Blaarkies

Following on what @Zhetaan said, there are many binomes/situations on kerbin. -Landed at water: Launch south bound, heading about 195'. Just before you reach the south pole, there is a seperated glacier floating as an island...but it is marked as water(ocean) binome -Splashed down at Desert: 200km west of KSC(yonder the mountains) there is a small desert binomes(on the same "africa" KSC continent) that overlaps with a small oasis pool of water. -Splashed down at grasslands: Near the desert-splashed-down-pool, just try the pools next door -Splashed down at tundra: 200km north of the desert-splashed-down-pool, there will be more pool close to shore...there is supposedly highland close-by, but I can't find it. Instead, there is some "Tundra" pool. Don't ask me how it is on the equator -Splashed down at highland/mountains: Look North-East from KSC(45' heading)...look about 600km in that direction(almost halfway around the planet) there is a massive river streaming out of mountains. The river seed point is "Mountain" and 2 pools further down are "Highlands" -Splashed down at Ice caps:...no idea. I will start a fire, melt the landing zone until the craft is submerged in melted ice...thats splashed down, right? -Splashed down at Shores: just roll off the runway into water...slowly is a good idea -Splashed down at Badlands: The same goes, i think there is a pool close to there. ...not on Kerbin, but close at least -gravity scans over EVERY binome from low orbit(any planet). below 200km? -gravity scans over EVERY binome from high orbit(any planet) above 200km? -m700 Survey scanner. Once for every planet(sad Jool excluded). It gives like 60 science points?

Remember, you cannot EVA anywhere else than landed/splashed down on Kerbin until you upgrade the Astronaut Complex(since a few updates ago...0.90 ?). So I dont think it is viable to EVA in upper atmo in the first mission

Right click the RCS ports of your craft -> click "Show actuation toggles" -> click yaw,pitch,roll(to disable them). This should leave you with ONLY translation control on your RCS controls, so that automatic SAS will not use your RCS thrusters. (do it to EVERY thruster, since those settings are independent) Now press CAPSLOCK...this will activate "precise control" mode(allows you to press keys longer before the RCS ports thrust at full throttle). Just take it slow, as in 0.5m/s slow. The tips here about the "lock camera" is also very, very useful(then hold down your mouse WHEEL button/middle button and drag the mouse around...it is like "looking upwards without tilting your body upwards") Good luck and keep at it, docking is a really valuable skill in KSP

Is a helicopter a VTOL? This is getting really confusing I believe, take of vertically, land vertically and also sustain flight with TWR < 1, all while using only some kind of fuel ...lets make that 0.5, else every fighter jet might be a VTOL if it lands lucky enough

Previous comment on the same page. I have achieved these dv scores many times before, but I will admit that some transfer windows WILL be more expensive than a Mun land/return AND it takes much more effort and a bit more time to plan the Eve then Gilly intercept...rough guess, about 30% of the transfers to Eve/Gilly will be more expensive, while perfect transfers makes the Mun landings look absurdly expensive

How about, send him on a Mars One expidtition? It will be a "one" way trip ...sorry i'll show myself out now

Absolutely nothing changes...except for the once in a lifetime Jool-Eeloo transfer window. If you start a fresh career, timewarp full speed for an entire day, and then come back and actually start playing...you won't be at a disadvantage. Nothing ages in KSP and as long as all your craft are in safe stable orbits, you shouldn't lose anything(except the obvious synchronization of your satelite network if you use RemoteTech and the like) But for Role-Playing reasons...obviously it is different. Me, myself and I only cared about time when we played with Snacks! and remotetech(snacks is a simple life-support mod). My latest playthrough is interface mods only, with all returns set down to 30%, no sci labs, no asteroid sci farming, no exploiting plant-flag/sci-from-space contracts, no sci from part testing contracts...this leads to a desperate and complete disregard for any sense of time I very rarely run small missions during my interplanetary missions(unless they are very lucrative)

