24/7 Livestream Scenario Game

[Tinweasele]

Hey all! Recently while perusing these forums i came across a post which posed the following question,

"Is Ksp stable enough to keep it running 24/7? "

And subsequent discussion on whether it would be possible to run a space program in Real time. So i decided to try it out.

Twitch.tv/tinweasele

Here is what i have setup.

I will keep the stream going as close to 24/7 as possible considering the ways of the internet and electronics. This is a scenario game that runs as realistically as possible. What that means is that i have included nearly every mod out there that i believe adds realism to the game(list to follow). I am working on a budget which is to say that efficiency in construction is a must. And finally that i will attempt to start up at least 1 mission every single day( assuming i have the funds), and Finally to minimize warp time as much as possible (only on flights that will take over a month if i dont have the funds to keep launching alternative missions).

I am looking for input on how to make the stream not as boring to watch over long periods of time, i have MY musical tastes but they may not appeal to some people, and i cant keep music going 24/7 cause i DO like to play other games at times, and i dont understand the broadcast software well enough to specifically state which sound to route to the stream.

The Scenario:

The scenario is mostly based upon

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24770-Repost-of-XLordStimpyX-Stimpy-s-grand-Campaign-Campaign-mode-homebrew-ruleset

With the following changes. No base 50% cost return for successful mission ships. I get 75% back on everything that survives to the ground. I must purchase mod "contracts" in order to unlock using their parts. The more useful a mod is in terms of gameplay the larger investment. I will probably be tuning it as i go.

Mod List:(so far)

Kethane

KAS

Deadly Reentry

ISA_MapSat

KSPX

MechJeb 2

Ioncross

Crew Manifest

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Engineer

Remote Tech

Romfarer

Telemachus

Again looking for audience participation so let me know if you have any tips/missions/strategies that work in my budget:-)

Thanks and Happy Exploring!!!

ps. Please feel free to move this to the appropriate forums if this is not the proper space

[superm18]

I like the idea aswell as the guy who talked about doing it ALL in real life.

But i simply don't have the time to sit and watch this

i'm in the middle of exams to become a food technician, work 20 hour every other weekend, a 9 month old kid, a wife, a HUGE family and when i have time to game, i use it on myself

[musicpenguin]

I'd watch it as much as posible. also use kerbal live feed.

[Tinweasele]

I'd watch it as much as posible. also use kerbal live feed.

I actually have KLF installed, just dont have it running currently.

[Tinweasele]

I am sad, left for work and KSP stopped advancing time. I guess i cant lock my comp either?

Anyone have any tips on how to get it to keep running?

[Mazlem]

I see it froze up; do you have 'render in background' checked?

[Tinweasele]

I see it froze up; do you have 'render in background' checked?

is that a setting within ksp? if so then no , tempted to run home to fix it

[leax256]

if you are gonna do this then set your pc to not go to sleep, every time my pc sleeps when ksp is up the game freezes. don't know why.

[oggylt]

Emm.. I can't set the quality to lower than 1024+ so basically I am just watching screenshots every 30 seconds is that a host setting?

[Mazlem]

is that a setting within ksp? if so then no , tempted to run home to fix it

Yea in Settings / General there's a 'Simulate in Background' option.

[Tinweasele]

Yea in Settings / General there's a 'Simulate in Background' option.

Awesome ill run home during lunch and flip that on and get it running again. Thanks !

[Tinweasele]

Yea in Settings / General there's a 'Simulate in Background' option.

Turns out Simulate != Draw in background. The game was simulating while it was locked, so when i finally brought the screen up it caught up. Anyone know how to make sure it renders?

[Tinweasele]

Going to start posting mission logs so new people to the stream can see the progress i have made.

Entry 1:

Mission 1: Successfully launched single stage solid fuel rocket.

Results:

flight time, 2 min 58 seconds

Highest Altitude: 18,714

Highest Speed: 728m/s

Highest Speed Over Land: 175

Ground Distance covered, 2.8km

Most Gee force 8.9

Mission 2: Long range rocket flight single stage solid fuel

Results:

Ground Distance Covered: 13.7km

Mission 3: Altitude Test for Mk 2 solid booster

Results:

Altitude: 35300

Mission 4: Distance test Mk2 solid fuel

Results:

Distance Traveled: 18km

Note: it seems air resistance heavily impedes lateral movement at low altitudes, next distance test attempt to reach next air density before changing path.

Mission 5: Height Test using Liquid fuel mk1, 180L

Test 1: Failure, wrong type of fuel

Test 2: Failure, No stabilizer

Test 3: Failure, Stabilizer not sufficient, consider using Winglets + ASAS Unit

Test 4: Success!

Result:

Altitude 31.4km

Note: Throttling down as altitude increase rendered increased efficiency out of the engine. Total mass Compared to Solid Fuel Booster mk2 -4 tons

Conclusion for long range Flights, SFB’s for heavy atmosphere and heavy gravity, liquid fuel for sustained flight.

Mission 6: Construct 2 stage vehicle

Test 1: Success! Mk1 solid fuel, mk1, liquid fuel 180 L

Result:

Altitude 130km !!

Conclusion, as expected SFB for inner atmosphere boost followed by a liquid fuel engine GREATLY increased the Efficiency of our systems.

[Tinweasele]

Entry 2:

Mission 7: Construct ICBM capable of attacking other continents

Test 1: Mk2 solid fuel, mk1, liquid fuel 180 L, 1T Payload FAILURE – Misrepresentation of remaining fuel because of payload.

Test 2: mk2 solid fuel, mk1 liquid fuel 180 l , 1t payload failure – modification to fuel injection failed, needs more oxidizer for longer burn, also craft wobbly on take off, struts possibly required.

