# Kerbal Space Program



## no-no (Sep 6, 2012)

Only just discovered this, this really has become my favourite way to waste time.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





It's free up to version .06 I think and then $18 for the full thingy.

You get to build your own multi stage rockets and spaceplanes and then attempt to land on the moon. It's great fun, I haven't managed to successfully land on the moon (Mun) yet , not without leaving an astronaut behind to a grisly death.

There are loads of mods too including a robotics pack, looks handy for recovering failed rockets stranded in eccentric orbits.

Anyhow, well worth a look if you're in anyway interested in space.......


----------



## Firky (Sep 6, 2012)

I know a lad who's addicted to that thing, watches youtube videos and records his own,


----------



## no-no (Sep 7, 2012)

I can understand his problem, everytime you lose an astronaut the little guy stays in orbit, after a while your map of the solar system is peppered with them. 

It makes you play again, I have to develop the technology to rescue them, poor fuckers.


----------



## no-no (Sep 27, 2012)

Despite the apparent lack of interest in this amazing game I have to tell you all that I managed to land a single kerbal on the moon the other night and I brought him home safely too.


----------



## Chz (Sep 28, 2012)

Been toying with it for yonks. The new version makes it a lot easier to intercept orbits.


----------



## Epona (Sep 29, 2012)

no-no said:


> I can understand his problem, everytime you lose an astronaut the little guy stays in orbit, after a while your map of the solar system is peppered with them.
> 
> It makes you play again, I have to develop the technology to rescue them, poor fuckers.


 
That sounds really disturbing. Is there no mechanism in the game for using a form of space-transport that would result in a relatively quick death if something goes tits up?  Like the Shuttle or something, I dunno.


----------



## no-no (Oct 1, 2012)

Well, you can always get back home if your orbit returns you to earth at an altitude low enough that you snag the atmosphere. If you screw up a moon landing though you can end up in orbits that take you nowhere near home. If you have enough fuel you might be able to correct the orbit but landing on the moon burns a lot of fuel, chances are you won't have enough left.

I don't know how to make a rendezvous with an orbiting astronaut, hitting the moon is easy as long as you get close enough, gravity do the rest.

My astronauts aren't that fat though and my maths is shit....


----------



## no-no (Feb 19, 2013)

Got back to this recently, the new version as mentioned has some nice improvements. You can now plot your trajectory ahead of time, all you need to do is point your ship and burn for the right amount of time to get any orbit you like. Rendezvous is still triky but I've got a little skylab setup orbiting at about 160km. Just got the central module all fueled up. Plenty of gas to get me to the edge of the solar system and back again with a bit of luck. It took a while to get the hang of the docking ports, just have to trust your instuments it turns out. Also got a new mod that allows you to attach a winch to any vehicle for towing and refuelling.

Spent a fait bit of time fucking around with ion engines, toooo slooooow. They use huge amounts of leccy so the ship needs to be festooned with solar arrays ( or you can cheat and install nuclear reactors) They' work damn fine if you could speed up time while the engines are powered up but the game won't let you do it.next update maybe.

Anyhow this game really is the nuts. If you don't have it give it a shot. btw this isn't my station, mines prob bigger but far messier....


----------



## Mooncat (Feb 21, 2013)

Great fun! I've been following the youtube guide and have got one rocket up and in orbit and I'm trying the rendezvous a second. Wish the people were a bit more realistic like in Orbiter but there's a healthy mod community so I'm sure there's something out there.


----------



## golightly (Mar 1, 2013)

I've just been giving this a go.  I need to get used to the navigation controls as I tend to over-compensate.  I've not got a ship in orbit yet just a few pioneering cosmonauts smeared across the landscape.


----------



## no-no (Apr 26, 2013)

The trick for orbit is to stay vertical up to around 10000m, then start leaning over to the east (90 degrees) you'll be orbiting in the same direction the planet rotates so you get a slight speed boost.Keep leaning over so you're at a 45degree angle by around 350000m but still headed east(90). Then keep an eye on the orbital map, once your aphelion is above 70000m you can level out and just burn horizontal  ( or prograde, i love the astornautical terms I'm learning with this game) that'll circularise your orbit pretty much.

scott manleys youtube series is fucking excellent, I've been spending more time watching them than playing the game.He's a proper real life astrophysicist or summat his vids explain more than you need to know for the game.

Just bought the full game cos I felt bad playing a pirate copy, I've installed the kethane mod pack too. It's really nice, you can add kethane scanners to any vehicle, get it in orbit and it'll locate kethane deposits on the surface. Then you can build a lander with a drill and storage tanks, I've got a nice stock of fuel on the mun now. oh yeah the new version has reentry effect now, very pretty but the games even harder now!

Next step is to try to reach duna/mars. btw, here's a nice site that'll calculate your orbital trajectories and timings - http://ksp.olex.biz/ Saves you a lot of fuel if you get the angle right first time.


----------



## golightly (Apr 26, 2013)

I've got stuff into a fairly circular orbit without too much trouble now, and I'm just learning how to dock.  I like the re-entry effects but it is definitely harder now.  I've transferred my account to Steam just because most of my other games are stored there.


----------



## nogojones (Apr 26, 2013)

How do you launch the fucker?


----------



## golightly (Apr 26, 2013)

nogojones said:


> How do you launch the fucker?


 
All you need to know  Thanks for the links no-no


----------



## golightly (Apr 28, 2013)

Managed to crash my ship into the Mun.    Next time I'll try and land it.


----------



## no-no (Apr 29, 2013)

Having some rcs thrusters can be handy when landing on the mun to kill off the last bits of horizontal drift.


----------



## Crispy (Jul 26, 2013)

I played the demo last night.
Oh god, my spare time is going to hate me.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 26, 2013)

Crispy said:


> I played the demo last night.
> Oh god, my spare time is going to hate me.


What spare time? Oh you mean Sparrow time.


----------



## Jorum (Jul 26, 2013)

This is the game I've played most in the past few months. Great physicsy explodey toy.
0.21 patch is save-game breaking so I am going to have to rebuild my space station and duna-rover mission. I'm actually kinda looking forward to it


----------



## Crispy (Jul 28, 2013)

This is the result of two successful docking maneuvers 



This is also the result


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

So I've built a pretty big space station now.



