Kerbal Space Program

[ls612]

Game was on sale last night for just shy of $17 - so I grabbed it

Wife still hasn't noticed

But when she does...


I'll hopefully be able to put about an hour into it tonight, tomorrow I might get 2 or 3.


I'm on an iMac, using the standard non-numpad keyboard and touchy mouse. I have a nostromo thingy, so that might be helpful.


So what would you guys recommend I do?

Learn how to fly a rocket first. Really, that alone will probably take ten hours or so to master. After that try and get to the Mun and back, that will require you to learn orbital mechanics, how to do a powered landing, and how to build larger rockets. And don't be afraid of failure, I've already redone my Tylo rocket three times now (needs moar boosters).

 

[Thorgalaeg]

An important thing i learnt only after 20-30 failures or extremely difficult launches: Dont build rockets with solid boosters only stages, always mixs solids with liquids rockets, otherwise you will have a hard time controlling the thing.

 

[peter grimes]

If I understand the game* correctly, don't I have to Build before Flight?

*my wife she's the best, I love her to death complains when I play my games. I can't help but correct her that Civ4/5, Banished, and KSP are SIMULATIONS!

Serious business.

 

[Antilogic]

So what would you guys recommend I do?

I can't help you with the Mac keys, but what I enjoyed doing was mimicking the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo programs. They give you very good milestones and you learn how to do things in an order that makes sense.

I was using probe cores to launch small satellites and trying to get into orbit first (and learning how to fly--ASAS makes a huge difference here, make sure you include it), then orbiting a kerbal, and then I started doing more involved missions like Munar landings. At first, I skipped docking since you can land a 3-person pod on the Mün and retrieve it without too much difficulty, but eventually you will want to master that so you can assemble large craft in space.

After that, it's crazy mission or space station time.

 

[cardgame]

Mac keys aren't a problem at all.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Always remember, when in doubt, add more struts and boosters.

In fact, even when not in doubt, add more struts and boosters.

 

[Antilogic]

Very good advice.

Although since you have joined with the big 3.75m parts, you don't have to go too crazy to get stuff into orbit. Some of my old deathtraps were just hideous masses of booster stages and struts.

 

[J-man]

watch some Scott Manley tutorials on youtube if you have trouble launching into orbit.

 

[peter grimes]

I'm having a hard time learning the commands. I did 3 tutorials: build a ship, fly it to orbit, orbital maneuvers & re-entry.


During the reentry tutorial he told me I was done and could try to deorbit and to remember to use the parachute - but he never told me how to drop stages or deploy the parachute! I did eventually do both those things, and I know it involved clicking on something in the lower right and then hitting Space. But I don't remember exactly what I did. I was kind of frantic, as I had already killed several of the Kerbins in earlier tutorials. Also, these guys were really shaken up from the orbital maneuvers. Lots of fast spinning.

But I did manage to do most of it without the SAS involved, so that's nice. I only relied on it during burns. But for reoriented to retrograde or prograde markers I did it all live, tho' it did tend towards Bill O'Reilly live

 

[Thorgalaeg]

You can do things like opening parachutes, releasing decouplers or starting engines in two ways: using the space key if you have stages correctly arranged or directly right-clicking on the item and chossing the available action in the contextual menu.

Of course in the middle of a launch when you have to start several engines simultaneously, the second option is not very useful, but for opening a parachute after reentry it is OK.

 

[peter grimes]

I don't think I was able to see any contextual menus for anything

Perhaps the Mac version is different?

Also, how to you group engines together to start them all on launch? I built a frankenrocket with a central motor flanked by 3 liquid fuel tanks with motors, but I was never able to turn the flankers on. So it rose to about 6km and then I killed another kerbin. RIP Jerry

 

[Antilogic]

I'm having a hard time learning the commands. I did 3 tutorials: build a ship, fly it to orbit, orbital maneuvers & re-entry.


During the reentry tutorial he told me I was done and could try to deorbit and to remember to use the parachute - but he never told me how to drop stages or deploy the parachute! I did eventually do both those things, and I know it involved clicking on something in the lower right and then hitting Space. But I don't remember exactly what I did. I was kind of frantic, as I had already killed several of the Kerbins in earlier tutorials. Also, these guys were really shaken up from the orbital maneuvers. Lots of fast spinning.

