Things you've become good at because you are terrible at something else.

[Unistrut]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

I've docked spacecraft around more planets and moons than some people have visited. Why? Because I am terrible at figuring out how much fuel I'll need and invariably wind up stranded at my destination with an empty tank and have to dispatch a fuel barge.

So, what skills have you developed to a high degree to compensate for being absolutely dreadful at something else?

[AustralianFries]

I suck at aesthetic design because I'm so wrapped up in calculating and engineering. Aint no time to making shiz look pretty.

Edited July 5, 2013 by AustralianFries

[NASI Director]

Getting into orbit. Goddamn orbiting is the hardest thing for me. While I'm there, I can do anything (like get into a hyperbolic orbit around Laythe and Duna, only to run out of fuel on the circularization burn).

Edited July 3, 2013 by NASI Director

[Vanamonde]

My landers are very resistant to damage and tipping, because I was such a lousy newbie pilot that I was forced to find ways to MAKE them survive bad landings.

[Sof]

My standard rover design is nigh on indestructable because I kept crashing.

I've had rockets that didn't go right during launch, and the whole lower stage decided to explode and fly into the rover at max thrust. Everything but the cockpit (thanks to parachutes) and the rover (somehow) survived hitting the ground. A headlight did fall off though.

[ASnogarD]

Hmmm... I guess Munar landings without RCS as I inevitably will hit the wrong way with RCS to try cancel lateral movement after my deceleration burn, so these days I just wave my landers arse around until the retrograde marker is in the middle of the nav ball indication little to no lateral movement and land nice and softly (probably inefficient in fuel).

[Guest]

I've gotten very good at building and flying rockets, because I am absolutely rubbish at building and flying aeroplanes.

[Moon Goddess]

a hyperbolic orbit around Laythe and Duna

Strangest orbit ever.

[Skorpychan]

Getting things up into kerbin orbit, because I haven't figured out how to link them up yet. I have so many upper stages orbiting like pinwheels, waiting for assembly...

[Levelord]

I've gotten very good at building and flying rockets, because I am absolutely rubbish at building and flying aeroplanes.

I got good at flying aeroplanes because I was rubbish at rockets :B

[arq]

I've gotten pretty good at landing SSTOs on a landing gear in a vacuum, because I never remember to put legs on the back.

[Skyrunner27]

I became great a docking because I couldn't land on the moon. So in an act of desperation I was building Walker Station to take lander to the moon and land them. Then I discovered asparagus staging and abandoned it. I still have plans to put more landers and take it to the moon.

[way2smrt]

I'm good at making 1 module space stations or craft, because I can't dock.

[joppiesaus]

Making the right fuel desisions. To much I wont reach orbit, to little I wont come at my target.

[thunderstar]

i landed on almost every planet and moon, all the manned missions comeback to kerbin and even more, but i was never been able to dock! ugh i just got to the Rendezvous part but i NEVER been able to dock, the only time i docked two ships was in a apollo style mission, but after landing i couldn't dock again

[MR4Y]

I can't land, rendezvous, dock properly or go to other planets. But I can do proper gravity turns and make rockets with as few parts as possible.

[FlamedSteak]

I'm so bad at planes I rarely make it more than 10 feet down the runway before I kill a kerbal.

I'm certain there is some vital cog I am missing that causes me to be so incredibly bad at building them.

[tiberius_solus]

I've become good at docking and creating space stations because I'm terrible at designing landers that carry enough fuel to both land and return to orbit (Minmus being the exception)

[SkyRender]

I've become insanely good at getting things off of Kerbin because I'm just awful at making them explode on the way up.

On a more serious note, I've never really had any sort of aptitude for spaceplanes (probably because of their tendency to flip out and kill you on a whim), but my rocket design and flight skills are top notch.

[M5000]

I've become super ultra mega good at very quick, precise, and efficient rotation/attitude control...

...To compensate for my horrible inability to balance my RCS thrusters well, so when I try to translate, I rotate all over the place, so I've gotten very good at correcting quickly, efficiently, and precisely.

I just got a joystick, though. All my previous skill has been thrown out the window, time to adapt yet again...

[Giggleplex777]

I became good at building stock helicopters because I suck at purely jet powered VTOLs.

[Vanamonde]

I also suck at spaceplanes. But that adversity has induced me to dig in, really work on them, and get better at... well, continuing to suck a spaceplanes. Yeah. There's no upside to that.

[Endeavour]

I'm really good at hitting escape, ending a flight, and getting through the confirmation without thinking or looking at the screen because every launcher I make rips itself apart at least 5 times.

[Tiron]

Designing planes to be able to recover from a flat spin...

I'm TERRIBLE at judging when I really shouldn't push it just a bit higher.

[kinnison]

I suck making boosters. I can make orbiers, landers, stations, and even bases now. But trying to get them into LKO? fa'gt'a'bow'it