Svetnikov's Space Administration

[Kieve]

Rather than make new threads for each mission, I figure it'll be simpler to compile future endeavors here...

Contents:

(Click banners for the appropriate tale)

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Seven Kerbals in a heavy Science rover make a three-hundred kilometer journey over the Mun's surface

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A structural malfunction leaves five Kerbals in jeopardy, on an escape trajectory from Kerbin

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How to waste millions of credits in SSTO research

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A Science-laden journey to the Red Planet

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Bob Kerman's struggle to find success in failure.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Kieve

[Kieve]

---

To further their understanding of Kerbin and its surrounding space, Command passed along a new requisition to their Engineering corps - a deep-space manned mission that would pass ahead of Kerbin's sphere of influence, conduct a series of observational reports and materials analysis, and return. Several days later, Engineering turned in their prototype for review. Unfortunately, someone spilled coffee on the blueprints and the Kerman Voyager plans were abandoned for fear that the caffeine had somehow corrupted the design. (Only later did they learn that the pot had been decaf.)

Stuck with soggy blueprints and a looming deadline, Engineering dusted off the schematics for their failed Longshot unmanned probe and scribbled in new parts until they were pretty sure it would carry a Kerbal into orbit without exploding. Best of all, having a live pilot meant this time it wouldn't run out of battery charge halfway to Minmus and end up orbiting the sun as an inert heap of metal. Thus, the Deepshot 1 was born.

Assigned to the Deepshot were five of the most courageous pilots Command couldn't figure out what to do with - Kerny, Diloly, Jenmund, Danbrett, and Heneny. Tired of being passed over for missions - and particularly, of being neglected in favor of unmanned drone craft which Command was so enamored with - they were only too happy to accept the assignment. Since the Deepshot was being ferried into orbit by the well-tested Orbital Hauler lifter, the five felt perfectly safe as they were strapped into their cockpits. Kerny, being the senior pilot, was assigned the lead capsule and would have control of the mission.

True to form, the Orbital Hauler engines got them into orbit with plenty of delta-V to spare. Deciding to burn off the extra fuel before dumping the main engine, Kerny left the final stage attached, using it to boost them into an escape trajectory. Even then, there was still half the fuel left. Clearly, Engineering hadn't thought to downsize the OHL any for the lighter payload. If they had, the Deepshot's crew would have discovered the problem much sooner...

It was more than a day out from Kerbin when Kerny decided the extra weight of the massive OHL would impede their ability to maneuver, and was unnecessary for gaining a return trajectory. He hit the release to decouple the stage - but the OHL remained firmly attached. Confused and troubled, he went on EVA to have a look.

The thick struts keeping the Deepshot stable were bolted down tight between the Hauler and their vessel's own heat shielding. There was nothing he could do to dislodge the derelict engine from their craft - and worse, the added weight would make reentry impossible. The Deepshot would shatter when the full weight of the OHL hit their chutes. To make matters worse, Jenmund and Danbrett were trapped in their cabins. A fault in the doors prevented them from exiting, meaning even if a rescue ship was sent up, two of the crew would still be lost to the void. Distressed, Kerny radioed Command to inform them of the situation.

The solution, when he heard it, sent chills down his spine. They were going to ram the ship.

The problem, Command explained, was the adapter the struts had been bolted to. If that could be destroyed, the rest of the ship should have no trouble disconnecting from the OHL. It was risky and dangerous, but Kerny knew it was also their best chance to get free of the offending lifter stage.

At dawn, the newly minted RCS Javelin was sent up. Essentially a drone-controlled battering ram, the long nose section had been impact-tested to a speed of 30 meters per second. The adapter ring on the OHL could only withstand a third of that. Waiting in intersect orbit, the Javelin would meet the Deepshot as it returned, the two would match orbits, and the drone would attempt to destroy the OHL adapter and the struts holding it to the Deepshot.

To help match up with the Javelin's orbit, Kerny was to conserve the rest of the OHL's fuel and burn retro just enough to cancel their planned escape from Kerbin. The rest would be used to bring the Deepshot into a stable orbit around Kerbin again. Rendezvous however, would not be for another seven days. In a week's time, they'd find out if the Javelin would work - or kill them all in the process.

Until then, it would wait...

