Kerbal Space Program

Oh ok
 
I think it's kind of easy to get into orbit. I used boosters to go straight up until around 30,000 meters where the atmosphere ends and vacuum begins then use liquid rockets to start making a parabolic entry into orbit, trying to get a horizontal speed of around 2000 m/s to get into a semi-orbit then adjusting at the zenith's. Then if you want to go back, reverse your ship and burn the rest of your fuel in the retrograde direction to slow down, ideally below 1000 m/s to reduce G forces on the astronauts. Then once in the atmosphere, deploy chutes either at 5000m or when you hit 100 m/s, whichever comes first.

It's so easy!
 
Here's a handy tool that'll get you into a decently stable orbit that seems to work pretty well;

http://files.arklyffe.com/orbcalc.html

I'll tell you the things you just need to concentrate on. The Periapsis and Apoapsis AMSL are the altitudes of the opposite ends of your orbit. The velocity of course should be your velocity at these points.
 
I just managed to reach 1026kms woo!

Took 21 minutes and I forgot to take a screenshot :/ I guess I'll take one after I land.

EDIT:

1028kms :D Took about 45 minutes, no more than 50 in total (the last several minutes or so were it just floating there).


I had three of the huge orange fuel tanks and the 4 engine rocket to power this baby, I'm loving the Sunday Punch pack.
 
It's easier to reach high speeds by going horizontally than just straight up fighting gravity. Just slowly tilt the rocket over after you reach about 15000m. That way I can reach over 3400m/s and escape velocity with just 2 fuel tanks- liquid engine - de-coupler - tri-coupler - 2 fuel tanks and engine x3. Leave the game on over night and see the little guys still going up, never to return to Kearth.
 
It's easier to reach high speeds by going horizontally than just straight up fighting gravity. Just slowly tilt the rocket over after you reach about 15000m. That way I can reach over 3400m/s and escape velocity with just 2 fuel tanks- liquid engine - de-coupler - tri-coupler - 2 fuel tanks and engine x3. Leave the game on over night and see the little guys still going up, never to return to Kearth.

The planet's name is Kerbal. Also it was such a big rocket I was afraid of turning it so far lest it never return to its proper path.
 
:bump:

.17 is out, added four planets incl. Gas Giant and plenty of moons to explore

A few new parts as well.

Also found this on the forums

 
Just to make sure we are talking about the same things, I think the small diameter fuel tanks have 200 L and 400 L capacities, while the larger "oil drums" have 1,600 L and 3,200 L capacities.
We were tallking about the same things. I meant using that big drums as and then radially attaching 3 of the 200 or 400L ones to the side but it seems you already do this.

And to launch a single kerbal in a 3-pod, I do an EVA on the launchpad, have them jump off the rocket (using their jetpacks otherwise they die in the fall), and then end the flight. Then I go to the tracking station, select my rocket on the pad, and repeat so I only have one kerbal on my flight. Then I take off and hope nothing goes wrong.
Thanks. When on the Mun, how do I select my 2nd and 3rd Kerbals to get out once the first one is out?

Side problem I have in take-off: since I use the connecting struts to connect the nose cones of my first-stage booster rockets to the second-stage, my rocket always tumbles after I detach the lower stage. It's really annoying, but the system has enough give that I can take the tumble and re-orient the rocket before losing my chance to orbit. And there's enough extra fuel in the second stage that it doesn't affect my reserves for the Mun.
Hmm I'd have to see pictures to really guess at a solution. But I've never had a problem with connecting struts creating a tumbling problem when staging occurs.


I used to use a 3,200 L for my lander, but I switched to a 1,600 L because the lander was too top-heavy and it fell easily.
I wish 'feeling easy' was my problem. :(


So my procedure is to get this contraption into near orbit with a two booster stages (I aim to get my periapsis or however it's spelled to around 45k, then I jettison the final booster, but they don't start slowing down in the upper atmosphere like they should, starting to get too much low-orbital space junk).
I always end the missions when I've completed or failed them so I only have this problem on the 2 missions that aren't done. I have a one Kerbal pod on orbit around the sun and a 3 Kerbal lander stuck on the Mun without fuel.

