RobotMinisterofTrueKorea

3 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

I've set up this current build of KSP to facilitate creating reusable variants of ETS rockets, @RobotMinisterofTrueKorea.

Awesome!

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Today in KSP "What if Land"

I put up my first permanent Space Station (on this playthrough), Skylab. For fun, I took some inspiration from the actual Skylab B and docked a Soyuz. Alas, Skylab B never flew, but it can be seen (and walked though) at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. 

Everything you ever wanted to know about the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory but were too afraid to ask.

So I have an absolute love for all things 1960s and Space. Apparently in 2015 (because I was too busy with work) I missed that the NRO and USAF declassified a bunch of materials on the MOL.

Fascinating reading!

USAF Gemini B cockpit.

NASA Gemini cockpit

Did my first interplanetary mission today!

The first image is of the spacecraft shortly after arriving in Eve's sphere of influence. JJ Abrams lensflare shot of the Mothership, Aphrodite. It's heavily inspired by the Apollo Applications Program manned Venus flyby vessel. Mine has an added habitation module, and a lander slung under the vessel.

Arethusa on the surface of Gilly. This...wasn't really needed other than to gather some science off this one biome. Mission was accomplished though!

Rendezvous was a bit tricky. I had the pilot jump and fly over on an EVA pack. The lander served it's purpose anyway.

MechJeb went screwy and said I had way less fuel than I thought I did. I ditched the habitation module to gain some extra DeltaV.

Beauty shot of Ishtar after a successful Kerbin capture.

The mothership was claimed by the Kraken on the way back from Eve. She's adrift somewhere over Kerbin. No fuel or power. No doubt a later project for me.

Latest shots from my Minmus Missions! I loaded up KSPRC. Upside is it makes the game look absolutely amazing. But my system is having a hard time of it. I may need to go a different route for visuals.

Woomerang Ballistic Missile Testing Range, North Kerbistan, 1965

HGM-25 Titan I undergoing sub orbital testing. Warhead reached target area in the polar region.

SM-75A Thor moments after liftoff.

Extensively modified HGM-25 Titan I. Third stage added with additional fins following a few launch accidents. This was the result of a desperate need to perform Munar and Minmus satellite missions. A modified Atlas wasn't quite the rocket for the job. This thing has a staggering 7,600 m/s of Delta V, twice that of a Titan I carrying a Mun/Minmus Payload, and considerably more than a Titan II with a Gemini spacecraft. It also looks rad as fuck.

I used the BlueDog Design Bureau pack, which has a pretty comprehensive collection of US rockets, probes, and spacecraft from the 1950s-70s.

So, I'm getting the hang of RB. The tanks that I was iffy on in Arcade have become some of my favorite. The Soviet Tree really shines in RB. I submit this as photo evidence, I hid in a forest and ambushed some poor unsuspecting Tigers. I really took them by surprise because I took down 2 in the time it took to reload. Then I did some mean things to an RU 251, and a Ferdinand, then another Tiger and some SPAAGs.

Eastern Europe went from one of my least favorite maps to my favorite bar none.

Also this screenshot is horrifically misleading. I had a string of really bad losses that I won't share pictures of, because I was raised with decency and have a sense of shame.

B-29 complete with a bomb bay modified for a Tallboy. Alas this did not satiate the USAAF's lust for destruction, and instead a B-29 was modified to carry...

...TWO Tallboys.

Just looking at this I've been both shocked, and awe'd.

Paul Allen's team found the wreck of USS Lexington in the Coral Sea. In addition to some ships they found seven astonishingly preserved TBD Devastators that were flown by VT-2. These are the best preserved TBDs in existence. The first aircraft is apparently one that landed a hit on Shoho during the battle. Also makes for the most successful TBDs that exist.

It's a pipe dream, but it would be astounding if they could pluck one of these up for restoration at Pensacola.

Oh my God, what a beauty. I cannot wait to get my hands on 50 shades of T-64.

Swiss Cheese M26E1

6 hours ago, Ulric said:

@RobotMinisterofTrueKorea

 

Prepare thine body.

