CrashyMcCrashFace

Docking wasn't as bad as in the picture. It moved before I could figure the screen capture. I've docked 50ish times and this just bumps and doesn't dock. I'm thinking the problem might be because the fuel donut was attached on top of the docking port and then I re-positioned it around the SAS unit so the game still thinks the fuel is in between the ports. I'm thinking the solution is to put the donut below the SAS unit and then move it up into the same position. Does that sound like it will work? I'm just looking for feedback before I do this all again. Currently: Fuel donut (re-positioned), docking port, SAS unit, reaction wheel, science jr. Planned Fix: docking port, SAS unit, reaction wheel, Fuel donut (re-positioned), science jr.

AFAICT Primarily for taking them off sweet jumps.

I've only been playing for a few months but learned you can't just go taller forever. Also going bigger and bigger and bigger is very quickly diminishing gains. I know many veterans hate career mode but for a new person I think it's a good idea to play it. Also turn off extra ground stations. It forces you to learn the game and parts instead of trying to go directly to the endgame and missing stuff. Then when you play sandbox you really understand and appreciate what you need to do to accomplish tasks better.

I was reading a tutorial here that said drag is based on weight of all parts regardless if there's any aerodynamics or not. So if you add a fairing it will cause more drag because it weighs more. Is that just old news or is it still true?

I did a KSO but then realized it's not necessary to achieve coverage with 3 satellites at almost any orbit as long as they aren't super low. That's not really the question. I've been really meticulous and placing them within 1-2 meters altitude of each other. This is pretty easy with a tiny sat with an RA-2 relay and worth the time if I never touch them again. Now I have 2 relay sats and a station with a relay antenna around the Mun at 660km. This works great but every time I dock/undock with the station it changes altitude and sometimes by a lot which is understandable. It's getting close to 50 tons now and even though I have plenty of fuel and thrusters it's still kind of a bear to maneuver. Am I worried about 50-100 meters for nothing or will I notice it advancing/retreating? I'm betting there's some math that can answer this but might be over my head without a little explanation. If this become too much of a problem my backup plan is just to undock the relay sat and forget trying to have them combined. But combined is still fun. PS, I've been getting great answers to other questions. Thanks for all that.

Pilots with high courage and high stupidity will volunteer for anything. I had one in a capsule on a one-way death mission directly to the sun. He sat on the launch pad for a week before he realized we saved money by omitting the fuel.

So I get 2 separate contracts to rescue Kerbals from Mun orbit. Because I've done this a dozen times and think I'm getting hot-poop at it and I say to myself, "I'm super cool. I'll pick them both up at the same time and make some easy cash." Nope. I get out there and 1 is orbiting in the normal direction at about 10K but the other is 100K in the opposite direction. So I guess I'm making 2 trips. But this got me thinking there's almost always some trick to this space stuff. Is there a way to do a 180 without burning like 1,000+ dv worth of fuel? I've done just that around Minmus but not sure if it's reasonable for the Mun. I'm thinking, set a really high Ap where the speed will be slow to turn around but then gaining and then losing the Ap might be just the same as doing it low.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. It's nice to learn why my design didn't work out. I ended up changing to the Spark and it required only about 2/3 the total fuel (liquid and mono). I want to try different things but the Spark just seems like the go-to engine for this type of thing. I was playing with the Twitch and was able to get a lower center of gravity on my design. I'll try to actually put it into use next time.

I vote for solution B. In career mode, rescue missions are pretty common.

Ah. Very helpful tip. Thanks. This whole thing has become very long and tedious. Getting it done a little faster is nice.

Yeah, I have a relay network already setup with 99.9% coverage. Of course I somehow hit that 0.1% all the time in the most critical moments. I ran through the whole thing tonight in sandbox on the Mun before implementing in career mode. Having the relay network + SAS module made it pretty easy to send a scientist to the surface since I rely on most of the SAS modes pretty often. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to implement this setup for getting science though. One thing I didn't like was setting up a parking/rendezvous orbit over 25km. I normally go between 10-15km for Mun but you can't get over 10x warp that low so the rendezvous would get painfully long. I know most people can do it pretty quick but I'm new and slow. One more thing I want to figure out is if going all mono-propellant is better than a mix of mono and liquid-ox. Fuel planning was easier but it seemed like the "puff" engines used a lot.

Off work now and been playing with some designs and something I didn't think of. I noticed I was building a lander exactly how I want without having to compromise. I've been designing only direct accent vehicles up until now so maybe this is normal when bring a lander every time. In any case, I like it. I went all mono-propellant.

