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[Dorsidwarf]

ahhh, i adore KSP, though its hard to go back to vanilla after a Realistic Progression 1 moon programme

[EuchreJack]

So I figured out today that a "failed" orbital attempt can be "saved" by applying thrust towards a point between Prograde and Radial Out.  You can go from past apoapsis back to having time till apoapsis.  Needs fuel, of course, but can save an orbital attempt from failure.  Mind blown.

[Starver]

Yeah, with a decent angle of attack, such a diagonal thrust acts to 'rotate' the ellipse round so that apoapsis is no longer behind you but in front. You lose direct increase in orbital velocity (hence actual raising of your high point) and neither do you necessarily hold yourself up against gravity, but (at the expense of a long burn) it keeps you going longer until you can flatten out and dedicate yourself to boosting any re-entry trajectory into one at the very least atmosphere-skimming (or not imminently lithobraking, even if atmosphere isn't an issue).

Or so it used to be. (And it won't save all death-dives, of course.)

[BigD145]

Orbits are just getting your relative horizontal motion continually falling past the horizon of a spherical body. It's falling fantastically forward.

[se5a]

Played it for years, still haven't made it past minmus. this campaign though...
In the past, my campaigns typically have ground to a halt due to some of my key infrastructure (stations, ground bases, and complex ships) becoming Kraken food.
I'm getting better at designing low tech panther powered space planes now, and since I don't like leaving a whole bunch of empty stages in lko I'm using them a bit more.

[se5a]

I think this is a new Easter egg. should be easy to find but I've deliberately taken the picture from an angle to avoid spoilers

[BigD145]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hmm. Is that the old hangar with parts from the alpha? I know those have been in awhile.

[Culise]

Oh, that's definitely a lovely gem.

Spoiler: Historical source (click to show/hide)

Goddard pictured below with the first successful liquid-fueled rocket.  This pendulum design (engine on top, fuel tank hanging below) flew March 16, 1926.

[se5a]

Thats the one!
unfortunately you can't move that notification window around, it's always in the center of the screen, or I'd have set up an even better screenshot.
@BigD145 Nope, not there ;-)

[EuchreJack]

Anyone know a good mod that changes the solar system?

[Culise]

Real Solar System (RSS) is the real stand-out if you're going all-in.  It converts the entire star system into our own star system.  It's typically run with Realism Overhaul, which is sometimes also paired with Realistic Progression 1, but it can be run on its own with a part scaler like SMURFF (because stock parts are far too inefficient to handle real-world scales).   

Otherwise, the two extensions to KSP's existing system I'm most fond of are the Outer Planets Mod and JNSQ.  OPM is a straightforward extension of the system outward with analogues to Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, along with a smattering of major moons, building off the vanilla scale.  JNSQ is also an extension of the system outward with different analogues to these planets and moons, but it also rescales the entire system to a size between vanilla and RSS for more appropriate performance and sizes for vanilla parts (which are too efficient for stock solar systems).  I recommend OPM if you're going for a vanilla-like experience, and JNSQ if you're also looking for something a little harder than vanilla or if you want to build really full-scale rockets.  Then again, my current vanilla-plus game is OPM with a rescaler that's configured to scale it up to approximately JNSQ size, so you can always configure as you wish.

Going out even further, if you have something like KSP Interstellar and/or Nertea's Near and Far Future mods installed and are really looking to stretch your wings, there are handful of extrasolar systems to choose from.  I cannot say much on this front as I've never gone for the extrasolar options, but Galaxies Unbound appears to be current to the latest version. 

I should note that while I provided links for your perusal, you may also benefit from looking on CKAN if you actually wish to try any of these.  RSS/RO/RP-1 in particular is tricky to install manually due to the scale of its changes, and the team there strongly recommends using CKAN to install the components in the right order.  The others or RSS alone can be installed manually more easily, so it's not actually critical.  Also, some of them (JNSQ for sure, last I checked) simply aren't available on CKAN. 

[EuchreJack]

Thanks!