No problem, don't be sorry That was a lot of text from my part, but it was mostly because I recognized that before I knew the Oberth effect, I basically thought the same thing...anyway, it took me weeks before I fully grasped how Oberth worked(I really, really didn't want to believe it at first). I hope this helped speed up that process for you. A good experiment is getting a craft in orbit, then adding maneuver nodes to achieve some goal(don't actually use any fuel). - Try to reach Minmus intercept with 5+ nodes, sum all the delta-v requirements that the nodes show. Compare this with going straight to Minmus with one burn from LKO. - Get a Mun intercept(fidling with the node to get good timing: you should be able to adjust your Mun Pe by just moving the node back and forth). Set a future maneuver node to capture into Mun orbit. Try this twice: High Pe at Mun like 1 000km, and compare that to doing the same thing with your Mun Pe at 7km(remember to end at a constant low orbit - to keep thing fair)

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in doubt it.” ― Neil deGrasse LKO to low Mun orbit: 1200m/s Mun landing/accent: 650m/s x2 Mun escape: 320m/s Total: 2820m/s LKO to Eve eliptical orbit: 1200m/s Eve elip orbit to gilly surface: 600m/s 2x Eve elip orbit to Kerbin capture: 200m/s Total: 2600m/s * These Eve values are not perfectionist, but are also not extremist. I generally end up with leftover fuel back at Kerbin capture. You don't need to be Scott Manley to do this, you just need to understand the Oberth effect and the rest of the basic orbital mechanics. The super cheap "Eve elip orbit to Kerbin capture: 200m/s" happens because of Oberth. Eve's gravity is so much stronger than Kerbin. This leads to more opportunity to make use of the Oberth effect. So no, the Oberth effect is not the same everywhere. It is in fact less at Dres with it's SGP of 2×10^10 m3/s2(the puny 0.115g surface gravity doesn't help it either) vs Eve's 8×10^12 m3/s2. In essense, what I am talking about is this: - You will leave Dres(headed for Jool) with less fuel remaining, than if you did the same from Kerbin when fueling at Minmus. * Don't do the base thing, too much effort(unless role-playing/stuff). Build a mothership lander, with ISRU onboard that holds at least 2 Rocketdyne 81ton tanks. Land the whole thing, take it back to Minmus orbit and you have 100+ tons of free fuel for 10minutes of effort. P.S. "We're talking about close up." Dude no, unless NASA took those photos with black and white cameras, the Moon is like the grayest-colorlesstest world within a million kilometers...unless they photoshoped it ofcourse

Most of those threads that want to move the Monolith are rated 1-2 stars. That says something more about them, than the poll that resulted in a 80% vote to NOT move it. Every time I launch, I see that stupid ocean shoreline-kind-of-hilly-mountain backdrop, and it is really an eyesore for me, I wish we could move it. It was put dead center in my launch screen, just so that I can see there are other oceans/mountains/shoreline to explore...it kind of ruined the experience for me, I wanted to stumble across those oceans myself . I agree, all natural/ancient/historical features of Kerbin should be moved off-camera. How about KSC flats for 20km north of the launchpad

-Gilly is cheaper to land on and then return to return to kerbin, than the Mun is...but it does take learning the basics of orbital mechanics first -Mun, too little color? Seriously, do you ever go out at night to watch a full moon? -Dres gives absolutely no advantage to career mode(the asteroids around it for refueling are rendered useless because of the lack of Oberth in those parts of the kolar system), that is why it is visited so rarely(also it doesn't exist in any version of of KSP that I am aware of) -Jool...just don't aerobrake there...in fact, don't go deeper than 200m into the atmosphere(there are 2 almost Kerbin sized moon zipping around Jool, let them "assist" you) -Tylo, i think Eeloo has way more science(the multipliers are insane there, even for just the craft return)...I don't think the extra binomes on Tylo even adds up to the same amount of science -Bop...warpunlocker. If you are OK with mods, you will love this(that is all I really wanted to post, sorry if the rest seemed like throwing facts in your face)

But they dont(at least not fast). I have been slowly driving my mining rig closer to the lander shuttle while 4 drills are busy drilling

THAT HAS INSANE ISP! But, having a super toxic fuel next to two fuels(one that is molten metal, the other that need cryogenic temperatures) seems like a very bad idea...unless the entire launch center is also some unmanned robotic base

