Evanitis

Do you need an actual formula to calculate that on paper? That's not my cup-of-tea, but manuver nodes can just display this, even in stock. If you right click the node, there are two small buttons that move the maneuver between future passes of the orbit. These buttons: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/images/5/55/TwoBlue.jpg

Ion engines are stock, as I recon the parts sit somewhere on the very end of the tech-tree.

I totally love the 'Kerbal' way of engineering - as in eyeballing designs and field testing hundred tonnes of rockets a few times to see if they blow up when ignited. Your flowchart got me to smile - I'd totally hang it on my wall if it was a colorful, illustrated supplement. I also prefer to 'add moar boosters' and 'moar struts' as a go-to problemsolving method. But I also know it's the way I find the most fun, and not the ideal one. I know if I had difficulties, the best way to overcome them would be efficiency and math. The process is described very well in this neat, fresh tutorial. If someone told me he can't get to space / orbit / Mun / etc, I'd probably directed them there - even though I think the 'figure out by trial-and-error' way is the most enjoyable solution. So my point? Dunno, forgot it while writing this post. But I'd turn your finished flowchat into a big, colorful, illustrated poster once it's done - if you didn't originally plan to do so.

I wanna finish a ground-level Kerbin circumnavigation. Only ~96% of the distance remaining. I need to stack up on audiobooks before dedicating much time to the project. Wanna do a Jool-5 round with a low enough part-count for my potatoe to handle. Probably a Tylo-capable reusable miner-rocket will do the trick. Wanna finish my SSTOception project: A tiny spaceplane carried to LKO-Laythe by a bigger spaceplane. It -should- be able to glide down and climb back before returning to Kerbin. Crafts feel good already, need to work on the ascent profile on the bigger one. Pretty pointless trip, but Jeb insists.

Voted 'No way man', but I'm convinced that you'll have a pretty fun time with the attempts. I suggest adding moar boosters. Maybe heatshields and a lot moar boosters. And struts to keep even moar boosters together. YAY! Can't wait for the screenshots!

I tend to place orbital refineries on Minmus and moons of planets that I'm interested in during career games. But I'm a lazy overbuilder who rarely touches math. I prefer to eyeball my designs. Having ISRUs around means I can just throw random crafts towards random bodies and decide what to do once I'm there. If I make mistakes near a mining operation, I usually don't need an interplanetary rescue to fix those. In the worst case scenario, I can just send home the Kerbals with the refinery, or in some loose parts of it. Of course, if you take pleasure in pre-planning and perfectly executing all your missions, mining has no point.

Sea... the Final Frontier... to boldly go to the exact opposite direction sane kerbonauts usually aim for... ...but I don't have a clue how to start. My ship-prototypes tend to sink, while my test-submarines float happily. Both have a tendency to break apart when I get them into water. Ok, I heard that filled ore tanks are good for ballast, but that's the end of my expertise. What to use for propulsion? And for steering? Some smart way to get to water without hyperediting? Is there a way to EVA down there? I'm looking for vague, general advice here. I'm mainly interested in stock-solutions, but I don't mind a few targeted mods either if it's needed for certain tasks. So... how should a spacelubber start to conquer the waters of Kerbin?

Dang, that's some silly mechanism. Nice find, neat fix - thanks for making it.

I rember a mod that does this - I think it was called "KerbalMass" or something like that. Though I couldn't find it with a quick search, so I can't tell if it still works on the current version.

I kinda' like when I have to re-design old crafts and re-learn routine procedures when an update hits. Overcoming difficulties is fun, and I love that I don't have to leave Kerbin SoI to find them. I also understand why others who prefer other aspects of the game dislike the changes. Good thing there's a slider for heating, so who cares.. I'm very early in my 1.0.5 career, so I'm yet to see how difficult it gets. So far I'm using engines as heat-shields while unlocking batteries very early, so I can just use SAS to hold retrograde for me. I know I could do it manually without batts, but I prefer to timewarp down there with my hands free for smoke and booze. Guess the next step will be to unlock docking ports early, so I can just leave the useful bits in orbit while keeping the mass to land minimal. No more rushing for big engines and fuel tanks. Can't wait to see how painful interplanetary trips and SSTO landings became. I hope I'll see some extensive radiator-testing before I'll need to do it myslef. I never touched those in 1.0.4 - I prefered to have extra dV or a heatshield if all else failed. I have a feeling that rads became more relevant now.. in case they work as intended... and if those are inteded to work as I suspect it.

I blown up the launchpad and the VAB on a single launch on tech level 0. Though it was a challenge I came up with, but didn't get a single entry. Don't think I ever destroyed any building unintentionally.

