Kerbal Space Program

[Joecoolyo]

It will reduce your ladder weight by a factor of 3-4, but this is usually on the order of 1-2% or less of your total lander weight. It's not going to affect it as much as the heavy landing gear or the batteries/lights pack.

The only other thing your batteries would be powering is the ASAS system. I'd look into either sticking the little generator or a small solar panel to recharge your system so you can still use your ASAS.

Do batteries affect ASAS? I've used ASAS and I've never seen my battery go down.

Aww crap, I have not been paying attention at all to my engines, in terms of efficiency. One more thing to look at.

Joycoolyo, that is a strange rocket design.. or maybe mine is strange who knows

Yeah, its pretty strange. I just wing it in terms of rocket design. Whatever works

Anyways, I've fiddled with it enough that I do in fact have enough fuel to get there without using my lander's supply. Which means that I have more than enough to get there and back.

Now I just need to nail a second landing to test it out and I'm good to move on!

 

[warpus]

I just realized my rocket is way too giant.

Back to the drawing board.

But good luck! I'm watching a "to the mun" tutorial from construction till return to see what sorts of things I've been doing wrong.

This guy's rocket is at least 5 times smaller than mine hmm

 

[Luckymoose]

Just tried to play again by lower resolution and halving texture resolution... no dice. The game in its current state is stupidly broken. Where before I could run the game without a single crash or freeze on the highest settings, I no longer can.

 

[warpus]

History was made today as the joint Polish Lithuanian Australian Brazilian Saudi space program (otherwise known as PLABS SP) launched their newly re-designed rocket in hopes of landing on the Mun and returning safely back home.

The newly redesigned rocket used technology stolen from the North Koreans

Getting there went smoothly, and everything seemed to be going to plan.. until

The lander hit the ground at 4m/so or less and one of the legs snapped right off and was thrown right clear of the ladnder

At one point the lander wobbled on the fulcrum a bit for a couple seconds, unsure whether it was going to tip the good way.. or the bad way..... ... I sat there with my finger anxiously over the shift key.. but then after a while it stopped!

and I was safely on the Mun

I couldn't go for a Munwalk though because the hatch was on the side with no leg... Trying to get out could have been suicidal.

I ended up having enough fuel to get back home..

I think I might try landing on the other moon next. but next time I am going to use the other goddamn landing leg things.

 

[Luckymoose]

Low gravity on the mun allows you to fall no problem and jump up the ladder.

 

[warpus]

My lander was so close to the tipping point, I was convinced it would tip over if I tried to do that.

 

[cardgame]

Game over, gentlemen

 

[Luckymoose]

Fighting through the crashes I have put the first Kuban probe on Minmus and brought an additional habitation module/escape rocket/rcs refueler to the Glorious Revolution Station. I made it to Minmus with a nearly full tank on my nuclear engine. That made me think I should devise a dual purpose probe rocket that leaves a fuel tank in orbit with docking clamps and solar power.

Spoiler :

Jeb is the only one in the command portion of the station, there is another guy up there in one of the habitation modules unless he died of boredom. It has been up there about 2 years.

Spoiler :

EDIT: This station has served its purpose and will likely be deorbited once I bail the crew out in the near future. I think I'll make something big enough to act as a refueling station for deep space anything missions.

 

[Luckymoose]

Prolonged the stations life by adding a docking extension. I have sadly docked it sideways D:.

Spoiler :

EDIT:

Docked a Munar lander. Good thing I had that extra fuel tank since the rendezvous with the station took way more fuel than expected. I love being able to sacrifice lander fuel to refill the main fuel tanks if need be. Then undocked and set sail for the Mun! Landed safely.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

All is possible in Glorious Kuba!

 

[warpus]

Anyone got any suggestions for a docking tutorial? I just watched one that seemed to be done by a guy who knew what he was talking about, but where I get lost is where he does things without explaining why or how or both.. For example, he was switching between the 2 spacecraft somehow.. I don't know how to do that. The part where the orbits align was also done very quick, and I need to understand the big picture details here to be able to really understand it.

Tips?

 

[Antilogic]

Getting there went smoothly, and everything seemed to be going to plan.. until

The lander hit the ground at 4m/so or less and one of the legs snapped right off and was thrown right clear of the ladnder

Spoiler :

I love this picture. Just love it!

I'm having similar problems. I have tried to redesign my lander to be capable of both Munar landings and docking, so I am using a modified design of my Dunabomber system from a few pages ago. Turns out, the center of mass is too high and the 3 thruster pods made it very prone to tipping over, I was fighting for 10 minutes with the RCS and tiny shots of fuel before finally landing on the Mun safely.

