MaxwellsDemon

Actually, max Q is precisely why I prefer to lose my non-throttleable solid boosters at that point. I may be doing the wrong thing, of course, but it's not completely without cause.

Rover experiment update: Adding four landing legs worked! Landing profile: 1. Re-enter 2. Blow aeroshell 3. Coast to safe parachute level 4. Deploy chute 5. Jettison pallet and heat shield 6. Deploy landing legs 7. Land 8. Retract landing legs and drive on my way rejoicing! Thanks for the tips. Also yesterday, designed a multiprobe stack to deploy all ScanSats and resource scanners in polar orbit of a single target body, and tested it out with Minmus. A few minor redesigns needed, but the concept is sound.

I'll give the wheels-and-legs solution a try, too. Thanks!

Further update: It doesn't matter where they're built. It must be a "control from here" thing...

I was really surprised the first time I experienced an eclipse, also... I was tooling around KSC with a rover, and was trying to charge it back up and nothing was happening! I right clicked on it and saw... "blocked by Mun"! I panned up, and sure enough, there was the darn Mun crossing the sun's disk. I actually laughed out loud (not the first time KSP has done that to me, nor the last). After reading some of the forum notes, I came to understand it's not an uncommon situation, but it throws you for a loop the first time out!

This is something I had trouble with-- this and my rocket "flexing" and often breaking up. There doesn't seem to be one magic formula, but a few things I've observed so far: 1. The brawniest booster isn't necessarily the best booster. I found I was trying to muscle my way into orbit too quickly, where a less-powerful engine burning longer worked better. 2. Strategically-placed struts can help make your stack more rigid if you tend to build tall like I do. 3. Tail fins only really help in the lower atmosphere, but try larger ones if you think it might be a control issue. 4. Your mileage may vary, but I've had the most success with a "core" sustainer stage surrounded by solid boosters that (ideally) are expended right about the time I get to 300 m/s. Changing the number and size of solid boosters to aim at that mark seems to work for me.

The trouble I've had is trying to get the rover off the pallet after landing. The rover's as small as I can make it.. a RoveMate with six RoveMax S2 wheels-- one pair at midbody, and the front and rear extended on outriggers using a couple of little "cubic octagonal" struts to lengthen the wheelbase, battery packs slung under the vehicle to keep the COG low, and every available surface plastered with solar panels (apart from the scientific instruments). Basically my attempt at a "Sojourner." On my first go-around, I put it on top of a small strut with a TR-2V decoupler, on top of a heat shield, put a parachute on top, and lobbed it into a short suborbital flight from KSC to test it. It survived landing fine, but then the rover couldn't get off the heat shield. Removing the strut placed the wheels in contact with the heat shield, and evidently enough of a shock gets transmitted through to break the wheels... same when I put a 2x2 panel under the rover and ejected the heat shield before landing. My fourth attempt, which I'll be trying this evening, is going for more of a skyhook arrangement, with the small strut and TR-2V on top, with the rover hanging from it, with the landing legs, etc., around it like a "garage." I hadn't thought of simply putting landing legs on the rover and then retracting them. Another thing to try... (I don't doubt this problem has been solved many times over... but I'm trying to go easy on looking over other peoples' shoulders except when I'm truly stumped. )

Over the weekend, completed my un-Kerballed exploration of all Mun biomes (though the canyons took a couple of extra tries before I managed to find a flat place to land), had a rover blow up on me for some reason (it was on autopilot and I was looking away at the time, so I'm not sure why; but I suspect instability), did my first flyby of Moho, and launched the B612 probe toward Eve orbit. Currently experimenting with ways to deliver rovers without breaking the wheels upon landing... Edited to add: I forgot that I also managed a probe-rescue mission... one of my Munar probes made it back to Kerbin orbit but without enough delta-V to re-enter. I launched a probe with a Klaw that grabbed it, decelerated enough to get the original probe to re-enter, and released... voila!

Landed Jeb on the Mun for the first time, planted a flag, and returned him safely to Kerbin, splashing down just a few km off-target near KSC! (I wonder how many times Jeb has been first on the Mun?)

Update: The autopilot works correctly when I have a Kerbal sitting in the external command seat; it does not work correctly when it's un-Kerballed. Further thought: I've been building my rovers in the VAB; maybe building them in the SPH would affect things? Must try that out.

hm. I wonder if it's possible if I accidentally/unknowingly set it to 'control from' somewhere other than what I was accustomed to?

