Kerbal Space Program

[Thorgalaeg]

I have tried 32 bits too, it means inability to use many great mods, doesn't guarantee stability and savegame corruption happens the same. I have 32 ram, 980ti, and 6700k and continue having the same issues. KSP is a mess and always will be. The fact of ir being a so amazing game makes it even more frustrating since you cant experiment with all the possibilities.

I wouldn't expect future versions to improve that much since the main development team, the original one, left Squad some months ago for some AAA company i cant remember, maybe Steam? God knows what new amazing projects are they working on. I would be happy with a high performance rock solid KSP 2 but i doubt we will see that ever.

 

[warpus]

Take Two bought out Squad, I think. When it first happened I was under the impression that they would all be put on a similar project, such as maybe a sequel. But that was speculation more than anything

edit: By the way, I did a mission yesterday where I had to do an EVA in 4 spots about 1-3km apart each. My science is still not so great, but I was able to send a rocket with a rover. The rover descended perfectly, and I was driving it around looking for the exact spots I was supposed to go to, but it was pretty hilly there and so the rover blew up. The kerb survived though, so I sat there walking him to the 4 spots

I walked to the first spot by hand and then noticed the still wrapped HALLS candy/medicine/losenge lying there on my desk. A bulb went on in my head. I put the HALLS losenge on my W key and put my portable cassette tape player on it. It worked PERFECTLY. This is on a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard or whatever it's called btw, so it might not work as well on other keyboards

And I'm not a hipster but I bought the tape player to convert some old tapes I have of music me and my friends wrote to mp3

 

[cardgame]

yeah Valve hired a bunch of the actual developers of KSP.

We can only hope for a sequel like Nebicular(sp) Drop turned into Portal.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Definitely don't run the 32 bit version, it's less stable than the 64 bit one for the problems you are running into.

I also wouldn't count on further updates to the game either, the lead developers left Squad and are now working on another space game at some other company.

 

[warpus]

They're supposed to be releasing DLC for KSP though, right?

No crashes in 2 days, so maybe the mods I was using were the problem. I'm playing through a career mode game, and it's fun to actually play through the game the way it's "meant to be played". I mainly ever did sandbox stuff. Now I can finally see the vision in action - slowly building up your space program. It's fun! Although it sucks finding new places to do science in, in the early stages.

 

[warpus]

I get a crash every 4 days now, so it's not so bad I guess..

Question. How do science-based space stations work? I just landed on Minmus and brought back a lot of science, and now I have a part that's a science lab. So I can have a kerbal in there in orbit of Kerbin producing science and sending it back 24/7?

 

[Fr8monkey]

Then you need a couple of scientists in there. The higher level the scientist, the more science you'll get.

Now you run an experiment and make sure you choose to Process in Lab Module (the bubbling yellow flask). You should see after it finishes in the MPL that the Data has increased depending on how much science you got from running the experiment; not much at the launchpad, more on the Mun. You will also have some Rate of sci/day now, which is the important bit, its what you are trying to get high.

You repeat this for all the experiments, max 6, one of each type.

You will then have a up to 500 Data depending on how many experiments you used, how good the science was (have you already done all the science before at this location?) and the quality of your scientists.

Hit Start Research and your Science will start to go up. Whenever you like can Transmit Science.

If you leave it too long and Science maxes out at 500 then anymore will be lost. So be sure to check in regularly.

P.S. Labs use alot of electricity, so lots of solar cells for power and batteries for use in the shade of planet..

 

[warpus]

Wow so I had a contract to put a space station around the Mun that could house 18 kerbals. So I did that, and a part of my design was a lab. Sent it all up there in one launch, along with all the science-capable hardware I had access to.

Great, so my scientist is in there and has been producing science, I'm up to 420 science or so now. The problem is that when I try to transmit it to HQ, it craps out at 22% due to a lack of electricity. I figured it would transmit the science in chunks and that I could just transmit 22%, then wait, then transmit 22% more, etc. But nope, you have to transmit the whole thing all at once? That's pretty crappy.

That's a lot of science to go to waste though, so next I'm sending up a new space station component that will be loaded up with batteries. Solar panels don't really matter, right? They won't be able to recharge my batteries fast enough during transmission it seems. I just need to have enough batteries to power the entire transmission of 420 or so science? I mean obviously my station already has a bunch of solar panels, but they won't help me any during transmission, as far as I can tell anyway. I just gotta make sure to send up enough batteries so that my transmission doesn't crap out at 98% or something stupid like that, so I need to look up the exact amount of electricity needed to send out science via the lab

I'm loving the finished career mode btw. The game still crashes every couple days for me, but at least it's playable. The last 2 times it crashed, it happened when my return craft was in the water and I clicked that "Pick these dudes up yo" button at top. No big deal, I just launch the game again and there are my guys, and I just pick them up, and I get all the science and all that jazz. So it's annoying but not a show stopper.

