BentRim

I will give it a try again and see what happens. I'm new to KSP and have not unlocked the Klaw in my career mode yet. How can you dock without a docking port on the target ship? Thanks for the help.

I accepted a contract to take Dozon on a orbit around the Mun. I have succesfully orbited and have tried to re-enter Kerbin and land at least ten times. The capsule becomes unstable and turns into a bullet. I've tried setting my periapsis to 40k, 38k, 35k and 33k. I've done it with my fuel tanks attached and without many times and I can't scrub off enough speed to get my chute to deploy. I believe the problem lies in that I forgot to put a heat shield in my build before I hastily launched him to the Mun. I'm not burning up though.. and can maintain retrograde stability for most of the trip and then it flips over and bullets prograde into the ground. So I came up with a plan. I circularized the orbit at about 95k and sent up a rescue ship with a heat shield. One that I have used for many Kerbin rescues and know it will survive re-entry. My plan was to rendezvous and then EVA Dozon into the rescue craft, land to complete the contract.... The problem is that I didn't know that Tourists cannot EVA... so I'm stuck again. Anybody have any good suggestions on how to complete this contract and get my Tourist home?

While I don't intend to use MJ's autopilot features at this time, I could see how after a while it would be useful to perform some of the routine tasks I have mastered to simply move forward quicker. I like to learn new things that are outside of my normal day to day job, especially thing that challenge my brain. I've always had an interest in physics, astronomy and chemistry, but my career ended up being in healthcare. Being 100% honest I am normally a console gamer as decades ago I found it cost prohibitive to keep my computer upgraded and lost interest as life happened. A couple of years ago I purchased a gaming laptop to play some RPG games on when I travel for work and I learned about Steam. About six months ago the KSP demo popped up on my radar and I downloaded it. I fired it up, took a perusal look at the game and found it to be non-intuitive and frankly just didn't get what it was about. Then over the Christmas season I was looking at Steam and KSP popped up again on a great sale. I started reading the reviews and was puzzled why it got such high ratings that I figured there must be something I missed on my initial look. My 12 year old was looking over my shoulder and she mentioned that she had heard about KSP at school from one of her teachers and was somewhat familiar with it. She informed me that it was all over Youtube... ( which is also a thing I never think of ) so I watched a couple of videos, stayed up an entire night, and have been hooked ever since. In any event, while I feel I have come a long way from that first orbit around Kerbin, I am beginning to realize that I have just scratched the surface and have a long way to go. I will check out Kerbal Engineer as well. I don't know that I have the desire to start manually calculating things, but certainly want to gain an understanding of how it all goes together. Thanks again for the comments.

@Foxster Thank you for your reply. This particular craft I built was intended to try to accomplish multiple rescues in one launch which is why I added the extra cabin. Being a total novice and likely having some fundamental lack of common sense I built it with multiple sciences attached only because in my brain symmetry seemed to make sense. I hadn't considered the mass of the parts. Jeb ended up on Minimus because I lack focus and changed my plan after launch not really thinking of the consequences. Fortunately I was able to get him home. I had not considered the option to not worry so much about completing contracts and simply focusing on gathering science. I guess I figured that completing contracts would lead me in the direction of unlocking the tech tree. I will do some reading and try to gain a better understanding on how to figure out how much dV I need and try to build more efficient ships. The designs I have used so far come from copying things I have seen in the Wiki and just attempting to learn. Now that I am confident in my ability to control the ship and make it go where I want (which was a big part of my primary goal) I can now plan some further missions as you suggested. Again thanks for your thoughts. @DD_bwest I did notice that as I have used different pilots that sometime SAS did not always have the same options but I didn't know what was causing it to change. The number of stars now make sense and that is helpful information. It follows that rather than using different pilots, I should likely just focus on one to increase the number of stars and get more SAS options. I will take a look at the calculator as I proceed and as I stated above start trying to build original ships of my own design that are more efficient. Again, it seems as though I need to focus on Science and going to places to gather it rather than just completing contracts in the same locations over and over. Just doing rescue missions from Kerbin orbit has built my skills, and I have become efficient at timing my intercepts and using EVA to get the victim in the rescue craft... but I am no longer getting any science in those areas. Thanks again for the information you have shared as well.

This was incredibly valuable advice. I upgraded Research and hopped Jeb around Minimus taking surface samples. I had enough fuel left in the lander to leave Minimu and burn to a Kerbin orbit and lowered my PE to 30km. Hit a water splashdown and nearly doubled my Science points to 608. I know what dV is but not how to calculate it. I just created a save point and went for it. I now have more options to unlock. Thanks for the help. Jeb is back home and earned his second star (whatever that means...)

