|
Post by Julian Sharps on Jan 10, 2015 15:35:08 GMT -5
BREAKING NEWS: SPACE PROGRAM NOW INTERPLANETARY
First things first: I have a few satellites in orbit around Kerbin and the Mun (the Keostationary mission is a doozy), I finally tested that Skipper engine, and I upgraded my Astronaut Center to full capacity (I can now hire an unlimited number of Kerbals).
This, however, was not to be my crowning achievement: No, that particular honor goes to the two manned interplanetary missions I have sent forth into deep space. First was a mission to place a space station in Sunar orbit. I hope that its periapsis is low enough to get low orbit data over the Sun. I crewed it with a few temps who probably thought they were going to become famous astronauts like Jebediah. They might be disappointed that they're just going to fly around the Sun until someone can be bothered to go pick them up, and annoyed that they're not going to get paid until they return to Kerbin with science, but they signed a contract.
More glamorously, my expedition to Duna is underway! Led by none other than the intrepid Jebediah Kerman himself, this team of four Kerbals will rendezvous with the red planet if I do nothing, and they will get there faster and be able to aerobrake if they make their scheduled course correction in about 400 days. Unfortunately, there's only room for three in the return craft, but Jebediah doesn't mind staying behind. At the very least, keeping the poster boy for the space program in orbit around another planet should be incentive to fund a follow-up expedition with better rockets.
In the works are establishing a Munbase, building a lander for my Minmus station (especially since my Highlands Minbase has a bunch of unnecessary crew), and making plans for an expedition to Jool.
|
|
|
Post by Julian Sharps on Feb 14, 2015 22:25:31 GMT -5
So, an update on my interplanetary missions:
First of all, the Sunar space station mission failed to get low enough to get low Sun science. That's fine, they'll just wait for a rescue mission when I can be bothered to go pick them up.
My mission to Duna was about 3/4 successful. I made my insertion burn, but screwed up on my aerobraking and skipped out of the atmosphere, requiring me to make an emergency burn just to stay in-system. This, of course, meant that I had to use up my fuel reserve intended for the return journey, Combine that with the fact that I was traveling the opposite direction to Ike, and this meant that any attempt at a landing on Duna would be a one-way trip. So, I went to Ike instead. I landed, I returned, and then I put my station in a high orbit over Duna with what fuel I had left. I have a mission to establish a base on Ike, and so I'm taking the opportunity to send a refueling mission, and I'm going to see if I can also make it count as a Sunar orbit space station.
Additionally, I have a mission to send a probe to Duna, which is on its way under ion power, and I've established a base on the Mun and another on Minmus. I really need to raise 3.5M so I can upgrade my R&D center. I have over 1,200 Science in the bank and nothing to spend it on.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Apr 26, 2015 20:38:01 GMT -5
KSP is at 1.0 tomorrow!
I'm torn between starting a new career and running sandbox just to see all the new part descriptions and cabin interiors.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Apr 27, 2015 23:54:31 GMT -5
Can't download 1.0, something's up with Steam. I'm on the verge of just paying Squad again to get the game from KSP.com. This would have the extra benefit of being able to use KerbalEDU. Also, I think Squad deserves the double-dip, because I've put close to 500 hours into its game at... less than a nickel an hour. Totally worth it.
I did manage to dl the new demo, which is really nice and has a campaign. Val is my new favorite kerbonaut. Five flights so far, two of them staging-error disasters but the ships and pilots landed okay. You no longer have to have contracts for basic achievements like altitude records, they are awarded automatically. So far I've gotten to 48km. The demo also has both moons of Kerbin and a limited selection of parts, so could be really challenging to play (for me at least).