And I thought I'd take one of my Kerbals for a little EVA. I walked him to the end of a ladder. And he just calmly walked off the end of it and floated into space. I undocked one of my tugs and tried to use it to nudge him back towards the station, but he went flying in the other direction. So I redocked the tug, and got a rescue ship ready in the VAB. I put 8 landing legs around the top of a capsule, so when they folded up, they made a cage. I flew it up and rendezvoused with the floating Kerbal and managed to grab him. But I didn't get him quite right and he got stuck between two of the "pincers" which caused the physics to freak out, sending the craft into a rapid spin. I unfolded the pincers and the Kerbal went flying off at 100m/s. I had plenty of RCS fuel on board, so gave chase. I finally caught up, and captured the Kerbal safely in the cage, and then promptly ran out of fuel. So I undocked one of my tugs from the station and went to rescue the rescue ship. I'd had the forethought to use the module with docking port on the side for the rescue ship, so I approached it nose-first with the tug and joined the two craft together. I started rotating the T-shaped craft for the return trip and the Kerbal slipped out of the cage and went flying again. I decided to give up with the cage and flew the rescued rescue craft back to the station, where I refilled its RCS tanks, undocked it and used all that fuel up doing a de-orbit burn. Useless thing. Then I went back to the VAB and built rescue ship MK2, which was a big crew module covered in ladders, on top of a super-tug with a proper engine and extra fuel tanks. I rendezvoused with the Kerbal (again) and got the rescue craft lined up on a very slow approach (less than 1m/s). I switched control to the Kerbal and held down the F key as the rescue module came closer, finally being able to grab it, navigate the ladders and get inside. I was in a hurry and used my main engine to make a maximum accleration/deceleration trajectory back to the station (20km away by now). But I screwed up the timing of the turn-around and braking burn and overshot the station by a few km and 10s of m/s. I used up all my RCS just braking, ending up floating with no translation control a km or two away. So I had to "drive" the station over, extremities wobbling around, massive inertia making control extremely sluggish. I finally docked the station to the rescue module MK2 and now the crew of my station are reunited.

Good game.


----------



## Fez909 (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> So I've built a pretty big space station now.
> 
> View attachment 38135
> 
> ...


 
You are good at writing about the games you play. I had a little chuckle at this


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Jul 31, 2013)

I'm sort of glad i can't even get into orbit. (i sorta do but i'm trapped bwtween just wanting to mess around  and   commiting to doing it seriously  so i end up just tweeking stuff)


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Jul 31, 2013)

So far i've got a launch-to-orbit success rate of about 50%. My favourite was when i used a scaffold to steady my slightly less than structurally sound monster rocket. Then forgot to disengage it. Eighteen solid rocket boosters later and my graphics card is on the fritz with the explosions.

Second was my cunning plan to make my disposable sections re-usable. The parachutes were a nice touch i think but perhaps they shouldn't fire at the same time as the main engines. Back to the drawing board, and when i say drawing board i mean ground, and when i say back i mean at several hundred meters per second.

Third was the one that shook itself apart during flight. It seems there's a maximum force you can put through a single mounting point, possibly also related to the turning moment of those monster engines. I think i used a bit more force than was really a good idea.

I think i'll have to buy this, the demo is excellent 

PS. Do your Kerbals starve to death? I've got one stuck up in a nice LEO, i suppose i should fish him out at some point.


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

Getting into orbit is easy if you try and make your rocket look like a real world rocket. It's orbital mechanics and rendezvous that's tricky. I've got pretty good at it now, although I wish there was a mission planner so I could time my launch window better.

Next step, interplanetary probes. If I can get an unmanned craft into a stable orbit round Duna, I'll be happy


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Jul 31, 2013)

Oh yeah, i can get into orbit but i want to get into orbit with style. And enough power to make it to the Mun, i've only done that in the tutorial so far. I think i need to think more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn_v_schematic.jpg


----------



## Fez909 (Jul 31, 2013)

This is interesting: a genuine astronaut playing KSP



It's a little awkward in the middle when he's struggling with the controls, but it's awesome seeing him know exactly what he wants to build and to do during flight.


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

2hats - you should play this


----------



## Elvis Parsley (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> So I've built a pretty big space station now.
> 
> View attachment 38135
> 
> ...


 
that'll be great when they bring it out as a film


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

Elvis Parsley said:


> that'll be great when they bring it out as a film


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jul 31, 2013)

Thanks for letting me of yet another way for me to waste my life.


----------



## Elvis Parsley (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


>




but i was really rooting for your little kerbal. bullock and clooney i'd rather see bounce of earth's atmosphere and die alone in the cold emptiness of space, or possibly after a failed rescue mission or two


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

Gonna give this aerodynamics mod a go at lunchtime: http://kerbalspaceport.com/ferram-aerospace-research/
See if I can replicate SpaceShipOne or similar suborbital spaceplane


----------



## 2hats (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> 2hats - you should play this


 
Looks like fun. If only I had the spare time (or a spare lifetime)


----------



## 2hats (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> _Gravity_ film trailer


 
Saw the trailer. Laughed at the physics therein. Made mental note to not bother watching the film (it would just really annoy me to watch it).


----------



## Crispy (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Gonna give this aerodynamics mod a go at lunchtime: http://kerbalspaceport.com/ferram-aerospace-research/
> See if I can replicate SpaceShipOne or similar suborbital spaceplane


I can't get the damn thing off the runway without it blowing up


----------



## golightly (Jul 31, 2013)

Crispy said:


> I can't get the damn thing off the runway without it blowing up


 
The space planes are an absolute nightmare to fly.  I can get them off the runway but they end up spinning out of control in seconds.  Baikanur has got nothing on me for failed launches.


----------



## King Biscuit Time (Jul 31, 2013)

Kersal Space Program?


Get on di rocket with mi Daysaver.


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Aug 4, 2013)

*checks time*

Yesterday at 3am Kerbal kind first step foot upon the Mun. Bob's* single man pod touched down in a cloud of smoke from the engines of his single man lander. His stop was brief, the inter orbit stager had run out of fuel early and had plummeted into the cold munar crust, with only half a tank of fuel left his prospects looked bleak...
Takeoff and munar orbit went smoothly without the hinderance of an atmosphere. The Kerbinward burn quickly broke the mun's weak grasp and back into the motherwell, but it was too short. Bob was stranded in an orbit that would never reach home again.

Quickly a rescue mission was created. An unmanned inter orbit tug design was modified to mount an existing Kerbal X launcher and was placed on the pad for launch. Three explosions and total failures later the required reinforcements and overheating issues were addressed and the fourth rocket plunged into the sky. Orbit came quickly and the nuclear engines of the tug quickly brought the required orbit. Docking was almost an anticlimax, slow and careful operation (ignoring the lightspeed limit, something for .24?) brought the two craft close enough for the magnetic collars to latch.

The tug had served part of it's purpose but worse was to come. The parachute on Bob's capsule was broken**. The tug had two large 'chutes but the docking clamp was weak, the shock of their deployment would snap the lander off the descending craft like a twiglet in the hands of a chubby child. Taking control of his own fate bob plotted a course to skim the outer edges of Kerbin's atmosphere, relying on aerobraking to shed his excessive speed.

