Blaarkies

Coriolis effect FTW!

You want the SSTO to move at sub-orbital speeds, to rendezvous with something orbiting at 3000+m/s ? I hope i am misunderstanding this, because that is going to be quick docking s = 1/2 * a * t^2 s: shift(distance accelerated-> 100 000m)| a: acceleration(16.7m/s^2)| t: time(x) t = sqrt(s / (a/2)) t = 109.4 seconds vf = vi + a * t vf: velocity final| vi: velocity initial(0m/s)| a:accel(16.7m/s^2)| t:time(109.4 seconds) vf = 1827m/s vf is the dv you need if you could "shoot" you craft upward...not going to happen, so you have to add the amount of seconds that you are thrusting(t = 109.4 + 35) and do the calculation on that. (while you are not yet in the speeding bullet state, you are practically "hovering"...very fast upwards though) Air resistance is going to add 50-150m/s From 100km, a small probe could do the last 3000m/s(it will practically be in orbit itself before you can even think about docking to the other craft)...this could get kerbals up and down fairly SSTO like

...you still sometimes use the Stayputnik? I mean ofcourse, after you have other options. I loved using it in early rockets designed to achieve orbit without guidence, but i was glad when I got the science to move on

"Control from Here": Cool, but what about setting a priority(a number from 0-3). Right-click probe core, click this button until the number reads 3(high priority...for motherships). Set the lander or spaceplane priority to 2, and set the mobile rover to priority 1...Now whenever you dock, you will control the larger ship that is dictating where we are going. Action Group Binding itself needs improvement, like modifying it in-flight, having a menu that can display the list of set action groups and maybe an "Alt+1...9" set of controls(vtol spaceplanes easily use up 10 action groups just for surface->space). "Tweakable Reaction Wheel": That would be awesome, but it shouldn't even be necessary...yes i am gonna say it, MechJeb doesn't give this problem! Level 4 pilots should be able to not overshoot the prograde vector by 179' degrees! The stock auto-pilot aiming is truly useless, it is like a little kid running into walls, you have to continually slow it down. It is only useful when you are actually already aiming in the prograde circle, to keep it there during launch and other long burns

...use the space junk, to bombard the ocean junk!

In the Kerbal universe: "Why is there a backup Kuriosity on Duna?" ..."Oh no silly, we kerbals never make backups...the rocket kept destroying the launchpad until we put in a second rover to balance it. Simple symmetry!"

Same here, small oscar tanks on decouplers infront of probe...drop them as you burn. 0.6t probes that easily get to Jool is awesome(Ant has even more Isp than spark)

I agree with @Corona688. Many players still use asperigus staging just because it is faster(dant have to worry about landing it again), and don't have to prototype the design for hours until it is finaly successful. If SSTO rockets are easy, then why is everyone so excited to pull off their own version of a Falcon 9 landing? My SSTO rockets are around 110t rocket for 14t payloads. Scaling up by this factor give a launch mass of 1992t. With stock parts, that is a massive rocket no matter how you look at it. Just because it gets dwarfed by some youtube video, doesn't make it a tiny quick build rocket

Fuel Tank Wiki If you are talking about MK3(and the flying type plane parts) then yes, they have a ration of +-8 instead of 9. All basic rocket fuel tanks have a w/d ration of 9, except for adapters and other weird parts.

I reached that state once. What saved career mode for me was challenging myself to complete it at 30% Hard difficulty(funds,sci,rep income). Since I started using SSTO launchers, funds is no longer a problem I get payloads into LKO for about 700funds/ton. A mining base on Minmus makes interplanetary transfers way cheaper as well. I know this sounds like just adding to the grind, but I learned so much more in this mode just by being forced to devise new and cheaper methods of getting stuff where it should go. The science income makes Mun/Minmus farming somewhat useless, they only got me through the first few nodes...suddenly Dres and Eeloo has a purpose(Eeloo has insane science returns), this makes one try to send probes as soon as you get decent solar panels. Think about it, if career gave you any mission type you wanted to do, like "Grand Tour", then you could just pick it, get money and do the mission...so money becomes irrelevant? So what about, it doesn't give you enough money upfront for an interplanetary ship...then it is back to grinding lesser missions for the money. Doing Sandbox with limitations in place could be cool, but I guess that is basically doing the reddit/forum challenges