I can't download it onto work computers, but I'm wondering if I can put it on a portable drive or memory stick and play from that. Hopefully without contaminating work 'puters with whatever viruses I have here. That may not be so bad, actually, as it may be my firewall that's stopping my 1.0 download.
|
|
|
Post by Julian Sharps on Apr 30, 2015 11:04:30 GMT -5
I've started up a new Career Mode game in 1.0. Val is awesome, and while the new aerodynamic model is better, it meant that I needed to learn to fly all over again. It took me several tries to get Val back down from orbit without killing her due to reentry effects. Also, I'm having a hard time getting the Science I need to unlock struts.
One cool thing they added to the game was that on rescue missions, the rescuee actually has spacecraft wreckage and a capsule - no more teleporter program, apparently. Also, the inline aircraft cockpit that hasn't had an IVA view in ever now has an awesome one with a HUD gunsight and everything. I can't wait to see what they did with the science lab.
I kinda like how they reworked the tech tree, too. Once I get my new computer (which should be sometime this weekend), and once I can find some sort of screen capture software that isn't terrible and doesn't want me to fork over my kidneys and firstborn son for the privilege of only having half the features I need, I'm going to start aking videos, starting with sandbox missions to every planet and moon in the game (and perhaps one to an asteroid, which is one of many things I have not yet done in KSP), some of them I have never visited ever, and plant flags on them. After that, I have an idea for a Career Mode series that could prove to be awesome.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 4, 2015 20:34:41 GMT -5
Haven't got Steam to give me 1.0 yet, and haven't repurchased since my computer really IS pretty crappy. I'm sticking with the demo for the moment, it'll still be pretty challenging for me to get to the Mun and Minmus without MechJeb and smallish tanks and engines. I've nearly maxed out the miniscule tech tree, but not gotten into orbit yet (8 flights in, and Bob has made it to 70km). Once I finish the science, I'll select the sci-to-money conversion strategy and try to upgrade everything.
The portable drive didn't work, I can't run executables on work 'puters.
|
|
|
Post by yvain on May 4, 2015 21:02:38 GMT -5
This game is so great. I have been doing career. Currently mining out the Mun and Minmus before I start exploring other planets. Tech slowly increasing. I have the bigger engines now and it is getting easier.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 5, 2015 23:53:43 GMT -5
On the upside, I am now temporary teen librarian and have received permission to try to install the KSP demo on a teen-tech-area computer. They did say no games, but I explained it was very much a STEM thing and they said OK.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 6, 2015 20:44:37 GMT -5
Well, I am definitely doing something Kerbal-related with the teens on the 19th for the regular STEAM program I'm taking over. I spent my lunch at work today in the "YouMedia" teen media center. The Macs there are totally able to download and run the demo. For the first time ever I played KSP on a proper computer, the way it's supposed to be played, and it was fraggin' awesome, with no lag or slow frames whatsoever, lightning loading and great graphics. I made three launches for the test run -- - Capsule on an RT-5 SRB (all systems nominal)
- Capsule on two RT-10 SRB stages (made it to 75 km, but parachute failed to open, probably damaged by heat 'cos the capsule was all red and spinning)
- Capsule on one RT-10 SRB (Demonstration for YouMedia managers, chute and booster were both in the same stage and Bill had a wild ride but survived!)
Now I just need to figure out what to do with the opportunity. There don't seem to be any stock ships in this demo, or maybe I'm not accessing them right -- it would be nice to show off a launch to orbit without having to build and test it first.
|
|
|
Post by Adkenpachi on May 7, 2015 2:52:36 GMT -5
I need to intstall it on my new super gaming computer it had pretty poor fps before. Thing is i can hardly remember how to play AND dont wanna go through the boring crap of getting all the science from kerbin... gotta do like 50 sub orbital missions, and thats if you dont cock up! Sent from my SM-G900F using proboards
|
|
|
Post by Julian Sharps on May 10, 2015 19:14:09 GMT -5
Other than periodic crashes and freezes that lowering the graphics settings seems to fix, KSP seems to run just fine on my new computer. I just unlocked ISRU prospecting gear (and have mapped Minmus, although I think it should take a little more time), and the Science bonus you get from mapping a world is kinda nice.
