Hear ye, hear ye! I now decree that nobody is allowed to write a Space Opera ever again unless they have played enough KSP to 1. Put a kerbal on the Mun, 2. Reliably perform docking maneuvers in orbit, 3. Park themselves in orbit around another planet.
Indiana Solo
sweet, I can carrying on with mine! 
I made a really complicated setting(even had space-treaties planned out for how colonization works), but my problem is I'm TERRIBLE at writing characters.
I'm baaaaaaack
I've done one and three, but I've never even tried docking.
わからない
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I've done two, I still fail one, and I've only done fly-bys so no three. LOLOLOL
Sierra 117
I've done all three.
Venom Awakens
The semi-realistic military SF world I'm working on is based on proper orbital mechanics. They have jump drives for travel between systems and low-powered Alcubierre drives for fast interplanetary transfers, but those can only be activated from an escape trajectory, so launches and orbits are still important.
One of the quirks is that it leads to retrograde moons like Triton being referred to as "asshole moons" and avoided by everyone except for scientists and criminals. It's like a run-down district combined with a nature reserve.
Standing on the edge of the crater...
Indiana Solo
Its all in a note book in my room somewhere. Ill keep an eye out for it though
I'm baaaaaaack
Sierra 117
In my quest to build a reusable crew shuttle, the X-4A Spaceplane has just reached orbit with more than 1,000 m/s of delta v remaining.
Next up: a spaceplane that can dock with Kerbin Space Station 1. Once I build it.
How do you know how much delta-v your craft has available? You're not doing the math are you? Because I want to know, but I also don't want to do math.
There are a few mods out there that'll give you the delta-v stats of your current craft, among other things. MechJeb is one; Kerbal Engineer Redux is another, and the one I personally get the most mileage out of.
???
I like Mechjeb's UI better because you can drag those mini windows around, but it does invite people to call you a merchjerber
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Twitter
Hooray for mods! And thanks.
OMG NO NOSECONES
Raster Prop Monitor also displays delta-v. As does ALCOR, but that's just a really fancy (and hella cool) capsule.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Sierra 117
Kerbal Engineer Redux is what I'm using, can't imagine the game without it. It's a good compromise between the base game and Mech Jeb.
It's not over. Not yet.
Sierra 117
X-4B Spaceplane docked with Kerbin Space Station One 250 km above the surface of Kerbin.
◊ Also docked is a Block III Command Pod, the crew of which is attempting to set an endurance record of thirty days. The X-4B still has about 1,000 m/s of delta v to return to Kerbin.
Bonus: Block III Command Pod launch vehicle,
◊ a completely original design.
Lower stage is a Globe X-10L Thor II solid rocket booster, upper stage is a twin-nozzle KW Rocketry VR-9D liquid fuel engine with an SB-2 fuel tank. Combined, just enough thrust is produced to put the Command Pod into a 100 km parking orbit.
edited 1st Aug '14 11:16:25 PM by medicus
It's not over. Not yet.
OMG NO NOSECONES
My latest vid, looking at the ALCOR capsule and doing an IVA-only flight to orbit... followed by some inane babblings about whatever pops into my head.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Sierra 117
I'm trying out the Kethane mod for the first time. Only at the scanning stage.
Do I have to focus on the satellite for it to work? If that's true then 
.
You have to be focused on the satellite but it will work during time warp, albeit less efficiently if you go to the higher levels.
I'll be honest; the fact that you have to babysit your scanner satellites while they're running is probably the main reason I don't use kethane anymore, personally.
Sierra 117
Damn. I suppose I can't leave a ship mining/refining kethane either.
And is it possible to completely exhaust a kethane source?
(The Kethane documentation is terrible.)
It's not over. Not yet.
Sierra 117
While I'm here, what about the Karbonite mod? Preferable to Kethane? Should I have both or just one of them?
Edit: Damn, just answered my own question.
Karbonite is based on the Open Resource System from Fractal UK and used in KSP-I. Kethane uses it's own resource engine. Karbonite is concentration based, Kethane has discreet deposits. Karbonite pushes you to select richer deposits for better efficiency. Kethane is all or nothing - either a spot has Kethane or it does not. Karbonite's resources are inexhaustible. Kethane's resource deposits can be depleted. Kethane uses a planetary scanning mechanism, Karbonite shows high-concentration 'hot spots' out of the box without scanning (though prettier SCAN Sat integration is available). Karbonite has very permissive licensing (Creative Commons 4.0 Share-Alike attribution non-commercial). Kethane's licensing is not as permissive. Kethane deposits are land based only. Karbonite can be found in oceans and atmospheres too (Oceans of rocket fuel on Eve, cloud harvesting on Jool).
edited 13th Aug '14 6:06:40 PM by medicus
It's not over. Not yet.
After 175 hours, I finally docked two ships together.
After several days of waiting, CV-1 Star-Lord came close enough to the target vehicle to attempt a docking.
Direct all enquiries to Jamie B Good
I just watched Episode 80 of Scott Manleys Interstellar Quest and have come to a realisation.
Jebediah Kerman is a flying god!
OMG NO NOSECONES
We'll see when they give the Kerbals some degree of autonomy, and can give them simple instructions, like "blow up on the launchpad" or "lithobrake into the Mun at a few klicks a second" or "don't ever deploy those solar panels".
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Career Mode loses its punch once you realise that most experiments are infinitely repeatable. I had to limit myself to not repeating anything/doing tests with parts I had already tested.
It's not over. Not yet.