Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
have you added decouplers?
Kerbal Space Program
- Thread starter Leonel
- Start date
Oh, I don't have access to that component yet. I started career mode last night, I only have solid boosters, liquid fuel tank, motor, capsule, parachute, truss, and an antenna.
There's your problem!
Stack separators are the best, but you can fake it by simply putting another engine in the middle of the rocket and firing it at full-blast; it will eventually break the component below it and separate the rocket.
When the parachute stage auto-regroups with the engines into the "bottom" stage, that means they have been fired but not necessarily deployed. The drogues only come out in the light blue atmosphere zone, and they only fully deploy at 500 m. So you may just have to wait to see the parachute deploy.
Try doing a suborbital-type flight, but keep enough fuel so that you can fire your engines as you come close to the ground and slow down a bit more. The parachute will keep a pod safe, but not a heavier rocket.
Stack separators are the best, but you can fake it by simply putting another engine in the middle of the rocket and firing it at full-blast; it will eventually break the component below it and separate the rocket.
When the parachute stage auto-regroups with the engines into the "bottom" stage, that means they have been fired but not necessarily deployed. The drogues only come out in the light blue atmosphere zone, and they only fully deploy at 500 m. So you may just have to wait to see the parachute deploy.
Try doing a suborbital-type flight, but keep enough fuel so that you can fire your engines as you come close to the ground and slow down a bit more. The parachute will keep a pod safe, but not a heavier rocket.
That's crazy! Burn off the dead weight?! 
I've been watching the Scott Manley KSP 101 videos on my lunch break. He's awesome.
I might ditch career mode for a while and sandbox for a bit. He's really inspiring.
I've been watching the Scott Manley KSP 101 videos on my lunch break. He's awesome.
I might ditch career mode for a while and sandbox for a bit. He's really inspiring.
I'd start in sandbox mode and let your imagination run wild. I found the career tech tree was not set up in a logical fashion to the point where you could replicate the historic space program, and thus I was a bit confused as to how you were supposed to succeed with your first manned mission and not kill the guy. Using acquired knowledge I was able to devise a method, but a new player probably doesn't have access to that without a tutorial.
Manley does a really good job teaching the game's basics in an accessible way.
Manley does a really good job teaching the game's basics in an accessible way.
J-man
Deity
Perhaps we should provide a link to Scott Manley's youtube channel for KSP newbie's:
http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg
Or a link directly to his tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYu7z3I8tdEm5nyZU3a-O2ak6mBYXWPAL
http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg
Or a link directly to his tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYu7z3I8tdEm5nyZU3a-O2ak6mBYXWPAL
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
peter grimes, welcome to the madness 
I a bit last night. it wasn't successful but practice is always good.
I wanted to orbit a kerbin around the planet and then return him. But I didn't make a good rocket stack. I only used liquid fuel. 3 stacks in a stage. The orbiter capsule had a single liquid fuel tank.
The decoupling didn't work as I expected, it was a separator? I didn't see the explosion kinds.
It was fun though, and the kerbin enjoyed the ride.
I wanted to orbit a kerbin around the planet and then return him. But I didn't make a good rocket stack. I only used liquid fuel. 3 stacks in a stage. The orbiter capsule had a single liquid fuel tank.
The decoupling didn't work as I expected, it was a separator? I didn't see the explosion kinds.
It was fun though, and the kerbin enjoyed the ride.
Was ~40% off in humble bundle store earlier in the week. Bought it, but haven't installed it yet...
Thorgalaeg
Deity
If it was Jebedia he always enjoy the ride until a second before crashing.
BTW there are two kind of decouplers explosive and mechanic. For normal rocketry works always use explosives.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
For decouplers I always go with the ones that "stick out". I totally can't remember what they're called, but they seem to make it easier to build large rockets. When things decouple, they're less likely to hit stuff.
The decoupler/separator will only give a slight push; as mentioned, there are both explosive and mechanical ones with different ejection forces. However, the decoupler does not automatically activate the next engine (you have to put the engine and decoupler in the same stage to make that happen). You might have needed either rearrange your staging or fire the next one to light the engine.