Then, I use the 3k extra fuel to get into orbit, to the Mun, and then to de-orbit around the Mun.
I watched a Munar Landing tutorial where the guy created this awesome rocket and then jetisoned the 2nd stage while it still had half it's fuel to avoid space junk whereas you use that stage (or it's equivalent) to get to the Mun.

Besides space junk, he doesn't believe in ASAS units or fins or aquequate RCS/SAS systems to control it. So that stage is basically unusable once in orbit as it is impossible to steer so he just jetisons it and uses his lander stage for the injection, landing and return. You can tell he's an expert pilot to do all of that stuff and not worry about fuel.

I copied his rocket but I'm so sloppy at the controls that I really need that 2nd stage to avoid using fuel in my lander that I need to get home. This weekend I'm going to add some control systems so that it's usable.


After landing and messing around with the EVAs for a little bit, I start the take-off, and once I'm barely off the ground I jettison the landing gear to save weight on the return trip.
I never thought of that. Does it appreciably affect performance? I get you want to leave a leg as a mark of accomplishment, but I'm curious as to whether or not it helps much. I don't want to mess with the extra staging of jetisoning legs, but I will do it if it's worth the effort.
______________________

I am very bad at rocket design at this point. It is very hard for me to strike a balance between thrust ratios and adequate fuel. I tend to start off with a very heavy booster and then I find that it can't even get to orbit. :( I have learned a few tricks with adding fuel lines to keep the central core stages fully fueled when the side boosters drop, but due to sloppy piloting I always end up without fuel at the Mun.

I have landed once with a rocket of my own design and crashed 2 other times due to pilot error with another ship type. But just from copying that one Munar rocket from the tutorial I see that it is already a much more capable rocket despite being lighter. All I really have to do is tweak it a bit and it can handle Mun landings no problem.

What I really want though is a flexible design that can handle most tasks like landing on other planets, but at this point I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm also finally ready to download MechJab after I read through the user instructions for it. It can be frustrating to royally eff things up at the last minute because of pilot error or to hit the wrong key at the wrong moment during the launch and screw up everything.

One thing that is killing me is this stupid bug where it won't let me time warp because it says I'm under acceleration when I'm not. To get around it I have to go to the space center and then go back to the flight and repeat this multiple times as the bug happens a lot. :(
 
Forgot we had a KSP thread, good place to continue talking.

We were tallking about the same things. I meant using that big drums as and then radially attaching 3 of the 200 or 400L ones to the side but it seems you already do this.

Yeah, I'm tacking on a bunch of extra jettison-able fuel. It's getting to the point where it may not be worth it or I need two stages of empty fuel tank dumping. Don't know.

On the plus side, I was able to shoot this lander out to Minmus, but I did the tilt on the orbit all wrong so I didn't land.

Thanks. When on the Mun, how do I select my 2nd and 3rd Kerbals to get out once the first one is out?

I always go back to the tracking station, then select the lander, then EVA the next kerbal. It takes some time and my game occasionally crashes when I do this (probably because my computer sucks and KSP taxes the memory).

Hmm I'd have to see pictures to really guess at a solution. But I've never had a problem with connecting struts creating a tumbling problem when staging occurs.

It'd be hard to show without a video. But I get some serious tumbling. I think I just need more RCS thrusters to control the rocket at this point or I need to remove the struts (I think it's a combination of doing a gravity turn and the way the rocket is designed).

I always end the missions when I've completed or failed them so I only have this problem on the 2 missions that aren't done. I have a one Kerbal pod on orbit around the sun and a 3 Kerbal lander stuck on the Mun without fuel.

My rule on ending missions: if I run out of fuel on a return trip, then I just end the flight and pretend they were recovered safely. After all, nobody else will notice. :mischief: But I rescue stranded kerbals on the Mun.

I watched a Munar Landing tutorial where the guy created this awesome rocket and then jetisoned the 2nd stage while it still had half it's fuel to avoid space junk whereas you use that stage (or it's equivalent) to get to the Mun.

Besides space junk, he doesn't believe in ASAS units or fins or aquequate RCS/SAS systems to control it. So that stage is basically unusable once in orbit as it is impossible to steer so he just jetisons it and uses his lander stage for the injection, landing and return. You can tell he's an expert pilot to do all of that stuff and not worry about fuel.

I copied his rocket but I'm so sloppy at the controls that I really need that 2nd stage to avoid using fuel in my lander that I need to get home. This weekend I'm going to add some control systems so that it's usable.

