Pointy End

Go ahead and laugh, but I find myself, more often than not, playing C418's Volume Beta album, i.e. Minecraft music.

Yup, that is exactly how I did it, although not at first. I got the apsis correct first, then noticed my orbit was really close to that shiny red orbit. Hmmm...<light bulb!>

Okay, this is what I thought. This leads in to the whole "Longitude of the Ascending Node" concept. From Wikipedia, and I'm paraphrasing, this is the angular measure from a reference direction moving counter-clockwise to the ascending node. In the case of the satellite/Kerbin system, the reference direction would be in universal coordinates, not based on some arbitrary longitudinal line on Kerbin, correct? The reason I bring this all up is because the contract I mentioned in my original post specified that orbit have a specific Longitude of the Ascending Node. I believe the number was 57.3 degrees. So how in the heck was I supposed to figure that out?

Actually I meant stationary as in fixed to the location of the ascending node, regardless of whatever Kerbin may or may not be doing below it. As you said, just like in map view. So if the long axis keeps a fixed orientation as you say, then one could say, "this long axis points to star X, and will always do so as long as you don't do any burns."

I'm playing Career mode on normal difficulty, and I took on one of those "put a probe in this specific orbit" contracts. I did it, but I'm still having trouble visualizing a few things. For the sake of argument, consider a rocket/probe orbiting Kerbin with a 5 deg inclination. Let's say the apoapsis is 80k and the periapsis is 75k. Now then, I can visualize my orbital plane with respect to Kerbin just fine. What I mean is, if you could place a stationary camera at, say, the ascending node, Kerbin would appear to rotate under the camera, right? Same for the apsis, too, right? So my question is, if I'm right about that, then in what frame of reference, if any, are the ascending/descending nodes and apsis fixed? Would they be fixed relative to Kerbol's equatorial plane? Does any of this make sense? I'm kind of flailing about, here, sorry about that.

Thanks guys, exactly what you said. That contract had been sitting for too long and was offending my OCD. All better now.

Okay, this two-star contract is giving me fits. What exactly constitutes an "escape trajectory out of Kerbin"? I've been on a Mun encounter trajectory while still in Kerbin's SOI, but the Escape Trajectory doesn't go green until I leave Kerbin's SOI, at which point the "Kerbin" component loses the green check mark. Clear as mud? What am I doing wrong? Do I have to leave Kerbin entirely? Like go into a Kerbol orbit?

Yes, thank you. Sorry for the delay. Yeah I went back to the account page where I downloaded the new version and didn't even notice that 1.3.1 was an option. So derp on me. As it is, I opted to stick with the new version, got KES and SCANsat, and maybe once I unlock the tech tree I'll get MechJeb. Back to basics for now! Thanks for the heads up.

I'm looking to buy an off the shelf desktop to play KSP on. Even though I've used computers regularly for most of 52 years on this rock, I've never really cared or concerned myself with owning a "gaming" machine. That said, I'm not stupid. I know about RAM and processors and disk drives, but not much about graphics cards. So... My work desktop is a fairly new Dell Optiplex 7050, Win 10 Pro 64bit, i7 3.6 GHz, 16 GB DDR4, AMD Radeon R7 450, and it plays KSP great. Like, smooth. Granted, I'm early into replaying this game, so I haven't built any huge part count ships yet, but so far it's been sweet. Anyway, of those specs I listed on more work machine, which is doing the most to enhance the performance of KSP? As far as buying a new desktop for home, I am budgeting $750-1000. That will not get me my work machine, so what specs would you recommend I focus on in that price range? Oh yeah, I'll be playing some modded minecraft as well, but it seems like that game is a little more forgiving than KSP is. Just FYI. EDIT: It occurs to me this may not be the correct forum. If not, where? Is there a way to summon a moderator?

MechJeb or Kerbal Engineer. Been a looong time since used those, or their equivalents. I think it was 0.22 when I last played.

Been away from the game for almost 4 years, but stumbled upon my old login info on an old computer. Went ahead and downloaded and installed on a new computer running Win10 64bit. Version is 1.4.3. Really like all the new stuff, but now I'd like to roll back my version to like, 1.3, to try some mods out. Can't for the life of me figure out how to do it. Is this possible? If so, how? For what it's worth, I did some google searches by nearly every hit was referencing Steam installations, and I don't use Steam.

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't talking about launching missions with the intent of cleaning up debris. I was essentially talking about adding the parts needed so that a a booster left in orbit could de-orbit itself. I've built jumbo fuel tanks that basically drive themselves to dock with an orbiting gas station, so I thought why not add the parts so that a booster can de-orbit itself.

St. Louis to Cocoa Beach can be done in a bout 15 hours if you pay at the pump and pee once. That said, enjoy the Sunshine State! I lived there for about 6 years and loved it. If you get a chance, get yourself to Cape Canaveral and tour the Kennedy Space Center. I first saw the Saturn V on display at the tender age of 45, and I was speechless. It was one of the most impressive man made things I have ever seen. Nothing could have prepared me for that. Oh, good luck getting through Nashville and Atlanta. Traffic nightmares, they are.

I suppose the ideal solution is to build rockets that don't leave debris in orbit, but suppose that's not an option... Has anyone worked out the cost efficiency of recovering staging debris left in orbit? It seems to me the added cost would come from having to add a command ring, plus some chutes and possibly some landing gear. Maybe even an electrical source. Can all that cost be offset by the amount received from recovering the part? OR Screw it, the junk is in orbit and that's the cost of doing business, just kill it from the tracking station.

Ahhh, thx guys. I found a chart with the transfer windows for the various solar system bodies, looks like a Dres window is coming up. Time to stretch the legs!

Does everybody's career mode game start with all of the planets and moons in a relative standard starting position? For example, if I start a new career mode game today, all of the planets and moons and such will be in some position relative to Kerbin, and it will be Year 1, Day 1. If in two weeks from today I start another career mode game, will I be starting with all of the planets and moons in the same position relative to Kerbin as two weeks before, or will they have progressed through two weeks of "Kerbol" time and be in slightly advanced positions? Does this make sense? I am asking because I am in Year 1 Day 370 or so of my career mode game and I am still a ways away from a Duna launch window. Do most of you just bite the bullet and time warp to get to the launch window?

Stumbled upon this game last night, although many, many months ago a coworker mentioned it and we thought it was very cool. Anyway, last night was very late night once I got the demo. I think I'm in for the long haul. Looking forward to tapping the knowledge base. TTFN!

Greetings! A coworker of mine mentioned this game many months ago, then last night I saw a video on You Tube while looking for something else. One thing led to another, there was a Demo download...and here I am! I still haven't purchased the full version, but I believe I will soon. Looking forward to dipping into the knowledge base!