Kerbal Space Program
- Thread starter Leonel
- Start date
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
lol
I got bored last night, mapped Duna, and sent down a lander to one of the anomalies. My landing wasn't that great as it was getting late and "close enough" had to do it as I wanted to actually get some rest. I am now 10km away fro my lander, driving around in the rover looking for the anomaly.. I am close but so far I am not seeing anything. Did a very controlled descent onto Duna, that was fun. My first couple trips to that planet were so.. random compared to this. I think I am actually getting decent at this game.
I got bored last night, mapped Duna, and sent down a lander to one of the anomalies. My landing wasn't that great as it was getting late and "close enough" had to do it as I wanted to actually get some rest. I am now 10km away fro my lander, driving around in the rover looking for the anomaly.. I am close but so far I am not seeing anything. Did a very controlled descent onto Duna, that was fun. My first couple trips to that planet were so.. random compared to this. I think I am actually getting decent at this game.
A lander is overkill, but it's probably easier than a plane, to be honest. Besides, you only need a tiny engine and a chute.
not mine
Spoiler :
Reminds me a bit of the orbital shipyards you see in scifi shows.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
Is it the most northern one of the two placed at the south hemisphere?
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
It's the one right on the southern ice cap. I drove around looking for it like an idiot. That glowing triangular thing I saw in the distance much earlier (when it was still dark) should have been a hint that I should have been heading in that direction! But nooo, it wasn't "in the right direction according to my map", so I went slightly off to the side. Yeah, turns out the map isn't a very good indicator of where to head, at least as far as the markers are concerned and when you are very very close.
There are 2 other anomalies that I found, but I didn't actually manage to scan the entire planet. There are tiny unscanned portions that probably don't contain any anomalies - but might. I am going to try to visit the other 2 anomalies on this mission and then try to get back into orbit to scan the remainder of the planet.. Then.. an Ike mapping/exploration/Duna rescue mission!
edit: I wonder what will happen if I set my rover on cruise control and let it drive straight ahead, forever? Will it keep going, during the day at least? I wonder how long until it circumnavigates Duna? I'm going to leave it there on cruise control and check back on it every once in a while. I'm sure Jebediah won't mind
editedit: oh, you can't do that. Ah well.. I suppose if you could, I would have likely heard of Scott Manley doing it first
edit3: lol I was somehow able to get around the "can't switch craft while moving on surface" thing and now have successfully switched over to my lander (manned by Bob). And the rover keeps going and going but then it stops at 350m away from the lander. I suppose this only makes sense from a programming point of view - you don't want to be calculating physics of far away objects when they're not on rails. That's why you can't have something moving on the surface of a planet and click "Space Center". makes sense but too bad. Ah well, on with the mission we go. What I'm going to do instead is leave Jebediah there in the rover, and tonight before I go to sleep I'm going to point him at the north Pole (I am close to the south pole) and set him on cruise control. We'll see how far he makes it in 8 hours or so.
edit4: visiting the remaining 2 anomalies with my lander (which is 2 landers in one) was a bit of a stretch.. I made it to the first anomaly with a bit of fuel left, but not enough to make it much further. I was still too far away from the anomaly to make it there by foot though. I will have to send 1 more mission there at least.
My rover spent all night travelling towards the north pole while I slept. When I woke up it was still moving somehow (surely the sun went down at some point, that close to the pole? that should have shut my rover down), but about 90 degrees off course (it must have hit something I guess). It was moving in a strange direction very close to the spot where the ice cap meets the sand, so I took over for a bit and explored. I sent him directly north again @ 17m/s before I left for work so we'll see where he ends up by 6pm
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Just got home to that screen you get when you click "End flight" with all the statistics and what not. Looks like my rover crashed at some point during its journey. 
According to the stats though it travelled 344 km before it crashed, which is about 17% of the circumference of Duna according to my calculations.. which is way better than I thought - the guy must have made it pretty close to the equator! I think I made him go a bit too fast - 17m/s. I'm going to try the same thing again next time I go to Duna to investigate those remaining anomalies, but I'll go with 10m/s maybe. Are there any giant drops on the planet? Cause that would mess up my (not so) brilliant plans
According to the stats though it travelled 344 km before it crashed, which is about 17% of the circumference of Duna according to my calculations.. which is way better than I thought - the guy must have made it pretty close to the equator! I think I made him go a bit too fast - 17m/s. I'm going to try the same thing again next time I go to Duna to investigate those remaining anomalies, but I'll go with 10m/s maybe. Are there any giant drops on the planet? Cause that would mess up my (not so) brilliant plans
Samez
Emperor
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
- Messages
- 1,643
I am still learning a lot with every flight and I can definitely see the use of the nuclear engines now.
