LN400

That's the puzzling bit. It isn't and doesn't. I wonder if KER's AtEAN is what it says it is. As I approached and passed the AN, that angle read some 154 degrees in this case. In fact, the angle maxes out at 157.38-some at periapsis, reaches about 154 degrees at AN and is down to 151.08-some as it approaches the periapsis.

The AoA for a rocket is simply the angle between the longitudinal axis (the center marker on your nav ball) and the direction of flight (the prograde marker). Basically, what it means is: Keep the nose of the rocket centered on the prograde marker. EDIT Have a look at page 2 http://www.philsrockets.org.uk/forces.pdf

Got some testing done with KER + a satellite, 0.00005 degrees inclination relative to Mun so for all practical purposes of this test, this is an equatorial orbit. The reference is fixed but boy was this confusing. True anomaly in radians and all other angles are in degrees, including all the other anomalies. Took a few moments before it dawned on me. WHY? So: Semi-major axis and eccentricity check out fine when I calculate them based on Apo/Peri. True anomaly checks out with 2*pi at peri and pi at Apo. Eyeballing Arguement of Periapsis and it seems to check out fine. Since the orbit is slightly inclined, the AN stays put and everything looks ok. Longitude of AN checks out, it seems, in that the angle changes predictably when I move the AN around. If I don't burn, it stay constant. Same for AoP. Angle to Equ. AN is a bit of a mystery though. I haven't been able to make any sense of what I read out of KER, increasing and decreasing in a way I can't suss out.

That is all well and true. However, as I said in the original post, KER shows 5 of the 6 parameters: Semi-major axis Eccentricity Inclination Arguement of Periapsis Longitude of Ascending Node (in addition: angle to AN) Only the reference point is missing. The point of this is that it appears that one can calculate where that reference is relative to your ship. The pondering is due to the uncertainty of how "fixed" this reference point is as far as KER is concerned but it does seem like it is fixed.

I agree. It would allow for an interesting kOS orbit script.

That would be it. Perhaps it is arbitrary but it can still be fixed, and determined, or at least that's my original question.

Well yes, that is true but for calculating orbits, it would still be a factor. Vernal is perhaps the wrong word but what would one call the reference point in KSP?

First, I have gathered there is no straight forward way of knowing where vernal equinox is in KSP using only stock game information but I was wondering: KER has 2 items under Orbital: Longitude of Ascending Node. Angle To Equ. Ascending Node. Both of these are in degrees. To my brain, it sounds like one can use these 2 in tandem to determine where in the orbital path vernal equinox (VE) is. The Angle is the angle between the ship and AN. The LAN is the angle between VE and AN. When these 2 angles are equal, then you have found the "VN spot" for your orbit. By subtracting angles, you can determine where you are relative to VE. Am I totally wrong or would this make sense? Any thoughts?

Thanks. It appears that it does come with some additional features though like selecting which type of fuel. Is this possible to remove for someone not familiar with coding far beyond hello world?

When setting the resources load in the VAB, like fuel, stock game only allows that to be set in 10% increments. That makes fine tuning extremely difficult. Is there a mod that will ONLY let one set the resources load in say 0.5% increments instead of 10%, or in 0.5 kg increments, just to mention one other possible way?

As for that Apollo, that's now history since I uninstalled FASA but the main thing, staging is as relevant as ever.

Some down to it, serious stompin rock'n'roll, and only 2 guys Play LOUD. Same guys. This one had me fooled. I wondered who the heck played like that in the 50's/60's? From what's arguably the most fiery hot live recording ever from the great man himself, Sam Cooke.

Alright. Did a brief test and it does help tons. However, there is this one thing. The list interface works but what I had in mind was also about GUI: To have a panel where you did not need to go to each part as here but where all the functions you want are all gathered on one panel in plain view, with lights to help you quickly determine of say a battery was disconnected, or a fuel valve closed, and switches to connect/disconnect/open/close/whatever. The functionality would pretty much be the same but one panel would make it easier to get that quick overview for quick decisionmaking and acting. There appears to be a few issues with this mod as well, like what I understood was overriding RemoteTech's delay and requirement for comlink to KSC. Otherwise, definitely an asset when things get big, complicated and unwieldy.

Mucho gracias! Downloading now to check it out.

Getting more and more frustrated with FASA and attempting to build a functional Apollo mission using non-FASA parts.

Would it be possible for one of you modders to create a mod that does this: Let the player select items from all the right-click menus on a given craft. Have a draggable panel with buttons/switches and lights for each item selected above. Have each fuction on the panel labeled where the player can type in anything One zone on the panel consists of: Label, light, switch/button/read-out. The player can rearrange these zones. The idea is to have quick and easy-to-read access to various functions and statuses without having to right click. You might say you can use action groups, or extended action groups but these will not tell the status of each menu item, that is which RCS thrusters are off, or on, which fuel tank valves are open or closes, etc etc.

