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What does it mean when your estimated burn time is displayed as N/A? I've got a guy in orbit but I don't know how to maneuver him in any way because it won't tell me how long I need to burn for.

You probably don't have enough thrust to complete the maneuver you are attempting before reaching the node.

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You probably don't have enough thrust to complete the maneuver you are attempting before reaching the node.

 

Hm. It seemed like it was N/A no matter what I tried to do, even if it was just a tiny adjustment. I'm in orbit around Kerbin and was originally trying to get to the mun, but now I can't even make a working node to send me back into Kerbin's atmosphere, even though I'm pretty sure I could get there easily if I do it manually. Guess I'll keep playing with it.

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Did you make sure to clear your old nodes? Do you have any fuel at all?

 

I've noticed that burn estimates are sometimes off when you don't have the engines running at all. Maybe try and goose them a little bit to see if anything useful shows up?

 

Edit: Worse comes to worse, watch some oribtal mechanics videos at http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/15652-Orbital-Mechanics-101-A-Kerbal-Space-Program-Tutorial and fly by the seat of your pants :)

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Cool beans, a new version is available. Seems that the biggest changes and additions are: crew management, new SAS system and different terrain generation. More precise information can be found here.

 

Haven't had the chance to try it yet, but sounds interesting once again. The new SAS modules use electricity to provide torque. You can also apparently turn your vessel without having to toggle the SAS off and back on again. Also, apparently a lot of behind the scenes information gathering etc. was added for future career mode updates.

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I've noticed that burn estimates are sometimes off when you don't have the engines running at all. Maybe try and goose them a little bit to see if anything useful shows up?

 

That worked. As soon as I started to throttle up it gave me an actual value. I actually managed to make it to the mun with that guy after all, albeit with no fuel left whatsoever and hitting the surface at about 20 m/sec. But hey, he survived, and I even managed to keep the lander from falling over.

 

post-8283-0-29116400-1374705907_thumb.jpg

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The idea of a career mode in this really has me really interested. I wonder if it will ever really come out.

 

Edit: Shammack, now you have to make another pod to go and rescue him :)

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That revamped Space Center is really neat:

nm1JELC.jpg

 

Also, I love the new (A)SAS code. In previous versions, rockets of this size had more wobs than a boxset full of Dubstep during launch. In 20.1 however, the vehicle pictured above, which delivered a ~50t upper stage to LKO, was rock-fucking-solid. Not even the tinyest of wobsies while launching.

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Also, I love the new (A)SAS code. In previous versions, rockets of this size had more wobs than a boxset full of Dubstep during launch. In 20.1 however, the vehicle pictured above, which delivered a ~50t upper stage to LKO, was rock-fucking-solid. Not even the tinyest of wobsies while launching.

 

So no more need for struts between sections?

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So no more need for struts between sections?

You still need those, but maybe not as many. 

The new SAS doesn't "overcorrect" anymore, so gone are the days of wildly flapping control surfaces/engines, and consequently wobbly starts. You'll definitely be able to launch vehicles now that would have torn themselves apart in earlier versions.

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Hmm, I might need to finally make a moon trip then. I've spent so much time monkeying with orbits and pod intercepts that I've never actually tried for the moon.

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It looks like the mun may be a bit harder to land on now because the terrain is less flat. I upgraded my save with the guy I landed on the mun the other day, and when I went back to him in the new version, the ground was at a much steeper incline and the lander started sliding downhill from where my flag is planted.

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Can you try to take a screen shot at similar position to your last one? I'm curious how different it is.

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Can you try to take a screen shot at similar position to your last one? I'm curious how different it is.

The first thing I do in every new version is a Apollo-style mission, and man, do I have screenshots to share! :D

No good shots from the ground I'm afraid, but I hope this helps you to get an impression of the changed face of the Mun.

MzY1sza.jpgr9d9qCm.jpgbP1y0VQ.jpgsjaGoqw.jpg

As you can see, there are a lot of new, proceduraly generated craters, making landing (and roving, I imagine) a bit more difficult. Some other bodies got the same treatment, presumably those without an atmosphere.