I waste so much fuel and time trying to reorient and stabilize my craft I think the Auto-SAS is worth it. I'm not nearly as good as the guys on Youtube are.

I never thought of that. Does it appreciably affect performance? I get you want to leave a leg as a mark of accomplishment, but I'm curious as to whether or not it helps much. I don't want to mess with the extra staging of jetisoning legs, but I will do it if it's worth the effort.

The landing gear is pretty light (I think it's 0.05 weight per heavy gear, so 0.15 for the gear and a little more for the explosive bolts. Given the rest of the return pod is on the order of 10 weight units, it's marginal at best. But when I was doing my redesign for the Muny Shot, I figured every little bit would help and I've kept that element ever since because I like the look.

I am very bad at rocket design at this point. It is very hard for me to strike a balance between thrust ratios and adequate fuel. I tend to start off with a very heavy booster and then I find that it can't even get to orbit. :( I have learned a few tricks with adding fuel lines to keep the central core stages fully fueled when the side boosters drop, but due to sloppy piloting I always end up without fuel at the Mun.

I have landed once with a rocket of my own design and crashed 2 other times due to pilot error with another ship type. But just from copying that one Munar rocket from the tutorial I see that it is already a much more capable rocket despite being lighter. All I really have to do is tweak it a bit and it can handle Mun landings no problem.

What I really want though is a flexible design that can handle most tasks like landing on other planets, but at this point I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm also finally ready to download MechJab after I read through the user instructions for it. It can be frustrating to royally eff things up at the last minute because of pilot error or to hit the wrong key at the wrong moment during the launch and screw up everything.

One thing that is killing me is this stupid bug where it won't let me time warp because it says I'm under acceleration when I'm not. To get around it I have to go to the space center and then go back to the flight and repeat this multiple times as the bug happens a lot. :(

My recommendation is to go with multiple liquid rockets for the core of your first stage, and if you want to get a little extra oomph put the solid boosters around it.

That acceleration bug also happens when my RCS is on and the computer is making minute adjustments. I wait about 10 seconds and then I can time-warp again.
 
On the plus side, I was able to shoot this lander out to Minmus, but I did the tilt on the orbit all wrong so I didn't land.
I want to land there next, then maybe Duna. I know I can do it with my current rocket designs + the one that I copied if I learn to pilot better or get an autopilot.

In fact, the first time I built a Mun rocket it failed consistently to orbit. So I decided to get back to basics and build a simple, powerful rocket to practice plain-jain orbits. Thing is, one the first launch I encountered a thrust bug where I couldn't turn down the engines. This ended up putting me in a far out orbit around the Sun before I ran out of fuel and that's when I realized I had a winning design.

I've taken that design and added to it and if I could just pilot the thing well I wouldn't have any problems. But still, that copied design that took me 5 minutes to make is much better than the one that took me hours to perfect. :(

I always go back to the tracking station, then select the lander, then EVA the next kerbal. It takes some time and my game occasionally crashes when I do this (probably because my computer sucks and KSP taxes the memory).
Thanks. Oh BTW I just read that once you EVA, (on the pad) and you end the flight, then go back to it, the kerbal hanging on the ladder will be gone. You don't have to make him fly to the surface, just end it while he's on the ladder.


It'd be hard to show without a video. But I get some serious tumbling. I think I just need more RCS thrusters to control the rocket at this point or I need to remove the struts (I think it's a combination of doing a gravity turn and the way the rocket is designed).
Interesting. Are any of your stages colliding on separation?

I would also suggest holding off on the gravity turn if possible until after you have staged. I have had to do this on a few designs because a turn + staging would sometimes causes veering or collisions. Also, sepatrons may help you.


My rule on ending missions: if I run out of fuel on a return trip, then I just end the flight and pretend they were recovered safely. After all, nobody else will notice. :mischief: But I rescue stranded kerbals on the Mun.
Haha that's my rule. If they end up in a stable orbit that I can later rescue them from, I leave them. Otherwise, it never happened.

