MPDerksen

Fantastic. thanks. how far down the tree do I have to be to unlock the required parts?

All very useful (as always). I seem to have available missions that require parts I haven’t unlocked yet. I had forgotten how limited the beginning parts were. I guess I’ll just do some early orbital flights and collect some science to unlock the plane parts. It sure would be nice if there were a few examples of early planes to model after. I go to KerbalX and everyone seems to put the most complex craft imaginable. That’s cool, but simply not what I really need to look at.

I have completely ignored the Spaceplane hanger so far, like ALWAYS. I've never once made a plane. Now that I'm starting a new game to play the new expansion, it seems a good time to try it out. I'm getting early missions to take samples at certain places, and shuttle tourists. But no plane parts are really unlocked yet. Since I'm not really new to KSP, but completely noob on planes, is there a write up on them to get me started? Michael

I see "Kerbal Engineer Redux". Is that the correct one? I'm playing version 1.7. Will that be compatible? (PreciseNode works perfectly, and exactly what I wanted. Thanks for that)

sounds exactly like what I want. Looking for information, not an auto-pilot... lol

Perhaps this is the true nature of my question, then. But the original question was not how to mod the game so I didn't have to do it right. My question is if there is a way to tell me when I'm at 75.19degrees, and where is 121.06degrees? I have to get some ore from Minmus back to Kerbin, and then I'll be doing my Ike/Duna mission and will post a picture. For now, consider the previous time as an example: I set up a "nearly" correct burn, using about the 610m/s burn that is called for in the guide. I ended up with proximity arrows showing me about 2-3million K from Kerbin, with Kerbin ahead of me. If I burn retrograde, I lose the arrows completely. Okay, so I mess with the radial/anti-radial to get them back. Marginally closer, so i keep trying. I end up needing another 800m/s to get an encounter (which in this case I don't have). I was setting this node very close to Duna, not half way along, and my Inclination nodes were pretty close (maybe 0.2?). So when you say i can fix this, can you propose how?

The mods were found through the main menu. The ZIP files are KerbalAlarmClock_3.10.0.0 and KIS_v1.20 Both were extracted to the above path. I have the alarm clock in the lower right part of the screen, but do not see any containers in the VAB menus. They were there until I reinstalled the Alarm clock.

So wasn't looking for a mod to do the transfer FOR me. I saw one in a video (Orb8ter?) where it would just give you an output on your angle instead of holding a protractor to the screen. I'll try my mission tonight and post a picture if I get stuck.

I totally get how to set up both the angle between Duna/Ike and Kerbin, as well as WHEN in the orbit to do my burn. I can get to Duna pretty close with the amount of dV that the maps indicate. However, when I return, I struggle to get the encounter without a huge amount of mid-course correction. When I get my proximity arrows, I'm like 2-3Mk from Kerbin. 1 of 2 things is true (or both): I'm not at the correct relation to Kerbin in the first place. Or, I'm burning at the wrong time in my orbit. I then spend about twice as much fuel to use the Radial/Prograde combination instead of doing it right the first time. I assume there is a mod to tell me the first one. I think I recall I'm looking for about 77degrees. I'm close, but every little bit creates a big difference at the other end. if so, which mod should I add? As far as my "151degree ejection burn", I've just been eye-balling, and dragging my maneuver node around. Is there a better way? Last question: my mission involves orbiting Ike, and returning. Plan is to aerobrake at Duna, circularize Ike, then burn straight back from there. No reason to leave from Duna, right? Leaving from Ike is just as good?

