Sir_Robert

That's actually a fairly common mistake. Bigger is not actually better. If your rocket is bigger, it means more mass. More mass means less deltaV, and thus you'll need a bigger rocket to get where you want to go. You only need a tiny rocket to get to orbit. Only reason to go with big 2,5 meter parts (or bigger), is if you need to lift something big itself. @bradwiggo: think of deltaV as mileage. It's how much bang you can get out of your rocket. Delta means difference, and V stands for velocity (speed). DeltaV is literally the amount of speed difference you could get if you burned all of the fuel. So if you had a rocket with 100m/s deltaV, and you burn all your fuel (while in frictionless space. Air drag will slow you down and cost extra), you would be going 100m/s faster than before you started. To get to Kerbin orbit, you need about 3500m/s deltaV (with a final orbital velocity of 2200m/s. So losing over a kilometer/s speed to air drag). This number is ofcourse when you know which way to turn and when. As a safe number, try 4000 to 4500m/s deltaV. Remember, smaller is better. As upper stage, a FL-T 200 fuel tank with a Terrier engine. As bottom stage(s), FL-T 400 and a Swivel engine. See how much that gives you, and if not enough, add fuel (or another Swivel stage). Note that it's possible to be going TO fast with such a small rocket. If you go to fast in the atmosphere, you run a bigger risk of flipping. A quick and easy way to test this is to check your time to Apoapsis. Try to aim for 40seconds to 1 minute. If you reach that, try throttling down a little to keep it near that number

Personally, I would use a Terrier for such orbital craft. Good balance between light and efficient. Is this a permanent orbital craft that you plan to refuel between missions, or just the final stage on a rocket?

So whatever it is (and it's probably a bug of some sort), it's a consistent problem with the ships. Probably something glitching through the docking ports?

Thanks, so it was as I suspected. Sounds roughly the same as the super twitchy regular SAS from way back during alpha. The problem is that regular SAS is fine, so it's probably specifically a problem with the constantly changing nature of the directions. For now I'm just using MJ smart ASS to hold direction instead, which is as silky smooth. I'll take a look at that stock bug fix collection. I've been seeing it quite a bit lately

As a functional station, it's more than enough. Nice touch with the engines on the side, good thinking. Those fancy stations you see in screenshots serve no purpose other than looking good (and melting CPUs). The rule with everything in space travel is: keep it simple

To be safe, always put atleast a few surface panels on. For the deployable panels: Try driving your rover around KSC, and see if the panels stay intact. If so, definitely safe on Duna

A stock DeltaV meter (and other data readouts like KER and MJ)

I have recently started playing KSP again after a long hiatus (pre release). After a few landings on the Mun, I have noticed a few things. Retrograde hold SAS is extremely useful for landing. And Retrograde hold SAS (and prograde) are extremely twitchy, to the point of rapidly draining power by constantly running the reaction wheels at full. Is this normal? And is there anything you can do to reduce it? Thanks

If it says to get a research lab, than yes. You need a research lab. His picture is an example of his base, not an example for yours. Basically what he's saying is: Keep it simple

You know how you rendezvous 2 ships together while in Kerbin orbit? That's a Hohmann

A good question is, does it happen again if you do the same thing again? You have a save from just before, so did you try again? If so, did it explode again? Or was this a freak occurrence bug? If it's a one time only event, you can be quite sure it's a bug

I manually install mods that aren't in CKAN, and have a notepad file to keep track of them. And I tend to forget to update them. I don't use CKAN for its ease of installing, that is easy enough. It's great for keeping track of mods and updates Though there are very few mods that I am interested in that aren't on CKAN. It's mostly texture packs for texture replacer

