Most important lesson you've learned in KSP?

[Whackjob]

Lesson just now learned: The business end of the ion engine is the narrow end.

[Jordanpumah]

i hate Ion engines, and i always put them on backwards,

also, i learned that the engine isn't more efficient when the throttle isn't at max, it's the same thing, just prolonged

[fatfluffycat]

Hit F5 two times, just in case.

[Rickenbacker]

Always add a docking port. That way, when you screw up and run out of fuel when trying to go home, you can send a refueling mission.

[TYRT]

If You'll try to docking "first time", You must know you can't:kiss:

[Jordanpumah]

docking is easy, getting a close approach is the hard part.

i also agree with docking ports on everything.

[cesarcurado]

Something goes wrong, add more boosters.

Just kidding.

I learned about orbital mechanics.

I never heard of prograde retrograde, apoapsis, periapsis and how they work before ksp.

[Death Engineering]

When I first started KSP, I read about changing the values for the conic drawing modes so I did that and was quite puzzled by what I saw and immediately switched it back to default.

Now that I've "been around" some, I put them back and it makes so much more sense now! Its also way better for ensuring equatorial orbits when encountering a new SOI.

[viktorserecros]

1) If a stage must be jettisoned before hitting empty, press x then space bar.

2) The black end of the sepratron does not point in the direction it sends spent stages.

3) You cannot pack enough parachutes to stop an 8km/s vertical descent into Kerbin.

[Tassyr]

1) If a stage must be jettisoned before hitting empty, press x then space bar.

Wait, what the heck does "X" Do?

3) You cannot pack enough parachutes to stop an 8km/s vertical descent into Kerbin.

I sense there is a story behind this XD how the hell did you get something falling at 8km/s?

[Francesco]

Wait, what the heck does "X" Do?

throttle engines to 0%

It's already been mentioned, but it's worth repeating:

never warp faster than 100x during SOI transitions.

Best is at 1x, I usually do it at 10x to speed up things.

[Superfluous J]

Wait, what the heck does "X" Do?

Kills your thrust. Great for ... well everything really. I use it in damn near every stage of flight for something. Makes precision maneuvering a breeze. Well... It makes it possible

[Astronomer]

How to solve anything:

-add boosters

-?????

-die

[Superfluous J]

never warp faster than 100x during SOI transitions.

I set Kerbal Alarm Clock to automatically pause 1 second before all SOI changes. Easy peasy, and I frequently want to check on ships as they pass into other SOIs anyway.

[TheWanderer]

deploy solar panels BEFORE the batteries run out....

[WafflesToo]

deploy solar panels BEFORE the batteries run out....

HAHAHAHAHA! Oh Kerbol's light YES! I cannot count how many probes have gone on ballistic trajectories for not following this rule

[fatfluffycat]

Wheeled Vehicles suck on Minmus

[Zaryulenko]

Dont EVER trust a weak MP engine powered lander to achieve a landing and a rescue landing on Mun i said!

[Francesco]

Be careful with part clipping: decouplers may not work properly if placed on a ship while part clipping is active.

Staging failure can be very costly.

[Madrias]

Sepratrons can be used as part of an emergency ejection system. Not just for launching your capsule into a proper aerocapture, but burning away stuck decouplers.

Docking sounds easy and is incredibly hard.

Don't decouple still-running SRB's on your spaceplane, they might decide to go right through your wing.

Mind your debris field orbiting Kerbin. An empty fuel tank is just as deadly to your new space station as flying your shuttle through it.

[Tassyr]

Mind your debris field orbiting Kerbin. An empty fuel tank is just as deadly to your new space station as flying your shuttle through it.

And your launches. I learned this lesson waaaaaaay back when. Nothing like that 0-degree inclination debris halo. >.<

[Titan Space Agency]

DON'T kill Jeb, you will feel too sad afterward.

[UnthinkableThinker]

Go to docking mode to drive your rover around the Mun, and remember to turn off RCS.

[Wallace]

Oh, Just thought of my favourite trick, I call it Sneaky Revert. If anything goes horribly wrong and you don't have a quicksave, turn up the throttle and press escape, then click to go back to space station when it's yellowed out and it even handily tell you how long ago you will be reverting to. You have to be quick if it's a crash, if the pod is already destroyed then it doesn't work.

[SuperSquirrel51]

Tricouplers and Bicouplers do not work as ACTUAL DECOUPLERS.