Somthing else that's a bit curious happened. I had a bunch of Nav satellites in orbit around Kerbin and Minmus, they were contracts, and it seems I need to have nav satellites like that to help me communicate with HQ when stuff is in the way. Fair enough, that's a good reason to do these contracts then, so I did a bunch of them. Somehow 2 of my satellites are missing though. One is now somehow in orbit around the sun and the other one is just gone. I put them exactly where the contracts stipulated, got the money for accomplishing my mission, and as far as I could tell there was no way for them to be flung out into space.. I mean.. the Minmus one was on a tight orbit around the planet, how does it just get flung out into space? I don't get it. It would suck if this happened to my Munar space station, it's orbiting the Mun at a 2 million km orbit. It's also got a bunch of fuel, so I use it as a refuelling depot for Mun visits as well. It would suck if it got flung out into space, but I'm not really sure how to prevent that from happening.. or what caused my nav sats to get flung so wildly off course in teh first place...

 

[warpus]

All I've been doing this weekend is play KSP. The (all one launch) missions:

1. 1st Manned mission to Duna. Objective: Set up Research station on the surface and return 1(of 2) of the pilots (Valentina). Mission went perfectly except the research station was lacking a docking port, so did not count for the contract. That's okay though, because the research base is functioning perfectly otherwise and is making me tons of science. Secondary objective: Deploy relay satellite in stable orbit around Duna - 100% success. The relay satellite allows the research station to send back science, so overall the 1st ever mission to Duna has been a resounding success.

2. 2nd Manned mission to Duna. Objective: Set up Research station with docking port and return 1 (of 1) of the pilots. Mission was a failure as the unmanned research station was lacking certain vital components and ended up crashing onto the surface. The secondary objective was to do a flyby of Ike and return some science data, which was a 100% success. Objective 2B was to deploy a backup relay satellite around Duna, which was a failure too, due to an odd entry angle to Duna and some problems during the entry into the Duna system. Ludden returned safely to Kerbin though, so overall the mission was a bit of a failure, but it made us some money and nobody died.

3. Objective: Duna Lander mission to retrieve the pilot from the original Duna mission. Sadly there was not enough fuel to do a proper Duna system entry, and as such the landing site was on a completely different part of the planet than the research base. Even so, the pilot (Ludden) was able to do a crapload of science, and then take off and return it all to Kerbin. I consider it a proof of concept type mission for my space program

4. Parallel mission as the above, Valentina took off into orbit a couple minutes after the Duna Lander mission. This mission was to drop off a fully functioning research lab onto Duna. Third time's the charm, right? An autonomous lab was deployed onto some part of Duna, and it landed perfectly. Contract finally completed Valentina returned home in one piece a couple months after Ludden. There was also a backup relay satellite, but sadly it didn't make it and is now orbiting the Sun

That's 4 Duna missions and 2 pilots doing them in pairs. What I want to do next is.. The research lab from mission 1, which is where my scientist is (and a pilot), it's on the north pole of Duna, but almost right on the edge. I'm thinking if I send down a science rover, the pilot could drive the rover to the other biome, then return all that data to the research base, which can then convert it to science which can be sent back to me. So that's the mission I want to do, but I need to find enough contracts that will cover it

I also obviously want to build a new lander and pick up that pilot (from the research base), but this time I'm going to build a bigger lander and dock it in space with the interplanetary part of the mission. But that's a big mission that would take up a couple hours, that can probably wait until later.

At least I spent some time earlier doing some gardening, because it makes me feel like the whole weekend wasn't KSP. I also cooked

 

[warpus]

Mission 5 to Duna (The first unmanned mission to the planet)

Primary Objective: Set down a rover close to Duna Science Base Alpha so that it can be used by the scientist and/or pilot there
Secondary Objective: Land on Ike and send back science
Tertiary Objective: Finally put a damn backup relay satellite around Duna already

This mission also allowed me to take care of 4 contracts at once, making some money in the process.

Since this was an unmanned mission I didn't need fuel to get back home, so it was possible to first release the satellite in orbit around Duna, then to fly to Ike (with the rover), land the interplanetary stage, do science, then fly back to Duna and do a precise landing of the rover close to the science base.

All mission parameters were completed with a 100% success rate.



The rover landed VERY close to the science base and I was able to rendezvous with Bob the scientist fairly quickly. I initially landed the base very close to the edge of 2 biomes (as you can see above) so that this type of mission would be possible. Above you can see Bob driving the rover back to base after doing science in the lowlands, seen behind him.



