tjsnh

No particular reason. I usually over-gas my missions by a good margin (I'm paranoid like that) so squeezing every last ounce of efficiency hasn't really been an issue. I know, academically, that there are far more efficient flight profiles, I just haven't needed to rely on them - yet.

I've never been able to do an interplanetary burn from LKO (mostly because I'm far too lazy to wait for launch windows before going up, I usually get to solar orbit then 'fast forward' to the window), I know it's not the most optimally efficient method but it's "quick and easy" for my impatience ;-)

There's nothing in the game to receive SSTV signals ..... I've never understood the talk of an "SSTV signal" .. how could people tell? how was it decoded?

The short answer is : you can re-fuel xenon from a docked ship/tanker/station just like regular fuel. You can also move xenon around on the same ship by right clicking the fuel tanks (it might be alt click) like Kashua said. Most people only use xenon/ion on one-way probes. I've generally found that for a SMALL probe, two of the in-line xenon tanks can get me to jool and at least one of it's moons. This can DRASTICALLY change based on your flight profile, orbital windows, and all that. I normally don't turn on my ion engines until I'm outside kerbin's SOI and orbiting the sun (I do the same for LV-N engines).

Additional confessions: I neither wait for launch windows, nor fly interplanetary missions "direct" from inside Kerbin's SOI. I break orbit, break SOI, and get in orbit around the sun then just make a maneuver node with a pro/retro burn, and move the node around my orbital path until it looks like it is close to intersecting the destination and tweak from there. This is for probes and manned missions. I've landed on, and returned from, everything except Jool (obviously) and Eeloo. Even still, I've never used an aerobreaking maneuver. I always just use the inefficient method, where you simply get into the target's SOI, fly to aps, and retroburn until your flight path turns into an orbit. In career/science mode, I frequently neglect to name unmanned science-return probes (go to mun/wherever, get science, return and land on Kerbin) and/or flyby missions and/or other objects which don't "remain" after the mission is done. On the first stage of my rockets, I've occasionally attached an extra-large-size engine to a regular-large size fuel tank. I've flown a manned mission from Kerbin to Pol, landed and returned, using nothing but ion drive power (excluding ascent from Bop, I used some seperatrons for that) after getting it into Kerbin orbit. This was a self-test of my own patience and to see how small I could make a viable interplanetary rocket. Trust me, this was a sin... My worst sin of all, once I walked a kerbal out onto the launch pad to stand under a huge rocket as it launched. This was a punishment for piloting a failed munar flyby mission that ran out of fuel and missed it's munar intersect.

I'm a real-life pilot, and love flight-sim games, but I cannot safely land a spaceplane in KSP to save my life. The controls are just too awkward/atypical for me. As a result of this, my spaceplanes/SSTOs still use a detachable cockpit (sometimes a regular capsule) with parachutes. *hangs head in shame*

I use it. I sometimes throw them on space station modules just for an extra docking port, sometimes I put them on 1-man "escape pods" (for space stations) so i can use a nose/top parachute (like, para above capsule above stack separator above inline docking port above whatever) or frequently I'll use them on my "return ship" missions. Sometimes to simplify design when I'm feeling lazy, I do a 2-launch mission (say, landing on Tylo or something) where I'll send a super-bare-bones unmanned return ship with a probe core, empty 1-man capsule or lander can, a long/thin fuel tank or two, and LV-N engine and get into orbit around the target landing body - then send a second manned mission with a lander that can get back into orbit but not back to kerbin, meet up, and eva my kerbal over. I've occasionally used the inline docking port on the return ship (and a regular on the lander) to transfer leftover fuel from the lander to the return ship.

I use RCS for docking, but have found myself using it less and less on mainstream rockets, instead opting for lots of reaction wheels. (I also tend to go overboard on solar panels). This is mostly a trend since I started using Procedural Fairings to "hide" landing pods, rovers, etc, where I'm too lazy to make a control group to toggle the RCS on my landers (I use them instead of normal L/O for terminal decent burns) and don't want them blowing around inside the fairings.