---

Small floodlights flickered to life as the dormant Javelin woke from its slumber. Deepshot was returning - it was time to match orbit and free the trapped vessel. At some point, debris had sheared off two of its solar panels, but the Javelin was still receiving plenty of charge from the remaining six, and had plenty of battery reserves. When Deepshot was within range, it would be ready.

On board the Deepshot, Kerny was lining up for their aerobrake pass. As far out as their craft had ventured, it would take more than what was left in the OHL tanks to realign their orbit into something resembling stable. The Deepshot shuddered and the smell of burning ozone filled the cabin as it scorched through Kerbin's upper atmosphere, but soon enough they were settled once more around their homeworld, and on a near-perfect intercept with their robotic rescuer. Even after matching its orbit, the OHL still had plenty of fuel left. Wryly, Kerny wondered if maybe they should have just made a pass by Eve before coming back.

Like an inquisitive beast, the Javelin drifted in close, examining the Deepshot's underside, and the faulty linkage that fastened it to a lethal amount of dead weight.

The radio crackled to life as Command relayed the drone's report. "RCS Javelin reading green, Kerny. Adapter is targeted and ready for impact."

Kerny gulped, but kept the trepidation out of his reply. "Deepshot is ready, Command. Everyone's strapped in and braced." Silently, he prayed to Ker they lived through it.

"Roger that, Deepshot. Javelin is pulling back. Mark distance, 100 meters." From a hundred meters away, it would halt, realign itself with the faulty adapter, and accelerate to 20m/s. More than enough to dislodge the stubborn lifter stage. Kerny waited, holding his breath, and tried not to flinch at Command's next transmission. "100 meters: Mark. Javelin accelerating."

Seconds later, the Deepshot jerked like a fish on a line. Though sound did not carry in space, the five Kerbals felt the explosion, the shriek of twisting metal, as its force passed through the vessel. The SAS hummed madly as it attempted to halt the craft's tumbling. Through the window port, Kerny thought he could make out the remains of the OHL tank spiraling away from them. Did it work? he dared to hope. The red fault indicator on the coupling suggested otherwise.

Command confirmed his suspicions.

"Javelin has sustained moderate damage, one engine pod lost but still operational. Deepshot, the tank is off but that adapter ring is still latched onto you. We're going to give it another go - better clench up."

"Command, you do realize we're sitting on top of a nuclear engine up here, right? If this goes wrong it's going to be very messy."

"Sit tight and keep it together, Deepshot. Javelin will get you out of there in one piece."

Kerny wished he could share Command's confidence, but he laid his hands on the controls and kept the craft's tail pointed squarely at the Javelin. Best to make things as easy as possible.

Without the huge OHL tanks to absorb impact, the second hit was even more jarring than the first. Debris rained past them, flung forward by the drone's momentum - including the globe of the Stayputnik module that operated the craft. He hoped the Javelin had done its job properly this time, as it wouldn't be doing much else from this point on.

"Javelin has stopped responding. Deepshot, everyone alive up there?" The confidence in Command's earlier transmissions had given way to genuine concern now.

"Shook up but still breathing, Command. Javelin's core is about twenty meters ahead of us on a reentry course and there's a lot of debris." Kerny checked the indicator lights. "Coupler is still faulty."

"Understood. That last hit should've destroyed the adapter. Try decoupling again, and fire a short burn."

Decoupling didn't reward Kerny with the satisfying "clunk" of interstage parts releasing, but he attempted Command's suggestion anyway. Almost immediately, he began getting temperature warnings... but not from the engine. "Command, looks like something's jammed tight to the nacel - it's burning up quick here."

"Keep going, Deepshot. See if you can't cook it off."

The fault hadn't been with the adapter at all - somehow, the decoupler itself had gotten jammed. Now, blue-white flames poured into it, slagging the offending metal until at last it disintegrated under the nuclear fire. A loud bang echoed through the Deepshot's cabins, and the craft leapt forwards, free at last.

"Command," Kerny reported with a sign of relief, "Deepshot reporting free and clear. Will engage escape burn at periapsis on next orbit, and resume mission."

"Roger, Deepshot. Best luck to you, and we'll see you back on KSC turf in a week."

Seventeen minutes later, Kerny turned the vessel's nose to the void, and the nuclear engine blazed to life once more.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Kieve

[Kieve]

---

When plans for an expedition to Duna were first proposed, Command expressed a desire for a reusable landing vessel - something that could travel to Duna's surface, conduct experiments, and return to orbit for refueling and Science analysis. After dozens of successful rocket missions, they were at last turning their attention to aeronautics, and so the Engineering corps began developing their first proper SSTO spaceplane.

