[0.22] KSP Story Missions

[chlue]

The changes suggested by chlue turned out to be quite quick to do - and I've released an updated beta with them applied. I didn't change the storyline or mission structure but I did make all the budget changes and remove the requirement for a command-pod on the lander mission as discussed.

https://github.com/ajventer/ksp_stuff/releases/tag/0.0.7

Ok that was quick

Maybe I should show my minmus settlement to give you an idea what stuff I howled over:

- My lander was very small and I think I don't have enough fuel to reach the poles from a equatorial orbit.

- I hauled 6 of the 'big' fueltanks over of which two were droptanks to compensate for the fuel used for transfer (one is visible in the background)

- The additional returnvessel above the sciencelab was the ferry for my lander.

I guess with a bigger lander the reduced budget for the refuelling ship may be a challenge now

Regarding:

There isn't a way to force the biome you land in, in KSPStoryMissions (at least - none that I could find) so I can't really force you to do different biomes

I think it is doable similar as done in the challenge 'Ice For The Drink Machine' from ChallengeSet1.cfg, but its likely a bit hard to find the correct biome without further mods.

Edited January 4, 2014 by chlue

[metalpoetza]

The use of the return vessel as a ferry was an interesting approach - and a good one, I like seeing innovative ways to deal with the rules I put in place

My version was quite similar to yours, except for more fuel on the lander and without the ferry system.

[landeTLS]

woa, some great stuff being created here. im having a go at updating the plugin to support min crewcount while the author is gone. will release it once done.

anything else i should look into while im at it?

[metalpoetza]

That would be really awesome

[chlue]

woa, some great stuff being created here. im having a go at updating the plugin to support min crewcount while the author is gone. will release it once done.

anything else i should look into while im at it?

Great to hear. If I am not alone with this opinion I would like an extra budget for additional science parts as I outlined here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/58246-0-22-KSP-Story-Missions?p=804696&viewfull=1#post804696. To quote myself:

Science parts are very expensive so additional science parts blow the budget quiet fast. I would like to have the cost of science parts excluded from the rocket cost. This way I don't need to replay a similar mission out of scope of the addon to collect my science points and still keep within budget for the missions. Lets say I always find an anonymous sponsor for my additional science parts who pays the instrument bills as long as I handle the additional rocket costs due to higher mass/instability/enery ussage.

I think game-play wise this would be a nice change, but it might interfere with some mission concepts (If a follow up mission is like: 'You discovered some interesting stuff. Now send a rover over and examine it closer.' it's contra productive if someone already handled everything with the first vessel). So most flexible way would be to have an optional science budget (defaults to infinity) and a mission writer can limit it if useful.

[metalpoetza]

From my point of view, the feature I would most like is to be able to give finer control of required mission orbits - setting different min/max values for periapsis and apoapsis (for when eccentric orbits are required) and being able to require a given inclination (which should match within about 2 degree tolerance I think).

[metalpoetza]

I appear to have discovered a bug - putting in a dock objective fails if the docking ports are attached via girder segments - despite these being fully fuel transferable. I haven't got the slightest idea why this would be...

I should add - this is a ground-based mission docking rover parts together - not sure if that can have an impact.

Edited January 4, 2014 by metalpoetza
More details

[metalpoetza]

Since we're discussing feature requests - I have a major one. Right now KSPStoryMissions leaves you at a rather dead end in an open solar system once you finish your available missions and unlocked the tech tree. KSP in career mode rather does the same - but since it's not budgeted it's not as big an impact to feel as you can still openly explore doing stuff afterward - you just don't get new parts.

But with StoryMissions adding a budget - that limits what you can do once the tech-tree is unlocked, no way to fund further exploration or missions unless you write a quest for them each time, which is a big burden to put on ordinary players.

But what if the budget and science system could be linked ? I don't know how feasible this would be but imagine a part, unlocked at the very end of the tech tree - which allows you to trade science points for cash in your budget. This would provide not only motivation to keep playing - but the means to do so at the same time, go explore, do science, gain points - and use them to pay for the mission ?

[landeTLS]

Lots of good suggestions here. Iwe only just started familearizing(?) Myself with the source. Im currently still focusing on my resource mining experiment. But once im done ill do more with this plugin. Iwe tried the newest version of mce and there is a lot of catching up to do if this is going to be as feature rich. But still be a seperate entity that feels more integrated into ksp.

A few major and not so major things that i would like to start with(in no perticulear order) after patching the bugs you guys found:

* booster/parts recycling(wanna do it the same way as mce by calculated drag) but i wanna try to find a way to integrate it into the ksp recovery/revert system.

* contracts with over time payments(space tourism?)