Except the wheels...Yes i don't hyperedit, I invoke affirmative action as the victim of a bug! Spent multiple missions getting a special lander to Moho -> Go in for perfect smooth landing..."cannot deploy while stowed". Switch back to the massive mining rig on Minmus -> Rig believes it is a Kangaroo, tumbles down the slopes, ripping into() 5 million pieces. Come in for landing with a spaceplane after a perfect cargo mission -> Front wheels gets a hickup and knock you on-target towards the SPH fuel depot! Stuff like that happens, and HE is a beautiful tool(need some quicksave periodically as well). I get what @lugge was saying, where do you draw the line(is it wrong if I mod the "Spark" to have mammoth thrust and ion Isp?)...i guess, since Karbonite, NFP and those stuff are big mods then "5 million fans can't be wrong" comes to mind. Even if it is the same HE results, it was fun doing it...with microwaves and stuff(sorry, I am old traditional...I will never let go of my Reliant engines!)

Merlin 1D has Isp of 311s...(282 sea level)that is less efficient than some of the KSP engines(and KSP has down scaled everything ) RD180 has Isp of 338s (312 sea level), and it is an ancient russian engine. The Merlin is though way more efficient in manufacturing price, TWR and other factors

"How dare you call that cheating?! It is a playstyle, in a single-player sandbox game"... I am glad you didn't received any of those comments, but I just had to do it now

If the craft and the parent planet are the only objects in the universe...wouldn't the planet's SOI be infinite? (Since the parent planet's gravity is more overwhelming than the other nothingness's gravity )

Oh sorry I didn't mean it like that, I only started playing in 2014 myself("First Contract" update if I remember correctly). My point is that, players of Skyrim wouldn't expect Bethesda to add new content and places to explore with free updates...the DLC's however is another story. I would be willing to pay for updates with extra planets and stuff, since KSP is already post-release(except for the damn wheels). The long term hype thing...that is the worst, I hate misinformation! (Hey, look! I found something to hate about KSP )

But KSP isn't multiplayer or subscription based

Eve -> Kerbin arrives at Kerbin Pe at about 3200m/s. Any heatshield on a balanced craft will survive, just dont go too deep first time...but when arriving at Eve, it is like +-4200m/s. That is where fully filled(max out the ablator slider) heatshield are necesary

To be fair, how many games do we play for more than 4 years? Nostalgia aside, those will never die...but somehow after a lifetime of gaming, KSP has managed to get into the nostalgia list, despite its shortcomings. When Skyrim was still popular 4 years after release, it was considered an awesome success...but no dev team can ever keep pumping out new updates to keep the veterans busy. I mean to say, a game with 200 hours of unique gameplay is truly fantastic...KSP definitely beats that. Adding new planets every few years is like a game called "KSP Infinite"

FLICKERING INTERCEPTS! Sorry, not at you But i keep getting them, even on short trips like Kerbin->Eve...then halfway(ETA 50 days to encounter) I would like to adjust my orbit slightly, just to match the Gilly orbital plane for my Eve Pe. Anyway it feels like playing on a 1901 film projector with all the flickering going on, with no way to keep a maneuvre node open for more than 78ms

Aerocapture is dangerous and should be planned more rigorously than before re-entry heating was added. Follow what you saw in The Martian, big interplanetary motherships do not aerobrake...they use extra fuel of gravity assists to slow down. Like bewing said, this is easy at Jool by using Tylo(bigger SOI) or even Laythe(tiny SOI). A single slingshot from Tylo(as you approach Jool for the first time) can slow you down so much that you fall straight down into Jool...now that I think about it, there never was any reason to aerocapture at Jool, ever. You probably want Jool atmospheric science? Just adjust your slingshot to get a Jool Pe of about 199 999m... Jool has a really, really dangerous atmosphere, dont go deeper than 195km without a heatshield. Afterwards, time a Tylo encounter to slingshot yourself back up to the orbital height you desire(keep an eye on the Laythe encounters while you are down there)

Found it! modactions-control-your-vessel-including-other-mods-via-actiongroups @Fearless Son, you wanted a mod for this, right? It seems like it has all the features mentioned, and the interface looks real simple and sleek too!

I can't get this to work on 1.1.3. I used the Version 3.0 Preview mirror. I am unsure whether it functions on 1.1.3 x64 Everything here looks real promising, but until this glorious mod is back and swinging, i am using musicmute-continued-hotkey-to-mute-music to get rid of the "bells" song in construction(it is overly loud and annoying as kra#$%). KSP has some great stock music, just not enough