I waste so much fuel and time trying to reorient and stabilize my craft I think the Auto-SAS is worth it. I'm not nearly as good as the guys on Youtube are.
This may help with your stability issues (and sorry if you already know this but it might also help other players):

The ASAS isn't an auto-SAS. The SAS is already automatic whenever it's turned on. The ASAS is 'Advanced-SAS'. ASAS does not put any torque on the ship by itself like the SAS module does. What the ASAS does do is control any fins, thrust vectored nozzles or RCS units (when RCS is on) to exert stabilizing forces.

So, if you put fins or a thrust vectored nozzle on your rocket, they will respond to manual imputs. But if you turn on SAS, but don't have ASAS, those nozzles and fins won't do anything. With an ASAS, those nozzles and fins are yoked together and work in concert with the torque ability of the SAS unit (or the capsules with built-in SAS) to stabilize.

If you have an ASAS unit and lots of fins, RCS units and thrust vectored nozzles, your rocket should fly straight and true. I've had some really wobbly designs that actually held up very well thanks to ASAS.

The landing gear is pretty light (I think it's 0.05 weight per heavy gear, so 0.15 for the gear and a little more for the explosive bolts. Given the rest of the return pod is on the order of 10 weight units, it's marginal at best. But when I was doing my redesign for the Muny Shot, I figured every little bit would help and I've kept that element ever since because I like the look.
Cool, I may just try it.


My recommendation is to go with multiple liquid rockets for the core of your first stage, and if you want to get a little extra oomph put the solid boosters around it.
I do that but my natural inclination is to stack multiple 3200L tanks with a Mainsail at the bottom. At some point you aren't generating enough thrust to get enough delta-v to orbit. While adding vernier thrusters and SRB's help, I have yet to find a really good balance between thrust to weight ratios on my own. A couple of my designs do alright but they could do better. What I'm finding from online though is that the smaller tanks and smaller engines seem to work better than stacking together a huge monstrosity.


That acceleration bug also happens when my RCS is on and the computer is making minute adjustments. I wait about 10 seconds and then I can time-warp again.
It doesn't unfreeze for me no matter how long I wait. It happens randomly for me so I can't predict it. At least going to the tracking center and reselecting the flight fixes it.

Also, don't you hate when you accidentally leave A/SAS on and your RCS thrusters on and warp 1000x for a second, then de-warp and find all your RCS tanks are empty? I've ruined numerous missions that way. :(
 
I want to land there next, then maybe Duna. I know I can do it with my current rocket designs + the one that I copied if I learn to pilot better or get an autopilot.

In fact, the first time I built a Mun rocket it failed consistently to orbit. So I decided to get back to basics and build a simple, powerful rocket to practice plain-jain orbits. Thing is, one the first launch I encountered a thrust bug where I couldn't turn down the engines. This ended up putting me in a far out orbit around the Sun before I ran out of fuel and that's when I realized I had a winning design.

I've taken that design and added to it and if I could just pilot the thing well I wouldn't have any problems. But still, that copied design that took me 5 minutes to make is much better than the one that took me hours to perfect. :(

Thanks. Oh BTW I just read that once you EVA, (on the pad) and you end the flight, then go back to it, the kerbal hanging on the ladder will be gone. You don't have to make him fly to the surface, just end it while he's on the ladder.

That would have saved a couple kerbals from untimely deaths at the launchpad. Unfortunately, many more die in horrendous explosions on the pad, so overall effect on kerbal manpower would be marginal.

Interesting. Are any of your stages colliding on separation?

I would also suggest holding off on the gravity turn if possible until after you have staged. I have had to do this on a few designs because a turn + staging would sometimes causes veering or collisions. Also, sepatrons may help you.

I don't know how to position separtrons. None of my stages collide on separation now because the lower stage (which has 7 mainsail engines in a hex around a center tower, each with 4 big fuel tanks) separates at once.

This may help with your stability issues (and sorry if you already know this but it might also help other players):

The ASAS isn't an auto-SAS. The SAS is already automatic whenever it's turned on. The ASAS is 'Advanced-SAS'. ASAS does not put any torque on the ship by itself like the SAS module does. What the ASAS does do is control any fins, thrust vectored nozzles or RCS units (when RCS is on) to exert stabilizing forces.

So, if you put fins or a thrust vectored nozzle on your rocket, they will respond to manual imputs. But if you turn on SAS, but don't have ASAS, those nozzles and fins won't do anything. With an ASAS, those nozzles and fins are yoked together and work in concert with the torque ability of the SAS unit (or the capsules with built-in SAS) to stabilize.