* crew count support

* some endgame feature after all science is unlocked (this one is hard tho and may be out of the scope of this plugin)

Ill update with my progress when i start to get somewhere with it

[metalpoetza]

Just to mention it here as well - I have been working hard at building a full scale set of KSPtoryMissions around the KSP_Interstellar mod - and it's nearing completion (I expect to have it in beta by tonight or tomorrow). It doesn't cover EVERY part but it covers most of them and tries to give players missions that teach them how the parts work and fit together and what they can do with them. I know this mission pack is out of scope for the main KSPStoryMissions target audience but I'm sure some people may benefit from it anyway - it's basically the closest thing to a beginners guide there is for KSPI and it's a fun learn-by-doing one.

https://github.com/ajventer/ksp_stuff/releases/tag/0.0.9

[Sesiom]

Hi there,

This mod is really what I was looking for . Tried MCE but not quite my thing. The humor and "story driven" missions really fits the carrer mode.

I'm having a little struggle with the science points with 0.23 . Now cant reuse the science devices and all..

I tried to to use every single $ in budget to add extra science parts on every mission to max the science retrieved and allways extra fuel to return even if no mandatory for the mision.

Right now finished the Height stuff, two bigger than one and a Wing n prayer. Made every flight with 4x science cans and 4 to 8 Goo.

Still had to use all the remaining budget to perform an extra personal mission to minmus to retrieve extra science to be able to continue.

Also note some science parts are extremely costy against their science gain, like the Barometer O_o

Its an awesome mission pack hope the autor finds time to balance it for 0.23

[Sesiom]

Just to mention it here as well - I have been working hard at building a full scale set of KSPtoryMissions around the KSP_Interstellar mod - and it's nearing completion (I expect to have it in beta by tonight or tomorrow). It doesn't cover EVERY part but it covers most of them and tries to give players missions that teach them how the parts work and fit together and what they can do with them. I know this mission pack is out of scope for the main KSPStoryMissions target audience but I'm sure some people may benefit from it anyway - it's basically the closest thing to a beginners guide there is for KSPI and it's a fun learn-by-doing one.

https://github.com/ajventer/ksp_stuff/releases/tag/0.0.9

Hi metal,

Do you have a post that explains this mods or missions better?

I just instaled interestelar and missions and Romancing the Green Stone, thats all to work with Story missions?

I builded the first rocket with the lab and it cost me 62.000... maybe I'm still terrible rocket builder

The missions that requieres specific tech seems to be done after finish the base History missions having most tech unlocked?

Thanks for the work.

[chlue]

Hello regarding the KSP_Interstellar missions from metalpoetza:

I am still not finished with them (Not sure if I ever will, because I hate to fast forward over a year in career mode to bring a single instrument to another planet), but there are some issues with them when using them KSPInterstellar-v0.10.2.zip:

- Do a search and replace for 'Nuclear Reactor' to 'Fission Reactor'

- Do a search and replace for 'Deuterium Tritium Tank' to 'Deuterium/Tritium Tank' in FloatingFusionFuelFactory.cfg

- The 20000 budget for 'MISSION = Part 4: Helium-3' in FloatingFusionFuelFactory.cfg is impossible and the mission cannot be done if over budget --> I suggest to set it to 30000 or so. (line 159)

Generally I suggest to download the newer version of the missions via the 'Download zip'-button on https://github.com/ajventer/ksp_stuff

I plan to give some mission related remarks later, but to be honest I still didn't have fully understood how KSPInterstellar works . Generally I again like the humor for the new missions, but for 'boring' (in the sense of bring a single instrument to xxx and check the reading) missions longer than 100 days I really would like to be able to run multiple in parallel. As it is I usually have stopped whenever I encountered one like them and switches to the next mission series.

[Sesiom]

Just tried 2 first missions of nukelar rocketery.

-As chlue says you have to edit every Nuclear for Fission or it wont recognice the elements.

-First mission took me lot of time to figure it out I needed liquid fuel in order to lift, as per the description it seemed you only needed the nuclear reactor and the nozle ( First time using interestellar mod and is very confussing with so many new parts)

-Second mission, got to orbit with the first stage standard rocket 75-80km as required then ditched the stage and used the 1.5 Kiwy reactor. 1.5 nozle and required 2.5 enourmous fuel tank.. estimated time to do the maneouver to get 1000km orbit HOURS. And that hours of real time even forced 4x.

Or some parts are mistaken or I'm doing something wrong... or just dont know

[chlue]

Just tried 2 first missions of nukelar rocketery.

-First mission took me lot of time to figure it out I needed liquid fuel in order to lift, as per the description it seemed you only needed the nuclear reactor and the nozle ( First time using interestellar mod and is very confussing with so many new parts)

It took me a while to figure things out, too. To give you some hints:

- The thermal rocket engines can use different propellants which leads to different TWR/ISP values. For a launch vehicle you most likely want to burn LFO for the much greater thrust

- Switch reactors to thorium fission. This increases the power at the cost of reactor lifetime, but they still work multiple years so this is certainly no issue for short missions.