I have space stations in orbit around Kerbin and Minmus, and I'll have to pull together something like 500 Science to get ISRU mining equipment so that I can stop shipping fuel up from Kerbin.
I should also get to work on that Duna mission...
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 13, 2015 21:29:33 GMT -5
Have been experimenting some more with the demo at work. It seems impossible to fly the Stayputnik, I need a crewed capsule or the ship flips over in midair and crashes... Also have to use liquid-fuel engines to launch or the craft goes too fast and heats up. Haven't gotten into orbit yet -- I tried with one of the demo instructional scenarios but failed to circularize, and only then realized the demo craft had no parachute.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 22, 2015 22:56:36 GMT -5
My demonstration didn't get as much attention as I hoped, I had maybe a dozen people watching for part of the time and three people playing. The game is on five Macs now though and we'll leave it there. I'll probably be playing it on my lunch breaks since it works far better there than here.
Did discover that EVA'ed Kerbals are still very durable; dropped one into the ocean from several KM up and he came up happily swimming to shore. He wasn't even head down when he struck.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on May 27, 2015 18:27:56 GMT -5
Got three teens to play KSP at work today. They spent a couple hours on it, learning that their craft need to be balanced and not too heavy. Also that staging order can be very important.
|
|
|
Post by Adkenpachi on May 28, 2015 15:48:28 GMT -5
I blasted it up last night, had to start again since not playing it on this computer... theyve added LOADS! The finances stuff they added is a nice touch aswell as having to pay for new research. Having fun again...i just hate the grind for science, i dont want to do 50 sub orbital flights!!
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Jun 11, 2015 9:04:55 GMT -5
Finally got back into orbit yesterday -- 59x2500km (The craft ended going southeast instead of east during the grav turn). The Pe is actually in thin enough atmo that it will probably stay up for quite a few orbits before coming down on its own -- which is good since it's out of fuel. While I was checking this I zoomed out and discovered that the teen I was coaching the other day had managed to launch Bill out of Kerbin's SOI -- he's now in a 10x13million km orbit of the Sun!
Adkenpachi -- remember that you can get several times as much science in orbit than you can in atmo and on the ground, and even more around the Mun and Minmus. You can completely skip getting landed biomes on Kerbin if you like without any penalty in the early-mid-game.
|
|
|
Post by Adkenpachi on Jun 11, 2015 9:34:49 GMT -5
Sooo... just get enough science to get to the mun and forget about it completely? Im soooo fine with that.
When i get to other planets/moons whats the best way to go about science gathering? A rover with transmitter/powersource?
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Jun 11, 2015 19:45:43 GMT -5
If you're going for as many science points as possible, your best choice is Kerbal boots on the ground (or floating in space, as the case may be). The next is a sample-return, like Luna 16/20/24. The cheapest but least-sci-intensive is just as you suggest -- a rover or lander. With atmo now dangerous, this may be tricky on Duna or Eve, but if you can land a probe safely on Eve it's pretty much your best option since it's pretty darn hard to get off.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Sept 13, 2015 2:47:20 GMT -5
I think I've got the hang of reliably orbiting again using demo parts -- two Lvt engines and four SRBs today. It'll be significantly more difficult to get any farther.
I really need a new computer.
|
|
|
Post by jenburdoo on Sept 15, 2015 22:23:39 GMT -5
Back on KSP! I gave up trying to get my Steam account to work and just repurchased the game direct from Squad. They deserve it, partly for all the hours I've put into it and partly because I discovered there's no DRM -- In addition to my own home PC, I was able to put the full game on the teen tech lab Macs! And boy does it work well there. The new atmo is so good I managed to slap together a plane, fly it and land it safely on the very first try.
Also, before upgrading from the demo, I managed to get into orbit (again first try) using just demo parts.
At home, alas, my 'puter is still crappy and slow, but the game still isn't too bad!
|
|