See, that's the thing. I've tried that but like I said above, nothing in IVA view is clickable here. Absolutely nothing. Where ever I click, be it yellow levers, knobs, switches, flight sticks, anything, nothing happens. EDIT: Watching a video on how to EVA from the lander, I noticed that the LEM in the video was a 3 kerbal lander with a center camera where one can click these levers. However, the LEM in FASA is a 2 kerbal lander with no center camera. Could this be the reason?

Ok, my turn to feel stupid but I have 2 guys inside the LEM now and can't for the life of me figure out how to unlock the inner hatch. Nothing is clickable that I have been able to find. No right click menu or access via action keys. How on Kerbin does one unlock this hatch from IVA?

One mod you could try out, if building weird and wonderful stuff is your thing, is Infernal Robotics. Combine it with KIS/KAS and Tweak Scale to get the most out of it.

I need some help here, guys, with my poor attempt at making a working Apollo mission: This craft file is only FASA + KER dependent. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jqd2myerwho26km/AAAyu-VDOHpasAkalD2CuMSwa?dl=0 This is what I attempt to do: Launch normally and send Apollo + 3rd stage towards Mun. So far that bit works. Release the CSM and dock with the LEM. This bit finally works too but it's darned tricky to maneuver the CSM without a reaction wheel. Release the LEM from the bay before the Munar orbit burn. Here is where things start to go south. Have the stages in proper order after releasing the LEM from the bay (here in order of event, not staging number): 1) CSM engine startup. 2) LEM descent engine startup 3) Separation of ascent module 4) Startup of LEM ascent engine Here are the problems I'm having: 1) Work out the proper staging sequence in the VAB so that the above order of events will be correctly sorted after docking with the LEM on the way to Mun. 2) The game and KER will not give me a performance readout for stage 3. No dv, thrust, fuel remaining or anything. Instead KER will tell me about the next stage (bay fairings separation). KER shows 0 dv available while the engine itself works. 3) Stage 3 and above are all impossible to keep steady. From It will start to oscillate while orbiting Kerbin before the transfer burn. Both reaction wheel on S3 and RSC are well busy but that changes the orbit somewhat and the maneuver marker moves around whenever the RCS are pushing. What could cause this refusal to stay put? 4) After docking and separating from the bay, the active craft is set to S3, not the CM.

And a new issue on "advanced staging", just to sound pretentious Ok, I have put together an Apollo/Saturn V rocket courtesy of the FASA mod, and RIC's method works in the VAB. It appeared to have worked when I docket the CSM to the LEM in that the staging was in the same order as in the VAB. It was after the Mun transit burn and docking that it dawned on me that the CSM engine came in a later stage and that the first stage after jettison the 3rd stage/bay was the LEM's landing engine. I thought, no biggie, I just move the CSM engine stage down and that should solve it. Wrong. The stage did appear as the upcoming stage but when I tapped space, the LEM's landing engine fired up and the icon moved in with the CSM icon below. I tapped space again but then the LEM's ascent engine fired up. Another tap on the space bar separated the landing module from the ascent module. The CSM engine remained cold all throughout the madness even though it was the first-to-happen on the list. Not sure how to upload the craft file without registering at some site but if necessary, I could give it a try. Another issue with this rocket is: After releasing the CSM from the bay, to do the docking, the uncontrolled 3rd stage with the LEM was now the active craft and I had to [ my way over to the CSM. The CSM is the root part in the VAB.

Give RIC a huge cigar, kingdom or a horse, it seems to work perfectly, at least in the VAB. EDIT: It would perhaps be nice if Squad implemented some better visual clues to which part each staging icon belongs to. The highlight can be a bit difficult to see at times. Perhaps something like a line drawn from the icon to the corresponding part, or a label on the icon.

I have to try this. Man if that works here then you just saved my day!

When attaching a multi stage sub assembly, what I get is an unholy mess in the staging with the events spreading out with total disregard to where the parts in question are attached. Is this inevitable with the current game code or are there hints and tips on how to make this a more pleasant experience? PS: Same problem occurs when docking to a multi stage ship while in orbit. After docking it can be a bit of a nightmare to sort the staging in the correct order so this really is a bit of an issue.

The method totally depends on the rover. Some are landers as well as rovers, especially if they are designed to re-orbit to dock with say, a space lab, others might have a small tank/engine strapped to them that they just drop and wiggle off after landing, other big ones can have a dedicated sky crane, and some micro rovers are attached to the manned lander.