The first concepts featured twin docking ports, facing forwards from the wing, but these proved impossible to balance and eventually the Ares line was abandoned after the last fireball nearly veered into the hangar itself during takeoff. In a moment of rare cleverness, they decided to name the next concept Phoenix. Trading the forward-facing ports for a single rear dock, the entire plane was assembled around the resulting U-shaped cleft in its airframe.

A single SEED (Science Exploration & Experimentation Device) could be positioned behind the cockpit. A set of four powerful turbofan jet engines provided atmospheric lift, while two lightweight LV-T45's gave it the thrust necessary to break free of Kerbin's atmosphere and attain stable orbit. If it could leave Kerbin, they reasoned, it could certainly escape Duna.

Clear skies and a sunny morning greeted Bob Kerman as he took the prototype out for its first flight. For this test, there would be no SEED attached, this was strictly to gauge how well the Phoenix could fly. The ATC tower gave Bob the go-ahead, and with a high-pitched whine, the jet engines hummed to life. Just as the plane reached takeoff velocity, the wings dipped downward. There was a spark and debris from the right wing, then the Phoenix was in the air. One of the right ailerons had been destroyed, giving it a slight yaw, but Bob held her steady and began a slow climb to the east, out over the ocean.

While Control monitored his progress, Command received some distressing news. Data was finally coming back from the Duna Seer probe - data that made them beat their collective foreheads off their desks in frustration.. They'd gotten barometric readings from Duna's atmosphere.

Oxygen levels were practically nonexistent. Jet engines would be inoperable on the Red Planet.

The Duna Phoenix was mothballed as soon as Bob landed the plane.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Kieve

[Kieve]

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After the successful retrieval of the Duna Seer probe, Command began planning for a manned mission to the Red Planet. Their primary goal would be to extract as much Science data from Duna, Ike, and the surrounding space as they could. To this end, their first act was the development of the SEED module - a self-contained disposable unit housing all available scientific equipment and instruments. After readings were taken, the data could be collected and the units jettisoned to save weight. After their SSTO idea fell through however, the SEED project was suspended, pending further review.

Instead, the Kerbals turned their attention to the centerpiece of the mission - the Duna Orbiter. This mobile station would be responsible for bringing their explorer team into Duna's system, and serving as a base of operations while smaller vessels were sent down to the surface to collect data. To enhance stability, docking ports were doubled-up, with space for three fuel tanks and three nuclear boosters in an alternating radial configuration around the central tower. A tri-coupler on the station's tail would permit the attachment of science modules, when the question of their implementation had been resolved.

A week later, the Duna Orbiter was completed and ready for launch.

A trio of Orbital Hauler lifters pushed the station into low orbit with ease - even after the orbital height was increased to 350 kilometers, the final OHL stages were almost full. However, an accident while jettisoning the second-stage boosters resulted in one of the spent tanks colliding with the final stage, destroying a side-mounted engine in the process.

(note the missing pylon in the lower-right)

Command was loathe to part with so much unspent fuel, but the weight and thrust imbalance would prove dangerous, and the OHLs were never designed for interplanetary use. They gave the order to have the pylons decoupled.

The next stage to be sent up was a six-port coupling attachment to hold whatever SEED design Engineering was able to finalize.

Due to its unusual design, initial attempts for a central booster rocket failed miserably - the attachment port refused to stay upright during launch, resulting in a number of recoveries from the eastern bay area and precious weeks spent repairing water damage. Fortunately the unit itself was unmanned, and no Kerbals were killed in the process. Finally, boosters were mounted to each of the coupler's six spokes, and it was docked successfully to the station's tail.

Fuel tanks and booster pylons were the next to be sent up.

Neither presented any difficulties in docking, though it was discovered the station's innermost set of solar panels would need to remain retracted to prevent collision with the booster pylons. All of these ascents were performed with drone cores, leaving Sigby bored out of his mind most of the time. Meanwhile, Engineering struggled to finalize the SEED puzzle. With SSTO use abandoned, that left them with traditional landers. The trouble was, their lander designs thus far had no accommodation for extra devices docked to them, nor had they attempted to land on a planet with atmosphere before. It also left the question of how many launches Command was willing to do in order to complete the Duna Orbiter's payload. Two booster pylons were scheduled to go up in the next few days, plus a launch for each of their six proposed SEED landers.