Having not really explored MJ at all I really have no idea all of the things it can do. The functionality you described was something I wondered if was somewhere within stock KSP and I had just missed it. I have very little understanding of the science system at this point, other than I just try to find it where ever I may be at the time. I can embrace using a mod for this if that's the way its done. One of the things I have been working on is anticipating where I need to begin my retrograde burn in order to land as close to the space center as possible. I'm getting better at trying to land on a specific area. I have a lot to learn. Each time I play I try to set a goal and then figure out how to accomplish it. When I get stuck I search google and watch youtube..... For me this game is one big mental puzzle... much more than a game. Thanks for the tips.

@Jarin Thank you for taking the time to break that all down for me. I can't say that I have a particular style or philosophy that I can articulate or define, but your observation that I'm not particularly interested in aircraft is on point. I'm about 150 hours into KSP at this point and have spent the majority of my time becoming proficient at performing rescue missions from Kerbin orbit, especially in regards to timing my launch and intersects. I no longer struggle with EVA like had been. My primary reason for this post was that I felt like I am beginning to struggle to accumulate science to unlock further tiers so I had began saving it up, not being able to make a decision what to unlock next. I can see now that I need to spend more time on the Mun and Minimus to gather more science there before moving on. My game is stock with the exception of Mechjeb (Which I installed, but have not used) and Precise Manuver ( because I found the stock node system to be cumbersome and frustrating). I'm not opposed to mods, but would rather they enhance the game and help me learn instead of just making something easy. Thanks to everyone who responded and I appreciate the advice.

I have accumulated 341 Science points and am wondering what is the best pathway to choose to spend them on R&D. I know this is a pretty opened ended question and hard to answer but I'd like to hear your guys thoughts on the best way to proceed and some possible goals for my career. As always, thanks again. Here is an image of where I am at so far. EDIT: So far I have done lots of Kerbin rescue contracts, a few Mun contracts and I have Jeb stranded on Minimus in a lander with enough fuel to get back into orbit but probably not enough to get back to Kerbin.

I know there was a little bit of thread drift but the tips regarding lights, zooming in much closer to my Kerbal and not using the navball for the last 50m were invaluable to me. I set up a save point and practiced my EVA and now am much more confident. Able to leave the cabin and get back in with a lot less trouble. I have a Logitech G602 mouse and I mapped my CTRL and Shift keys you a couple of buttons which also helped a lot. Thanks again to all who contributed.

I will have to read more about action groups. Something I didn't understand where ( or how )I would use them. Lots to learn...Lots to learn.

I feel kind of stupid. I didn't know about lights.... 125 hours in and I'm still learning the basics. When EVA I set my camera to chase. There seems to be a point when I get close to the ship where everything flips over on the navball and that throws me off. Also regarding building better crafts. I'm only part way through the third tier on my tech tree so I'm limited in what I can do.

Again thanks for the support and the tips. In regards to my difficulties with EVA: I have trouble hitting the right keys. Especially Up and Down. I make mistakes tapping and the next thing I know I'm flying off the wrong direction. I also have a hell of a time finding the hatch in the dark. My gaming rig isn't ideal. It's a laptop but it's all I have. Steep learning curve but I'm getting there.

Honestly, I've experienced the ship flipping and turning into a bullet before... I'm not sure why it did not happen this time but it actually seemed stable and didn't even attempt to flip. I did have SAS on and locked on retrograde. I did have a lot of fuel left in the last stage and used it all burning retrograde to slow it down before letting it go.

Thanks for the suggestions. This is my second build with this craft and I forgot that I had added a cabin and a heat shield underneath it as to complete a tourist contract. I'm not really good at EVA but I had done ten or so rescue missions so I can do it but it can take me an hour or so to get back in the command module. The tip on EVA to gather science is helpful because I did not know to do that. I also didn't realize that science was cumulative and capped such that even if I transmit the data it's not really a penalty and that I can get the rest at a later date. I am getting good at quicksave and reload however :-) This game for me is more like a mental puzzle rather than a game. Each time I learn something new and how to deal with it another challenge pops up with another hurdle to overcome. At this point the only mod I am using is Precise Maneuver as I was struggling with dragging the vectors on the stock nodes and found that incredibly frustrating. I did re-enter Kerbin and was able to survive. Jeb and his passenger landed in the Desert but nothing else survived. I will re-load my save and attempt to EVA to gather all my science or transmit it and make some changes and go back to the Mun... Thanks for all the tips and assistance. I do appreciate it.