I did a big 4-part mission yesterday--launch the new lander, fly to the ASS (it's the Antilogic Space Station!) for docking and refueling, then go to the Mun, then return to Kerbin.

Need to go back to the drawing board.

Game over, gentlemen

Indeed.

Prolonged the stations life by adding a docking extension. I have sadly docked it sideways D:.

Spoiler :

...

Spoiler :

All is possible in Glorious Kuba!

I have tried to undock and redock pods to align them properly (I have two combined habitation/solar pods and I wanted the panels to match up). Worst idea of my life, and I didn't save first so it took a lot of fiddling to get everything right.

Your lander is incredibly compact--you can do a lot of creative designs with that trashcan command pod.

Anyone got any suggestions for a docking tutorial? I just watched one that seemed to be done by a guy who knew what he was talking about, but where I get lost is where he does things without explaining why or how or both.. For example, he was switching between the 2 spacecraft somehow.. I don't know how to do that. The part where the orbits align was also done very quick, and I need to understand the big picture details here to be able to really understand it.

Tips?

Okay, I tried to type this out once and the computer ate it. Hopefully second time's a charm.

You can use the [] keys to switch between ships that are close to each other (I think within 5 km). Here's my mental checklist/procedure of sorts for executing a docking maneuver:

1. Wait until the dock target is approaching Kerbal Space Center on the map, I launch when the dock target is between 30° and 45° behind the space center. It'll keep moving while we get our rocket to orbit, and each rocket makes orbit at a slightly different time.
2. Launch your craft and establish an orbit that is different from the dock target's (around 10 km will do). You want it to be different so the two ships are going at different speeds, and one can eventually catch the other.
3. Select the dock target as your target so it's easier to plan an intercept maneuver (thank you 0.18!).
4. Plan a maneuver at one of the points indicated by the dashed line--this is where you can fire to match your orbital inclinations. Otherwise, you could be at the same altitude but at different latitudes and will not intercept easily besides at two places.
5. First, use the purple controls to match your orbital inclination (you want it to be 0.0°, although 0.1° is close enough).
6. Second, use the green and blue controls to find a close intercept with your dock target--you want to be within 5 km. This will get you close to your dock target for a moment.
7. Execute your maneuver, you might need to do this twice (i.e. step down to a 25 km gap, then a <5 km gap).
8. Wait for your closest intercept.
9. Check your navball--it should be giving you velocity relative to the target.
10. Burn retrograde to 0 m/s--now you are not moving relative to the target, and your orbits are nearly matched. This is the easy way to avoid flipping between craft and matching orbital speeds relative to the planet.
11. Use tiny, TINY, burns and RCS to get within 100 m of the target, then kill all velocity relative to the dock target again.
12. Switch between the dock target and the ship to get the right ports facing each other. It's often easier to rotate your dock target then switch back rather than maneuver around the dock target with RCS.
13. Now, switch to the ship, and use the RCS to guide yourself in. You can use the H and N keys to fly forwards and backwards with RCS only.
14. Use the IJKL keys to make the RCS translate you, but this only works well if you have the RCS around the center of mass properly, it's hard to do.
15. I find it helps to switch off the RCS when using the WASD and QE keys on the approach--otherwise, I oversteer easily.
16. Click on the docking port on the dock target you want to connect with.
17. Now, just get within 1 m of it, and the magnets should take over and dock you.

 

[warpus]

I love this picture. Just love it!

I sat there staring at the screen for a couple seconds with my mouth wide open when that happened

It was just the culmination of 1-2 weeks of learning about the game and the smoothest touchdown I've ever had.. made my heart skip a beat.

To those of you who land on things on a regular basis it might not seem like such a big deal, but when that one leg broke off and went flying... I don't think you could evoke what I felt when that happened if my bride left me at the altar . Well, maybe. It was 2:30am and I was totally going to try again if I failed. Bad idea with today being the 2nd last day at work with crap to wrap up..

I did a big 4-part mission yesterday--launch the new lander, fly to the ASS (it's the Antilogic Space Station!) for docking and refueling, then go to the Mun, then return to Kerbin.

Oh man, once I figure out docking I'm going to have so much fun building space stations..

Thanks for writing up those docking tips! I'm going to try following your instructions.. I'm a bit unclear about some of the details, but I think once I get in there it should make a bit more sense. I am only getting used to the whole maneuver thing, I wasn't even using it before yesterday.. Seems intuitive enough, but I am not very comfortable with it yet.

