Drethon

Never too early to start to learn to code but it is your choice.

Oh, the goo can was only unbalanced in this version. I had one on each side in other versions that did the same thing, just messed up trying to pull everything off to try with less drag. That didn't help much either. Seems to be an overall rocket thing.

Without the fins if I turned earlier and slower the rocket flipped backward instead of continuing the turn and started tumbling. However if I leave the fins on and turn at 100ms (I was typically turning as late as 10km or as early as 5km) and then follow the prograde down until the rocket is at 45 degrees it seems pretty stable. I bet the control surfaces or gimbals would have helped but I think I'l leave them off to work with the physics rather than trying to fight it. I know building out doesn't work well with FAR but I'm trying to strike a balance between not being too wide but still having a wide lander for stability. Seeing how far I can take things. Thanks for the input from both of you!

I've been playing for about three months now and everything I send up with stock KSP runs without a hitch, so I decided to start playing with mods. I'm trying to create a somewhat basic science Mun lander but I'm having stability problems. I'm trying to launch this: My initial design was this rocket: But during my gravity turn, also about the time the rocket broke the speed of sound, the rocket would tip over and start tumbling. So I tried this(initially without the fins): Obviously I don't know as much as I thought as this rocket had similar issues. By adding the fins I was able to successfully get the rocket into orbit and to the Mun but the rocket will only go straight up until about 20k altitude. This makes the gravity turn rather less efficient. I suspect something is missing in my knowledge of FAR or Kerbal rocketry in general. I've searched on the topic but failed miserably at finding answers so I'm coming here for assistance. Thanks in advance!

I can dock pretty reliably now but it did take some learning. The main part for me is rendezvous. I usually go to a higher orbit since I can get more time warp and wait until the projected distance on the next pass reverses (target will go ahead of me). Then I boost orbit retrograde until I've minimized the next intercept. Then I go all three axes and use thrusters to further narrow the next intercept. If I'm not close enough (less than 0.05 km) I'll orbit a little and try all three axes again. Finally when I'm within 0.5 km I zero relative velocity and use thrusters to dock. Usually approach 1 m/s or less and try to keep my prograde on the target with regular updates. The fun ones are when docking requires a particular orientation. Like a red tank with two docking ports.

Mine so far would be the duna round trip with only small parts (and nuke rockets). My recent Moho round trip makes me pretty happy but I dont think I really needed five orange tanks(or even three) in Kerbin orbit but I'm not that good at efficient flight yet.

Hmm, I had not found this ability before (sticks up a sign that says "I suck at searching forums"). Perhaps I should do more release note reading. I will try this out.

Being my first post here I want to qualify I'm not really posting just to gripe. I love this game and will keep playing regardless. That being said... After starting a couple careers to get a hang of this game, I decided I wanted to set up a science pipeline in Kerbin space. The idea being a refueling station over Kerbin and one over the Mun. The Mun station would have a lander and the Kerbin station would have a tug. Then the only launches from Kerbin would be a minimal personnel lifter and a tanker (combined if one didnt happen more than the other). But then I realized how much science I would be losing because the lander can only transmit back results. Now there is plenty of science out there and maybe I should just shut up and do it my way but I just feel like it would be nice if the game better supported this style of gathering science. Maybe I'm the only one. Anyway, Kerbal on!