Foxster

Except they don't reduce drag for those parts, so what you are doing is only cosmetic.

A simple way to get a booster to peel away is to mount the decoupler closer to the top than the middle - say 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up the booster. This tends to throw the top out on separation and the booster clears the craft's main body. You can place the decoupler, attach the booster, translate the decoupler up and then the booster back down. Oh and you will almost certainly then need a strut at the bottom.

Generally, if you radially attach something then it has the full drag of the part. If you attach it in-line to a similar-sized part then the drag is reduced - and it makes no difference if you then translate it away with the offset tool - as long as don't rotate it.

Also confirmed. Making a fairing root increased the atmospheric drag of a test craft at 5km from 1.61m/s to 2.66m/s (according to MJ) and the craft achieved a lower altitude before using all the fuel. https://imgur.com/EyNl9zp Obvious workaround is to not make a fairing the root part - not sure why you'd want to in the first place.

I personally find docking tiresome. It's not like anyone in real life would do it without computer aid these days. So if you too find it tedious then I recommend MechJeb's docking tool.

Couple of things... As said above, drag is the important thing on Eve. You can get that payload to orbit with a fraction of that craft if you eliminate most of the drag. It is also likely what is making your craft flip because there is so much at the front end. Put absolutely everything not associated with getting to orbit on decouplers and dump before taking off - solar panels, radiators, chutes, air brakes, landing gear, etc. Also get rid of of the docking port on the nose - that alone could be causing the tipping and will be robbing the craft of a LOT of dV. Then start taking stuff away. You don't need reaction wheels, a mammoth engine, RCS, antennas and, in fact, most of the tanks and engines. All that having a lot of craft does on Eve is generate drag, requiring more craft to compensate and you end up with a behemoth to get a tiny payload to space. Oh and have some steerable fins at the back end but only as many as you absolutely need.

You might not need anything - except for aesthetic reasons. Fairings are fairly massive and draggy, especially if you get carried away and build larger than you really need. Except for complicated and large payloads, you may find that your craft gains little or nothing from the addition of a fairing.

Attach the boosters with the decouplers about 2/3 of the way up (only one per booster will do anything as explained above) and put struts near the bottom of the tank. This will help the boosters peel away when staged. If your maneuvering issue is in the atmosphere then add some steerable fins. If it's in space then chances are your craft is just too big or if it is carrying some huge payload for whatever reason then you'll need more reaction wheels AND the power generation they need. It makes zero difference where on the craft you place the reaction wheels cos of physics innit.

All you really need on that craft is some power generation (say 3 or 4 little solar panels) and then all your attitude adjustments can be made with the reaction wheels. Save your RCS for only translation adjustment when docking. If I am not planning to dock a craft (99% of craft) I never add RCS thrusters. Click on each of your RCS thrusters and click Show Actuation Toggles then disable Yaw, Pitch and Roll - these you can do with reaction wheels and so no needs to waste mono on this too. Oh and dump the heavy spent stage to reduce mass and allow for faster attitude adjustment.

I thoroughly recommend the "ForScience!" mod. It automates the completion of science experiments whenever new science can be generated. It doesn't cheat you any more science than you can get if you are thorough, it just keeps you from missing any. Also, I often see recommended to collect all the little bits of science around the KSC. I find this tedious and an unnecessary diversion into wonky little rovers. I "launch" a capsule plus science experiments to each of the 3 launch sites from both the VAB and SPH to grab just the science from those 6 locations, repeating when I unlock a new experiment. After that you can generate a great deal more science from low and high Kerbin flybys and the same from Mun, Minmus, Duna, Eve, Ike and Gilly flybys with low tech craft. Final tip: Put nearly all your science points into unlocking all the science experiments. Don't be tempted into spending science points on bigger rockets or plane/rover parts. Get gud at making simple craft that can do flybys and land on low gravity moons. If you use only a mk1 capsule (+probe core) with a scientist then you can get to all these places with simple tech.

You've been told about 4 times that the fix is to fit some fins at the back end (think a dart or an arrow) but you don't seem interested in following that advice so, yes, your craft will continue to flip.

Same as I told you before: Slap a load of fins on the back.

