Giygus

TYVM I downloaded all of it, Near future stuff looks like it will be just the fit!

Well, this is what I was talking about. The pictures show many more engines and reactors etc...

I started a new game recently, and once I purchased all the tech upgrades, I got bored. I have not played previously with any mods (besides mechjeb) and so am a little lost. I would really like a mod to do something interesting with science points, maybe to unlock more parts. The one I was looking at was KSP Interstellar Extended, as it seems to have a lot of cool engines. However, it seems so busy and complicated, with all kinds of fuel and such, that I just don't feel its worth learning and dealing with. Any recommendations?

So I just installed this mod and the KerboKats Utility mod, which I guess it needs to function. Nothing seems to be different. No green cat icon to click on. Is there like a list I am supposed to activate it on before it shows up in game? P.S: I successfully installed mechjeb in one try, so I am not a totally dummy. However, as this is only my 2nd addon, I may be missing something obvious.

Cool beans, just downloaded and installed. Will give it a whirl and see what I can do with it. Thanks for the quick response.

I looked around here a bit, Curse, and over at the wiki, but I didn't see anything. I am wondering if there is an addon available to help organize the "load craft" screen in VAB/hanger. For example, I was thinking a simple folder system would be available. Like, you could "make a new folder" and name it Duna, then everything you were planning on sending to that location could be placed in that folder. As I make more and more vehicles, I am finding the Alphabetized selection list is very large, especially as I create test designs to compare and contrast, and its becoming a PITA. Anyway, any thoughts?

Oh yeah, that could be the parachutes.

Looks really cool, but how in the world does it get fuel to the Engine though? Also, what is that Air conditioner looking thing on the side of the material studies? Thanks everyone for the advice, I remain in awe of the creativity of this game and those playing it. OK, I think Plusck got it as good as can be expected. Going to give it a shot and see what I can do. After thinking about it for a few days, I think what I am going to do is launch several missions at once. The lander as one, a refueling pod for the lander (to help with hoping) and 2 separate "duel-transfer-pod" launches. Hook two NERV powered transfer pods to the lander and refuel, and then get it all to Duna with as little time warp as I can manage. When done, just bring the lander home.

This was my first start: It is about 1 ton less weight, but has ~2K less Dv. Thrust to weight is about the same. When I decided I wanted to planet hop around some, to get a few biomes worth of studies done in one trip, I started thinking NERV. Since the T vs W ratio is about the same, I think they will both perform the same in that regard. I was hoping to bring the entire lander in through Kerbin's atmosphere at the end of the mission. Not sure how the pod would survive that unless I am really careful about areobreaking, which I usually hate doing in a "RL time vs. fun-in-video-game" thing. Although I understand it is a very nifty maneuver. I am visiting for Science points/role play. Visiting surface was next up in mission control storywise, and I was getting bored with Mun landings and didn't feel like building a station yet. I cannot get more Dv out of a Terrier/Poodle, any hints? The picture above was about my best attempt, and I was a lot of Dv off from the NERV. I will make another point on this "sweetspot" below. The transfer stage is part of the lifter stage. I get to 605KM above the surface with the Twinboars having about 1000Dv left (after dropping off the outer tanks/SRB), and let Mechjeb create a maneuver point using the "porkchop" method. I fast forward a few years and get to Duna needing about 800DV, get into orbit with whats left, then drop the boars to land (at least that's the plan). The logistics problem is not an issue because I was NOT planning on using parachutes to land on Duna, only on reentry onto Kerbin. Dv Map says it takes ~1500 Dv to land from orbit, so lets say each "hop" is 1500, and I should get at least 2 hops before I go back to orbit/return burn to Kerbin, which will be "porkchoped" for efficiency. I suspect it will take less then 1500 to hop though, so I am hoping for 3+, won't know till I get there! 1: I do not feel qualified to do rendezvous all the time, and wanted to avoid them. I did it a few times for practice, rescuing kerbals here and there, found it to be a time consuming PITA. Never built a lander ship in 2 stages. It is a viable option though. 2: Didn't think Science bay could provide attaching point, good idea 3 Reentry into Kerbin seems dicey unless I have a strong reaction wheel to keep things all retrograde. I never bothered to use Heat shields. 4: EVA RCS = PITA. Was hoping to use ladders, but again, its a fair point. Why are they "more comfortable and fun"? Just because the NERV is a messy size? Cool ship. Didn't think to use wings like that, although I bet it would add a ton of weight. Holy cow that thing is a beauty. Why does it need so much RCS fuel and Electricity, just for the multiple dockings? Also, whats the plan for getting Kerbals home with a Reentry on Kerbin? Yikes, pictures like yours reminds me of just how bad I am at the game. Also, I don't recognize all the parts, can I confirm with you that they are all stock? OK, this is getting very TL;DR, but maybe someone did read all the way to the end. After reading posts, it got me thinking maybe I am going about it the wrong way. Instead of having a final stage that goes around on Duna then back home, I can use NERV engines to transfer a much larger ship there, with a smaller lander that goes up and down a few times, then the whole thing turns around to leave. High efficiency NERV transfer could also mean I don't have to warp 2+ years for windows as well, which is a plus, even if its true to life.