Finally, one of the engineers revisited the SEED concept itself. Slimming it down until it was barely more than two materials labs and an RCS tank held together with duct tape, he proposed the new design was small enough to be mounted under a traditional lander. The weight was almost nonexistent, and would be jettisoned before return. They reviewed the data from the Seer and developed a new lander, carrying just enough ground clearance to mount one of the redesigned SEEDs. Best of all, the tiny modules could be sent up all at once.

Then came another wrinkle - they'd forgotten proper Science facilities for the Orbiter!

A new coupler stage was sent up, with an integrated science lab and SEEDs already in place. The heavy lander soon followed.

Only two of the booster pylons remained, then the Orbiter would be ready, awaiting its transfer window.

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(To be continued...)

Edited January 13, 2014 by Kieve

[KeithStone]

Eager to see your duna mission and phoenix!

[Kieve]

Phew! All tales have been updated to their most current status. Sorry for the delay on the Duna mission, it was getting late last night by the time I'd finished the first two.

[Kieve]

Updated the Deepshot mission. Five Kerbals will live on to Science another day. Thank you, RCS Javelin for your noble sacrifice.

[Kieve]

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Bob Kerman sat in the pilot's lounge, moping as he nursed a mug of cold coffee. A week had passed since the Duna Phoenix's maiden flight, and despite its performance it was now sitting under a huge canvas tarp in the corner of the hangar. It was a good plane. It did everything it was supposed to, everything they wanted. And now they're pretending it doesn't exist. The Kerbal sighed, getting up to dump out his mug. Just like me. Aside from that test flight, he'd not piloted a mission since before their space program had attained orbit. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice Burhat standing beside him until the other pilot spoke.

"Something wrong, Bob? You look like Jeb landed the Orbiter on your dog." The Mun Orbiter was a bad joke among the other Kerbonauts. Command had sent it up with the intent of providing a staging area for interplanetary exploration, but they'd done nothing with the station since it gained stable orbit, months ago.

Bob rinsed out his mug in the sink. "Just thinking about the Phoenix. Shame, good plane like that going to waste." He bit his lip, concentrating on the coffee stain at the bottom of his cup - he was not going to start pouring his heart out to Burhat, who'd become one of Command's favorites since leaving the pilot academy.

The other Kerbal apparently saw right through him anyway. "Tired of being grounded, I see. Well... maybe this'll cheer you up somewhat. Wernher had something new he was working on over in R&D." Burhat nudged Bob with his elbow. "Maybe you should go see what he's up to."

---

"Ah, Burhat!" Von Kerman greeted him. "No, you are Bob. My apologies. Vhere is Burhat?"

Bob shrugged. "He sent me to have a look at your latest project. Seemed to think it would 'cheer me up' somehow."

"Ja, that it might. Come, see!" The famed engineer lead him over to a table covered with assorted blueprints and schematics. "Command vas unsatisfied vit de 'RAPIER' engine ve received, and requested ve try to improve it... Ah! Here ve are!" He held up a large sheet for Bob to observe. "Ve reached out to ze B9 contractors for this one. Impressive, ja?"

Bob Kerman nodded, though he wasn't certain what he was seeing. "Very impressive... but what is it?"

"Ve call it 'SABRE.' Jet engine, rocket motor, it does ze work of both! Ze thrust is not as high as I vould like, but it vill operate at much higher altitude." Von Kerman beamed, clearly pleased with his handiwork. Bob was not the brightest pilot in KSC's roster, but he returned the grin as he realized what Wernher was presenting.

"Dr. Von Kerman, I'll take two."

---

Meanwhile in Mission Control, word reached them that the Centipede and her crew had finally arrived safely at Arc Luna. Calger's team had recovered some data and soil samples along their journey, but neither the Outpost nor the Centipede had transmitting devices. They needed a way to retrieve the information and the launch pad would be occupied for the next several weeks with rockets bound for rendezvous with the Duna Orbiter. The runway however, remained free...

It took Bob little persuasion to convince Command to retrofit the Duna Phoenix with the new SABRE engines. The intakes were similarly revised, and landing gear repositioned to eliminate the wing-strike the plane had suffered on its first flight. In just a few short days, the Phoenix II sat gleaming on the runway. From its cockpit, Bob Kerman had never looked happier. They'd even included a redesigned SEED to perform some of the experiments the Centipede had lacked the equipment for in their journey.

