Gaming The Kerbal Space Program - Version 1.2.x

[Fabri91]

Kerbal scientists appear to be VERY interested in the sun/Kerbol:

 

[N_Molson]

Nice one. I had some suspicion about this, I guess that a lot of people try to get to other planets but miss the star sitting in the center of the system.

 

[RisingFury]

Also, implementation of re-entry heating should make experiments recovery much harder.

Right now I generally waste what fuel I have left and burn towards Kerbin to speed up to insane speeds before hitting the atmosphere. I've done quite a few such reentries that exceeded 10 km/s. The G meter gets bumped to the top, but I've never done it with the acceleration sensors.

It'd also be nice if experiments consisted of more than just "click here for science points". It'd be nice if you could leave an experiment running over time and it accumulated points. It'd bring meaning to space stations, rovers and landers with long term goals in mind.

 

[Pablo49]

It'd also be nice if experiments consisted of more than just "click here for science points". It'd be nice if you could leave an experiment running over time and it accumulated points. It'd bring meaning to space stations, rovers and landers with long term goals in mind.

That would be fantastic. Short of building one for fun, or maybe refueling, space stations don't server a purpose. And really all you have to do on any landing is spam your science instruments and farm out all the science then leave. Would love a reason to stick around somewhere, besides smashing Jebs face into the ground after a large jump.

 

[RisingFury]

I also think that the complexity of the vessel used to arrive at the target and how many touchdowns on the same mission should be taken into account, more than just "Returned a capsule from Duna."

Visiting all the moons of Jool in one mission is magnitudes more difficult than going at it one by one.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I generally found it too easy in general. Five missions in, I have Jeb on the Mun. The tech tree system works fine IMO, and it finally makes resource consumption important, (cant waste much battery power on reaction wheels) but it really needs an opponent. Enter the Kermunnists

 

[RisingFury]

I generally found it too easy in general. Five missions in, I have Jeb on the Mun. The tech tree system works fine IMO, and it finally makes resource consumption important, (cant waste much battery power on reaction wheels) but it really needs an opponent. Enter the Kermunnists

Third mission in for me was manned Minmus and fourth was manned Mun. Fifth was a probe to Duna which still had enough fuel left after I decided that I'll aerobrake for capture and landing so I flew it to Ike and crashed it there, sixth was a manned mission to Duna and Ike. The first two were just trying to figure out how to get science points, given that I never read any of the change logs.

The seventh I'm building now aims to visit Jool and all of its moons in one go.

Definitely too easy.

 

[sorindafabico]

How do you manage to get to the Mun without solar panels?? Mk1 capsule runs out of electricity before Munar pass!

 

[Linguofreak]

Third mission in for me was manned Minmus and fourth was manned Mun. Fifth was a probe to Duna which still had enough fuel left after I decided that I'll aerobrake for capture and landing so I flew it to Ike and crashed it there, sixth was a manned mission to Duna and Ike. The first two were just trying to figure out how to get science points, given that I never read any of the change logs.

The seventh I'm building now aims to visit Jool and all of its moons in one go.

Definitely too easy.

Keep in mind that you've been playing the pre-tech-tree versions of KSP for a while, so you probably have a pretty good idea of how to build stuff, plus you have a background with Orbiter, so you've got a pretty good grasp on orbital mechanics.

First-time players without such background will be learning how to build and fly rockets as their Kerbals are doing research. I've played around a bit with the demo of KSP (can't afford the full version ATM), and just doing my own research, so to speak, to build a rocket to get to the moon took me probably 10 or 20 missions, including a fair number of missions using landers on Kerbin to brush up on my VTOL skills, which have never been great in any sim (I've generally let LOLA do the work for me in Orbiter).

 

[Pablo49]

How do you manage to get to the Mun without solar panels?? Mk1 capsule runs out of electricity before Munar pass!

You are doing something wrong, apparently.