Test 3: mk1 liquid fuel 360, mk1 liquid fuel 180, 1t payload FAILURE – Stage 1 Launch amazingly inefficient for TTW ratio

Test 4: mk1 solid, mk1 liquid fuel 180, 1t payload FAILURE – Stage 2 liquid control failed miserably – change of engine/stabilizers for both stages(fins suck)

Test 5: mk1 solid, mk2 liquid fuel 180, 1t payload FAILUR – initial stage not getting enough height for range

Test 6: 3x mk1 solid, mk2 liquid fuel 180l, 1t payload FAILURE – Insufficient burn at apoapsis, cut fuel at 50% usage on initial ascent then burn rest at apoapsis.

Test 7: 3x mk1 solid, mk2 liquid fuel 180L, 1t Payload FAILURE – after consulting ICBM documentation altitude is no where NEAR high enough during initial burn phase.

Test 8: 3x mk2 liquid 360, mk2 liquid 180L, 1t payload FAILUR – albeit best attempt so far by a long shot, Too much speed in early phases burned through initial fuel, adding another tank to stage 1 may give wanted results, Course correction to 90 probably better as well

Test 8 3x mk2 liquid 540 L , mk2 liquid 180L, 1T payload – SUCCESS!!!!! Parabolic arc achieved by regulating fuel usage through to 45km(too much drag otherwise) Full burn at along flight path gave range of half the planet.

Result:

Ground Distance Traveled 1620km in 20 min

Conclusions – Reaching near orbit takes a balance of weight, power, drag and stability. Failure to address any one of these issues will cause failures in flight.

Mission 8: Attempt to put Object into orbit to collect data for future Satellite deployment.

Test 1: 5x mk2 liquid 540 L Asparagus setup, mk2 liquid 360L, Sputnik Satellite Battery powered with comms array – Success

Result: First Satellite Established at 285km in stable orbit

Comments Asparagus setup amazingly fuel efficient. Maneuvering capabilities definitely lacking on simply directional mk2 liquid engine. RCS probably required for any more complicated launches but sufficient for satellite Deployment.

Mission 9: Develop a low cost orbiter deployment Vehicle

Test 1: Success – Good rocket for sending up light payloads(.1T) into orbit

Comments: Success mostly dependent upon entry vectors and control. Design is confirmed at 2 mk1 SRB for initial(could use mk2), 1 mk2 liquid 720L full burn at 45 degrees to achieve AP of ~ 175, then use mk2 liquid for final stabilizing burn + adjustments

Post Note – System rendered obsolete with the advancement of new Communication Satellite Technologies via new RemoteTech contract

Mission 10: Launch a manned Orbital Vehicle

Test 1: mk1 pod, mk2 liquid 180L maneuvering engine, 8X RCS units, 4X mk1 liquid 720 L + 1X mk2 liquid 720 L asparagus setup. - SUCCESS!!

Comments: Beautiful run altogether. Ascension burn was perfect, circulization burn was only a tad overshot, future attempts will need to be more precise about apoapsis distance. EVA was completely successful(we saw the sunrise!) It appears small course corrections are needed with EVA suit to properly control it. Descent burn was pretty decently timed although the angle was a shade too steep(too long in reentry blackout), Also of note is that while we DID land in the water amazingly close to KSC we only barely made the water by delaying our chute deployment until under 3k M altitude. Next mission will need to mind atmospheric drag better.

[Tinweasele]

Entry 3:

Mission 11: Free Return to Mun and back, Contracted additional personnel for space command.

Try 1:

Starting at 100KM orbit

2200m/s for stable orbit at 100KM

3000(ish)m/s

Free-return established, rocket dropped like a rock back to Kerbin

Try 2:Failed to reach orbit. Struts kept stage 1 rockets from separating.

Try 3:Stage 1 rockets failed to separate again. Ship ran out of power

Try 4:

dV = 887m/s

Est. Burn 37s

Crossed mun plain: ~700m/s

Burn down to 406m/s

Note: RCS probably needed

Test 5: Success!!! Modified our manned orbital build to support a probe. Trajectory existed off of 100km window for return ~ 3050m/s requiring 850Dv as expected. Return orbit placed Object in decaying orbit but we have retrieved all information from it.

Operations Change: due to some political upheaval apparently the entirety of Kerbal-kind is no longer behind us. We must now operate on a budget starting at 100k(heh k).

Mission 12: Deploy Kerbin COMMSAT network

Designed mk4 satellite deployment rocket. Can deploy up to 3 different Satellites into orbit at a time saving tons of money.

Sub-Mission 1: established ¾ geosync short range commsats

Sub-Mission 2: established final geosync and 2 long range Communication platforms

Sub-Mission 3: established 2 polar geosync sats, note – attempted to recover main deployment vehicle and failed miserably due to impatience and excessive braking over the polar caps, heat shield was not sufficient to prevent total craft loss.

[oggylt]

that is really nice I love having the stream in background and the idea that someone is actually doing this

[Tinweasele]

Mission 13: Deploy COMMSATS around the mun.

Sub-Mission 1: Setup Mun Relay and 3 low orbit satellites. Success!... sorta, lost solar panels on all smaller satellites during fairing disconnect due to doing it while powered. DO NOT DO THIS!! Overshot one burn for relay placement took almost all remaining DV to fix. Satellite is in position now, however it was not desegned with engines so further adjustments to its orbit will have to be done via manual intervention.

Sub-Mission 2: setup 4 low orbit satellites around mun: Success!

Mission 14 : Map Kerbin.

Purchased ISA MAPSAT contract

Trial 1: After a few failures with legacy parts interfacing with new remote tech parts had a successful launch. Initial passes ended up being harmonic with planet rotation so adjusted and finished mapping in a little over 36 hours.