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Author Topic: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Conical Difficulties  (Read 71176 times)

BFEL

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #405 on: March 26, 2014, 11:38:07 am »

With those ladders you better not send your lander anywhere with high gravity, because they'll need to jump to reach it.
Why would I be going to Eve?

Eve doesn't have high gravity, it has ridonkeylicious atmosphere.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #406 on: March 26, 2014, 01:33:57 pm »

With those ladders you better not send your lander anywhere with high gravity, because they'll need to jump to reach it.
Why would I be going to Eve?
Eve doesn't have high gravity, it has ridonkeylicious atmosphere.
1.7 g isn't high? It's the highest gravity of anything you can land on!
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Aseaheru

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #407 on: March 26, 2014, 01:59:24 pm »

That you can land on. There are other things.

But really, its the atmosphere that is the issue.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #408 on: March 26, 2014, 02:34:44 pm »

Jool and the Sun. When you have to go there to find something with higher gravity, it's high-gravity.
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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #409 on: March 26, 2014, 07:14:05 pm »

In context if what I said, Kerbal itself counts as high gravity since I doubt a kerb could jump high enough there to reach those ladders.
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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Alright. Where Next?
« Reply #410 on: March 26, 2014, 08:13:56 pm »

Alright. I think we want to go to Minmus. So, let's build a rocket for that lander and...go from there.

It is with pride that I reveal the newest, most impressive rocket that we have built and not exploded:


You know, nine failed versions were so worth it just so we could call this one the Minmushot X.

Bob flies this potentially vital, definitely historic, mission.

Takeoff is swift. The craft develops a slight westward tilt and clockwise spin (Next version should include fins), but despite that minor snafu things are alright. We reach gravity-turn elevation with the boosters, discard them when empty, and...the main engine doesn't fire? It seems we put too much weight on it. The launch is aborted, and a couple minor flaws (tilt, spin, engine breaks off) are fixed.
This takeoff is smoother. We fly up straight as an arrow in one of those video games where arrows fly straight, nothing falls off, and I take that back the engine fell off again. I move the rocket higher to prevent this.
The third time's the charm! No important bits fell off. We discard the solid boosters and the rocket engages.


Now, that is a good little rocket. Like a...flaming...pointy...thing...in the sky...maybe we should hire more poets.

I cut the fuel to the main rocket as we get an apoapsis of 72,500 meters. Turns out I shouldn't have bothered--the rocket's fuel ran out right then. So, no intra...something stages will be perpetually orbiting Kerbin just yet. I quickly set up a decent maneuver node that brings our periapsis to within space-spitting distance of the current apoapsis.


I can't help but wonder if MechJeb is impacting the quality of my pretty pictures.

The lander has over 3,000 m/s of Δv, and over 1,200 in the landing stage. That should be enough to reach Minmus, right? The Δv map says we only need 920 for an intercept, 80 more for a low orbit, and...240 to land...well, we can get orbital science I guess. Then crew reports and stuff from various biomes.
The estimated burn time, 37 seconds, was evidently for the wrong stage; it jumps up to nearly two minutes once we start burning. I keep an eye on the periapsis, preparing to cut throttle once we break 70k. Even with this focus, I can't help but notice that for a while the apopasis is rising a meter for every kilometer added to the periapsis.
Orbital speed breaks two km/s. Periapsis still subterranean. Subkerbal, sorry. Shortly thereafter, the burn is half-done, periapsis still underground. Rising faster, though.
We hit the upper edges of the atmosphere, periapsis still underground. Uh-oh.
The periapsis rises above 30 kilometers. The camera turns. The periapsis rises. The maneuver node runs out, and begins to turn. I quickly cut the throttle and prepare to fiddle with maneuver nodes.
The apoapsis is over 250 kilometers. Rather than circularize that, I just bring the periapsis up to just below 90k.


Cruising up to apoapsis for a burn. Pretty picture.

That was sunset. Bob waits through a brief night...


Still cruising...getting pretty close, though...

