Modding Mondays: Better Than Starting Manned

[metl]

I have a question about your mod. I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong or if it is a bug caused by a mod conflict. I have no steering of any kind on my initial rockets. As such, all I can hope is that they manage to stay upright long enough for me to reach sub-orbit for the pittance of science. Staying upright is a major problem as they seem to be extremely top-heavy. Just putting a booster beneath the probe causes the thing to tilt over with no way of correcting it. I finally unlocked the first liquid engine hoping that would provide thrust vectoring, but alas it does not. What am I doing wrong?

[FlowerChild]

I have a question about your mod. I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong or if it is a bug caused by a mod conflict. I have no steering of any kind on my initial rockets. As such, all I can hope is that they manage to stay upright long enough for me to reach sub-orbit for the pittance of science. Staying upright is a major problem as they seem to be extremely top-heavy. Just putting a booster beneath the probe causes the thing to tilt over with no way of correcting it. I finally unlocked the first liquid engine hoping that would provide thrust vectoring, but alas it does not. What am I doing wrong?

Balance man. Going in a straight line initially is all a matter of making sure your rocket is balanced.

And yeah, having no control initially is by design. That comes later.

[John FX]

Sounds interesting. I was part way through designing a similar tech tree where you started out with a rover body, batteries a thermometer and some wheels. (You can tell where that was going)

I think it was about 10 nodes later you got to supersonic flight and had your first chance of seeing vacuum.

I may test this as there is no initial control. I`m curious to see what the first science you get is.

[Poryy]

Absolutely man, and in reading many of your previous posts over the past few weeks, I've agreed with you on several topics. Delivering those messages in a diplomatic manner however, does not seem to be your forte

Hello my friend. You may remember me from MCF.

[metl]

Balance man. Going in a straight line initially is all a matter of making sure your rocket is balanced.

And yeah, having no control initially is by design. That comes later.

A bit too hardcore for me. I enjoy the challenge of reaching new milestones, but not by dumb luck that my rockets just happens to stay upright.

[FlowerChild]

A bit too hardcore for me. I enjoy the challenge of reaching new milestones, but not by dumb luck that my rockets just happens to stay upright.

If by "dumb luck" you mean making sure you have an even radial mass distribution so that your rocket doesn't go off course, then yes, it's probably not the mod for you

Hello my friend. You may remember me from MCF.

Nope

Sorry man, but I've literally dealt with thousands of people while developing BTW and BTSM.

[metl]

I don't think you are comprehending my issue. A single probe body sitting on top of a single SRB does not go straight most of the time. It always tilts to one side after a few hundred meters. A single SRB isn't bad, it goes relatively straight. Adding side boosters and staging causes the issues. probe-booster-4 boosters using symmetry has less than a 50% success rate of not turning upside down by 10,000 feet. Antennas are symmetrically placed, as are science gizmos. Starts good, but by the time the first stage is about 50% completed, things begin to tilt. Using the manned pod and winglets to try to reach another biome is also a futile effort. It's like every rocket is top-heavy regardless of where the CoM is. It very well could be a mod conflict, but I only use KAS, KJR, proc fairings, and a few sound mods. I am using TAC fuel balancer. I might test to see if that is the issue.

[FlowerChild]

I don't think you are comprehending my issue. A single probe body sitting on top of a single SRB does not go straight most of the time.

Correct, which is where balancing the radial mass of your rocket comes in. If you take a look at the screenshot in the OP of the mod thread, that's all you need to get past tech 1 and consistently fly straight enough to hit high altitude. Tech 2 can be passed with a large SRB with 4 radially attached small ones if you stage them appropriately.

Could very well be a mod conflict issue, as I can launch such probes with 100% success rate. I definitely haven't put anything in there that is luck dependent, and I try to stamp out such things if they do occur.

Also, on the biome thing: nothing other than the gravioli detector in low orbit is biome sensitive in the early tech tree, so you don't need to be trying to fly the manned pod to other biomes. A single crew report at low altitude is sufficient there.

[metl]

Also, on the biome thing: nothing other than the gravioli detector in low orbit is biome sensitive in the early tech tree, so you don't need to be trying to fly the manned pod to other biomes. A single crew report at low altitude is sufficient there.

Glad to know that before I spent too much time trying to chase down scraps. Lol.

[FlowerChild]

Glad to know that before I spent too much time trying to chase down scraps. Lol.

Yeah, it's worth mentioning that science experiments tend to work very differently than they do in stock. Also, I'm not a big fan of click-fest biome science, or the whole KerbalKart thing, so most of the experiments are not biome sensitive. The only ones that are, are generally those that act as a measure of whether you've achieved a stable orbit or not, like the gravioli detector and crew reports in low orbit.

[metl]

This is what my rockets do. I was able to get past the first couple of boxes, but after unlocking the liquid engine, every rocket now does this. Best height I have been able o achieve before going fully horizontal has been around 43,000.

[FlowerChild]

This is what my rockets do. I was able to get past the first couple of boxes, but after unlocking the liquid engine, every rocket now does this. Best height I have been able o achieve before going fully horizontal has been around 43,000.

a) That's an insanely over designed rocket for that tech level. Simpler rockets tend to be much more effective

At that point you chose more powerful rockets over the ability to steer in atmosphere in your decision as to which node to purchase, with rather predictable results.

The path you chose is harder as a result. Not impossible by a long shot, but harder. You've already been able to get into low orbit with simpler designs at earlier tech levels, which is where you're trying to get your gravioli detector, so what's the issue really? You can get there again with those same designs if necessary.

[Aghanim]

BTSM... bringing me to the good old days of Minecraft of the very great flame war of the entire modding community, with bees exploding, forums locked because of damage control, the great debate of compatibilities, the very thing that makes my head explodes and leave the mod user community for a long time, especially the F word (no its not that profanity)

But lets we move on to the bright future of KSP where the game is designed to have real moddable API and most of the mods can work together! I really miss my 0.23 release, where my transition from 0.22 mods is having a really rough ride...

Wait is it compatible with Interstellar mod?

And please, don't ask or bring it up here.The current mod community is currently at its local stability point

Edited January 3, 2014 by Aghanim
added disclaimer

[bobjonesisthebest:D]

last

[Vanamonde]

This mod appears to be defunct. Closing the thread to avoid confusion.