Project Odyssey: adventures getting home from an alternate dimension

[Felbourn]

Sets are now in git.

Note that I started out with all sets in one game, but one day decided to make a separate save for each set. So what I did was copy my existing save to a new directory, rename, and use that to add a new set. For this reason you'll see many copies of the same set. What matters is the name of the directory. Only one set is "official" per saved game.

I used to put them on the pad, but later decided the runway was better.

For "floating through an IVA" yes I turn off gravity. It's a lot harder so I prefer things that need gravity, or say I have artificial gravity.

[Felbourn]

Edited September 7, 2015 by Felbourn

[Alewx]

NOOOOOOOOO

Finale, noooooo.

[linuxgurugamer]

Pant, pant, pant

Still waiting (Monday here, I don't know your timezone)

Seriously, mucho congratulations on this. It has been wonderful, and I learned a lot watching, as well as being totally entertained.

Your daughter's voice is just perfect for Valentina.

Can't wait until I see what the next thing you do is.

Truly a labor of love.

[Felbourn]

[TheRag]

I just realized that the Hydra launch system, is a kerbalized Ares 1, but anyway what a great series!

Seriously good job, let's hope that Alexandria fares the same!

[linuxgurugamer]

Very nice. Just waiting for the finale now.

[FireFaced]

Very nice. Just waiting for the finale now.

Maybe the finale involves pushing the big red button

[pack_rtr]

Bob, on your new RSS install, what res RSS textures did you use? Also, to get RVE working on the launchpad do you press Apply one time and then it works or do you have to do it every time you load the game?

[Sampa]

Bob, any plans for a followup series to this one after the finale?

[Felbourn]

At the end, Bob enters the test chamber that was being referred to at the beginning of Project Gateway. I had said something like, "Bob was doing an experiment and there was an explosion. Space-time became damaged and temporal anomalies ripped open everywhere. Plans for something called an 'Eye Ess Ess' were later found on Minmus." In this episode of Odyssey, Kesla talks about how he and Joseph had determined that they could strengthen the point of space-time where the first event occurred, to prevent any time loops. At the very, very end, Bob carries out the experiment that he did right before Project Gateway started. There is no overload this time. It comes close, but Kesla's fix works. This means the catastrophic events of Gateway and Odyssey have been stopped. Time will now unfold in a totally different way for the original crew. I wonder what they'll do next... One clue could be the device he was testing. It might be familiar to some of you.

[Alewx]

Feels sad and happy at the same time, it was a great exploration with the crew.

[Rehty77]

Whoa. I get it now. It all makes sense. But what exactly WAS that? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Awesome work on this series, Bob. I'm looking forward to the next one as well as the return of Project Alexandria.

[pack_rtr]

Great Finale, well done! Will the next series be on the Genesis install or a new one?

[Felbourn]

Genesis is turning out to be a failed experiment. If I do a full rebalance install, I'll need to combine my Genesis and Odyssey experiences for a hybrid solution. My idea now is to make a program that can write CFG part files, thus preventing the huge performance impact ModuleManager is having on Genesis. Odyssey was a program that did the installation itself, and balance changes were made by hamd. Genesis was an experiment with hand-installing but then overriding via MM files. I think a nice combo might be to hand install while a program generates the MM files.

[pack_rtr]

Genesis is turning out to be a failed experiment. If I do a full rebalance install, I'll need to combine my Genesis and Odyssey experiences for a hybrid solution. My idea now is to make a program that can write CFG part files, thus preventing the huge performance impact ModuleManager is having on Genesis. Odyssey was a program that did the installation itself, and balance changes were made by hamd. Genesis was an experiment with hand-installing but then overriding via MM files. I think a nice combo might be to hand install while a program generates the MM files.

So will it be a .dll file that will be applied on game load? In what program are .dlls written and on what computer language? I don't know anything about .dlls since this year is my first class about programming but we will only learn java:(Also, when will you update the Alexandria repo? I want to see that space center!!!

Edited September 14, 2015 by pack_rtr

[Felbourn]

So, I got this on my YouTube channel.

