TheD007

a friend who likes indie games posted link to website for .13.1. i think that everyone should crash several stock rockets first. the best way to learn everything short of docking and interplanetary trips is by messing up and knowing what has not worked. for more complex stuff i have found it is best to try,fail, check forum and youtube then when knowing roughly how to do it trying yourself. it worked for me. i feel that crashing and trying new ways help new players develop intuition that will help them in the long run.

I only have 2 launchers: a 2 ring onion and a 6 booster asparagus. if something is too big i add srb, if it is too much overkill i make the transfer stage bigger. the only spaceplane i have ever landed successfully(one piece) was not intended to land (ejection seat landing system), my landing skills are so bad that i have now consider having only the pod survive a success for SSTO. i learned the hard way that kirbals cannot manever well while skydiving. I had jeb get out for eva report during reentry at 10km he never caught up to his ship. i don't like fast forward so i try to schedule missions for all free time while waiting for a transfer window. as such i have only launched one interplanetary mission.(10 ships in orbit waiting for windows which will never come before i forget what they were for).

in VAB right click all tanks and see if they have all fuel (both kinds) in each. you probably just tweaked one by accident. also check lower stages in case you have a cross-feed problem and you siphon fuel off the upper stage somewhere.(see if all engines on all stages run out of fuel together.)

KER is easy to install. delta-V is important but has a steep learning curve forcing players to realize the importance of it on their own is the key to them understanding it. if you hand all the flight data to new players there will be less driving force for them to understand it while if they have to find a mod or use a calculator they will be better prepared. now one thing SQUAD could do is add it to the game but have it default to off so that a player must actively search the settings menu to enable it.

I seem to be the opposite. the shorter the mission, the less training and screening would be applied. therefor the Kerbals assigned to mun and minimmus missions have better accomodations than jool/eve-lander missions. just because if a space program is going to put Kerbals on a mission that long someone will teach them to like cramped spaces while for shorter missions it would be less effort to just carry extra space.

one method that worked for me when i was learning how to dock was to take a small probe (1.25m) with some rcs (one medium sized tank) add solar panels to both and a small tank of fuel with small engine have an identical probe docked to it on the pad. launch and get to orbit then separate them by undocking and using RCS to thrust away. practice again and again from greater separations and different alignments until you gain a sense of direction about it. if the docking becomes second nature you can easily design ships that you know that you will be able to dock easily. hope this can help

i would first try a three man capsule attached with a single man lander just to see how its holds together. if it is stable attach a second one man lander can to the lander and everything should hold together. i agree with everyone else though, place struts to transfer stress around the lander to the CM above it (i would use 4-fold symmetry). Edit: instead of going to the space port for 3-man direct ascent try a one man one first on you own. with some of ksp's differences from reality it is sometimes simpler and smaller to do direct ascent one man than the CSM/LM system.

believe me we all loose him several times each play through. also for the undock issue: if right click menu does not have the buttons you may be out of power(more common than you would think) or experiencing a glitch (not as common as it once was but still happens occasionally)

i had a rover one used the 48s on 2 decks of double ringed asparagus only 24t(with parachutes, ladders, wheels, and RTGs still on it) without the lifter and transfer stages. i have found that the lightest ones are really high on the part count. i had a slide show for the launch but i could fully circularize the orbit from 2500m.

one problem with having drop tanks is placement. you have to design the ship for them from the start so that they can be symmetrically placed and have balanced fuel draw. one question is how do you drop a tank in a burn, every time i have tried to drop a tank in a burn i have ether hit it and broke something important off my ship or it just stayed in place in front of my ship.

Vexx32 - i knew that i would need to be approved it is just that i have a buggy internet connection / browser so i get logged out quite often and sometimes I don't know if a post went through. i got logged out just trying to post this.

How much SAS torque do you have? At 20km you do not have enough atmosphere to use control surfaces effectively. I have found that that is normally a center of drag issue caused by high drag parts (open intakes and docking ports) in the front. The first option is to redesign to have docking ports in the back of the plane to try to stabilize the ship. The second is to keep the intakes closed until you are below 10km. A third option is to turn on a gimbaled engine before you try to turn as that will provide some more control but you probably don’t have enough fuel or air for that to work.

Thank you; Now I just have to work out this “posting thingâ€Â. I have tried posting to two other forums but I am not sure if it worked on both. On the second one I got a little box telling me I was waiting for a mod to approve my post but the first I did not see that.

It is a good idea for the outer planets as they have wide launch windows and can save much delta-v. One suggestion would be to have the refueling station have engines and be on a high circular orbit, initially, to make rendezvous simpler and avoid gravity slingshots out of the system. After refueling the docked ship, have the station use its fuel to drop the periapsis to a LKO at the right phase angle. Then undock the ship and have it do the escape burn. Afterward have the station return to a circular orbit if it has enough fuel to continue.

I have been watching the forums since near the end of .18 but never bothered to get an account. It will be interesting on how much better it is to participate on the forums rather than just read the discussions.