Wemb

Which also reminds me - an info tab or page when right-clicking on them so you don't have to return to the KSC to find out what the specialism or rank is - but as you say, could be (in part) implemented with different coloured suits? We're not talking about mods now though. Wemb

First instruments only, IVA docking using only RasterPropMonitor, and with the game's UI disabled. The launch and rendezevous was done as per normal, but the final approach alignment, and docking done entirely from inside the lander-can. Above anything else I've done in KSP, including my first orbit and landing, that was probably the most tense, and rewarding moment I've had in the game. Wemb

Oh, yes, and just reminded me after reading a post about suicide burns - not a Mod exactly, but it's data is exposed in several, yet is badly used in the stock game. The Radar Altimeter - you really should be able to toggle the top altimeter between sea-level and true. Having it only visible via the gauge in the IVA view is insane. I mean, it's fun adapting the technology used by 617 squadron to bomb the Ruhr damns by slinging spotlights under your ship so you know when you're going to hit the ground, but that really is winging it a bit too far. Wemb

Welcome to the forum's Ice_Ph4ntom. As Tantulus says, if you're in career mode, you'll need to do some facility upgrades before things such as manauevour nodes are available. Having said that, you can do a lot of the stuff with your Mk.1 eyeball - e.g. circularising the orbit - can be done very easily with care from the map mode - and it'll help you learn about the pro and retrograde nodes, normal and anti-normal, etc. Wemb

And. from me, a shoutout to RasterPropMonitor, which, IIRC, allows you to scroll through a sensible menu of astronomical bodies, vessels, etc. to set a target from the IVA view. Might be handy if you have it and are in a capsule. Wemb

Thanks! I stress that I certainly didn't do the launch or rendezvous this way, only the final approach and docking. One day, when I've got time to master KOS I -will- do an entire IVA launch, rendezvous and dock - but that will be some time... I also think it would have been very difficult without MJ's SmartASS being avaialble to RPM too. Launch might be possible - with MJ installed, but using it via RPM - but using the menu driven UI to put the attitude changes in quickly enough would be horrible. It would really need to be automated in someway - It'd like to see some way to plug in canned KOS scripts into the RPM to give the Kerbal equivalent of the AGC - maybe. Wemb

Just a shout out for using RPM for, if nothing else, docking. I have Docking Port Alignment Indicator, and often use it - but I have on occasion done entirely IVA based docking, with the game UI turned off, using RPM's docking mode. (assisted with MJ's providing SmartASS plugged into RPM's autopilot system). Not suggesting it makes docking easier - but it certainly makes it more satisfying. As for stock mods? KAS/KIS - it adds an entirely new dimension and dymanic to the game - the possibilities with it are almost endless. UI and documentation could do with some work though. RPM for the above, and for the other in-capsule info it provides. KER because without the engineering data from this, or MJ or similar, you're really just guessing most of the time. Kerbal Alarm Clock should be built in. I might also argue for use of MechJeb - but in a very limited sense - MJ can be a really, really useful learning tool. There could be a place for it, or for the game itself to drive it, in the tutorials. Without it, though, I'd definitely like to see some elements become stock - the engineering data (probably in KER), but also the SmartASS would be useful, as would the Manoeuvre Node Editor component, as I find the regularly find the editor in the map UI awful in certain situations. Wemb

MechJeb is invaluable many levels and I never travel without it - firstly, it gives you vital engineering information that isn't found elsewhere in the stock game - this is essential to success. I also really appreciate it for the tweaks to the UI it adds that make it easier to fly rockets - e.g. Manueveur Node Editor - Trying to adjust a node while focused on a distant moon, id ridicioulously difficult, and the MNE is a great additional UI to assist in setting up manual maneouvers. Thirdly, it's a great teaching aid - Not sure what the sensible way to circularise an orbit is? Not too sure whether or not a Hohmann transfer is available in this orbit? Ask MJ to work it out and Watch and Learn. Fourthly, it allows me to set some sensible limits to how I manually fly the ship (preventing overheating, auto-throttle down to at Max-Q, etc) Fifthly, and this is right at the bottom of the list - it's a autopilot. But with the exception of SmartSAS, this is very much a minor function. There isn't a wrong way to play KSP - but relying on MJ to do the flying for you is probably the least best way to play it :-) Wemb