...and burns.
(No picture because of brief burn.)
We're in orbit and ready. We have...eurgh, not quite 450 m/s of Δv in this tin can. That's not enough for much of anything, now is it? If we tapped into the nearly 2,000 m/s of Δv in the capsule, we could probably make it to something, but...well...I suppose orbital science is good too.
A quick bit of research determines that we were within a few kilometers of the altitude for space high above Kerbin, so a quick burn at periapsis brings our apoapsis to 260 kilometers, high enough for space high above Kerbin. We snap up some science once high enough and then empty the "lander"'s fuel tank for a rapid descent. I considered leaving the lander orbiting in space, but by the time this occurred to me the periapsis was already at 50 kilometers, and we were well on our way by the time I thought about maybe raising the periapsis to drop the thing. Eh, I'd need to retrieve the experiments first, and...will the parachutes even support the lander's weight?

Time to stress-test it, I guess. Better save some fuel.


Water. Lots of water, stretching to the horizon in all directions...

...except that one, I guess.


Aerobraking and a little enginework help brake my fall. Okay, mostly the air.


No, I don't know why the solar panel pop-up is there. It's been hanging there a while, despite my best attempts to close it.

We experience some mach effects once the re-entry flames die down, but they're not as strong as the ones on Meleny's pod. The parachute is deployed at 8,000 meters, and the engine is used to slow down the descent in hopes of not smashing the experiments when the parachute deploys. This is successful, or maybe the experiments wouldn't have broken--I don't know. The rest of the fuel is used slowing down upon final descent, killing our vertical velocity for final splashdown.


A few seconds after an explosion.

It was too little too late, but eh. Well, the boys in R&D managed to get a little data from the surviving mystery goo.


Well, that was fun. But given how long a failed Minmus mission went...I think I'll pass on trying again, tonight.

In context if what I said, Kerbal itself counts as high gravity since I doubt a kerb could jump high enough there to reach those ladders.
Eve has even higher gravity than Kerbin. Eve also counts as high-gravity.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Extreme, Unplanned Stress-Test of Lander
« Reply #411 on: March 27, 2014, 09:23:32 pm »

Al...right then. Let's get started.


We stack another stage, some spare slender solid rocket boosters, and of course struts on the Minmushot X...crap I saved over the old one. Ah well.

Let's launch. At night, when we can't see anything. I AM A GENIUS.
The sheer number of rocket boosters (six Rockomax ones and twelve Globe ones) seems to give my computer worry for a second, then we take off and wobble some. Should I have added more struts? After 20 seconds, the smaller boosters run out, cutting down on the noise and thrust. By then, we're going over 200 m/s, which means that we start slowing down once we're left with the big solids. Eh. It doesn't take long (we lose a few m/s over a few s) before we start accelerating again.
There are strange white circles coming down from the sky as we fly past. Why does this happen? It's...strange. Disconcerting.
The game briefly freezes as we discard the boosters, travelling nearly 400 m/s. I wait about 15 seconds before burning to avoid wasting fuel in the lower atmosphere, but we still slow a lot. We're still slowing even with the engine burning (not to self: Heavy upper stages mean multi-engine lower stages). I decide to eject the lower stage for nowand  burn the upper rocket stage, see where that gets me. Then I reconsider and redesign. A rather drastic one.


The Meleny lander, on top of one rocket, with three identical rockets strapped to the sides, with two solid rocket boosters each strapped to each of those. The bottom stages have close to six kilometers per second of Δv. The upper stages have over two more. This baby is read to rock and roll.