 

[N_Molson]

Enter the Kermunnists

Or KerMunnists, with a red Mun as a flag ? Led by Nikita Kertchev :lol:

How do you manage to get to the Mun without solar panels?? Mk1 capsule runs out of electricity before Munar pass!

The capsule itself doesn't consume any electricity when idle. Reaction wheels do, but you don't need them that much for a simple Munar pass with free return trajectory. Avoid letting the SAS engaged. Experiments like the thermometer or the barometer continuously consume energy when switched on, so make sure they are off during cruise. Same for lights. Data transmission uses a LOT of energy, so avoid to do that if you don't have batteries or solar panels.

Bob Kerman had a hard time landing in the bottom of that canyon, but what Kerbals wouldn't do for Science ?

Meanwhile, on Kerbin, Jebediah Kerman was actively participating to the R&D process of a new light lander. After accomplishing several barrel rolls on the ground, he declared that "the concept was certainly very cool !"

Test launch of a new Munar mission concept (Soyuz-LK like). The rocket suffered over-flexibility structural problems. Add MOAR struts. Though the situation seems a bit hopeless, the structure held in one piece, and all the decoupler functionned in sequence, allowing the brave Kerbonaut to land safely and even to bring back 3.5 points of science.

 

[LTrotsky]

Enter the Kermunnists

I volunteer. :thumbup:

 

[sorindafabico]

You are doing something wrong, apparently.

My first hypothesis was that MechJeb was draining power. So I launched an unmanned capsule to LKO and turned off MechJeb. Power consumption didn't stop. I disabled reaction wheels. Power consumption didn't stop.

Then I turned off the capsule and the consumption stopped, but I wasn't able to regain control.

 

[RisingFury]

How do you manage to get to the Mun without solar panels?? Mk1 capsule runs out of electricity before Munar pass!

Turn off the SAS so you don't waste energy and in a pinch, gimballing engines with low thrust can change your orientation.

That said, the SAS, torque wheels, controls, whatever they're called are way too powerful. There's no reason to use RCS anymore for rotation.

 

[goaowonk]

My first hypothesis was that MechJeb was draining power. So I launched an unmanned capsule to LKO and turned off MechJeb. Power consumption didn't stop. I disabled reaction wheels. Power consumption didn't stop.

Then I turned off the capsule and the consumption stopped, but I wasn't able to regain control.

Probe, or manned one?

 

[sorindafabico]

Turn off the SAS so you don't waste energy and in a pinch, gimballing engines with low thrust can change your orientation.

That said, the SAS, torque wheels, controls, whatever they're called are way too powerful. There's no reason to use RCS anymore for rotation.

But I haven't SAS avaliable yet i career mode. I turned off the Mk1 reaction wheels but the power consumption didn't stop before I turned off the entire capsule.

Anyway, I'll do a test without MechJeb tonight.

---------- Post added at 08:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 PM ----------

Probe, or manned one?

A unmanned Mk1.

 

[orb]

But I haven't SAS avaliable yet i career mode. I turned off the Mk1 reaction wheels but the power consumption didn't stop before I turned off the entire capsule.

Capsule is equipped with SAS. If you press SAS button, it will enable it just fine (by using reaction wheels).

 

[RisingFury]

But I haven't SAS avaliable yet i career mode. I turned off the Mk1 reaction wheels but the power consumption didn't stop before I turned off the entire capsule.

Anyway, I'll do a test without MechJeb tonight.

---------- Post added at 08:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 PM ----------



A unmanned Mk1.

The T key (by default) switches SAS on and off. Hitting it the first time turns SAS on, hitting it again turns it off. You can see if it's on or off by the indicator on the nav ball.

 

[orb]

The R key (by default) switches SAS on and off.

I think it's the T key by default and R is for RCS (but I'd need to launch the game to be sure).

 

[RisingFury]

I think it's the T key by default and R is for RCS (but I'd need to launch the game to be sure).

You're right! R is for RCS. Fixing my post...