[pecenipicek]

Incidentally, if you ever want to confuse the **** out of yourself, look down at the planet, while trying to dock with a rotating body.  I accidentally did this a couple of times, and my eyes just could not pick a frame of reference to treat as stationary.

i actually find this to be a huge problem with ksp in general when trying to do orbital stuff manually.

[BlueFlames]

idk about you all but im going to build a destroyer in kerbin orbit. one launch at a time.

Actually, building a huge ubership in orbit by docking modules together, similar to a space station isn't necessarily a bad idea.  You can start off in orbit with all the fuel that a heavy lift vehicle needs just to get off the ground, except that you can budget it for going wherever you damn well please.

Incidentally, if you ever want to confuse the **** out of yourself, look down at the planet, while trying to dock with a rotating body.  I accidentally did this a couple of times, and my eyes just could not pick a frame of reference to treat as stationary.

i actually find this to be a huge problem with ksp in general when trying to do orbital stuff manually.

I think it's a consequence of celestial bodies being smaller than their real-world counterparts.  Planets and moons in KSP are smaller and denser, so that you have to deal with the same challenges inherent to launching and escaping from these bodies, while keeping travel times reasonable for a gameplay experience.  That means, though, that since your orbits tend to be lower, they tend to be faster as well.

My solution is to orient things, during a docking maneuver, in such a way that I can keep the camera pointed at the sky or have just a bit of the horizon visible as a reference point, turning my view toward the surface, only when I want to grab a screenshot.  Dealing with the out-of-control fuel depot, I didn't have the luxury of positioning the docking ports in such a way to make these camera angles convenient, and in the early attempts, I didn't really have time to be faffing around with the camera at all.

In other news, I've made the long-range variant of my oiler.  I had to shift the smaller fuel tanks forward to accommodate the longer engines.  I'm a little concerned about this placing the six extremely hot exhaust nozzles right next to the large SAS unit at the bottom of the craft and the Rockomax 32 fuel tank in the middle, but we'll see how justified that concern is, when I test it.

Current mission schedule:

1)  Launch station drive module, and affix to station.  Transfer Kerbonauts from habitation modules to the drive section's command capsule.  Tweak rotation angle of the fuel depot, relative to the station to improve symmetry.  Deorbit control probe.

2)  Launch the long-range oiler.  Top up the fuel tanks, using the depot at the space station.  Set course for Ike.  A previous mission went there and back, but without a landing.  My hope is that the long-range oiler can manage a round-trip, including a landing.

3)  (May be postponed, depending on how much fuel remains, after the long-range oiler has come and gone.)  Launch the conventional oiler on a supply run to the station.  Drop off fuel and Kerbonauts and return to Kerbin, preferably without popping the command capsule off the top of the rocket this time.

4)  Raise the space station to a 250km orbit above Kerbin.  The 100km orbit looks like it might get pretty busy, with the final lift stages of just about everything getting jettisoned at that altitude.

5)  (Requires a new vessel.)  Launch a vessel designed to rendezvous with and de-orbit debris.  Possible targets include the old nose, dropped off of the space station hub, the final lift stage from the fuel depot launch (both in a 100km orbit) and the final lift stage for a satellite launched some time ago (in a 165km orbit).  Ideally, this ship can put a piece of debris on a terminal trajectory, then recover its own orbit, and head off to the next target, stopping by the station to refuel, as necessary.

Except for #2, which is admittedly, just a diversion, under the guise of testing the refueling capability of the space station, this is all laying the groundwork for more ambitious stuff to come.

[Turey]

I love this game, bought it back in January for $7. I haven't had time to try out 0.18 yet, but this weekend should see that remedied. In the mean time, stories from previous versions.

