DD_bwest

no you want weight at the front. if your front it so light and draggy it will flip everytime, its simple physics. it may be counter intuitive, but its still simple. done right you can actually make a vessel that puts itself into orbit without any turn. if youwant there are some experiments at home that you can do. fill 2 2l bottles 1/5th of the way with plaster, one upsideown, one up right. then try to ballance them on the lid on 2 fingers and see which is easier to keep upright and if you go up 7km, you will get going quickly, at which point you will have almosphere pushing the side of your rocket. go take a papertowel tube and hold it out a window while you drive, turn it against the wind for a second. that is what you are trying to do. we are trying to help you and tell you what you are doing wrong. if you want to be stuborn, you can. but dont expect the world to change the laws of physics because you dont understand it

yea yu arent flying right for a proper aerodymanic model. going up 7km then turning is going to produce a massive amount of aerodymanic pressure pushing on the sides of your rocket, making it flip. also, you need to make it more stable by moving weight to the front. your going to want to do a PROPER gravity turn before you reach 50 m/s if your not doing things right, tou cant complain about things being broken.

http://www.strout.net/info/science/delta-v/ you can use that for delta v. you can get your mass i the vab with the engineering report. get mass with them full, then empty. the engine ISP is found when you right click on ones in the vab part list. or you can grab a calculator, or spreadsheet, and do it yourself lol its fullfilling but time consuming ive only been playing stock for a while to get master class knowledge for the base game. it forces you so adapt, since you cant bridge a gap with mods. just ask and mention you cant use mods and you will get good info. i love to help if you have any questions, feel free to ask. there are little ways to make due and do pretty much everything. is there something you are stuck on?

Honest advice: If your rockets are flipping over n over, you've got 1 of 2 things wrong. Either your rocket is unstable and to light and draggy at the front, or you are trying to steer to hard while in to dense an atmosphere.

i just get around it by never using shift-tab. backspace puts focus back to your ship, tab moves it 1 forward(which i only ever use if i have a node i want to focus on) and right click focus for everything else it used to be that if your Navball was down, you couldnt change your throttle. I cant remember if that was a game wide change, or if i found something in options that did that lol

Born out of a conversation about refueling many Oscar B's, multiple times.. We wanted a less "unpleasant" way to select them all and transfer fuel, without having to worry about accidentally clicking another part and screwing the whole thing up. And i thought it would be an amazing addition if we could have an action command group that just brings up the tweakable/fuel display window, So we could select the tank that is going to be drained and lock it on screen, followed by hitting a 1-9 key that will pop up the windows for all the tanks we wanted in that group, so that we can then just hit in/out. The ability to raise those windows with a command group could have many other applications as well. unless there already is a way to do that and ive been missing something lol

propulsion systems can make mun landings alot easier. you can make a smaller lander, which opens the possibility of using a stage meant for getting there, orbitting and cancelling out most of your speed at a very low altitude, then release the lander for a simple landing. youd be surprised how much delta v you can get from some oscars and sparks. say on your lander, replace the tank with a materials bay, surface attach 3or 4 stacks of oscar Bs tanks 3 tall around it and put some sparks on it. then make a stage with the terrier, it can be longer now since you arent landing it, use a delta V calc, or calculate it yourself to plan 1500-1700 deltaV. then all you need to do is get that into orbit. no mods required

when you right click on a device that has results, you should have an option to transfer it followed by clicking on the unit you want it to go to, just like transfer crew. so then you would transfer it to the one you want, and never use the collect all, as that would take everything from other units aswell. unless im tired and miss thinking it lol i havent done it that way but that was my thinking after seeing transfer data but not being able to jebs pod. really wish i could do that making the storage unit redundant for manned mission.

Sats are a great way to make money, and are usually an easy go to option for emergencies. You dont really need to spend to much time spinning them, they seem to come up more than they used to. I did about 9(5mun, 4 minmus) of them on that 4th launch. I insert myself into orbit of Mun, Polar orbit to be exact cause i hit all 17 biomes. this took patience and having a really good knowledge of Mun with a biome map. and i did the exact some for minmus(slopes has been more frustrating since 1.2, it seems some rather steep hills are just lowlands now). getting the transfer right takes a bit of skill, but i kinda lucked out and got a good one. from minmus its really not hard to get yourself ejected from kerbin, if you just nudge yourself outside it and head back in its not that "expensive". and all you need is a pe of 30km coming back lol come to think of it, the spark was upgraded to 320 isp with 1.2, so that ship probably wouldnt have worked on older versions. and yup that looks about right, I actually wrote out a chart with all the possible reports and all biomes for each launch so that i could cross them off as i went, as i didnt want to have to review the mass results in a box. whcih leads to one of my favorite pieces of advise to give. Write out the plan for your launch, every biome that will be involved, and check your research lab to see what you havent done. Their is alot of science that is easy to miss out on if your not thinking. yup 1188 is for tier 5, its the caveman number also i love the lander i used, after quite a few renditions, i really like the one i settled on. it makes the mat bay less obstrusive

