MPDerksen

Jeb went to Mun. Got some science, picked up a Mun Stone, docked with my orbiting Mun base (for a mission), and came home. Since the top of my cockpit had a docking port, I used 2 Drogue chute. Death to the craft, but I EVA'd, took the data, and parachuted to safety. I right-click Jeb, and he definitely has the data. When I "recover" him, I get 0.1 science, instead of 420, and no credit for the Mun Stone mission. Tried it twice. I hacked my file to give myself the science, and used the Alt-Ctrl-F12 to "complete" the mission, so I'm moving on without issues. But I'm super curious why I didn't get the credit, if I confirmed he had the data just before recovery. Michael

that's helpful. Thanks again. I guess I thought reducing the time to circularize at Minmus would be helpful. But perhaps not. Even a burn of several minutes is irrelevant, provided I have the fuel for it.

Sorry. First stage: if I add a few more SRBs, my TWR goes from 1.27 to 1.65. Helps me overcome initial gravity losses? I did some other reading that 1.35 is a sweet spot for some? Dialing back a few for longer burn is a trick I hadn't thought of. For the upper stage, assuming I had enough fuel, and that those engines would engage in vacuum, I was thinking I could put a few MK-55 Thud engines around it to help with the TWR for creating my orbit, and for the circulation at Minmus. The part where I might have lost you is what I've seen Matt Lowne do in a few videos. He specifically releases parts on a collision course, then corrects. That way, junk isn't left in orbit. I was thinking that I could put the MK-55s on decouplers, and remove them once nearly in orbit, to keep the design clean. But now I'm just being silly and making a mess of the mission, so let's ignore all that.

super helpful! Thanks again. I didn't realize/check my TWR when I added the extra weight of the Lab. Addressing just that part, and assuming I'll be engaging in vacuum, or nearly so, can I simply put a few engines on the side of that stage? I also need to circularize at Minmus, so I need to keep that in mind too. Plan B: move from 4 SRBs to 6. Add some side engines (can't recall what they are called) to the upper stage. Nearly circularize at Minmus, but drop the extra engines into the surface, THEN raise the Pe to a solid 30-40K. Reasonable?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2523344988 I used a Lab, instead of the extra Hitchhiker. And now we have a real teaching moment. The Station is 65 tons. I could NOT get this thing into orbit. First, my SRBs must be slightly off, since I get rotation at liftoff. Second, as soon as I dumped them, I started flipping (thus the addition of fins). Finally, I didn't have enough dV to actually even get to 80K, even though I have done it with other craft hundreds of times, so I'm not a rookie. I typically just use trial/error (highlighting the "error" portion) instead of actually understanding what I'm building. So I look for about 3,400 dV for orbit, and call it good. What I've built is woefully below that, but I look at ISP=207 and TWR=1.27. That SHOULD mean something to me, but doesn't. And if I wanted to add "Moar Boosters" to the bottom, I would be randomly throwing parts on the craft, instead of intelligently planning it. A little education here would be appreciated. In previous playthroughs, I've done multiple landings on Duna/Eve etc. but this time my goals was to better understand my designs.

I was baffled by the usefulness of the fuel without oxidizer. I had completely forgotten about the NERV engine. And Minmus is a pretty reasonable spot to refuel. So yeah, we'll get the science to put a standard docking port on the next mission, then do this one. I never really did much mining before, so perhaps on this play-through it would be a good thing to approach.

Why does the size of the port matter? Refueling on the surface? I admit I don't understand that, but I've been away from KSP for the last 2 years (playing Factorio and lately Valheim)

That hadn’t even occurred to me. I like it! No craft file needed. I wanted a concept to pursue. Exactly what I wanted. Thank you.

Sure. I’ll go do the other Minmus missions you see on the first screenshot first tonight and do the Station build tomorrow

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2516184156 Great point. Sorry. Is this helpful? I have a few missions to get a rescue off Minmus South Pole, and plant some science. So if I need to unlock another node to make this more reasonable, I can do that. (probably get another 500 on the next Minmus mission(s)).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2516119796 there is the screen shot for the mission. Looks like I have to build it complete, but can bring the fuel later (hadn't thought of that). anyone wanna try building an example and posting a pic? I can build the lifter without issue. But remember I have <1/2 the tree unlocked, and no fairings or big engines.

New play through for me, so only a third of the tech tree unlocked. The mission is to put a station around Minmus, single launch. Simple enough. Room for 11, cupola, all the regular stuff. But it also has to have “4,000 units of liquid fuel”. Cupola, 2 hitchhikers and a lab. Fine. But 4K of fuel too? With out the big tanks and engines? Maybe someone can help me better figure out if this is really a mistake. That seems like a LOT of tanks to strap onto the top of an early career rocket.

Months later, I'm now ready to actually do this.... Doing, for me, the hardest part of the game: calculating the required dV. If I could finally really understand this part, the enjoyment of KSP would double. Using the dV map here's what I have. Kerbin --> Ike (landed) = 5330. Not sure if I was do my orbital rescue before landing, or on the way back up, but need to add some fuel for that part too. Xfer from Ike --> Duna orbit to dock and refuel, do the whole "transfer crew" thing = 960 Duna landing --> map says 1450, but we have parachutes, so.... ? Duna --> Kerbin = maybe 2200? I'm thinking a 3 stage craft. ~4,000 dv to get into 100K orbit, plus some extra. Transfer stage of ~~2,000 to get me around Ike. Then a lander that has ~2,000 and a bunch of parachutes? I can refuel before and after the trip to the Duna surface. All this sound reasonable? I'm not trying to create mega-craft, or be perfect in my fuel. I'm learning how to plan missions, and then build a craft around those plans.

