MassoudGL

Thanks for all the advice. My game time is pretty far, around 8 years in. I managed last night to get a K-E-K-K-J path but it took quite a while and wasn't cheaper than 1200m/s. But practice and hours of experimentation make perfect? I also use Mechjeb, I noticed that changes of 0.1m/s make a huge difference haha.

A few questions. So I've been reading guides and watching the Manley video on gravity assists. But most of these are two years old and I'm not sure if things have changed or not. I've used gravity braking and small assists often enough that I'm comfortable with them and I understand the concept. I am currently trying to send stuff to Jool via an Eve gravity assist. I've seen that you can save somewhere around 1000k+ÃŽâ€v if done correctly and even sloppily. This doesn't make sense to me because the ÃŽâ€v to get to Eve is around 1080, while Kerbin->Jool is ~1900, according to the Olex calculator. I actually have a near perfect transfer window lined up currently, I'll arrive at Eve within 5 days of Eve->Jool. But even still, regardless of how close I get to the planet, I can only manage to get near Duna's orbit without a retroburn. So I'm now assuming that planning transfers doesn't really matter because you would need several encounters to get to Jool? As it stands now, I can get to Jool with 1080ÃŽâ€v ->Eve + ~1200ÃŽâ€v powered assist near Eve periapsis. More than 1900ÃŽâ€v, so why bother? Otherwise I assume my journey will look more like Kerbin ->Eve, then back to Kerbin, then back to....Kerbin again? Gaining slightly more energy each time? Until I finally swing up to intersect Jool's orbit with small correctional burns?

So I made these MkIII SSTOs. They're pretty all right. The only thing is that they make things in their vicinity explode. It started with reaction wheels onboard both wings exploding when switching to the plane or timewarping. Then they started causing other nearby ships to explode..I just tried landing one at the KSC and as I was coming in (I was still airborne and pretty far still), I started seeing explosions at the rocket hangar. It had moderate damage when I arrived... So...what? Mods I have installed: Mechjeb KER Astronomers visual pack stage recovery chatter alarm

I have this problem when I just speed up time. Reaction wheels explode I guess from time to time

I still get this bug strangely.

I have to use claws on landers for Gilly because I'm too impatient to wait 4 minutes for things to settle after already waiting like 15 minutes for the lander to fall from 1000m. Unless I use a bunch of fuel just shooting myself down.

So I've been spending way too much time making an SSTO that can go to Minmus (spoiler: I haven't done it). But I noticed something interesting. Fins placed on top of my plane structure offset the thrust, by 0.1 degree in this case. Even with fins small enough that they don't offset it in the data, you can see in the aerodynamic overlay that it lifts to the left (or right if you place them mirrored). It's driving me insane though, because 0.1 is easily enough to pull me off course on the way up. So much so that my inclination is way off if I'm not constantly pulling right. What's really weird is that it even pulls left in space. Actually noticeably more so. And the offset appears while on runway. But then without the tail fin, there is still a 0.1 degree offset, in space and in the atmosphere, at random different points. Though never when on the ground or at low speeds. But leftward pull is far less even still. I'm not sure the best way to post images, but here are some screenshots:http://imgur.com/a/QqOn4 I figure some of this is just changes in atmospheric drag, it's still weird that it occurs in space

Title pretty much says it. I'm building a MKIII SSTO for interplanetary travel. I can get the thing into orbit and back but having a lot of trouble getting it out of LKO with a lab and mining equipment. I've seen some successful designs with a poodle, though the rhino has better Isp. but 1.75t vs 9t. I''m currently using 8 rapiers, 4 rams 4 cones, and either a poodle or rhino on the back for better Isp in space. Weight is about 120 tons.

I don't like/understand the merge button currently. I tried to attach a spaceplace to a VAH, it would't/would only attach at crazy angles. And that was after resetting roots on both vessels. Eventually I got them attached by subassemblying the VAH. I could very well be doing something wrong.