bits' adventures in kerbal space program

[shot2bits]

Today is the first day of the Kerbal space program and after months of careful scouting we have finally found the perfect candidate for our test missions, with balls as big as a bears and no hope in hell of telling his left hand from his right, we'll have no trouble with anyone calling in those pesky health and safety inspectors who always try and stand in the way of SCIENCE™

Meet Camzer Kerban



The boys have been putting together our prototype rocket for his first mission.



Onwards and upwards to the stars and the mun beyond! for SCIENCE™


Unfortunately the first launch doesn't go to well



Someone managed set the parachute up to go off at the same time as the engines, probably some new guys idea of a prank. Somehow Camzer was able to get out alive and he didn't seem even the slightest bit fazed by all of this, he didn't even blink! wait do we even have eyelids? can we blink?

And so our first mission ends with our fearless kerbal not even leaving the launch site, maybe this space business is going to take more work than i thought. perhaps we will do some research a bit closer to home before we try for the mun again, i wonder what samples of the launch pad are like....

[fabyak]

Like it!

Glad I'm not the only one to fall for the old 'engines and parachute simultaneously' chestnut

[Joose]

Nice! Look forward to more of this kind of things.

Glad I'm not the only one to fall for the old 'engines and parachute simultaneously' chestnut

This. I also managed to get the sequence cocked up on my first multi-stage rocket so the different stages would detach *then* fire.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I just killed "special" Jeb in a similar way. apparently having your capsule release while your solid thrusters fire on the pad doesn't go well.

[fabyak]

I think I killed him too, I was trying a spacewalk (for SCIENCE!) which turned into 97KM bellyflop in to the ocean

[shot2bits]

cheers for the positive feedback guys, glad you enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if the way i was writing it from an imaginary perspective was weird or not.

forgot to mention the pictures should be right clickable for bigerering

next part to come soon

[shot2bits]

We finished up some R&D from the "tests" Camzer did yesterday and the boys in the labs have made a device that can blast bits of the bottom of the rocket leaving us with a smaller rocket still flying, like one of those Russian dolls, or an inception rocket.

While we got Camzer prepped to try and achieve a stable orbit around Kerbin we sent the young go getter Jebidiah to the Arctic.

He was sent in a prototype of the rocket we've developed for the orbital flight.



They tell me it consists of 2 stages, a 100% increase from our original prototype, a true example of Kerbal efficiency. Its also been equipped with tanks full of some goo someone found near our waste site, we are going to analyze it in different circumstances, for science!

The launch went off without a hitch, but young Jebidiah lacks the raw courage and ignorance of Camzer and seems a bit worried.



Though he seemed to lighten up once he broke through the atmosphere.



And by the time he could see the Arctic he was positively beaming, actually i think the journey may have sent him a bit peculiar.



We touch down and Jebidiah just falls out of the ship and lays on his back until we get someone out to pick him up and recover the rocket, come to think of it why couldn't we just send them to go get the samples for us?



At least we know the rockets work and we can send Camzer on his mission next time.

[FatherJack]

cheers for the positive feedback guys, glad you enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if the way i was writing it from an imaginary perspective was weird or not.

It's all good stuff, bits - the fantasy aspect of writing it from the perspective of an initially clueless Kerbal rocket scientist burgeoning into an expert in the field through experimentation precisely mirrors the experience of those of us that have given it a try and gives a great insight into the iterative learning process inherent in this game to those that haven't.

Like Dwarf Fortress and a number of other titles it's a hard game to get into uninitiated, but when you're inspired by a narrative story of largely your own making you can craft your own adventure and it only makes sense to share that experience with others.

[shot2bits]

We once again get Camzer ready for a mission, to break through the atmosphere and achieve a stable orbit around Kerbin then hopefully returning safely.

The rocket we are sending him up in is essentially the same as the prototype used for Jebidiahs excursion just with another stage wedged in between the two for the orbital burn



Unfortunately that damned joker seems to have managed to pull a fast one on us again



Half the bloody rocket doesnt even leave the launchpad! We abort the mission to make refit the rockets and start again

this time around the launch goes smoothly and we manage to break through the atmosphere and we start to circularize our orbit



it took more fuel than we thought and we've already eaten into our last stage for this, but we manage to get a stable orbit



we are left with just enough fuel to get the rocket back into the atmosphere, but before that Camzer needs to do those all important experiments. exposing that goo to the vacuum of space



And he felt it would be a good idea to step outside and stretch his legs for a bit



Once he gets back on board we set him up with a manouvre that should bring him back somewhat close to the space center



the reentry goes smoothly and the parachute deploys without any problems



unfortunately since its night this side of kerbin its quite hard to see what the terrain below us is like and we have a bit of trouble landing properly



but any landing you walk away from right, right?

[Dog Pants]

Oh god. This has just reminded me that I still have a Kerbal stranded in orbit. I'm a horrible person.