First... wow!

Second... here are my inline replies.

by Gil Wanderley

The series had a bunch of retcons, but IIRC the plot is as follows:

* Bob and Kesla do energy source experiments, but it tears anomalies all over space-time, to the point of causing cataclysmic events in some alternative universes (Like Svetlana's universe). (Explained in "E40: "Kopernicus" / Project Odyssey")

Only Bob was doing an experiment. I don't recall saying exactly what he was doing. He caused an explosion. Kesla later developed the tech needed to detect the anomalies.

* The kerbals from the original universe find a blueprint from an anomaly to build a space station with the Omega 13 device (Project Gateway start)

Yes. Kesla learns to detect anomalies, finds a large one on Minmus, and before Gateway started they go there and find the plans on a thumb drive that slipped in from our earthling dimension.

* The first time Omega 13 was activated, it went bad, so Joseph time traveled to the past to warn himself to try to stop it from ever happening.

The Omega 13 was supposed to fix the problem, but they ran out of time when a large anomaly opened inside the sun. They activated the O-13 early, but instead of fixing the problem, it sent them into another dimension.

* After he was arrested, he decided to work on it, and then the kerbals were able to fix the Omega 13 and start it before an anomaly caused the sun to go supernova. (Project Gateway finale).

Joseph was originally the project director, but things went badly and some future version of his brother Kranz came back in time to warn him. This created a new timeline where Joseph was opposed to the project and Kranz became the project director instead. He eventually realized it was worthless fighting against the project because it was probably too late, so instead he worked with them to solve the problem.

* That caused some kerbals from the original universe to end up in an alternative universe. They detect an artifact, part of Omega 13, in Duna. (Project Odyssey start)

They slipped from their original dimension to a new one, and the missing part of the needed artifact probably either went with them to Duna, or was already there on Duna (and might be the reason they went to THIS dimension of all the infinite choices they had).

* Except Hadfield. He slipped some time later and became ill with some anomaly caused sickness. The kerbals found a cure in the upper atmosphere of Jool.

Correct.

* Meanwhile, in Svetlana's universe, the kerbals from that universe are able to track the anomalies to the Odyssey universe. They have some more advanced technology including cross dimensional communications.

Correct. Their universe was hit harder than even ours, and they tracked the source here. They were working on tech to cross over to find a solution when Svetlana accidentally slipped in early.

* Svetlana slips through an anomaly to the Odyssey universe, and starts conspiring with her peers to steal technology from the original kerbals.

Correct. They assumed we had created the anomalies maliciously until Svetlana got to know us better.

* They send a ship through an anomaly, but the cloaking device on that ship interferes with the anomalies and it causes all kerbals from the Odyssey universe to be thrown into yet another alternative universe, and the ship crew to capture Bob ("E21: "Reboot" / Project Odyssey")

Correct, though it was Bill who was captured. They also used the Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan ear bugs on him to make him obedient.

* After Svetlana has a change of heart and helps the original kerbals defend against the invasion, they strike a deal to get the cross dimensional comms technology in exchange for Hadfield's medicine.

Correct.

* The Kopernicus is built and finished, and in the middle of the trip they find a mystery ship that almost destroyed the Kopernicus because they were stuck in an anomaly. Joseph sacrifices himself to help the crew of the other ship.

Correct.

* The Kopernicus reaches Duna, the kerbals dig the artifact and start the Omega 13. That not only closes all anomalies, but also strengthened the multiverse to the point that Bob's experiments never cause the anomalies in the first place. So, the whole thing never happened.

Correct.

Did I miss anything?

Seems pretty good to me.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Felbourn

[Felbourn]

Spoilers!

Alright, Gil inspired me to recount the entire story.

Prologue

It all started when Bob Kerman was experimenting with a new technology. He built a device that overloaded during one of his tests, and tore a hole in space-time. Multiple universes started bleeding through into each other.

Kesla Kerman studied the effects of the device and eventually discovered the anomalies and how to detect them. He also started working on a way to predict them.