My next target will be orbital docking. (I didn't do the docking tutorial until now)
Also my current flight status around Kerbin:
Spoiler :
My next target will be orbital docking. (I didn't do the docking tutorial until now)
Also my current flight status around Kerbin:
Spoiler :
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
I have spring break from March 23rd - 31st and I plan to do some serious missions then and post about them...including finishing my massive Duna station challenge. I've just been too damn busy to play and this isn't the kind of game you can just pick up and play for a few minutes, you really have to commit an hour or two at a minimum.
I am also a bit burnt out on the terrible docking experiences, I can do it - just look at the big hoonkin stations I've built without any mods - but it's such a damn chore that I don't want to do it. This contributed to me not playing; not only did I not have much time, but I decided that all the really cool things I wanted to do involved docking and the docking was unfun enough that I didn't want to deal with it. So I didn't play, which is a real shame because this is such an awesome game.
But now that I've been away from it for a while and will have some free time, I'm looking forward to going back into space via KSP.
Oh and they really, really need to fix the whole update system. It's such a freaking chore to have to dig out my password for this game everytime it updates because it refuses to save my password even when I've checked the little box and then the update fails about 1/2 the times I do it.
I am also a bit burnt out on the terrible docking experiences, I can do it - just look at the big hoonkin stations I've built without any mods - but it's such a damn chore that I don't want to do it. This contributed to me not playing; not only did I not have much time, but I decided that all the really cool things I wanted to do involved docking and the docking was unfun enough that I didn't want to deal with it. So I didn't play, which is a real shame because this is such an awesome game.
But now that I've been away from it for a while and will have some free time, I'm looking forward to going back into space via KSP.
Oh and they really, really need to fix the whole update system. It's such a freaking chore to have to dig out my password for this game everytime it updates because it refuses to save my password even when I've checked the little box and then the update fails about 1/2 the times I do it.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Speak of the goddamn devil...patcher just failed, so I won't be playing KSP today.
Ok, so I found out that I had to download it directly from the KSP website instead of using the patcher. I don't know why they didn't tell me that up-front in the game with the update prompt. Why make the users go searching for information they don't even know they are missing????
Also, it took me a good 15 minutes and 5 or 6 attempts to find the right .exe file after downloading to play the damn game, the whole process is a chore.
One last thing: My saves from 18.2 (like my giant space station and the duna challenge) are not in 18.4. Is there any way to safely (i.e. not break my game) move them from 18.2 to 18.4?
Thanks
Ok, so I found out that I had to download it directly from the KSP website instead of using the patcher. I don't know why they didn't tell me that up-front in the game with the update prompt. Why make the users go searching for information they don't even know they are missing????
Also, it took me a good 15 minutes and 5 or 6 attempts to find the right .exe file after downloading to play the damn game, the whole process is a chore.
One last thing: My saves from 18.2 (like my giant space station and the duna challenge) are not in 18.4. Is there any way to safely (i.e. not break my game) move them from 18.2 to 18.4?
Thanks
Thorgalaeg
Deity
I think that if you simply copy the save folder you will have it. About docking, it is not that difficult if your ships have the RCS placed just around the center of mass. Also, maneuvering both ships alternatively instead of only one help o lot too. Using the chase view is also a good idea since it helps to keep spacial orientation. Thankfully the docking ports seems to have some sort of magnetic field, otherwise it would be even more difficult.
Anyway if you dont suffer of modphobie a way to simplify docking considerably is to use mechjeb. The "look to target" feature is invaluable.
Anyway if you dont suffer of modphobie a way to simplify docking considerably is to use mechjeb. The "look to target" feature is invaluable.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
I am not really a modphobie, I just haven't gotten around to figuring out how to install mods because I haven't had the time. I also am unsure of which ones are actually worthwhile.
