FAQ. Those that need it don't read it. Those that read it don't need it.

[Snark]

Perhaps it's worth adding "How do I take/post screenshots"?

e.g. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/128907-how-do-you-post-pictures/

or http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/129282-my-ssto-designs/&do=findComment&comment=2349944

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by Snark

[cubinator]

Q: I'd use mods but it's too hard

A: CKAN.

[Snark]

On 12/9/2015 at 1:44 PM, Tex_NL said:

Q: My plane violently veers off the runway. Why?
A₁: Your landing gear is misaligned. Make sure you don't have any toe-in or toe-out.

A suggestion for this particular answer:  It may be useful to add something like this:

"Even a tiny, invisible misalignment can cause this problem.  It can happen due to the curved shape of the part you're attaching the landing gear to.  One way to fix this in the SPH is to select the rotator widget ("3" key), turn on absolute snap ("F" key), then wiggle the landing gear one notch out and back to parallel.  This guarantees perfect alignment."

Reason I mention it:  Lots and lots of people (even experienced players!) aren't aware of the existence of the absolute-snap feature, and may not have any idea how to fix the problem (since they don't know how the problem happened in the first place).

[Sanic]

On January 1, 2016 at 4:15 PM, cubinator said:

Q: I'd use mods but it's too hard

A: CKAN.

I had to delete all of my local KSP files to get CKAN working correctly.

Worth it

[adsii1970]

On 1/5/2016 at 4:59 PM, Snark said:

A suggestion for this particular answer:  It may be useful to add something like this:

"Even a tiny, invisible misalignment can cause this problem.  It can happen due to the curved shape of the part you're attaching the landing gear to.  One way to fix this in the SPH is to select the rotator widget ("3" key), turn on absolute snap ("F" key), then wiggle the landing gear one notch out and back to parallel.  This guarantees perfect alignment."

Reason I mention it:  Lots and lots of people (even experienced players!) aren't aware of the existence of the absolute-snap feature, and may not have any idea how to fix the problem (since they don't know how the problem happened in the first place).

Wow... I would be one of those experienced players that didn't know that...

[Kerbart]

Wasn't career mode supposed to start with a barn? What happened to it?

The barn as was shown in the previews was generally not received in a positive way by the community for various reasons, and thus left out in Career mode. Most complaints where about bad quality rendering (especially the textures), out of style with the other buildings and haphazard use of objects that didn't make sense (roads leading nowhere, etc).

 

Why is this post not a sticky?

The required sacrifices to please the forum gods haven't been made yet.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Kerbart
Removed the duplicates that somehow showed up. Removed the duplicates that somehow showed up.

[Red Iron Crown]

@Kerbart This post has been stickied for some time.

[Kerbart]

17 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

@Kerbart This post has been stickied for some time.

@Red Iron Crown Aah, now I see. It's the Popular This Month section that throws me off!

[Guest]

Q: My plane violently veers off the runway. Why?
A₁: Your landing gear is misaligned. Make sure you don't have any toe-in or toe-out.
A₂: You are wheelbarrowing. Too much lift too far behind the centre of mass (CoM). The tail of your plane is lifted off the ground before the nose and it starts to fall over making it steer either left or right.

@Snark 's info on the alignment issue is excellent information. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/127403-frequent-asked-questions/&do=findComment&comment=2350013

Thank you for that. I'd like to add that in my personal experience that adding struts from the landing gear to the fuselage can solve veering issues in some circumstances, ie. when landing gear are placed on wings. It seems that if the landing gear are placed toward the ends of the wings on a heavy craft it can result in a torque at the joint of the wing and fuselage causing potential alignment issues. Adding the struts stiffens the joint and reduces or eliminates any displacement of the landing gear due to the wing-fuselage joint moving.

[Tex_NL]

KSP and especially the forum have been far back on the back burner for the last several weeks. I will update the FAQ within the next few days.

Mods and CKAN: Answering a question with a mod is very cheap. You do not need CKAN to install mods. Besides that I don't think this is the correct place to advertise mods or discourage them. I will mention CKAN but not as a singular solution.
The barn: I've been thinking about adding this myself.
Wheel alignment: Never heard about this 'absolute snap' before. But it would make a nice addition to the answers.

