Kerbal Space Program

[Cpt._Keyes]

confirmed by nasa themselves it was a frog blasted off the pad

[Boss Llama]

I decided to do some reading today about the old Saturn V rocket, and as a result was inspired to have a go at firing something similarly large at the moon. Since my previous moon excursions have ended poorly, I had little to lose. Coming in at around 4 times the GTOW of anything I've launched before, and probably around 10 times that of anything I've successfully put in orbit, I'm pleased to report that not only did it make it to orbit, it did so more easily than anything I've built before (though the flight was... wobbley... to say the least).



The rocket that made it was only a slight alteration of the first version I attempted, which flew once and needed some small corrections (more struts, and a little extra kick on lift-off). Given that it had the structural integrity of a wet noodle, I consider it amazing it even cleared the support structure:



Now I'm well positioned to land on the moon, and quite possibly make it home as well. Here's hoping!

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[Will T.]

Today was a sad day on the Mun for me. The unmanned rover I sent up nearly emerged from the crater in which it landed, only to tumble uncontrollably as it crested a hill, destroying itself. Also, Jeb went joyriding with his jetpack in order to find the rover. It ... didn't end well. Turns out that you can't adjust your altitude or direction of travel very well with a jetpack at high speeds, and there are all sorts of hills on the Mun that can spring up in front of you for you to smack into at 30km/h...

It's possible the rover survived as I went back to the space center after it started falling, which sent the game back ~4 minutes. Jeb, however, is no longer with us. A memorial service will be held at the space center; pastries and soft drinks will be provided. In the meantime I shall continue in my as-of-yet unsuccessful attempt to retrieve Bill Kerman.

[ADevilishPotato]

Ali, try hitting [ or ] to quick cycle to close by objects, then you can get your 2 kerbals out at once...or is it ; and ' ? anywho it is one of those combo's.

[Zork Nemesis]

If you still haven't played this, KSP is currently the daily deal. $13.79 as opposed to it's regular price of $22.99.

[Flash]

If you still haven't played this, KSP is currently the daily deal. $13.79 as opposed to it's regular price of $22.99.

Thanks Zork, very tempting!

[Boss Llama]

Get it - it's great!

Continuing yesterday's "Monster Rocket" saga, today I reached the Mun and slipped in to a nice Lunar orbit. Donny EVA'd from the main pod to the lander, and away I went for a lovely visit to the surface of the Mun. About 3500m up I noticed something disturbing. Specifically, I noticed that I had used LT1 Landing Struts instead of LT2 Landing Struts. The issue? They aren't as long, and the engine would hit the ground first. Oops.

I said hell with it and decided to land anyway, just to test out my ability to airbrake and such, and am pleased to report that I did so successfully. Landing on the light side would probably help, to avoid things like the sides of mountains, as the next thing that happened after breaking my engine was to skid down a long slope, causing one of the landing legs to snap off. The RCS system kept me upright on the remaining three legs, until I turned it off to climb out after finally stopping, which made the whole thing tip over.

That said, I'm pretty pleased to have made it at all, and to have what would otherwise be a viable landing and return vehicle (the CSM continued to orbit the Mun with plenty of fuel to get home), considering I used no tutorials or walkthroughs, and this was my first attempt. Try and try again! The last minute of the footage, with Donny running down the hill after his skipping lander, makes me chuckle.

[Dog]

I already own it, but I purchased it for my son, this morning!
Great fun!

[ADevilishPotato]

oh playing this game while listening to classical music on Pandora = win

[Cpt._Keyes]

I am too terrified to listen to 2001 while playing this

[ADevilishPotato]

Well, made it to minmus, but I'm not sure how. Coming in at 40 m/s i ran out of fuel, using rcs which cut out at 150 meters I was going at 16 m/s and when I hit, landed at 20 m/s which I guess was not enough to kill the ship. After several bounces (where nothing broke), a Kerbal flag has been planted on the second objected in the kerbalsystem. Now time to devise a rescue mission...

[Boss Llama]

That "monster rocket" I posted above in a video should reach Minimus, no problem. Ought to even have the fuel for a return, especially with RCS included 15 oranges, a bunch of triangle strut sections, and voila!

[Zork Nemesis]

In related news, 0.22 sounds cool. Get ready for Science!


Not to double post, but has anyone ever looked around the cockpits of the various crafts? I went into the MK1 Lander Can and noticed a few humorous bits. There's a couple of sticky notes that talk about remembering to update software before launch due to glitches. There's also a pre-flight checklist that's pretty goofy. Some highlights:
-Get permission to use ship
-Turn off oven
-Sit in chair
-Remember EVA helmet

[Will T.]

I have claimed Minmus in the name of Kerbin! I used the same rocket I used to get to the Mun with only slight modifications for sustainability (the trip is quite a bit longer and the SAS unit can run out of juice unless it has a backup power supply - be aware of this! Don't do what I did and arrive there only to find out during descent that the SAS no longer works due to a lack of solar panels or batteries!).

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I've always found Minmus rather inexplicably spooky, and this shot from the approach doesn't exactly do much to change that feeling...

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It took two tries with some alterations to the rocket in between, but the lander is there now!

Note the two left legs suspended above the ground - the gravity on Minmus is so weak that the SAS, still engaged from descent, is capable of partially overcoming gravity in order to keep the ship pointing upward.

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Jeb somehow showed up at his own memorial service after his death on the Mun. Once the screaming and general panic died down, it was decided that the best course of action would be to send him into space again, just in case he was secretly a zombie despite appearances to the contrary. This led to him becoming the first Kerbal on Minmus.

It's really not that different from the Mun, other than being generally less jagged, more whitish-colored, and having a very glitter-y surface. Plus the gravity is probably about half that of the Mun, so be careful.

To give you some idea of how weak Minmus' gravity really is: I planted a flag too close to the lander, which caused it to knock against the lander during deployment and pop out of the ground and fall over. It was still on its second bounce 5 minutes later when I quit the game.

[Boss Llama]

Managed to land my first successful Mun rover today - a nifty little unmanned car I can explore with pretty well. I'm pleased with how the drop-off went, and with where it was able to get afterwards. Having designed the rover from scratch without really knowing how it would operate, I've got no complaints! As a bonus, the carrier ship made it back in to orbit after dropping off the rover.

Video of the landing:


The rover immediately upon landing (with shadow of departing carrier):

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Close-up of the rover. It came out better than I expected:

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Perched on the edge of the crater with its sail up, after a long drive and nearly 900 feet of climb. Landing point was edge of the "scoop" on the opposite side.

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