RocketBlam

So... how many antennas do I need to be able to talk to a ship at Duna? Because I launched a probe there (actually two probes, currently connected), and they have two antennas on an RA2 and an HG5. I'm out near Duna now but I don't have full control. I have two relay sats orbiting Kerbin, each with an HG5, but apparently that's not enough. Now I've put a new satellite around Kerbin with two RA-15s on it, but the probe is still out of contact. According to my calculations, the probe should be able to contact that satellite easily. The range between the two vessels can't be more than about 35 million km (the max distance between Duna and Kerbin) and according to my calculations, those two satellites should be able to communicate as long as they're within 6.7 billion km: Square Root of ((15 billion * 1.5) * 2 billion) = about 6.7 billion km. That's not even taking into account the HG5 on the probes. Do I need a direct antenna in addition to relay antennas on the probe? I REALLY wish Squad would explain this better. ETA: Apparently the ranges are in meters, not kilometers, which would explain a lot.

I never knew why the dang thing had to be hidden in map view anyway. I always found it an annoyance, and I REALLY, SUPER don't get why you would want it hidden every time. Glad there's at least an option to turn the whole hiding thing off now.

For at least the first 10 game hours, probably more like 30, I didn't realize there was a save function. Hey, I figure things out as I go along. I tell you, landing a probe on one of Jool's moons with absolutely no saves is nerve-wracking, but very fun. (There's a save function, btw. )

Wow. That one's pretty hardcore. The worst I got, that I accepted, was a contract to rescue a Kerbal from the orbit of the sun. I thought "ok, sounds challenging, but not too bad. He's probably in an orbit like Duna or something." No, his orbit was past Jool. And it was retrograde. He was orbiting in the opposite direction of the planets. I think I needed a vehicle that, by the time it got into Solar orbit, still had something like 10,000 D/V.

Is there a way to change this once the game is underway? Or do I have to start over again to change it?

Go ahead and hire a lawyer for $300 an hour to sue Squad over your $40 game.

If you don't want the DLC, if they ever create a paid one, the solution is simple: don't buy it.

This is it. I used to think you had to use that first, tiny solid motor, but nope. I just tried it with a liquid rocket, and it works as long as you don't use launch clamps/towers, etc. Just the rocket sitting on the ground when you launch. And yes, this is an old question, but it's still a problem in 1.1.3.

As things get bigger and hold more people, they tend to get lighter per person, not heavier. That's why big planes are more profitable than smaller planes.

I don't think this is a good argument. Yes, PCs get better, and their hardware eclipses platforms, but the game programmers know this. In fact they have an advantage designing for platforms precisely because they don't change. When you design for a PC, you have to design for older hardware because most people don't have the new stuff, and people can have oddball hardware configs you didn't plan for. With a platform, you know exactly what you're programming for and should therefore be able to make it more stable and perform better.

Dear Frizzank, I've played approximately 2,500 hours of KSP now, according to Steam. I love good mods, and as far as parts mods go, yours is the best. I love the NASA parts, and I love that you made them work with KSP as a game (as in, not incredibly detailed and funless), but also paid attention to a lot of tiny details, that add authenticity to FASA. Actually, I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here, but having played with FASA on a couple of playthroughs now, I just think you deserve a big thanks for this mod. It's one of my favorites, it obviously took a lot of time, and it really adds a lot to the game. If I ever win the lottery, I'm sending you thousands of dollars. You, sir, are a steely-eyed missile man.

Are the PARACHUTES in the FIRST STAGE? I don't sound annoyed do I?

That's cool, where is this base?

Is there an intercept calculator, or some way to predict/know when to launch to reach the planets? Something like this? http://ksp.olex.biz/

One of you guys should make a video and show us, I'd be curious to see that.

Mating docking ports on rovers has always been a challenge. They might line up on Kerbin, but in lower gravity they might not, as well as if they are empty or full of fuel. I used Infernal Robotics to design rovers with docking ports that had adjustable height, but in the end just decided to make the drilling rig and ferry the same vehicle so I wouldn't have to dock on the surface at all. It's really heavy, but it works fine on low gravity worlds like Minmus or Vall. Using a claw as your docking mechanism is the best solution for mating a ferry and miner on the ground. Just hook into any flat surface and pump away. I usually build a mining operation on Vall because the gravity is fairly low, and it is central to the Jool system, and Jool is very far away. In the Kerbin system, putting tankers into orbit with SSTOs is probably easier and nearly as cheap.

I've been trying to use this mod, but I don't see any instructions about how to turn mulch into supplies. I've been experimenting with it, but I don't have Kolonization (do you need it for this mod?) Perhaps you could explain how it works on the first page for people who haven't used it or aren't used to the Kolonization system.

So it's essentially a manual way to do MechJeb's "Match Target Velocity"?

The spotlight method works well. If you doubt how close you are, though, slow down (as has been previously said) because depending on your rocket, even at full thrust, if you're really descending fast you may not be able to slow down fast enough. If you're in a manned capsule, you also have a landing radar inside the cockpit, which will tell you your altitude above terrain. It's pretty nerve-wracking to use though, because you have to use the inside view.

I see. Thanks for the answers. Don't we already have a "target" and "anti-target" marker in the navball, though? What's the difference with how it works now?

It's all in the title. Why does this happen? If I have a target selected (as in, trying to intercept it), then if I turn to "prograde" and burn, it doesn't actually point at prograde. Somehow, it has set a new "prograde" for my ship, one that is not actually prograde. If I unselect the target, the real prograde marker shows up again and I can point to it. But it gets really tiresome to, for example, have to deselect a target, point to normal or anti-normal, and then re-select it to adjust your orbit so it lines up with the target. In fact, I don't think the normal and anti-normal markers even show up when you have a target selected. What sense does this make? What is it supposed to accomplish? Or is it just a bug?

I usually launch 3 or 4 of them in an early career. "Fly by" and satellite contracts can be good early sources of funds, and you don't want to use a Kerbal for those. Once you get the next core though, it is entirely useless.

A Mark I capsule doesn't use any electricity if SAS is off. I would think it would use much more than a probe core.... for life support, for example.

1. Why does the Stayputnik use power? It has no SAS, but you can't turn it off. I mean, you can turn the battery off, but why would you ever do that? Which leads me to... 2. What is the point of being able to turn your batteries off if you can't turn them back on when you run out of power? It used to be that you could fly with some batteries off, to save them on the way to say, the Mun, on your first trip without solar panels with your Stayputnik probe, and when you got to the Mun, you could turn the batteries on and have control again. Now, if you run out of power, you are out of luck, even if you have some energy in batteries that are turned off. You can't turn them back on again.

Well, since this keeps coming up, I'll keep saying it. I haven't had any problems with aircraft wheels since 1.1.2. I guess some people to, but I don't. But it's good that you found a way to play to your satisfaction. ETA: also, I don't use a joystick, just keyboard.