TrueProphet

The steam controller mode switch does work for me, in 1.1. Similar to the rest of you, though, it does not work in the 1.2 pre release. And it does work in 1.2 proper - sweet!

I was in the exact opposite position - loving rockets, hating space planes. Turns out my solution was simple: career mode, in easy rather than normal. No need to do the contracts that don't interest me (visual survey of X locations etc), but still unlocking parts at a slow enough rate I actually use most of them rather than just skipping to the end of the tech tree, and still a structured progression (Mun, then Minmus, then Duna etc). The other perk of easy rather than normal is less need to grind missions. Now, for spaceplanes, you need more techs just to get going, so I'd suggest easy career with giving yourself enough of a headstart to unlock the minimum viable spaceplane.

I think I have your answer: on the map screen, have you brought up the navball? Until you do, you can't control your craft. If you don't see it at the bottom of the screen, you should see a small arrow in the middle of the bottom of the screen. Hit that, and the navball will appear.

Wow, that's impressive. I hadn't considered repeating measurements to eke out all the available science from them: I assumed repeated measurements yielded no science, rather than a fraction of the science. Your gaining enough in that first mission, that the second mission is all but guaranteed to reach the thermometer.

It's harder to accumulate science in career mode in 1.0 than it was in 0.9. With that in mind, I've tried to develop a checklist to maximise the amount of science you can earn in the first two missions. If people can improve on this, I'd like to hear from them, but I think this is the most you can earn on normal difficulty of stock KSP (at least, without the tedium of walking a kerbal around the space centre). I've tried to include every step so anyone should be able to follow it. For every step where science is collected, select "Keep data" rather than reset or transmit: First mission: Take contracts for Launch Vessel & Gather Scientific Data from Mission Control. Enter VAB and build a rocket with: Command Pod 'chute Flea SRB @ ~40% thrust (right click on the part and set the thrust limiter) Choice of pilot is unimportant Set Staging so that parachute is after the engine [*]On Launch pad: Right click on the command module and take a crew report Select your pilot at the bottom right and select the EVA button Right click on your kerbal and select EVA report Right click on the command module and select Take Data Right click on the command module and select Store experiments Board Engage RCS & SAS if available (R key and T key) Launch! [*]In flight: Crew report Tilt marginally: you want to land on land near the space centre After descent has started, deploy 'chute Land [*]After landing: EVA again Take data from command module Store experiments in command module Board Crew report again EVA again Descend from vehicle EVA report again Recover vessel Recover rest of vessel (it should be visible when you're looking at the space centre, if not you can find it in the tracking station Total science: 31.3 Unlock Engineering 101 & survivability for 20 science in total in the R & D centre. Total science: 11.3 + 20 spent Second mission: VAB: Command Pod 'Chute Science Jr Materials Bay 2x Mystery goos (symmetric, with one close to command pod hatch) Flea SRB @ ~40% thrust Crew: scientist Bob Kerman Set staging [*]On Launch pad: Observe Goo next to hatch Observe Materials Bay EVA Right click on the goo beside the hatch and select remove data Right click on the same goo and select Restore Maneuver your kerbal a little way down the ladder Collect data from materials bay Restore materials bay Climb back up Store experiments Board Engage RCS Launch [*]In flight: Tilt further towards the water to land in different biome (i.e. water) Observe Goo Observe Materials Bay After descent has started, deploy 'chute [*]After landing: Observe other Goo - the one further away from the hatch Crew report EVA Collect data from materials bay. This is the data we took in flight. Reset Materials bay Observe Materials bay again to get data in the water. Descend from vehicle EVA report Board vehicle again if possible (if not, you'll need to recover the kerbal and the vehicle separately, like for the first mission) Recover vessel Total science: 65.7 + 20 spent Unlock Basic Science to gain access to the thermometer, which gives more opportunities to collect science on future missions. Total science: 20.7 + 65 spent As I said before, I'd love to hear improvements and suggestions.

Perfect - thank you. For anyone else with the same issue, the full path is ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/common/Kerbal Space Program/settings.cfg and the description to use for the command keys are LeftApple and RightApple

Is it possible to redefine the mod key? I'm using OS X, and trying to trim a plane in flight. Only problem is, that the key shortcut alt-s is instead triggering a Steam shortcut. (I'm also hitting issues with alt-f-number keys instead triggering OS X functions, but that's less significant). Changing the mod key from alt to cmd would solve this, but doesn't seem to be an option within the KSP settings. Any ideas would be appreciated.