The Impassive in orbit around Kerbin, all fueled up and ready to make the trip to Laythe
Theoretically it has enough delta-v to make the trip to Laythe without another refuel, but I make mistakes a lot so to maximize the amount of fuel available for the trip I moved my orbit further out to a spot that's much easier to escape Kerbin orbit and sent another refueling probe
The probe approaches the Impassive, matches velocity, sheds its engine, and docks using RCS and SAS.
The shed engine is left with just enough fuel and probe power to send it crashing back into Kerbin. I hate leaving extra space junk floating around. (I actually did this even before docking because I really hate extra space junk)
Fuel is transferred and the rest of the trip can begin. The probe still has some fuel left in its tank so I'm going to leave it attached for now to squeeze that last little bit of fuel out of it and hopefully shed it so it intercepts a planet or moon along the way. I hate extra space junk.
MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
I realized that there's seriously no point in having a low-orbit space station with my current long-term mission objectives. What would be really cool is a space station orbiting Minimus. I've started a Kethane harvesting mission, and a staging dock at the very outer edge of Kerbin's gravity well orbiting a mining mission with a basically unlimited amount of fuel would be a much better place for the KISS.
the Minimus Transfer Vehicle docks with the KISS on the station's orbital control module to provide additional thrust
we align with the transfer trajectory and begin the burn
Now here is where things got incredibly hairy. The whole thing was jiggling around because there was an incredible amount of thrust being applied to two docking clamps holding the whole thing together. I finally got an encounter with Minimus and executed a gravity turn to bring myself into a stable orbit. When we hit periapsis at the projected 40km, I burned retrograde to circularize.
Way to not answer the question, jerks! Well, guess what? I ended up going off to Duna anyway! And took a bunch of pictures of the process! But you only get to see one of them!
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
edited August 2013
Alright, here is my tutorial on docking:
As you can see here, Jeb has climbed into a rocket and got himself into a good fucked up orbit. Go Jeb.
We'll send bill up in another of the same capsule to pick up Jeb. Shit, wait, there's no room for Jeb! Lets add a ladder:
I pick a good spot to launch because using mechjeb to do the math for me is cheating.
Once I've launched and circularized, I start to match my orbit to Jeb's. It's hard to eyeball but without the proper instruments, that's what you have to do.
Well we're starting to get some markers and shit. That's good:
First thing I want to do, though, is get an orbit as close to Jeb's as possible. that way I can take stock and see what I need to do. I'm well ahead of him, so my slightly higher orbit is going to allow him to catch up to me.
but that's going to take a long time so I burn a little bit of fuel. Basically, I start burning prograde in order to heighten my orbit. yeah, I'm speeding up so that Jeb can catch up to me. Orbital mechanics are weird, yo.
Look at this shit!
ROCKETS HOW DO THEY EVEN WORK?
Now, we're closing in to a respectable distance here. this is good:
alright, you can see here that the more redder set of markers have updated themselves. That shows how far apart we'll be once we get around to them. This is not goodl
I burn retrograde one more time to to match our orbits as closely as possible. This is really going to help the final approach as the greater the difference between your speeds, the more it will feel like you're wrestling with the controls.
See the blue dot in the upper right? This is what I want to fix. You probably know by now that the farthest you can be from a target is the best place to correct for it, as it will take the least amount of fuel, so I eyeball a spot across from there for another burn to retrograde. Notice that the velocity setting on my navball is still set to "orbital" and not "target" It's not time for that yet.
Holy shit, look at that!
At this point, I've switched to rcs and I'm just burning prograde, retrograde, left, right, up and down to narrow my approach down as small as possible. It's all just trial and error. if one direction increases the distance, use the other. .8km is a perfectly workable distance.(not pictured) I right clicked on the velocity indicator and switched to "target" then I burned retrograde to kill all my velocity relative to the targe.
At this point I'm done playing on an orbital level. It's on a more personal level now. I line up with the target and start my final approach. It's important at this point to kill your lateral velocity in relation to the target, so keep the prograde indicator lined up with your heading indicator lined up with the target indicator.
