Invader Jim

Post a pic please.

Super simple question I hope. For example, how do you mount multiple (smaller) engines to the bottom of a Kerbodyne 14400? There is just one attachment node on the bottom. Don't worry about efficiency and practicality. That is a different discussion.

Not sure what difference it would make but I like to put a small fuel tank on top of each SRB to feed the center instead of using regular fuel and engines for the boosters. With the fins and a swivel for the middle engine I can maneuver. One more thing I do for stability if to connect the 3-4 boosters with a strut near the bottom since the decouplers are high.

I have played hundreds of hours and never used a space plane. I have built airplanes in the past but only a few. Sometimes I think I ought to give SSTOs a try.

I used to do this (the gathering science part). Now I purposely don't in order to get more Kerbals experience. For instance, I design a ship for Minmus and cover either one or two biomes. After they return I use the same design with three different kerbals and hit a different 1-2 biomes. Money doesn't seem to be an issue for me and I like for my roster to have as much experience as possible. I do always try to do as many contracts as possible though.

I don't. I purposely never accept any of these contracts because they are too much trouble. I just stick to other contract types.

I have not noticed any lights. I dock the same as always.

I never use it as the only source. Most ships I build don't have RCS thrusters. The ones I build with RCS thrusters always have RSC tanks. The amount in the pod seems so small as to be useless. Am I wrong? Does anyone include RCS thrusters but no RSC tanks and therefore rely on the pod's RSC fuel as the only source? If so, what can you accomplish with such a small amount of fuel?

Where does it show it? That sounds useful.

I had a ship in a slide on the Mun. I had a Kerbal EVA. He dropped off the ship, did an EVA report, collected a sample and planted a flag and then used RCS to catch and board the still sliding ship and then we took off before the sliding stopped.

That is odd. I have had no problems attaching a docking port to a fuel tank in the VAB. I usually place two, one on each side of the tank. The http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Rockomax_HubMax_Multi-Point_Connector is a handy item.

Most of the time when you exit you won't be oriented this way. So as soon as you move you are automatically rotated so that head is north (normal) and your feet are south (antinormal)?

My tendency is to keep a fuel station fairly simple. I use docking ports to link various parts and don't' build huge stations. I usually link orange fuel tanks together to make a station. I have also used a refueling "tug" that is smaller and more agile than the station because that makes it easier to dock. If you have a big refueling station and you want to refuel a big ship nearby I found it was easier to use a smaller ship as a go-between for docking than to try to dock a big rocket with a big station. Also, once you are in orbit around Kerbin, fuel gets you a lot more DV than on the surface of the planet so in my experience you don't need to add huge amounts of fuel to get a lot more DV.

The different camera views seem to work inconsistently for me. Is this normal? What I want is a view that is always at the kerbal's back when on EVA and I want to be able to immediately rotate to face the target ship I am heading to regardless of where I am in relation to it. The problem arises when I exit a stranded pod and want to get to the rescue ship. Sometimes the rescue ship is way above me and I can easily rotate to face it and other times I seem to be stuck facing the current direction and can't rotate around to face it regardless of which camera view I choose (V). I want to be able to leave a ship, rotate so that pressing W makes we move toward the ship. Sometimes I can't seem to rotate and might have to use shift or ctrl for a while in order to align myself so W takes me directly toward the ship. I hope this makes sense. What i am doing wrong?

I typically use a terrier or spark on my satellites. I saw a thread where someone suggested using RCS only for the final stage of a satellite. It makes me curious how efficient that would be. I need to build one and see what kind of DV I get. What do you like to use for satellite propulsion? I am especially interested in long range satellites. I have no problem getting to the Mun, Minmus and Duna but really want to try some missions to other planets and their moons. In addition to satellites I might do some probes. I like the idea of landing and then not have to worry about ever leaving, especially for Eve.

Is this any way to set an alarm to warn you before you run out of electricity? On several occasions over the time I have played KSP, I forgot to deploy solar panels and did not discover it until I had no power so I could either abandon the mission, revert, or edit the save file to give me enough power to deploy the solar panels. Wish I had a low power warning or could deploy solar panels with 0 power. Anyone else run into this issue and how do you handle it?

I don't bother with thuds. I use SRBs as a first stage or more frequently SRBs in conjunction with the Skipper by placing a liquid fuel tank (with fuel line to the main fuel tank) on top of each SRB and at lift-off all four SRBs are fired plus the Skipper. Once the SRBs are empty I jettison them and the now empty liquid fuel tank that is attached on top of each one. To optimize it you want to set your SRB thrust % at such a level that the fuel in the liquid fuel tanks is expended at the same time or a little before the SRBs stop burning. It takes some trial and error for me to get the % as optimal as possible. I really like the Skipper/SRB combo because you get the benefit of the gimball that you don't get if you use only SRBs as a first stage.

I like to build tiny satellites and probes. My manned ships are much bigger.

It is probably not my best ever but last weekend I built a satellite that completed two Minmus satellite contracts and is now still in orbit and is half of the station I am going to create for the third Minmus contract which is to build a station in orbit around Minmus. Some people won't use a single satellite for more than one contract (they think it is cheating) but I don't play that way. Oh, I also transmitted science while in space with that satellite and that satisfied another contract.

I just ignore the ones I don't want to do and take the ones I am interested in. It has worked out well for me. I don't decline anything because I don't want to take the reputation hit. The ones I don't like disappear eventually on their own.

Is there a way to know ahead of time the natural ship orientation on re-entry assuming it has no power? For instance, I know the MK1 and 2 Commmand Pods will naturally fall bottom first and that is good because that is where they have the most heat protection. However, if you attach the SC-9001 Science Jr (or other structure) to the top or bottom or sides of the pod it changes things. Given the re-entry challenges in 1.05 it seems really important to me to know ahead of time how my ship is going to behave when it hits atmosphere. What can I do to make sure the heat shield I slap on the bottom is actually going to serve its function and the ship is not going to turn sideways or flip 180 and go nose first? I know an engine makes a great heatshield but I want to know ahead of time that I am not going to flip and burn.

Does this apply to SRBs? I frequently reduce the thrust on the SRBs when designing a rocket so my TWR range (according to Kerbal Engineer mod) is reasonable both at the low and high ends. Is it better to use fewer SRBs at 100% than more at a lower %?

I use the RCS Build Aid mod and when constructing a ship that is going to dock I always balance the ship so the dry CoM and wet CoM are the same. Typically I end up placing cylinder or rounded monoprop tanks to make the two CoMs match precisely. Are there better ways to fine tune and make the CoMs match?

I usually go for 40-42K and have never had a problem.

How do you rename them? I did not know that was possible.