Takeoff, however dark, goes well. Nothing falls off or apart. We don't start spinning into the ground (once I add winglets). The game is running fairly swiftly and smoothly (green a lot!)). I'm...suspicious. Sure, it's taken an hour of loading, pausing, launching, fiddling, changing my mind, and forgetting to change the pilot to reach here, but...can this really be the flight?
The solid boosters run dry* at 6,000 meters, leaving us with about 200 m/s of velocity. Even at full throttle with three engines, we can't keep this up; we end up balancing out around 130 m/s. We turn, and between less air and less mass (hence greater acceleration), we begin to increase our speed.
*Yes, yes, I know, they're already dry.
Forty-thousand meters. Apoapsis almost 50. We drop the liquid boosters and turn on the main engine. I still have about 2/3 of the fuel 16 km of altitude later, when I get the apoapsis above 75 kilometers. I add a maneuver node, not just an orbital insertion but also a minor bit of plane correction to make the Minmus transfer easier.
The final orbit is a bit elliptical, 221 at apoapsis and 73 at periapsis. Ah well. I set up a nice little plane correction maneuver at the approaching ascending node. I try to reduce it to zero, but with some fiddling and being unable to determine at any time if I was 0.1 degrees above or below, I decided to guesstimate the best point and let things lie.
Time to burn. And the sun's up!


Outer space is awake, so I'm awake, so I've got to burn.
...That is actually kinda creepy, when I think about it for a second.


Now for the tricky part.


Fun fact: If I manage this, it will be my first successful rendezvous. More or less.

I manage to get the closest approach down to just above 28 meg with that maneuver node there. Another brings it to 25.5. Between getting to within a couple minutes of the first node and having the third node add an extra apoapsis when I try to add it, I decide to hold it there for now.


Burn, baby, burn! Kerbal inferno!
Please not literally.


The rocket's fuel runs out right at the end. Thankfully, the lander has plenty of fuel.
As I adjust the third trimming node, I do something amusing on accident.


Maybe later, Mun.
(Remind me to fix that image later. The Lightshot website isn't cooperating.)

Indeed, it looks like I'm very close to overshooting Minmus and hitting the Mun. Sadly, I botch moving the node, in that I move it and can't move it back. Or delete it. Or change it in any way. I quicksave and reload, and find that both maneuver nodes are gone! I make a new one, tweak it, and accidentally delete it by dragging it off the orbit.

...Screw it, that's enough maneuver node screwery for one night.
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BFEL

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Maneuver Nodes--A Helpful Pain
« Reply #412 on: March 28, 2014, 03:07:09 pm »

GWG, You aren't trying to RENDEVOUS with Minmus, you want to drag the maneuver node till it goes all blue-purple, which indicates that you have an encounter with the moons gravity.
You then wait till you are in the orbit of the Minmus, get to its periapse and burn retrograde to get a orbit around it.

Then you can do landing dickery from there.

This PSA sponsored by Interpretive Lapdance Industries.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Maneuver Nodes--A Helpful Pain
« Reply #413 on: March 28, 2014, 09:34:11 pm »

GWG, You aren't trying to RENDEVOUS with Minmus, you want to drag the maneuver node till it goes all blue-purple, which indicates that you have an encounter with the moons gravity.
You then wait till you are in the orbit of the Minmus, get to its periapse and burn retrograde to get a orbit around it.

Then you can do landing dickery from there.

This PSA sponsored by Interpretive Lapdance Industries.
I know that, but the first part is a lot like rendezvous, and I haven't managed that.


Alright, maneuver nodes are really annoying. I've seen Scott Manley use a maneuver node editor--what's that from and how do I get it?
Seriously, this is a pain. It takes way too long to find a path that takes me to Minmus. I could have easily gotten an encounter to the frakking Mun, though. And to add insult to injury, Smart A.S.S. isn't working for some reason.
I eventually set up a node that brings me within 4,000 kilometers, and check the wiki for Minmus's SoI. A bit over 2,000 kilometers. Better keep fiddling. I do so, and get a frikkin' encounter at last.


Finally. Finally. FINA-FRIGGIN-LY!

We get into a nice, circularish orbit.


Wow.

Next, let's activate some experiments. 140 Science.
I bring the orbit down with a couple more burns, 93a73p.


We're finally close enough for some decent pictures.

Anyways, I need to lower it some more. A lot more--to 30 kilometers. I lower it to closer to eight, then wait.