Moving at close to 3km/s his tug/lander hybrid*** compressed the thin traces of atmosphere to red hot glows. At 60km above the ground the chutes were deployed, bringing the tail of the tug, never meant to fight a full Kerbin gravity alone, to point against the course.

Ignoring the risk of overheating bob put the throttles to maximum, watching the speed bleed away as the combination of cushioning air, draging chutes and nuclear fury tried to slow his suicidal fall. His speed falling he passed the point where a return was possible, his course curving towards the sea. A quick side thrust with the main engines managed to return his landing site to land but in a dangerously mountainous area of Kerbin. At 8km the moment Bob had waited for arrived, his trusty tug had shed enough fuel that it could provide enough thrust to overcome Kerbin's tug. He slowed his descent to a relatively slow 50m/s before dropping to 2km, then slowed further to 20m/s and finally drifted into land.

Bob was subsequently fired from the space program in the traditional manner**** for his gross misconduct for cocking up the original Mun burn and causing me to lose so much sleep.

*No relation

**Ok maybe i forgot that bit

***Tuder*****

****Being blown up whilst testing an experimental rocket.

***** *Tu*g-lan*der* or 'Tuder' as it shall never be known as******

******Also the sound it is expected to make when i fail to land it. Alternative suggestions of 'Crumper' and 'Widowmaker' were rejected as people were afraid the controllers would get hungry or designs on Bob's widow respectively


----------



## Epona (Aug 4, 2013)

Bob_the_lost said:


> *checks time*
> 
> Yesterday at 3am Kerbal kind first step foot upon the Mun. Bob's* single man pod touched down in a cloud of smoke from the engines of his single man lander. His stop was brief, the inter orbit stager had run out of fuel early and had plummeted into the cold munar crust, with only half a tank of fuel left his prospects looked bleak...
> Takeoff and munar orbit went smoothly without the hinderance of an atmosphere. The Kerbinward burn quickly broke the mun's weak grasp and back into the motherwell, but it was too short. Bob was stranded in an orbit that would never reach home again.
> ...


 
Why am I not playing this game?


----------



## Crispy (Aug 4, 2013)

Finally managed to land my Kethane (it's a plugin for mining fuel on other planets/moons) miner on the Mun. Now it's happily mining away, filling up its fuel tanks. Next step is to build a refueling depot in Munar orbit, and ferry some fuel loads from the surface.


----------



## golightly (Aug 5, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Finally managed to land my Kethane (it's a plugin for mining fuel on other planets/moons) miner on the Mun. Now it's happily mining away, filling up its fuel tanks. Next step is to build a refueling depot in Munar orbit, and ferry some fuel loads from the surface.
> 
> View attachment 38581


 
Prelude to interplanetary conquest?


----------



## Crispy (Aug 5, 2013)

golightly said:


> Prelude to interplanetary conquest?


I don't know about "Conquest" 
I certainly hope to litter the surface of other worlds with multiple broken spaceships.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 6, 2013)




----------



## golightly (Aug 14, 2013)

Crispy, Kerbal Orion nuclear pulse rocket.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 14, 2013)




----------



## magneze (Aug 18, 2013)

Probably a silly question, but how do you actually start a launch. I have a rocket, ready to crash on the launchpad with three brave suicidal crew. What do I click/press?


----------



## magneze (Aug 18, 2013)

I worked it out. 

My ship just sank to the floor.  No-one died.


----------



## magneze (Aug 18, 2013)

Ah, holding shift, that's the magic that turns the engines on.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 18, 2013)

I highly recommend http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYu7z3I8tdEm5nyZU3a-O2ak6mBYXWPAL as a beginner's tutorial


----------



## Crispy (Aug 19, 2013)

I decided to try and recreate a real spacecraft: The Boeing X-37B "mini shuttle"







Here it is encased inside its launch fairing (I'm using the Ferram Aerospace Research and Procedural Fairings mods for realistic aerodynamics)



Launch was uneventful. First stage ran out at the right time leaving me on a sub-orbital trajectory with an apoapsis of 100km. Second stage could have been smaller, but did just fine to cicularise. Here it is on orbit after fairing jettison and solar panel deployment.



After ditching the 2nd stage (and giving it a retrograde burn to sink it in the ocean), I executed a plane change burn using the on-board engine. Turns out the thrust vector doesn't point through the center of mass, so I had to keep the throttle low and apply constant RCS to maintain attitude. That's a design problem that needs fixing.



After a couple of orbits, I tilted the orbit back down to equatorial and did a small de-orbit burn, aiming to get back in the thick atmosphere over land and glide the rest of the way to a landing at KSP.



Unfortunately, the vehicle only has aerodynamic stability when going backwards. I really should have done some low altitude test flights.



It also doesn't really generate any lift worth speaking of. Its optimum flight path is arse first, straight down.



Not really a landing. More of a demolition.



Oh well. At least there was nobody on board.


----------



## Cid (Aug 19, 2013)

Crispy you got a link to useful mods and their effects?

Only just started playing so will use default stuff for a while I think (haven't even got a proper orbit going due to continually clicking the wrong manoeuvers), but would be interesting to know.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 19, 2013)

Cid said:


> Crispy you got a link to useful mods and their effects?
> 
> Only just started playing so will use default stuff for a while I think (haven't even got a proper orbit going due to continually clicking the wrong manoeuvers), but would be interesting to know.


I have just three mods installed:

B-9 parts: http://kerbalspaceport.com/0-20-2-b9-aerospace-pack-r3-1/ - lots of high quality parts, especially in terms of wings and fuselages.

Ferram Aerospace Research: http://kerbalspaceport.com/ferram-aerospace-research/ - implements (more )accurate aerodynamics. The vanilla game just consults the Drag value of every part in your craft and adds them up. This means that adding nosecones to your flat tanks is actually counter-productive. FAR fixes that.

Procedural Fairings: http://kerbalspaceport.com/procedural-fairings/ - if you're running FAR, then you absolutely need this. Means you can still launch ungainly shapes without the drag ripping them apart (or slowing you down in atmosphere).

I'm considering getting MechJeb: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com...atid-Robotics-MuMech-MechJeb-Autopilot-v2-0-7 - which adds a bunch of autopilot options.

To get your first orbit, just watch the first video I linked in reply to Magneze upthread. Follow it step by step and you'll have no problem. I really can't complement Scott Manley's stuff enough. Very clear, informative, engaging and entertaining.


----------



## Cid (Aug 19, 2013)

But I have Crispy, I have... 

