Gaming The Kerbal Space Program - Version 1.2.x

[orb]

Looks like I'll have to deal with vanilla KSP ;(

You can get the 0.21.1 update instead.

 

[N_Molson]

Ah, the SAS is just perfect now. :thumbup:

 

[2Gm over cxc]

This sounds really cool HarvesteR.

Checking the demo out now. If it's up my alley, I won't hesitate to purchase the full program. :thumbup:

P.S. Glad to see that it is on Steam. I really want to be a cool anti-cooperation person, but I honestly really like Steam a lot. Just can't beat the deals and convenience.

 

[N_Molson]

Jeb got a private trip on the surface of the Mun. He was overjoyed, as usual ! And though it was a very Dv-tight mission, he made it back to Kerbin.

 

[kamaz]

Flying the skies of Laythe

Above: Flyer-1S, a solar-powered plane, flying over Laythe under its own power. Flyer will travel all over Laythe, and gather high-resolution imagery, as well as other data. The mission is expected to last one year.

K2 Space Systems LLC (K2SS, a joint-venture between K4m4z and Kerbal) is proud to announce the success of its first Flyer-1S mission to Laythe. Flyer-1S (R)(TM) is a solar powered atmospheric airplane, with virtually unlimited range.

The mission has been made possible due to invaluable technical help in the area of navigation and guidance systems (Protractor and Mechjeb, respectively), which has been provided by the Orbiter Forum community. K2SS wishes to thank Orbiter Forum contributors for their input, which has made the mission possible in the first place.

Flyer has been launched using K2SS's flagship launch vehicle, Obesity-3B with integrated Fikishima-4C nuclear thermal upper stage. The image below shows the vehicle at the moment of SRB jettison:

(K2SS is legally obliged to note that the photo above has been taken during a previous test launch, and not during an actual mission. We have experienced an unexpected equipment failure, resulting in a loss of all data for the first few seconds of the flight.)

The first stage (above) has executed a nominal burn, ending at the altitude of about 27km and speed of about 700m/s. Further ascent to 100kmx100km orbit has been accomplished using the second stage (below).

The photograph below, taken on the night side of Kerbin, shows the Fikishima-4C upper stage performing a Trans-Jool injection. Also note the symbolic presence of Mun in the frame. (On this occasion, K2SS wishes to deny accusations that dates of maneuvers during the Flyer-1S mission have any astrological or occult significance. K2SS, as an equal opportunity employer, is not interested in rituals performed in mission control room by consenting adults during lunch breaks.)

Fikishima has performed the burn correctly, putting the mission in transfer orbit to Jool (above). The nuclear stage has also performed several course corrections en route, as well as the orbital insertion at Jool (below). Throughout the 366-day mission, performance of the nuclear stage has been spotless. Unfortunately, on the day of Jool encounter, the K2SS community has been devasted by news of death of Fikishima's chief engineer due to cancer. In passing, K2SS must deny slanderous gossip that his premature death was caused by radiation poisoning during an alleged criticality incident at the Fallout-75L Nuclear Engine Facility, as well as claims of widespread and repeated violations of safety protocols at the site.

Above: Flyer mated to the nuclear stage, Jool (below Flyer) and Laythe (to the right and above of the vehicle). Below: Laythe encounter orbit. K2SS is currently investigating why the vehicle ended up a highly inclined orbit after the Jool encounter. The full report on the issue is expected next year. However, K2SS would like to notice that excess delta-v, provided by the Obesity-Fikishima launch vehicle has allowed necessary course corrections.

Upon Laythe encounter, the vehicle has performed insertion and circularization burns, entering an almost circular and polar orbit, as shown in the following images.

After finding a suitable location, the vehicle has entered Laythe atmosphere. Although significant heating has been observed, no failures have occurred.

After the re-entry, the nuclear stage has been jetissoned and crashed into the ocean, while the Flyer began free, powered flight (first image in the article). The mission is expected to gather data at least for a year.