Minmus, Sun, Kerbin, Mun. All visible. Now, that is a good picture.

I get another 140 Science from experiments near Minmus, then prepare for a suborbital transfer.
Now, for the tricky part...landing. First, I should quicksave. Next, I should remember: WWSMD?
First, descend. Next, kill horizontal velocity. Finally, wait, and reduce surface speed at the last second to avoid crashing.
I overshoot it the first time, and end up spinning (largely since S.A.S.S. is working again). This happens more than once (I want to avoid loading the quicksave). As I approach the ground, the importance of killing horizontal velocity begins to truly dawn on me, because I hadn't quite. I'm still moving sideways at about 9 m/s. I end up going sideways to execute a combination burn. I bring it down and turn vertical.
Finally, we land. It's a crappy landing, I would have crashed if I hadn't overbuilt it seriously, and any good KSP player would probably be ashamed of it...but it's my landing, so I'm proud of it.


Duna's high in the sky, but Kerbin's below the horizon. So have a distance shot instead.

We get hundreds more science from here on the lowlands of Minmus, between the other two science pods, an EVA report, and a surface sample. Minmus is not made of pudding; the noises Mission Control makes at this discover annoy Bob greatly.


1. I managed to land Bob without falling over!
2. "Pudding. PUDDING. How could Minmus have been formed out of pudding? And more importantly, how is pudding dense enough to account for the observed effects of Minmus's gravity on the--"
"Bob, you're a nerd."
"We're rocket scientists. And other kinds, in my case. If we aren't nerds, something's wrong."

Ah, how I wax eloquent.


An attempted rocket pack flight to retrieve the goo and materials from the lander (which will be left behind) fails.


"...Please tell me the video cameras didn't catch that."

Part of the problem is that I keep screwing up w and s. Eventually, I cut the knot.


It was kinda nerve-wracking for a second there, when I thought it was going to fall on its side.

Of course, this isn't enough.
And I still suck with the EVA pack. My fails would be great if this was a video, but they are annoying since it isn't.


Is it too late to blame it on Bob's coordination?

The worst part? It should be possible to grab the stuff from the ground!


Geez, who designed this crap?
...Oh, right.


Unfortunately, we encounter another...difficulty.


Dammit Bob, you stood up too hard!

...Well...at least we should be able to get the science easier.
Except that I already grabbed the stuff closest to the ground.


I think it knocked the solar panels off, but nothing else. Once I return to the rocket, I determine two things:
1. This was right.
2. I cannot right the rocket.

Only one thing to do...determine which experiments I need to collect, then roll the rocket (which I can do) to get those closer to the ground. I prepare a plan.


Diagram courtesy of Wile E. Kerman.

Part way through step 1, I find a better way to complete step 3.


It might be safer to use the ladder, but eh.

Removing the other mystery goo requires a bit of hovering, but I manage to get all of the science.


Except the experiments I just grabbed. For no damn reason.

Hm...
Turns out, the Mechanical Jebediah system works as an autopilot (ie, probe body) as well as providing the other functions! So, hypothetically, we could try having Bob hang onto the side of the rocket the whole way home, at the slight cost of not being able to frikking time accelerate. Still...I'll leave it as an option.

More importantly, Bob has detected some odd signals from elsewhere on the Minmal surface. Should he investigate?

P.S:

I accidentally decoupled the rocket. Eh, we needed to do that eventually.

Edit: P.P.S:
I suppose I could also hack the save file to give me the science I should have had from those experiments, but that isn't ideal.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 09:37:49 pm by GreatWyrmGold »
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BFEL

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Landing, Learning, and Ladders
« Reply #414 on: March 29, 2014, 12:29:00 am »

So are you gonna be able to leave? Assuming you didn't break your engines on the final stage you should be able to do some tricky torque-ing to get the capsule back home. I know I had to do the same thing a few times before :P

Note: You are getting much better at this. Certainly learning it faster then I did!
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Rabid_Cog

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Landing, Learning, and Ladders
« Reply #415 on: March 29, 2014, 03:07:21 am »

The only experiments that wont double up in the cockpit are the ones where you did the exact same thing twice. Since the second one is going to be worth a LOT less than the first anyway (the info when you collect it is only accurate with regards to what you have already brought back to Kerbal), just dump it.