-Second mission, got to orbit with the first stage standard rocket 75-80km as required then ditched the stage and used the 1.5 Kiwy reactor. 1.5 nozle and required 2.5 enourmous fuel tank.. estimated time to do the maneouver to get 1000km orbit HOURS. And that hours of real time even forced 4x.

Or some parts are mistaken or I'm doing something wrong... or just dont know

If you are playing career mode when you unlock the fission reactors they are close to pointless (especially the smaller ones) in the sense that the 'normal' stock nuke engine is better. But once you unlock the fusion reactors the fission reactors get higher temperature and power with leads to about 3 times the ISP making your rockets lighter. Take a look at https://github.com/FractalUK/KSPInterstellar/wiki/Thermal-Rocket-Nozzle-and-Thermal-Turbojet for some further readings. Generally in the early phase for this addon you have to keep your rockets very light (this drastically changes if you have something as an upgraded fusion reactor at your disposal trough ). For the mission you are required to use the (for this needs) quiet pointless heavy 2.5m fuel tank, but no one says that it has to be fully filled and the reactors are so far extremely cheap so you can attach more than one to get more thrust.

Btw, took me a while to figure this out, but one can actually play multiple missions at the same time by going back to the control center and start another available mission. One can then resume the abandoned mission by selecting it again and going back to the craft launched for it. This for example makes it possible to send a rover mission and a scansat mission to Duna in the same launch window.

[Sesiom]

Hey thanks very usefull information and didnt know about multiple mission control

[Sesiom]

I'm starting the translation of this mod to spanish and also making some changes to adapt a little to 0.23 changes on science stuff.

I wanted to add an initial mission were there is only 1 single pod no rocket at all and then make Crew report, Eva report and surface sample; so that will be a first introduction to this mechanics "inland".

The problem with this is that untly it recognices you have launched it wont work at all. The only solution so far I found is to move the pod with "WASD" to make a flip then it will say you have launched and can start the experiments.

I also wanted to add a "HINT" for this... but then again untly you have "launched" the HINT wont show.

Something I could do for that?

[Fr0z3n]

Hi,

I got a problem with "Part 3: Sun" where you have to orbit the sun below 7,000,000 km for 2 days.

I am in actually in an orbit below 7,000,000 km for a couple of days but I don't accomplish the task. It never says completed.

Am I missing something or is the script not working properly since it's still for 0.22?

Thanks for your help!

Fr0z3n

[Sesiom]

I did that mission in 0.23... did you chek you aint missing any previous prerequisite?

[Fr0z3n]

What do you mean with prerequisite? My vessel has everything equipped to fulfill the mission...

Just to be sure: 7,000,000 km means an orbit somewhere between Eve and Moho right?

Equals Sun Periapsis of 7,000,000,000 m on the map...

7000M in the top bar where it shows the distance to surface...

7 Gm in MechJeb's Orbit Info and Surface Info windows...

Edit 1: I just noticed that I got the same problem with the satellite challenge where you have to put a satellite in a specific orbit around Kerbin.

Edit 2: I had a look at the code of the mission. Is it possible that not only my periapsis but also my apoapsis has to be below 7,000,000 km? Theoretically it would be enough if my periapsis is below 7,000,000 km and I am orbiting for 2 days there. But as it seems the code is checking if my apoapsis is below 7,000,000 km which is not absolutely necessary... Can you remember how you succeeded the mission?

Solution: I figuered out that both your periapsis and apoapsis have to be below 7,000,000 km (same applies to the satellite challenge). In my opinion there should be either a change in the mission description or in the implementation of the objective validation, so it's actually sufficient to orbit below 7,000,000 km for 2 days no matter where the apoapsis is.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Fr0z3n

[Sesiom]

Hi Fr0z3n, Yes allways there is an "Orbit" requisite it only validates if your actual full orbit(apoapsis and peripasis) is inside the requested altitude.

The script options would be. (more than x / less than x / between x and y). I dont think there is anyhow to validate how you say. The only option would be specify a little more in the description, also bare in mind there is a limit of text you can fit in the mission (It shows a scroll bar but I wasnt able to get it to work, so only what is on the main screen text will show).

I'm no expert anyway. I just was messing arround with the files to make an Spanish version of the mod.

[mrj3]

hi.

I have problem on 0.23.5 ksp ver. mod is not eligible academic tasks (eg The Height Stuff reporting from space or observation Mystery of GOO

give nothing - mission failed. Altidute is ok (between 75k - 80k)

What am I doing wrong?