Edit: FAQ updated.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Tex_NL

[Tex_NL]

On 30-12-2015 at 6:48 PM, Snark said:

Perhaps it's worth adding "How do I take/post screenshots"?

e.g. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/128907-how-do-you-post-pictures/

or http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/129282-my-ssto-designs/&do=findComment&comment=2349944

I didn't add this yet since it is mainly a forum issue and not exactly game related. But I must admit you've been correct since this was asked for the N^th time just a few hours ago. I will add it soon.

[Deddly]

I would just like to say that I didn't understand the answer to the "SSTO rocket" question until I read @Pecan's original version. You're correct in saying that most people mean SSTO spaceplane when they ask the "SSTO" question, but by changing the question, Pecan's answer no longer realy makes sense to me.

Just feedback to a great idea

[Ferdoni]

On 9-12-2015 at 10:44 PM, Tex_NL said:

Q: My plane violently veers off the runway. Why?
A₁: Your landing gear is misaligned. Make sure you don't have any toe-in or toe-out. Even a tiny, invisible misalignment can cause this problem. It can happen due to the curved shape of the part you're attaching the landing gear to. One way to fix this in the SPH is to select the rotator widget ("3" key), turn on absolute snap ("F" key), then wiggle the landing gear one notch out and back to parallel. This guarantees perfect alignment.
A₂: You are wheelbarrowing. Too much lift too far behind the centre of mass (CoM). The tail of your plane is lifted off the ground before the nose and it starts to fall over making it steer either left or right.

A3: your connections are too weak, I just found out that when you have a weak joint between the front and aft landinggear your plane starts to wobble left and right as the part after the joint tries to 'push away' the front part.

[RocketSquid]

Kerbalstuff is gone now, and has been replaced with SpaceDock.

[superstrijder15]

I think you should add something about chutes not opening correctly, for example:

 

I'm doing suborbital trajectories, but when I return my chutes burn up all the time, I can't deploy them in time for landing!

answer: go more horizontal. chutes nowadays need low speed to work correctly. you will need time in the atmosphere to slow you to that speed, so more horizontal speed, more drag or some wings so you can 'glide'.

[Atlas2342]

Also, shouldn't the title be "Frequently Asked Questions"? "Frequent*ly*"? 

[livefree75]

I'd like to request an edit to the original post, as it is outdated for 1.1.2. 

[wumpus]

Any ingame frequently asked questions?

Q: What is delta-v (this was asked twice recently and seems critical, but since scrolled off the forum).  I'll admit I posted the SMBC cartoon ("here's some in this bucket"), but only after it was "really" answered.  Anybody know a simple and easy to understand explanation of delta-v (preferably that doesn't require taking a calculus-based physics course first)?

Q: I'm stuck in the cockpit!  How do I get out?

A: hit the "C" key (Squad really needs to put a method on screen).

Q: I can put a kerbal into space.  They keep dying on the way down.  How do I bring them back alive?

A: You need to go along a parabolic arc.  Try to turn westward (really doesn't matter here, but you want to go West for your next flight into orbit) and be going 45 degrees before half of your fuel is burned out.  Decouple everything but your capsule once you are in space (this might take a bit of redesign).  With only a capsule you should be heading down upright (anything else will likely burn up, but just a capsule will naturally fall upright).  Don't release your parachute until it is both safe *and* low (it will claim to be safe to open in space because it won't suddenly be burned to a crisp.  It will only be burned to a crisp before you need it.  Don't open it until you have gone through re-entry and it shows up as safe.  Ways to tell if it is safe: White staging icon (those icons to the left), speed under ~220m/s (this changes a bit each version), clicking on the parachute lists "safe" (much easier post 1.1).

Q: how do I get into orbit?  

A: Orbiting Kerbin (the kerbals' home planet) requires hitting an altitude of 70,000m (which gets you completely out of the atmosphere) and going roughly 2300m/s.  This typically means having a "delta-v" of somewhat over 3000m/s (I'd go for 4000m/s and a terrier engine on my last stage to  make it easiest).  Take off vertically and slowly point your rocket west ward (toward the 90 degree mark on the navball).  Typically I want to be heading 45 degrees a bit before the fuel runs out in my first stage.  Once that happens, hit the "m" key to go into map view (or just use Kerbal Engineer's flight mode for these numbers) to check your apoapsis ("ap").  You need to get to at least 70km to get into orbit, so stay on your 45 degree angle and keep thrusting until the "ap" is that high (you may need to click on your trajectory to find that out).  If you are in sandbox mode, plot a maneuver node to get into orbit.  If you are in career node, you probably haven't unlocked maneuver nodes yet and will have to do it the hard way (or better yet, practice in sandbox modes with all the right parts).  Set your course to horizontal (where the blue meets the brown at 90) and burn at full power with about a minute before "ap".  Keep burning until either the "ap" starts to move quickly away from you (and keep burning as it gets close, but don't pass it) or your trajectory comes out the other side.  Eventually the "ap" and "pe" will switch places (and both be >70,000m) and then you will be in orbit.