From shakedown run to Mun mission, Bob thought. Either they must be absolutely certain this will work, or they're trying to kill me. His smile only widened. Either way, I get to fly again.

Trailing fire, the Phoenix II leapt into the sky and began climbing towards the heavens.

---

As the Phoenix II cleared the upper atmosphere, Bob hit the release on the solar panels. Around each intake pylon, the glossy blue panes unfolded, twisting to capture the sun's light. The burn for orbital stabilization wasn't for another few minutes yet, which gave him enough time to admire the view.

The first step on his flight plan was to rendezvous with Orpheus, the old fueling station hanging in low orbit. His tanks were still better than half-full, but running out of fuel on an intercept trajectory with the Mun was a thoroughly unappealing prospect. Not that Orpheus was much of an improvement. It was an ugly, ungainly space-barge - Command's first attempt at a functional orbital station. While Bob couldn't refute the "functional" part, it lacked the finesse or style of the Orbiters for Duna and Mun. Ker, even the stainless steel tank from the lifter stage still hung off it, ringed with skeletal girders that had once supported the station's asparagus boosters.

It was like a metal sausage with tumors.

Still, it had the fuel he needed to press on. Easing the controls forward, Bob slid the Phoenix II under the station's docking crosstree, eyes fixed on his instruments as he awaited the dull "thump" of magnetic seals clamping down.

As he watched the fuel gauge tick up, the Kerbonaut felt his anticipation building. After being passed over so many times, for so many missions, he was finally going to set foot on another world. He gazed out past the jumble of tanks that was Orpheus, spotting his destination. The grey orb of the Mun hung in a star-speckled void of black. Somewhere around it, Jeb and the Orbiter circled, while Bartbles and the rest prowled the surface in the Centipede, gathering Science. Beyond them, Kerny and his Deepshot team hurtled into the unknown beyond Kerbin's SOI. At last, it was his turn.

That was when Command decided to pull the rug out from under him. Bob's comm crackled to life.

"Phoenix, got some bad news. You reading us, Bob?"

For an instant, the Kerbonaut debated shutting off his comm, pretending he'd never heard the message. Whatever this "bad news" was, he felt certain he didn't want to hear it.

Reluctantly, he thumbed his mic. "Phoenix reads you, Command."

"Mun is a no-go. Align orbit for reentry at KSC and bring her home. Details to follow at debriefing." Even for Command, the instructions were unusually curt.

"Acknowledged. Reentry in T-minus 19 minutes. See you then, Command."

"Count on it, Bob. Command out."

The Kerbonaut frowned. Command had sounded almost... angry. Why scrub the mission now? What did I do? He looked out at the Mun once more, overcome by a profound sadness. So close, yet so far.

The feeling lasted until flames licked around the Phoenix II's nose as it hit atmosphere. Even his utter despair could not dull the joy of flying this wonderful machine.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Kieve

[Kieve]

As it turned out, Command's decision had nothing to do with Bob. A final mission was already underway to pull Bartbles and the rest of the Centipede and Arc Luna crews off Mun, and pick up Jeb as well. The Duna mission was scrapped entirely, with the final two transfer stages never having launched. A skeleton crew would remain at KSC to monitor Deepshot's progress and arrange for their retrial once the craft made it back to Kerbin. Beyond that, KSC was shutting down.

Gene Kerman hung his head, as dour as anyone had ever seen him.

"Our funding was cut off," he explained to the distressed Kerbonauts. "We have what we need to bring our boys home, but nothing more. The Mun Retriever will be the last rocket off the pad, I'm afraid."

Some hung their heads in shock, others balled their tiny fists angrily. They had put stations in orbit around Kerbin and the Mun, landed a base there, walked on minty little Minmus, and were preparing for their greatest journey yet - leaving Kerbin's orbit entirely for the red planet of Duna! It made no sense!

But while KSC depended on the ingenuity of so many contractors for the parts they sent skyward, it was the Kerbin States that paid for those parts. And they were no longer writing checks.