But I did manage to do most of it without the SAS involved, so that's nice. I only relied on it during burns. But for reoriented to retrograde or prograde markers I did it all live, tho' it did tend towards Bill O'Reilly live

You are a masochist! Although with the SAS, I have found that patience is the way to go. Don't hold the button down to get the ship reoriented and then hold it the other way to stop, you will be swinging around like crazy. Go 2001 style with very slow taps to readjust your heading.

If your rockets spin too much going into orbit, I suggest using the SAS with an inline reaction wheel during the launch. Or manually slowing it with Q/E when you get a breather in orbit.

I don't think I was able to see any contextual menus for anything

Perhaps the Mac version is different?

Also, how to you group engines together to start them all on launch? I built a frankenrocket with a central motor flanked by 3 liquid fuel tanks with motors, but I was never able to turn the flankers on. So it rose to about 6km and then I killed another kerbin. RIP Jerry

If you right-click a part (or whatever the Mac-equivalent of that is), a menu should pop up with some additional information as well as the ability to trigger stuff like deploying the chutes, activating or deactivating the engines, or firing the decouplers.

In the VAB (where you design your rocket), you can drag and drop parts between the different stages in the list. If you mouse over a part on the rocket, it should highlight which stage that part is in over in the list. Same thing if you mouse over a part in the list, it should highlight where it is on the rocket. If you group the entire set of 4 engines to fire simultaneously in the bottom stage, then the first time you hit spacebar all 4 should fire. Make sure there are radial decouplers that fire in the next stage so you can drop those boosters with the next press of spacebar.

 

[ls612]

I don't think I was able to see any contextual menus for anything

Perhaps the Mac version is different?

Also, how to you group engines together to start them all on launch? I built a frankenrocket with a central motor flanked by 3 liquid fuel tanks with motors, but I was never able to turn the flankers on. So it rose to about 6km and then I killed another kerbin. RIP Jerry

Set all of the engines in the bottommost stage (the staging UI is in the bottom left in flight, or in the bottom right in the VAB). Then hit the spacebar to trigger your stage. You can do the same thing with decouplers, parachutes, and anything else which has a triggered action related to parts of your rocket falling off or burning.

 

[Antilogic]

Yeah, the default staging the game figures out for you is not always what you had in mind when you were assembling your rocket.

 

[Daedwartin]

Actually, learn to fly to Minnus before the Mun.

It may be a bit more delta-v to get there, but it requires a lot less delta-v to land and take off, and it has much more science closely grouped together.

 

[Antilogic]

Minmus used to be more difficult because you had to take into account the inclination difference on your transfer burn. Now that you have access to planned maneuvers, it's much easier to get there.

 

[ls612]

Actually, learn to fly to Minnus before the Mun.

It may be a bit more delta-v to get there, but it requires a lot less delta-v to land and take off, and it has much more science closely grouped together.

That is true for experienced players who know how to get there efficiently. For a newbie they will have a hard time encountering minmus until they figure out advanced orbital maneuvering, while encountering the mun is easy. I'd recommend new players start with the mun, by the time they have enough experience to return from the mun they should also be skilled enough to do a low-energy minmus transfer.

 

[cardgame]

, I chased minmus and landed on it before we had maneuver nodes

didn't even do any inclination change on liftoff, just chased it like a cat chasing a laser.

 

[Antilogic]

I remember doing missions like that, estimating angles with my trusty hand protractor and making several "correction" burns.

 

[peter grimes]

I seriously don't understand the staging interface at all.

I set up 2 stages in the VAB. Parachute was 0, Liquid fuel stack was 1.

Ready to launch, I hit Space.

I'm ready to detach the at like 100km, the rotary counter in the lower left reads 001, I hit Space. Either of two things happen: The light changes from flashing green to solid green, or the light is pink and the liquid fuel tanks auto-group up into stage 0 with the parachute.

WTH am I doing wrong??

I really can't make sense of this.