originally posted by: youcanttellthepeople
a reply to: pfishy
Awesome game. Was running a server using the multiplayer mod a while back but now host all my stuff on azure so can't do it anymore. Currently got a
crew stranded on the Mun. First rescue mission I landed pretty well, but then did a spacex and sobbed when the capsule tipped over! So now I have 2
crews to rescue.
That, and a single Kerbal orbiting Kerbin sans spaceship.
So the above and the attempts to build a space station keep me busy when I get a chance to play, which isn't often these days.
I had Bob stranded in orbit sans space ship once- that was my greatest rescue.
Here's what I learned.
1) Bob will, in fact, run out of jetpack fuel. Don't let this happen to you.
I had him trying to slow a capsule from a botched mun rescue that had run out of fuel... (yeah, bob had just spent ten years on the surface of the
mun, and now he's floating in space...) it just needed to slow down a few more km/s to start hitting atmo on each pass, but I wasn't watching his
fuel. The pod made it safely to ground- he did not.
2) The pod-bay doors have a limited number of open/close cycles.
I built a ship with a space shuttle cargo pod thing, and swung it around to "catch" bob. It took a few tries to do it without slingshotting him out of
the way. When I finally caught him, I opened the doors one last time to show the girl my accomplishment (as if she cared...)
The doors wouldn't close again after that, and I had to catch him. AGAIN. With another ship.
3) If you catch Bob in a cargo bay, Don't time-warp. He'll fall out.
That's right. I caught him the second time, and then I brought that ship back into a much easier orbit to work with. Then I brought up another ship
designed to park next to that one so I could open the pod bay doors and he'd only have one place to go- into a hatch of a lander.
Only he wasn't there, he fell out when I time warped, and he was still in orbit, alone.
So I had to go catch him a third time.
At this point I was really, really tempted to just try and land the damn craft with him in the cargo bay- but the physics are notably buggy during
re-entry, and I fear he'd fall out- and do his death.
So I caught him a third time, and brought him to a more reasonable orbit without using time warp.
Then I built a small craft- very nimbile, that fits inside the cargo bay he was in. The idea was to cram it into there so he had nowhere to go that he
couldn't grab onto the ting, so he could then get into a hatch. (This is hard without jetpack fuel!)
I got him. He was in the craft with his oldest friend, jeb.
They departed the third rescue craft, which I then set for a trajectory to burn up in atmo. Bob shed a tear as it faded into the distance.
Jeb then pointed the re-entry capsule for retrograde and made the first of three burns to bring this craft in for a nice, slow descent.
Then the second.
They're close now- so close they can feel the craft shivering lightly as it rubs against the 70kb orbit line.
Jeb makes the third burn- small, but deliberate. The longest ten seconds Bob has seen in some twelve years.
The engines cut as the fuel is expended. The craft is now heating with friction from atmo, and jeb puts his hand on the lever to eject that burn
stage.
Bob and jeb lock eyes, and jeb flips the switch. The craft lurches as the last thrusters eject and the capsule reorients itself based on its new
aerodynamics.
The thruster and fuel tank drop, and pass by the capsule window. As Jeb and Bob watch it tumble through the air, jeb utters these words...
"Is that our heat shield attached to that fuel tank?"
They both died during re-entry.
The last thing I learned-
4) Always double check your decoupler placement.