Kerbal Space Program: The Great Mun Race

I have no idea how this vessel even came to fly. Before the days of fairings, optimized rockets, or even atmosphere mods I was flying by the skin of my teeth with little, to no guidance. I hadn't a clue what I was doing as many of these pictures will make very apparent.

A friend of mine named Jordan turned me on to Kerbal Space Program and quickly our conquest for space pitted us against each other to achieve a landing on the Mun. A monumental task considering neither of us knew how to even exit the atmosphere back then. Jordan would be the first to exit the atmosphere but I wasn't far behind him, though I recall him giving me a few pointers. I wasn't anymore clever then your average space enthusiast and I recall not understanding how going straight up somehow didn't equal making orbit.

Though Jordan may have been the first to reach space, heck he may have been the first to reach the Mun. But I was gaining pace and already had developed a completely untested lander. I was proceeding exactly in Kerbal Space Program style- and I would come to pay for that soon enough.

It's tough when you first start off in Kerbal because you don't have a good sense of how much fuel you'll need for any particular launch. This would come to be the biggest problem I would face. Landing the craft on the Mun wasn't good enough- the winner would have to get back home too. My first attempt ended in scattered parts across the Mun.

My second, third and forth attempts didn't get me much further. While I was gaining critical knowledge which eventually led to stranding my kerbals on the surface of the Mun, I wasn't much closer to actually bringing anyone home.

While it may have taken a number of tries. Eventually, I started to figure it out and with that knowledge came even more experimentation and more advancements in deployment on the surface of the Mun. Winning the Mun race was a big deal and as time has gone on, I've really come to believe that if you can land on the Mun- you can go anywhere within Kerbal Space Program. The only thing you need is a little bit of determination and a proper amount of fuel.

I decided to write this article today to encourage every young Kerbal Space Program astronaut to not give up. The biggest challenges may lie ahead of you, but that's not to say they're not conquerable.

KSP Log: 001 - Bill Goes Skydiving

I've been using Facebook less and less, but I really love sharing my experiences on Kerbal Space Program. So today I decided I would start logging my adventures through space on my very own blog. Previously, I've reviewed games and my own life experiences and to an extent- I may still. But perhaps this aspect will really take off and what I have to share will really help other players in their own space faring adventures across the Kerbal System. While I'm still not entirely settled on what kind of information I'll be sharing beyond personal Kerbal stories. I would certainly like to see this become a resource for other players who'd like to master what can seemingly be the impossible. Looking back, I know I was scrambling across the web looking for any information I could find on docking, orbiting or any other (now) basic maneuvers that at the time seemed to be frustratingly difficult.

Today however, I'm going to keep it simple. You'll note from the picture above that Bill wasn't doing so good for himself as he fell through the Kerbin atmosphere (ProTip: I use a couple of mods, in this case an atmosphere mod that really adds to the visual experience.) So here's the story, I have a craft that I'm trying to return home from Minmus but the problem is, I ran out of fuel to slow my craft down and unfortunately I was coming in at a really steep slope. Which means my craft didn't have the necessary time to slow down, nor did it matter as the craft didn't have a heat shield. After a few moments of flight the entire craft started to rip itself apart before exploding into shrapnel in the sky! Luckily, I quick-saved (F5) prior to entering the atmosphere. This gave me a few tries to get it right, but no matter what I tried, I just couldn't cause enough friction to slow down my craft quickly enough. The re-entry heat can be a real pain sometimes.

So in my final try I decided all was lost. I sent out via transmission all the science data I had collected and hunkered down. The craft thrashed and flipped but held together just enough for Bill to exit the craft. Even while the craft was sheering apart from the heat, Bill was protected from the bulk of the heat. The cockpit exploded, but again Bill was saved from the worst of it. The flaming craft finally slowed, the fire reseeded and Bill was left in free fall with a pile of metal around him. There wasn't much choice, he was going to have to jump solo.

This created a bit of a situation, as Kerbals don't come stock with parachutes. But I knew there was a slim chance he may still survive. I was only a few thousand meters over the ocean at this point, so I ignited my jetpack and vectored myself against the looming ocean. It wasn't a slow decent, but I burned off enough speed to still slam hard into the ocean. To my surprise and perhaps the Kerbal Gods themselves Bill survived. The mission may have been a failure, but that's not to say everything was lost. Bill would return to fly another day- and hopefully with better equipment.