I install the alarm clock. Works great. Install KIS, works great, but now the Alarm Clock is gone. Re-install Alarm Clock. Works again but now KIS is gone. HUH? Something is getting over-written on the install. Help?

last add to this thread: I sent up a refueller with a Klaw (more for testing than out of need). Plugged it into the top of my Miner, and then navigated it back to the KMSS as a single craft. I practiced using only the Poodle on the Miner to get as close as possible for docking. Yeah, that was super easy once I actually tried. Only used RCS to fine tune and kill the last 2m/s. Then docked the Refueller at the same station. Now the unfortunate part: Once I had the Miner ready to go again, I landed in a hot spot, filled up the fuel tanks, (liquid and mono) as well as 3K units of Ore. I used a huge % of it just go get back to the station. But I was able to add a fair amount back to the Station. I just don't get as much per trip as I would have liked, since it takes SO much dV to get all the ore off the surface (but then I just convert it in orbit and put it into the fuel tanks that have drained on lift off.)

I mis-spoke. The NavBall is still a bit of a mystery to me. I just launched another refueler. The ball says, "90", but it's at 45 degrees, in the 90 degree from north direction. And I usually only wait until 5K with really top-heavy craft. On most, I start the turn once I hit >100m/s. I never thought to use the Prograde SAS button. Totally side question: I am running v1.6 through Steam, and thought I had installed Kerbal Alarm Clock in the correct folders, following the install guide. I don't see the button for it anywhere on the screen. Some advice there would be great.

Since I like to add pictures to keep my posts fun, (but don't have another of my miner) here is a shot of my science lander on it's first trip to Ike. It's kinda relevant, since the miner refueled it to transfer from Mun to Ike....

I start my gravity turn at about 5K, trying to get to 90 degrees by 20K. Once my Ap gets to about 80, I kill thrust until I get close to that, then thrust "sideways" (not sure of the correct term) to circularize at about 90-100K. I can post a picture of my most common lifter when I get back to the game. Watching a few videos about the Klaw, and I had NO idea that an engineer could take a part, and move it to another location. That's simply HUGE!! I built my Mun Station before I had unlocked the largest solar panels. So my science lab nearly runs out of juice before completing the transfer. If I'm not crazy, I can send up some panels, and EVA my engineer to place them on the station? (oh, it's the KIS mod and I have no idea how to install those yet) Back to the topic of this thread. I have no where near enough monoprop on my miner to efficiently dock back with my station. Once I load it up, it needs a huge amount to make directional changes. I have 6 RCS packs on each side, for a total of 12. Did I put them in the wrong location? (another job for the engineer?) Do I just need to convert some of the ore to Mono while I use it up? I got $533K for completing the mission, but I had to ditch the craft if I can make some changes to keep it usable. MD

Took a few Quicksaves to get it landed (this thing is fairly bulky). We're settled near enough my desired spot and chugging away. With 2 drills, my Resources tab says (--0.29). Looks like a fair amount of time warping. I'm also going to fuel up while I'm here. That's kinda the point, right? So I could get the Ore into orbit, then convert it to make fuel to get back to Mun for another load. so how do people get complex stations on the surface for mining all assembled? Put them together in orbit and then land all together? Or is there a surface construction technique I haven't run across yet? Michael

A quick add. I built a lifter, and didn't have nearly enough dV to get as far as I'd like, but got it into a stable low Mun orbit. When I tried to dock, my RCS was all wonky. I could only go on 1 axis, not both. I'll have to redo it. With the lifter I have, I'm going to need to send up a fuel run to have enough to land and then proceed. I really don't understand why I have so much trouble putting on enough boosters to get where i want to go. I've followed various Tutorial, but when i try to do it myself I run low, constantly. my dV is in over the required range, and my launches and captures are also reasonable.

I think I have this ready to go, but thought I would double check with the hive mind. If I only have fuel in the orange, central tank for landing, I have 1286dV. (I can always bring more if you think I'll need more to get from my low orbit to my site). It is sitting at 25.6 Ton for lift off and transfer to Mun. Very do-able. Doing the math from the Wiki, like Bewing suggested, My Poodle has 250.0 kn in vac. Once I have a full load of fuel and Ore, the ship will mass 87 Ton. 250kn/(87T x 1.63m/s2) = 1.76. I'll get off the ground for sure. I'll have 2094m/s to get this back into LKO to complete the mission. Extras: I have a spot for an Engineer (I have an extra one doing nothing with 2 stars). I have a few lights, just in case I need to land later in low light. I need to add RCS, but do have a Docking Port Jr. on top for future transfer. I have enough solar and cooling to run everything full speed. Am I good to go with a lifter and test the mission?