I agree that you should be able to turn things off, and have run into the same problem with my early SCANsats. Fired up a heavier duty scanner with only surface panels, and it ran out. Interestingly enough, the trickle of power was still enough to run the probe and reaction wheels, but not enough to turn off the scanner. As a workaround, this is exactly what cheat menus are for. Turn on infinite EC, switch off the power hog, and turn infinite EC back off. Since you're actually just using a workaround for a feature that should be possible in the first place, it's not cheating

Yup this. The multi adapter is exactly what you need

You are literally talking about skipping a SINGLE action (clicking delete on the old folder). There is no way that is worth development time. Use CKAN if you don't want to keep track of your own mods, that's what it's for

Auto pilot mods can really help someone learn the game. For example, watching GravityTurn mod preform a perfect gravityturn taught me how to do the same. Watching Mechjeb land on the Mun taught me how to land, and watching MJ preform rendezvous taught me how to do rendezvous. Especially if you'd be there to help explain what is happening. Do not underestimate the importance of learning through observation. Its far easier than making someone learn something completely unknown through trial and error

It is quite nice when building bases. I use it as the probe body that controls my unmanned base buildings (like the drill). But yes, as early satellite body it's not worth using

That is amazing, I can't believe I missed that. Thanks. Ok follow up question: What exactly is habitation? I assume it has something to do with USI mods, but I must have looked over it. Same thing for wear and replacement parts. If someone could point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful

This mod seems exactly what I am looking for. I've always wanted the feel of life support, without the punishing 'one mistake and your Kerbals are dead'. After toying around, I do however have 1 request. Is there a list of how much supplies a Kerbal consumes per day? My initial toying around told me Jeb eats 16,2 a day, is that universal? And if it is, could you list this number on the life support parts in the VAB? It would take some initial guess work, or trying to remember the numbers, out of the construction

I'm quite sure cargo in a plane has to be tied down in real life as well

You can make your own list with SCANsat. The most basic scanner generates a hight map for you, that you can access in-game (with an overlay of your orbit, and where your craft is). More advanced scanners also map stuff like biomes Very useful (and gives a point to having satellites)

EXACTLY this yes. Couldn't have said it any better. The system is great, and now that I know the problem it won't be a problem. What happened was: GT does it's thing, hands off to MJ (and makes a manouver node. Not sure which mod does that). MJ attempts to auto-execute the manouver node (but can't because that module isn't unlocked yet). So it autowarps to the node as normal, but at the node stops working. This causes problems for manually executing the node Please stop putting words in my mouth. I never said anything about expecting an auto execute. In fact, my confusion came from the mod FORCING an auto execute where non was possible. In normal situations, it works great. However, what I stumbled upon is a fringe case where GT attempts to hand off the execution of the manouver node to MJ, but MJ manouver planner not being unlocked (early in career). This causes problems with MJ warping to the node as normal, but than not doing the burn. For now, the problem can easily be worked around by deleting the manouver node Because MJ manouver planner wasn't unlocked yet, my assumption was that GT was just warping me to the node so that I could do the burn myself. Than mcirish3 starts putting words in my mouth about how I apparently assumed certain functions. I never even mentioned the ascent module

That was my question yes. IF MJ manouver planner was in effect despite that not having been unlocked. Turns out it is. Which is a slight malfunction, but now that I know the cause, easy to work around. MJ Manouver planner isn't 'accessed' through some cheat, it's not unlocked yet. It just warps to the node and than stops, leaving me to do the actual burn. And than you for the lecture about how to play the game. But I think that I can decide for myself when I 'earn' an assent guidance.

I see. So I was right in suspecting MJ had something to do with it. I'll assume that it is indeed Gravityturn telling MJ to do the manouvernode, but with manouver planner not active, the process going wrong? I'll just work to unlock the planner. Thanks

The part about MJ was just because I suspected the attempted co-operation between the mods caused the problem. NOWHERE did I mention auto assent, so I am very confused about where you got that from The problem is Gravityturn timewarping to the apoapsis, and not letting me STOP the timewarp. If I turn off timewarp, Gravityturn jus turns it back on again