Kerbal Space Program.

[Buster's Uncle]

Bump.

I love this and everybody loves AARs...

[Unorthodox]

yeah, kinda waiting for the next patch.  Other than loading up for Duna or beyond, there's not a whole lot left here for me.  Kerbal has a new moon and all, and the docking clamps have some familiar issues which make other things less than fun, so, chillin for the next big update.  (budgets and contracts, no more just throwing more engines and fuel till it launches)

[Dale]

Yeah I'm still hating docking clamps.  And without docking clamps to do fuel missions, getting anywhere deep into space is basically impossible.

[Unorthodox]

The clamps just are way too wobbly to hook things together permanent.  You can do refuel missions easy enough still. 

The new parts from the nasa pack make deep space doable, though.  I haven't unlocked the more super efficient power stuff yet, but you get to nuke engines and you can head out easily enough without the need to fuel.







I can lift enough fuel to go out REALLY far, problem is I'd RATHER be able to build a nice station or ship in orbit that doesn't shake itself apart just trying to maintain it's orientation.  Older builds, you could use the tri-couplers to get it stable, but that hasn't worked the last couple builds very well. 

[Geo]

Is that Duna (the Mars analogue) in your screenshots? So it has an atmosphere in the game?

[Unorthodox]

Yes, and yes.  It has a thin atmosphere. It's about 1/3 as thick as Kerbin, making it possible to slam into a mountain before your chutes have any time to slow you down.  It's kind of a semi-powered decent.  Makes taking off easy, though. 

Eve (venus) in contrast has a thicker atmosphere, which makes chutes more effective, but taking off a pain...and you gotta dodge the oceans.   

[Geo]

Hey, is there a sort of "fuel gatherer" module with which you can extract the chemical components of your fuel from the atmosphere?

[Unorthodox]

Not in the stock game.  There are entire mining applications available in mods.  Don't know if any of them hold an atmosphere skimmer. 

[Unorthodox]

This started as a trial of the 'improved' electric engines that were updated in the Nasa update.  The mars mission only gave me enough science to unlocked the basic version, not the advanced one, but figured I'd give it a go. 

Without the NASA parts, that first stage would have needed a LOT more parts, 3 part lifter is too lazy/simple to pass up.



So, with 2 stages, I threw this little thing into solar orbit just to see what it can do. Yes, tons of BIG solar panels, I need a little more than half of them getting full exposure to keep all the electric engines chugging at full throttle.   



I wasn't really planning a planetary encounter when I started burning, but when it became clear this thing was easily capable of leaving the system, I slowed down to encounter Dres.  No analog, 5th planet, tiny rock.  I'll intersect it in a few years, maybe next time I play...

This is with no gravity assists, burning straight there, about the least fuel efficient means you can come up with, and I haven't used a third of my fuel yet. 

[img]

[Geo]

Electric propulsion... Ion drive?
I keep having ominous feelings when seeing such non-aerodynamic designs lifting off Kerbal's surface.

[Unorthodox]

Yes, Ion drive with xenon gas.  I never used to use them much, but they got a boost this last update.  Total shot in the dark here. 

The reason for the funny craft at liftoff is mostly lack of decent collapsible parts and fairings.  Most mods address that, I just don't run any mods. 

[Unorthodox]

Preview: Kerbal Space Program 0.24 (First Contract)

]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg4323shE4k

[Unorthodox]

So, it finally released.

As with every update, I start over.

Out the gate there's 4 contracts and $10k to play with:

Launch something, anything.
Reach 5000 feet.
Leave Atmosphere
Reach Orbit. 

Of those, the first two are SIMPLE, the second two are unrealistic with the present parts.  So, I just make a simple craft and hit go.  I note there are some new graphics this update.  Nothing major, but new effects, more detailed skins, etc. 



As long as I'm going, I be sure to do my science along the way, as though you get SOME science from contracts, now, you still mostly need to do the science projects at the same time.



And, we land safely right next to the launch pad.



I note we get prestige (unlocks new contracts) for returning our kerbalnauts safely home.



And, I get refunded most the cost of my returned parts on the ship. 



I got a slew of contracts after that first flight.  A lot of 'test this part' contracts, many of them for parts far up the tech tree from where I am, which gives me access to those parts NOW, which makes the whole tech climb a lot easier than in the past.  So, I tried to hit as many of the contracts as I could in one ship, and figured out an important little thing about contracts.  The 'test this part' ones list an altitude range and a speed to test them at.  The tricky part is you have to begin their use at that specific height/speed, not just reach that height/speed while using it, so I missed out on a couple of the tests this flight, but managed to leave the atmosphere and do a bunch of science in the process. 



2 flights in, I've done tons of science, amassed $96K, completed 10 contracts, and have a dozen more available. 




So far, I'd kinda like to see a steeper curve on the contract system, a little more difficult, but that might have a lot to do with me being already familiar with the game as a whole.   I am really enjoying the differing goals and the trying to come up with craft to do strange things like reaching high speeds at low altitudes, or firing rockets from splashdown, or just cramming as many things onto a single mission as you can.  Looking forward to bigger and better contracts in the future. 

[Unorthodox]

Well, I had a rescue contract and a couple more test missions, then my first Mun mission came up.

It was refreshing in that, to make the Mun this first time, I had to spend more than the contract was worth for the first time.  However, promise of science developement alone was worth the cost. 

This is my second Mun mission, which saw me flying this abomination up. 



The thing is hauling a couple heavy items up that I had contracts for testing in Munar orbit.  All told, it's going to complete 4 missions around the Mun. 



Then to top it off, I had enough fuel leftover to stick a landing RIGHT outside the space center (this yields a significant cost reimbursement on all parts recovered).



Now I've got contracts to explore Minmus (pays less than the explore Mun contracts), Duna (mars) and Ike (Duna's Moon).  You'd want to do both Duna and Ike together. 

Interesting note, you COULD send probes to complete the missions, transmitting back data at the required stages.  If you were after $, this would be the way to go, however, you can also do manned missions, which are orders of magnitude more expensive, but yield MUCH more science. 

[Geo]

This is my second Mun mission, which saw me flying this abomination up. 

*groan*
This is the released version of the game, and you're still required to launch aerodynamic unstable assemblies?