so this was my 3rd launch, batteries on the sides. those labs on the side are for the first 4 kerbin biomes and detached asap. Science containter to make life easier. the 4th launch is a beast, I wanted to bring along enough fuel to refill 24 times, figuring i could make up the difference for those extra few landings by the unused fuel. This was way more than a needed, which ended up good in the end. there could very well be a better way to get it up, but i ran into constraits with funds. there is probably a better way to get it up into orbit, but atleast it worked lol the last one is just the command vessel for that launch, near the end of that mission i went back to the VAB and i stripped it down to that so i could adjust the fuel numbers to roughly what i had so that i could get a "wet" weight and then a dry weight. it had the lander on it still until i was setting up my return from duna.

I have a bunch of hard careers, I was just doing that on normal to see how little i could do it in. It was the result of a discussion with a friend about the best first 3 launches you could do on normal, and after a bit of mucking around i got my first 3 to almost what i described, and he goofed asking it it could be completed in 5, which was my initial goal. I got it down to 4 tho when i realized my design over did it on fuel for all the landings, and i had just enough to swing by duna and ike. abusing flag contracts is still a great way to make money, another thing i can say for "how are they paying for that?" is similar to what you said about being gentle with it. its a very good idea to go back to the space center constantly and see if there is a contract for you to do something your going to essentially be doing anyways. As soon as you have been to a target, contracts are available for it. so if you have a contract to go to Mun, orbit and come back. when you get there, go to the space center and you will have a contract asking to bring back science, if its not there a warp for a few days will bring it. as per side note: Its probably my punctuation confusing it, the 3rd launch only goo cans mun, minmus and kerbol biomes, since the second launch takes kerbin space high. and ofcourse all the EVA reports for flying low over a biome is simply jumping and hitting EVA report in the air lol i should have all my ships from that whole thing saved so ill see if i can grab some shots. The 4th looked kinda.. well it got the job done lol

I did this just over a month ago. There is easy cash with those contracts, but you can more then make up for it by abusing the flag planting contracts on your next launch and The bonuses you get for doing things the first time can help make that up aswell. if you place a command ship in orbit of either mun or minmus, you can go to the space center and look at contracts, there is almost certainly a flag contract worth 50k advance and 100k completion, if there isnt you can warp a few days and there will be one. then go make you landing and return to orbit. go back to the space center and repeat the process. I made the decision to do it that way so that i would ensure i unlocked the accellerometer before my 4th launch, as i needed the few k science points it would provide by reports in every mun and minmus biome. also the ship size needed for the 3rd launch really isnt that much and that expensive. The trick is to make sure you get propulsion systems from your second launch. and you can get an extra 40k if you go back to the space center on your first orbit before you come down, as there will be a contract to return from orbit. and also keep an eye out for returning science, which will be happening anyways. oh and you dont upgrade your mission control or tracking until after your in orbit of mun, so its not exactly for anyone who has no idea what they are doing. once you get in orbit of mun tho you should have enough to go back and upgrade them so that transfering between moons wont be as bad the method i described isnt really needed lol its just the way to complete the entire tech tree in the fewest possible launches within a normal career. that being 4 as i havent found a way to do it in 3 yet lol.

Hitting all Low orbit eva reports for any target really isnt that difficult if you go with a polar orbit, Especially if you google for a biome map of your target. and the amount of dV needed to transfer from the mun to minmus is also pretty small. Putting those together, its really not that hard(although seemingly if you are new) to get all the orbital science for both mun and minmus(minus the gravioli) on your first visit. While its possible to land on the mun or minmus the first time you are there, i find in almost all cases its better for you to wait and plan it on a different launch since the science you can get from the first trip can get you the accelerometer, which will help mountains for when you head back to land. On normal i think its like 100 points per report. On normal, your first launch can get you the first 5 science nodes. 5 goo cans(launch pad, flying low, upper atmo, space low, your landing biome) 3 crew reports(launch pad, space low, your landing biome) and 3 eva (launch pad, landing biome, flying over landing biome) your second launch can get you another 5. 2 goo cans (landing biome, space high),4 crew reports (flying low, upper atmo, space high, landing biome). 15 Eva reports (upper atmo, space high, all low orbit biomes, landing biome and flying over landing biome). 7 thermo reports (launch pad, flying low shores, upper atmo, space low, space high, flying over landing biome, landing biome),6 barometer (launchpad, flying low, upper atmo, space low, space high, landing biome) third launch wil be the first trip to Mun and minmus, aswell as leaving kerbins SOI. 10 material bays(launch pad, flying low, upper atmo, space low, space high, Mun low, Mun high, minus low, minmus high, kerbol high) 5 goo can, (Mun low, Mun high, minus low, minmus high, kerbol high), 5 crew reports (Mun low, Mun high, minus low, minmus high, kerbol high) 29 eva reports (mun high and all 17 mun low orbits, minmus high and all 9 minmus low orbit, kerbol high, 5 thermo (Mun low, Mun high, minus low, minmus high, kerbol high) 5 baro (Mun low, Mun high, minus low, minmus high, kerbol high). Now i think thats all of them. with the science from those 3 launches on normal, you will have everything you need to land on all 17, and all 9 biomes of Mun and minmus, with all the science except for the gravioli, in a single launch, which will leave you after 4 launches with around 1500science points remaining. You can give your 4th launch extra fuel and plan to fly it by duna and ike after all your landings, and grab the last bit of science to finish the tree, remember to head back to the space center between landings and check the contracts, very often the plant flag ones will pop up and youll be able to completed 10+ of these with just your 4th launch.