A large anomaly on Minmus left behind some extra-dimensional wreckage, including a thumb drive and bits of a computer. We detected the anomaly and sent a crew to retrieve the wreckage. (These artifacts were from OUR human dimension. The thumb drive contained ISS blueprints.)

A commission was established and a new space organization was created to rebuild the ISS from those plans. Joseph Kerman was the Project Director. Like in the movie Contact, the Kerbals thought the device in the blueprints would allow contact or communication with an ancient alien species.

Completing the ISS and activating a device on it called the Omega-13 was disastrous and caused the destruction of the solar system. A small crew of Kerbals who were away from Kerbin at the time were the only survivors. They spent the next 115 years (Kerbals live a long time) using their knowledge of the anomalies to eventually build a device and travel back in time to warn their younger selves not to build the ISS.

This is when Project Gateway starts.

This is a new timeline. Joseph Kerman had warned himself not to be part of the project, so his bother Kranz Kerman is the Project Director in this timeline. Joseph is opposed to the construction of the ISS because he knows what his future self told himself (technically future Kranz and Jeb told him, because future Joseph was dead by that point) about what happens if they activate the Omega-13.

Version 1 of the ISS was built off screen as a prototype. We see the construction of version 2 of the ISS over the first episodes of Project Gateway. Joseph manages to infiltrate the organization and gets malicious software installed on the station's computers. He gets the station to deorbit itself, but Kranz orders the secondary backup modules to be launched while starting a manhunt for his brother.

Version 3 of the ISS is launched over the next episodes, and Joseph realizes he’s not going to be able to stop the construction of the station. He instead focuses his attention on mitigating the effects of the anomalies. If he can at least stop the effects of the anomalies then maybe in the end that might be enough to save the solar system.

Joseph also realizes the Omega-13 may have been used incorrectly in the alternate timeline that warned him about it. He thinks that using it properly might actually be quite safe, and could in fact be the ANSWER to protecting the solar system. However, they’ll need to survive long enough to reach that point, and the current anomaly situation is only getting worse.

One particular anomaly near the moon has Joseph worried. He secretly constructs a device to send into the anomaly that will nullify it and prevent a catastrophe. It’s definitely a temporary fix, like putting a Band-Aid on a gushing wound, but he hopes it will buy enough time to finish his research into how to use the Omega-13 properly.

Kranz discovers where Joseph is hiding out, and threatens him to stop interfering with the construction of the station. Joseph doesn’t tell his brother about the warning from the future because he doesn’t want to appear crazier than he already does. Instead, he tries to reason with Kranz about the dangers of what they are doing. Ultimately Joesph needs to continue on his own to protect the universe. He sends his device to the moon using an experimental low thrust but high efficiency engine. The device enters the anomaly and stabilizes it enough to delay universal destruction by one more year.

Kranz doesn’t know what the device was supposed to do, so he assumes Joseph has done something to make the anomalies worse. He sends a squad to capture his brother, and they find him hiding out in the Badlands. He is captured and imprisoned. However, Kranz opens an investigation to see if Joseph is right about the danger. His scientists decide it’s true and that the anomalies are on a course to eventually rip the solar system apart.

Joseph gets released from prison on the condition that he helps continue his research to stop the anomalies and help finish the ISS. He agrees to work on the Omega-13 because he feels they are only a few months from understanding how to use it probably to not only reverse the anomaly effects, but also find out what it was really meant to be.

Sadly, a huge anomaly opens inside the sun. Solar mass from several parallel dimensions begins flooding into our sun and causes instability, which is leading to a supernova and subsequent black hole. However, before that happens, the crew on Kerbin decide to activate the Omega-13 early in the hope that it will stop or reverse the effects, even though it’s not ready and has not been tested.

This is where Project Odyssey starts.

Only a handful of Kerbal personnel survive. They slip into an alternate dimension where no Kerbals exist, and yet there is a whole KSC there. The old occupants have slipped into a separate dimension of their own, leaving their old world uninhabited.