To be fair I only attempted it properly once and got pissed off by the slightly fiddly orbit handles and not being able to work out how to get rid of a planned manouever. And there were two extra manouevers.


----------



## golightly (Aug 20, 2013)

Crispy said:


> I have just three mods installed:


 
I have found that it's really important to keep the number of mods to a minimum otherwise it really affects loading times.  I did get a bit overexcited a while back and installed every mod that I liked the look of and it took about 15 minutes to load the game.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 20, 2013)

Cid said:


> But I have Crispy, I have...
> 
> To be fair I only attempted it properly once and got pissed off by the slightly fiddly orbit handles and not being able to work out how to get rid of a planned manouever. And there were two extra manouevers.


Yeah, they're a pain. Click once to make it active. Right click to bring up the Close button. Click hard and firmly a long way away from the node to deselect it.

PS: I didn't know that [ and ] selected between nearby craft for ages. Very useful, those keys.

PPS: I have now also installed Procedural Wings, which is excellent


----------



## Cid (Aug 20, 2013)

For about 5 seconds there I was desperately trying to work out where the 'and' key was.

I'm restricted to a laptop and a poor mouse surface at home, which is why it's a pain. I should try it on my large work monitor with decent computer and mouse, but I dare not tread that path.


----------



## Cid (Aug 24, 2013)

This day of the 24th Kerbust and the hour of 01:30 shall live in infamy as the climax of the Mun programme sees another of Kerbin's bravest sons, Jebediah,  part this mortal sphere. Engineers have again been blamed with Bob Kerbin, watching his brother's final descent, claiming that the altimeter read 3,000m when the single-man ship ploughed into into the Mun's surface. Engineers have retaliated, noting that 'the altimeter thing was in the f***ing manual' and that 'attempting a landing on the dark side of the Mun and not bothering to establish a proper orbit first was never going to work'.

The Mun programme has been blighted by failure, with some claiming the project is cursed. A recent attempt to launch a design with a 4 rocket first stage ended in disaster when engineers 'forgot the struts'. An early version of the craft piloted by J. Kerbin simply collapsed - questions have been asked about why the second stage rocket, designed to fire alongside two first stage rockets, failed to do so. Engineers retaliated by saying that the rockets on that version would never have been powerful enough anyway. It has been confirmed that an official investigation, including Kerbal prize winning physicist Richard K. Kerbal, is ongiong.


----------



## Cid (Aug 25, 2013)

It is with unbridled joy that the KSA can announce that the imaginatively named 'Probe 2' is now in orbit around Duna.


----------



## Epona (Aug 26, 2013)

Cid said:


> It is with unbridled joy that the KSA can announce that the imaginatively named 'Probe 2' is now in orbit around Duna.


 
I'm reading this thread for news of it - but kind of peering out between my fingers, fearing what may go wrong this time


----------



## Cid (Aug 26, 2013)

Hi [Epona], we were pleased to get your message here at Kerbalyov mission control - as you can imagine things have been very busy recently so we can't offer you the Kosmonaut/Rocket scientist/engineer training you requested! Tours are available at the very reasonable price of 18000 krubles.

We would like to reassure you [Epona] that no Kosmonauts were injured or killed in any way during our most recent mission*, the craft is unmanned and is safely established in a stable orbit around Duna**. We hope*** our next mission, the Duna rover will be as successful. Please do not be concerned about press reports of kosmonauts running screaming from mission control, the rumours of a manned, one-way mission to Duna are greatly exaggerated****.

*For the purposes of this bulletin 'during' means time spent directly after the mission designated 'probe 2' launched and does not include any injuries or fatalities in testing, or any of same in the vicinity of the launch site at the time of launch or any other time.

**This refers only to the current 'probe 2' mission and not to the previous 'probe' and 'probe 1' missions, both of which aimlessly wander the depths, their power long since run down.

***Hope does not equate to any kind of guarantee.

****We will attempt to make the mission two-way.

Also any resemblance between this format and that used by Bob_the_lost is purely coincidental.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 26, 2013)

I installed Infernal Robotics, and did the following:



That's the upper stage and the payload. The top part is the main structure. The solar panels deploy from below the RCS tank. Everything was contained in Procedural Fairings, and then 6 double-orange Mainsail boosters and 6 SRBs made up the lower stages.



Strutted the fuck out of that thing.



About 0.5fps throught the entire launch and orbit sequence. Painful.



Finally make it towards a 130km apoapsis, then jettison the fairing and last booster stages.



After circularisation and deorbiting the 2nd stage, the solar panels are unfurled and the main payload is ready for deployment.



This little fella was holding the ribs in place during ascent, via 8 junior docking ports. It deorbits on its own with a little thruster.



Unfolding the spars completes the dish.



It's frickin huge.


----------



## BoxRoom (Aug 26, 2013)

Loving your work! 
Very impressed.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Aug 26, 2013)

Yeah, but what are you going to do when goblins attack it?


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Aug 26, 2013)

hows he going get that much alcohol into space


----------



## Crispy (Aug 27, 2013)

Interview with creator: http://penny-arcade.com/report/arti...ing-improvised-rockets-created-nasas-favorite
Squad is a marketing company and KSP was just a spare-time project of one of its employees


----------



## golightly (Aug 28, 2013)

I'm liking Mechjeb.  It's God-mode for Kerbals.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 28, 2013)

I have resisted its charms so far.
However, it might be fun to "roll your own" using kOS: http://kerbalspaceport.com/kos/


----------



## golightly (Aug 28, 2013)

Tbh, you can just use mechjeb to help guide you through particular manoeuvres, but the autopilot is tempting when things go a bit awry.  I'll have a look at the kos script system and see how easy it is to use.


----------



## Cid (Aug 28, 2013)

Been thinking about using it - would be nice to have more info on display (specifically the angle to prograde, very useful for interplanetary missions), but the auto options might be too tempting.


----------



## golightly (Aug 31, 2013)

I'm having a bit of  crisis.  My Mun lander toppled over and the engine was destroyed. I managed to get a Kerbal out but then the capsule rolled over blocking the hatch trapping two Kerbals inside.  I sent a rescue mission but that crashed as well leaving another Kerbal stranded on the Mun.  Now I'm worried that if I try another rescue that will go wrong leaving even more Kerbals stranded.  What to do?


----------



## Crispy (Sep 1, 2013)

Send unmanned rescue missions, with empty pods. You'll need something to tip your crashed lander onto its other side, too.


----------



## golightly (Sep 1, 2013)

Indeed.  I have a space station orbitting the mun with plenty of fuel to aid the mission.  I'm thinking that a mun rover will be needed to push the capsule over.

e2a: Bob Kerman pushed the capsule over by himself, so I've been able to release the other astronauts.