I have actually never been able to use the IJKL keys to control my RCS.. Whenever I've tried using them, they don't seem to do anything. Coudl just be me though. I just need an RCS fuel tank and the RCS thrusters installed in various places? Or is there more to it?

 

[Antilogic]

I sat there staring at the screen for a couple seconds with my mouth wide open when that happened

It was just the culmination of 1-2 weeks of learning about the game and the smoothest touchdown I've ever had.. made my heart skip a beat.

To those of you who land on things on a regular basis it might not seem like such a big deal, but when that one leg broke off and went flying... I don't think you could evoke what I felt when that happened if my bride left me at the altar . Well, maybe. It was 2:30am and I was totally going to try again if I failed. Bad idea with today being the 2nd last day at work with crap to wrap up..

Oh, I remember the feeling when you touch down successfully for the first time. You'll feel it again tenfold when you touch down on another planet (for me, it was Duna).

Oh man, once I figure out docking I'm going to have so much fun building space stations..

Thanks for writing up those docking tips! I'm going to try following your instructions.. I'm a bit unclear about some of the details, but I think once I get in there it should make a bit more sense. I am only getting used to the whole maneuver thing, I wasn't even using it before yesterday.. Seems intuitive enough, but I am not very comfortable with it yet.

I have actually never been able to use the IJKL keys to control my RCS.. Whenever I've tried using them, they don't seem to do anything. Coudl just be me though. I just need an RCS fuel tank and the RCS thrusters installed in various places? Or is there more to it?

It's a ton of fun. Big picture, the idea behind my procedure is to establish an orbit, then make the orbits "touch" in one place with the ships close to intercept, then match the orbits, then worry about the docking. It sounds much easier as 4 steps, but the list above gives more of the nitty-gritty detail required to make it happen.

I am always toggling RCS and ASAS on and off. If your thrusters are balanced around the center of mass (or are on the center of mass), you should be able to just use the RCS on and IJKL keys for maneuvering. It's very slow for most ships unless you have tons of RCS thrusters. For off-center systems like mine, I use RCS on, ASAS on, and the IJKL keys. I turn off both for QE and WASD movement, then turn them both back on and make adjustments with IJKL. It takes some practice, and one mistake can cause a cake odyssey.

All the while, you need to watch your approach and adjust with H and N. Usually, if you line it up right, there will be a little purple marker on the navball that points towards the command pod of the dock target. That's my guide for the <5 km maneuvering and eventual docking.

 

[Joecoolyo]

I sat there staring at the screen for a couple seconds with my mouth wide open when that happened

It was just the culmination of 1-2 weeks of learning about the game and the smoothest touchdown I've ever had.. made my heart skip a beat.

To those of you who land on things on a regular basis it might not seem like such a big deal, but when that one leg broke off and went flying... I don't think you could evoke what I felt when that happened if my bride left me at the altar . Well, maybe. It was 2:30am and I was totally going to try again if I failed. Bad idea with today being the 2nd last day at work with crap to wrap up..

Oh god I know that feeling.

My first landing came so close to falling over, I cheered when it stood upright

 

[warpus]

Got my first successful moonwalk with enough fuel to get back.

Decided to investigate a curious looking arc I saw in the distance while landing, and thought I had enough fuel to do a fly-by on my way home.. the fly-by turned into a landing attempt, in which I overflew the stupid arc by quite a bit and ended up smashing into the Mun at fairly high speeds.

Ah well... that's ok I'm moving onto the 2nd moon

 

[warpus]

2 new milestones:

1. The first person ever to land on another planetary body, come home, and live, is Bill Kerman
2. The first person ever to land on Minmus is the very same Bill Kerman, who achieved both milestones on a 27 day long adventure.

Spoiler :

I still haven't eaten dinner.. it's 11:30pm... This game has temporarily taken over my life

Next I want to try getting a rover on something.

 

[warpus]

Hey, 0.18.2 is out

 

[Luckymoose]

The first Kuban on Minmus. (I'm getting fairly good at getting to locations in one go now. I also seem to have a fetish for solar panels.)

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[cardgame]

Everyone has a solar panel fetish, no worries :3

 

[warpus]

Trying to figure out how to land one of the mod rovers (I installed 2, 1 is a full rover and 1 is just a set of wheels you can attach to stuff) on the Mun in one go. I haven't been able to attach it to the side of my lander.. Trying to think up a clever design that would allow me to land, detach rover, ride around, then go home. Landing twice isn't an option yet, as I'm not good enough to 1. do all the detaching maneuvers in space and 2. land in the same spot