I've been playing around with the Spaceplane builder.
http://i45.tinypic.com/svjt5g.png
Here's my first attempt at a plane, which actually flew remarkably well. I'm used to my first attempts at things in this game going up in flames, but this actually took off, flew and landed just fine! Even when I lost half a wing! Note the reasonable, realistic construction of the plane. You won't be seeing that again.

http://i49.tinypic.com/1z2qe4p.png
Next, I tried making a VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) jet. Here's my first attempt. The tiny bumps on the bottom are RCS thrusters, which use seperate fuel from the main engine, and are independently controlled. This one flew just fine, but the VTOL thrusters couldn't lift it. I decided to add a couple more thrusters...

http://i49.tinypic.com/2liu9nl.png
Here we are several iterations down the line, with the Seagull MK5. This has seven times the RCS fuel of the MK1, and 235 RCS thrusters. It has barely enough RCS fuel to do both a takeoff and landing. Note the absurd wing configuration, with eight main wings (the back four are in an X-wing-like configuration, to save space.)

http://i48.tinypic.com/107w1oz.png
Here's the MK5 taking off, note how the entire plane flexes quite dramatically from the upward thrust.

http://i49.tinypic.com/21295cn.png
Here's a rocket that landed at the north pole. Note how the advanced SAS module has exploded, but left the capsule intact. Also, ice!

http://i50.tinypic.com/1pwcnl.png
Back to planes, I set out to attempt an around-the-world flight, and here's my first try: The Jorneyor (typo mine). With 4500kg of fuel (ten times that of an average plane, such as the Seagull), a top speed of 700m/s, and a flight time of over an hour at max throttle, this is an endurance plane. Remarkably stable despite its insane wing configuration, this thing, flown from full to empty, goes...

http://i50.tinypic.com/iyosn4.png
...between a third and a half of the way around the world. (about 150° longitude traveled) I know I can do better.

http://i48.tinypic.com/29en19w.png
This is the finished Journeyer MK2, with 7500kg of fuel, 3000 more than the previous version. It also has added wings and tailfins for more lift. Despite that, it still has severe attitude problems, needing to be flown at a 50° angle just to maintain altitude.

http://i50.tinypic.com/28sx213.png
I sure do love these dawn shots. It's just so... majestic.

http://i46.tinypic.com/fk4nyq.png
Out of fuel, nearly two hours in, the Kerbals spot a tropical island. Commander Kenton decides to set down there. His crew are not so pleased with his decision.

http://i48.tinypic.com/fjm369.png
Kerbals land on the tropical island's beach. Time for a beach party. But how far have they gone?

http://i46.tinypic.com/2sbap7a.png
Halfway around the world! Kerbals everywhere rejoice, but there's gotta be more we can squeeze out of this plane.

http://i50.tinypic.com/sb6gs1.png
The Journeyer MK3. One of the biggest, stupidest planes I have ever constructed. Third time's the charm, apparently.

I'm just going to say this now:

This is the best plane I have ever made.

It's stupid. It doesn't work under time compression, and it's not very fast, but everything else is perfect. Better than perfect, even.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2moxkie.png
Here's it taking off. Notice that when it's under time compression, as in this picture, the wings bend up and the whole thing goes to ****. This means the whole flight you are about to see was done in real-time.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2vsozo4.png
Here we are passing the first Journeyer...

http://i49.tinypic.com/307rvxd.png
...and the second. Note the fuel used on the left. In order to get this far, using the same basic parts, and one less engine, the MK2 took 15 fuel tanks to reach this point. The MK3 took... just over 3 tanks. I don't know why. More lift, a better flight attitude, and a lower cruising altitude? Maybe. I don't particularly care. What is clear by this point is that I have way more fuel than needed.

http://i47.tinypic.com/1zchdo6.png
The dawn of a record-breaking day.

http://i48.tinypic.com/33ljs43.png
Passing the Kerbal Space Center. Just over four hours in, I finally accomplish a round-the-world nonstop atmospheric flight. The worst part? I used just under 6 tanks in those four hours. That means that the total full-throttle flight time for this plane is somewhere around 20 hours, and given the nature of diminishing fuel tank returns, has a good chance of going around the world at least five times. Insanely impressive, considering no other plane either I or my friends have made comes anywhere close to this.