As for the difficulty of docking, it really is quite difficult to do without mods - and I say this as someone who's pretty good at it.
As for the difficulty of docking, it really is quite difficult to do without mods - and I say this as someone who's pretty good at it.
Dreadnought
Deity
Mods are really easy to install. The modders organize their files into folders whose name correspond to the files in the ksp directory. Merely add the files from the folders in the mod directory to the ksp folders of the same name and it'll work! 
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
They should add female astronauts already! Or maybe at least a mission in the final game where a pod of female kerbonauts is stuck on a far away moon or planet and you have to retrieve them and bring them back home... or something 
There was an update today and some exciting updates. Here's a summary. It's the most upvoted comment, it has links to photos and such.
I'm very excited about most of the changes!
As for what I've been doing in the game lately, I have 2 rovers on Duna looking for the last 2 remaining anomalies, as well as a rover/lander/scanner craft above Ike, which is scanning that and looking for anomalies there.. but I don't think there are any, so I might send that crew home or land somewhere on Duna for laughs. There for sure wouldn't be any fuel to return home with after that. Ah well, Duna landings are always fun!
Last night I sent my first double mission to another planet - basically 2 ships I put in orbit that made the journey to Duna one right after the other (quite literally just minutes apart) - Duna Explorer and Duna Explorer II. Coordinating the journey was surprisingly easy - Duna Explorer was launched second (go figure) but its intercept was 10 days earlier than that of Duna Explorer II.. So.. That worked out perfect! I put Duna Explorer II in orbit around Duna and when I switched to the other craft, it was still a couple days away from an intercept. Put it in an orbit around Duna and then Ike.
That is probably how I'm going to send larger missions to other planets now: 2+ ships at the same time, arriving hours apart. I am probably going to run into issues doing this, but I don't see what the game could throw at me that wouldn't be manageable. It might get tricky, but.. it should all be doable, even if there's 5 ships all at once.
Anyway, I've got one of my rovers at the exact spot where one of the anomalies is supposed to be and there's.. nothing. My landing was basically perfect. I can't see crap though, but have only looked around for maybe 5 minutes. The other rover has been roving around for what feels like hours and I haven't found crap either. The marker on my map doesn't seem to update when I move around there, so.. I'm not sure if that's because of the anomaly or not, but I've also noticed that when I do timewarp, that the marker moves quite a bit on the map.. So I have no idea in which direction to look for this thing. I might try again tonight.
There was an update today and some exciting updates. Here's a summary. It's the most upvoted comment, it has links to photos and such.
I'm very excited about most of the changes!
As for what I've been doing in the game lately, I have 2 rovers on Duna looking for the last 2 remaining anomalies, as well as a rover/lander/scanner craft above Ike, which is scanning that and looking for anomalies there.. but I don't think there are any, so I might send that crew home or land somewhere on Duna for laughs. There for sure wouldn't be any fuel to return home with after that. Ah well, Duna landings are always fun!
Last night I sent my first double mission to another planet - basically 2 ships I put in orbit that made the journey to Duna one right after the other (quite literally just minutes apart) - Duna Explorer and Duna Explorer II. Coordinating the journey was surprisingly easy - Duna Explorer was launched second (go figure) but its intercept was 10 days earlier than that of Duna Explorer II.. So.. That worked out perfect! I put Duna Explorer II in orbit around Duna and when I switched to the other craft, it was still a couple days away from an intercept. Put it in an orbit around Duna and then Ike.
That is probably how I'm going to send larger missions to other planets now: 2+ ships at the same time, arriving hours apart. I am probably going to run into issues doing this, but I don't see what the game could throw at me that wouldn't be manageable. It might get tricky, but.. it should all be doable, even if there's 5 ships all at once.
Anyway, I've got one of my rovers at the exact spot where one of the anomalies is supposed to be and there's.. nothing. My landing was basically perfect. I can't see crap though, but have only looked around for maybe 5 minutes. The other rover has been roving around for what feels like hours and I haven't found crap either. The marker on my map doesn't seem to update when I move around there, so.. I'm not sure if that's because of the anomaly or not, but I've also noticed that when I do timewarp, that the marker moves quite a bit on the map.. So I have no idea in which direction to look for this thing. I might try again tonight.