The crew vows to find a way to reverse the effects of the anomalies and restore their original home. They realize that a piece was missing from the Omega-13 all along, which might be why it didn’t perform as expected. It might also be the reason why they were sucked to this dimension, because the two parts might be acting like magnets, attracting each other. They need to get to Duna, get the artifact there, bring it back, and combine it with the piece they already have. That’s the only way to unlock its full potential and save the universe.

Hadfield Kerman didn’t make it through the rift as easily as the others. He appeared displaced in space and time, and first showed up around the Mun. They had no way to rescue him, so they presumed him dead after realizing he didn’t have enough life support to last more than a few hours. However, Hadfield was slipping in and out of an alternate reality where time moved differently. We already knew this was possible because it happened to Bill on Minmus during Project Gateway. I guess they didn’t consider this, so he was presumed dead.

Hadfield eventually appeared again, so the crew on Kerbin realized what was happening and set out to rescue him. Unfortunately the effects of being in the alternate reality for so long was having an effect on his DNA. It was essentially giving him a lethal dose of exotic radiation. There was a potential short term cure, and a long term cure. They whipped up the short term cure right away, and prepared a probe to gather the needed element from Jool’s upper atmosphere for the long term cure.

Fuel was a problem. They were running out. They had a supply left behind by the old occupants of this Kerbin, but they had insufficient personnel to run the refineries to make more. They started working on a refining program to turn something called Kethane into fuel. Valentina Kerman was also working with Kesla Kerman on a way to “teleport†tiny amounts of matter at a time, which would allow them to set up a mine and refinery for Kethane on the Mun and transport the fuel back to Kerbin. It was hoped that some day they might also research a way to transport more than a few ounces at a time, and even get to where they could transport Kerbals. That was a long way off, though.

A second problem was with the anomalies having an effect on their memories. The memories of Kerbals from alternate parallel dimensions were bleeding into each other. We were getting memories that were not our own, and probably dumping our own memories into Kerbals in those dimensions. It was not good. We were never entirely sure if what we knew and what we were seeing was actually true. All this meant they needed to move fast, before the effects jeopardized their mission.

Svetlana Kerman was a Kerbal from an alternate, parallel dimension that had also been affected by the tears in space-time. Her entire planet was almost destroyed, and they were working with a limited crew as well. They had better technology, including transporters, shields, warp drive, cloaking, and ansible communication. They were researching the source of the anomalies and had tracked down a signal to our Omega-13. They were a few weeks away from a mission to explore the source of the anomalies when an accident sent Svetlana into our new dimension earlier than she had expected. She was recovered by our crew and nursed back to health. The Kerbals from her dimension ordered her to keep her mission a secret. They wanted her to steal our tech and return home to save their solar system. She was getting to know us better, and seeing we were not malicious, and so became conflicted by the order. She stole the tech as ordered, but had second thoughts after meeting the equivalent of her sister from our dimension. (Many people had a “twin†like this, since these were parallel universes. Each of the girls had lost their own sisters in their original dimensions.) Svetlana attempted to return the tech she stole, but something went wrong and she was overcome with radiation while returning it. She helped stop an overload and then revealed the truth to her sister and everyone else.

Back in Svetlana’s home dimension, leaders Sergei and Komolak decided Sevtlana was either captured, or worse… brainwashed. They set out to use their better technology to bridge the gap between universes and come take our tech and rescue Svetlana. They equipped their tactical ship Raptor I with their new trans-dimension portal device and followed the Omega-13 signal to our new dimension. However, they activated their cloaking device to hide their approach while still inside the event horizon of the anomaly they had used for transport. This led to a massive anomaly spike similar to using the Omega-13 itself. It caused the same distortion that had brought our crew to this world, and thus our crew was sent to yet another new world. Komolak’s crew was left behind, but so was Bill because he was in orbit on Odyssey station. Bill was taken captive by Komolak and Raptor I. They interrogated him and used Kentari slugs on his brain to force him to reveal his secrets and obey them.