I just got enough Science to unlock the nuclear engine, and I want to build a Duna lander with one, to make my first landing on the planet. The thing is the damn engine is so long, my imagination is failing me on an elegant way to build, and put landing struts and a ladder on it. After spending an hour getting frustrated, it occurred to me that approximately everyone reading this has already built one, or something like it. Any tips or pictures you have would be awesome! A few points: The mission is full science (I don't have upper level experiments unlocked yet). I am planning on not activating the lander (NERV) stage until getting into Duna orbit. However, I was planning on trying to biome hop once or twice. The lander I was working on had 6000+ Dv, and had a 1.2 thrust on Duna, with about 17 ton weight. I was planning on only bringing a scientist to reset and collect experiments. However, that means the experiments need to be within his reach and a probe core is needed. I have all engines unlocked, as well as the largest fairing. So long as it isn't crazy wide, un-areodynamic stuff should be fine. I was planning on having the entire lander reenter Kerbin, using the parachutes, but I guess I am not married to that. The only addon I have is mechjeb. So un-stock parts would mess me up OK, so here is what I have so far: UPDATE: So after reading everyones posts, here is what I am going with. Decided that the NERV engine was not the best way to go, everyone was making that a pretty strong point. I will be using Nerv for transfer stage, which will be brought into orbit separately and attached with the docking ports. Will send an unmanned refuel pod first, to maximize hopping potential. Again, thanks for all the help!

Thank you for all the help! This particular rocket design was just a test, which is why I choose to only show the area I was not able to come up with a solution for on my own. I will post a picture later to show how the fairing, with the added adapters, looks like, to see if you think I could do anything more. TL;DR:

I can get the fairing to work if I make it very large, and pretty much encompass the entire top of the ship starting just under the decoupler. That's not exactly a bad thing really, but the added weight is 1+ton, and I am unsure if that kills w/e efficiency I gain from reducing drag.

Tried, I can't get the Faring to close. I can't say I have much experience with them, but I think they need to touch completely around itself, like a rocket nose cone, in order to be set as completed in the VAB. Maybe I am wrong?

I am trying to build my first lander to get to Duna and this is what I got: My issue is that empty space for the small sized engine under the fuel tank. I am assuming this will cause a good deal of Aero-drag, but upgrading from a Terrier to a Poodle costs me like 600 Dv that I don't want to lose if I don't have to. Any ideas? I ask because I am sure this will come up again in the future

Thanks for all the help. This first stab in the dark has been much improved with your advice, but I decided to abandon it for something more thought out from the start. After I decide to build a Science generating station (or refuel depot) I will be back for more nitpicking!

So I am trying to put my first space station into orbit, as part of a contract. I am going to take what I learn here to build my own eventually, but I had a few questions pop up I thought you could help me with. First, pictures of the actual station. Any advice would be awesome. Note that I am planning on lifting it in one stage (if I can, have yet to actually try), and the only addon I have is MechJeb: So here are the questions: How exactly do Kerbals move through the station, somewhat realistically or magically? For example, if I were to put just one docking port on the fuel tank, would the game whisk them up to any of the seats available in any of the pods? Here I am using docking ports and the utility bay to provide what I hope would be enough room for them to get around if its more realistic. How does fuel move around? Would I need a separate port on the fuel tank to refill it at some point, or is the one on the lander can going to move it magically to the tank on the bottom? I am concerned about solar power generation. Landing on the moons taught me that you need to manually put the ship in a position to receive sunlight BEFORE you warp. Since I can't move a station around all the time while doing other things, I put a bunch of panels in what I hope are enough different positions that it should be in the sun somewhat all the time. Is this a good idea, overkill, or not enough? Fuel in general question: I have that one X200-16 for liquid attached to a poodle, two 150 mono tanks, and two Z-400 bats (plus what the pods have). Does any of that seem like overkill or undershooting for a Kerbal based station? What if I wanted it on/around the Mun? I think that's all the questions I have for now. Again, any and all input is very much appreciated!

