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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Aug 4, 2013 7:39:08 GMT -5
There was a tutorial actually in the game back when I played it.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 4, 2013 8:44:37 GMT -5
Still is, but it's very basic and doesn't really explain how to get into orbit very well.
Also, when your taking off, east is left. That's handy info if you want to make the mun in 5 hours
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Post by Soap on Aug 4, 2013 8:48:21 GMT -5
What hight is orbit?
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Post by Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four on Aug 4, 2013 11:55:12 GMT -5
Technically it's 35,000 meters or so, but I think you have to be at 80,000 meters for the orbit to be stable and not decay due to atmospheric drag?
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 4, 2013 12:13:18 GMT -5
Apparently stable orbit is 70k but I wouldn't go lower than 80 to be sure.
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Post by Soap on Aug 4, 2013 12:27:00 GMT -5
25000 meters is my record hight so far. If I get on tonight ill be aiming to build a rocket that reaches 80000 meters, then see what happens
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 4, 2013 15:37:10 GMT -5
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 6, 2013 14:30:34 GMT -5
One does not know patience until one needs to match orbits to a target using only RCS.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 8, 2013 23:50:20 GMT -5
Also, building space stations is hard. I'm still trying to figure out docking, without much success. The six kerbonauts I have stranded in orbit trying to dock modules to my space station core are a testament to that.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 9, 2013 2:07:04 GMT -5
I'm trying to get the damn modules up in the first place... I feel it will be a little and often situation
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 9, 2013 2:38:03 GMT -5
Scott Manley's advice is amazing, and I suggest you look into his Reusable Space Program videos as well. You would be well advised to watch the rest of his tutorial videos.
In other news, I succeeded in getting a fuel tank attached to Kerman Station. I'm in the process of attempting a rescue of one of my space construction crews, with an ambitious second mission of connecting the module they were trying to get to the station.
Note to self: Only put one Kerbonaut in the command module per launch, at least until I need more guys up there.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 9, 2013 4:02:55 GMT -5
Get one of those 4 man boxes and stick a parachute on it
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 10, 2013 14:15:52 GMT -5
Well, the rescue attempt failed. Now, I can only hope that the ejection force from the decouplers firing was enough to get the capsules to skim the atmosphere so that their orbits will eventually decay.
I have a probe in orbit over the Mun with a kethane scanner doing its scanning thing. However, the scanner takes up so much power that it can only scan in direct sunlight, so finding our first kethane deposit will take a while. In the meantime, construction continues on Kerman Station, with an upgrade to replace the current station core planned once construction is complete. Once the current module is docked, I'm going to send another kethane scanner probe over to Minmus, and after that, I'm going to attempt a rescue of the other module crew stranded in orbit. Nothing fancy, just gonna get them all into one spacecraft and deorbit the whole thing.
I have a lot of work ahead of me.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 10, 2013 15:38:35 GMT -5
You using mods or has there been another update? Not had pc time for about a week
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 11, 2013 3:44:17 GMT -5
Kethane is a mod that gives you everything you need to be able to find, drill, and store kethane, a raw material which can be converted into liquid fuel, monoprop and oxidizer (and maybe xenon as well, I haven't actually gotten to the drilling bit yet). It makes interplanetary missions and establishing bases that much easier, since you don't have to ship all your fuel up from Kerbin. Just be sure to put the folder named "Kethane" into your "Game Data" folder when installing it, otherwise you can get some fun glitches that make Kerbin turn invisible.
On a related note, I have kethane probes mapping both the Mun and Minmus (the Minmus probe has a bunch of RTGs to allow for scanning out of direct sunlight), and I'm in the process of assembling my Mun station (which will coincide with my development of an unmanned heavy lift vehicle due to my tendency to strand my kerbonauts in orbit, and I'm not about to hire the stupid ones until I begin drilling for kethane). I plan to use the lander I'll be sending for kethane prospecting as a booster to get the space station into Munar orbit; once it's in a stable orbit and the kethane lander strikes green, I'll be sending modules for a trailer-type Mun base that can just pick up and go once the kethane dries up. Still working on my rescue plan for the 7 kerbonauts that are still stranded in Kerbin orbit, as well as completing Kerman Station.