Within a month, the Kerbin Space Center had been completely mothballed, its Science dolled out to universities and labs across the country. The Duna Orbiter was sold to the Kerbistan goverment, who used the single attached transfer pylon to move it into a higher orbit, where it was repurposed as their own science station. Without monitoring, the Orpheus fuel station and Mun Orbiter degraded and fell - the fuel station was still nearly full when it burned up high over Kerbin's desert, leaving a fireball that could be seen over three hundred kilometers away. The Orbiter scattered itself across several hundred kilometers of the Mun's surface, leaving a fresh track of craters atop the old ones. Arc Luna and the Centipede sit abandoned on the Mun's surface, sentinels to the end of an era.

But where one era ends, another one begins...

---

Author's Note:

So I let KSP sit idle for a while, during which time it updated. And then updated again. Lazy sod that I am, I couldn't be bothered to try keeping up with both the changes, and the requisite "new versions of mods I was using, since the update broke them."

I read about KSP hitting "beta" status, then being "Feature-complete" and ready for full release. That excited me. But it wasn't until I sat down, pre-Super Bowl, and caught October Sky playing, that the KSP bug finally bit me again, hard.

I'm loathe to leave a story unfinished however, so the "Second Phoenix" tale above has been rounded off.

I never did send the Duna mission on its way, sadly. For all the time I've owned KSP, I have yet to leave Kerbin's SOI with anything more than a Probodyne. At least not legitimately - in a moment of weakness, I had installed a cheat-mod, thinking it would help me test things and avoid disaster. Which it did, I suppose, since I was able to see first-hand that the Phoenix would not fly on Duna. But it also killed the sense of challenge and exploration that I love about this game, since being able to put a ship anywhere / any time is pretty much the exact opposite of that.

And now here we have a revamped career mode, with Funds and Science and Reputation all tangled up in contractually-binding agreements! So for the few poor souls who were reading this and wondering if I'd continue: rejoice, for my rendition of KSC will return. KSG may not be funding them any more, but it seems Rockomax, C7, Probodyne and the rest are all more than happy to help the Kerbin Space Center return to its former glory. We just have to sign on the dotted line, first...

[Kieve]

I have an update, and some questions:

-Through the magic of save-editing, the old Arc Luna outpost and the Centipede can both be restored to the Mun. Likewise, all the old crews - Calger, Bartbles, Burhat, and the rest - can join the roster for my .90 game.

So basically, yay continuity! Of course there'll be plenty of fresh faces as well, I just like being able to maintain consistency with past kerbal'ing. Right now, I'm working through the kinks of getting the two craft and my roster "restored," which has so far resulted in magically teleporting some unassigned kerbals to "empty" spots in the Centipede. Hopefully I figure this out for myself but I'll ask on the off-chance I can't: best way to revert the Arc Luna situation to a proper ghost town? I'd rather not have to burn funds launching a rescue op for teleporting kerbonauts. EDIT: Went with the stupid-simple fix and sent all kerbals on EVA, saved, then imported the now-empty base & rover.

-Much as I would like to restore the failed Duna Orbiter (as it was given over to foreign riff-raff, but still very much operational), it uses .23-era B9 parts, and is basically broken. So that's out. (Yes, I know it can be fixed, just too much hassle to do it).

-Biggest question is, should I start a new thread for .90, or keep adding to this one? All the tales / missions above are outdated, but since I'm keeping a sense of continuity here... "question mark!"

And on the topic of continuity, I've been asking myself "Why are they all 'Kerman's?!?" Again with save-edit magic, I can give out actual last-names (Kerbington, Kerlysle, McKermak, etc), and give the little greenbeans a bit more individuality. On the other side of the scales, the veteran trio, Gene, and Wehrner are all "Kerman" per Squad's continuity. Any thoughts there?

-I started my .90 career over a week ago. Every building is Tier 3, the whole tech-tree is unlocked, I have a healthy stable of SSTO planes, and currently working on putting down bases on Mun / Minmus, and expanding KSC's reach out into the Kerbol system.

The question becomes, should I toss all that, start fresh (again) and chronicle the whole thing from scratch? Or just pick up from where I am now and fill in any gaps as-needed? I'm not overly fussed about restarting, as I'll still have all my designs and subassemblies saved (just a matter of doing the grunt-work and contracting to restore the tech and building upgrades - and most of that I worked through in two days).

All input is welcome.

EDIT: Just an amusing little by-note. Apparently Calger has badS = True. This explains so much...

Edited February 10, 2015 by Kieve