If you have an ASAS unit and lots of fins, RCS units and thrust vectored nozzles, your rocket should fly straight and true. I've had some really wobbly designs that actually held up very well thanks to ASAS.

Heh, I was using it correctly (with the toggle), but wondering why I had to turn on the "auto SAS"--guess if I got the name right it would have made more sense.

I do that but my natural inclination is to stack multiple 3200L tanks with a Mainsail at the bottom. At some point you aren't generating enough thrust to get enough delta-v to orbit. While adding vernier thrusters and SRB's help, I have yet to find a really good balance between thrust to weight ratios on my own. A couple of my designs do alright but they could do better. What I'm finding from online though is that the smaller tanks and smaller engines seem to work better than stacking together a huge monstrosity.

You and your single thruster ways... my motto is go big or go home! Usually home. In a body bag.

Also, don't you hate when you accidentally leave A/SAS on and your RCS thrusters on and warp 1000x for a second, then de-warp and find all your RCS tanks are empty? I've ruined numerous missions that way. :(

Actually, that doesn't hurt me too much. The RCS is most necessary in the take-off and correction phase of the flight. Once I lose the booster stages, the lander can maneuver well enough without the RCS. I'd rather be going home to Kerbal with an empty RCS tank than a full one, to the point where I sit on the Mun burning off excess RCS fuel so I can take off with an empty RCS tank.
 
My typical stock launcher goes something like 9600L of fuel attached to a Mainsail with twelve large SRBs arranged in two stages of six. Then a single 1600L + Poodle LV-909 for landing a three-man capsule, or a variety of single-man capsule setups that are mission-dependent.

I never use RCS, it's completely unnecessary at the moment (landed on Mun and Minmus countless times without it); that will change in .18 with docking :D

To switch between EVA kerbals or rendezvousing spacecraft hit ] or [ to switch to next/previous object (has to be close)

No need at all to go to the tracking station :crazyeye:
 
I don't know how to position separtrons. None of my stages collide on separation now because the lower stage (which has 7 mainsail engines in a hex around a center tower, each with 4 big fuel tanks) separates at once.
I don't know how to position them either, they have just been suggested as useful before.

Heh, I was using it correctly (with the toggle), but wondering why I had to turn on the "auto SAS"--guess if I got the name right it would have made more sense.
Yeah they are on whenever SAS is on.

You and your single thruster ways... my motto is go big or go home! Usually home. In a body bag.
Who you kidding? My Mun rocket 1st stage has 17 engines on it, 5 mainsails and 12 vernier side thrusters. I am also thinking of adding a stack of 5 large SRB's under the mainsails for an extra kick. However, this may be unnecessary for Mun trips as I got to the Mun last night 3 times with plenty of fuel last night. The game crashed 50m from the surface each time.

I never use RCS, it's completely unnecessary at the moment (landed on Mun and Minmus countless times without it); that will change in .18 with docking :D
It has proven invaluable for me when I get to orbit with a huge stack with half full tanks. It is unmanageable without RCS. They also help fine tune landings on the Mun but I haven't mastered this trick yet.

To switch between EVA kerbals or rendezvousing spacecraft hit ] or [ to switch to next/previous object (has to be close)

No need at all to go to the tracking station :crazyeye:

Thanks!
 
So I had a friend over. In 20 minutes (with my guidance) he built a rocket that was better than anything I'd been using :)mad:). Then I landed it on the Mun (without enough fuel to get back). Then, on only his 3 or 4 try at flying, he landed on the Mun and due to the tweaking we had done to the rocket, he even got back.

I felt a strange mix of joy, jealousy and ragequit. Eff this guy. Seriously.

Oh but then I managed to land on Eve by salvaging his badly-misfired second launch. There was literally a fraction of a second of fuel left after the deorbital burn and for some reason the darn parachute wouldn't open. So I switched to my back up plan and ejected the kerbals out of the side of the craft. They survived the fall miraculously.

They may not ever be coming back, but damnit I got them there. Not you Jason, you viking-looking bastard showoff.

Oh and now I agree with Cardgame, RCS can be skipped for many rockets with no loss of perfomance. In fact, skipping it can boost performance in a normally stable design.
 
ASAS can be skipped too, but only if you're a masochist :mischief:
 
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