 

[Deddly]

 

2 hours ago, wumpus said:

Anybody know a simple and easy to understand explanation of delta-v (preferably that doesn't require taking a calculus-based physics course first)?

A: Put very simply, Delta-v is a measurement of how much you can do with the fuel you have. It depends on how heavy your craft is, how much fuel you have and how efficient your engines are.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Deddly

[wumpus]

Grabbing answers from other "what is delta-v" threads (I expect this thread will need some fairly good cleaning with 1.1 and half the questions becoming obsolete).

From Ohiobob:

"Delta v" is the currency of rocketry.

Traveling anywhere in space is accomplished by making changes in your spacecraft's orbit.  Each change in orbit, or maneuver, requires an engine burn, the "cost" of which is measured in Δv.  Your spacecraft is like your wallet, in which you have a finite amount of money (i.e. Δv) to use to buy maneuvers.  When you plan a trip, you have to make sure you have enough cash in your wallet to cover your costs.  If you run out of money before reaching your destination, you're stranded.

From Mhoram:

 

When you want an answer to the question "how much fuel do I need to get from the surface of Kerbin to the surface of the Mun", then the answer is: it depends on the composition of the rocket (the heavier the payload the more fuel you need).

However to make this answer independent of the rocket, then Delta-V is your friend.

You will ask: "how much Delta-V do I need to get from the surface of Kerbin to the surface of the Mun".

And the answer is: about 6260 m/s according tohttp://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Cheat_Sheet

(Plan to have some reserve on board) (there are also some other dV-Maps available)

Stock KSP does not display the dV of your rocket, but there are some AddOns like Kerbal Engineer Redux that display it.

From capi3101 (which is a correct answer, but the above are needed just to explain the question).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v

Mathematically, delta-V is calculated with the Rocket Equation Specialist290 mentioned - it takes the form:

delta-V = ln(M/M_o)* I_sp *g_o

where delta-V is the change in velocity (a vector that's a dot-product of the scalar component of speed with the vector component of direction), ln is the natural logarithm function (look for it on a scientific calculator, or use =LN() in MS Excel), M is the full mass of the rocket stage, M_o is the dry mass of the rocket stage (i.e. what it weighs when all its fuel tanks are empty), g_o is standard gravity (9.81 m/s²regardless of what body you're orbiting/launching from) and I_sp is the specific impulse of the engine (a way of measuring the engine's efficiency). It's importance, as has been mentioned, is in determining the total magnitude of the changes the rocket may make to its velocity before it runs out of fuel; in the process it determines where a rocket may go given a certain mission profile.

There are three main ways of increasing a rocket's delta-V:

1) improving propellant mass fraction (i.e. moar fuel)

2) increasing specific impulse (by selecting an engine combination that increases this value - the main reason nuclear engines are recommended for interplanetary flight)

3) staging (shedding mass that's no longer needed, which has the effect of improving the propellant mass fraction)

 

 

[Tex_NL]

Gave the FAQ a minor update.

[Red Iron Crown]

@Tex_NL Minor nitpick: You might consider changing the Kerbalstuff link in "How do I install mods?" to a Spacedock link.

[Tex_NL]

2 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

@Tex_NL Minor nitpick: You might consider changing the Kerbalstuff link in "How do I install mods?" to a Spacedock link.

Thanks. Link has been updated.

[Tex_NL]

Since I personally answered this same question twice within a week the following has been permanently added to the FAQ:

Q: [.] (period) toggles the visibility of the NavBall. How do I permanently keep the NavBall visible in the map screen?
A: Go to the main menu and open settings. Under the "General" tab uncheck the option to "Autohide Navball in Map View".

[Provisional Name 3]

In order to zoom in and out on a Mac laptop you need to go into settings and then input game and scroll down to the zoom section then just change the keyboard button. No one seems to answer this question adequately,but there you go.