Thanks for the input. I just thought I could put a relay antenna and probe core and have it pull double-duty. Which means it will probably end up just being an overly-large/expensive/unnecessary relay. Just like Greenfire32 said, it's already getting larger and I haven't even built anything yet. Still doing it. BTW, I love the "play the game the way you want" attitude here.

I always think I'm the first one to come up with something then it almost always turns out it's been done forever or maybe is just a really bad idea. Anyway, I'm about to get past direct missions (I can dock now. Go me!) and thought instead of taking a lander on every trip to just park one in orbit of the destination. Then when I need to go there I just take a little extra fuel, dock, etc. Then just leave it in orbit and head home. I'm thinking this might lend itself to a larger lander or mule to get fuel/supplies/science on/off the surface. I play both sandbox and career mode and not sure which it would be better for. Good idea, bad idea, thoughts?

From reading real life orbital process, it seems it's all about the pitch-over maneuver. It you're trying to be an economical as possible this is the only time you should steer. Given your thrust and orbital requirement everything can be calculated backwards to the pitch-over maneuver. After that you just follow pro-grade and optionally moderate throttle. I've been trying this every time and noticed it can be a big difference depending on what you're trying to achieve (orbit, Mun, tiny satellite, beast size Mk1-3 capsule, etc). If true, almost everybody online (tutorials and vloggers) is doing it wrong. Disclaimer: That's just the 10,000 foot high level since I'm new and not sure I really understand.

I'm on the latest PC version. The landing is fine and looks like 5-10 deg slope. Everything is good and still. Then later I go check and it's rocking back and forth. It actually tipped onto the solar panel and I had to use SAS to put it back on it's feet. Then it's good again but later it's moving again. I thought feedback loop oscillation so I've tired SAS on and off, turning wheel authority at 0%, hibernation and doesn't seem to make a difference. Also took off and moved a little distance and no difference. There's no wind so that can't be it. Seismic?

I was just doing it and got all in position and then saw I was passing over KSC and it finally hit me the orbit plane doesn't rotate with the planet. Now I feel kind of dumb. But at least I learned and can do it the easy way from now on. Thanks for all the info. Edit: Ridiculously easy once you learn how not to do it. Thanks.

Yes that's what I was doing. I found changing the inclination of the orbit took A LOT more fuel than I expected. But it was good training/education for me. I now understand I don't need to make an equatorial launch. However I'm now interesting in trying to put up a satellite in a polar orbit that does not pass over KSC. In this case I think I need to change the orbit by 90 deg which is basically stopping in one direction and starting in another. Since the orbit doesn't go over KSC I won't have the chance to just go straight to the correct orbit. Just for the fun of it. If there's an even more difficult orbit to get into I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for all the extra info on this. It's very interesting. After thinking I was getting good at rescuing Kerbals from low orbit I accidentally accepted a contract to rescue from an orbit like this. It took several hours and many attempts but no Kerbal is left behind on my watch. I'll pass on anything related to these orbits for now. At least for a while.

Thanks. That was a good clue to find what it is. It is an available contract, "Position a satellite in a tundra orbit around Kerbin". These things make me crazy. I can't just ignore them.

I hope I'm not asking too many noob questions. Anyway, what is this purple orbit? It appeared in the middle of game play session. I know it wasn't there when I started. I have a Level 3 Tracking Station and I tried toggling all the items. I googled it and C7 Aerospace Division seems to be a manufacturer but this doesn't help me understand any more. https://i.imgur.com/C535Hcb.jpg

Things just got WAY more interesting. Thanks. Occlusion modifiers set to 1.0 limits the signal range?

Since Kerbin has many powerful ground stations all over the planet is there a reason to put satellites in orbit other that "it's fun"? Yeah, I'm totally fine with "it's fun" but just wondering if it's helpful otherwise. I can see why satellites are useful around the Mun or other planets for when there's no line of sight or distances are very far.

As a beginner (take note I said beginner) SAS retrograde has really been my friend for Mun landings. I've had pretty good luck. I get into a decent orbit between 15K and 20K just so I have time to think and can pick a landing spot. I don't care about where Ap or Pe are when I start decent as long as they're close to the same height. I won't give you my speeds because I'm afraid I might be misleading you with my ignorance. But retrograde the whole time until you're very close to vertical and then optionally switch to heading hold. Also as somebody that crashed a lot. If using the single person capsule you can use the next diameter up fuel tank and attach legs to that. The 800 (at work and can't check) I think. Also 4 legs not 3. Yes it will be ugly but both will help you not fall over in less than perfect landings.

I saw the wiki but was confused how the points add up. Thanks for confirming I'm where I should be. And thanks for the welcome.