Lunar Sea

Ok, pretty sure I tried that, I was at it for like an hour the other night, it would just clip and attach in the middle of the craft. I'll keep at it though.

I have my rover saved as a subassembly but it will not join radially to a side separator on my main vehicle. The rover is basically a mk1 inline cockpit and structural fuselage with wheels that I saved it in a vertical orientation, and the idea is to attach 2 symmetrically to the sides of the main rocket body to separate later.

Well that worked out the best way possible looks like

My ship is in a somewhat inclined (15deg or so) 20km orbit around Ike. I've got 880 dv left. What's the most efficient (and reasonable) method to transfer back to kerbin once the window comes up? I'm thinking ejecting from Ike into a Duna orbit that puts the Pe more or less at the correct ejection angle, then burning from there.

I'll link to the craft file soon if folks are interested. Surface operations have been going well - I set it down at the north end of the NorthWest Crater, roved to the Northern Basin, and have just crossed into the Highlands surrounding the Polar Crater. From there it's to the Poles and Polar Highlands. I will admit sometimes it is a bit tedious but other times there is some interesting navigation and good scenery to be had, especially crossing into the Highlands.

Seriously, this one is so easy. Who among us has not inadvertently quicksaved before unavoidable disaster? It happens. A 2nd quicksave slot mitigates this.

Roadster 2.0 (finally got the sucker launched. For some reason it's a major PITA to deliver this particular payload). Upgrades include new wheels, twice the VTOL fuel, mobility enhancer, docking port and tweaked action groups . Can average 20m/s over most terrain. Inadvertent flips can sometimes be corrected with reaction wheels if you're quick. Orbital mode. Actually I tend to keep the primary engines attached for surface travel too, useful for suborbital flights across the surface but alas the VTOL won't work until they are ditched. Set down just shy of the terminator to allow for a full munar day of operations.

I am however having a devil of a time getting the next one into orbit... LV keeps tipping over I'll have post a picture of it soon and solicit some advice.

Pretty low, but I do ritually lithobrake Jebediah before commencing any new program. He's overrated.

Merge craft does not merge. Well actually I do think I got it to work once or twice. Had to fart around with the root selection on the craft I was bringing in to merge if I recall. But it would be nice to know how to get it to merge correctly (and not be totally faded out) every time.

Thanks! The rear fuselage is just the structural part - no fuel there. I did think about putting the rocket fuel tank there but that creates some pretty gnarly center of mass issues that I just didn't want to deal with. It actually doesn't need that much fuel on low-G bodies and you can do a fair amount of flying around before it runs out, certainly long enough to cross whatever obstacles impede ground travel.

That is a godsend, thank you.

Only been playing a few months now so not quite confident in my build skills yet, but this is the first craft I've had a blast flying/driving AND has been a successful test. Had the notion to make a science rover for Duna and wound up with this before the day was out. Put the Twitch engines on almost as an afterthought when I recalled some bitter disappointment of my first rover being trapped in a Mun crater. Kind of surprised how well it turned out, it can even fly on Kerbin. Very useful for crossing craters and canyons instead of having to divert around them. New version with upgraded wheels and a docking port up next.

I've found the soundtrack for Jodorowsky's Dune to be a particularly good fit for KSP. Similar to the pacing and vibe of the stock soundtrack but takes it to the next level.

Tell me about this... Moho.

Sometimes the camera angle can be decieving. Also depends what you are referencing to - if it's moving too than can complicate things.

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Extra-Vehicular_Activity#Controls Basically WASD to go backwards forwards left and right. Shift & Ctrl to go up and down. Q&E to rotate.

Thanks folks that is really helpful info. Think I will print out this page for a reference sheet So far (interplanetary-wise) I have just done one Duna trip, which was comparatively easy. Now it's getting trickier.

I've been having a lot of trouble with this lately. Take Eve for example. I wait for the transfer window, have my craft in orbit over Kerbin and try to set a maneuver node. I can never get an encounter going by the book. I always have to either spend extra DV or set another maneuver further down and spend more there. I know inclination of course has to be corrected for at some point but I still feel I'm spending too much. Last time I waited til exactly the alarm clock showed the transfer window and it seemed I wound up just behind the planet I was after. Advice on planning encounters when heading out from Kerbin please\?

Bit of a play on words.... Lunar Sea... lunacy