Kerbal Space Program V1 REVIEW!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I have been to play the official Version 1.0 of KSP. Having sank over 800 hours into Kerbal since I started in .18 it's been one hell of a journey to where KSP stands today. So was the anticipation worth it? Was the hype train worth the wait? In a couple words: Hell Yeah.

Right off the bat there's some really fantastic big changes to KSP. First and foremost an proper atmospheric drag model has been implemented into the game. You'll notice it as soon as you launch your first rocket. But to really feel the effects, you only need to wander into your space plane hanger and construct a winged vessel. There are a number of things about the atmosphere that create a more compelling experience. For one, parachutes finally seem to work in a realistic way. While I was cruising around at 300m/s in an early space plane (that admittedly was more plane than space.) I found myself taking off using nothing but the forces of air pressure under my wings and slowing due to drag after launching parachutes will gliding to a stop. It's subtle, but the changes make for a brand new set of experiences to play with. Space planes in general have been boosted with various new parts including landing gear, winglets and air intakes.

But the new areo model is really only half the recipe. The new implementation of heat has been a serious game changer. Previously your craft would harmlessly catch on fire as it re-entered the atmosphere or broke supersonic speeds. But no more. Now heat- or friction has turned beautiful spires of fire into horrifying moments of nail biting experiences. As I discovered dozens of times (and I mean dozens) friction really turns on you in multiple ways. It's not simply a matter of entering the atmosphere as perhaps the classic 'movie-esque' belief goes. Friction is a relation to how your craft moves within a dense atmosphere- it's like swimming. This all relates back to the parts your craft are built from. Sometimes you can get away with making your ship more aerodynamic, so it slips through the atmosphere like a knife or other times you can use a heat shield. Each situation has its pro's and con's and even then things don't always go as planned. For instance, I've used a heat shield on a top heavy vessel, but without SAS it spun and flipped me upside down- rendering the shield useless and ultimately turned my ship into a fireball.

But it's not all big changes that make a difference. The 'advance to next day' button outside your space center is a welcomed addition, making it far easier to launch during the day. Other elements like additional parts, engines and connectors have helped bridge the gaps the previous versions fell short on.

The biggest and perhaps most profound element to KSP is mining. However, I haven't advanced far enough in the game to properly review it yet. I will gladly offer a second Review as I've advanced further in the game. However, after the first few hours in KSP, I'm a solid believer.

8/10 - Can't wait to see what they do next.

Star Wars Rebels meets The Force Unleashed?

If you're avoiding spoilers, turn back now. However, if you've managed to watch the entire first season of Star Wars: Rebels come with me to bask in it's twist and turns. To really appreciate SW:R you have to rewind the clocks to the days of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In my opinion Dave Filoni can be credited to reviving the SW prequels as actually entertaining. While many have expressed their opinions over the movies, there's really no denying that Filoni took a shamble of storytelling and made sense of it all. Of course he had help, but Filoni pioneered The Clone Wars in a way that mended broken Star Wars fans and brought them back to the prequel table. I was one of them.

Then the day came- Disney took over and suddenly the expanded universe was shattered, it was like as if a thousand voices screamed out at once... Needless to say I was pretty nervous, but I was happy to hear that The Clone Wars series along with the films would be be canon moving forward. While many of the story arcs remained unfinished, such as Asajj Ventress, Darth Maul, Ahsoka Tano and numerous others. We're now starting to see a ray of sunshine in what many fans considered a disservice by canceling the show. There's already reports of novels being written that will close the arcs on characters such as Asajj Ventress and season one of Star Wars: Rebels started a new arc for one very important character: Ahsoka.

As fans of The Clone Wars will tell you, Ahsoka started as the young, whiny kid nobody wanted following Anakin around. But as time went by and her character developed into a young woman fans started to grow fond of her character. In a sense, she complemented Anakin. She grounded him like most kids ground and mature normal people here on Earth. Suddenly Anakin had someone to take care of, to show what was right and wrong- and why. Things weren't always easy and Anakin learned a lot about himself along the way. But their relationship came to a sudden end when Ahsoka, disillusioned by the politics of the Jedi Order, left to follow her own path. It was a heavy blow to Anakin, but honestly I don't think anyone could blame her for leaving. Doing so however, saved her from the Jedi Purge and Order 66.