You should be able to right the front end of the rocket using just torque now. Just get it vaguely upright then start burning.
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BigD145

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Landing, Learning, and Ladders
« Reply #416 on: March 29, 2014, 09:04:04 am »

Send a rescue craft to save that science.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Landing, Learning, and Ladders
« Reply #417 on: March 29, 2014, 10:29:54 am »

So are you gonna be able to leave? Assuming you didn't break your engines on the final stage you should be able to do some tricky torque-ing to get the capsule back home. I know I had to do the same thing a few times before :P
I'm...60% sure I can, 95% sure it's possible, and 15% sure I'll break something important on the way up.

The only experiments that wont double up in the cockpit are the ones where you did the exact same thing twice. Since the second one is going to be worth a LOT less than the first anyway (the info when you collect it is only accurate with regards to what you have already brought back to Kerbal), just dump it.
That makes me feel better about that.
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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Landing, Learning, and Ladders
« Reply #418 on: March 29, 2014, 05:28:01 pm »

Since no one really commented, I'll pop in to drop off the experiments, then we can investigate the strange signal. Because I am trying to set up some plot in this sandbox LP.
I'll be damned if I've figured all of it out yet, though.

Anyways, there's a tiny little issue.


Pay no attention to the Ike in the background. Even if we all like it.

Well, I know what I'm gonna do. See, it's possible to get to orbit and even fly home from Minmus using only your EVA pack, assuming you don't mind re-entry effects or splattering when you land. I don't intend to go that far, but I might as well try a suborbital flight.
...If the game loads.


I'm not sure which bugs me more, that the screen is black or that the window isn't an even number of pixels to a side.

Eventually, I realize that it's just night, thanks in large parts to the exact sequence in how I set this thing up.


Now that's (slightly) more like it!

Turning my screen brightness up to max (I usually have it at the minimum value), I can actually see the Minmal surface and stuff! I turn it down to ~2/3 to stop me squinting, and I'm ready to go. I set out, and...why can't I control my flight from the map screen?
Eventually, I bring my apoapsis above 8,000 meters and prepare to burn forward until I land near the signal-generating thingy.


So far, so good.

I should probably quicksave, too.


I start burning at 8,000 meters, coast up to 8,121, and just as I begin falling...


That's good. Now to land.

Instruments suggest it'll be about eight or nine minutes to touchdown. Only two things to do.


Save early, save often.

This should help pass the time.


"All these beautiful sights no kerbal has seen before, and all I can think is, 'What I wouldn't give for a Mechanical Jebediah package right now.' I would really like to know how high I am above the rocks, which I assure you are nowhere near as soft as pudding so stop asking."

"Getting close to landing, Ground Control. No idea how close. Recommend that next iteration of space suits include Mechanical Jebediah instrumentation."


I burn upwards to reduce vertical velocity. Then I fall. At this point, I'm within a few kilometers of the signals, and noticing it drifting sideways relative to me. I'm annoyed, then I remember that I can control this!


Um. IGNORE THE LABEL IT IS GIBBERISH.

I burn upwards a bit too much, giving me more altitude, bringing me further from the signal. I also seem to be moving at an appreciable horizontal speed. I try to slow as we shoot further and further from the signal's source.


"I'm strongly considering just walking home. Especially since I'm at 40% fuel and haven't landed."

I drift along, trying to see my shadow, proof of how close I am to the ground. I also try to lower my horizontal velocity, which has somehow increased, but every time I try that I drift higher somehow.
Then I see my shadow for a split-second.


Well, this is what quicksaves are for!

I try to be more hands-off this time, although I intend to start killing vertical velocity around 3,000 meters. Of course, the sun is setting behind a hill (well, more I'm falling and the hill's getting in the way), so I can't see my shadow. All things considered, it's only a minor surprise that, unpausing after typing that, something happens a few seconds later.


