Tazin

Today i went to the south pole of the mun, on an XP run that i did to level up four recent rescues. Spent some time looking for something around that are that looks like a fossilized godzilla. I actually hovered there from the equatorial base, usen the newly discovered translatron from mechjeb. I like it! translating around the surface at 200m/s while holding altitude with 5% throttle feels a lot like what rovers should have been: adventuring around in other planets. The purpose of hovering at a low altitude (got an 18m close call with a peak) was to see if i could find a point of interest, but i didn't. After reaching the south pole, i bit the bullet and googled what was close by. Managed to get to this: The rest of the crew wouldn't come out for a pic. They felt it was cheating. I never would have found that thing by myself anyways, deep down that hole.

I read about the clipping. So i tried a spaceplane with a mk2 cargo bay, with absolutely no clipping in it. It explodes on the runway if i do phisical warp x2. The log claims it is overheating of this component, that component, or the bay itself.

Well, i can't put anything on any cargo bay. I tried 2.5m 1.25m mk2 . . . either the cargo bays explode, or their contents explode. This can happen on load, on time warp, on opening/closing . . . i read this is a common problem with the new heat/aero model . . . any way around it?

I'm curious, how do you know if a certain part is generating drag or is occluded?

You have to land there very slowly for the claw to activate. i think that is your most likely problem. - - - Updated - - - You have to land there very slowly for the claw to activate. i think that is your most likely problem.

The value Violent Jeb is talking about is "total m/s lost due to drag". To me it makes sense, but that value would include piloting, trajectory, and a lot of stuff that i don't care about in plane design. What i mean is, if i put wings in an orange tank, it is more draggy than a MK2 plane, so how do you put a number on that difference, right on the SPH?

Nice catch for MJ! i don't use mechjeb but i think i will install it and get the information tools without the stuff that sort of feels like cheating (not hating on people who play different than me). But still, i feel like there should be a simpler mod to do some basic and simple calculations in the buiilding process of stock aero planes: add total lift and divide by weight, add total drag of exposed parts . . . or at least something that shows the inherent drag of each part, so one can choose part properly.

Hey guys, is there any way in stock or via mods to see in VAB or SPH what is the drag of my vessel? when designing planes i often wonder i adding wings (more lift but more drag) will be worse or better, or if different intakes have different drag values, etc., and a 5 minute test flight adds up significant time when trying out different options . . . Related question, is drag a fixed number, or is it dynamic through flight depending on wich areas are exposed to the prograde, and the speed?

Plane flipping is usually related to the center of mass being behind the center of lift. ALWAYS keep the center of lift behind the center of mass, but not too far away.

Thanks a lot! will keep trying!

Today i was a little curious so i tried boating in KSP. Managed a whooping 50m/s speed after a few tries. Then i googled "ksp water speed record" and saw people doing anywhere between 250 to 310 m/s on water . . . their designs don't seem al that different, put crash resistant parts underneath as floating devices and build a power and control unit on top. The thing is, all results on my search were from 2013 and 2014. Has water changed since then? or am i doing something else wrong?

So, whatever i build should be fine as long as the docking port connected to the IR part i actually the root of my vessel?

I had read it was not possible to attach docking ports to moving parts from Infernal Robotics, but today i saw the Constellation Mission video featured in the KSP facebook page. It is pretty old, from before 1.x, but there the user attaches a winch to a moving arm, and with the winch he picks up a docking port, proceeding to dock several different things with that. Is it still possible to do that?

Thankd guys. I installed KAS. Works like a charm, i only used the pipes. The winch and magnet can still move fuel through?

Temstar's method is what i always use, except with rover wheels instead of landing legs. But it constrains you to one type of design: horizontal modules with side legs. And like Hagen said, if you want to build on a planet with significant gravity, the suspension on legs and rover wheels is enough to break port alignement when the module's weight changes.

I'm tired of building deformities just so they can dock together on the ground . . . sometimes i just want to put a kerbal on EVA next to the two ports, misaligned by 0.1º, and yell at them. So i've decided to bite the bullet and mod . . . what do you recommedn, KIS/KAS for easy refueling, infernal robotics for moving stuff around, or some other better alternative i haven't heard about?

thanks guys. I hope SQUAD keeps adding to the tech tree later on!

Thanks for all the input guys. I read a few tutorials and videos, of people reaching 2000ms of speed and still going on jet power at 27km altitude, one guy stated the idea was to get as much of the circularization done on jet engines because of their extra efficiency. But later i read this is no longer possible after 1.0, since now there is a hard cap of 22km after wich jet engines will simply not work anymore. Is this true? i have not been able to go past 1500ms at around 20km, and that is with insane jet TWR of 3.0 at 0/0 . . . Also, what would you recommend for more realistic spaceplane design: FAR, 1.0.4, or both?