 

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Can you try to take a screen shot at similar position to your last one? I'm curious how different it is.

 

Here's a shot of the lander's new position (after sliding downhill). The altitude is nearly twice what it was before and you can see from the navball how steep this hill is. The flag from the original landing site is visible in the background.

post-8283-0-49662900-1374854903_thumb.jpg

 

Me hopping towards the flag (I could hop uphill, but when I tried hopping back down I ended up falling flat on my face every time).

post-8283-0-11260500-1374854929_thumb.jpg

 

Here's a shot from what I think is close to the same angle as the one I posted before.

post-8283-0-18424200-1374854959_thumb.jpg

 

Looking back towards the lander, you can see a lot more hills and stuff in the distance.

post-8283-0-17065200-1374854968_thumb.jpg

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Sweet, I've definitely gotta shoot for the moon this weekend. Kerbal might be one of the games I try to get an actual Steam badge for.

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I've failed my duties as a Kerbal enthusiast. KSP version 0.22 was released on the 16th of October, and only now I remember to make a post about it. However, I'm sure that this thread isn't the main source of KSP news for anyone interested in it.

 



This new update brings into the game the first version of the career mode. You start off with only some very basic rocket parts. The small variants of the command pod, solid fuel booster, fuel tank and the non thurst vectoring engine. There's also one structural girder part, a parachute and an antenna.

You get more rocket parts by doing scientific experiments and unlocking them with science points. The first points you get by doing crew reports (right-click on command pod -> crew report) at different altitudes. You get science points by transmitting the data back via the antenna (which drains power, and you also don't have batteries or solar panels yet) or landing the craft safely and recovering it (once landed, a recover button becomes available above the altitude meter when you mouse over a tiny arrow up there). Later on you can unlock Mystery Goo containers and Material Bays that allow you to do more experiments. Basically what you do is take these science parts to different places, do the experiment and get the stuff back on Kerbin. You can also transmit the data from experiments, but you get a smaller amount of points that way. You also get less science the more times you perform the exact same experiment/report. The ultimate source of science points is bringing back surface samples from other stellar bodies.

The game also tracks your location on the stellar bodies. For example, experiments and samples from the equator of the Mun are different than those from the poles (and I'm sure there are a lot of additional distinct areas). There's stuff to explore on Kerbin as well.

 

Here's Jebediah on Minmus with the heavy science craft. Also a picture of the cool Idle Thumbs Space Agency flag planted on the ground.


5d03qda.png

 

qe8ZMG5.png

 

Mun's north pole is a nasty place. The improved Munar surface really makes it a horrible pain to land there.

GIWOkuj.png

 

Pv3uaL4.png

 

With the science points I got from the Munar Polar Expedition, I unlocked the nuclear engines. Now I can set my sights to other planets.

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Oooh, I really need to play this again. As I understand it from Carmack no one has been able to make a re-usable space plane that can carry cargo, which sounds like a challenge. I bought this, played it, got my second ever rocket into orbit with ease, went through the orbital manuevering tutorial, and then sort of forgot about it. I need to land on the Mun damn it! Maybe the campaign is enough for me to get more into it.

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Another update, v. 0.23 is now available!

 

I wasn't even expecting for it to come out. I haven't been playing KSP in a while, due to being busy and most of my gaming time being occupied by Spelunky.

 

As I have some moderately urgent stuff to take care of, here's a condensed list of the interesting updates:

Science overhaul!

You're no longer able to max out an experiment by repeating it and transmitting it over and over again. From what I understand, the science equipment is more like single-use now, but not exactly. There's also a science lab module, which increases the science transmit efficiency and can use to reset your single-use equipment. Also, you can see in the science facility all the scientific experiments you're performed (to better keep a track of them, I suppose).

 

Tweakables!

You can tweak parts in the Vehicle Assembly Building / Space Plane Hangar. So for example, you can have your lander legs be extended by default. Freaking finally!