Some random thoughts: I use two basic mission profiles for landers to other planets/moons : Monolithic, and target-orbit transfer. For the monolithic mission, the lander is capable of the return trip to Kerbin all on it's own. I use disposable LV-N boosters to get to the target - in fact, once I'm out of Kerbin's SOI on launch I dont use anything but nuclear engines while in space. Once at target, wait until you're at Aps and burn retrograde like a mofo to establish an orbit, and get in close from there - you know the routine. Landing on duna makes monolithic easier because you can attach 32425256 parachutes to land big monstrosities with only a small amount of burn needed to slow down before impact. My monolithic landers are usually the 1-or-2 man lander can, with four "pods" radially attached containing fuel tanks and LVN boosters, with the small size solid fuel boosters below them to get back into space. Science lab stuff can be attached to your solids, just "take science" and transfer the data to your command pod before launch - saves weight on the return trip. For the target-orbit linkup profile, I have a "return ship" - which is usually a 1 man capsule with a couple of fuel tanks and a single nuclear engine. Then a lander, which only needs to have enough oomph to get back into orbit from the target body, which cuts back on weight significantly and makes design easier. One common misconception/assumption - your lander does NOT have to actually "dock" with your return ship once you get it back into space .. I rarely bother .. just get within 1km and eva your kerbal back to the return ship, and don't forget to "take science" from your lander so you dont lose your surface samples and all that. I'm not at my home PC but I can post a couple example pics when I get home of each mission profile. The TLDR: use LV-N engines for interplanetary transfers and retro-burns to slow down for orbit, try for light weight when possible.

IIRC, the Devs posted that at the moment it just effects contracts (as Godot said) but in the future it will influence the quality of Kerbals applying to join your space program as well (and if any are willing to sign up at all!)

Looks like a good start. The Soyuz is notoriously difficult to recreate in KSP - I'd really love to have a sphere shaped command pod, and a bell shaped command pod ....

That seemed to do the trick - I was using the base in 'structural' rather than 'aerodynamic' , thanks!!!

So ... running 0.24 with the latest PF (first time using it) How do I separate the fairing? All the readme/etc documentation refers to staging them, but ... there's nothing to stage ... the parts don't seem to have any action-group compatible actions, the right-click options in VAB don't give any help .. I've tried stage separators inside, and outside, the PF base .. nothing works ... Any help? Am I missing something really obvious?

I think you just found the "final boss" of KSP.

Interesting thoughts. Thanks for the perspectives, folks. :-)

It's changed my builds in that it seems to very strictly control WHAT I build (mun mission, probe to dres, etc) and I find myself adding in useless junk on to most of my missions now. For example, after the "explore the Mun" mission you get the "plant a flag on the Mun" mission ... my very first manned mun lander had non-functional and otherwise-dead-weight spaceplane landing wheels sticking off the side so it could be tested for a contract. On the up side, "test this prototype nuclear rocket engine!" _DID_ allow me to do the "explore duna" contract way earlier than I expected to realistically be able to send a probe.

Am I the only one who feels a little pigeonholed into "chasing the contracts" in 0.24? It seems I never have enough funds to do "fun stuff" (mun rovers, space stations, random unmanned probes to jool, etc) that aren't part of a contract and, thus, won't generate any more funds if I do them especially since the rewards for repeat-mun-landings/etc fall off so dramatically. Or am I just doing-it-wrong? Not a big gripe or whatever, I'm just curious if other people are getting the same kind of feeling.

Interesting .. I had no idea about this bug/feature ..

I managed to bankrupt myself with my attempt to fill the contract "plant a flag on the Mun" .. my rocket was not cheap, and used up all my funds (started with around 250,000 - mission cost about 245,000) and I didnt even notice until almost out of kerbin's atmosphere. I reverted to VAB and focused on smaller contracts to build up more funds incase the mun landing fails.

I used a trick (a cheat? bug? feature?) where I kept rejecting contracts until I had 5 or 6 "test so and so part landed at Kerbin" then just attached them all to a probe core with no fuel or anything and staged them off. 5 contracts without ever leaving the ground, was a good way to get a small-but-quick fund/science boost low in the tech tree.

Working for me. Double check: # You're using the right kind of decoupler # All the checkmarks are green in the contract at the moment you stage the coupler # Just for confirmation, right-click the coupler and make sure there's no "run test" button

So, forgive my idiocy here. How do you "fly" this? It's on the ground .. you walk up to the ladder, and hit F to grab it ... then what? You can't use space suit RCS.

You need to activate the part while ALL four checkboxes are green, but some parts (engines come to mind) need to be tested - right click the part, and there will be a "run test" button which must be clicked while in the four-checkboxes range.

Just posted my last update for a bit (version 4), large number of additions.

The next update will also have the "generic" space logo on a variety of different color background flags, in addition to the transparent-background version.