----------



## no-no (Sep 2, 2013)

golightly said:


> The space planes are an absolute nightmare to fly.  I can get them off the runway but they end up spinning out of control in seconds.  Baikanur has got nothing on me for failed launches.



The space planes were a real pain until about .20 i think. You had to use the aeroplane cockpit without nose cone and attach the avionics package. If you tried to use the more stylish aeroplane cockpit ( the one with the cool iva mode) it flew like shit as you couldn't add the avionics nosecone. Adding a asas or sas didn't do much to fix it.

I've noticed in the newer versions the cockpits and modules seem to come with asas etc already fitted, planes fly much better, I even got one into orbit.

...ALSO, WHEELS! Took me a while to work this out but if any of your landing wheels are at an angle that tends to make the plane yaw on the runway before it's even left the ground. If you can get all your wheels perpendicular it'll track straight. There's a mod pack with a wider selection of wheels in it including some that can be fitted inline with your fuel tanks etc...they're very nice.

...and also use the shift key and WASD in the vab to angle the wings slightly, if you get it right the plane will lift off the runway all on it's own, it'll want to fly!


----------



## Crispy (Sep 2, 2013)

Installing FAR makes planes much nicer to fly, but harder to design. You have to pay attention to your centers of lift and mass. But if you set out to replicate familiar plane shapes, you'll find they fly well.


----------



## no-no (Sep 2, 2013)

I love your satellite dish Crispy, nice work. I have the FAR mod, haven't tried it yet though, Ive had a few mods break my saves.

Here's a few shots from my efforts to get a rover to the Mun...






Orbital Fuelstop. It's harder to keep those 4 fuel tanks full than I figured....





But there's enough to refuel the moon lander/rover.





Burn for the Mun. Veeery wobbly! The front stage is another fuel tank, packing 4 fueltastic generators, gona leave this one in Mun orbit. I couldn't get the rover to attach vertically so I had to bodge it.






It took a few retries to touch down in one piece, I needed those huge atomic engines to lug that heavy bastard down to the surface. The atomic engines are longer than any of the lander legs though so decided to chance it without them.

The Rover's got a Kethane scanner mounted up front too. Mmmm, krystal keth.


----------



## golightly (Sep 2, 2013)

RCS build and crew manifest are my two current favourite plug-ins.  They make my life so much easier.


----------



## no-no (Sep 2, 2013)

Quantum Struts is a great mod too, a little futuristic but it's great not having a big wobbly station.


----------



## Chz (Sep 4, 2013)

Inspiring.


----------



## golightly (Sep 4, 2013)

Chz said:


> Inspiring.




That's brilliant!


----------



## grit (Sep 21, 2013)

I bought this recently, but the learning curve has been pretty difficult. Anyone got any recommendations for a guide?


----------



## Crispy (Sep 21, 2013)

grit said:


> I bought this recently, but the learning curve has been pretty difficult. Anyone got any recommendations for a guide?


Scott Manley's ksp 101


----------



## no-no (Oct 25, 2013)

Just got round to installing the new update with career mode. Nice idea, you only start out with a very small selection of parts, one module, one engine, a couple of fuel tanks and some other bits.

You have to unlock new parts by doing "science" which amounts to crew reports taken in diferent situations. ie. in orbit, in atmosphere, space, EVA. You can take rock samples and there's also a new part, the goo module. You observe the state of the goo in different situations.

The actual observing isn't the point though, you have to transmit the data back to earth to earn your science points which uses battery power. It's driving me nuts! Landed on the moon got loads of good data in orbit and during descent. Got rock samples and eva reports. Didn't have enough juice to send even a quarter of it back to earth. Also they've made a change that really makes things more difficult, the internal gyroscope used to rotate the module now uses power also, since I'd used all my leccy transmitting data I had fuck all to pilot my module home. launched from the moon got stuck in a spin and spiralled back to my death. Still, you get a sense of achievement even with a failed misson just because you managed to get some data back home.

They've balanced the game nicely so you can't just keep doing one lucrative mission again and again to get yourself lots of science points. If you report back on a situation you've already covered before you get hardly any science points back compared to the intial report, you must find new worlds to explore if you want to keep unlocking new tech.

Finally, it looks like there's a finite or limited stream of new kerbalnauts too, makes you play more seriously. 3 KIA, 2 stranded in space and one stuck at the north pole.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 25, 2013)




----------



## Cid (Oct 27, 2013)

Just when you thought things were safe, someone mentions data collection...


----------



## mrs quoad (Nov 15, 2013)

Steam: 40% off.


----------



## Chemical needs (Nov 15, 2013)

mrs quoad said:


> Steam: 40% off.



Nice. Thanks for the heads up Quoady. Just need a half decent PC now....


----------



## funky_sessions (Mar 18, 2014)

just got this for my new mac.. sorry to report the launch of KSP1 - Kerbonia's first unmanned rocket launch was a dismal failure. The launch of KSP2 is planned for 6 months time, giving time for the launch facility to be rebuilt and the clearance of rocket debris from the pad.


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Jul 18, 2014)

First Contract has arrived!

http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/post/92083380984/kerbal-space-program-first-contract-now-available


----------



## Chemical needs (Nov 16, 2014)

Got Rover mk 2 to the Mun, now just need to send lab operative no.2 and a battery and solar panel bolt on for the lab


----------



## Crispy (May 6, 2015)

KSP is out of beta and 1.02 is already out. After rinsing Cities Skylines for a hundred and stupid hours, I thought give it a go. The career mode is nice and fleshed out now, with all sorts of ways to spend your money and science. I especially like the randomly generated Contracts, which ask you to visit certain places, test certain components and achieve certain performance goals, often in combination, ie. "test fire this rocket engine at a speed of over 500m/s, below 15,000m" so you have to design a craft that can get your test article going that fast before you light it. And you've only got a limit set of parts to do it with. Great stuff


----------



## Chemical needs (May 6, 2015)

You need heat shields to survive re-entry now!


----------



## Crispy (May 6, 2015)

I played with the Ferram mod last time round, so the new aerodynamics isn't such a big deal for me, but I've found planes are much nicer to fly now.


----------



## golightly (May 6, 2015)

Hmm... I haven't played this for a while. Probably about time I got back into it.  The career mode sounds interesting. It wasn't really fully operational when I was playing.


----------



## Crispy (May 6, 2015)

For instance, a recent Contract I had required me to light a small solid rocket above 11,000m but below 200m/s - I built a plane to do it, but the flight envelope wouldn't quite stretch that high. In the end I used a zoom climb after building up maximum speed at 9,000m. Plane was just about to stall at 11,010m or so but I lit the rocket and got catapulted into the stratosphere. Bit of a hairy landing (the spent solid rocket hit the runway and exploded) but Jeb made it home alive. Contract succesful and I gain cash, science and reputation.