 

New engine!

A new engine, R.A.P.I.E.R. or 'Reactive Alternate-Propellant Intelligent Engine for Rockets', that can use both intake air as well as internal oxidizer to burn.

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KSP: ARM update has been released. That's Asteroid Redirect Mission and it was made in collaboration with NASA, hot beans. Full changelog here.

 

So as you might expect from the name, asteroids are the new big thing. The asteroids themselves are procedurally generated, ranging from small pieces of rock few meters across to gigantic thousand ton beasts. They appear near Kerbin in random orbits. Some might be just passing by in an escape trajectory, but some might also be orbiting Kerbin. You will lose the signal (asteroid despawns) after a while unless you choose to track them in the Tracking Station.

 

There are also new rocket parts. Of course there's the addition of even bigger fuel tanks and engines, but the important addition regarding ARM is the "Advanced Grabbing Unit". It's a claw that can grab onto any object, not just asteroids.

 

Here's a brief story. The second object I discovered was a small (Class A) asteroid in a heavily inclined and eccentric orbit around Kerbin. I started tracking it and promptly renamed it Ast. 55-WHYAREMO.

wVkaQFC.jpg

 

With the help of the new big rocket parts and equipped with the Claw, ITSA-Rendezvous 1 set out on it's journey to intercept 55-WHYAREMO. The penis-and-balls resemblance of the craft was purely coincidental.

TTGf23l.jpg

 

With the periapses of the orbits very close to each other, it was only a matter of accelerating until the intercept came close enough.

ddbOnfH.jpg

 

The perspective can be a bit difficult, but it really isn't a big rock.

Ba5uZM1.jpg

 

Deploy the Claw!

wtfFXxw.jpg

 

Gotcha! Orrie Kerman is terrified for some reason.

Hpyy1WI.jpg

 

I rode with the asteroid up to the apoapsis, where with the smallest amount of delta-v I could bring the orbit to pass through the atmosphere. The plan wasn't to have an impact, but to bring 55-WHYAREMO to a closer and less eccentric orbit.

B7gDEvk.jpg

 

Here we go!

RLuRKaC.jpg

 

This is the last screenshot I have at this point. It was getting really late and I chose to resume the project later. But I did only pass through the atmosphere back into space (a couple of times), which slowed me down enough to be in a high, but less eccentric orbit.

vYrr48v.jpg

 

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Here's a brief story. 

 

Man, what a neat game. 

 

I played it recently and had a lot of fun. I stopped soon after, because even though I hadn't done a lot of the more difficult things like land on the moon or build a space station, I felt like I could easily drain it of all its content quickly. Eagerly awaiting for the final version.

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Orbital intercepts are no joke. The claw probably would have made my Kerbal rescue mission a lot easier way back when.

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I used what fuel I had left to bring ITSA-Rendezvous 1 as close to an equatorial orbit as possible, but got only to about a 30 degree inclination. So, I launched a refuelling ship. The design turned out to be really bad, but it got the job done.

spM6JFi.jpg

 

Docked! I think I'm getting pretty good at this, because this was a really quick docking despite not having played KSP in a while.

MNNVqrR.jpg

 

I took Bill and Wehrdun Kerman with me back to the surface, leaving Orrie Kerman in orbit. The "Mission accomplished, time to deorbit"- moment is fantastic, no matter how many times I've experienced it.

BvYqcvn.jpg

 

So here the asteroid, with Rendezvous 1 holding on to it, is in a circular and equatorial orbit. The fuel I managed to bring to the ship was enough to pull it off in one go and there's even a little to spare. Next objective, bring it to the surface intact! I don't yet know how tightly the claw can hold on to things, so it might require some trickery and contraptions to pull off.

R31JzdF.jpg

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I picked this up when it went on sale. I went through the tutorial and still feel like I don't understand how to play the game. Is that normal?

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More to the point, what advice do people have for a new player without actually telling me how to do things, since I gather figuring that out is part of the fun?

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