^ Screenshot taken just as rover reached the lowlands biome and was able to stop and do some science. You can see the science base just south of it. Driving back was no big deal at all, although the game did again crash halfway through. I haven't figured out the crashes yet and they are annoying...



Bob showing off. This was not in the mission plan, he is going to be reprimanded later.

I beamed back Duna lowlands science data from the rover directly, and then re-loaded all science and brought it back to the science research base, where it is now slowly being analyzed and converted to science. Most of the tech tree is now unlocked, I only have 5 or so things left to unlock, and I've only been to one planet so far.

Unmanned missions to Eve are planned next, as is a pilot & scientist retrieval mission to the orbiting Mun base. And as soon as Bob is done doing science on Duna, a retrieval craft is going to be sent for him too. I've learned some lessons though, I am going to send something to get him into orbit around Duna first, then dock in orbit with that and that is going to be his ticket home.

 

[warpus]

My next mission was the "retrieve the Scientist and the pilot from the Mun orbiting space station" mission. I bundled it with a couple contracts and built a lander to land on the Mun and also do some science.

I ended up landing VERY close to a very steep drop of a crater and when doing an EVA almost fell down.



Here you can see the edge of this crater during my Munar escape (and eventual rendezvous with my Munar Space Station Alpha)



In this shot you can see the Mun Ferry docked with Mun Space Station Alpha, in order to pick up the scientist and the pilot there (the science has all been done, the station is being abandoned for now, leave no kerbal behind, etc.) and to get some fuel.



The Mun Ferry is docked to the station on the left, the Electron attachment to the station in the middle (for power, before I had gigantron solar panels unlocked), the original research station is next, and a lot of the fuel left over from that initial launch is attached to the right of that.

It's not very stable at all, but it was very useful in getting me craploads of science and helping me get fuel along the way to/from the Mun

As it stands now my space program has a pilot and a scientist on a research lab on Duna, and that's it, nobody else is out there. They have a lot of science to do for now, probably at least 15 years, so it's been decided, they are there to stay for now. I will pick them up later, but at least now that they have a rover, it'll be easier to land the lander close enough when the time comes.

My next round of missions will take me to Eve. I want to dock a couple unmanned motherships in orbit and send them all there. I want to have several small probes and relay satellites to put in a bunch of places around Eve and Gilly, and some sort of a gliding aircraft for Eve. I have no idea about the design, I've never built a plane in KSP, so we'll see what happens. The idea is to just fly it around the planet as a "first exploration" type deal + science. I have no plans to send Kerbals to Eve in follow-up missions, but want to stage an elaborate set of manned missions to Jool next. I almost have the whole tech tree unlocked so there is no need to strand Kerbals on Eve, and Gilly seems like an afterthought.

This is my first time playing through the full career mode in 2 years I think. I am having a lot of fun and I think I have the crashes under control even. I'm very happy with where the game ended up. When you try to dock the target doesn't disappear each time you flip from ship to ship! That alone made the game so much better. There are all sorts of other improvements as well and I haven't even tried the mining stuff yet. I think for the Jool set of missions I might have to consider getting familiar with that

edit: I just realized I have 4 posts in a row. Sorry about that.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

First thing i usually did when reached enough techs was to build a minmus miner. A big unmanned tanker with just enough thrusting to land at mimus, mine resources to fill the tanks with fuel (it had an ISRU converter) and then get back into orbit around minmus to be used like a gas station. It multiplied my range and payload many times.

I also built a surface mining base with the ISRU system and such plus a tanker which would land at base, replenish the tanks and get back into orbit, this allowed for a much lighter tanker with higher capacity but implied to have at least a kerbal as gas station attendant (a burden if you use any life support mod) and needed to land the tanker next to the base, which was a pain in the ass.

 

[warpus]

So for mining I need 4 things? 1. Drill to mine stuff, 2. Tank to store mined stuff, 3. Thing to convert to fuel, 4. Tank to store fuel ? I mean overall, on the same ship/base/lander or broken up on several ships. Or am I missing something?

Do I also need to scan the planet to figure out where a good spot for mining is? Or can I just mine wherever (assuming I don't care about low concentrations of mineable ore)

I will need a refueling base in the Jool system when I start sending missions there, so I want to figure out how this works and how to make it work well there

 

[cardgame]

I have completely ridiculously ignored mining. Need a fuel depot in the Jool system? Over-engineer a ridiculous launch vehicle and send a full orange tank that way.

 

[warpus]

I spent too much time trying to design my first plane in the game. I wanted to build a glider to send to the Eve system, but nothing I could figure out how to design would actually glide gracefully (on Kerbin). I watched videos of people using ion gliders on Eve, and I tried to build something similar, but all of my Kerbin tests failed. Gliders with bigger wingspans seem to be a lot better at gliding, but then I have a big problem of getting something like that into orbit, as the biggest fairing is too small for such a wingspan.