I'm having rover issues as well when using the MechJeb2 autopilot. I thought it was perhaps the version of MechJeb, so I made sure to install the latest version, but it doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. Basically, my navball shows as if it's pointed straight up at the sky (no horizon line as I used to have), and no matter if I set waypoints or a fixed heading, the rover just drives around aimlessly. It also does not stick to the requested speed-- not normal small variations, but running at 16 m/s when I'm trying to get it to stick to 10 m/s, and so forth. I took the rover back into the VAB to ensure that the MechJeb unit is installed pointing the right way (i.e., on the left side of the rover box) and it is. I'm not sure why the autopilot worked at one time and now doesn't; I haven't installed any mods (other than the MechJeb update) in the meantime. I'm running mostly vanilla KSP, 1.0.4, but with MechJeb, ScanSat, and Asteroid Day. (ETA: Spacecraft do not seem to be behaving abnormally, so I'm thinking it's either the specific rover design or the rover autopilot. I'm going to test a couple of rover designs to see if it makes a difference)

I've been busy working through the tech tree in Science mode... bewildered by all the components, I decided to begin a Science campaign as a way to introduce myself to KSP. I've developed (through trial and error) a reliable and successful unkerballed Munar probe and am systematically investigating all of the Mun's biomes. I figure, that with just a small increase in delta-V, I can swap in a Mark I Command Pod for my probe for my first Kerbal landing mission. I'm on my third generation of interplanetary probes, although none have actually reached another planet yet. My first series ("Osiris") I ended when it became apparent that I had not given any of them enough delta-V to do anything but coast by, so I launched a series of uprated probes ("Anubis") which are partway to their destinations (glad for the Kerbal Alarm Clock add-in; it's vital when running multiple missions, especially ones lasting many days). In the meantime, I've developed a new series especially for investigating planets with atmospheres, which include an atmospheric sub-probe inspired by the Venera landers and Gallileo's atmospheric probe; the first two of these ("Amun-Min") are on their way to Eve. My second-generation space station, modeled after Skylab, has been up for some 70 days and is on its second crew. (I know, it's not really necessary to swap them out, but for role-play's sake... plus, I need the rendezvous and docking practice...) Working on designing the next generation of space stations. I lost three Kerbals in one landing; I'd attempted to make a "transport" version of my Apollo-analogue craft ("Horus") by sticking the Hitchhiker Transport container on the bottom of the Mark 1-2 command pod, with the heat shield under it, but I found that the occupants of the command pod were the only ones that survived a water landing. (It might be something specific to water landings, as I think it worked fine with a land-landing...) I've also dabbled in rovers; I'm trying to create one that can negotiate the steep slopes of the mountains west of KSC; not quite there yet. I haven't done very much at all with spaceplanes yet. Having a blast, and learning stuff along the way!

Update: I discovered my problem-- I had unzipped the other mods in GameData, just like I did for MechJeb, but the folder hierarchies in the ZIP files for the other mods were not consistent with MechJeb. Moved the files to the proper folders/levels and they work fine. Noob error.

Today, while sitting in Panera waiting on a car repair, I attempted my first rendezvous and docking. I was able to circularize in a nearly-identical orbit with my target, and just 4.5 km off it, but was not able to close the gap on this attempt. I then had an overly-exciting reentry when I hit space bar at the wrong time and had to reenter with my service module and with one prematurely-blown chute-- fortunately, I'd designed the capsule with a reserve chute. There was a spectacular fireball upon landing, but all my Kerbals lived... any landing you can walk away from... I'm leaving the target in orbit and trying again this evening.

I don't see them show up in the tech tree, in either techs I've researched or ones I have yet to research-- other than the MechJeb parts, which do show up properly.

Hello... newbie here. I have 1.04 on a Windows 7 system, and have installed MechJeb, Asteroid Day, and ScanSat (in that order). MechJeb is working fine. But I do not see the parts for either Asteroid Day or ScanSat in the tech tree; do they become available at certain nodes? Or since I began my Science campaign before installing them, does that mean I'd need to restart the campaign with those mods already installed?

Hello-- Kerbal Space Program is my latest addiction! I've dabbled in various other things, going back to Microsoft's Space Simulator, various editions of Flight Simulator (of course), Orbiter (Hail the Probe!), and Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager, all of which have their positives; but KSP definitely has a "fun" quotient to it that I'm very much enjoying. Downloaded the demo last week and within a few hours made my purchase of 1.04. I'm trying to stay as "vanilla" as possible until I get more familiar with things, though I did d/l Asteroid Day, MechJeb, and ScanSat. (Having a bit of a challenge with Asteroid Day and ScanSat, but I'll look in the appropriate forum areas...) I decided to start in Science mode, reasoning that the 'graduated' introduction to the parts would make things a little less boggling. So far, I've done a lot of exploring around KSC on foot and by rover, put Kerbals in orbit, and have put un-Kerballed probes into Mun and Minmus orbits, as well as experienced some really spectacular failures! It's all good. There's something whimsically goofy about the Kerbals which seems to lower the risk-anxiety bar...