KSP player learning curve

[wumpus]

21 hours ago, OhioBob said:

I'm sure my experience is atypical compared to most KSP players.  My learning of rocketry and orbital mechanics started long before there was ever a Kerbal Space Program.

So there's you, Scott Manley, and at least one NASA Principle Investigator that showed up on the forum.  All the rest of us likely followed a path similar to Randal Monroe (of XKCD fame).  There's always Principia if you want to get your understanding of orbital mechanics more accurate.

[Zeiss Ikon]

8 hours ago, wumpus said:

So there's you, Scott Manley, and at least one NASA Principle Investigator that showed up on the forum.  All the rest of us likely followed a path similar to Randal Monroe (of XKCD fame).  There's always Principia if you want to get your understanding of orbital mechanics more accurate.

I'd have Principia, if it were available for Linux.  Chaotic orbits, multi-pass gravity assists, LaGrange points -- all that stuff that patched conics and spheres of influence can't model.  I wonder if asteroids have (or can have)  teeny little gravity wells (gravity dimples?) with Principia?

[Superfluous J]

10 hours ago, wumpus said:

So there's you, Scott Manley, and at least one NASA Principle Investigator that showed up on the forum.  All the rest of us likely followed a path similar to Randal Monroe (of XKCD fame).  There's always Principia if you want to get your understanding of orbital mechanics more accurate.

Put me in there too. I wrote most of a novel back in 2005 or so where the space ships had the ability to teleport (I handwaved something about folding space) any distance, but thrust was limited to chemical engines not unlike what we have today. So getting to Alpha Centauri was easy, but getting around once there involved jumping around near gas giants to change your velocity, only using the precious fuel when near your target's velocity.

And because I'm a huge nerd I made sure it actually followed orbital mechanics.

[AriochQ]

I started playing about 3 weeks ago, so I have a recent learning curve.  I just finished a 9 person Mun landing (damn tourists) and am about to land a science base on Minmus.

1.  Started in career mode.  Limited availability to parts and missions ensured I was not overwhelmed.

2. Suborbital flight taught me about gravity turns, A&P and Prograde/Retrograde burns.  Orbital flight taught me to circularize and de-orbit.  Re-entry was pretty easy at this point. 

3.  Changing orbits is where a large chunk of learning occurred.  Getting a kerbal stuck in a polar orbit was tough love on how much dv it takes to change plane (eventually learned to launch into a polar orbit).  Normal and anti-Normal, fine turning orbits, and changing the plane of my orbit forced me to learn to use the Nav Ball and fiddle with Maneuver Nodes.

4.  Rendezvous missions was the last major mechanic I learned and I am proficient in them. 

5.  Mun intercept was pretty easy (see the Mun, burn Prograde! Now I use a Maneuver node but the simple version worked fine at first).

6.  Landing on Mun/Minmus was pretty straightforward (I use the mod that gives me data, but don't use MechJeb)

7.  The next thing I will learn will be gravity assists and planetary windows.

 

The resources I have used to learn so far:  Kerbal forums/tutorials, YouTube (mostly Manley video's, but I will often run any interesting ksp video on my second monitor while playing), ksp wiki, Google.

The hardest thing to learn has been the interface issues. e.g. How to gather science.  The rules around material bays/storing science are pretty quirky when you first run into them.  Even now I often reset the bay just to realize I deleted science I then need to collect again.  Also, I have gradually increased using all the tools in the VAB and probably still have many more to learn/get comfortable with.

[wumpus]

15 hours ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

I'd have Principia, if it were available for Linux.  Chaotic orbits, multi-pass gravity assists, LaGrange points -- all that stuff that patched conics and spheres of influence can't model.  I wonder if asteroids have (or can have)  teeny little gravity wells (gravity dimples?) with Principia?

According to the FAQ, it is available for 64 bit Linux (and only 64 bit Windows and Mac).  If you aren't running Ubuntu you might need to compile, and it might also be picky about libc and such.

[JetJaguar]

16 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Put me in there too. I wrote most of a novel back in 2005 or so where the space ships had the ability to teleport (I handwaved something about folding space) any distance, but thrust was limited to chemical engines not unlike what we have today. So getting to Alpha Centauri was easy, but getting around once there involved jumping around near gas giants to change your velocity, only using the precious fuel when near your target's velocity.

And because I'm a huge nerd I made sure it actually followed orbital mechanics.

I guess you could add me to that list as well.  I'm an aerospace engineer, and a lot of the knowledge I use to play KSP I learned in my Orbital Mechanics and Jets and Rockets* courses in college.  That little XKCD comic that shows a graph of understanding of orbital mechanics over time is pretty much true for me, except I've never worked for NASA.

*I don't remember what the official name of "Jets and Rockets" was.  Something-Propulsion, I think.  Everyone just called it Jets and Rockets.

Edited May 16, 2018 by JetJaguar

[Zeiss Ikon]

6 hours ago, wumpus said:

According to the FAQ, [Principis] is available for 64 bit Linux (and only 64 bit Windows and Mac).  If you aren't running Ubuntu you might need to compile, and it might also be picky about libc and such.

Hmm.  Now I need to go find it.

[Kerboneer Gaming]

I noticed that this post is not very recent but, I still hope that your project on ksp went smoothly, better than you hoped, and given an amazing grade. You have my respect.

 

 

Go Kerbal Space Program!