What are the most important things you've learned about playing KSP to pass on?

[Wizard Kerbal]

Fuel cells. 
That’s all.

[Akagi]

Massive rockets should use hot staging.

(For those of you that don't know, that's when you light the engine of the next stage before you decouple the first stage.)

[Scarecrow71]

3 hours ago, Akagi said:

Massive rockets should use hot staging.

(For those of you that don't know, that's when you light the engine of the next stage before you decouple the first stage.)

You can light the rocket at the same time you decouple, which is what I generally do.  If you are finding your boosters are still exploding and crashing into your main rocket, you can use Separatrons to help push the spent tanks/engines away.

[Akagi]

I hot stage to blow parts that would cause clipping-related explosions off!

Just now, Scarecrow71 said:

You can light the rocket at the same time you decouple, which is what I generally do.  If you are finding your boosters are still exploding and crashing into your main rocket, you can use Separatrons to help push the spent tanks/engines away.

 

[xionix4]

1. Plan/design from the end of the mission backwards to the start. It'll save time when designing crafts and lots of unnecessary trial and error and/or launch reverts.

2. Work out a Delta-V budget for each mission phase using the Vis-Viva equations and/or a good Delta-V map, and then make sure you have a little more for each. (Just a little. Remember that adding mass to a later stage increases prior stage fuel requirements exponentially.)

3. Sometimes (definitely not always), it's more fun to engineer a solution after something goes wrong than to revert to launch and start over. (Probably not cheaper, though, lol.)

4. Plane/inclination changes are less expensive at higher altitudes, except for launching into the desired inclination to begin with or doing a mid-course correction, so plan the order of your orbital maneuvers accordingly to save Delta-V.

5. Don't be sad when the people around you don't care about this awesome game you found that lets you do the things you always dreamed of doing for a career but weren't able to. You're not alone and plenty of people here love it just as much if not more.

[TanDeeJay]

On 1/28/2022 at 7:32 AM, Scarecrow71 said:

... If you are finding your boosters are still exploding and crashing into your main rocket, you can use Separatrons to help push the spent tanks/engines away.

sometimes you need more than one separatron per spent rocket section... just make sure you stage them correctly.... annoying when you hit the spacebar on the launch pad, and all the separatrons fire as well.

On 5/10/2021 at 8:21 PM, Jack Mcslay said:

...All I have installed is Kerbal Alarm Clock, it gets seriously unwieldy to manage dozens of ships only with the tracking station

In 1.12 there is a stock alarm clock. Alarm clock is an absolute must have for managing multiple concurrent missions.... Although I find the Stock alarm clock doesn't work correctly when you select the "add burn time" option, especially when your trying to set an alarm for maneuvers other than the 1st one.
But even if you are only flying 1 mission at a time, using the alarm clock to pause the game  close to the end of a long burn can save your inattentiveness from overshooting ... doing a 1 hr burn with the Ion engine, I can go off and do something else and know the game will pause when there are 30 seconds of burn left.

[TanDeeJay]

On 1/27/2014 at 8:44 PM, ShadowDragon8685 said:

There is one thing I want to know, though...

Is there any practical point to installing fairings without FAR? I haven't got it installed and don't intend to. Fairings look boss as all heck and watching them pop in orbit is great, but without FAR, are they just adding mass and (paradoxically,) drag? Or do they actually shield the drag of their payload and replace it all with their own drag in stock, because that would probably justify the weight several times over on the ascent stage.

Definitely!  I have launched some loads that were unlaunchable until I installed fairings.

This is part of the Habitat ring of my space station.  You need to launch 3 of these to construct the habitat ring.  The fairing was essential in this instance.

That makes a habitat ring that looks like this on my 1kk/k Space Hotel (this was constructed before the dock rotate option was available in stock...

[Aerodynamic Kerbal]

Remember: Never exceed 80 parts on PS4. Unless its modified.