By the finale of Rebels (14 years later for those who are counting), we learn that Ahsoka is back and a member of the still fragile Rebellion. What position and if people even know she's a former Jedi is unclear. But we know that the spark has been lit. It's important to note that Bail Organa was there too and seemingly in a leader position. This is important, as Bail previously in the old canon- was a founding member of The Rebellion. It's also rather interesting to see that they decided to bring back Ahsoka at all, rather than simply finish her storyline in a novel or comic. Not to say that any of those sources have less merit, but simply because Rebels has a much larger audience at the end of the day. Bringing her back was certainly not an oversight, it's a very calculated move.

What's even more exciting is to see Darth Vader's arrival on the scene. With the Inquisitors exit from the show (or at least we're led to believe), it means bringing Darth Vader into a much more prominent role for the show and much grander scope to the Rebellion movement. Truthfully, I don't see the Inquisitor returning. While it's possible he may return as a supporting character of some sort, perhaps rebuilt like Darth Maul- his death marked a transition in the show. The Ghost Crew wasn't a real rebellion force, nor was the Inquisitor a real Sith. But the finale changed all that- suddenly what wasn't, now is. Which brings me to the future of the series.

We're moving into pretty touchy old canon territory. The formation of the Rebellion has already been covered through numerous sources, most prominently in The Force Unleashed. While many fans disdain the overpowered abilities of the central character: Starkiller- I still loved the narrative. While an overpowered character such as Starkiller does seem a bit much for today's new narrative, that doesn't mean there couldn't be a restructured telling of the old canon and this is why I think we're about to.

For those who don't know, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Promised to rule the galaxy with Vader once they overthrew the Emperor, things went terribly wrong and Vader was forced to turn on Starkiller, using him as bait to bring the enemies of the Emperor together to be exterminated.

First, there's this rumor that has emerged, in which actor Sam Witwer (Starkiller) is interested in playing a role in season two. The article points to him voicing the Emperor. A good choice, considering his experience voicing the Emperor in The Force Unleashed, but I think it's a little odd he's been overlooked as reprising his role as Starkiller. There's really two reasons beyond the rumor that could make sense. For one, the return of Ahsoka is too good of an opportunity for her to reunite with Anakin- now as Darth Vader. As his former apprentice, this just begs for a very uneasy confrontation between the two. Something I'm sure the writers will drag out for a while.

More importantly, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. It's important to note that this notion of a secret apprentice was created before Ahsoka's character was ever conceived. But from a story telling perspective, it would make for a really amazing narrative to see Darth Vader, now evil- with a new apprentice, one in which he tortures physically and mentally as a dark reflection of his relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka.

The best reason to bring back Starkiller is because the writers killed off his character at the end of The Force Unleashed. While his character returned for the sequel, I'd be just as satisfied if they left that story to 'legends'. But it means no loose ends to worry about down the road.

So is any of this possible? Discuss in the comments!

The Gentle Weekend

This weekend has been one of those dream like weekends that can only be accomplished by not having children and the proper application of ignoring responsibilities. Yesterday was dominated by nearly an 8 hour House of Cards marathon which left me shocked and yearning for more as the final episode of Season 3 ended.

I was overall fairly happy with the third season, however I felt it very jarring to see Francis struggling to keep things together. Unlike previous seasons, it felt like things were constantly unraveling and just barely being held together by clinging bloody fingers. That's not to say the season wasn't good- but I left the season feeling unaccomplished. While season 2 left Francis taking control and achieving his dream, Season 3 was more of the struggle to keep what he had earned. So the ending wasn't nearly as grand as the previous season, but led to what should be a very interesting Season 4.

Today however, I decided to actually get up and take care of a few things. Which ultimately led to me to Starbucks where I met up with numerous friends and old coworkers. I was really happy to speak with Ronnie, who I spent close to two hours talking about the grandness of the universe, politics and sci-fi movies. It was really encouraging to talk to someone else who understood the largeness of it all and yearned to know more, like myself.

There's been a lot coming up, in regards to game updates and movies. I'll be writing more in depth reviews soon. So keep an eye out for those-

From Galactic Space to Roman Empire

I've had a busy past few days and my weekend was plesently consumed with my girlfriend and the one day Florida provided us with upper 70s weather. It was a tantalizing cruel taste of the summer we all long for. That goes double for me- who rides a motorcycle 99% of the year.

But my bud gave me a call yesterday and we talked a bit about the new Total War game, Attila that recently launched. Now, I'm usually not the type of gamer that will buy a recently released game- because I'm cheap, but in the case of PC games, due to the all to often buggy problems that are attached I usually wait even longer. In the case of Total War, who's previous title Rome II was a hot mess for months before they supplied enough patches to almost build a new game: that hasn't inspired me to run out and buy Attila. In fact, I'm not even sure I'm going to buy it at this point.

