Islands of Laythe - one flag at a time

[bsalis]

I have the assets on and around Laythe. I have flags a plenty. The time has come...

Mission Objective: Plant a flag on every island on Laythe

Chosen Craft: Spaceplane

Mission Plan: Fly Spaceplane, plant flags. Refuel at base. Refuel Tanker at base via bigger SSTO Spaceplanes.

This is base camp. On the equator. Nice and flat...

...with an amazing tidal-locked view of Jool.

1st island is a large one to the north-west. Appears to have a deep impact crater.

Cliff walls on the crater edge are steep.

Beach views! Expect more of these.

2nd island to the east of the last island.

An old volcano perhaps?

Landed. Flag is planted (see it under the craft).

More updates tomorrow...

Edited May 29, 2013 by bsalis

[jocax188723]

Brilliant!

Keep going-I've never really been to Laythe-this should be quite interesting.

[Rhyunix]

You should add these to an official planet geographical thing. You could name each island!

[Deadpangod3]

Don't tempt me with this stuff.... Now I wanna do the same thing with Kerbin and/or Eve XD

[Sapphire]

This could be very interesting... on re-entry, I've seen some really tiny islands, practically sandbars... are you planning on landing on these ones too?

[bsalis]

are you planning on landing on these ones too?

If they are immediately adjoining a larger island, no. The rest, yes.

Anyhow, after returning to base. I headed south to visit three island.

3rd was a medium island with a smaller one to the north

Did a VTOL landing on an incline.

Ah, nice spot

Another flag down

4th was to the south west of the last.

This was basically a mountain in the ocean!

Jool, once again, beautiful.

Had more fuel left than expected. So, off further to the north east.

5th was an interesting one.

Squiggly one!

Bath time.

[Mefi282]

This absolutely awesome i'd love the idea to name different locations how i want to. I hope it will be possible to do the same thing with planets

[FlamedSteak]

Cool.

I'm really hoping the devs do some cell shaded textures with the water/ocean textures at some stage. Everything is so beautiful until you see those jarring uniform textures at any sort of altitude.

[bsalis]

Well, another refueling stop, and some more islands to visit.

6th was what looks like a large sand bar. This was north east of base, just south of 2nd island i visited.

Yep - it's long

For some reason the game gobbled up my first flag. I had to come back again, hence the darker afternoon shades.

7th to the north west.

It has a hook..

Another nice bay. Hook Bay perhaps it could be called.

8th was more to the west. This is basically due north of base.

It is flat, but the terrain is rough.

Another flag down. Jool visible again... however we won't be seeing much of it for a bit.

Another fuel stop, then it's off once again. This time far to the east.

9th is what looks to be the remains of a deep impact crater

Enjoying the view while I can. I found out that the rim islands are quite far away and cannot be seen easily at sea level.

Incoming.

As you can see. Rim is just on the horizon.

10th and final for the evening, to the east a little.

Hmm, where to land.

That is the center island in the distance.

[Wait- Was That Important?]

Beautiful! I've neglected Laythe so much in favor of Duna, seeing something this cool makes me want to make amends and fly back there!

[bsalis]

Big collection this post. I have been busy! These are the northern islands of the giant submerged crater.

11th A small one a bit north west of the large crater rim island

Not much more than a sand bar.

VTOL! - off we go.

12th Another small one. More to the north.

Bit of an odd shape.

Nice little bay here.

13th More north again. interesting one here.

It's a double.

Looking north here.

Overflying. Found out here that they are actually joined, so one flag is enough.

14th Onward north as we continue this archipelago

Medium one. Has a ridge on the west side.

Landed at the little bay.

15th A larger one. More to the north.

It's starting to get dark.

Onward to the northernmost.

16th Here is the the tip of the archipelago

It's a big dome.

17th Couldn't help myself. I had to land on this one on my way back south, even though it's adjoining a larger island.

A little worrying here...