I've already landed successfully on Eve, Duna, and Jool, although "landing" on Jool isn't really possible. You just kind of sink through the soup-like atmosphere until you get to like 98m above the "sea level", at which point you just float there, buffeted about by the winds.

Here's some pics:
Eve Landing
Duna Landing
Jool "Landing"

[Mongoose]

Does the game randomly assign names to the Kerbonauts now?  It doesn't seem right not seeing Jeb's insane smile in the middle seat.

[General Battuta]

Does the game randomly assign names to the Kerbonauts now?  It doesn't seem right not seeing Jeb's insane smile in the middle seat.

Bill, Bob and Jeb are always your first crew and will be slotted back into the roster even if they explode. But with the possibility of having dozens and dozens of Kerbals on missions at the same time there's no way to have them on every rocket.

[watsisname]

Made my first landing on another world.  No, not the Mun!  **** the Mun!  EVERYONE goes to the Mun!  It's grey and dead and BORING there!  Duna?  More like SCREWYA, that place just ain't got no FLAVOR!  Naw man, I sent my guys straight to the deliciously purple world of EVE.  ****, they just landed.



They report that the whole planet is made of LAVENDER, and it smells ****ing NICE.  Man, look at those smiles and big bulging eyes, I think they're getting high off it or something.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[BlueFlames]

Now, you've got to build an interplanetary rescue craft paddy wagon to bring those damn druggies to justice! 

[Turey]

Made my first landing on another world.  No, not the Mun!  **** the Mun!  EVERYONE goes to the Mun!  It's grey and dead and BORING there!  Duna?  More like SCREWYA, that place just ain't got no FLAVOR!  Naw man, I sent my guys straight to the deliciously purple world of EVE.  ****, they just landed.

They report that the whole planet is made of LAVENDER, and it smells ****ing NICE.  Man, look at those smiles and big bulging eyes, I think they're getting high off it or something.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Don't forget the freaking SILVER SEAS.

[watsisname]

Liquid metal seas are indeed delicious and good for the brain; they shall sustain the crew until Mission Control figures out how to bring them home.

Now, you've got to build an interplanetary rescue craft paddy wagon to bring those damn druggies to justice! 

Man, if I were into modding I'd so be making an interplanetary police wagon now, complete with flashing blue/red lights.

KERBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM
BAD BOYS BAD BOYS

[NGTM-1R]

KERBAL SPACE POLICE

Now I'm even more mad they took away the Comet's police flasher in EVE.

[BlueFlames]

The space station is complete, for the time being, save for raising its orbit.

The long-range oiler proved itself interplanetary-capable, launching toward and landing on Ike.  Sadly, though, because some doofus in mission control decided that launch windows were for pansies, it launched when Duna was about 180º from the phase angle necessary for an efficient trip.  The initial Duna encounter also had a very high periapsis, so my capture burn required a couple of kilometers-per-second of delta-v.  What I'm getting at is that the oiler is out of fuel.  It's got some RCS fuel left (though I burned two-thirds of that modifying my Ikian orbit to ensure I'd have enough fuel for the main engines to land safely), but not enough thrusters to break the hold of Ike's gravity.

Yeah....  The ship that's meant to go save vessels that are stranded, without fuel, is now itself stranded, without fuel.  Worse still, because I was so bound and determined to do this landing, it's stranded on the surface of Ike, making a refueling mission practically impossible.  Did I mention it touched down on a fifteen-degree incline?  I can't even try to drop something onto the top docking port.

In light of this turn of events, my mission schedule has been updated:

1)  Station supply run
2)  Station orbit modification (raise to ~250km altitude)
3)  Orbit cleanup (sending up a drone to de-orbit spent stages littering the 100km orbit)
4)  Possible station supply run, depending on how many times the orbit cleanup drone needs to refuel
5)  Rescue the Kerbonauts of Dwight Base.
[Preliminary Joolian operations to follow.]