I love the idea of landing from the station, making up some fuel and bringing it back to the station for refueling outbound craft. In that case, I would need to land with empty fuel tanks rather than ore canisters. I'll make enough on this mission to justify the learning experience.

I don’t know what ISRU is. Please explain. Is that a converter? Doesn’t that add even MORE weight to my craft? Regardless, I need to get 22-24 tons from the surface, up to Munar orbit. So it need to be in a craft that can lift that, plus itself. I’m a little baffled how people “dock” on the ground to transfer

well that escalated quickly!!! 3 big drills = way more solar arrays, and radiators. Then I added the required RCS (and tanks) so I could dock and refuel. 2,400 units of ore is a full 24 tons, bringing the Mun lift off to 52 tons. Now I'll need a bigger engine too. All this just for Mun, not even interplanetary. Gonna do some math you mention above, but start with the basics and move down.

Just put a lander can with an Engineer on top of the probe core? Assuming no change in fuel, would a single Poodle be better? TTW is calculated how? Maybe learning this would help me. I use far more than 300dV to return from Mun. Can I ask you to use crayons to draw me a picture of a better way to do the transfer? My station tank is actually empty right now, so I would orbit a small tanker, dock with it in LKO, transfer both to Mun, and NOT dock the tanker to the KMSS until after the lander is up, refueled and back in orbit. Once the ore is in LKO, I intend to send up a converter as the hub of a new station, and use that tanker in-system. Here is the mission:

I have finally progressed from rescuing the stranded, collecting science (the tree is basically complete) and have the start of my Duna Station. I accepted a mission to move 2,200 units of ore into LKO. My probe, in Mun Polar Orbit has collected both the low-rez and the high-rez scans of Mun. I've picked my landing spot, (directly below my KMSS, Kerbal Munar Space Station) and I'm ready to build my mining lander. Since I need to bring Ore back, not fuel, I wasn't going to put a converter on it at all. Just solar panels and radiators. If I want to do this in a single trip, I need 1 large, and 3 small holding tanks. I was going to use a triad of smaller drills. This is certainly "first attempt". I have a fully fueled mass of 18 tons, and around 3,400 vac dV with the 3 sparks. However, on lift off, I'll have 2,200+ units of ore. Question #1: assuming I get this landed where I want it, and fill it with ore, will I be able to transfer off Mun and to LKO? I don't know how to calculate how much dV I'm going to actually need. Happy to aero brake. Note that I have a docking port on top so I could refuel at the space station. Question #2: do i really need the surface scanning module? Once I land, I'm probably just going to mine where I am, right? I assume the module is more helpful for rover style miners? Question #3: I need about 3,400 dV to move to LKO, and another ~1,000 to get this into the equatorial orbit at Mun. Or should I plan on a stop at the gas station I have circling Mun before I attempt to land, and then I can use the dV built into the lander as a transfer stage? Thanks for the help. This continues to challenge and engage me. Michael

Problem solved. You both rock.

I create a rocket with a manned capsule. I flip over a core that I'm transporting, so now it's upside-down on top of my rocket. Think lander on top of a capsule. When I lift off, bad things happen. Quickly. Do I need to NOT flip my probe core? Do I need to hibernate it? Same thing happened when I put a Cupola on my station. It was inverted and wouldn't fly correctly until I righted it. But that made it really difficult to dock in orbit. Does flipping a core/lander (even with no pilot) summon the Kraken?

THAT makes much more sense. Thank you I see that. Also see in the table below it that the force of 0.5 and 0.3 for the HECS and OKTO is quite small, as bewing said. About as cheap, and simple as I could imagine. Hopefully the dish won't shadow the panels, right? HECS, Oscar tank and an Ant. 1150dV in Vacuum. Next I'll figure out how to fit a few in a scaffold for Duna.