Perhaps I've had my head in the sand, but I didn't even know about Attila until it launched. Which is strange because I'm a pretty big fan of the Total War franchise. So perhaps they didn't PR the shit out of this title, or maybe I really did just miss everything. Either way, from what my bud has explained to me: it seems like a giant apology for Rome II. The era is roughly the same as Rome II and much of the features missing from Rome II have been added in Attila. Best yet, the game seems to be launching rather smoothly from what I hear. So perhaps I'll purchase it eventually, but either way I booted up Rome II recently to give it another go.

My biggest complaint (as I bought the game long after the patches were applied) was how long Rome II was. In my previous campaign, I played as Greece who at the time was occupying Egypt- after dozens of hours of campaigning I had taken most of North Africa and parts of the Middle East. A decent feat in Rome II, but Europe was still immense and terrifying frankly. This go around I did things a little differently and decided to begin as a humble British tribe and as of last night conquered all opposing British tribes- uniting the British Isles under my rule. Problem is where to go from here! Europe is a big place and landing on the shoreline means a massive invasion force in order to take a city and begin my conquest. 200 BC is a long ways off from the 1940s.

So lets switch things up a bit and run back to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've run into a problem and it's called Alderaan. The 'perfect' utopia of a planet that's split in Civil War. The problem lies in a conflict of interests, where various ruling families are fighting over control of the planets Monarchy. Because nothing says peace, love and equality like a monarchy. Really, what grinds my gears about Alderaan is how upper class most of the characters you encounter are. In my time I spent living in Fort Lauderdale, I recall a similar experience that aggravated the shit out of me. Which is part of why I'm a little sensitive to being bossed around like a simpleton to these rich bastards. Needless to say, I see the value in a Pro-Republic family taking control of the Monarchy, but at the same time I hate everyone I've had to work with on the planet. I doubt the devs planned on encoring the wrath of their players through character experiences, but I feel very strongly behind the decisions I make on this planet.

While nobody has outright said it, I also find it a little suspicious that there is no lower class- even the middle class looks pretty rich. I've seen a few farms or estates- but even they seem to  be doing pretty well for themselves and seem to be more a novelty than actual farming. For all we know they're growing grapes for wine. Which really makes me wonder about this planets economy. There hasn't been an empire on Earth that hasn't been built on the lower class. So when I see these towering buildings and grand gates, all I can think is 'cool, so where is the slave labor?' That being said however, it's curious to note this planet has native inhabitants, a very organic bug like creature that the Alderaan people regard as lesser beings and leave you to exterminate throughout your time there. A rather rash thing to do in my mind, considering the creatures: Killik are part of a hive mind and show enough intelligence to use blaster rifles and other crafted tools. Showing that they aren't just mindless beasts, but together a rather intelligent and powerful force. But the important distinction is this: Alderaan views the Killik as different and like any society that is different and unwilling to conform to society's rules, they are hunted down and exterminated.

Yet once again, as a Jedi I've been tasked to save the people from these creatures by going on various slaughter-fests. While I know what I'm doing is wrong, this is yet again another example of how I see my character falling to the dark side. The Killik have certainly been motivated to swarm and kill the people of Alderaan and honestly I could see this happening even without Imperial influences (which at the moment I'm not sure are even involved.). From what I've read about the Species the majority of their kind left the system some time ago and those who remain often lay dormant underground. Those who do awaken are a mixture of territorial and docile. So does that mean I should be exterminating these creatures? Going as far as to destroy their eggs and plant mines to catch them off guard? It should be no ones surprise that my character would choose to murder an opponent when the opportunity arrives then let them live, when so much of the characters experiences are shaped to enjoy bloodshed and encourages the death and murder of not just the enemy soldiers, but the young and defenseless as well. Worse yet, I feel it says something that the Jedi as a whole haven't stepped up to question the Killik's motives or to even recognize them as a society that deserves its equal respect in a Civil War between monarchies. All this being said however, it does remind me of why I enjoy this time period. The Jedi have a very particular set of rules in mind when it comes to right and wrong. The universe is a very black and white place, but people like me are showing up and asking 'why?' and bending the rules despite the ruling council. You can argue that Reven and I have a lot in common in this sense.