Got my first sat into designated orbit. Was easier then I thought, which is the very first thing in this game ever to turn out that way. I was unsure of how to set inclination at orbit. I did set Mechjeb to make a node for me, but it was on the other side of the planet. In the future, I guess that warping to that maneuver point would be a smart move. However, I took enough fuel along that I had plenty of Dv to change inclination after. Don't have the tech unlocked that upgrades mechjeb to do this, but nice to know it will be easy when I do.

I just took my first "build a satellite and put into X orbit" contract, and found myself completely lost. I get that the map shows you the circle it should be in when your done, but I have no idea of how to get there. Right now, after a bit of testing, I think I should: Burn to get my current AP to match the contract's orbits PE. Change inclination to the specified one (maybe on the way to AP (which will be PE)?) Burn to switch current AP to match the contract's orbits AP. This would leave my old AP as the new PE Is this at all right? If there are any tutorials you know of, please point me at them. The Tutorial Library here did not seem to have any. (I don't want to watch a 30 min video though, too boring ) P.S: I am VERY interested in using MechJeb to assist me, I just couldn't figure out how. Thanks for your time

That is such a funky looking plane! A James Bond villain would love it!

Not a game play question really, but I keep wondering about something. The level 2 tracking station has a large amount of Yellow billboard looking structures all over it. What are they supposed to be? I keep assuming they must be some sort of 1960's equivalent radio wave receiver, or something. Figured someone around here would know

OK, so, I added 2 AV-R8 Winglets, and it worked! It is a little wobbly on the way up, and when I had the 2 fins all the way down near the bottom, I kept flipping on the ascent. I pointed Retrograde, and had Jeb set to hold it, so as it came down, he kept jamming that control stick around until it was slow enough. I suspect I will need more barf bags for the tourists. Snark: Here are pictures of the not working one. I put the Delta-Deluxe winglets back on like yesterday, and tried twice. Once with me pointing retrograde coming down, with Jeb set to steady, and once with Jeb set to point retro all the way down (Jeb leveled up for me today, so I could not do this earlier). It is very steady on the way up, and as you said before, becomes a steady lawn dart on the way down.

A couple of other points. I did try pointing retrograde, and as Snark figured, I flipped around anyway. I tried it with ditching engine block (not that I want it like that, the point is to make money) and that didn't help either.

Excellent, and it does look cool to! I did not even think about putting them on the side like that ( I keep not thinking around corners in this game, I need to work on my design skills ). I bet you could scale it up to 3 and have it function as well. I have all lvl 45 cost tech unlocked, so I have basic ones yes. I did try at one point to put four Delta-Deluxe winglets on, but it didn't really help. Maybe the asymmetrical design will. I am off to try anyway!

I am still pretty new to Career mode, and I am trying to build a rocket to ferry 4 tourists into a sub-orbital flight, and land it in the water. The issue I am having is that the section made to splash down comes in with great speed, and it cannot be saved with parachutes. This is what I got over all: And this is what I want to hit water, note that fuel tanks are empty in this pic, to show you a true center of mass: And here it is seconds before disaster, note that Jebediah is enjoying himself, while the passengers realize they should have donated the funds to charity (Orphans from Launch Failures being the largest on Kerbal right now) : OK, so a few things I noted while trying to fix it myself. 1) The craft DOES flip, and yes I understand that is a bad thing 2) The parachutes are at default settings. 3) My reentry orbit is kind of shallow, I point at 70 degrees after the SRB stage. However, when I went down to 65 or 60 degrees, I have the same issue, only my fuel can run out before I hit 70Km +. The reason why the word "Parachute" is in the title is because I read on the wiki that parachutes "should always be toggled for your craft (or something like that)" but I could find no rules regarding how to set them up. The only tutorial here was : but it only talks about parachute placement, not how to set them up specifically. As I advance along career mode, I will need to splash larger and heavier things, so I figure now would be the best time to ask around, see what tips I can get. One of the things that confuses me the most about this is the fact that a smaller 2x tourist set up seems to work just fine, slowing down very quickly when it gets into the thicker part of the atmosphere. And the only real difference between the 2 is one small fuel tank and one passenger section. Thanks for your time!

I have been playing vanilla career mode (easy setting), for the first time, in the past few days. I have been successful completing some of the easier contracts, and have noticed that very similar ones respawn right after I am done. My question is, can I expect survey, ferrying, and part testing type contracts (the easy ones) to ALWAYS respawn, or will the pool dry up? I ask because I have yet to upgrade any buildings, other then launch pad (lvl 2), for fear of running out of money. I understand it would be grindy, but it would be nice to know if I could always count on something easy and quick to do if I needed the cash. Thanks! EDIT: While I am bothering to open a thread, I have another question. Is there a way to see the Biome map in game without the cheat? I know that survey parts exist, but I thought they showed you ore.