Your Unusual Tricks of the Trade

[AbacusWizard]

Permanent orbital infrastructure takes some effort to set up but can save so much time and money later! I'm especially fond of the Arthur C. Clarke method:

Instead of launching a big one-use disposable staged ship to send Jeb to Minmus and back, I just send a spaceplane (or a small cheap staged rocket) that is just capable of getting to low orbit and back.

This passenger shuttle docks at Starbase Alpha in low orbit. There, Jeb transfers to an orbital transport skiff, a high-efficiency passenger vesssel designed to stay in orbit and never land.

The skiff carries Jeb to Minmus orbit, and docks with Minmus Orbital Command. Jeb disembarks and gets into the small lander that is permanently stationed there, flies down to the surface, and eats some delicious mint ice cream. When he is done, he flies back up to Minmus Orbital Command, gets back in the skiff (which refuels from the station's large reservoir, which is itself periodically refueled by a tanker from surface mining operations), flies back to Starbase Alpha, gets back in the passenger shuttle, re-enters the atmosphere, and lands.

Total cost for that trip: one small rocket capable of getting to low orbit and back (or, even lower, just the fuel to get the spaceplane up and back).

Edited June 13, 2016 by AbacusWizard

[Brownhair2]

2 hours ago, cubinator said:

You can use alt-F5 instead of just F5 to NAME YOUR QUICKSAVES!!!

Speaking of which, on some flights I like to make a separate quicksave on the launchpad, so I can use it as a "Revert to Launch" if something goes wrong and I can no longer revert.

[StrandedonEarth]

Want to launch a long station core, but it gets too wobbly when put on top of the rocket? Use it as the core of the rocket, with the boosters around it and a poodle on the bottom for orbital maneuvers. For extra strength and stiffness, use docking ports between the station and the boosters (use the gizmos to get them as close together as possible), set to stage with the decouplers. They won't connect in the VAB, but as soon as physics loads on the pad the ports will click together. No struts required!

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Brownhair2 said:

Speaking of which, on some flights I like to make a separate quicksave on the launchpad, so I can use it as a "Revert to Launch" if something goes wrong and I can no longer revert.

Whoa, that's actually a really good idea!

[Xavven]

Use the small battery packs with the green LED on them as spacecraft position indicators so you can easily understand your craft's orientation. I personally like configuring them like a three-dot-sight on a pistol so I can line up my camera in locked mode when performing docking maneuvers.

[samstarman5]

A little idea I picked up from one of Squad's stock vehicles for those who want a docking port on the nose, ala Apollo/Soyuz, but not so eager to put radial chutes because of their size. Attach the main chute to the nose, and then you can actually place a docking port on top of that. Using the move controls you can move the port so it looks more attached, even hiding the chute.  Even with a covered docking port you can still deploy the parachute without opening the port, but you do have to be more careful that you are selecting the right part.  You don't want to pre-deploy your chute while trying to just open your docking port.

Load up the Kerbal 1-5 for an example of it in use with Mk 1 parts.

[DaMachinator]

Explosive decoupling can get you to space with the starting stock parts. Save one Flea to use to slow down in lieu of a drogue chute. 

[kBob]

8 minutes ago, samstarman5 said:

A little idea I picked up from one of Squad's stock vehicles for those who want a docking port on the nose, ala Apollo/Soyuz, but not so eager to put radial chutes because of their size. Attach the main chute to the nose, and then you can actually place a docking port on top of that. Using the move controls you can move the port so it looks more attached, even hiding the chute.  Even with a covered docking port you can still deploy the parachute without opening the port, but you do have to be more careful that you are selecting the right part.  You don't want to pre-deploy your chute while trying to just open your docking port.

Load up the Kerbal 1-5 for an example of it in use with Mk 1 parts.

Funny I was just wondering about that but didn't actually try it because I just assumed something would go wrong. 

 

On a related note: I recently found you can put chutes in a storage compartment and they will still work.