K2SS wishes to respond to allegations that crashing a spent nuclear stage on Laythe has resulted in widespread radioactive contamination, and destruction of large parts of the native ecosystem. Such allegations are unwarranted, as K2SS has no data from Flyer reporting increased radiation levels. (Flyer was not legally obliged to carry a radiation meter, and did not.) However, K2SS shares the public's concern for well-being of native life on Laythe. K2SS supports the idea of a publicly-funded mission tasked with determining the environmental impact of the Flyer-1S mission. K2SS is fully committed to the idea of providing a proven Obesity-Fikishima launch vehicle for such mission, at a steeply discounted price.

 

[Fabri91]

Odyssey 2 Munar Refueling station core:

First additional tank:

Second tank nearing:

A slight...mishap, let's say. A "slice" of the first stage of the heavy launch vehicle used broke off and the rest performed a PERFECT, I say you, PERFECT 180° flip against the VAB:

Another tank:

Oddisey 2 with three out of four tanks installed:

Launch Vehicle:

Complete (for now) Oddisey 2 station:

Oddisey 2 performing TMI...

and MOI:

Here it is:

It's important to note that the station was unmanned up to this point, despite having a capacity of 7 Kerbals.

First house-keeping crew of two was brought with the test flight of the Munar Ferry, essentially a capsule complemented with a Crew Tank:

This vehicle will return and land on Kerbin, while a second, slightly modified version will probably be sent to serve as a ferry between Oddisey 2 and Odyssey KSS station in LKO.

A reusable lander is also being prepared to be ferried to Oddisey 2, in order to perform initial scouting for a surface base and to perform the first Munar landing.

Right now Oddisey 2 has just two provisional standard-sized docking ports, for a single ferry and for one light lander. However, since the propulsion stage used for the transfer has been jettisoned and crashed on the Mun along with one of the four tanks, after its contents were transferred to the other three, two large Senior docking ports have been freed up: one will probably be used again with a large (full) tank, while the other one will house a node with one large docking port, for further expansion, and four standard ports for more landing/ferry craft.

This will also free up the two ports on the side of the Crew Tanks (which now have an AWESOME IVA view), making it possible to extend another one of the four large solar panels.

Trivia: current Oddisey 2 mass, with the ferry craft docked, is about 150 tons.

 

[N_Molson]

A slight...mishap, let's say. A "slice" of the first stage of the heavy launch vehicle used broke off and the rest performed a PERFECT, I say you, PERFECT 180° flip against the VAB:

lol that one is really epic.

BTW to send heavy payloads, I recommend KW-Rocketry mod, it offers a new category of wider stages, engines and bigger SRBs, while staying "in the spirit" in terms of ISP and realism. It also allows to make nice fairings of various sizes.

I've been launching a serie of "light munar missions", inspired on the soviet designs. Here's the 3rd stage that provides the TMI burn and a part of the MOI burn :

The Koyuz and the MK lander after transposition and docking :

The Koyuz on its way back, during the TKI burn :

 

[Fabri91]

Thanks for the tip, but I prefer to keep with the stock parts: having to solve problems while having to make do with a limited set of parts is, for me, part of the challenge.

 

[N_Molson]

Well, I didn't had to use them until now, but when I'll need something like a Saturn-V launch vehicle, I will since it allows to drastically reduce the number of parts, gives better rendering performance and after all looks more realistic.

However, I don't use MechJeb, kills the fun. Even Kerbal Engineer Redux isn't really necessary.

 

[RisingFury]

Anyone else noticed any problems when using a joystick for this game?

I have an X52 Pro and up to 0.20 it worked fine. In 0.21, all the controls are delayed. I hit a button and the command is given half a second after I press it. Same with throttle response and pitch, yaw and roll control. More than that, the MFD light goes on and off from time to time and the text on the screen gets all weird.