Goddammit. F9.

Let's try killing vertical velocity at 2900 meters. A 65-meter fall shouldn't be as bad as a 165-meter one, especially if I kill the vertical velocity again at 2850. Which I intend to do, if I don't splat again first. And I'll quicksave a few hundred meters lower than the last one.
The vertical velocity hits 0 at 2860, so I wait to re-kill until 2840. It takes five meters this time. I'm slightly below where I was last time I pancaked, and I'm moving pretty slow, so I should be good.


Goddammit, I knew I shouldn't have typed that!

Alright, the horizontal velocity seems to be the big thing. So, let's try to kill that.


GOD! FRAKKING! DAMMIT!

Alright, we need to kill both. Or else I failed to guess which way I was travelling and accelerated myself horizontally.
...
Or maybe I suck at landing and just want to finish this crap.
...


Every player reaches his breaking point sometimes. (Don't worry, after the crash I turn it off.)

I've seen people do this by landing Kerbals on their heads. It's not cheating!
It is, however, a bit of a pain, given how much I bounce.
Eventually, though...


Rolling instead of bouncing hundreds of meters above the Minmal surface. Progress!

...we come to a stop, with 2.02 units of fuel left. Now to walk the 5.3 kilometers to the signal. I'll just time-accelerate to make things--


Right. No atmosphere, so it defaults to non-physical.

...Now you're just screwing with me.

No crash damage on, no changes from yours truly, just gotta wait until--


Yup, No Crash Damage is still on. That means...I LANDED BOB LEGITIMATELY ONCE!

FUCK.


CrapwhichwayamIgoingcrapgottahurrywiththisscreenshotcrapcrapmypostingwindowisopen--

YES! He bounced! And I'm only a couple kilometers from the thing that
no one saw the label for, right?

The camera spins as I try to adjust/slow my trajectory (please tell me I didn't just put myself into orbit).


WHY CAN'T I KEEP MY BIG TEXT-BASED MOUTH SHUT?!?

F9...


YES!

Another bounce...I may be getting the hang of this "not exploding" thing. Now I just sit back, wait for him to slow, and don't time-accelerate to an explodey doom while walking. I even came within 1,333 meters of the probe!
You know what would be kinda cool? If you got different EVA reports for flying safely over the Lowlands and tumbling out of control over the Lowlands. Because that's exactly what's happening here.


And I'll be walking a long way back.

For some reason (probably relating to the spinning), the orbit keeps changing.


"I am going to vomit on international television, live save for an approximately one-sixth of a second delay plus whatever it takes to get from the satellites to the screens, which may add several additional seconds!"

Eventually, the spins get under control. I try to slow my horizontal and vertical velocity, but I'm pretty sure I was accidentally adding to my horizontal at least some of the time. And I wound up going  back upwards.
As Bob spins in a self-induced yawwy circle of self-induced "control," I notice something odd.


Is that a dotted line? And the dots seem to be flowing upwards, relative to the stars...

Anyways! Bill bounces, flies, bounces and distorts, flies, rolls for a second, bounces, flies, starts to get control, bounces, spins out of control as he flies slightly, bounces higher, flies, starts to get control, bounces, starts to get control, rolls and gently bounces, lands, rolls a little, bounces less, and lands.


"I'll...I'll be fine...just give me a minute...to relax...maybe clean my helmet...somehow..."

Well, it's time to set out and start walking. First, I quicksave, then I physically time accelerate, then I take a step, then Bob doesn't explode!


Bob shown here, not exploding.

Note from slight Future to this Typing GWG: This takes a while, so I'm putting an HR representative here.



Well. We began the walk at MET 2:03:42:00 (largely from the aforementioned behind-the-scenes thing), and end it later. We'll be able to see how well this goes when we, wait I have a flag don't I?
...I'll save it for later. I should take some samples while I'm here though.
Crap, I accidentally planted the flag. I'll reload...crap, I have no flag.