I had great fun with low-tech spaceplanes before - though I started my relevant career save in 1.0.4. I didn't have those fun little new engines, so I taken a Whiplash test mission to never complete, while only having Mk 1 structural parts. The most I managed to construct is this munar biome-hopper / Duna craft. It's definately an SSTO, and almost everything on it lands that isn't considered payload. Except those wings on the front, but no one will notice that. It has 3.5k dV on LKO, and a whopping 7 terriers for the silliest suicide burns. About building hints... I feel it's impossible to fully separate lifting parts from a considerably sized payload on this tech level. Disposable wings help here. Of course you don't need nearly as much for LKO rescues, but why stop there? Last time I checked, even some stock planes could do recues well enough. Compared to sane SSTOs, the only extra difficulty here is that the wet/dry CoM/CoL should be aligned not just for the whole craft, but for the separated lifter part too, in order to land it.

I considered this option, but I lack the experience with the new small drill and generally in mining around Kerbin. I had the impression that I need a certain resource density to fill the tanks, and this design doesn't really allow me to make detours - driving the ore on land feels extremely dangerous. To be frank, underwater driving feels the same: I can't EVA down there, so a flip, or minor damage means I need an ocean-rescue, and I need to take the crew back to the shore I started, as I found no way to replace the vessel in the sea. So the best I can safely do with this design is like 15m/s without phisics warp. That means I only leave land when I really really need to. Though it does worth a try to put a drill on the next replacement vehicle - it might save me a few air-drops.

Started building prototypes for a Kerbin circumnavigation. It was fun, since I never made a boat, or a rover more complex than it's needed to farm sci in KSC. I failed to grant acceptable on-water speed and/or survivability to the designs, but than I realized that I don't have to stay above the surface in this version. Swapped the jet engine with ballast tanks, what resulted in the first successfull test run of the Bugnautica Mk 0. Now I just need to kerbal it and the journey can start. PB-NUKs ensure that I will not need fuel, yet I will need to send 3000 ore every time when it needs to pass water, as the ballast is too heavy to safely transport it trough hills and whatnot. That's goona be fun.

Design tip: put the payload and the interplanetary stage upside down at the top of the rocket, so the nuke points upwards at launch. Than it's sleek shape becomes a merit.

Same here. And checking the Pro SSTO pilot thread shows, that even my orbits are like 10km lower than what the experts achieve. I just keep my fuel on LKO. I might need a few hundred extra dV for going interplanetary, but my gas-station is right in my backyard and I don't have to hassle with Minmus inclination. And if I really need that dV, I can just refuel twice in Kerbin SoI.

13. And I deserve a cookie for giving an actual number. Not that I'm superstitious, I just checked that my main KSP install has 12 mods. That was the point when I decided to make separate KSP installs for different challenges.

Welcome to the forum! I wonder if people have much hiring experience at all... The cost of recruiting kerbals is outrageously high... even if I don't account the fact that we get payed if we rescue Kerbals from LKO. It's an easy mission and virtually any number of such contracts can be done in one launch. As we don't have to feed them, it's easy to quickly end up with 30+ kerbals just by picking one or two up when going to or returning from missions.

I prefer to think that kerbals doesn't have a perception of time. The fact that Jeb still smiles if I leave him on Eve for a couple centuries backs my theory.

I think Kerbol is pretty far and easy to spot, so no map is needed. I believe I could easily reach that. Too bad I lack the hardware to record a video.

My present solution: A serious self-imposed limitation made the routine parts like geting to space or orbit challenging, thus not grindy. Some starting science eliminated the need of rolling around KSC in a pod. 50% science gain ensures that I'm not unlocking the tree in the Kerbin SoI or with the first interplanetary mission.

Made my separate install for pod-racing - as the above example shows it was not in vain. Had some figuring out to do, as I never touched any of the required or suggested mods before. Using 'em all, as I aim for the full experience. Now I got the basics, has a very simple, bare-bones vehicle in the garage that is capable of killing a kerbal in fracture seconds. Now I can start the tweaking... less speed, more control until perfect balance is achieved. Or sufficient balance at least. It looks like great fun, though I foresee a long process. And I thought SSTOs were hard.

Don't blame them. Those of us who prefer to build stuff instead of flying them don't go there too often. I don't even like to look at such pictures, because I might notice solutions I'd rather discover myself. Though I don't mind cool rapier-plane designs, as I have a tendency to restart my career when I get near to the end of the tech-tree. Though I'll totally try strapon lifting with jet-engines.

Note: the carft file includes a MechJeb Module. Thought I don't have to mention that, because of the MJ related part of the op.

It sounds he didn't have too much time to cheer for the lucky landing.