As has been my history, I have found enough interesting mods that I am creating yet another Kerbal game setup based on those. The core of this is the New Horizons mod which does a complete change of planet layouts and adds quite a bit.  Kerbal is now a moon of a large ringed planet and the system overall got much more interesting.  I also added KASE which 'jazzes up' the stock planets; Arkas, which adds another desert-like planet nearer Kerbol with a few interesting moons; and Keridani, which is a new sun located much further out with a whole slew of interesting planets and moons of its own! Other mods are being experimented with as well.  In the category of new equipment, I have added Contares and SST which are complete structure systems.  On a smaller scale, two new probe sets (Probe Plus and Procedural Probes) and two new station mods, Station Science and Stockalike Station parts. After that, it is much of the mods I like to use in a standard game.  However, I am intending this to be a science-focused game with no real settlement (that is my main game's focus) so I did not add planetary settlement parts of life support or other realism options.  I want to explore this system in a more adventure way and not have so many constraints. I still did science, though, because it does give rewards for effort and does provide a structure for growth.  I started with 500 science because I did not want to redo all the early nothing missions yet again.  Also, no contract stuff.  I still want all my images to betaken directly by the probes. Built Basic Probe craft for a simple orbital and return mission.  I am sending it up, and bringing it back down!  How fun is that!  It is going to take some lovely pictures while there and get the lay of the orbital land (so to speak). Some detail on Basic Probe: Action 1 releases the fairings. Action 2 opens the solar panels. Action 5 performs the science on board. Sims showed a need for a reaction wheel (could not turn basically).  That was added at the top of the first stage. Had 1062 in a 125km circ orbit.  Plenty (could go to high orbit).  Hold science on upper atmo until I open the panels.  I ran out of juice. I exploded on the sim.  Turns out I need all 200 of the ablator on this probe (I actually hope that is enough!) Running another sim on return. It looks like the ablator doesn't really matter. It overheats even when it is not all gone.  Is it maybe the camera?  Trying another sim where I move the camera. Camera was not the problem.  It simply is too hot even with the ablator.  I need a different view.  For now, let me get an orbital science mission and abandon the craft in orbit. Pioneer 1 (Basic Probe craft, 4666 dV) Launch date: 1y 13d Want to get some nice pictures and basic science (therm and pressure).  Sims say it cannot return. Keeping accel limit to 30 m/s. Got some decent science and great pictures!  First mission! <Pioneer 1> I am looking at using the already orbiting Pioneer 1 to venture further.  I have 817 dV in the can. Let's see. Not really finding a way.  I am down to 187 dV and I am orbiting Sonnah (the main planet) and I definitely cross paths with some of the other moons, but I am not sure how to intersect them without guessing.  I did get a bit more science.  I think I need more power to really do these transfers effectively. Built the Manned Orbital 1 craft.  It is on the edge for ablator (not much left) and it had a bit of extra dV in orbit, but not a whole lot.  However, it did successfully make the sim, so I think I want to give it a try.  Let's get those first Kerbals in orbit!