-GSP - Gilly Space Center. -Put 1000t fuel tankers in orbit with tiny engine, be around the 3rd deepest gravity well in the game for amazing Oberth effect.- -Go to Eeloo for very little dv -???? -Profit! The only problem is mining ore, selling it back to the space center. On Kerbin it is quite useless, ore concentrations are so low it is not worthwhile. but maybe on Gilly this could be exploited

I have been using that piece since a few update ago, but it is only for engines. I was hoping that the same property could be found in Landing legs and Solar panels, but no luck You will need the module manager mod, and also a text file called "whateverYouWant.cfg", then copy the code from that post in there. I understand parachutes and RCS blocking, thats important exploitation points(if i open a solar panel in a cargo bay, I risk destroying it forever[also stupid, they should be repairable like wheels]). Anyway, when I open up the fairing for that Eve landing and the chute still complains about being stowed...

But what about my orbital spotlight station? How are kerbals going to play Kerb-Ball at night now? Thanks Blowfish(and those who helped), this mod is still the best in existence!

^THIS^ I usually aim for building 3 size versions of such vert-SSTOs. The previous one I mentioned is medium(13t payload). Large is however much the Mammoth engine can lift. Small is actually difficult though, and I prefer to just use the medium size and have fuel left over in orbit for the spacestation fuel depot. It's really fast once you have the perfect recipe in SubAssemblies...but it does take a few test launches before you get that perfect recipe

I felt the same about vert SSTOs suddenly burning up in the last updates. So my go-to SSTO was a Twin-Boar, with fuel tanks on top, ending with a 2.5m fairing(inside is all the probe core and rcs, etc.) It could haul 13ton payloads into orbit and pinpoint land back at KSC(by using the Trajectories mod). Launching upwards with no fins require prograde SAS control probes and the strong gimbaling of the twin-boar. But recently it doesn't work anymore. After lots of tricks and ideas: -com-88 attenna into the wind is supposed to stop heating a bit because some bug...it didnt do a thing -2.5m heatshield onto a structural truss on the bottom of the engine...nothing, everything exploded before the ablator depleted -decrease payload and burn 500m/s at 35km...mostly stopped the BOOM, but "At what price?!" ... Then the eureka moment(i am glad that word has a "K" in it) The rocket as usual, but add fins to the bottom(enough to point forward when almost empty). On top of the fairing plate, is a medium docking port. On that docking port is a 2.5m heatshield(rounded side pointing down towards engine), another medium docking port is attached to that heatshield. On top of that docking port comes the payload. The reasoning is: -Get to orbit using only LF+OX. -Drop the payload anywhere -Use the now open docking port to dock to space station and transfer the spare fuel(leave about 500LF and matching amount of OX in the SSTO) -Undock. Now decouple the heatshield thing. Bump it around it dock it to the SSTO -You now have a nose heatshield -Burn retrograde for 100m/s to fall back to KSC, keep aiming prograde in SURFACE(!) mode -When close enough, pop a drogue chute. When the SSTO get pulled around, pop the other bigger chutes. -Some thrusting at the last moment make it all go easier(even in water) It is like 32 000f per SSTO, but I haven't had any damage on them for 12 launches thus far, and it costs less than 5000f per launch. No way disposable SRBs will beat that! *I do admit...I lost three of the prototypes in testing before I figured out the current build, but this build hasn't crashed...yet

I haven't "felt" the weighted system yet(It really seems like placebo feature...aka a lie). My new superhard career forces me to fix contracts into every hook and cranny of my missions, so I am quite heavy into "put sat in that orbit" contracts, orbital station contracts, and some parts testing...but I keep getting tourist contracts. (got Duna station now, halfway through tech tree...but lots of building upgrades left) I have only done one tourist contract yet, and after decided that the rep risk for killing a tourist is not worth it(it would put me back by 15contracts at least). Anyway, i just saw a contract of a tourist wanting to go to Duna orbit for 37 000 funds...I was like, "Call virgin galactic, they said something about space tourism. Good luck Asdf Kerman!"