I am playing my first career game ever. Never played any other modes, I simply installed, played the tutorials, and started a Career on normal difficulty. The thing is, i maxxed out the science tree just by exploring mun, minmus, and duna. At first i didn't even know how to get science . . . i wasnt aware i could do crew reports or thermal reading and such, so i spent a lot of time doing contracts for science. What i mean with this is, i wasn't power gaming or anything like that. I never did any biome hopping to max out a planet. It seems to me it was rather easy. What else do i do now with science, i have about 5k science from moho, gilly, eve, and ike (i think).

So after rocketing for a few months, i set out to try spaceplanes. I managed to build a SSTO mk2 with 2 whips and 2 rapiers. I attached a small satellite on top for a contract and it delivered fine. I ran a rescue mission on kerbin orbit and managed it fine. But i tried to add a cargo bay with science and a cockpit with parachutes to my satellite, making it a basic lander for Mun, and ran short of orbit. This is my basic manouver, any help is apreciated: -start both whips and rapiers, take off and climb at 30 or 40 degrees, to 10.000m -level and break sound barrier, keep going up to 1000ms -climb again at 20 degrees until engines run out of air, turn off whips and switch raps, keep going until i hit 75km apo -circularize and drop payload. -sometimes i drop payload and circularize just that, letting the plane fall back into atmosphere. I added more fuel, switched engines, and played around, but it seems i cant get into orbit with a lander using the mk2 4 engine format. My lander currently uses the bigger 1.25m tank, so i guess it weighs around 6 or 7 tons. A couple other spaceplane questions: -what do engine precooler and engine nacelle do? -i feel like i am designing blind on the SPH. I use KER for rocket design, and consider it essential. But i have no similar tool for spaceplanes. What do you guys recommend? -I realize it is not really efficient, but is it possible to design a spaceplane that will do more than a SSTO? like a plane that will go to Duna and return on a single stage? or maybe just land on the moon and return? -I'm still playing 1.0.2, should i upgrade before toying with planes? i understand the aero model is the big change in the upgrade. thanks in advance for sharing the wisdom!

WOOOW that launch window planner really explains it all. Thanks guys! One question, what do the three transfer types mean? Ballistic, mid course, and optimal? for my transfer to Duna they showed no changes in the plot.

I haven't yet done any trips to other planets, just the moon and minmus. I have installed the Kerbal Alarm Clock mod to notify me of when transfer windows become available. My question is, how important are transfer windows? is it impossible to capture yourself to another planet outside the window? does it take tons more of delta v? also, how big are these windows, time wise? do i have to be in orbit already when the window comes, or is it open for several days so that i can send more than one ship?

umh you mean even with drone cores attached, the game will delete them below a certain altitude? or is that if they drop without the cores?

Duh, i had not realized i could change the body in KER. Thanks guys! Well i went ahead and tried the recovery of the boosters with a drone core and parachutes activated through staging, it works! what's more, i realized that you can recover almost 100% of the cost of the booster stage, since they land pretty much on top of the space center. For each side rocket costing $6080, i recovered between $5974 and $5800. I guess rocket fuel es free? lol. To test if Dropbox works, here's a pic of my test rocket:

Well, i've been drawn in. I can't play anything else, i stay up until 2am and wake up at 7am to take the kids to school before work. Oh, sorry, my name is Emilio, i am 35, married, two kids, construction company owner, i live in Argentina. I am addicted to KSP. Before the questions, this is how i play: i have Kerbal Engineer Redux, Waypoint Manager, and Kerbal Alarm Clock. Nothing else. KER i find essential, while the other two are convenient. I understand MechJeb does maneuvers automatically, plus some more things, but i haven't installed it yet. I am playing Career on my first playthrough. It's a good thing i think, since if i had all the parts from the beginning it would have been mind numbing. I have raided the mun and minmus, set up modular roverized bases on each, set up a nice 5 part space station orbiting Kerbin. I am proficient with rendezvous, docking, understanding WTR and DeltaV, ejection angles, etc. I use the cheat sheet on the wiki for DeltaV planning, and KER in flight assistance for ejection angles and stuff. I have never in my life used the SPH or the runway for more than fooling around. Now the questions: - I am planning my first trip to Duna, but i can't find the minimun WTR needed to lift off from Duna with my return vehicle. - Does it make sense to set up a drill and converter on my lander, so that i land with fuel tanks almost empty and generate the fuel needed for return? - I think nuclear propulsion is the best for transfer and orbital stages? - If i set up a drill and fuel converter on the Mun, what is the best way to transfer the produced fuel to a ship? it seems docking in the Mun surface is very complicated, especially aligning docking port height, i haven't yet figured out a way to dock vertically from underneath a ship . . . Is it even desirable to produce fuel on the Mun? i have plans to keep my transfer stage parked and fueled on the Mun, and launch from Kerbin only my landers and/or payloads, dock with the transfer on the Mun, and work from there. Is this overly complicated? Nuclear transfer stages are pretty expensive so i would like to reuse them if possible. - If i put a drone core and enough parachutes on each section of my booster stage, i can recover those empty tanks and engines. Is there a way to activate the parachutes automatically once those parts reach a certain altitude? - if i want to post pics on the forums, can i embed them from my dropbox public folder? I think that is enough for now! thanks!