So I nixed that part of the project. I didn't have enough $$$ to send 2-3 motherships to Eve anyway, so I took on a project to make some money first. A complicated one involving 6 tourists and landings on the Mun, Duna, and flybys of Minmus and Ike. Each tourist had different things on their checklist so it was a tad complicated. All 6 had to be sent to the Duna system. In the end the whole mission took a grand total of 4 launches:

1. Launch 1 - The interplanetary stage that would ferry everything around. Also includes space for a pilot and 5 tourists. This is also where tourists (and 1 pilot) wait while the others use the lander.
2. Launch 2 - The lander, which includes space for a pilot and 2 tourists. Capable of landing on both the Mun and Duna.

These 2 docked in space above Kerbin before being sent out to Mun orbit. There's room for 1 extra tourist, so that it's possible for me to shuffle tourists around the various capsules. i.e. I had 8 kerbals on the mothership total, but needed space for 9.

After successfully landing on the Mun and redocking, I made my way to Minmus. After reaching orbit, I realized that I probably didn't have enough fuel to make it all the way to Duna and back. Cue launch 3:

3. Launch 3 - An unmanned fuel tanker. Launched and sent to Minmus orbit. Once there I had to undock the lander from the interplanetary stage, and dock the tanker to each one individually, refuelling both. Afterwards the lander and interplanetary stage re-docked and started burning for Duna. The docking was "fun" because I was using the largest docking ports (for stability while doing long burns reasons). Mind you I think I got pretty good at docking those bad boys efficiently enough.

After making our way to Duna, (passing by Ike on the way, in order to satisfy one of the mission parameters) the lander decoupled, landed on Duna successfully, then made its way back in orbit, where it re-docked with the interplanetary stage. A burn was then made to make another Ike intercept, as I forgot that I had a mission to send science back from the vicinity of Ike.. After that I was able to get a Kerbin intercept rather easily.. but.. on a slightly odd approach vector. Turns out i entered the Kerbin system way too fast, and did not have enough fuel to slow the mothership down. I tried aerobreaking too and that did not work at all. So unfortunately I had to allow the mothership containing the 8 kerbals to zoom through the Kerbin system and end up in orbit around the sun.

4. Launch 4 - Rescue - An unmanned fuel tanker, containing 40% more fuel than the first tanker. I launched it right after the mothership zoomed right by Kergin and sent it in "pursuit". It was put in an orbit around the Sun, and then required 3 burns to match up orbits with the fuel-less mothership containing the tourists. Once I caught up to the mothership, I repeated the 4 step refuelling process: undock lander from rest of mothership, dock each one with tanker, then re-dock mothership.

After that was done my fearless pilot Valentina (the most senior pilot in my space program, she's been to Duna 3 times now, and has landed on the Mun twice I believe) easily established a Kerbin intercept. Cue a lot of cheering at mission HQ. It lead to the successful return and retrieval of the 6 tourists and my 2 pilots.

All in all this mission made me money, but with 4 launches (instead of 2) I could have made a LOT more. Ah well.. As part of funding for the rescue mission I accepted a mission to set up a science lab around Gilly. So that's where I'm headed next. My plan is to send 2 motherships. The first one will have a relay satellite and the science lab (which will also act as a relay). The second one will have a relay satellite (or 2?) and 4 small Eve science landers. At least that is the plan. Wish I could also send a glider along with this mission, but I guess it's not happening

 

[cardgame]

Warpus, the key to atmospheric plane delivery to another planet is folding wings.

 

[warpus]

Is that stock?

I was able to create smaller planes that would fit in a fairing, and they were of the same size as several gliders people said they used to fly around on Eve.. But stuff I tested on Kerbin was never any stable so I figured it was probably a waste of money to send any of my designs to Eve

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I dont remember what exactly you need for mining but it is heavy machinery for sure, plus a lot of energy generators. Theoretically you need to scan the planet first (and it is funny) but i think you will find at least small quantities of the most basic resources everywhere. It was that way several versions ago iirc.

 

[warpus]

How is it funny? And there are more than 1 type of resources available to be mined?

I should read up on this. My Eve mission is almost finished, next I should probably figure out mining, so that I can do an epic Jool mission

 

[Thorgalaeg]

It depends if you play stock or modded. In stock they introduced ore only as the only available resource in version 1.0 or so, dont know how is it now. With mods otoh you can mine for a number of different resources to be used by the kolonization mod. You could then process them into a variety of fuels, oxygen, food and other things.