That is exactly why time warp altitude limits should be removed...they are even more frustrating at Gilly. The Time Control mod helps for this, but the newest update knocked all the mods upside down for a while. Back on topic: I do the same, but only for the LKO station. If done correctly, it might be cheaper than to actually launch fuel from Kerbin. The only reason I do it, is to have a "cheap" fuel source to fill the interplanetary ships with just enough to reach Minmus. There they get filled to the brim by the surface base(the fuel shuttle takes fuel into orbit for the big ships). From Minmus, you only need to slow down by 150m/s(?) for a Kerbin Per of 70km. Do this so that your ejection angle is correct, and you get to Duna for like 200m/s extra ? Anyway, the whole point of this is that those massive ship(with low thrust) did most of their burns while almost empty, which gives much better acceleration. The last ejection burn happens at full fuel, but is a smaller shorter burn....but then I could just aswell carry fuel back to LKO from Minmus, probably cheaper that hunter PotatoRoids

3.75m probe core? What is this, 1950's ? A 3.75m reaction wheel is better, then we just add any probe core inside ...you want 2.5m turbo-jet right? we all do 2.5m SRBs would fit almost fit nicely with 3.75m parts, but the 5m parts may be a bit outside scope(SQUAD has to cater for everyone). What i mean by that is, I first started the game with the "First Contract" update. I was overwhelmed by all the part choices in sandbox. Every new part added to the game should be carefully thought out(5m rocket fuel tanks brings new engines, adapters, fairings, decouplers, maybe even wings and plane parts...etc) *The super large rover wheels would be quite useful then

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right-click the RCS thruster. In the toggle menu is a setting "Fore by throttle" or something like that. Switch it on, and do that for every RCS thruster(they aren't grouped after VAB/SPH)...now shutdown the main engine and "maneuver" your way to another planet

How is that an average response...that was a pun, sorry for my bad jokes("mean" is a synonym for "average", more often used in statistical analysis) You shouldn't let all this get on your nerves so easily, nobody hates you or your challenge. They just fear that one day more challenges will follow some "likes = points" scoring system. Some of us had "not so popular" lives, but this forum doesn't care about who has friends or not, all is fair and everyone is happy...but if someone has 20 good friends on his account, and they see him post a medicare plane, but they can make him win just by each clicking a button...well yes they will do it. You are correct, it is just a game, but these challenges made it sort of like multiplayer(players can share similar experiences) and that makes it an important part of the "game" to some people, take that away and you take away half the fun in it. The criticism they gave didn't give a full list of what the rules should be(then they could have just made a new challenge), they only pointed out that the "likes" point system is flawed. Yes I get the batman references and stuff, but maybe he is just a really active forum member, appreciates the community and doesn't want to lose it...thus the "hero posts" This post really has no point so i will make one : Put up pictures(and stats) of all the entries on a special poll topic. Every one has 1-2 votes to pick the best craft(which are all anonymous except for pictures and stats). You will know who won and announce it later on...people can still "show" their friends which picture is theirs(but at least it takes way more effort). Some effort on your part though, but members might really appreciate that as the new way to do challenges maybe?

There is a mod for it. Else, go into GameData folder, find the Ore tanks cfg file. See the jettison module? Copy that, and paste it into every fueltank cfg file. Done, the same functionality on different parts(it will jettison both LF + OX at the same time though)

You won't run out of funds unless you are playing on super-hardcore 10% funds mode. Really, on normal difficulty you will be drowning in funds by your first Mun landing IF you always pick contracts relevant to what you are doing

"Go be a batman" ? ...And you have the nerve to call @herbal space program "mean"? ...that's such an average response, shame on you But seriously, all i am reading from these people ruining your enthusiasm is constructive criticism. They are telling you what they find distasteful about the challenge and they are even telling you how to fix it(that's more than most people get). Yes it is only opinion, but these challenges are for the community, no? If enough players complain about the same thing, then there is some problem with the challenge itself you need to address...you have to decide what number of players is enough.

Noo! Stahhp! Now everyone is going to send B52's into space using somehow only Goliath engines, patience, struts and hidden boosters...while cheering on "Remember who said this engine shouldn't go to space?" Screw the dock, we need properllers more, it is a kerbal solution. It is something for flight on Duna, and also something to make rovers on Eve float in a controlled direction