I've managed 0.3 km in about 8 in-game minutes and I'm already quite bored.

The thing seems to only run green at 3x time acceleration. Might as well run it there, so I at least know how long it's taking me. It makes the animation more watchable, too--not just a vibrating mannequin, but a hopping guy. Still...I wonder...it took about 2-3 minutes to go 0.3 km. I have 29.3 km left, so that's 25-35 minutes left. I should run something I can watch in a background window. And it's been a while since I've watched another episode of Reusable Space Program...


Multitasking! Wait, I've seen 31 already.

I slow down to adjust the direction, speed up, and...


Insert swears here.

GOD. MOTHER. FUCKING. DAMN. THAT. UM. SHITTING. CUNT?


...Maybe not quite like that?

I missed something, I think.


Please imagine the following in a rapid, high-pitched, squeaky voice.
"I am now flying along the surface. Again."


I start walking once he stops rolling; he starts rolling again; once he stops again, I stand him up and quicksave.

The video ends and I'm still 26.5 kilometers from the thing. Alright, let's load up a new video...hopefully this'll last me to the end of the trek...


Wait, is that the same ad?

Hm. That's not quite what I thought it was from skimming the title. Let's find something less old. Or at least something that aged better. How about "Tylo Or Bust"? Hey, a different Playstation ad!

Holy crap, this is taking a while. I've been at this over an hour, and I still have 24 kilometers to go. Granted, part of that was from the first time, but...jeez.

I get bored and perform an experiment:
1. Quicksave.
2. Turn time acceleration to 1x.
3. Turn on non-physical time acceleration.
Bob didn't explode, and we went along on our journey.

Two hours and ten minutes into the four-times-accelerated trek. I've just finished Tylo or Bust, and look what I saw:


Ooh, that's probably for the new version!

It's a couple hours, but as I'm still 14.2 kilometers out I'll probably have time to watch most of it before I reach the source of the signals.
Oh, and we're below 3,000 kilometers now, so no non-physical time warp.

It's annoying that I haven't figured out how to turn off Chatterer. I've turned all the volumes I can to zero, but that hasn't done anything that I can tell.

I jump and jet a little. Rolling.
I jump again, running start but no jetting. Still rolling.

The sun is rising. That's nice.

I've been jumping every so often, but I just did a jump where Bob jumped mostly straight up, spun around, and landed on his feet. 9.5/10! I repeat the feat by holding down w as I leap.

I get a nice Munrise picture.


Still more than 10 kilometers to go...but we're almost 2/3 of the way there!

Ten kilometers. Two and a half hours spent. Eight for poor Bob.

And now Kerbin is starting to rise.


And it's about a kilometer from where the last thing was!

The question is, is this from the walking or Minmal rotation?

You know what would be neat? If the kerbonaut putting his arms in and out (from hitting the 'r' key) affected rotation speed.

Three hours. I think this is the longest I've spent on a single update for this.

I evidently walk along a contour line, as I switch from 2,951 and 2,952 meters above "sea" level.

Almost three and a half hours. If I jump, I can see the source of the signal 2.7 kilometers away. Or, I could if it was bigger. (And rendered that far out.)

Three and a half hours. We're within 1200 meters, so we're getting a meter display. I can definitely see a shining light shining off of the signal-thing. Probably.
Huh. I have no EVA propellant. When did that happen?

We're getting close. I'm almost close enough to see the shape of the thing!


I think?

And now I'm close enough that the purple targeting thing vanishes.

And finally...




It took almost four hours IRL and almost twelve for poor Bob, but we finally got to...this thing. Whatever it is.

Bob examines the thing. He reports that it definitely isn't something we made, and that it seems to be far more advanced than anything we could make. He has no idea how it got here, or what it could be doing. It's definitely transmitting...something...
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Re: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Hours of Walking
« Reply #419 on: March 29, 2014, 09:17:51 pm »

Looks pretty terrestrial to me.
And now you gotta walk back...
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