This is a bit late to this conversation, and I wish I had ready access to my #rescue' ship (capable of pulling two lost Kerbals out of LKO) which is built from a two Mk16's on top of each other, and a Stayputnick on the top and some radial parachutes but is still about half the size of your original ship. One thing I'd add is that if you want to do this slightly more cheaply (and with added thrills for the poor dumb kerbals you're rescuing), try ditching the final decoupler and heat-shield. If you're in LKO, you should be able to return the Terrier and empty fuel tanks (and kerbals) without needing a heat-shield if you re-entry shallow enough and land sideways onto the water, All that cash does add up in the early game (hence mine designed to return two). Wemb

Also, may not be relevant, but if you recentl upgraded to 1.0.5 and have ScienceAlert mod installed, antenna no longer work correctly - (or, rather, science is no longer transmitted correctly) Wemb

1200 m/s is absolutely fine - assuming the parachute isn't on the 'front' of the ship is it re-enters - ensure you can keep your ship on the pro or retrograde marker as needed to keep your parachute away from the side of the craft that's getting the re-entry heat and you'll be fine. Very early ships won't have the battery power needed to power the reaction wheels and/or won't have enough reaction wheels to keep the ship orientated correctly - there's where adding something large and heavy (like the heatshield) to the opposite end of the ship from the parachute is useful. Wemb

Nah - all part of learning. In any case, when you've managed to screw up an asteroid capture in this way, you stop worrying about mucking up satellites. The probes I send out for satellite missions are incredibly over-spec'd fuel wise - this is so I can return them after I win the satellite contract and park them next to by orbital lab and EVA out collect the science off them. It also means I can, if necessary turn them around and reverse the orbit if I muck up. If you're in a suitably high orbit, this may not be as expensive as you may think it is if you're used to working in low Kerbal Orbit (where it's very expensive in terms of dV to reverse orbit) Wemb

Oh, yes, good one - let the magnets do the work. Also - something else which can really make your life difficult if you forget - ensure your RCS thrusters are in line with the center of mass of whatever you're trying to dock - and check it still looks good when your vessel has fuel or not. If you don't do this, and your thrusters do not coincide with your CoM when you try and translate you'll instead create a torque and your ship will, to some extend, try and rotate also. Your reaction wheel smay or may not be able to cope. And, if like me, you're over-cautious and end up with an a stage left on your vessel which you weren't expecting - don't try and dock with it still attached - you'll probably go all over then place 'cause of the different CoM. Wemb

I think I'd be very happy to see 'heat' as an analogue to life support for unmanned ships/probes - something that has to be gotten rid of, or else - in the same (but opposite) way that charge and power has to be managed. It makes sense (to me) - that anything that's consuming electrical power should be generating heat, which will need to be radiated away (either by the ship or with radiators). Wemb

I took them with me on my first mining rig, assuming that having bloody big drills grinding up the surface of a planet would generate substantial amounts of heat. Then I remembered that since I was on Minmus I was probably mining mint sorbet. Wemb

Again, once you get used to not being able to -see- anything the MFD's in IVA mode are brilliant. They not only tell you your position/lack of position in rotational space (i.e if you're 180 deg out in some direction, which is more useful than an x,y,z locaton), they also tell your distance and approach velocity to the target and your x, y and z velocity at the same time on the same window. This really makes it a lot more easier than it can be otherwise. Here's a good picture from the RPM thread: Wemb -