But who knows, maybe we're the outsiders because we see the Universe as a unified being, rather than simply warring factions. In my opinion, to be a true Jedi is to renounce all bloodshed, anger and conflict and pursue a life of knowledge and wisdom. You can pretend you're all that shit while you're lopping off heads and arms- but we both know you're lying. Nobody walks into battle with the emotion of serenity and peace unless you plan on walking out of that battle emotionally scarred with the eyes of the fallen forever burned into your mind. And after a thousand have fallen as with my character, what is death anymore- and are you its instrument?

From Mars with Love

I had the good fortune to speak to someone today about the prospect of colonizing Mars. It was an eye opener to realize not everyone is as passionate about space science as myself- or even knowledgeable about the basic workings of the world around us. Worse yet, he's moderately Christian and from what he mentioned- a creationist at that. But it was a fairly engaging conversation and I've been working pretty hard for the past couple weeks to keep my snarky pissed off comments to myself when it comes to Religion or Science. You can't change the hearts of the people by acting like an asshole- even if it's what half of these people deserve. Here in the South- the ignorance runs deep like Georgia clay tsk tsk.

So here I am explaining how the Mars One project has selected 100 people from the thousands of applicants who want to voyage on a one way trip to Mars- when this guy asks the fateful question 'why should we colonize Mars?' I really thought this was a simple question and answer scenario, but he really was having trouble wrapping his head around why humanity should ever leave Earth to colonize- anywhere.

I really don't want to get into all the reasons why Mars is a great opportunity because what I really found interesting is his inability to understand the logic behind what I was saying. It's really my problem with religion- and you see it all the time around here. He's a good sport at least and we engaged in pretty in depth conversation about biology and physical limitations of humans. But you could tell there was a lot he simply didn't agree with. Such as the fundamental understanding of the age of our planet- our solar system, or even how biology evolves to adapt over time.

That's a pretty big issue in itself. This guy isn't dumb- he's probably sharper then I am truth be told. Which is all the more reason it baffles me when I see him- and others like him- close the box around themselves. The age of the Earth for instance. This hasn't been a fact that's been disputed in years- we've found the physical evidence and tested it using proven methods. Methods that have been determined to work by not just our nation, or members of Western Faiths. These are methods that have been determined to work globally- and together as a global society we've tested the same experiments repeatably to conclude: Earth is at least 3.5 Billion Years Old. Perhaps tomorrow that age will change with new evidence- but as of today this known fact fits very well into the model of the solar system, that is supported by thousands of other facts that have proven themselves against opposing theories.

Point is, to tense up during a conversation because you choose to believe the world is 2,500 years old is ridiculous. How can anybody of any religion- insist so many conflicting facts are wrong, then call up their buds on their iphone's which utilizes or works in tandem with so many facts they just called bogus? There's a great irony in religious folk that they just don't see. The world around them has changed and in my opinion it's the beginning of the end for religion.

Technology will be the end of the religion- or force it to change into something none of us can predict. Who would have thought that the Pope would have made all of the world shattering statements he did over the course of 2014? And what will come of religions everywhere when we finally find life on another planet, asteroid or comet? The point is, religion is being forced to adapt to a ever changing and expanding world. The church's of the world are being forced to plug as many holes as they can on a sinking ship. The avalanche of science and reason is quickly sweeping over them- and this doesn't become more apparent than when we look at Church statistics across the US, where we find church attendance plummeting across the board. Perhaps to no surprise, we're also seeing an increase in two opposing directions. Atheism and Evangelicalism.

But it's the fatty middle of Religion that is taking the biggest hits. While many Americans are still willing to call themselves spiritual, the curtain is slowly dropping as the lie is fading on their own lips. The problem is how explosively expansive the world has become to billions of people across the planet, such as with the introduction of high speed internet. This article in fact, makes an amazing case to that exact point.

So where does this leave our Mar's colony conversation? I'm not sure he really understood why it was important for us to go to Mars. It didn't matter that it meant a second chance for humanity, or an extension of our reach across the Solar System- or even just the technology we'll invent from invitations we'll only find on the Red Planet. Truth be told- it seemed a lot like a conversation someone might have made when talking to Columbus prior to his voyage to the West Indies. There's plenty of reasons not to go boldly into the unknown- and history has taught us how hard colonization can be even on our own planet. But when we look ahead and see how America, Australia or the hundreds of other colonies have fared over the years we see there's hope of a larger positive impact.