FullMetalMachinist

In 1.2.1 the default was changed from Backspace to Back Quote ( the ~ button) to avoid clashing with the default 'Abort' action group. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/1.2.1

The short answer is that because of Moho's eccentric and inclined orbit, the dV costs of transfer windows can vary widely from one to another. The solution is to basically ignore traditional transfer windows. See this post (it's old, but still relevant).

In the settings you need to turn on 'retain control point in IVA' (or something like that, can't remember the exact wording). Then it will work.

Pretty sure you want the Offset Gizmo. While in the editor just press '2' or click on the second button in the top left corner. (the row of four buttons in the top left corner of the graphics window, to the right of the parts list, are the 'gizmos'. They are 'place', 'offset', 'rotate', and 're-root'.) Then click on the part you want to move and drag one of the arrow handles that pop up. If you have angle snap turned off it will move fluidly, if it's on then it will move in steps. Also for future reference, this particular sub-forum is for giving tutorials, not asking questions or asking for a tutorial.

I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure free returns only work for Mun and Minmus.

Unless the contract specifically states "have x number of kerbals aboard" then you don't have to have any, not even one. Just the space available.

That's the first I've heard of that. Does it really remove the relay from the network, or just not show the connection lines in map view?

Just to expand on @Snark's excellent answer, the specific term you're looking for is the launch azimuth. See this thread, and in particular OhioBob's responses, for more in-depth explanation and formulas for how to exactly calculate what launch heading you need.

Correct. Unfortunately you'll have to wait for a bit.

Are you playing with the stock comm net turned on? It sounds like your ship was under 'limited control', which is what happens when it's out of communication range with Kerbin.

You can zoom out enough to see Duna, and then click on it and select 'focus view'. That will show you what your orbit through Duna's SoI will look like. From this view you can still adjust the maneuver node to fine tune things. An alternative is you can press Tab to cycle the map view through all the celestial objects. Press Backspace to return focus to your ship. A screenshot showing your ejection orbit from Kerbin will help answer this. Not sure why your transfer orbit is so long without more specifics.

I think you misunderstood. It says you can use 3d printed kerbals but you don't have to. To me, saying "print a kerbal, in any size or material..." means that you can print one out of paper on a regular printer. Or make a cardboard cutout. Or whatever you want.

I'm pretty sure that you're running into a kind of 'safety' feature. Once a docking port detaches it has to move a certain distance away before it can be coupled again. I'm not sure the exact distance, something like 5 or 10 meters. I also don't know if there is a way to alter or disable it.

I agree. The way it is now makes it feel like an artificial way to increase the difficulty, while not actually making anything harder, just more tedious.

Simple Rockets is what you're looking for. Granted, it's not KSP, but it plays just like what you want.

Not quite. I'm pretty sure the question is, as others have noted above, is 'can you artificially shorten your orbital period?' In other words, can you be in an orbit whose period is normally 30 minutes, and thrust in such a way that your altitude doesn't change, but your orbital period drops to, say, 20 minutes? Then answer is yes. Scott Manley mentions it in this video of a Mun land-and-return speedrun (start at 11:01). I though he had done a video specifically on the OP's question, but I can't seem to find it.

In one of Mechjeb's many info panels is a readout for the angular velocity of your ship. It separates out all three axes, pitch, roll, and yaw. There may be other mods that have it as well, maybe KER, RPM, or VOID? Disclaimer: I've been playing stock only so far with v1.2, so I have no idea if any of these mods are updated for 1.2 or 1.2.1.

That's the beauty of KSP. If it works for you, go with it. Nobody else can tell you otherwise. I don't get too hung up on the default values for most stuff. I probably change more things than I leave as the default, especially on the career mode difficulty settings.

@Sharpy does Precise Maneuver use the same keyboard shortcuts as Precise Node? That's the biggest thing I like about Precise Node over Mechjeb.

As said above, use the mouse scroll wheel. But be careful when doing so, it has a funky scale applied to it. When you scroll slowly, each click is worth some fraction of a m/s. But if you get impatient and scroll quickly, suddenly each click is worth several m/s. So each click being worth more combined with a bunch of clicks means that you can suddenly add several hundred m/s if you're not careful.

I routinely keep the heat shield attached, simply for the recovery value. AFAIK that's the only real reason to not detach it. I haven't had problems landing on one and it exploding on me in quite a while. However, I agree with @bewing that you should ditch the fairings on the way up, rather than hang onto them until you're on the way down. That is, unless you need them for aesthetics for your replica.

For efficiency, here are two good planners: https://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ http://ksp.olex.biz There's also mods that do it in-game. Transfer Window Planner and MechJeb come to mind. These will also help with the 'neat' bit. Another thing you can do is once you get an encounter with another planet, place a maneuver node about halfway there, or at the solar ascending/decending node, whichever is more convenient. Then focus the map view on the target planet and you'll see your trajectory through it's SoI when you get there. Now adjust the correction node as needed to get it however 'neat' you need.

It lets you avoid having to EVA a kerbal and manually right click on every science instrument and click on 'collect data'. Also useful for unmanned probes. It used to be that if you wanted to send a probe to the Mun and collect several temp scans you had to transmit each result every time, because that was the only way to reset the thermometer and not lose the data. Now you can store it in that science container and return the science results instead of transmitting.

They tried. People complained. I think it's available as a mod, though.

Luckily, you can do just that. Right click on KSP, click on Properties, go to the Betas tab, and in the small drop down menu select 'previous stable version' or whatever it says, something close to that. Also, KSP has no DRM, so when you have a version that you like and works for you, you can copy that whole KSP folder out of your Steam folder and keep it forever.