Probe-driven re-fuel tanker to Duna. Jeb with an extra seat goes to Ike. Does the rescue and lands to collect the Ejecta. Then they move over to Duna, refuels and lands to get the Stone and head home together? I assume I could "dock" with a grabber.

A fair plan. Less fun when you land too hard on Eve, snap a landing leg and roll down a hill to sea level.... Then you have a choice of a games toughest rescue or a revert to a prior save and feel like it's cheating... Any insight into the rules for "transfer crew between vessels" contract? I assume a rescue counts since there is an EVA involved? Or just separate my main craft, and EVA Jeb from the main part to the lander? I don't want to get all the way out there to realize I need a SECOND vessel to complete it

Maybe YOURS don't..... So the only reason in KSP to do it that way is just RPing?

Cool, thanks. Although WHY we have to flip them round in orbit instead of just launching it put together in the first place? It's easy enough to do, just never understood the "why" part. For the dV, just add a bunch of math? I'm going to assume zero aero-capture, but do it anyway. Anything I get will be a bonus.

I have a total of 4 missions, currently, and 100 days to plan before my launch window. Rescue Kerbal from Ike orbit (fairly inclined orbit, actually) Collect and return Duna Ejecta from Polar lowlands on Ike Collect and return Duna Stone from Midland canyon on Duna Transfer crew between vessels over Duna Mission Plan is currently to head straight to Ike first. Land to get the Ejecta, and do the rescue on the way back up. Then head over to Duna, land to get the stone, and NOT dock when I get back, but EVA over to fulfill the Transfer requirements (I'm honestly not sure what those requirements actually are). I was going to have a basic lander can on top of the MK3 pod, and return. My biggest question is how to plan my dV for this. I've done several down and back from both Ike and Duna, but never both in the same trip. I also know I can refuel the lander easily enough by just docking to my main Xfer craft. Bonus is that I don't need any engineer to repack my chutes, since it's not coming home again anyway. Second question is how to control a craft with multiple cockpits. Jeb (or Val) will fly solo, so is it as easy as which ever one he/she is currently in? Last question. I'm going to have docking ports on top of both the lander can and the MK3. Do I launch with them docked together? Or have everything "upright" and flip the lander in orbit? I never understood why to re-orient the craft after launch. But if I just stack them, do I put a regular decoupler on top of the docking port of the bottom part, and then build the lander on top of that? I don't want to find that anything is blocking the docking port later. I suspect I need to refuel for trip #2, and then completely drain the lander for the trip home. All thoughts are welcome on this. Michael

oh, okay. I didn't catch that. When I landed and noticed the issue, I was troubleshooting by looking at my quicksaves to figure out the problem. I ended up never saving the point in the game where I was home. I picked up at the latest possible point, where I had placed the units and the team was up in Ike Orbit waiting for my Xfer window. While RPing, I don't back up when I make a mistake, usually. If I didn't have enough dV to land a second time and make it home, I probably would have sent a probe-based refueller. And I really only used the ALT-F12 option once, when the contract was to position a Sentinel in an orbit that didn't exist....

I saw that. My team was home when i saw the problem. My previous save (with them still around Ike), there is nothing to collect... So since I needed to wait for the Xfer window anyway, once it had 100% I landed, then got back into LIO (Low Ike Orbit ), and then went home. Collected about $1.2 million for my various contracts and didn't have to "cheat".

If I were to position a Relay around Ike/Duna, then pick up and put the unit(s) back down, we're all good, right? based on your post, there is a limited amount of time they can be out of contact before they just give up. Part of the challenge, then, is to place them in a way that they will be able to connect, and have power. Actually, the current Save that has my team in Ike orbit is at a point that the science unit hasn't collected anything yet. But I don't have a relay on my return craft either.

Helpful. Thanks. So, back-up to a previous Save Game and set them only once I have connectivity, or ALT+F12 and call it good?

So it can be deployed on Eeloo and make it back to Kerbin w/o a Relay? (Tracking Station fully upgraded)

I'd like to vote you as "most helpful poster of the week" :). so now I have 2 options. 1: drop out of orbit, and hold the units until there is CommNet connection (lame, but good practice to try landing in a specific spot, but also risky if I have enough dV for a second drop). 2: ALT+F12 and call both contracts complete. Anyone know the range of the deployable Comm Unit? I think I read in one of the Wiki pages that it's 10Gm? Should be fine from Ike pretty much all the time, right?

Maybe we can pretend I never asked the question? LOL. Sorry. It was my first Eve landing attempt and I didn't do my homework before the attempt. I removed the Terrier completely, and upgraded to the inflatable heat shield. Done. The plan was to use the shield until I got low enough to ditch it, then have an engine for some control of my landing site. Overall a very poorly planned mission. Started it with my head straight and completed it without difficulty.