BlackBicycle

While others theorize (and I enjoy those ideas allright)... This ^^^ P.S. rep added for a good answer : )

Well, I agree it is. But then again "Crew Reports" net you a rather measly amount of science, much less than an acually manned capsule (edit: when it returns) IMHO, it's all good, not too overpowered. After all, hauling the capsule itself up there should be worth something, right :?

We were not discussing mods. That said, I am all for people making mods to differentiate antennae uses between different purposes. Myself, I just "roleplay" (?) and send anything over Kerbin sphere with the second antenna, and anything further than Dune with the largest one (even though she IS a b***ch when it comes to power). I take it as an extra challenge, power-wise.

In fact, I think, this picture is not of a functioning VAB at all. Looks more like a museum. Far as I remember, actual VABs have straight (or with generous curves) paths to launchpads. One cannot really turn stuff on a dime, when the transporter and the thing itself weighs many dozens of tons.

Them strange people who cannot adapt to cold and also think KSP is an MP social kind of thing.

Well, halfway on your transfer trajectory set up a node and tweak it so that you end up in a polar orbit over Mun. Set up a node and play around with the handles until you achieve a gravitational capture that will twist you reasonably towards polar. Halfway through transfer is the most energy-efficient way to do it (unless you opt for a polar kerbin start. Then you can transfer polar to polar (it can take up to a munar month to wait for an economical transfer though, for reasons that should be clear).

Just saying... Crew reports can be done with no crew... as long as you have an empty crew capsule in the craft AND a probe to control it... rightclicking on a capsule will allow you to generate a Crew Report hehe. I myself consider it all good, after all, a whole empty capsule worth of sensors should be able to generate a reasonable "crew report" : )

I just go for as much scientific instruments I can - once you have the Gravioli detector, it is time to orbit everything high and low, and transmit back (for starters). And then there is the seismic thing+the cone... Basically, it is just like mining tiberium - You first of all invest in the tech that allows you to mine more.

If you kindly shut down your computer and walk outside. We are waiting for you. Do not be afraid.

Been there.... And don't call this "career", will you? You have all the stuff unlocked, so this is barely the career... But your signature kicks ass!! : ) On behalf of my wife and me - thanks for a good laugh : )

Seing that others are already engaged in a rather serious discussion, how about a bit of light-hearted break for all of you? Go Google. In the search string, type "do a barrel roll". Without quotes. : D

Besides the obvious idea that you will HAVE to use more power-hungry antennae in the future, for range reasons, I actually found a use for those. Unfortunately, the visuals go quite against my idea, but... When you send a probe to Jool, to be incinerated on entry (or plain float down and be destroyed, as it is in the current version), how do you manage to transmit all that data from the Atmospheric Cone before you are crushed by Jools pressure (let's pretend it is that)? So, even though deploying that umbrella does look ridiculous in the conditions that rip off your chutes, it IS the way to quickly transmit your atmospheric data back to Earth... erm.. Kerbin, while your probe still has power and is slowly descending into Jools abyss. The cheapest antenna will still be transmitting the thing (and the gravioli data. And the temperature. And the pressure) when it already sinks and is crushed by pressure. I understand in future those antennae will have a certain range. I mean, they do look like that. But for now, a speedy data transmission, especially the atmospheric (which is a lot to transmit), makes sence when your probe is entering the alien atmosphere with a 100 percent chance to die, and soon. Make sure you have plenty of batteries with you for that last stage though. 4000 electric units total should be enough to transmit everything you would want to, in the last minute of your probes life. Give it a thought : )

OP: what you describe happens when the lower stage attains too much acceleration, unpon which it breaks the upper joints and plows through the rest of your structure. Solutions: either do not go full throttle, so that the forces on the parts of your vehicle are not too strong that it destroys it, or more struts, between the sections that break. EDIT: This is a good way to strengthen your in-between-stage connections. Don't worry, they jettison with the previous stage allright.

Just have to say, MechJeb fits pretty well in the tech tree. That said, the stock node system will hold your hand all the way to the Mun. Even to a landing, but I'd rather not disclose how. Best of luck, make sure you have ample fuel in your landing stage. A bit of a foot(erm, finger)work, and you will land on Mun no problem. Do make sure you overengineer your parts a bit though, just for reliability.

I really liked that : D Except maybe "Kerbals with boosters" eh?

Oh my..... very well, here I go. My dear fella, I was not implying that I can make this all happen. I was merely remembering the good old days when a assembly program shorter than 128 commands (yes, single commands like "this mem reg plus this mem reg, which are both in the stack atm" or "set this memory register to store this particular value") could actually fly you from Moon to Earth (or the other way around), while taking into consideration the LP, at least the one between the two bodies. I don't even want to elaborate. Those in the know will understand.

How about NO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_(video_game) Happened to me when I was a teenager. They actually implemented most of the shuttle systems. This game should be obtainable/runnable through dosbox, though I am not sure. Give it a try, it IS the most comprehensible shuttle sim you will ever know. P.S. Interactive cockpit my ass. How about ALL of the dashboards they had in there? That IS the case with the game I mentioned. (And yes, all of those ARE interactive)

Nu esh. Az ma : ? Ani gar ba Beit-Hakerem.

Hmm, a million beer drinkers all burping in unison towards my really big parachute?

Just to point out: with the current implementation of gravity model in KSP, LPs are not possible. I personally started a row about it a year or more ago, they said LPs are out of the question with the current model. They also said a complicated model involving LPs is beyond their capabilities. They blamed it on the current state of computing speeds. I myself am of the different opinion, having played an Earth-Moon system with (albeit a single) LP between them not so long ago - in the middle of the 80s. On a programmable calc, too.

Erm... to quote myself. Okay, a bit of a mistake. You should attach MechJeb modules, rather than probe cores, to your boosters or any other "debris". Checked yesterday, accidentally plopped my MechJeb (the only one in that craft, so this needs rechecking) onto my pre-last stage. When that jettisoned before final landing, it splashed into the ocean and was considered a "probe". It never expired, until I "recovered" it from the Mission Control (umm... "tracking station?")

Never tried this, but give it a try, won't take too long. Make sure your "separate boosters" and "open boosters chutes" are in the same stage. Add probe cores to each of your boosters. At the start of the flight, make sure you "Control from Here" from your main payload - capsule or core. The boosters should become separate craft when jettisoning. To check it, just make a very simple small rocket. I'd do it, but I don't have access to KSP right now.

Rightclick on the mainsail and limit thrust to less than a hundred percent. Less power - less jerk.

Yep. It is not the vehicles themselves, it is all about general combat feeling that the producer wanted you to get. Star Wars is a WW2 story, on a sci-fi canvas. New BG went the fan way - guess too many nerds complained about the physics, and as the series (movies) is much less a one-man creation, rather just a show, concessions were made. That said, I think both are reasonably epic : ) And you forget Star Trek recent movies, where physics are somewhere in between atmospheric and Newtoian-in-vacuum. Also something to ponder.