Clipperride

One thing that helped me with a previous mining base on Minmus, if you plan to put wheels on your mining vessel, add a few Vernier RCS thrusters (or similar) to the upper side. Being able to force the craft back down makes driving on Minmus a little less hairy!

One other advantage to off world mining operations is; they're fun to set up and run!

Learnt that small changes to a space plane can make a massive difference in performance. I had a Mk2 shuttle I used quite a bit before the latest update and as I didn't have internet access at the time (to look up what I needed to copy across when adding a vechile from a previous game into the current save) I decided to do it the "old fashioned" way. It's a smallish vechile, so I simply noted down the parts list and reproduced it in the Hanger. Most parts were easy to place correctly as they were either in line, or there was a convenient way of noting where they should be placed. The only difference between the original and the new versions was where I placed the 2 x Mk1 liquid fuel drop tanks under the wings. As I didn't think it would make much difference, as long as they were still in line with the CoM, I happened to place them further away from the fuselage this time around. That was enough to change this little shuttle from going into a 80kmx80km orbit and back with some fuel to spare to failing to get an apoapsis above ~70km and not even close to orbit. It took me ages to realise what the difference between the two space planes was. After moving the drop tanks so they were nice and snug against the fuselage the old performance was back. I was really surprised at the difference caused by such an apparently small design change. But KSP always has something new to teach you!

One of the strange things about docking is that, in an equatorial orbit you spend as much time in sun light as you do darkness, but my final approaches end up being in the dark way more than 50% of the time! Forward facing lights on your active vechile and a good spread of lights on the target can really help. You can even colour code the various sizes of docking port (if you use more than one diameter) by adjusting the lights in the VAB during construction.

Like everyone else, I found it really tricky to start with, but routine now. However, the sense of satisfaction when you first dock is well worth the effort and each docking is a little easier than the last. I now really enjoy docking as it offers one of the most cinematic views in the game (IMO!) Balanced RCS thrusters and learning to use the NAV ball to the fullest are important steps in easy docking. If you can move your ship around using the I/K, J/L and H/N keys without it twisting or turning, the final approach and docking is much, much easier. For me, docking has gone from about a 9/10 difficulty to less than 1/10.

For larger vechiles, where the CoM is higher than you would like it to be, I've found some Place Anywhere 7 Linear RCS, or Vernier thrusters on the upper side can help. If your vechile starts bouncing, or looks like it's about to tip over in low gravity, you can use them to push the thing back down onto the ground.

Not only is the transit time to Duna much longer, you also need to wait for a suitable launch window. If you match your orbital inclination to Minmus in LKO, you can send a resupply ship at anytime and be there in a little over a week. Going to Duna, you may have to wait a year before you can even start your journey. Another big advantage to Minmus, is the large flat plains that make setting up a base much easier. Although, you can get a bit "spoilt" if you are planning to attach several modules on the ground. It doesn't take much of a height difference between those modules to make joining them very tricky indeed. I would vote for setting up an experimental base on Minmus, to make sure that you have everything covered, and then head off to Duna (or even further!).

The only firm specification is "not an mod" - I'd like the information to be outside the game. Other than that, I'd like to start out easy, with a view to relying less on other people's work as I gain confidence and experience. My overall plan is to progress along the lines of the USA and USSR with first fly-by, then orbital, then landing, then crewed landing and return (each being a different mission - as I play Science Mode, the total cost of the program isn't relevant. Although I do like to try and make each launch "realistic" in that I try to optimise my vechiles rather than simply strapping on more engines to solve a problem) As you can see, my last Interplanetary probe got a little too close to its target! PS @mhoram thanks for the links, not sure how your post is above mine, but I didn't see it when originally posting this reply!

Without installing a mod, what would you recommend when it comes to calculating Transfer Windows? Plus, are there guides, tutorial or any other reading you would advise I check out before heading out into deeper space? (I have previously done a single Moho flyby, but that was quite sometime ago now) Cheers Clipper

I've not had a problem loading saves made with the older version now I've switched to the 64bit game. As @Tex_NL mentioned, it's always worth copying your game to a new location, just in case.

Thanks @Snark - I will give it a go. And thank you for producing a Mod that is low-end-machine friendly!

