cwalrus

I've searched and I'm surprised not to find a sticky for this or something - what are all the bloody acronyms? One I can't find is SQRT - what is that??? Thanks a lot!

I guess I should be asking, what are the pros and cons. Sounds like people don't use both at the same time?

Hi - didn't know if this is the right forum to post this in. Which is better? Should I use both? I've only used Mechjeb, and honestly I don't know how the game can be played without it!

To be honest, I feel like I should be looking at it like "We Kerbals have never flown to Jool before!" .... so therefore, to 'succeed' properly, I have to calculate all the .... myself, at least once.....! I mean, how the hell do they know how much DV it takes? If they knew, they wouldn't need me! But that's an awful lot of math when I'm just trying to geek out.

awesome answers - thanks aha! Metric tons!

I wasn't planning on doing this but i got sucked in - I want to calculate some of the math myself. BUT Starting with TWR - if is is (Force in KN) divided by ( (Mass) Times (Local gravity) The mass on the chart* is listed in Tons, is it not??? So I'm dividing kgs by pounds... ! Furthermore it turns out you should just put in the number listed in the chart- e.g. for mass for the terrier engine, you put in .5 and get the correct TWR listed. You don't put in 1000lbs, or 453 kgs.... ?WT∆? Secondly, when it lists the TWR in a vacuum, why are we putting in Kerbin's gravity? won't there technically be no gravity (or almost none) when it actually is in space? OR is this number for a vacuum sitting on the planet's surface? *Chart: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Parts#Liquid_Fuel_Engines

Thanks for the tips - but the question remains: So far, I can't see that Level 3 Mission control has done anything, other than unlimited contracts... Maybe I just got excited because I saw "flight Planing available" instead of maneuver nodes... oh well. BTW I just use DeltaV charts from around the web to plan - I can't decide if that's cheating or not... but I do know I don't want to spend 50% of the game getting to a planet and going "Well, I need more fuel!" over and over again... I still die all the time!

Yes at this point I concur as well! I think it's calculating the terminal velocity factor. Basically this is a MechJeb question... If I can find the exact set up I'll post. Thanks!

I've seen a lot of disparate information on this - I just upgraded my mission control building to Level 3 and it says "Flight Planning Available." According to other posts (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103170-What-is-Flight-Planning-Available) you have to upgrade both the Mission control building and the Tracking station to get Maneuver nodes. However, I've had Manuever nodes since early on, after upgrading the Tracking Station...so I"m wondering, did I unlock something else I can't find now? Is there some way to 'plan' and entire mission to a planet and back? Anyone clarify?

Thanks - all good points. I'm using Mechjeb's Delta V stats, which i trust completely (shouldn't I?) The one time my 'intuition' is kicking in is if I have 3 stages coupled radially, all with Skippers or Mainsails. In that case, pretty much the same engine, right? So you would think that having all of them on would produce the biggest TWR to get you out of the atmosphere the quickest. However, it seems consistent that if I move the center engine up in the stages (i.e. towards stage 2) and keep it off until later, it actually increases my Dv. (wait... trying to find the delta on my keyboard...AHA! Option J! ) This is with everything asparagus'd . You know what... let me check that.... ∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆âˆâ€

Some times I find myself with asparagus setups that seem to indicate if I keep the center engine OFF during takeoff, my final Delta-V is better. This seems counter-intuitive to me - I figure, if it's pointing down, turn it on! Esp. if it's the last in the chain of the asparagus. Why do my Delta-V stats say otherwise? Any ideas? thanks!