That behavior happens when I load up KSP and stops when I exit it. It doesn't appears in FSX or Orbiter and it doesn't appear when testing the joystick in Windows. It's definitely KSP.

 

[N_Molson]

I don't have anything like that. I have a very old Sidewinder 2 that works very well. :shrug:

 

[Hielor]

Anyone else noticed any problems when using a joystick for this game?

I have an X52 Pro and up to 0.20 it worked fine. In 0.21, all the controls are delayed. I hit a button and the command is given half a second after I press it. Same with throttle response and pitch, yaw and roll control. More than that, the MFD light goes on and off from time to time and the text on the screen gets all weird.

That behavior happens when I load up KSP and stops when I exit it. It doesn't appears in FSX or Orbiter and it doesn't appear when testing the joystick in Windows. It's definitely KSP.

Haven't tried it yet in .21--if I remember, I'll give it a try tonight when I get home.

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

Just tried out my joystick (a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro) in .21.1 using the stock Aeris 3A. Didn't notice any issues.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

I had a issue with my gamepad i had plugged in but not using making my space craft spin uncontrollably, luckily for the pilot of that launch, i got him over water and aborted for a safe splash down 10km down range

 

[mojoey]

Came across an old screen grab of a KSP mission that horribly awry.

"This is not NaNm/s smokey, there are rules."

 

[orb]

OSS-01 station construction - part 1

During the last 3 days I deciced to do some more serious stuff in KSP instead of the usual "just testing", so I decided to build a space station (using only stock parts, Editor Extensions plug-in to switch vertical snap option without relaunching the game, and Crew Manifest plug-in to transfer kerbals between station modules).

Specially for construction of the station I've created a "Kerbal IV Heavy" rocket, which coincidentally looks similar to Delta IV Heavy (that name came when I started uploading screenshots to the Steam cloud). It can be used to launch unmanned payloads even having no remote control module, as the upper stage utilizes one (well, I've actually put it there to deorbit the upper stage after payload delivery to keep Kerbin's orbit junk free).

So here's day one progress covering launch of the OSS-01 (Orb's Space Station 01) core module:



Throttling down to prevent overheating:



Now coasting to apoapsis to use remaining fuel in 2nd stage (to put its periapsis at around 40 km over an ocean), and then orbit circularization to 500 km:



Look at that fuel being wasted. I've used too large tank on the last stage, I guess:



Now in target orbit, awaiting next modules; antennas deployed, lights will be turned off until rendezvous with the next module:





On the next day (in real life) I decided to add an ion propulsion module to the station.

The same rocket model, but lighter upper stage (the smallest tank of the diameter, with only 1/3 of fuel wasted after deorbiting). A night launch this time (by the way I figured out what the F2 key is for :P):



The final approach:



The OSS-01 station configuration after adding the propulsion module:





This time, for the 3rd launch, I decided to add truss with solar arrays (not that the station requires any more power at the current stage - lights don't drain batteries at all, SAS is only used during rendezvous, and 4 ion engines on the propulsion module won't be used yet for a long time).

The only changes to the Kerbal IV Heavy rocket were adding struts between 1st stage cones on sideway cores and the 2nd stage (to stabilize the 2nd stage more, because of launching much longer payload), and modification of the upper stage decoupler to launch 2 long but thin payloads at the same time:



Catching some sun into fixed solar panels:



Truss released and upper stage's deorbit burn complete. One of truss modules has been rotated and can perform final approach and docking:


In the meantime, the upper stage:



And after watching the plasma trails and splashdown, we can continue final approach and docking of the 2nd truss module:



The current configuration of the station:



My favorite picture of the station so far:




A couple of more screenshots (due to post limit) from these first 3 stages of station construction are located there.

I'll continue the OSS-01 station building in a couple of days.

A kerbed mission is planned either after the next module, or if the next module will require a crew (Command Module). Anyway, I've already installed Crew Manifest plug-in, so I can easily transfer kerbals from the docked visiting vehicles to other modules.