[DaMachinator]

3 minutes ago, kBob said:

Funny I was just wondering about that but didn't actually try it because I just assumed something would go wrong. 

 

On a related note: I recently found you can put chutes in a storage compartment and they will still work.

RealChutes has inline chutes.

[THX1138]

18 hours ago, AbacusWizard said:

Permanent orbital infrastructure takes some effort to set up but can save so much time and money later! I'm especially fond of the Arthur C. Clarke method:

Instead of launching a big one-use disposable staged ship to send Jeb to Minmus and back, I just send a spaceplane (or a small cheap staged rocket) that is just capable of getting to low orbit and back.

This passenger shuttle docks at Starbase Alpha in low orbit. There, Jeb transfers to an orbital transport skiff, a high-efficiency passenger vesssel designed to stay in orbit and never land.

The skiff carries Jeb to Minmus orbit, and docks with Minmus Orbital Command. Jeb disembarks and gets into the small lander that is permanently stationed there, flies down to the surface, and eats some delicious mint ice cream. When he is done, he flies back up to Minmus Orbital Command, gets back in the skiff (which refuels from the station's large reservoir, which is itself periodically refueled by a tanker from surface mining operations), flies back to Starbase Alpha, gets back in the passenger shuttle, re-enters the atmosphere, and lands.

Total cost for that trip: one small rocket capable of getting to low orbit and back (or, even lower, just the fuel to get the spaceplane up and back).

What is Jeb up to exactly?

[samstarman5]

16 hours ago, kBob said:

Funny I was just wondering about that but didn't actually try it because I just assumed something would go wrong. 

 

On a related note: I recently found you can put chutes in a storage compartment and they will still work.

Which is why I actually tested it.  I honestly expected the docking port to explode when deploying the chute, or the chute to not deploy at all. The nose parachute doesn't even interfere with docking.  It really does pay to give the stock vehicles a look-over for ideas.

[AbacusWizard]

3 hours ago, THX1138 said:

What is Jeb up to exactly?

Well, given that he's on Minmus, I'd say he's up to about 46,000 kilometers.

[septemberWaves]

One thing I usually do is save launch vehicles as subassemblies and make similar designs with similar maximum payload masses. For example, my Tano series of launchers has a maximum payload difference of about 13 tonnes from the smallest to the largest rocket, but that allows me to use them as a standard lifter for the majority of things I put into space mid-game and maximise on efficiency because I have four rockets with incredibly close maximum payloads. It's a similar story for late-game, I just have larger standardised boosters with similarly close payload ranges.

[Ippo]

Somebody on this forum taught a neat little orbital mechanics trick. Let's say you want to go to the Mun, but your tracking station is too low-level to use manouvre nodes (or even patched conics). You just need to launch to an equatorial orbit (standard 100x100 will do nicely) and wait until you see the Mun rise above the horizon. At Munrise, start burning prograde until your apoapsis reaches the Mun's orbit and voilà, you have an encounter! The same principle applies when you are plotting your transfer burn: place the node near the place in your orbit where there will be the Munrise, and you'll find the encounter immediately.

The cool thing was that whoever posted this also included a mathematical proof that showed that this works for *any* moon of a planet. Unfortunately I've forgotten how the proof worked, if anyone were so kind to re-explain it to me it would be fantastic.

[Corona688]

When sending rovers and instruments, I like to build asymmetrically.  Instead of sending two rovers and two booms full of instruments, a rover on one side and a boom on the other carefully balanced to keep the center of mass where it ought to be.  Or you can have instruments on one side and a radial chute on the other.  In real life they'd drill out sections or add little weights to make it absolutely perfect, in KSP you can get close-enough and manage the rest with SAS.

Sometimes I find it easier to build my top stage upside-down than right-side-up, especially when NERVA's are involved.  Not having to make room for that enormous fairing is such a relief.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Corona688

[AviosAdku]

On ‎14‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 8:18 AM, StrandedonEarth said:

Want to launch a long station core, but it gets too wobbly when put on top of the rocket? Use it as the core of the rocket, with the boosters around it ...

