EpsilonSigma

If you want to eventually learn how to get things to where you want them manually, then the best start would probably be MechJeb whilst continuing to use stock parts (default, non-modded parts). The autopilot shows you the stages you need to go through to do everything in the game, and then once you feel up to it you can attempt to replicate the actions yourself. That won't make the experience more enjoyable until you learn manual control, but it'll make it easier to explore the solar system and you still have to build the ships to begin with. If you want to use mods, that's depends on what you want to do, and a quick browse of the mods/plugins section and reading the descriptions of the mods/plugins will pretty much tell you which one you want. It's probably also a good idea to check out the rest of this "How to" section, the beginners section and even some of the creations by other people to see what kind of rockets you need (some require mods of course).

ASAS/SAS: T RCS: R Landing Gears: G Kerbal EVA Lights: L Precision Controls: CAPS LOCK EVA Pack: R Board [EVA]: F (when near pod entry) A lot of other functions are controlled by right clicking on ladders, engines, fuel tanks and command pods Actually all of the controls are in Settings > Controls, so all you really need to do is look in there

Basically you need a powerful enough rocket to reach 2800m/s in a vertical direction for Kerbin. The rest you could do with the weakest engine possible unless it takes several months of real-time to get the delta-v required, which from Kerbin to Duna is usually a mere 500-700m/s. NERVA can do that easily, and provided getting back isn't on the agenda your entire passage from initially entering Kerbol's orbit to landing on Duna can be done with the same rocket and some parachutes. 2 or 3 of the bigger 1m stock fuel tanks and a basic stock engine can do it. As for the mechjeb part: - [No mechjeb] Escape Kerbin: Easiest way is probably just to go upwards with SAS on - [Mechjeb] Switch to the "Orbital Operations" tab, select "TRANS" and hit "Duna" - Wait - Watch rocket perform injection burn, changing stages manually if necessary - Mechjeb transfers to course correction - Wait - Course correction - Sometimes takes ages - Once the display says ANY final periapsis has been reached, disengage the operation - Warp to Duna - Once you're within a reasonable distance of it (i.e. when you can see it below you) change the periapsis to a negative number - Wait for rocket to do that - Open landing autopilot and hit "Land" - Wait - Landed... Not exactly accurate or even the best way, but that's how I do it

The landing functionality seems to be playing up for me. I attempted a landing on the Mun with ample fuel - actually it was probably enough fuel (and thrust) to get out of Kerbin's orbit and head to Duna, but whatever -, approached as normal from a 100km orbit around Kerbin, reached "Mun encounter", and then warped in a little to make sure the course correction didn't set the ship out of orbit. I then hit "Land at Target" with the default values of 0, 0, 0 where my Munbase is, the course was corrected and descent continued. About a minute later my rather sizeable spaceship hit the Mun at just under 300m/s taking out most of Munbase. Is this a problem due to Land at Target again, or something to do with MJ not being able to get the true altitude. Landing appears to work perfectly where the ground level is close to sea level, such as at the bottom of a large crater. EDIT: This wasn't taking the ship from out of orbit around the Mun, but instead setting a target periapsis of -156km. Easy landing in previous versions without all the messing about with retro burning to get in line with the Mun. EDIT 2: It's definitely Land on Target. I tried for Duna with LoT enabled at whatever random coordinates I set and it didn't appear to be slowing down on approach. As soon as I switched to simply "Land", the engines were set to full throttle. Crashed into the planet.

I think your name describes my reaction... Not going to watch that again.

It's difficult to tell exactly because the rocket is in the way, but it would appear (using the buttons provided in the constructor) that the centre of mass, weight and lift are all slightly offset from the central column. There is no apparent reason why this is doing this though :| Okay, it's not that. It was hard to tell and I failed completely to look at it properly. Maybe it something to do with the fact that you have two sets of 4 engines on either side in sort of U shapes, with nothing perpendicular to them. Not sure how to describe that. EDIT: Okay, so I removed all the winglets and added extra structural cables to connect both sides of the rocket. This prevented it from spinning at launch, but as soon as it de-stages it begins to spin, runs out of fuel and is near impossible to flip over in order to continue accelerating on the inverted engines by the time gravity has taken hold and you're just falling again.