This is the hardest part right here, finding your target in the dark. if you need to, kill your speed. You don't want to bump your target and send it spinning. Hit v to switch camera modes. you'll want to be in chase mode.
Jeb was nice enough to point his capsule south. I pointed north and once we moved into position I was able to see the docking port. right click and select it as the target, then select your own docking port and click "control from here"
And in the great, inky blackness of infinity, that's how you perform the miracle of making two tiny ships run into each other. Quick Jeb, grab my ladder!
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
Oh, right.
So my rescue mission didn't go as planned. I left the game running while I was posting the pictures and Jeb had let go of the ladder, letting himself drift off into space. Bill started his landing without him, figuring he was an ungrateful ass for driving out all this way to pick him up. Well bob figured out about a thousand feet off the ground what Jeb knew in orbit: Your engine's too small. Bill splattered on the ground and was given a nice burial.
Bob figured he could do it better and modified the Small rocket:
+3
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
I want to find some video capture and editing software so I can make YouTube videos of this shit
0
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DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
within a hundred meters but still oh so far. plus the other ship seems to run out of electricity or something and i'm no longer able to fine tune its orientation.
within a hundred meters but still oh so far. plus the other ship seems to run out of electricity or something and i'm no longer able to fine tune its orientation.
Well the last hundred meters will sometimes take just as long as the entire first part of the docking before it.
As long as the other ship is still, you should have no problem finding the port and lining up for it though.
If the other ship is rotating... Well... Good luck!
+1
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marty_0001I am a fileand you put documents in meRegistered Userregular
Asparagus staging appears to be a pain in the arse to set up
0
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
How hard is the modding language to learn?
I got an idea from War Thunder: a mod that makes it so that any time you press the screenshot button, it takes one screenshot with the UI and one without.
I got an idea from War Thunder: a mod that makes it so that any time you press the screenshot button, it takes one screenshot with the UI and one without.
I got an idea from War Thunder: a mod that makes it so that any time you press the screenshot button, it takes one screenshot with the UI and one without.
Since it uses Unity, modding is pretty much just done by plugging into that. You'd write the mod using C#, make a DLL file that extends the class you need and drop it into the KSP folder.
I haven't actually tried modding with KSP, but I've used Unity a lot.
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
today in Kerbals Space Program's "lets see what will happen" department, I play with alt-key copying:
Hey I finally got it to stand!
lol nope
UNBRIDLED SUCCESS!
I believe the last time I played I sent a 3 part mission and found a munolith. After I sent things to orbit and land on Duna and Eve, I installed parts mods and made some rockets made purely out of thrust.
Like this bad boy:
I sent a rover and a satellite in the same rocket to Laythe. This design let me hit 40m/s^2 before the SRBs fell off. I'm thinking of installing the Kethane pack to give me something to do when I get there
marty_0001I am a fileand you put documents in meRegistered Userregular
I finally forced myself to make an asparagus staged rocket. It worked well, got myself to minmus and back with no troubles (almost landed at 3000m/s on the way back but was able to brake safely).
What do I need to do next to get to further planets? Is it time to build a space station so I can launch missions from orbit?
0
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
I finally forced myself to make an asparagus staged rocket. It worked well, got myself to minmus and back with no troubles (almost landed at 3000m/s on the way back but was able to brake safely).
What do I need to do next to get to further planets? Is it time to build a space station so I can launch missions from orbit?
You can assemble spacecraft in orbit. It's fun
+1
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
I just launched a bunch of missions. I sent the three immortal Kerman bros. to Minmus for no good reason than to sit there stranded.
Seriously they're on every fucking mission I can't get rid of them.
I've started building landers/rovers for...well because I can. I've been hooking them up to transfer engines in orbit and sitting them waiting for the next window to pop up. I'm setting alarms in kerbal alarm clock and instead of time warping I'm just going to launch missions until my next SOI change or I need to schedule another burn. I'm going to try to get a kerbal on every planet and every one of jool's moons.