----------



## golightly (May 6, 2015)

Chemical needs said:


> You need heat shields to survive re-entry now!


 
Pfft! Health and safety.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 3, 2016)

Yasss I knew there'd be a thread. Anyone still playing? I'm mildly obsessed, I have to say.


----------



## golightly (Apr 9, 2016)

iamwithnail said:


> Yasss I knew there'd be a thread. Anyone still playing? I'm mildly obsessed, I have to say.


Tbh, I haven't played this for a while. I have fond memories of plotting trajectories to the mun. I never made it to the planets, apart from a couple of fly-bys, though. I often look at Kerbal Space Program in my Steam library and think about re-installing. Currently playing Elite so I reckon I'll get confused if I played both at the same time.


----------



## camouflage (Jun 28, 2016)

Just got this... hope I'll find it fun.


----------



## iamwithnail (Jun 28, 2016)

Yeah! Up for advice if you need it. Haven't played in a few days, was getting a bit obsessed again after starting a new game on harder settings.


----------



## Crispy (Jun 28, 2016)

camouflage said:


> Just got this... hope I'll find it fun.


It's great. The in-game tutorials are... ok.

Ifyou get stuck:


----------



## iamwithnail (Jun 28, 2016)

Got a mini probe to Duna on the first try there, been experimenting with building teeny rockets rather than enormous ones.  
Get the MechJeb mod once you've played 10-15 hours, takes a lot of the drudgery out of maneuvers, but if you don't understand the mechanics before you get it it'll kind of spoil some of the game (imo).


----------



## Crispy (Jun 28, 2016)

iamwithnail said:


> Got a mini probe to Duna on the first try there, been experimenting with building teeny rockets rather than enormous ones.
> Get the MechJeb mod once you've played 10-15 hours, takes a lot of the drudgery out of maneuvers, but if you don't understand the mechanics before you get it it'll kind of spoil some of the game (imo).


Agreed. Something like it should be in the stock game IMO. It's ridiculous that you can't read your periapsis and apoapsis from the flight view for example. Also getting a rough idea of how much dV your rocket has.


----------



## iamwithnail (Jun 29, 2016)

Totally! It was getting the Dv readouts that made the biggest difference to me, it was just utter guesswork before that.


----------



## camouflage (Sep 2, 2016)

Haven't really taken the time to get into this beyond a few tutorials unfortunately, and now I'm gone Euclid Galaxy Cult. 

But I'm reading Neal Stephensons Seveneves at the moment... which is really putting me in the mood to make the time for KBS.


----------



## NoXion (Oct 12, 2016)

Bought this game yesterday. It's fun, but really hard. I just cannot seem to get the hang of building planes that don't veer off the runway, have balance issues, or refuse to lift off at all no matter how fast they go. I managed to build a flyable design earlier today... only to find out that I didn't include any oxidiser so my Rapier-engined spaceplane could not get into space.


----------



## Cid (Oct 12, 2016)

NoXion said:


> Bought this game yesterday. It's fun, but really hard. I just cannot seem to get the hang of building planes that don't veer off the runway, have balance issues, or refuse to lift off at all no matter how fast they go. I managed to build a flyable design earlier today... only to find out that I didn't include any oxidiser so my Rapier-engined spaceplane could not get into space.



Dunno how it is now as I only played before full release, but planes were always fairly advanced things to try and construct.


----------



## NoXion (Oct 12, 2016)

Cid said:


> Dunno how it is now as I only played before full release, but planes were always fairly advanced things to try and construct.



I've managed to build something that can get into space. The only problem is that when the engines switch from airbreathing to rocket mode, the damn thing tips up and starts tumbling all over the place.

Behold, the Valkyrie Mk2!







It's a bit overpowered; it'll fall apart if you open up the throttle all the way. It's a simplified design after I got bogged down with the Mk1.


----------



## iamwithnail (Oct 12, 2016)

Anyone played the 1.2 update with satellite networks yet? It's just updating on mine.


----------



## Crispy (Oct 13, 2016)

NoXion said:


> I've managed to build something that can get into space. The only problem is that when the engines switch from airbreathing to rocket mode, the damn thing tips up and starts tumbling all over the place.
> 
> Behold, the Valkyrie Mk2!
> 
> ...



Your engines are offset from the centre of gravity. This creates a rotating force - pitching upwards in this case. This is ok while in atmosphere, where the lift from the wings creates a rotating force in the other direction (it looks like your centre of lift is aft of your centre of gravity). But once you're out of atmosphere (or your engine's thrust greatly exceeds the wings' lift), then the off-centre thrust will pitch it up every time.

In general, space planes should have their main fuselage, wings and engines all lined up, so the angle of thrust ponts directly through the centre of gravity.


----------



## NoXion (Oct 13, 2016)

Crispy said:


> Your engines are offset from the centre of gravity. This creates a rotating force - pitching upwards in this case. This is ok while in atmosphere, where the lift from the wings creates a rotating force in the other direction (it looks like your centre of lift is aft of your centre of gravity). But once you're out of atmosphere (or your engine's thrust greatly exceeds the wings' lift), then the off-centre thrust will pitch it up every time.
> 
> In general, space planes should have their main fuselage, wings and engines all lined up, so the angle of thrust ponts directly through the centre of gravity.



Yeah, I learnt this after some Googling of my issues. This is what I managed to get into orbit:






The Valkyrie Mk3. It's quite a smooth flyer too. 

Has a tendency to explode from overheating if you go full throttle, though.


----------



## iamwithnail (Oct 13, 2016)

Whassat engine / underslung thing you're using?


----------



## NoXion (Oct 14, 2016)

iamwithnail said:


> Whassat engine / underslung thing you're using?



That's a three-part engine consisting of, from front to back, the Advanced Shock Intake, the Heavy Extended Engine Nacelle, and the AE-6 B.R.O.A.D.S.W.O.R.D. Engine. All from a mod called the MarkIV Spaceplane System. There's another AE-6 in the middle that you can't see from that angle.

The addition of some discreet struts has solved the problem of the side engines colliding with the primary fuselage and breaking off during a full-throttle takeoff. Now I just have to solve the problem of the front centre intake exploding due to overheating during the same and it'll be perfect.


----------



## NoXion (Oct 15, 2016)

Been mucking around with probes today.






This is the Videre probe, perched on top of the A-1 rocket. It's uncovered because I hadn't worked out how to do fairings at that point.






The rocket has been upgraded to the A-2. While the A-1 was good for a Kerbin escape trajectory, I felt a bit more oomph for orbital manoeuvring was required in between the first stage and the probe's ion-electric engine. A payload fairing was added after particularly disastrous test flight resulted in an exploding Videre probe.