I've managed 149,285m/s. How? - Engine: part editted to 25000 thrust and no fuel consumption - MechJeb Circular Pod thing - One small stock fuel tank - Adv SAS module - Press T and full thrust until Kerbin escape or interruption* *The Mun nearly ruined everything. Issues with this method: - It's impossible without cheating or a ridiculously light, powerful and fuel efficient engine - Once you escape Kerbin's gravitational field you cannot turn on engines for some reason. Average acceleration in space: 140m/s^2

This. All the challenges people create here on the forums are basically to add more fun to the game, but if someone gets a thrill out of randomly flying spaceships all over the place in a pseudo-successful manner using cheats then so be it. It's possible within the limitations of the game, so it's fine. Anyway, other than using the debug thing, you can directly edit part files. In general the best things to do are: - Find the FuelConsumption line and set it to 0, meaning an engine no longer uses fuel and you need only attach it to one small fuel tank - Find the Thrust line and set it a very large number, meaning the engine can effectively lift millions of tons of rocket up in the air on low throttle, which is weird

My solution is pretty much very small "Kamikaze V2-n" ships using an engine I basically editted to give 10x the thrust and no fuel consumption, and then as the name suggests I just smash into them at high speed. Incredibly entertaining, but often leaves massive clouds of pieces depending on the size of the 'victim' debris and how extravagant I want the suicide ship to be. But yeah, that's really just cheating. Personally I don't like clearing my orbital space, mainly because it's so big and all my ships orbit at 100km intervals but also because I've only ever had one major problem with an orbiting object and that was smashing my Mun Rocket right through my 'Space Station'. It's annoying if it keeps happening, but yeah, in the words of Dwarf Fortress; !!FUN!!

The Mun and Minmus are pretty small in comparison to a planet, and have no atmosphere. A mission from Home to Minmus to Mun and back home again will use, as usual, more fuel leaving the atmosphere found at "home". Provided you have a powerful enough engine you can jump between Minmus and Mun more or less as many times as you like. Getting between atmospheric planets where takeoff is a lot harder is...well...harder. Besides, it's a lot larger distance and one initial trajectory mistake won't just mean a million meters out, but more like a trillion.

Okay, on the last page I posted stating that this mod didn't work with MechJeb. It doesn't by default, BUT if you want to have mechanical passenger or rescue ships or whatever, do the following: 0) Download and install MechJeb; I assume this is already done because otherwise you don't need this little 'guide'. 1) Go to KSP\Parts\ 2) Open up the folder for one of the MechJeb pods, for example "Mumech_MechJebPod" - That one with the yellow eye on the top 3) Open up the part.cfg file in a text editor 4) Scroll down to the lines // --- internal setup --- CrewCapacity = 0 5) Replace 0 with 1 6) Save the file 7) The editted MechJeb pod will now have a pilot, but still bring up the interface. Note: It will still show as "unmanned pod" in the crew number in the ship creator

I generally use MechJeb for testing whether or not a rocket I make can get somewhere, or for precision landing etc. The first is pretty simple; I'm not spending time trying to get something into orbit or to the moon when it's not going to work, and I can just leave the simulation running whilst I get a drink or something, and then come back to see if it worked. Then I can replicate it manually, happy in the knowledge that the only reason it's failing is my own incompetence. The second reason is just me being picky, and not experience enough with the game to land a craft anywhere near where I want it to land, except on Kerbin after going 1km up in the air. Coming out of lunar orbit onto the surface is something I fail at, but having things landed on the moon is satisfying in Orbital Map view.

I'm trying to use MechJeb in conjunction with this to make sure any rescue ships I create don't have to themselves be rescued. However, it says the ship can't be controlled with no pilot, and won't launch.

There are plenty of tips both on the forum and some particularly useful ones on YouTube for landing on things. Sounds like you ran out of fuel.

I had a rocket ready to go to the Mun, had tested it over a distance, and knew enough fuel was available, as well as what to jettison when and whatnot. I launched successfully, and just sat back and waited for it to hit the height I needed to go into orbit. 6 minutes after launch, whilst happily flying round the dark side of Kerbin and moving at close to 3000m/s, I smashed straight into my space station, which utterly destroyed the Mun craft, knocked most of the right hand (and most important) side off the station and sent the entire thing smashing down upon Kerbin airfield. I couldn't stop laughing for about 20 minutes, and then I realised how much time I had spent putting that station in perfect orbit, ragequit, and went to eat ice cream.