All I need now is two palm trees, a hammock, and a koconut.

[Rhyunix]

This is really interesting bsallis! I haven't got to anywhere apart from the mun and duna yet so this is really interesting!

[bsalis]

Ok, so only a few this post. Have been busy flying a plane in RL, but mostly spent the day in frikken traffic to fly said plane. That, and i have been shifting some more assets to Laythe. More on that later.

Anyhows....

18th A small one here, a bit north of a rim island.

A bit triangular. Might head for that bay.

This is that bay.

19th Another main rim island.

Elongated. Another nice bay.

Another very nice bay here.

Off again, to the south.

20th Small islands out here.

Three of them.

Another flag down. It's going to get dark again soon.

21st Large rim island here. This is the final island visited here.

Impessive.

Getting dark again. That's fine though, heading west now.

[bsalis]

Taking a break this evening from a flag planting posts. Have good material coming up though.

I do however, have a neat bug I found to post about. This was later on from the pics I have posted so far. It is on the edge of a cliff. I was braking as I approached the edge. However, for some bizarre wacky KSP bug related reason, the craft started to accelerate! I call it ACCELEBRAKING.

Have a little vid of it. Clicky image to play...

[Guest Brody_Peffley]

bsailis. You have such a great desktop (or laptop) My laptop lags in space even with 50 part rockets. but really it looks like your doing a good job on your mission. Are you done? And that bug is caused by the explosions actually pushing the craft

Edited June 2, 2013 by Brody_Peffley

[POTKC]

About how much of Laythe have you covered? Oh, and also, you should make a retirement home or five star hotel for your Kerbals on that tiny island (the one where you said you needed a coconut and two palm trees.)

[bsalis]

About how much of Laythe have you covered?

I'm up to 31 now (note i'm posting a session or two behind actual progress). I think i am about 30% through. I noticed a lot of small islands around the north pole... i think I may drop a few. I doub't i'll do much more than 100.

bsailis. You have such a great desktop (or laptop) My laptop lags in space even with 50 part rockets. but really it looks like your doing a good job on your mission. Are you done? And that bug is caused by the explosions actually pushing the craft

Yes, pretty good computer, but that plane is only about 70 parts. And nope - not finished yet. I have been quicksaving each landing. It's a treacherous environment out here.

I have islands 22-26 up this post. These are larger ones to the west of base. Anyone who has landed on Laythe has possibly visited these.

22nd West of base. Looks like another crater of sorts.

First up is the island on the right.

Another tricky landing.

Also did a panorama of this. CLICKY TO SEE

23rd Bit more to the west. A big one....

Has a little lake.

Another nice spot, and another flag down.

24th Now a bit to the south.

Tricky landing on the edge of a cliff!

Amazing views here. Very high altitude too.

If you have not noticed yet - this is where the Accelebraking incident occurred.

25th Another big one as i start to head back east to base.

Jool visible again.

Found a nice flat and oddly light coloured patch to land on.

26th I overshot returning to base. So heck, lets do this little one to the east of base.

Landing... reasonably flat long one this is.

Can't get enough of that Jool.

Bit of a moustache one this is.

Edited June 3, 2013 by bsalis

[Francesco]

beautiful, 5 stars. also, the islands 14-15-16 look like Japan.

but what is that thingy on your plane, just behind the cockpit's glass?

[bsalis]

but what is that thingy on your plane, just behind the cockpit's glass?

It's a MechJeb Radial. The only mod part on it. The part mesh is from .19, so it's a bit screwy, hence why it looks odd. MechJeb features work fine though, however they are not much use flying.

Laythe West - This is far to the west of base, on the equator.

Reasonably large with good elevation, no small islands nearby.

Debris around the flag... why?

I landed another tanker here earlier!

This is now the Laythe West outpost, I renamed the other to Laythe East instead of Laythe Base.