I was seeking confirmation of my own speculations Thanks for the answers. One additional question, does the burn time mod effect the games performance much? I play on an aging laptop and have to have all graphics options turned down to their lowest settings in order to get a nice green mission elapsed timer (most of the time). It's the main reason I've kept away from mods in the past, but this one sounds almost essential. And yes, I'm being lazy by asking rather than trying it out, but with limited gaming time, there's always soooo much to do in game!

As the above answers show, it's very much a matter of personal preference. I wouldn't dream of building a ship that needed to dock with another without RCS. Ive also found them very handy for making fine adjustments to the final orbits of relay satellites that form part of a constellation. Although you dont need them now, don't forget them entirely as they may help make future missions that bit easier.

When placing a maneuvere node, you get an estimated burn time. I've noticed the actual burn time is usually a little shorter than the estimate, especially during longer burns. I wonder, is this because the estimate didn't take account of the reduction in mass due to burnt propellant during the burn?

Alt-f5 is your friend (unless you're in a hard core mood and think it's "cheating"). I use the following methods to avoid finding myself in impossible situations; When in a stable orbit and I'm certain that I have enough fuel to either get home or dock with a resupply ship, I do a named quicksave and call it "Orbit". When attempting a landing I do a save called "descent" around 20,000m up (for, say, the Mun or Minmus) Finally a "landed" save for when I'm safely on the ground. One more thing I've gotten into the habit of doing is making a named save before I exit the game. As it's usually a good idea to have pen and paper handy when playing KSP, I write the numbers 1-6 repeated across the bottom of a page and cross out the one I've just used for my exit save - so I'm constantly reusing quicksave1 to quicksave6. A brief note above means, if needed, I can return to any of the last 6 sessions and carry on from there. When I first played KSP, I made a few ill judged saves and found, no matter how many time I retried, I had saved the game at a point where failure was a certainty! I now have plenty of protection from a corrupt file without an ever expanding number of saves cluttering up. Just wish I was half as well organised in the real world!?!

Just completed my first 1.2 Mun landing and it is so much better now we can see the elevation of the landing site in the stock game.

Cheers. I'm always a little cautious about using ">" to speed up time - following some tragic results from frantically hitting that key again (and again...) instead of either "<" or "/"

This is certainly the most informative and helpful game forum I've ever had the privilege of using. From the simplest* question from new players to deep technical problems, there's someone here willing to help. *And as "simplest" is a relative term, I really like the fact that newcomers aren't made to feel their questions aren't just as important as any one else's. The forum is full of people that want others to enjoy the magic of KSP just as much as they do.

To save propellant when docking, I'm used to occasionally delaying a maneuvere node for an orbit or two to get an efficient rendezvous. In 1.1.3, when you selected "warp to next maneuvere node" the game time warped the necessary number of orbits, stopping 1 minute before reaching the node. Now, in 1.2, the option to warp to the node doesn't appear until you are on the same orbit as that node. Is that any way to revert to the old way of doing things?

Thanks for the tip, it would have been annoying to find that out the hard way! I guess it's time to put some comms relays around the Mun

I've also noticed that rockets tend to rotate more since the 1.2 update. One thing I spotted about your designs is, they don't have any tail fins. Not only can that help keep the stack more stable, if you use fins that double up as control surfaces, you have more control in the dense lower atmosphere. Hope that helps

Glad to hear things are looking up (up and away!)

Also, as you're probably aware, caps lock can also help. You get a finer level of control once it is toggled on.

As ever, thanks for the answers. I have been using a probe core on some landing craft (apart from going to Minmus Flats!). I just wondered if there was a more "elegant" solution. Although, the next time Jeb goes on an extended walkabout, KSC can always recall the un-kerbaled lander! I just hope it doesn't go all "Hal" on me

The ability to know the elevation of your chosen landing site makes life much easier, especially for folks like myself that have to play on an aging machine with all the graphics optioned turned right down. Is there a way to provide any of the crew capsules with Kerbnet, or do I need to attach a probe core to the vessel in order to make use of it? I've not yet unlocked the scanning equipment, does that make any difference? Cheers - Clipper.