Kerbal Space Program (in-dev retail game)

[Dantrithor]

*Looks up from yet another failed attempt to get something to Duna*

Mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter . . .

In your honor, I bow to bring my vessel to Duna, and launch a high altitude and a low altitude satellite there. I will also descend with a drone which will remain there, forever remembering Usenko efforts.

But that'll have to wait until tomorrow. I have about 5.000 dV (2x Nuclear engines, 12.000 liquid fuel units + extra 1.000 units as emergency reserves, not attached to main engines) so I think I could bring this baby there and back. Plus I can attach some extra engines just in case... hmmm... I don't feel confident about this...

[brucewarren]

As well as the disposable stations for the grinding I've decided to build a real one in low Kerbin orbit.

This time I'm not bothering with the massive racks of giant fuel tanks. I never used all the fuel and too often the whole thing just shook apart.

I've also decided to go with nuclear power instead of solar panels. Expensive, and doesn't have that space station look, but they work in the dark and I'm not going to drive into them.

I've also started fitting the docking ports with lights for when you have to dock in the dark.

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Even with mechjeb I need to see the port to dock.

Unfortunately my space planes are still ugly as an ugly thing.

[OmegaKnight]

*Looks up from yet another failed attempt to get something to Duna*

In your honor, I bow to bring my vessel to Duna, and launch a high altitude and a low altitude satellite there. I will also descend with a drone which will remain there, forever remembering Usenko efforts.

Unfortunately my space planes are still ugly as an ugly thing.

Well this got the old grey matter working,
can I design a space plane that can take off from the runway, get to low Duna orbit.
Release a lander that can descend to Duna, take off and re-dock with the space plane in orbit.
Then return to Kerbin and land on the runway.
The results so far...

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Well the figures look alright (on paper), as long as I don’t screw up transfer burns (which is a distinct possibility as the dV is very tight on the LV-N stage)

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Unfortunately work has been getting in the way.
So haven’t had the time to do the full mission, just refining the design,
as I was taking too much jet fuel up into space, which reduces the amount of dV I have to play with, with the LV-N.
Coupled with my rustyness at interplanetary transfers, proved to be a problem with the one attempt I’ve tried so far; sub-optimal transfer, resulted in me using to much dV to capture into Duna orbit, even with aggressive aero-breaking I had less than the 1000m/s dV I’d need to get back , must do better (or take more fuel with me) ...on my next day off.

[brucewarren]

While Poding Kerman is glad to be rescued, he's not sure in hindsight whether it was such a good idea to give the contract to a no-frills airline.

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[Fallen-Angel]

27.04.2015 .. Get ready to launch.

[brucewarren]

Mr Scott Manley did a video of some of the new features.

I'm a trifle worried that with the overhaul of the way atmosphere affects flight that none of my craft will work any more.

Still at least there's that new air intake. I hope that means an end to the intake spam we've had to use to get into orbit.

[OmegaKnight]

Mr Scott Manley did a video of some of the new features.

I'm a trifle worried that with the overhaul of the way atmosphere affects flight that none of my craft will work any more.

Still at least there's that new air intake. I hope that means an end to the intake spam we've had to use to get into orbit.

According to Winterowl's vid' the new aero means no more infi-glide and no more air hogging.

But another thing to note, is the nuke now only uses liquid fuel, so a space plane without oxidiser may be possible.
And in Streetlamp’s vid an ion plane flying above Duna was shown.

So it just seems as though your planes can now go faster lower in the atmosphere, so fast you might now burn up
but if your design was stable before (CoL on or behind CoM) you should be fine, after all that’s how it works in the real world too.

[Olterin]

... Wait, you mean previous designs with CoL being in front of the CoM still worked and didn't go into a death dive before? (All the ones I ... umm ... tested that with did)

[pjknibbs]

... Wait, you mean previous designs with CoL being in front of the CoM still worked and didn't go into a death dive before? (All the ones I ... umm ... tested that with did)

CoL in front of CoM is a well-known no-no, whether in real world or in game--it makes aircraft unstable in flight. There are some planes that are designed deliberately to be unstable in order to improve their manoeuvrability (e.g. Eurofighter Typhoon), but they have to include fly-by-wire systems because there's no way a human pilot could keep them airborne otherwise.

[brucewarren]

With only a few hours remaining before 1.0 hits Jeb, Bill and Bob have decided to take a short holiday.

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No doubt they'll all have to work very hard when they get back.

[Bishop149]

Well, I may revisit KSP soon what with the official release.
I assume 1.0 is basically feature complete?

I'll give it a few months for the Modders to get their heads round the new version and then dive back in.
Did they ever get it working properly on 64-bit windows?

[silenced]

Reading the KSP forum is so much fun currently, with some people trying 1.0 with old strategies and failing hard. Not realizing that some things have significantly changed ... unable to adapt to new things without their shiny mods that played the game for them. Geez. It's hilarious and full of enjoyment. Oh, and they cry: "BROKEN! BUG!" as soon as something is not working as earlier, though it's working as intended.

@Bishop, not sure if KSP 1.0 can be called feature complete. Will see where the game goes to.

[linolafett]

just great to see such a game being finally released. my earliest version i backed up on my machine was the 0.13 build. Lots has changed since then

[Usenko]

One thing - They need to get through their heads that in Real Life, SSTOs are IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Therefore, with the aerodynamics being more realistic, we should totally expect that it'll be hard to get an SSTO into space . . .

[brucewarren]

Not so.

a) It depends on the value of G. The Earth happens to be just too big and heavy to do it with rockets. Kerbin is smaller.

b) Tell that to Alan Bond over at Reaction Engines Ltd. Skylon is an SSTO design. According to Wikipedia they are not the only people working on such things either.

c) KSP is a game. Hard is good, but too hard = not fun.

[Bishop149]

One thing - They need to get through their heads that in Real Life, SSTOs are IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Indeed.

Hasn't been done yet != Impossible
It's eminently doable in theory, and I think probably will be done in the not too distant future.

Realism aside, I must admit I'm not looking forward to re-learning KSPs aerodynamics. . . . but my gap in play has been long enough to not balk too much at starting over. I'm a little sad however that the monstrous brick-like insanity constructions of old will probably no longer be feasible.

[pjknibbs]

One thing - They need to get through their heads that in Real Life, SSTOs are IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

So is a planet with a radius of 600km that has Earth-normal gravity at sea level and a breathable atmosphere, but that doesn't stop such a thing being in the game!

[Bishop149]

Also, when are we gonna get more planets?

Back when I 1st started playing KSP I would have bet hard cash that the long mooted "Gas Planet 2" (mooted since long before I started playing as well) would have appeared BEFORE we got to 1.0.

Edit: Premptive cynical answer: DLC

[brucewarren]

To all those experienced flyers:-

Is it still possible to build spaceplanes or has Usenko's wish been granted?

Ever since 1.0 I've not been able to pick up any speed. Even with the Rapiers unlocked.

[pjknibbs]

That's odd, because air resistance generally seems to be *lower* in KSP 1.0 than it was in prior versions--it's a lot easier to get a rocket through the lower atmosphere, and re-entry lasts a lot longer than before, too.