[NOOB] Are the asteroid training missions broken or am I doing something wrong?

[Psyclone]

Ok, so I'm new to KSP and am finding some disconnect when doing the training missions. I have done the first few successfully but the asteroid ones seem either broken or I'm doing something wrong. I've searched high and low to find some definitive information and thus far I've found a few threads that indicate that at the very least that asteroid mission 1 is broken in that the fuel lines aren't connected causing you to run out of fuel on the burn to slow to the speed of the asteroid. I've verified this to be the case.

However I haven't found anything referring to mission 2 but it also seems to be broken(or the somewhat ambiguous instructions leave something out). I have successfully been able to dock with the asteroid while targeting its center of mass to prevent spinning(information woefully excluded from the training mission text). As instructed, I've successfully set a maneuver node opposite that of where Kerbin(my target) and my craft orbit is the closest to each other. I have successfully tweaked the maneuver node so that my intersection with Kerbin is as close as I can get it(84,000km), I presume the intent is to, like the first asteroid mission, use several maneuver nodes to get within Kerbin's SOI. I have successfully set my level indicator on the Manuever(blue) indicator which resulted in a 3 minute burn, which met the criteria of being doable, i.e. less than 10 minutes according to the training mission text for this step of the mission. Lastly once I was within the appropriate distance of the maneuver node I started my 3 minute prograde burn.

All is going well when about 2 minutes into the burn, the fuel conks out and I left floating with only my RCS to do anything. I've tried this mission about 10 times and have had similar results each time. Like mission 1 this seems to be broken as well, or there's a chance I'm not doing something even though I am following the mission text to the letter.

Can someone please give me a hint as to where I am going wrong? I really want to enjoy this game, and I realize its beta so maybe that's part of the problem. Am I wasting my time doing the asteroid training missions and expecting to take them to completion? If so, where is a better place to start?

I am running the Steam version which is currently v0.90.0.705 Beta. I have no mods of any kind installed.

Thanks.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Psyclone

[Core21]

It seems the fuel lines in the second asteroid mission are broken too.

You have two options to work around the problem:

1. Manually transfer fuel from the big tank to the small tanks (alt+right click on the big tank and all the small tanks, then press the out buttons on the big tank)

2. disable fuel flow on the small tanks, this enables fuel crossfeed over the radial attachment(select the smalk tanks with right click, then click on the green arrows so they turn into red circles[make sure to disable both fuel and oxidiser on all of the small tanks])

I hope that can help you to finish the mission und continue enjoying ksp.

[Psyclone]

It seems the fuel lines in the second asteroid mission are broken too.

You have two options to work around the problem:

1. Manually transfer fuel from the big tank to the small tanks (alt+right click on the big tank and all the small tanks, then press the out buttons on the big tank)

2. disable fuel flow on the small tanks, this enables fuel crossfeed over the radial attachment(select the smalk tanks with right click, then click on the green arrows so they turn into red circles[make sure to disable both fuel and oxidiser on all of the small tanks])

I hope that can help you to finish the mission und continue enjoying ksp.

That did it! Thanks so much! Unfortunate that this step is not detailed in any of the mission text. Is there a manual of any kind for this game or is the wiki my best bet?

[JumpsterG]

... Is there a manual of any kind for this game or is the wiki my best bet?

This is a 3-day late response but if you're still looking for info, you're already in the right place. Check out this section of the forums for all kinds of tutorials and information:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/54-Tutorials

And post any questions or requests for assistance right here. The community is awesome.

The game is still early access and mechanics are still changing, so even if there was a manual, it would likely be out of date by the time the next patch lands. (Purportedly, the next patch will be the 1.0 release version, so in-game tutorials will be cleaned up and expanded to be more useful than they are now).