Gaarst

I think Squad is taking its time to avoid similar 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 reactions: 1.0 -> people complaining -> rushed patch 1.0.1 -> more people complaining -> rushed patch 1.0.2 -> more more people complaining. I understand that Squad would like to wait for things to settle down a bit and for the heat following 1.0 release to dissipate. I personally have enjoyed every release for what they bring: more features, bug fixes; and because they show that Squad actually listens to its community and tries to please us.

Yes. (5char)

That's off topic but nuclear waste cannot be used for anything, reactors, engines or bombs, only thing we are able to do with it is store it underground and prey for it not to leak and to gently lose radioactivity over time.

Level two and above launch pad is known to be slightly tilted, this is normally negligible but not for high / thin rockets. Try adding radial parts touching the ground to provide additional support for your rocket. And also add fins or winglets to prevent your rocket from flipping. Remember to put them at the very bottom of your rocket to increase stability. And I don't know if you know it but ideal ascent profile has changed since 1.0. Tilt a 5° at 50 to 100 m/s depending on the rocket, then gradually follow prograde marker until ~25 km where aerodynamics don't matter anymore

Nuclear and ion engines vacuum Isp are very similar to those of real life (although nuclear engines were never actually put on a rocket), at least in theory. And nuclear is still the best for heavier interplanetary crafts in 1.0.2 (although they only use liquid fuel now) as long as you can manage the heat they generate. Ion engines' Isp was severely reduced in atmosphere but are still at 4200 in vacuum.

And who designed rocket engines capable of not-exploding when the average kerbal has the IQ of a rock ? Seriously, according to the game Kerbin is 5 times denser than lead and the Kerbol shouldn't even shine... KSP is KSP, there's no need for logic or thinking in this game, it's not like it's rocket science ! Oh, wait...

Okay, so first of all, THIS is what a rocket (or shuttle, or whatever) should sound like: (go at 1:45) This is badass, this is cool, this gives you the feeling that 2000 tons of metal are getting lifted from the ground by even more metal spitting blazing flames from hell at tremendous speeds ... Seriously now, I was wondering if there was an up to date mod for 1.0.2 that replaced the boring sounds of the original KSP by new, ground-shaking, more realistic sound for engines. I've done a little bit of research on the forums but the only few sound mods that I found for rocket engines are all out of date and their development abandoned. Does anyone know a good sound mod for 1.0.2 or is developing / planning one ?

I had a rendez-vous with Vall and met Laythe and Tylo on the way there. My latest interplanetary rocket, BlackDog IV, leaving the launchpad with Denne and Halfield Kerman on board: More than 3 years later and gravity assists from Tylo and Laythe (visible in the picture), Denne has landed on Vall, becoming the first woman walking on another body than Kerbin: BlackDog IV, ship and lander, orbiting Vall after docking: And 3 more years later, Kerbin reentry (with 2000 m/s left on the ship): Home Sweet Home: Result of the mission: 3619 science points collected and a flag forgotten in the ship...

AIRBRAKES. After blowing up quite a few MK2 sized shuttles in 1.0.2 with any periapsis for reentry, I found only two ways of reentring safely. 1. Semi-skip reentry: going down to ~35km and back up to lose speed until I am slow enough to dive safely 2. AIRBRAKES. I put two of those things on my shuttle and now I can reenter with almost any trajectory from flat descent to >45° dive. These things are OP.

What exactly is your descent profile ? For landing shuttles, I usually keep diving at ~15° until 1000 m high and gradually get to 5°. I lift the shuttle nose above the horizon only when really close to the ground to kill vertical velocity. This usually yields a landing speed of 50 to 60 m/s, enough for my shuttle to have sufficient lift. Try changing your descent profile and if it doesn't work, add more lift to your shuttle.

About gravity turn, it depends on your rocket; please post a screenshot so that we can actually see the problem. Causes can be numerous. And about TWR, 1.3 to 1.5 is the best ratio for KSP 1.0.x but be sure to account for the lack of thrust in low atmosphere.

Best braking with rover wheels in pre 1.0 was achieved by actually breaking and going backwards at the same time. Don't know if this still works since 1.0 though...