[newman]

So, I wanted to put probes on other planets and their natural satellites without the need for multiple interplanetary launches. I tested this with a large interplanetary umanned vessel that had two probes docked. Sent it to Eve orbit, undocked the probes, sent one probe to Eve and the other to Gilly, it's eccentric-orbit moon (though a pebble might actually be a more accurate description).





The interplanetary craft, being fueled and prepped in orbit before Eve injection burn.




In orbit of Eve. I was slightly worried the docked probes might make the ship difficult to handle, but as it turns out it maneuvered just fine. I'm loving the new node system, helps me plan more fuel efficient routes.




If you're going to Eve, park it on the beach! Might use this as a slogan for the fledgling space tourism industry.




Landed on Gilly. Funny, that. I never tried to land on it before. It's so small it's gravity pretty much doesn't factor in at all during approach or landing. You know how when you're landing on a planet or a moon, and you typically establish a flyby route, then turn it into an orbit? Well, that doesn't work with Gilly - it's gravity is so low you can't establish an orbit. At least, I couldn't. Instead, I set a collision course and just sort of glided, slowly, to the surface. And then another funny thing. As I gradually killed my velocity while getting nearer to the surface, I noticed that Gilly doesn't exactly accelerate me towards herself when I cut the throttle. When I actually touched the surface, I lightly bounced off of it, and it took me quite a while to get the probe to stop moving and settle down on the surface. It's almost like trying to land on another ship in orbit, without using a docking port.

[watsisname]

Pretty spaceship.

I've been chuffing about in LKO with building a space station.  It's pretty tiny at the moment.
Also learned the hard way that docking is a lot harder more awesome when you forget to put RCS on your ship.

[Nuke]

i ran into a problem while laying the keel for my destroyer. some of the packing material stuck to the docking connections on the structural members. i had launched a few rockets containing nothing but girders packed together with bcouplers. some of those couplers broke during launch leaving them attatched to the ports, and with no command and control i couldn't detach them. so i got out and went over there, aparently the kerbal can activate some things externally if they are within range. they were able to free the docking ports. you also ocassionally have to get out and push on a part to stop it from rotating so you can dock with it. heavy space construction is awesome.

[BlueFlames]

Also learned the hard way that docking is a lot harder more awesome when you forget to put RCS on your ship.

[image snip]

You, sir, are the man.

I ran quite a few missions today and took screenshots throughout.

First up, I attached the final planned module to the station:



Then, the long-range oiler came up for some fuel and oxidizer....for it's nuclear engines....and then parted company with the station and Kerbin.



Some 200 days after the incompetently timed departure from Kerbin orbit, it was time for an incompetent approach on Duna and Ike.



Realizing the gravity of my fuel problem, instead of aborting and using what energy I had left to put myself in a position to be easily recovered, I used my RCS fuel to enable a desperate grasping at straws for an Ike landing.



It was time for some housekeeping, back around Kerbin, at this point.  The space station's fuel depot was still down on fuel from when it was launched, and I wanted to get another oiler run done, prior to raising the station's altitude.



And remember, young Kerbonauts:  It's always more picturesque, the further you are from the dirty plebians below. 



After getting the station to altitude, the space center was on the day-side of the planet, so I de-orbited the oiler and had another crack at landing it.



Then there's the matter of the rescue operation for the oiler stuck on Ike.  For all I had to say about the space station enabling smaller rockets to perform longer missions, I came to realize that rescue operations carry a pretty broad mission profile.

I needed a rover...



...and a lander...



...and an interplanetary transit vehicle...