What does your ship look like? The Mk I capsule with a parachute on it will come down the right way, flat end first and protect the chute. A Mk I capsule with a parachute -and- a Science Jr will often spin round and come in parachute first - spelling sure disaster. You should be able to do a sub-orbital 'drop' from 110Km without too much problems - though if you're having difficulty, don't - stop when your ap. hits >70 which will count as leaving the atmosphere just as much as 110km does, and will result in a significantly lower reentry speed. Wemb - - - Updated - - - In the early game, surviving re-entry by ablation is not what the heat-shield is good for - what it -is- really good for (and why it is warranted) is as ballast to keep your vehicle's attitude correct to survive re-entry. Wemb

What Streetwind says - but also remember that while the capsules will have reaction wheels, the Stayputnik doesn't - but reaction wheels only go so far - Moar winglets on the bottom is the new moar boasters. Wemb

Instead of trying to launch huge ships from Kerbin? The ease of landing and returning big orange tanks from Minmus? Absolutely. Wemb

Just a note - you need to have the RasterPropMonitor mod installed to get the working MFDs in IVA view. It also integrates with Docking Port Alignment Indiciator - though DPAI isn't really needed thanks to the tools that A_N above comprehensively described. Wemb

Oh, of course- I'm used to thinking of TV as a function of just the altitude cause, obviously, my rocket isn't changing shape - till it's AoA changes and then it is.. Thanks. Wemb

And their first attempt was with Gemini 4 - which they hopelessly balls up in exactly the same way most people do playing KSP. Orbital Rendevous is non-trivial - and until you've masteed it, don't even worry about docking. But, as for docking? Obvious things are - ensure your craft have the same size docking ports, and they're both attached the right way around on the ships so they'll actually mate (it's easy to put them on back-to-front, and we've probably all at some point sent a ship up with the wrong sized port on). Don't forget to put RCS thrusters on one of the vessels, and ensure that the other vessel isn't spinning when you're trying to dock. Make sure everyone has sufficient power - but fold up any vulnerable solar arrays before you try. Use a mod to give you a docking port alignment indicator - doing it with the Mk 1 eyeball is fairly insane, And, most of, be gentle. Real gentle. Good luck and godspeed! Wemb - - - Updated - - - Yup - what Sharpy says. Indeed - now when I dock, I'm mostly doing it from inide the cockpit using the prop MFD displays from RasterProp Monitor - this isn't to make it more difficult, but because a) there's a very useful docking camera in it, and it's a -lot- less distracting not being able to see what's going on. When you're docking, what you -really- need to know is a) are you pointing in the right direction how fast are you going compared to the target c) what's changing and how fast is it changing. If your instruments can answer these questions, then you're better off watcing them than looking out of the window. Wemb

As everyone else says - you just have to keep putting the Kerbal-hours in - As for science - yes, you'll need to scrape it tootling arround the KSC - but also grab all the test-on-the-pad missions you can get. The science pay-offs really come when you manage your first Munar or Minmus landing. Happily this will occur at the same time as a moment you probably will never forget when you play KSP. Your first successful landing on another world. Almost certainly followed by a firery death and/or a series of rescue missions. As for KSP having a steep learning curve - just go try Dwart Fortress. :-) Wemb

I must admit I've not worked out though, why this seems to kick in if the AoA starts to get high during ascent, e.g. if the rocket starts to tumble than invariably MJ will throttle back the engines, usually till my rocket is upside down, and then it goes back to full thrust... Wemb

Can't say if it'll be easier - but it should be more effective, as you'll be pushing a less massive craft, and so will push it futher/faster than you would with the engine. First, try and launch into the same plane as best you can before to make 2 as cheap as possible. Secondly, once you're in an orbit, you'll need to do a Hohmann transfer to get to Jebs orbit as you describe - but you may need to orbit several times to get the timing right. The timing is just as important as the orbit - you can't 'catch up' to someone when you're in the same orbit as them, so you must plan your transfer to reach Jeb's orbit at the same time as he gets there too. Wemb