[Spricigo]

On 3/4/2022 at 9:52 AM, TanDeeJay said:

On 1/27/2014 at 8:44 AM, ShadowDragon8685 said:

Is there any practical point to installing fairings without FAR? I haven't got it installed and don't intend to. Fairings look boss as all heck and watching them pop in orbit is great, but without FAR, are they just adding mass and (paradoxically,) drag? Or do they actually shield the drag of their payload and replace it all with their own drag in stock, because that would probably justify the weight several times over on the ascent stage.

Definitely!  I have launched some loads that were unlaunchable until I installed fairings.

I'm sorry to sy that you are wrong since the question was made in 2014, at the time, without FAR, fairings would, like @ShadowDragon8685 supposed, just add mass and drag.

I guess you noticed the aero model got some adjustments since then.

[TanDeeJay]

On 3/10/2022 at 9:58 AM, Spricigo said:

I'm sorry to sy that you are wrong since the question was made in 2014, at the time, without FAR, fairings would, like @ShadowDragon8685 supposed, just add mass and drag.

I guess you noticed the aero model got some adjustments since then.

LOL! you're quite right. Never noticed that  

[StrandedonEarth]

On 1/27/2022 at 1:32 PM, Scarecrow71 said:

You can light the rocket at the same time you decouple, which is what I generally do.  If you are finding your boosters are still exploding and crashing into your main rocket, you can use Separatrons to help push the spent tanks/engines away.

I like to mount the radial decouplers high, and slide the booster down with the translate gizmo. Make sure the bottom of the booster is below the bottom of the core, and place the struts low on the core. This pushes the top of the booster away so I rarely need separatrons. For extra push-away, use the angled nose cones angled out (less aero-looking" so the aero forces also help push the top of the booster away.

[llamaskywalker]

1 thing: whenever you build large rockets or space stations, or anything that involves permanent docking, bring backup struts. I learned this the hard way.

 

[Curveball Anders]

20 hours ago, llamaskywalker said:

1 thing: whenever you build large rockets or space stations, or anything that involves permanent docking, bring backup struts. I learned this the hard way.

 

Struts, Moar Struts and if possible EVA Struts

 

[SSTO Crasher]

What I have learned is to be patient, if you know how a part works but your spacecraft doesn’t, change things, experiment, find out what’s wrong, and eventually you’ll get it right 

[Jacob Kerman]

To always learn and improve, and not to be scared to experiment. I started KSP by just putting stuff together, and I've learned so much, I have books and books I've filled with blueprints and planet locations and diameter and gravity, and soon, I will be going to college to be an astrophysicist. This game has a lot of power to demonstrate the wonders of the unknown, and whether you want to or not, you will learn.

[JebIsBestPilot]

Never be scared to try something new in career mode. There's a reason I hadn't landed on Eve until two days ago in my 4 years of playing KSP.

 

Don't judge me.

[TheEpicElectron]

Always, always, ALWAYS, use SAS. 

[andersonben51]

It is very informative post for me. I will get in touch with you for more information on KSP. Thank You.

[Lyra]

Over-engineering is better than under-engineering. That extra ton of fuel will save you someday.

Test every part of a complex mission or craft. All but the simplest things must be tested. Especially landers.

Make sure your landing gear works properly.

Quicksave regularly.

[Donmy Kerman]

Wolfhound engines are absolutely overpowered.

[RevanX_LSR]

Laythe’s atmosphere thickens VERY rapidly. You only need to go a kilometer in to capture.

[CanaryLolz]

No exact lesson, but don't stop trying! KSP is literally rocket science, and it will take a long time until you start achieving things. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

[CanaryLolz]

On 1/27/2022 at 10:13 PM, Akagi said:

Massive rockets should use hot staging.

(For those of you that don't know, that's when you light the engine of the next stage before you decouple the first stage.)

Im pretty sure the Soyuz did this with its 2nd stage

[RevanX_LSR]

Install mods.

[Jeb x Valentina]

Parachutes, SAS modules, COL slightly behind COM, go to Minmus before Mün, always use RCS when docking/klawing, always  set fairing ejection force to default or higher, place boosters down the decoupler and finally, always add moar boosters if you fail.