Been awhile guys. But I've been experimenting a bit, figured I'd share some pictures of recent missions:
Here is my second Dunabomber, a 3-part craft consisting of a forward command and propulsion module (2x3 nukes), a central fuel module containing a return pod, and the lander module (1 nuke w/ inflatable heat shield, 6 asparagus-staged aerospikes) bringing up the rear. I really screwed up this craft because I redesigned modules between launches, meaning I needed an extra return craft, and with the mis-matched docking ports I could not remove the central fuel pod when emptied. I ended up ditching the forward modules and returned to Kerbin with the ascent stage docked to the return pod. Still a fun mission though, and my first official round trip*!
Spoiler :
As I mentioned in the other thread, I've been experimenting with several mod parts because I want to do start a more realistic campaign game after the next patch comes out. Here's an Orion-style CSM that I have been tweaking. The current version has the battery cylinder in the nose removed and the service module is extended because it's a bit fuel-starved. The KW Rocketry SPS is a bit better than the poodle but not by that much.
Spoiler :
*Yes, I have had manned missions to Eve, Duna, and Laythe before plus several unmanned missions, but those ended up being one-way trips because I abandoned the save due to upcoming patches.
Attachments
need immediate help.
presently orbiting minmus for the first time
but I can't get the map screen to set Kerbin as a target in order to work out my return trajectory?? I click on every other solar system object and I get the option to "set as target" along with the contextual info like the object's name. But NOTHING is happening with Kerbin!!
How on earth am I going to bring Gergan home?
presently orbiting minmus for the first time
but I can't get the map screen to set Kerbin as a target in order to work out my return trajectory?? I click on every other solar system object and I get the option to "set as target" along with the contextual info like the object's name. But NOTHING is happening with Kerbin!!
How on earth am I going to bring Gergan home?
Attachments
Congrats, Gergan must be a well-traveled fellow by now!
I've never tried to set the planet I am orbiting as a target, don't know if you can do that or not. However, if you plan a maneuver and drag one of the nodes far enough to leave Minmus's gravity well, it should give you a predicted route for your orbit around Kerbin. Try to pull out the prograde (forward green) node around the point where Kerbin rises or sets on the horizon* and you should be on your way home.
*Depends on whether you are on a 90° or 270° orbit, you need to burn prograde to escape when your craft is moving retrograde with respect to Minmus' orbit around Kerbin.
I've never tried to set the planet I am orbiting as a target, don't know if you can do that or not. However, if you plan a maneuver and drag one of the nodes far enough to leave Minmus's gravity well, it should give you a predicted route for your orbit around Kerbin. Try to pull out the prograde (forward green) node around the point where Kerbin rises or sets on the horizon* and you should be on your way home.
*Depends on whether you are on a 90° or 270° orbit, you need to burn prograde to escape when your craft is moving retrograde with respect to Minmus' orbit around Kerbin.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
That is the easy part. You only need to get out of minmus orbit with a very short burst and you will see you are already orbiting Kerbin. Next step is to point retrograde and burst till your apoapsis touch kerbin. You will re-enter at brutal speed but not problem since heat and Gs are not modeled yet in the vanilla game. If you want to make things more realistic, place you apoapsis near Kerbin atmosphere and when you reach it, burst retrograde again in order to obtain a nice circular low orbit around Kerbin so you can de-orbit softly.need immediate help.
presently orbiting minmus for the first time
but I can't get the map screen to set Kerbin as a target in order to work out my return trajectory?? I click on every other solar system object and I get the option to "set as target" along with the contextual info like the object's name. But NOTHING is happening with Kerbin!!
How on earth am I going to bring Gergan home?
Good luck, i have ran out of fuel just in the final de-orbiting maneuver many times!
First of all, Thanks for all the advice everyone! I'm going to try to bring him home in the next hour 
I don't understand how to determine where Kerbin rises or sets on the Horizon from the map screen. Perhaps this is one of those oh-so-elementary things that newbies have to be walked through??
OMG i've got 4 minutes, 218 deltaV required for a Kerbin encounter and 243 deltaV left in my stage. :yikes:
By god's will we got him back! Ran out of fuel, but the trusty capsule kept him safe during the fiery reentry
By god's will we got him back! Ran out of fuel, but the trusty capsule kept him safe during the fiery reentry
