Warzouz

That is so true :D, I don't use my 15T launcher anymore. Why launch one satellite when you can launch 2 for twice the price .

As many said, it's a matter of taste. The higher the local-TWR, the more easy and quick it is to manoeuvre but you get extra weight. On atmospheric bodies, high TWR may not be very comfortable, you can end burning your ship while ascending. On airless bodies, there is no such issue. For my part, I prefer to have generic science landers which behaves always the same and which can land mostly anywhere. I favour having much more d-V than needed (7T lander with 3000 m/s and Terrier - variant with chutes for Duna), that way I can do various missions (biome hop, rescue kerbals, even travel to other SOI). As I stick a space station near every planetary body I use a heavy lander (40 to 60 tons) to refuel from mostly every bodies. One trip of the refueller can refill 4 times a 3000m/s science lander.

Many good advice here, I would only add that your fins are attached to your asparagus parts. So when you dump your empty tanks and engine, you loose fins. Fins are usefull not as take-off, not in high atmoshpere but in the low-middle (between 5 to 25km). In that location, you're dumping your fins/wings. You loose their advantage. To be usefull, you should stick you fins on the central tank so they wouldn't be discarded too soon. But this is not always possible. that's why I gave up using asparagus. You could try to have a bigger central engine/tank, and smaller lateral booster (liquid or solid). That way you would be able to dump your stage and still have your wings. For my part, I use SSTO rockets : their flight profile is the same all the way up. It's much eaiser to design

OK, I'm organizing the meeting in 10 days for the presentation : I invited the to discover the occult orbital mechanics (cabalistic figures, mathematical incantation and Bone reading into Excel sheets) and about rocket alchemy.I explained I tested the presentation on my wife and that she saved (most of) her mental sanity I'll tell you how it'll end (vomit, loss of conciousness, suicides) (Warning : this is not a pentagram for repelling evil spirits and IRS tax controllers...)

14 tons ? A Mainsail and 2 orange tanks should get you to orbit even without staging. Any launcher with minimum 3200m/s will do. 3400m/s to be comfortable or if you payload is very un-streamined. As always, if you rocket becomes unstable and flips, add more fins, or even wings at the bottom. This is for 1.0.4, and quite cheap. I think the lightest launcher will reenter without much trouble (heavier ones are more concerned about heating). But if you discover the game, the best thing to do is to build a launcher your self, then upgrade it until it's stable and reliable. You can then adapt it to various payload. It's best to get your own launcher you're easy with. It takes a bit of time at first And if you like space stations, check here :

This morning, I've tested it on my wife as guinea pig. She found the presentation understandable and interesting (she wasn't enthusiast at first... - that was quite a requisition !). But i was 20min too long (40 if I want to make a brake). The 3 powerpoints on orbital mechanics are nice but the rocket one is too long. I have to shorten it. I could, but it's in french. I'll see if I've time to translate.

I've created most of the powerpoint support. It's quite big (50 slides) but each slide is very light. Most of them only have only on image. I'll issue invitation next week.

My son just landed on Minmus, using KerbalX. He didn't want MechJeb's help, but he got some Mech-daddy's help to get a proper intercept and return home.

@sal_vager, where is the air intake in you plane ? The front par doesn't seem to be a precooler.

Then I'll ask for a simulation into KSP

I found how I'll do it For the time : I'll offer a mid day break between 12 and 14h, I'll bring the cakes (that's not a lie :D). I'll start explaining and lunch around 13h. I'll show some vids and enter in free form discussion. Then I'll continue on until 14h. A for the presentation, I'll stick with : Question + Illustration and enter a quick discussion Illustration + illustration and enter a quick explaination What to remind goto 1 on next topic I'm on vacation next week, I've work to do ! As for orbital velocity, I found that Orbital velocity is grossly % to body size from the same altitude from the surface (assuming same body density). TWR would have to be % to body mass (earth related) A x1.25 sized earth would require 1.25 orbital velocity and TWR=2 (earth related) A x2 sized earth would require 2 orbital velocity and TWR=8 (earth related)

Something I may use to illustrate dV and TWR : what would be the dV to Low "earth" orbit if Earth was double sized (mass x8) Earth was 25% larger (mass x2) What would be the compared TWR (in earth-like value, not local body value - which should be > 1) to lift off ?

Yes it's quite nice. I had quite a hard time to understand the rocket and flag icons But even the "realistic" value is very overfueled.

@Kerbal101, I may try to aim at 30km, but the issue it messes with targeting KSC. I'll try that even though. As for chute, you use much more than I use. Even the 600 tons stage has only 24 chute. For a 4 ton per chute, I would need nearly 120 chutes. Instead a slight burn will reduce part count. Drogues may be not necessary for light stages, but much more useful for heavy ones. I like to test with the 300 tons.

Not if you assume it's a simulation. A simulation don't have to start by the launch of the vehicle. Of course it's subjective, but using HE is not different than having a simulation, or even testing in sandbox.

A also had the ladder problem which is a pain with my generic lande design when I want to get science from the Lab Jr which is on top a landing can Mk1 I also have a problem I don't know how to handle : After EVA, the Kerbal orients itself Normal ("head up") what ever the ship is. Leaving the ladder is not a problem but somtime grabing it is a pain, especially when the ship is "horizontal" (radial or prograde). The Kerbal grab the ladder and is pushed away quite fast out of it. I sometime had to redo it 5 or 6 times before really grab the ladder. I never figure how to set the orientation of the kerbal away from "Normal".

Well, aside from SQUAD saying they don't want aliens in the game, I don't grasp the point of that feature. This is merely textual and very random which offers no real gameplay improvement. This would only makes sense if interstellar and galactic mods were stock.

Yes, I don't feel this is a needed feature. Sandbox mod + Hyperedit does do the trick. As said, KSP is a simulation. A more gameplay feature would be to be able to prepare the mission in advance (setting nodes, checking for transfer windows, select landing site...)

I did a 3min teaser this morning at the end of a team meeting. It seems many are interested or at least amused Now I've to create the powerpoint. But I'm quite reassured, while doing my teaser, I found tons of resources on the net, I won't have to draw anything myself. For example : Gravity turn explained in one image

[Troll] What? that's totally cheating! [/Troll]

On most of my ship, I always lock the small batteries in pods and probe cores so I always have a safety. Those bats should be enough to let me shutdown other parts. But, it's quite strange that you can't disable research/refinery when you don't have any power left. It's only a switch or a cable to cut...

Sad, so I'm not 0.6xp short but 4.6 short (59.6xp). Orbiting Mun and Minmus are 5xp, that'll do it, but it's a bit complex to do it in only one mission (which was the original concept. On the other hand, what @juanml82 says makes sense : at the start of the game, you don't have 16 kerbals, and as you may have the technology to go to Jool, you may have several which kerbal already did Mun and Minmus. So the first trip to Jool may not need to go to Bop after all but land at Pol.

No I don't have but I still have the ship. It was q quick and dirty ship, just to test the navigation. I used a MK3 passenger module some fuel tank, a large heat shield at the front and LVN engines at the back with coolers. There wasn't any command pods but a probe core and some reactions wheels and solar panels (sufficient as my vehicle wasn't power hungry) As it was a test run, I hyperedited it to LKO. The ship has really nothing special. Just a dV, engines and passenger capacity.

@Tex_NL, I'm already at CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT = 8

I wouldn't bet on it. It seems 1.1 focuses on the technical migration. There is no really new feature (maybe a better or alternative sorting for the tracking station). My hopes goes for 1.1.x (x>0)