The Videre probe's ion engine proved to be a poor choice for attempting an encounter with another planet. So it was equipped with a beefier but still efficient atomic NERV and renamed the Adastra.






The extra length and weight of the atomic engine made things wobbly, so the rocket was upgraded to the A-3 by adding moar fins and some additional struts.






After two or three more attempts, including one particularly catastrophic encounter involving crashing into the north polar ice cap of Duna at meteoric speeds, I finally managed to insert an Adastra probe into a Duna orbit. Success!


----------



## NoXion (Apr 9, 2017)

I'm playing this game again. Steam automatically updated my game and this broke things, so I deleted everything and made a fresh installation. I've decided not to go crazy with mods this time and to try being less ambitious, in the hope that I will actually get more things done.






This is Marathon Tertius, one-third of a comms relay constellation I've put in orbit around the Mun.






Although I haven't managed to put them in equidistant orbits, I'm hoping that three is enough that I won't lose contact with any of my planned Munar rovers for too long.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

Remember when I said that I wouldn't be going crazy with mods? Well that turned out to be a lie:






This is the Vimana Mk1 Super Heavy Spaceplane. It's a beast, reaching space in about two minutes under full engine power when ascending at a 45 degree angle from the horizon. In fact it's so powerful that the pilot has to ascend steeply, or the Vimana will experience an unplanned rapid disassembly due to atmospheric stresses.






An aft view of the Vimana, showing the 6 B.R.O.A.D.S.W.O.R.D. rocket/jet hybrid engines from the Mk4 Spaceplane System, and the 4 Falchion hybrid engines from Rusty Star Rockets. If you thought SUVs had bad mileage, then you haven't seen the rate at which these things can guzzle oxidiser.






My first successful landing with this design. The crew are all alive and the vehicle is mostly in one piece, so it counts in my book. Thanks to a terrible stall during atmospheric re-entry I was unable to land at or near the Kerbal Space Centre, but to my surprise I was able to shed enough velocity that this vehicle avoided becoming an interesting new home for a variety of sea life.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

Which mod's that from?


----------



## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

iamwithnail said:


> Which mod's that from?



It mostly uses parts from the Mark IV Spaceplane System, with the four smaller engines coming from Rusty Star Rockets.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

Sweet, cheers!  Just realised you said it in your first message, I hadn't realised those were the mod names though, derp.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

Omg, the Mk4 parts are so good.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

iamwithnail said:


> Omg, the Mk4 parts are so good.



Innit. The cockpits are especially swish. Thunderbirds are Go!

Don't forget to share pictures of your creations on this thread.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

May I introduce the Holy Fuck.   Originally called so because of it's size, and latterly because of the inclination for its wings to flap when you tried to pull any kind of manuever.  

After some strutting though, we got it up in the air.


----------



## Septimus Rufiji (Apr 10, 2017)

your crew look like they're shitting themselves on takeoff (((poor terrified Kerbals)))


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

You would be too if your plane's wings flapped.  Currently piloting this glorious rustbucket as an SSTO.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

iamwithnail said:


> You would be too if your plane's wings flapped.  Currently piloting this glorious rustbucket as an SSTO.
> 
> View attachment 104097



For something that looks like the fuselage was recovered from a scrap heap and had wings from something else riveted on, that has some really nice lines. 

Was the number of lifting surfaces done out of choice or necessity?


----------



## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

Actually, I just noticed you've got 5(?) sets of landing gear. How have you avoided the whole "stuck whizzing along the runway" problem I often get when testing out spaceplanes? I tend to use one pair aft and a single central forward near the nose.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 10, 2017)

Yeah that's my usual strategy. I just forgot to take them off when i copied the wings forward. The extra lift was necessary to make more responsive than a sort-of-guided missile - flies quite nicely and gets into orbit with about 1200d/V left, need to do some tweaking, it's carrying far too much liquid fuel still, so could be better.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 11, 2017)

Introducing the Massif-1, my vehicle for attempting to get a handle on interplanetary travel:







I can achieve Kerbin orbit just fine, and I can put stuff in orbit of the Mun. I could even land stuff on the Mun if I could be bothered to put the time and effort in. But sending stuff to other planets is something that I have yet to get an intuitive handle on. I don't use stuff like MechJeb - I prefer to fly by the seat of my pants using the default navigational instruments. Except manuever nodes. I don't understand those.


----------



## iamwithnail (Apr 11, 2017)

Literally no idea how you'd do interplanetary stuff without mechjeb! Seems like such a crapshoot.


----------



## Crispy (Apr 11, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Except manuever nodes. I don't understand those.



good lord, man. no wonder you're having trouble.

Here, let me tell you what's what. You create a maneuver node at a point on the orbit where you'd like to make a burn (don't worry you can move it later). The node has 3 axis you can drag on:






As you drag each control, a dotted line shows you the new orbit that will result.

Use Pro/Rretrograde to increase/decrease the altitude of your orbit.


Use Radial to "skew" the major axis of your orbit.


Use Normal to change the inclination of your orbit.


Once you're happy with your desired orbit, point your craft at the node icon on the navball:




Take note of the "Node in T -" counter. When it's equal to half the length of the burn, light up the engines. Keep the craft pointed at the blue icon! Turn them off when the green dV bar gets to zero. (it's worth bringing the thrust down low to get the end of the burn right on cue)


----------



## NoXion (Apr 16, 2017)

Crispy said:


> good lord, man. no wonder you're having trouble.
> 
> Here, let me tell you what's what. You create a maneuver node at a point on the orbit where you'd like to make a burn (don't worry you can move it later). The node has 3 axis you can drag on:
> 
> ...



Even after reading this explanation, I was still having trouble. Then I installed MechJeb, and realised that all that stuff I read about transfer windows on the Atomic Rockets website applied in this game. This annoyed me a little, as I can't really be arsed to design monstrous spacecraft that can both take off from the surface and take the quickest route to other planets once in orbit - according to MechJeb that would require a Delta-V of 50km/s or more!!!

So for the moment I've been concentrating on trying to get orbital docking right. Put one of my designs to work for once.






Nice silhouette of the Vimana Mk1.1 (improved avionics and navigation systems, ejection seats and parachutes for crew) close to the experimental fuel depot






After many further attempts, I finally managed a successful docking. An untrained slob who didn't even go to university has managed to achieve something normally only done by a tiny elite of dedicated life-long professionals who *aren't* currently chemically incompetent. Ain't technology grand?

Now if only I could work out how to transfer fuel, I might be able to actually make use of this.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 16, 2017)

Actually, I've just worked it out. Success! But the amount of fuel was pitiful. Needs to be bigger.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 16, 2017)

The Vimana tumbling arse-first back to Kerbin on account of having run out of fuel.






I also de-orbited the fuel depot.






Eject!






Although as it turns out, the flight surfaces and engines appear to have created enough of a crumple zone for most of the fuselage to remain intact following an unpowered, uncontrolled water landing. I wonder if the Kerbals would have survived if they hadn't ejected?






Very funny, Jebediah.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 22, 2017)

So for a little while I was stumped. My rockets were always wobbling all over the place and lacking in the Delta-V department. Then I saw someone's SSTO design on the KSP forums and was struck by inspiration. I realised that my mistake was in not building outwards, as much as up, when it came to designing bigger rockets.






Take the most powerful liquid-fueled lower stage engine in SpaceY, multiply by three and give them plenty of propellant, and then stick the higher stages in between them. And thus the Starskipper was born. If anything it had a little too much Delta-V; even after ascending to LKO and circularising, there was still a little bit of stuff left in the tanks.






Here is the second stage in orbit.






Burning the atomic rocket motor for a Jool enocunter. Unfortunately this particular series of images was from a mission that ended up crossing the Mun's Sphere of Influence, completely fucking up the navigation and forcing me to abandon the mission.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 22, 2017)

The Starskipper project was such a successful and reliable design that the Committee voted for to have resources assigned to a successor.






Note bigger payload fairing.






Replaced the useless Hall Thruster uppermost stage of the original Starskipper with a slightly beefier one based on a cluster of Terriers. 






Even with TimeWarp and MechJeb, waiting for a low Delta-V transfer window is a little on the tedious side. Has someone made a torch-drive mod yet?






Not helped by the fact that for some reason with this design, MechJeb likes to go completely bugfuck nuts and try to send the craft on an escape trajectory from the sun. Why?!

So all in all, the Starskipper project was considered to be a partial success. Good at getting heavy payloads into LKO, but not so hot at interplanetary transfers. More to come.


----------



## NoXion (Apr 22, 2017)

The engineering lessons learned from the Starskipper project were incorporated into a new design, the Grand Missive. The objective being to put a heavy payload in orbit of another planetary body.






The LKO stage has been beefed up slightly with extra propellant and has been given a slightly more snazzy design. The interplanetary stage has also been expanded considerably and given a new set of atomic rocket motors.






The solar panels have been replaced with a nuclear reactor from Rusty Star Rockets, since the damn thing kept losing power (and thus losing valuable hydrogen due to boil-off) every time it orbited into the night side of Kerbin. 

Also got rid of the third stage. Starting to look like a proper interplanetary craft now. Don't have pictures since KSP decided to crash and I can't be arsed loading it again, but this design does work.

Later, I'll be sharing images of the Emissary, a manned (or Kerballed as it were) design based on this, complete with a lander.


----------



## NoXion (May 13, 2017)

Forget the Emissary. In the typical style of mine in which I learn how to run before I learn how to walk, I got distracted and eventually succeeded in constructing a large interstellar spacecraft. I have dubbed it the ISV _Ibn Battuta
_





This monster is the first spacecraft to be assembled in space, being far too large to launch from the surface of Kerbin all in one go.






This view gives a better perspective of the three sections of which the _Battuta_ is composed. The foremost section contains the bridge, the main reactor, the radiators, the warp generator and antimatter reserves, and a pair of crew compartments adjacent to various docking ports. The middle section is mainly composed of a large crew compartment and two large monoprop tanks. The rearmost section consists of a large Handwavium engine, three nuclear thermal engines, and associated fuel tanks.






Aft view emphasising the sublight engines. Since I have the Interstellar Adventure Revived mod installed, this ship can go places. Any suggestions?


----------



## NoXion (May 13, 2017)

I've also been working on a Planetary Excursion Vehicle designed to dock with ISVs like the _Battuta_ and provide a means of transporting Kerbals to and from the surface of planets, but I haven't produced anything satisfactory as of yet.


----------



## NoXion (Nov 18, 2017)

Confession time: this is the first time I have successfully landed a wheeled vehicle on Duna.






I'm quite proud of the design of the delivery pod for the Buffalo crewed rover. It lands tail-first on its engine, then either gravity pulls it over or the single large dorsal landing leg you can see extended on the top of the pod in the above picture can push it over. If the pod is belly-up, then simply retract the four smaller landing legs, use the dorsal leg to push it onto its side, and then it will pull itself upright due to being heavier in the bottom half. Extend the smaller legs once again and then extend the ramp and the rover is ready to be undocked. A slight faff but utterly reliable, which is the important thing.

Originally I was going to try and get the Buffalo to the Mun, but I got ambitious. It might be hard to tell but the landing occurred on an incline, which is good since I had only actually tested the pod's self-righting abilities on flat ground.

Jerory and Geneoly mission now is to scout out a location for what will hopefully be the first planetary base I've ever designed.


----------



## NoXion (Nov 18, 2017)

Great. Barely 2.5 km from the landing zone and I've already taken a tumble, losing the Buffalo's docking port in the process. Everything else is fine. I might have to install KAS/KIS.


----------



## NoXion (Nov 18, 2017)

Fuck.






I reckon I was doing 100mph before this happened.


----------



## iamwithnail (Nov 19, 2017)

44m/s?  That's a pretty great vehicle tbh. KIS is awesome, it makes it a very different (and more fun) game when you can go up and fix things you've broken. (Or scavenge a ship together out of broken bits on the Mun. The Martian style rescue scenarios ago go.)  I haven't played Kerbal in *ages*


----------



## iamwithnail (Nov 19, 2017)

(Mostly haven't been playing Kerbal as I was wasting time playing Factorio, which is ridiculously moreish, but I did manage to finish it on easy last time round - 46 hours of game time.)


----------



## iamwithnail (Nov 27, 2017)

Started playing again last night. This can only end well, with a deadline in three weeks.


----------



## Crispy (Aug 19, 2019)

Sequel announced. New engine, new dev team. CGI trailer:

More info:

Kerbal Space Program 2 – Kerbal Space Program


----------



## iamwithnail (Feb 21, 2020)

Building a Kerbal controller out of Arduino and python code. 🤔😁 Box/cardboard is for prototyping, obv.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 13, 2021)

Designing rovers in Kerbal Space Program is a colossal pain in the fundament. I've solved a great number of problems in my latest project, but this latest issue has me stumped. I've engineered the weight distribution so that the rover always lands on its feet, and should it roll over and come to rest on one of its top sides, I've also added landing legs to right the vehicle.

So of course I end up losing control of the rover after driving it hard, and now it won't stop spinning:


----------