I built an RV to stick the brave immortal kerbals bros in so I don't have to deal with them I think it's out somewhere in the mountians I don't know I left it to drive north and went out to do a grocey run
Yay I no longer will have to use the antenna to know which way is Up
His accent is not that bad compared to some of the people I work with whom English is a distant dream
0
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
I've been playing since yesterday, I'll have to screenshot my attempts
I was about to try to escape Kerbin with my latest lander, make for the mun, when I noticed a critical design error
oops
Also, my previous attempt ended in failure when I ran out of fuel burning retrograde into the mun, so Jeb is now stuck in a 125,000km->25,000km orbit of Kermin
Posts
Theoretically it has enough delta-v to make the trip to Laythe without another refuel, but I make mistakes a lot so to maximize the amount of fuel available for the trip I moved my orbit further out to a spot that's much easier to escape Kerbin orbit and sent another refueling probe
The probe approaches the Impassive, matches velocity, sheds its engine, and docks using RCS and SAS.
The shed engine is left with just enough fuel and probe power to send it crashing back into Kerbin. I hate leaving extra space junk floating around. (I actually did this even before docking because I really hate extra space junk)
Fuel is transferred and the rest of the trip can begin. The probe still has some fuel left in its tank so I'm going to leave it attached for now to squeeze that last little bit of fuel out of it and hopefully shed it so it intercepts a planet or moon along the way. I hate extra space junk.
Edit. Now the images actually work!
3DS: 1289-8447-4695
the Minimus Transfer Vehicle docks with the KISS on the station's orbital control module to provide additional thrust
we align with the transfer trajectory and begin the burn
Now here is where things got incredibly hairy. The whole thing was jiggling around because there was an incredible amount of thrust being applied to two docking clamps holding the whole thing together. I finally got an encounter with Minimus and executed a gravity turn to bring myself into a stable orbit. When we hit periapsis at the projected 40km, I burned retrograde to circularize.
We made it:
Here is how much fuel we have left:
Fuckin' nailed it, Commander Wehrmey. Well done.
Now, tell me what this graphical glitch is:
wasted 2 hours trying to assemble my mighty station.
I'm going to write a tutorial on docking. I'm no expert on it but I figure I know enough to be able to get a newbie to dock a ship.
I figure if I'm doing something wrong, someone can point it out to me and I can improve my game
But we'll have a tutorial on docking.
Yeah yeah I know it's already been done. Fuck that
Way to not answer the question, jerks! Well, guess what? I ended up going off to Duna anyway! And took a bunch of pictures of the process! But you only get to see one of them!
Well, alright. And this one.
I am pleased as shit.
Hey, what's that off in the distance? Oh, it's an easter egg!
lol nope!
3DS: 1289-8447-4695
As you can see here, Jeb has climbed into a rocket and got himself into a good fucked up orbit. Go Jeb.
We'll send bill up in another of the same capsule to pick up Jeb. Shit, wait, there's no room for Jeb! Lets add a ladder:
I pick a good spot to launch because using mechjeb to do the math for me is cheating.
Once I've launched and circularized, I start to match my orbit to Jeb's. It's hard to eyeball but without the proper instruments, that's what you have to do.
Well we're starting to get some markers and shit. That's good:
First thing I want to do, though, is get an orbit as close to Jeb's as possible. that way I can take stock and see what I need to do. I'm well ahead of him, so my slightly higher orbit is going to allow him to catch up to me.
but that's going to take a long time so I burn a little bit of fuel. Basically, I start burning prograde in order to heighten my orbit. yeah, I'm speeding up so that Jeb can catch up to me. Orbital mechanics are weird, yo.
Look at this shit!
ROCKETS HOW DO THEY EVEN WORK?
Now, we're closing in to a respectable distance here. this is good:
alright, you can see here that the more redder set of markers have updated themselves. That shows how far apart we'll be once we get around to them. This is not goodl
I burn retrograde one more time to to match our orbits as closely as possible. This is really going to help the final approach as the greater the difference between your speeds, the more it will feel like you're wrestling with the controls.
See the blue dot in the upper right? This is what I want to fix. You probably know by now that the farthest you can be from a target is the best place to correct for it, as it will take the least amount of fuel, so I eyeball a spot across from there for another burn to retrograde. Notice that the velocity setting on my navball is still set to "orbital" and not "target" It's not time for that yet.