The crew discovered an abandoned base just as before. On the plus side they had fuel again. On the negative side there was no Kethane anywhere. They were able to local a different resource called Kethite and started developing tech to mine and refine it. They restored the communications satellites. They started a new Odyssey Station. They tracked down the Duna artifact again. It would just be a matter of time before they'd have everything they needed to restore the Omega-13 and finally save the universe.

The same thing happened again where Hadfield came through late, but this time we were more prepared. Kesla had developed anomaly tracking tech, and was able to predict his arrival. We had a rescue ship in place ready to get him. Neil Kerman worked on the cure to his illness.

Komolak and Raptor I had not given up. They worked for several months to track us down, and eventually did. However, they had needed to use the high gravity of their Eve to get the energy needed, and we were able to detect this with the satellites of our dimension. The effects were showing through to our Eve here, and so we sent a satellite to investigate more closely. Once we discovered what the cause was, and with Svetlana’s insight into her people’s plans, we knew what to expect and who was coming.

Komolak had teleported down to the base we left behind. He procured some tech needed to bridge the dimensional gap more safely this time. They worked out a way to use their shields to prevent another anomaly spike. Komolak, Bill, and two guards teleported down to our base and assaulted Kranz’s office to take him capture, but we knew they were coming. We were prepared, and took them captive instead.

Bill was sent to Neil to have his brainwashing reversed. The guards were imprisoned. Komolak was initially imprisoned, but we eventually talked him into working with us to help save both universes. Raptor I had slipped into another anomaly and was destroyed, so there was no way for his people to rescue Komolak even if he had declined.

The crew was finally united in their purpose. They designed and built the Kopernicus and many ground modules to be used during the excavation of Duna. They set sail so to speak, but along the way ran into another ship that slipped in from yet another alternate dimension. The crew of the other ship was just out of phase enough to be invisible, but just in phase enough to interact with the solid surfaces and computers of the Kopernicus, and us with their ship. We figured out how to reverse the localized anomaly effects and prevent the destruction of both vessels, but Joseph was lost in the process.

The crew made it to Duna, landed, excavated the artifact, and returned to the Kopernicus. They headed back to Kerbin and rendezvoused with Odyssey Station where the Omega-13 had been charging up and getting ready for the missing piece. The crew combined the parts, fired it up, and reversed not only the anomaly effects but time itself. They also strengthened the fabric of space-time to prevent the same thing from happening again when Bob’s experiment would inevitably be run like it was in the original timeline. This time there was no explosion, and so the events caused by the explosion never took place.

This would be the end, if not for the questions of: What was Bob working on? What would have happened if he had continued its development? Were the anomalies truly stopped once and for all? Or were they just delayed?

So this could be the end.

Or it might not be.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Felbourn

[Noah_Blade]

first awesome finale! :wink:wait so odeyssey is a prequel AND a sequel at the same time!? Someone get MatPat quick! [game theory]

EDIT:If you make a new series call it Project Equinox. just a suggestion

Edited September 15, 2015 by Noah_Blade
wanted to add something

[Felbourn]

I have 10k+ subs on YouTube, but I get the feeling only a hundred or less of you actually read these forums. I therefore treat you guys here as "special" and deserving even more attention and secret insights into my shows than I already give to everyone. Consequently, I'd like to share with you this picture.

[Kerbture]

Apreciate the present.

[Joshwoo70]

wait... there is a new video coming soon-ish?

[linuxgurugamer]

wait... there is a new video coming soon-ish?

My guess is Monday.

@Felbourn, great ending

[Alewx]

I have 10k+ subs on YouTube, but I get the feeling only a hundred or less of you actually read these forums. I therefore treat you guys here as "special" and deserving even more attention and secret insights into my shows than I already give to everyone. Consequently, I'd like to share with you this picture.

http://i.imgur.com/hrvGkEi.png

Awesome, thanks for the special treatment

[InsaneDruid]

Just saw the finale and what can i say besides ... well nothing, for I am speechless. Great work that I really appreaciate. It is inspiring to see what can be done with ksp given time and hard , dedicated work. All those details, the clever solutions...

Thanks A LOT! (To all involved!)