I tend to do that, not so much for station cores (on account of rarely building them) but for big things in general (tankers, a massive Deep Space Vessel, etc.).

I also have a habit of keeping the command pod's monopropellant and battery power and locking it for use as an emergency/re-entry backup supply. Based off a lesson learned the hard way involving a dead battery, no RCS and a double rescue to do.

I also don't like having to do aircraft style landings, particularly when I have no idea where it will come down (I'm hopeless with aiming atmospheric landings) so I use parachutes for my Sunglider lifting bodies (also saving me having to build a belly mounted set of landing gear).

Edited July 5, 2016 by AkuAerospace
Removed "sign off"

[cantab]

3 minutes ago, AkuAerospace said:

I also have a habit of keeping the ... battery power and locking it for use as an emergency/re-entry backup supply

Be warned that as of KSP 1.1 you can no longer unlock batteries on a craft you cannot control. This means the old loophole of a locked backup battery on a probe doesn't work any more.

[StrandedonEarth]

1 minute ago, cantab said:

Be warned that as of KSP 1.1 you can no longer unlock batteries on a craft you cannot control. This means the old loophole of a locked backup battery on a probe doesn't work any more.

Yeah, I noticed that the hard way. I've had to blast dead probes with powerful radio pulses from the tracking station to get the battery unlocked (in other words, I woke it up by editing the quicksave file)

[Archgeek]

5 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

One thing I usually do is save launch vehicles as subassemblies and make similar designs with similar maximum payload masses. For example, my Tano series of launchers has a maximum payload difference of about 13 tonnes from the smallest to the largest rocket, but that allows me to use them as a standard lifter for the majority of things I put into space mid-game and maximise on efficiency because I have four rockets with incredibly close maximum payloads. It's a similar story for late-game, I just have larger standardised boosters with similarly close payload ranges.

'Pretty sure you don't have to that anymore, with the advent of the "load and merge" option.  Just save a launcher with an open node on top and number of stages in the description, design your mission craft, open the needed stages at the bottom of the list, hit load and merge on the launcher, and plop that sucker underneath where it goes.

[Stratzenblitz75]

Ever since 1.1 came out, I've avoided using landing gear for fear of the bugs they induce. Instead, I've adapted a more unconventional landing strategy:

I don't put any landing gear on and simply let the lander fall over on touchdown.

Then, when I'm ready to launch, I ignite a seperatron hidden in the service bay which pushes the rocket upright, allowing it to take off:

In my opinion, this landing technique is a lot better than using landing gear (for small, one use only landers, at least). It is much lighter, its 100% reliable and it produces much less drag. 

[Xavven]

13 minutes ago, Stratzenblitz75 said:

Ever since 1.1 came out, I've avoided using landing gear for fear of the bugs they induce. Instead, I've adapted a more unconventional landing strategy:

I don't put any landing gear on and simply let the lander fall over on touchdown.

Then, when I'm ready to launch, I ignite a seperatron hidden in the service bay which pushes the rocket upright, allowing it to take off:

In my opinion, this landing technique is a lot better than using landing gear (for small, one use only landers, at least). It is much lighter, its 100% reliable and it produces much less drag. 

Hahah! I love it! A very Kerbal solution.

[kBob]

21 minutes ago, Stratzenblitz75 said:

Ever since 1.1 came out, I've avoided using landing gear for fear of the bugs they induce. Instead, I've adapted a more unconventional landing strategy:

I don't put any landing gear on and simply let the lander fall over on touchdown.

Then, when I'm ready to launch, I ignite a seperatron hidden in the service bay which pushes the rocket upright, allowing it to take off:

 

In my opinion, this landing technique is a lot better than using landing gear (for small, one use only landers, at least). It is much lighter, its 100% reliable and it produces much less drag. 

I do something similar in early career mode.  What I found is if you put a 1.25m service bay right below the mk1 command pod and then if it falls over blocking the exit hatch you can just open the bay doors and it will push the pod up enough that you can than EVA to collect science. 