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Post by Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four on Aug 11, 2013 14:48:51 GMT -5
I have a probe in orbit over the Mun with a kethane scanner doing its scanning thing. However, the scanner takes up so much power that it can only scan in direct sunlight, so finding our first kethane deposit will take a while. Nuclear reactors, my friend, install nuclear reactors...
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 11, 2013 16:45:54 GMT -5
Actually, it turns out that time warping causes the kethane scanner to skip sectors if you go above 100x, and that was what was causing the problem (although I do not have enough power to run the scanner without my solar panels, my orbit is such that I'm rarely out of direct sunlight anyway).
Incidentally, when my Minmus probe completed its insertion burn into orbit (current periapsis is ~7.5 km, apoapsis ~9 km), it put me almost in line for a polar orbit. Still have something of a blind spot on the poles, but that's nothing a couple prospecting landings can't fix.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 12, 2013 18:13:42 GMT -5
Tested out a design for my mobile Munbase, driving it around the space center. It needs some work, and right now I have no idea how I'm gonna get it into orbit (each module uses four of those giant wheels about the size of a Rockomax tank's cross-section), but it handles nicely on Kerbin, so it should be powerful enough to haul the whole base in one trip on the Mun.
I'm not going to put a base on Minmus, simply because anything I send with all the equipment needed to refine kethane will be able to get back into orbit under its own power.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 15, 2013 13:04:51 GMT -5
As I seem to be the only person still posting in this thread, I'll continue with the progress-updating thing.
I have successfully docked a new docking and refueling node to Kerman Station, and Gusble Station (which is going to the Mun) now has a half-full Rockomax fuel tank attached, which I will fully refuel before I send it off to the Mun (mostly because I want to be sure that it'll get there). In the process, I have successfully returned three of my kerbonauts to Kerbin, and am in the process of sending an unmanned rescue mission to retrieve the crew of one of my stranded spaceships. I like unmanned heavy lift vehicles; after docking, I can just pump all of their fuel into whatever they're docked to, then separate and terminate the probe, with no need to return it to Kerbin or leave it in orbit.
My plan to retrieve the remaining four kerbonauts (one of which was sent to rescue the other three, but then screwed up on his deorbit burn and got stranded with the rest of them) is to send up to Kerman Station a small RCS-powered crew transfer vehicle, and use that to rendezvous with them. When it comes time to send up my kethane prospector (which, since it'll be the first lander I send to the Mun, will be named "Li'l Man"), I want Bob, Bill, or Jebediah Kerman on it.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Aug 15, 2013 15:16:56 GMT -5
Sorry, haven't played any games in weeks now.. too busy I'm enjoying reading your progress, and more than a little jealous.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 15, 2013 17:24:29 GMT -5
I've also put Li'l Man into orbit, carrying with it an unmanned construction probe, and a little kethane-scanning rover that Li'l Man will carry on its underside docking port and leave behind to mark the landing site. I predict that my munar mining operation will be itinerant, moving from kethane deposit to kethane deposit, but if I come across one of the easter eggs they have scattered over the munar surface, I'll try to send up a small munbase to "study" it.
Now, it's a matter of waiting for the orbits to line up so I can dock these things.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Aug 15, 2013 18:23:12 GMT -5
Welcome to my munbase.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 16, 2013 0:47:00 GMT -5
Welcome to my munbasement. Fixed it for ya.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Aug 16, 2013 13:42:31 GMT -5
Well, that's for me, yes. But you have a munbase.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Aug 16, 2013 14:05:35 GMT -5
Not yet, I don't. I need to set up the infrastructure first, which includes a space station that's still in Kerbin orbit.
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