would be a waste of the 1.5 million mission costs. According to them it is vital the fireworks are fired exactly from the pole. When I asked them what scientific discoveries exactly they expected from this structure, they started complaining about the food in the cafeteria. I retreated to the Pilot bar but the cleaning crew was still wiping vomit of the walls so eventually I went to hang with the Engineers. They're a wholesome bunch, I like them. I think I will stay here a while.

 

[Pipcard]

2038-04-06 - The Ame-no-Uzume balloon habitat/ascent vehicle enters a 300 km orbit above Venus