If you actually open the doors on the way down in addition to providing some nice drag they will act as a sort of parking brake if you happen to come down on a hill-side and keep you from sliding (or sliding, but so slow you can still EVA and then recover the ship)...now if you come down on a steep mountain side it won't help unless you are close to the bottom or hang up on something.

So given the other benefits to bays they are very useful.

[Stratzenblitz75]

1 minute ago, kBob said:

I do something similar in early career mode.  What I found is if you put a 1.25m service bay right below the mk1 command pod and then if it falls over blocking the exit hatch you can just open the bay doors and it will push the pod up enough that you can than EVA to collect science. 

If you actually open the doors on the way down in addition to providing some nice drag they will act as a sort of parking brake if you happen to come down on a hill-side and keep you from sliding (or sliding, but so slow you can still EVA and then recover the ship)...now if you come down on a steep mountain side it won't help unless you are close to the bottom or hang up on something.

So given the other benefits to bays they are very useful.

And, on top of all of this, the heat tolerance of the service bay is ridiculously high (2900 K), and thus, you can use it as a heatsheild! Seriously, I use 1.25m service bays to re-enter all my mk1 command pods. They even work on interplanetary reentries (from Duna, at least. I suspect they won't survive a reentry from a Jool->Kerbin reentry). I never realized how useful the service bay actually was until I gave it a try. From now on, my mk1 capsules won't leave home without it.

[Moesly_Armlis]

Fuel flow can sometimes be an issue when attaching radial fuel tanks.

By placing a cubic octag or something similar then use the connection node of the fuel tank to the connection node of the cubic octag.  The result is fuel can be pulled from the inner tank.  This works well if you plan on staging them and for that use a stack decoupler attached in between  to the cubic octag and fuel tank.  To evenly distribute the fuel place a fuel duct from the outside tank to the inside.

 

Fuel will flow to the engines (not shown) and outside tanks will be the first to go dry.

When separating in atmosphere be certain to prograde vertically or use the gizmo tool and rotate the separator outwards and straighten the fuel tanks.
 

To save mass and funds use the smallest separator and use a strut.

 

[Moesly_Armlis]

34 minutes ago, Stratzenblitz75 said:

And, on top of all of this, the heat tolerance of the service bay is ridiculously high (2900 K), and thus, you can use it as a heatsheild! Seriously, I use 1.25m service bays to re-enter all my mk1 command pods. They even work on interplanetary reentries (from Duna, at least. I suspect they won't survive a reentry from a Jool->Kerbin reentry). I never realized how useful the service bay actually was until I gave it a try. From now on, my mk1 capsules won't leave home without it.

Not too long ago I made a craft that was returning to kerbin from a Mun science run and the design called for a service bay sandwich.  On the lander I docked another service bay along with fuel for the trip.  Heat shields block fuel flow and service bays seem to manage re-entry without them.

When entering the atmosphere the command pod and Materials Science module was in the middle and never got scorched.   When entering the thicker atmosphere the vessel lost control but was regained when the bay doors at the "back" were opened and acted as drag which righted the vessel. 

42 minutes ago, kBob said:

I do something similar in early career mode.  What I found is if you put a 1.25m service bay right below the mk1 command pod and then if it falls over blocking the exit hatch you can just open the bay doors and it will push the pod up enough that you can than EVA to collect science. 

If you actually open the doors on the way down in addition to providing some nice drag they will act as a sort of parking brake if you happen to come down on a hill-side and keep you from sliding (or sliding, but so slow you can still EVA and then recover the ship)...now if you come down on a steep mountain side it won't help unless you are close to the bottom or hang up on something.

So given the other benefits to bays they are very useful.

 

The re-entry happened at night and it seemed the vessel was over the highlands and I was suspecting that mountains were next.

Having the doors opened certainly saved Jebediah from rolling down the mountain.

Edited June 15, 2016 by MoeslyArmlis