I built a ship using this tutorial for a trip to the Mun. I added some Science Jr's to the sides of it and I also have an antenna to transmit data. What I didn't realize was that transmitting data uses a lot of electricity and depletes my batteries rather quickly. I also didn't know that transmitting science comes with a penalty in the form of reduced value. The options I have are to continue and wait it out while my solar panels recharge batteries, and transmit what data I can, start over with a re-design and lose the progress I have made, or keep the data and attempt re-entry and recovery of data. When following the tutorial I attached the Science to the side of the craft as described but below my coupler. This stage is then lost and burns up during re-entry if I take it that far back to Kerbin or is left to orbit. If I take it home and it burns up do I lose all the Science data when I recover Jeb and his passenger, or is the science data retained? Whats my best option to get as much science from this attempt... or do I just scrap it and rebuild? Here's a screenshot of the craft in orbit around the Mun.

Thanks for the help. In my head I was looking for something that would go on board, like a module or something, and trying to figure out how to spend my science wisely to get there. I was not even aware that you could upgrade the different buildings.

I'm working my way through a career game in stock 1.2.2 KSP. What R&D branch do I need to work on to get the ability to place maneuver nodes and use them?

When I use the "M" key to switch to the orbital view, if I double click on Kerbin it changes the focus to the planet when rotating the view. How to I change camera focus back to the ship. I'm certain this is incredibly basic and I'm just overlooking it.

I had the same issue. Apparently it is a known bug. If you load a Sandbox game and then exit and re-load the Tutorial you will then be able to place the maneuver and complete it.

"intended value" was a poor expression on my part. I understand what your saying in respect to small dV changes being applied over long distances having a significant effect and I do believe that is part of my issue. The other is that I have trouble sometimes selecting the proper handle on the node I am trying to edit, depending on the orientation of the view. For instance a lot of times I am trying to move an node after spending time adjusting prograde when I then try to move the node on the orbit I mistakenly grab a radial handle and then adjust it by accident. Possibly by not knowing any better, I then delete the node and start over which is time consuming and frustrating. There seems to be a fine line for me, but I do understand what your saying and why it could be perfectly normal behavior for the adjustment to take off to infinity quickly. I could not find the PreciseNode mod, but found one that appears to be a branch from it called Precise Maneuver. I have it installed and am learning how to use it.

@FancyMouse Thanks for the tip. I will check out PreciseNode and give it a shot. I'm not opposed to a modded game. I'm very new to KSP and was wondering if I was just missing an alternative input system. @FullMetalMachinist Thank you as well. I had wondered when setting up a node if 'pushing' retrograde was the same as 'pulling' prograde. In regards to the scroll wheel scaling... I think that is my biggest problem and I kind of wonder if it is my mouse, or the game. When physically rolling my scroll wheel I notice that I get real fine adjustment and then as I approach my intended value all of a sudden it just takes off as though I have scrolled quickly, as though It loses resolution. My poor mouse is old and has been dropped hundreds of times... (it's an inexpensive Logitech wireless USB) it does the job for most tasks but I wonder if it's time for a new one.

I am learning how to use maneuver nodes. When I attempt to use my mouse to drag the prograde (or any) vector I find that it is too sensitive and I overshoot my intended value. The same thing happens when I try to use the mouse wheel to adjust the vector. I find this frustrating, and I seem to spend more time just trying to adjust the node with the mouse to get the vector where I want it to be. Does anyone else have this issue? I am spending most of my time going through the tutorials to learn transfers and docking. My version is 1.2.2 and is stock unmodded. It would be nice if there were an alternate way to adjust the node vectors either with control focus and the keyboard or by entering a numerical value, or is there and I am just missing it? Any suggestions?

I see that some Questions and Answers have an option to "Vote this Up" . This is a new concept to me and I can guess to some extent what it does... rather than just assume however could someone explain when and why I would do this?

I noticed the same thing. When I would first load the mission I could not add maneuvers even though I was being instructed to by the tutorial. I found that if I exited and re-loaded the tutorial it would then let me complete it. Thanks for posting this as I wasn't sure how to describe what was happening or if it was just my system.

Thanks to all for the welcome. I did not realize that there had been a recent update to the game, which explains why many of the things I am reading don't match what I see on the screen. I have been watching a few of the Scott Manley videos as well as some others and that has been very helpful. Having been around internet forums since the usenet days, I generally try to be respectful and not ask questions that are easily found, but at the same time I see the point of engaging in dialouge and helping others learn as well. Once I get a better feel for the game and where to post, I certainly will ask specific questions as they come up. You never know the general tone of a forum until you have been around a bit. I really enjoy the mechanics of the game and look at career mode as puzzles I would like to solve rather than just having someone give me the answer. I can see that science is more and more difficult to come by and I'm not exactly sure which branches of the R&D tree are important/beneficial at the early stages of the game so I may ask for some general direction there. Thanks again.