Holy shit, look at that!
At this point, I've switched to rcs and I'm just burning prograde, retrograde, left, right, up and down to narrow my approach down as small as possible. It's all just trial and error. if one direction increases the distance, use the other. .8km is a perfectly workable distance.(not pictured) I right clicked on the velocity indicator and switched to "target" then I burned retrograde to kill all my velocity relative to the targe.
At this point I'm done playing on an orbital level. It's on a more personal level now. I line up with the target and start my final approach. It's important at this point to kill your lateral velocity in relation to the target, so keep the prograde indicator lined up with your heading indicator lined up with the target indicator.
This is the hardest part right here, finding your target in the dark. if you need to, kill your speed. You don't want to bump your target and send it spinning. Hit v to switch camera modes. you'll want to be in chase mode.
Jeb was nice enough to point his capsule south. I pointed north and once we moved into position I was able to see the docking port. right click and select it as the target, then select your own docking port and click "control from here"
And in the great, inky blackness of infinity, that's how you perform the miracle of making two tiny ships run into each other. Quick Jeb, grab my ladder!
1. Rendezvous
2. Matching velocity
3. Putting the thing into the thing
So my rescue mission didn't go as planned. I left the game running while I was posting the pictures and Jeb had let go of the ladder, letting himself drift off into space. Bill started his landing without him, figuring he was an ungrateful ass for driving out all this way to pick him up. Well bob figured out about a thousand feet off the ground what Jeb knew in orbit: Your engine's too small. Bill splattered on the ground and was given a nice burial.
Bob figured he could do it better and modified the Small rocket:
Well the last hundred meters will sometimes take just as long as the entire first part of the docking before it.
As long as the other ship is still, you should have no problem finding the port and lining up for it though.
If the other ship is rotating... Well... Good luck!
The hard part is setting up the staging properly.
I got an idea from War Thunder: a mod that makes it so that any time you press the screenshot button, it takes one screenshot with the UI and one without.
shrug
Since it uses Unity, modding is pretty much just done by plugging into that. You'd write the mod using C#, make a DLL file that extends the class you need and drop it into the KSP folder.
I haven't actually tried modding with KSP, but I've used Unity a lot.
I want a fuel tank that looks like a hot water heater.
The next update to kerbal will include the sub-assembly loader.
Hey I finally got it to stand!
lol nope
UNBRIDLED SUCCESS!
STEAM!
You kidding me? I've been killing kerbals since
naw actually I'm getting to the point where they're not dying.
Like this bad boy:
I sent a rover and a satellite in the same rocket to Laythe. This design let me hit 40m/s^2 before the SRBs fell off. I'm thinking of installing the Kethane pack to give me something to do when I get there
STEAM!
What do I need to do next to get to further planets? Is it time to build a space station so I can launch missions from orbit?
You can assemble spacecraft in orbit. It's fun
GUYS!
LOOK!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hvkplva3Hcw
I can't deal
Seriously they're on every fucking mission I can't get rid of them.
I've started building landers/rovers for...well because I can. I've been hooking them up to transfer engines in orbit and sitting them waiting for the next window to pop up. I'm setting alarms in kerbal alarm clock and instead of time warping I'm just going to launch missions until my next SOI change or I need to schedule another burn. I'm going to try to get a kerbal on every planet and every one of jool's moons.
Why? I don't know.
I built an RV to stick the brave immortal kerbals bros in so I don't have to deal with them I think it's out somewhere in the mountians I don't know I left it to drive north and went out to do a grocey run
Yay I no longer will have to use the antenna to know which way is Up
His accent is not that bad compared to some of the people I work with whom English is a distant dream
I was about to try to escape Kerbin with my latest lander, make for the mun, when I noticed a critical design error
oops
Also, my previous attempt ended in failure when I ran out of fuel burning retrograde into the mun, so Jeb is now stuck in a 125,000km->25,000km orbit of Kermin
BUT IT WAS A LANDING
o7