About Supplies

I guess this would be a good point to cover a little about infrastructure and supplies. That rover-tanker was part of a caravan of three that i sent last launch window from Kerbin. I have been bringing craft and fuel here since .18, and this is the last. I have _way_ more than I need for this mission and then some.

First up is a tanker shipment, from left to right, a Thor tug, Tonker (land) tanker, and a Bueler fuel tanker.

Next another Thor tug with a Cobra SSTO Spaceplane (left) and a Butterfly SSTO Spaceplane (right)... you may recognise that model.

Last is another Cobra behind a Rikishi tanker.

Then the re-entries.... enjoying it before some patch will rip them apart...

I admit that this should probably not work.

Last but not least.

The obligatory station

This is a one-piece station I put around Laythe a while ago. So that I could siphon off mostly-empty tankers and de-orbit them. As you can see it has attracted a few craft like those damn sucker fish you see attached to sharks.

Refueling

Even though there's probably enough fuel in the landed tankers to complete this mission. I wanted to try my refueling system.

Here is a fuel laden Cobra, headed for Laythe East.

Yep - works fine

[bsalis]

Five this evening. The last couple are gems. But first, a double island entry.

27th and 28th are far north, near the polar region.

Incoming. Decided to land where the two almost meet.

First the northern one.

Looking south here. I planted another flag on the island just yonder.

29th a solid medium on while heading back south east to West outpost.

Has a bit of a hook.

Makes a bay of sorts.

30th is a big one more south from the last. Another deep impact it seems.

A nice one for sure.

Landed at the fragmented area on the north end.

Looking east to the other side here.

Glamour shot.

31st is a smallish one directly west of West outpost.

Something odd about this one.

And this would be it. A huge cliff!

Yep - it is steep.

Well, since i'm here at the cliff... why not? I call this the Leap of Laythe.

Clicky pic to play vid.

[POTKC]

Looking good!

[bsalis]

Just one this evening. An impressive one though!

32nd is near the north pole. A large one.

[POTKC]

Has this died?

[bsalis]

Has this died?

Nope . Still going. Had taken a break for a little, mostly from posting updates though. Was not sure anyone was interested.

Today I have 33 to 36, which is a cluster of islands just to the west of the first island i flagged (after original base camp of course). I also have number 37 this post too.

33rd is first of this clutch of islands. It's the larger one at the bottom.

Here is all 33-36, with number 33 at the bottom right. The big number 1 off in the distance.

Another sawtooth edge coast.

34th is a little sand bar type one on the right.

It's in three parts - will only put one flag down for these.

Looking back along the chain.

35th is the other big one, at the top.

Big one on the right. Interesting shape and ridges.

Looking south. With little 36 in the distance.

Overview, looking east.

36th is the last of this group, and a tiny one... just far away enough from the last that I felt it needed a flag.

Yep, it's small. Number 33 visible top left.

Another flag down.

Overview. I think that is Tylo top right.

37th is a big one to the north of the last group.

High altitude, inbound. Looking south down the tail of the island.

Going to land on the left edge of this dark pit.

Yep - big dark pit. Vall i think on the horizon.

Overview looking south down the tail. Rough terrain.

[bsalis]

This evening I have 38 to 42 to post. These are two large ones and a three smaller ones not far north of Laythe West outpost.

38th is due north of outpost, and elongated on north-south axis.

Yep, it's long, and has a tail.

... and lakes.

Overview looking north.

39th is over to the west, a smaller one.

Landing on the tip here.

Looking south.

Overview looking south, 40th in the distance.

40th is smaller, just south of 39th

Just one flag for these, on the bigger one.

Interesting bay.

Very Yin and Yang.

41st is another small one, just a little north of the largest in this group (42nd)

Close call to plant one here, being so near 41st and small

Hmm, landing.

Looking south here.

42nd is the big facehugger one

I think i will land on the left on the highlands.

Looking at the other big arm of the island here.

A bit odd this one.

Edited June 11, 2013 by bsalis