Oh Dang I Forgot To...

[The Flying Kerbal]

OK guys,  is there anything you have a nasty habit of forgetting or doing when you really should know better, but somehow always do (or don't) which makes you feel slightly silly?

Me - I have two things: I never remember to remove the monopropollant from command pods if I'm not using RCS on the vessel, annoying but not much else, and forgetting to add lights to landers and vessels which will be docking with something.

The number of times I've had to attempt a landing on the dark side of the Mun I don't care to remember, and while some of them do manage to land successfully, many more end up as piles of scrap iron on the Munar surface.

This was the last RSR (Rusty Star Rockets) lander which (successfully) landed when the landing site was still in the dark:

When it finally touched down it had less than two seconds worth of fuel left in the tank

Edited June 28, 2018 by The Flying Kerbal

[Aeroboi]

I don't have something I always forget, although forgetting things does happen. Now, if I had to point at something that I still do forget from time to time then it is installing lights when wanting to land on the dark side of a planet. In my mods I use realistic lighting effects so dark is actually dark and I recall quite a few times where this turned into near disaster and a lot of quikloading.

Tip: I also use self written checklist. Checklists for several vehicle types, a checlist for specific mission types so I don't forget certain contract requirements and pilot checklists. Maybe it's because I played X-plane and Flight simulators all my life. Checklists is what makes pilot check and control their plane in methodical fashion across their entire career and the same works to achieve methodical flights and vehicle builds in ksp.

 

[ukemike]

Several times recently I sent a rescue ship and forgot to empty all the seats before the launch.  Don't notice until I'm there.  d'Oh!

[Just Jim]

ladders... don't even get me started... 

[adsii1970]

6 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

ladders... don't even get me started... 

the biggest two for me?  Parachutes and communications antennae.

Now I use a design checklist that includes such things...

Edited June 29, 2018 by adsii1970

[GoSlash27]

#1 Forgot to deploy the solar panels.
#2 Forgot to position the ship so that the solar panels actually generate electricity.
#3 Forgot to adjust thrust limiters

Best,
-Slashy

[Gargamel]

5 hours ago, GoSlash27 said:

#3 Forgot to adjust thrust limiters 

#1 I don't do so much anymore, as I've done it enough that's ingrained into my mental checklist. 

#2 rarely, but then it's rare I build ships that don't have the panels in symmetry somewhere.  Even rover ships, the rover might only have the panels upwards, but the transfer vessel is built in symmetry.

#3, all the friggin time.  I'll slap a prebuilt launcher onto a payload, and then watch the kerbals turn into green goo in the back of the pod as I launch, cause I don't need 100% on the SRB's, 25% would have done nicely. 

But my biggest thing is action groups.  I often forget to assign parts to groups, and then grumble when I have to click all 24 parts I need to fire off at once.  Action Groups Extended really helps with this, as it is an inflight AG editor. 

[Xd the great]

I always forget to clear out crew so jeb often has to bail out...Aka fall from the vessel and hoping not to be killed.

[Kryxal]

Removing crew from a rescue ship's a big one ... I tend not to worry about lights, though, I just wait it out in orbit till I can see what I'm doing.