 

[Shifty]

Wow orb, beautiful work! What's your framerate around that behemoth? Curious if you're willing to share .craft files.

 

[Fabri91]

Von Kerman base launch:



First refuel in LKO:


TMI:



Second top-off in LMO (excess propellant in the upper stage is transferred to the station, actually):



Hovering looking for a flat spot:


Landed and Challenger rover deployed:


Jeb will do the bulk of the driving, with Seannard taking over from time to time:


The new terrain is MUCH more exciting:


Nearly a bit TOO exciting, in fact:

 

[Quick_Nick]

I'm finally making use of my KSP copy.
I tried to go to the Mun, but was doomed to not have enough fuel. I got Jebidiah down on the ground anyhow. But upon ascent, fuel ran out fast, so I had to ditch. Jebidiah made it back to his planted flag on pack fuel; the lander fell to its destruction. Though, it wasn't even the intended descent stage that I had landed. It was what should have been the upper stage, balanced carefully.
Sent up an unmanned rescue vehicle. It was tricky to build, but it consisted of a lander with a seat as well as a command pod that would wait in orbit. (you can't reenter with just a seat!) Getting the lander down was hell. I deeply regret not adding fuel-lines. I had to shift fuel between five tanks manually while trying to land pinpoint on Jeb since he had no fuel to get very far. When not all the tanks went dry at the same time, the mission very nearly ended in total disaster. But I recovered, having activated the central/ascent engine, and landed 50m from Jeb and his flag. (he had been waiting most of a day at this point) I had also forgotten to charge my batteries before coming down for rescue, so my charge was dangerously low, and unmanned probes REQUIRE power to operate, so I'm lucky I got down there in time. Time skip to daylight, so I can charge my cells while Jeb sits happily in his seat. Upon takeoff, after dropping the descent stage with a satisfying boom, I also see that I haven't properly countered the weight of one Kerbal. So moderate thrust causes severe pitching that has to be countered with RCS. Keep in mind that my RCS fuel is also in limited quantity. But I get into orbit, and mostly match orbits with the command pod section, just in time too because my fuel runs out. I switch to the command pod (also unmanned) and pull off a nice rendezvous after a few orbits. I approach the 'lander', I switch to Jeb and set him floating free, using RCS to move the lander out of the way. It takes some time but I finally get the command pod positioned RIGHT under Jeb so he can grab on (again, he has no pack fuel). I fly back to Earth, luckily with enough fuel this time, and reenter with low Gs right over the ocean for a perfect splashdown.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I got a 'space station' into orbit pretty easily (think Skylab... I forgot to add a docking port). It launched with one crew member in the cupola, and other than that consists of a 'stow-away' cabin, and two single-man escape vehicles. (bi-adapters don't work well on two ends, so this took a couple girders and struts to launch) I sent up the first station visitation mission shortly after. This mission launched with two men in a capsule: one to join Bill on-orbit, and another to pilot the craft back to Kerbin. Now that I know where Kerbal Space Center is on the globe, I tried to setup my reentry to be low-G AND have a near-base splashdown. The craft came down 10km from KSC... At this point, why not spare the expense of costly recovery aircraft and ships, and have him SWIM back.

 

[Hartmann]

OK, so I've purchased the game and given it a try... I'll simply condense my thoughts in this one-liner:

What Orbiter lacks Kerbal has, and vice versa.

Great project, but I'll keep on Orbiting as well as Kerbaling! ;-)

I think the same.

But kerbal in the last versions is more simulator than game, and with the time it could be a serious alternative to orbiter.

I´ve started to build some rockets for my first flights and it´s very fun, but a simple mistake could make a big crater in the ground. i had a lot of hilarious failures in the first rockets, stage collitions, oscilations, control failures,,,, it´s like the first years of the space race with a lot of trial and error.