 

https://warthunder.com/en/news/5323/current/

 

Please, I can only get so erect.

*BAOR INTENSIFIES*

https://warthunder.com/en/news/5309-development-leopard-2k-a-legend-in-the-making-en

Well @Ulric It looks like the Germans *are* getting the 120mm Smoothbore.

I guess an Early Leo 2 is to be expected with the Russians (hopefully) getting T-72 and T-80. Here's hoping for early Abrams for the US.

I've reached an astounding level of failure at this game, where I've lost 20 games in a row, and got 3 kills total.

30 games, and haven't gotten higher than a 500 on score.

Final edit: Discovered an interesting mode where if you consistantly score very lowly, the game auto locks your tanks so you can't play them. I suspect I'm doing so poorly there's an expectation that I'm a bot.

So I'm pretty proud of this one. Second Chicken Dinner in two sessions of play. So, the win was from the other team being near dead and overrun by the zone, but I got 10 kills.

After taking a long break from PUBG I made a Triumphant return.

I failed to notice one entire side of the tank was made out of ammo rack. My mistake.

I think the B1 ter is the worst premium tank I've driven in this game. It's front armor is a damned lie.

EDIT: Upon further reflection I was incorrect. Had some really good runs with it. Driver workload is very high though.

Okay, so French tanks are here, and because of the staggering amounts of superfluous time in my life, I jumped right in.

Thoughts on Rank 1:

Rank 1 French tanks are pretty interesting as they have a unique combination of fantastic armor, mediocre speed and handling with guns ranging from awful to adequate.

Each sort of has their ups and downs as you'd expect, despite all playing fairly similarly.

So far I've played the AMC 34, H35, FCM 36, and H39. Of these, the H39 is by far the most capable tank. It has the best mobility, coupled with decent all around armor, and and adequate gun. I really reccomend getting the premium one in addition to the tech tree one. The AMC 34 is in a close second, trading hull armor protection and mobility for a 47mm with HE filler, something of a rarity among French tanks. I did not care for the H35 or the FCM 36. I found the short 37mm pretty inadequate against...well everything. The AMC 34 has that nice gun that was used effectively against myself, but it wasn't a tank I cared for.

General strategy is to fight defensively. You can be outmaneuvered by just about everything. While they have excellent protection, they aren't even close to invulnerable. German 20mms, Russian 45mm, and US 37mm guns are common and will pick your unfortunate tank apart. Just about everything else also out DPM's you. With that said, hull angling and hills, plus your tanks naturally sloped armor gets pretty effective against most of what you'll find. In any one on one fight you have to canter your hull to stay protected. Also moving the turret around helps, especially in the FCM36 which lacks any sort of significant gunshield protection.

Also worth noting, two man crews necessitate gunning for crew replacement as quickly as possible. Easy enough to do with the H39. Less so with the others.

https://warthunder.com/en/news/5186-development-m4a4-sa50-the-desert-warrior-en

French bias intensifies!

Quote

Get hyped for the French bias

 

https://warthunder.com/en/news/5150/current/

 

Now we just need a French Panther to farm Wehraboo tears with.

*LE MARSEILLES INTENSIFIES* 

Fitting that it was a North Korean MiG I shot down.

I got back into KSP. I never really played around with aircraft, so I figured I'd give it ago. Results were mixed.

First up in my Tu-22M Backfire. It flies like ass, but it's a reasonably accurate likeness. Unless there's some way to make variable geometry wings work, this was the closest I could get.

Next up is my MiG-15/La-15 hybrid. Similarly flies terrible. However I'm much happier with this likeness. I toyed with the design some, and came up with a Super MiG-15. I went for a squared off scoop and an afterburning thrust vectoring engine. There were some minor additional airframe changes I made and the end result is pretty fantastic. I weighed one down as a research and science aircraft and it was still capable of circumnavigating Kerbin at a brisk Mach 2. The lighter "fighter" variant should offer similarly impressive performance. Due the narrow gear, landings are a dodgy prospect.

I apologize if this has been posted, but it's gloriously insane.