it hasnt happened to me since i got rid of the mechjeb+MM, but ive had periods when it stops for a while then comes back. I may have had something to do with module manager.

ive had this happen on pretty much every contract that included multiple destinations, with them fixing themselves and showing completion upon completing another objective

i used to use that, but as of 1.2 there is no need with autostrut and the built in joint reinforcement

i think if you wanna attach them to a wing you gotta use a strut to make a mounting point, but i could be wrong. i dont make many planes. i usually surface attach some tanks to the rear end of the fuselage.

do you see it changing while your RCS is on to try and point towards your node? if your rcs is on, it can slightly change your orbital parameters, the more orbits out(actually, the further out in general) your node is, the more these small changes will effect your node. I believe thats the case atleast, ive observed behavior like that, and by not using RCS thrusters so far in advance, the problem went away

KSP takes many things into consideration. A rockets weight will affects its total delta V, which is its ability to change its speed, So added weight will reduce that number. The altitude you are at also changes the characteristics of the engine, the Specific impluse will change, aswell as the TWR. It will also affected by TWR and gravity losses, that being how long your burn is, and how fast you reach a velocity that drag really becomes an issue. Your heading is also obviously taken into account. If you are pointed even a few degrees off from straight up, you will be spending fuel on horizontal thrust, so you wont go as high. but thats for if your just trying to go up, you want horizontal velocity to reach orbit.

Earning science is easier than it seems, and before you know it, if you plan right, every mission will bring back a nice return. Science is earned by running a science experiment, a crew report, EVA report, or a surface sample. and all of these can be done again for each biome. each planet or moon has their own surface biomes and for low orbit and high orbit, and an atmosphere will add a flying low and flying high, the wiki on the science http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Science has a few charts towards the bottom that will help you out. when you are planning a contract or any mission, think about where you are going to go and which biomes you are going to encounter that you havent before. youll soon realize that even simple missions can end up going through alot, done right you can be almost done the tech tree in but a few missions. One of the simpler ways to get a good return, are EVA reports. When your in orbit of a planet, every biome you pass over will give you a chance to generate a new one to stash away in your pod. if you plan with polar orbits, you can pretty much hit every biome. but even with equatorial ones youll pass over alot. the Mun has 17 biomes you can do that in so it adds up nicely. If you are sending a pod somewhere, id doesnt hurt to attach a thermometer and a barometer to it so you can run a test and have your kerbal pull the results. If you put a probe onto a lander for SAS, you can send a scientist to do the landing and reset any material bays or goo cans, only to boune to another biome near by before going to orbit. there are some spots on the moons that youll have a bunch of biomes relatively close. edit: and surface samples are worth alot, so make sure you grab one anytime you are landing with a kerbal. even grabbing them from around kerbin help. if you have a kerbal on a mun but you cant take a sample, its because you havent upgraded your research lab enough. but if you have the cash, even if he is standing on the surface, you can go back to the space center, upgrade it, and he will be able to grab a sample lol and i disagree with some who say its a grind.. ive completed the tech tree in 4 missions before lol

lol your right, im thinking of the RCS light thats green

is the green icon on the navball lit up to show that sas is on? do you have a picture of your rocket so we can see whats going on?

i finished it off last night, once you mentioned just transmitting it, instead of returning it like i had been originaly planning, i realized that i could get a decent amount of science. since its not a full career, not getting full science points isnt as big a deal. so some quick trips to minmus for its easy space high/low science, i made a couple landings with a mat bay, but they kept tipping over cause i was only using the probes reaction wheel lol then i made an absolute tiny one, with just a goo can and thermo/baro. I hit 2 biomes with it and finished the tree. it was a fun challenge, better on hard i think, cause normal was a piece of cake. I certainly got alot better at flying without nodes.

real solar system. its a whole different beast lol

NP, I used to build big and asper everything, but after some time playing RSS, i learned to break up my rockets alot nicer. 1.3 twr is just around perfect i find. i like to build stages for specific tasks. a booster stage for getting out of the heavy atmo, a larger stage to get it nearly orbit, and a final stage as the transfer stage, with a little bit extra built in to nicely circulize the orbit.