Ascent profile has changed with 1.0 aerodynamics. Turn 5° a few seconds after launch, and gradually follow prograde marker until ~45° at 10km and ~30° at 25-30km, aerodynamics do not matter anymore >25 km so do whatever you want from then. Also aim for a TWR of 1.3 to 1.5.

Check your key bindings to see if any key has two functions, this can be a very frustrating thing on non-english keyboards (speaking from experience).

Ok so your rocket is actually spiraling at ~6km instead of 60km, which is very reassuring as the cause can be easily determined then. First, as it has been said before, slow down: your can either remove some SRBs or limit their max thrust in the VAB (right click on them) This will make the rocket much more controllable and will spare delta-v. High acceleration also make your rocket less stable inside atmosphere and outside. Then, add fins to your boosters. SRBs do not have thrust vectoring / gimballing therefore they do not help in turning the rocket. Fins placed at the very bottom of your rocket will make it much easier to control. Finally, this is just a general advice: your ascent profile is not the best since 1.0, you should be starting to turn a little at ~100 m/s and gradually follow the prograde marker so that you are at 45° by 10km and ~30° by 25km, then aerodynamic forces don't matter and you can do whatever your want. Always remember to keep your navball chevron inside the prograde marker while in low atmosphere as if you don't, strong aerodynamic forces will flip your rocket or worse...

Could you upload a picture of the rocket at the point when it is actually spiraling so we can see the stage, engine... ? A cause could be too high TWR and no gimbaling but you seem to have RCS and SAS... It is strange though as aerodynamics >40km are negligible. And that's a bit out of topic but your rocket seem to be really fast, this may be linked although very unlikely.

But, but only glorious leader of Best Korea can walk on the Sun...

That's impossible to tell, there are many ways your HD can be broken and it has nothing to do with KSP in particular, but all your data stored. If it's really broken, and you want to recover its data take it to an electronic repairer and he'll tell you what he can do.

This is a known issue when using SAS on any other setting than stability assist, with larger crafts. Best solution is to set SAS on stability assist and orient the ship yourself.

Screenshots of your rocket would be useful. Do you know the delta-v of your rocket ? If you don't know it, I suggest installing Kerbal Engineer Redux which is extremely useful. If you're really desperate, I made it to Duna and back in 0.90 with this craft. Considering delta-v requirements has gone smaller for Kerbin Orbit in 1.0, it should be the same for Duna so that do it. I haven't tried interplanetary in 1.0.x so I don't guarantee the result

Add struts between your stages, this will make your rocket more rigid and will eventually prevent wobbling. You should also consider deactivating the SAS wheels far away from the CoM

They are not on the tech tree: you need a lv1 pilot Kerbonaut for SAS hold and a lv2 for prograde/retrograde hold. Other options are unlocked with higher levels though I don't which at what level. EDIT: ninja'd

So after blowing up a few shuttles, I was testing AIRBRAKES to slow my craft down for reentry and avoid overheating of the rest of the parts. (BTW: AIRBRAKES work great in preventing deadly reentries) Then I noticed something strange during reentry. As you can see in the image below, the AIRBRAKES are doing fine even when fully exposed to hypersonic airflow but for some reason, the two AV-R8 winglets at the back started to slightly overheat even though only their edge is exposed. As both parts have max temperatures of 2000K, this means that the winglets are getting hotter than the airbrakes. I was wondering if this was something normal in real life / in KSP, and what could cause this in the game. Any opinions / explanations ?

Try pressing Alt+X. There's a feature where pressing Alt+W/A/S/D/Q/E changes the default position of stability SAS (from centre to whichever direction your tell it); ie: press Alt+A and your ship will start to rotate left (if facing horizon, surface below) You may have pressed Alt + any other key accidentally. Alt+X resets the SAS back to the centre.

If there is no other instruction about the mission then just make a 2 seated rocket, put any kerbonaut and Haigy inside and launch for a suborbital flight (just get your apoapsis over 70km, no need to circularise) For tutorials, Scott Manley has a very good tutorial series on YouTube for beginners in 1.0. First episode here: