[Jester's Trek] Ravenspear
Ravenspear
Didn't play EVE at all this past weekend. Just KSP all day long. ;-)
I did spend some time playing with the "SPH", the Spaceplane Hangar, for which right now I only have the tools to build basic supersonic jet aircraft. KSP's ideas of aerodynamics are... wonky, to say the least. For example, here's the first perfectly stable aircraft of my own design I got flying...
I thought, I must be doing something wrong. So I tried one of the stock aircraft, the Ravenspear. It looks very pretty on the ground, takes off well, then if you try to do anything more than the gentlest sort of bank or climb, it does this:
Maybe I put the kit together wrong or something. ;-) Anyway, aircraft are definitely not KSP's strong suit and it seems pretty clear the KSP player base takes SPH aircraft-building about as seriously as the developers do...
But I'm advancing quite well on the space end of things. I've run several successful Mun missions using a more or less Apollo-based model that I called the Athena:
Booster to get to Munar orbit, Command Module for my Kerbanats, and a nice broad flat lander with widely-paced engines and landing struts served me well mission after mission. Here most of it is put together after a successful Munar orbit rendezvous:
Once I had proven to myself the concept was workable, I slapped a Science Jr. module with all the trimmings on top of the lander. On top of the Science Jr., a second docking port. That way, I could uncouple the Science Jr and Lander together, drop them wherever I wanted on the surface, do all the Science, bring both back into orbit, transfer the crew over (more on that in a second), then decouple the docking port on the Lander side and bring the data home. Works like a charm:
All in all, I feel like I'm getting pretty damn good at this. I've more or less mastered orbits, transfer orbits, orbital rendezvous both in Kerbin and Munar orbit, landings, and I haven't touched any mods yet. Next thing is to start sending probes to Duma and Eve but I think my existing Athena booster is beefy enough to handle those two without any further modifications
Short version: having a blast! Pun intended. ;-)
One quirk I've noticed: trying to do Munar orbit rendezvous within 30-40km of the surface is realllly tough for some reason. Single axis burns on RCS thrusters always seem to turn into two-axis problems. I can be perfectly aligned on the up-down axis, burn left, and for some reason still get pulled up or down and have to correct. My first two rendezvous, I had to pretty much manually fly the whole RCS approach, tweaking constantly right up until the moment the docking collars touched. Related (I think): trying to do EVAs in these conditions is impossible. The EVA jet-packs burn fuel constantly and randomly as if they're trying to correct for something.
Anyway, get further away from the Mun and these problems go away. So I can't tell if it's working as intended or if it's a quirk with KSP's gravity model.
The other quirk: what is with requiring EVA to get Kerbals from one vehicle to another when they're docked? Whose great idea was that? And can I harm this person in some fashion?
These are fairly minor nits, though. When I first tried KSP briefly months ago, it impressed me with its learning curve, which is gradual but challenging. What impressed me even more then and what full-on amazes me now is the sense of accomplishment the game gives you when you meet objectives that you set for yourself. The first time I completed a successful orbital rendezvous and docking, I felt like a freakin' hero, and my first successful Mun landing with a proper lander caused me to throw both fists in the air. I immediately felt silly afterward... but only for a moment. ;-)
Gaming at its finest right here. On to the next adventure!
Source: Ravenspear