...and a giant bomb to get the whole mess off the ground:



Someone who's not quite so thick might have launched the three mission-critical vehicles separately and either rendezvoused them in orbit or sent them independently to Duna.  Some of us, though, feel like it's a disservice for the Kerbal tax-payers to have shelled out for this huge VAB, only to have half of it ever get used.  There might be an issue getting the whole craft out the door, since it does not open to the ceiling, but that's for men with hacksaws and dubious architectural certifications to sort out.

In any case, the first launch went well predictably.



Moreover, the pilots of the second attempt were oddly nonplussed about their immediate predecessors not even being cleared from the vicinity of the launch pad.



Eventually, after some modifications to the vehicle and launch technique (but still much less frustration than the fuel depot), I did get the rescue vehicle to orbit.



And that's where the rescue op stands, as I head to bed for the night.  I'm holding onto the empty fuel tanks on the transit stage, so that I can fill them back up at the station, before burning for Duna.  I'll also point out that those girder structures are an immense help when building and launching tall rockets, with lots of narrow bottlenecks.

[newman]

Oh, space stations? I have those, coupled with a space dock (currently under construction)



That big cage thing was brought up in one go, and it was a ***** to dock. Originally I was going to dock a lot of cage segments like that to create a long space dock, but that plan has changed for two reasons. One, docking another large segment like that so it's at the exact correct angle would be difficult at best. More importantly, the number of parts is starting to have an impact on the FPS, so if I intend to actually build spaceships in there I better finish up the dock soon or by the time a ship's docked there fps will drop to single digits.

[Nuke]

oooh nice!.

i really like my construction ship



it offers a really nice view of the dock connection. so its really easy to dock in iva. the stack of batteries opposite the cockpit is really just there as a counter weight but it does let me keep the lights on all night. you can even spin the ship and produce some gravity for the kerbal. it has a nuclear engine for orbital manuvers. a little bit overkill, but ion engines are frustratingly slow and the small 1m engine would eat the fuel in no time. the rcs tank is holding out well though. its enough power to move pretty big loads without wasting too much fuel. and what good is a construction vehicle without some building materials.



that thing is a ***** to launch, but i got two of them in space. which should get be enough to get a nice squareset built. to which i will mount destroyer parts. likely using modular fuel pods and drive modules which will connect to either side of the keel. but first i have to build said keel. enter the space construction vehicle:



here we are grabbing the first peice off the cargo stack. the long outer girders are the main runners that will go form bow to stern. i plan to just use a basic square set which will support 4 outrigged drive pods. really i should have ran fuel lines down the main girders so i could just outrig the fuel tanks, but lack of forethough. really this is just the expiremental part. i will come up with a better ship design later. im also not sure if you can multidock. so this is an expirement which may or may not yeild fruit.



and here we are pulling the first girder off of the stack. this was really not tht hard to do, connect to it and then disconnect it from the ship. while i was docked i also uncoupled some of the smaller girders. but i had to get out and push away some of the packing bits, and disconnect some of the joins with a kerbal, there was also the get out and make it stop spinning manuver that i did a lot.



and some more progress. keeping your entire construction yard in one spot has actually proved difficult. things could drift away several kilometers in the time it takes to connect a couple bits.



and this is where i got tired and went to bed. i havent finished the keel yet. i havent even finished a squareset. i ended up working on my ksp mods instead. i wanted to get my mpd engines and hall effect thrusters in the game to improve my construction vehicle.




 

[Nohiki]

Ok, so it looks like i am the only one here who can't get two ships to approach well enough to dock x( *goes cry in the shame corner*

[watsisname]

Where in the approach process are you having difficulty?  Perhaps we can give some tips.

[newman]

There are two main factors in successfully being able to match orbits and dock with other ships; understanding how orbital maneuvers work, and designing craft with docking in mind (so docking is not only possible, but relatively easy to pull off). It can seem a bit difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it it's actually not that hard. Unless you make your life difficult and decide to dock a huge space dock part to a space station. Fine-tuning my course so I hit that tiny docking port with something the size of a building that pretty much flies like one wasn't fun