One thing that will help you with any kind of ascent profile with your craft is to put all that extra stuff (solar panels, parachutes, radiators, etc) on decouplers and dump them before lifting off. Eve is all about drag, so you want to eliminate anything at all that adds it. You will then be able to have a smaller, lighter craft and your options increase. Another tip is to use the Gravity Turn Continued mod to automate your launch so that you can figure out in a repeatable way a profile that will get your craft to orbit. You don't have to use it for your final launch but more as an in-the-simulator thing.

Just increase your fins at the back end and move them as far back as you can.

Haven't read all the thread but in case no one mentioned it: I would not buy KSP2 if MechJeb was not going to be available.

Why return the scientist to Kerbin? You have several choices... You can do the science at each of the biomes and radio back what you can and then leave the Kerbal there along with the rest of the unneeded junk. You can do as above but leave him in a small base and promise yourself you'll rescue him eventually. You can return a small probe with a science container to Kerbin to maximise the science you gain, again leaving the scientist behind.

One of the last physics anomalies in KSP is with drag. It just works kinda weird. If you stack same sized (and taper matching) parts then their drag is reduced. Otherwise air passes straight through leading parts and causes drag on parts behind. For instance, you can have a huge deployed heatshield out front and all the parts behind it are subject to drag as though it wasn't present. I get that leading parts in RL are not going to eliminate the drag of the parts behind completely but they reduce it to some appreciable extent. Which brings us to KSP heat occlusion. It works a bit more logically. If you have a big heatshield out front then all the parts behind it in a cylinder back from its edges are protected from heat. So, what if the aero drag occlusion in KSP worked in the same way as heat occlusion? I get that this isn't a complete RL-like solution but it would surely be better than what we have now. Knowing little about such things, I'd guess that it would be a leg-up to re-use part of the heat occlusion mechanism. I can imagine it would really mess with existing aircraft though as things like rear control surfaces could be occluded. So would it be a nightmare to make such a change now?

Well, ya, I did mention that. Kinda not the point though. The "fun" is in taking an unknown craft, figuring out how it works, making a successful landing, driving it to a new higher launchsite and making orbit.

I've done most of the hard work and built a craft for you... Craft file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9xjlcv8f0sy2xk/Eve Fox 1.craft?dl=0 All you have to do is: Cheat it to Eve orbit (Alt-F12, Cheats, Set Orbit) De-orbit and survive re-entry Land Drive to the top of a hill Launch to a stable Eve orbit The craft has marginal dV for Eve orbit. I'm pretty sure it won't make it from sea level. It can make it from around 2km though, depending on your skillz. OK, you might land in a high area and could just take off but where's the fun in that? At least have a bit of a drive uphill so you can say you did it. It would be nice if you posted a fews piccies. There's no leaderboard, it's just for the hell of it. Some rules you say?... Don't alter the craft. No physics-changing mods or config changes. MJ Ascent Guidance or GravityTurn mods (or similar) are OK if you are struggling to make orbit. Some tips... You can drive uphill in KSP at a good speed if you make short zig-zags. It's a KSP "quirk". You'll get good amounts of sunshine for the solar panels in the morning and afternoon. You can move the crewman between the capsule and lander can with the Transfer option on the doors. You can change the Control Point to forward on the lander can through its PAW. Save often.

Gonna need some pics.

Which bit of the mission are you crashing on - Kerbin to orbit or Eve to orbit or landing on Eve or...?

Long time since I did a contract but you used to be able to take all the fuel out of the booster, stage it on the launchpad to complete the contract, avoiding the messing around of having to go anywhere.

It covers the hard bit - getting to orbit. Everything else is just detail. Science can be coupled to the bottom and dropped before taking off, along with the landing struts, heatshield, airbrakes and chutes etc.

A slightly slimmer alternative to that excellent craft is this, which can make Eve orbit with quite a bit of dV to spare...

I'm guessing you are mostly looking for equatorial, so check out this area... It has rolling hills around 2000-3000m. Not as high as some places but there are plenty of flatter or gently sloping spots. There are a couple of alternatives... Build a craft that can make orbit from anywhere. An efficient craft <30t can make orbit from sea level. Mobile ICBM-like. Adds a fair bit of complication but could be fun.