SiliconPyro

Thanks for the advice, Nibb31. I added tanks and SRBs and it did a little for me, but I forgot I used to run fuel lines like that. I haven't played a lot for a while, just getting back into it. Do you think I should put engines under the top two tanks, then a decoupler, then two more tanks with engines? I'm gonna give that a shot. It's stable now at least, so it's time for optimization. In all honesty, I'm awful at rocket design. I just throw stuff together until it works. I need to do more math during the design stage.

Okay, the problem is gone. I solved it by adding crossmembers between the large radial tanks as you can see in the below image. This doesn't solve my Delta-V problem, haha, but at least I'm making it to orbit with some sort of stability. I think I'm going to add some SRBs and another set of tanks.

I have to stop asking questions as I'm falling asleep. No good can come of it. I theorized that a lack of proper struts was to blame and reinforced without getting a screenshot. Unfortunately, the shots I did take were long distance shots of the vertical climb. I'll do a launch and see if the problem is still there. Thanks for the replies.

I've got some serious wobble issues. It seems like every rocket I make, add son as any radially mounted large tank gets near empty (typically a stack of at least three), I stay losing control. The ship will start wobbling, then tumbling end over end. Sometimes it's like a flat spin and totally uncontrollable. With my latest design, I have to cut engines when the fuel tanks are half full, stage, then accelerate again. I wish I could upload a craft file, but not until tomorrow. I'm just venting here so I can sleep. LOL.

Well, it's a nice design. I'm en route to Duna now and based on my highly unscientific calculations, I should have plenty of fuel for a return trip. How well I can land on Duna is the question though.

I still had some serious stability problems during ascent. I'm ironing them out as I still get some serious wobbles just before dropping my second booster stage. Managed to get her into orbit though with almost a full tank on the main stage (I'm around 200km up). I should have plenty left to make it to the Mun and back. There will be some serious re-thinking though if I'm going to make it to Duna. That'll do, Jeb. That'll do.

Oh, I have MechJeb and love it. Saves my butt when my framerate drops.

Got it. Launch support was putting torsion on the SRBs. Moved them and I'm good. Pics to come. Too busy playing with my new joystick right now!

It's exploding in the VAB now!! j/k I'll get some more info on here this afternoon.

I really need to get some screenshots. I'll take some as soon as I get home if I can do it before the craft explodes. I'm thinking I might just have to rebuild the whole damn thing. I'll update in a few hours.

You don't understand. It's exploding on the pad now. I don't even get to hit the launch button.

The most disappointing part is I know it would have put me into orbit with plenty of fuel and I love this lander design. It's almost exactly like the unmanned version I set down on the Mun and it came down so easy. Probably my smoothest landing ever. There's just some problem with the launch stage that's killing me . . . or the Kerbanauts rather. I'm using three large tanks on top of a large engine with 6x2 large tanks radially mounted on large engines and 2x large SRBs on each of those. Wish I had more time last night, I could have gotten it going.

Well, my latest missions have fallen a bit short. After successfully landing an unmanned craft on the Mun, I built a mighty rocket for Jeb. Things didn't turn out so well. The thing tore itself apart at launch and the lander became an escape vehicle. I'm not sure what went wrong, but now I don't even get to launch and it explodes on the pad. I'll upload a craft file tonight. For now, here's the best outcome I could hope for.

What, precisely, is the nature of your difficulty? Are you able to reach a stable Kerbin orbit? My method is typically this: 1. Reach a 90 degree orbit (I like 100km). 2. Wait until the Mun is rising in front of you over the Kerbin horizon and direct burn. Watch on the map screen as your apoapsis (AP on the map) grows and as it approaches the point where it will cross the Mun's orbit, slow throttle until. When you see an encounter, cut throttle. 3. Wait. 4. For a novice, stabilizing your Mun orbit can be tricky and there are many variables. If you're headed for and impact, you can simply burn retrograde and land. If you're going to slingshot, wait for periapsis (PE on the map) and burn retrograde until you have an apoapsis. Now you're orbiting the Mun. Try that and report back any complications. Also, as a personal favor, please use capitalization and punctuation.

We CAN rebuilt it. We have the technology!

I have nerve issues in my hands. I may intend to press a key lightly, but it could end up like I\'m mashing it for a few seconds. This is why I often find myself backspacing through repeated letters while typing. For me, MechJeb relieves a lot of frustration, like when I sent a perfectly good rocket into a tumble at about 50km. Sometimes I make it through a flight, sometimes I don\'t. That said, I\'ve accomplished everything I\'ve done with MechJeb without it at least once, actually several times since I landed on the Mun at least three times before even knowing about MechJeb. I actually did a complete cartwheel while on final descent and managed to save it, only lost one landing leg on that one. I don\'t use MechJeb for much automation other than ascent though. I use it for information (like true altitude).

I don\'t know why I didn\'t even consider that add I\'ve done it before, although for other purposes. Is try it now, but it\'s 0200 and way past my bedtime.

Well, that didn\'t take long. Jeb was my first Kerbal on Minmus. Here he is standing proudly against the backdrop of his faithful lander. Unfortunately, he mistook the LAUNCH button for the DECOUPLE button. I guess it\'s up to Bob and Bill now to stage a rescue. There\'s a catch though. Jeb managed to get back inside the capsule, but he can\'t get out again. This might require some ingenuity. Hopefully my next post will be good news!

Just a routine launch with a beautiful view.

So much fail! I just landed near the Mun Arch and set out with a rover to get a closer look. Well, in excitement I turned to sharply and rolled, igniting my RCS tank. Good thing it was unmanned!

Indeed I am. Nothing more.

I don\'t know what my problem is, but every time I tried to get a cart to Minmus, something went wrong. from rockets exploding on the first stage to actually getting there and having the cart get stuck on the lander. Well, I\'ve finally made it. I landed a nice wide base, a lander and a pod with two full tanks of RCS for plenty of Minmus exploration fun. Even got a shot with Kerbin in the background. Now to EXPLORE! Let\'s see if I can land the same thing on the Mun.

I built an exploration lander. Wide landing base with a MechJeb pod on RCS and another MechJeb on a cart. Well, the RCS pod didn\'t have legs because they were part of the wrong stage, so it exploded as soon as it tried to touch down. Then the cart got stuck on the lander, so the entire thing was a wash. I almost prefer fireballs over a fully fuelled cart just sitting there helpless atop my lander.

If you really think about it, we\'re basically riding a projectile from the biggest explosion that ever happened.

You can just say, 'Cloud City.' It\'s what everyone\'s thinking. And no, you\'re not the only one. If I could, I would relocate my entire operation to a planet like Saturn or at least one of its muns. Plentiful fuel plus lots of hydrocarbons and water ice (if we\'re talking Titan) and Helium-3 from the gas giant.. Sounds too good to be true.