Specialist290

The fact that the game's aerodynamic model is a bit unrealistic has been known and discussed for quite a while now. I know Ferram Aerospace Research tries to make things a little more realistic.

One thing at a time, I guess Let us know if you need any help on that front as well.

Welcome to the forums! 26 tons should certainly be doable. As for tutorials: Going on your thread's title, I'm guessing that the main problem you're having is the old "wobbly rockets" issue. You might find this advice on how to effectively use struts helpful; it's older info, but still sound for the current version of the game. There are also a number of other useful tutorials available at the Drawing Board, which is linked in my signature. Also, putting up a screenshot of the vehicle you're trying to launch (lifter + payload) might help us diagnose it specifically a little better.

Nicely done!

All three suggestions are quite fitting. Now we need one last one to round out the whole team...

I'll be looking forward to seeing the results of this little contest, myself.

In general, for geosynchronous orbits, you don't want to worry so much about getting the orbit perfectly circular as getting its orbital period to be exactly 6 hours. As long as that condition is met, it'll more or less always be at the same point in the sky when its at a particular point in orbit, even if it seems to "wobble" a bit from the perspective of the ground.

Nicely done! (Can't believe I didn't see chapter two posted before...) Also, glad to hear you're working on the next one.

But it proves to be too much for him to handle alone, forcing him to reluctantly team up with Commander Shepard and Jebediah Kerman, as well as four other random strangers. ...You know, I think this could actually go places.

On the other hand, consider that the stock game calculates drag for every part, regardless of whether or not it's actually exposed to airflow, while FAR seems to have some sort of system* determining which parts are exposed and which aren't. A cone viewed from the top would have a cross-sectional area equal to its lateral surface (i.e. its total surface area not including the base); if you put a cylinder behind the cone's base and didn't change the angle of intersection, the cross-sectional area wouldn't change as long as the cylinder is of equal or lesser radius regardless of how long that cylinder is. * Admittedly, not having played with FAR myself yet, I don't know the details on how that system works.

Welcome to the forums! Others have pointed out a few good resources already, but I'd like to mention that I maintain a little list of tutorials and other resources called the Drawing Board, which is linked in my signature below.

I think Harvester confirmed earlier that some sort of data storage for pods and probes is going to be in the next update as part of the research and development system.

I think my kerbonauts are lying down on the job.

I have a new one, courtesy of Deadly Reentry: Not putting my parachutes high up enough on the capsule that they're fully shielded by the pod. Fortunately, redundancy saves the day again.

Nicely done! I especially like the idea of colored stripes on the fuel tanks denoting which tank is which. I see we also both "steal" our public domain icons from the same sources.

I'm also partial to #1 myself. And I hope the owners of the original logo don't mind.

I'm sort of thinking these two facts might be related That said, overall it's not a bad lander design. Fuel tanks over the can instead of under it is an unconventional choice, but it seems to have worked out for you. The only things I really see are a superfluous fuel line (I think reaction wheels can crossfeed) and the aforementioned lack of fuel (which, honestly, a pair of drop tanks could probably sort out).

Taking a few things from the same Atomic Rockets page you did: Robert Braenuig's notes on calculating rocket propulsion in general might also help you out here. (Disclaimer: I'm good at finding useful resources, but I'm really bad at talking through complex math, especially if I haven't already taken a crack at it myself. You might not want to address any questions to me specifically on this matter.) Note also that rocket engines often have some sort of coolant system to bleed off excess heat, which might mean that what you're getting is the temperature the rocket would reach before those systems come into play.

They say that somewhere out there, the kraken lies dormant, waiting to ravage whatever hapless spacecraft crosses its path. None have ever actually seen it, but some have witnessed its gruesome after effects. Of course, that could just be a rumor. In all likelihood, there's probably just nothing but empty space.

One solution I've tried is putting Sepratrons offset from the line of symmetry and slightly rotated so that the tanks fall to the side and a little forward. Sometimes they've crashed into one another as the rocket pulls ahead in ways that seem slightly worrisome, but I haven't seen any damage reports. I'll have to dig through my screenshots and see if there are any practical examples I can show you. EDIT: Ah, here we go: (Technically from two separate vehicles, but they share a common launcher.)

Welcome to the forums! Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with KAS to diagnose your issue, but I could suggest an alternative: Since you can get the lander back into Munar orbit, put it up there and leave it there for a moment, then launch an unmanned "lifeboat" with a probe core (for control) and an empty command pod to rendezvous with your lander and retrieve the kerbonauts. You can set crew assignments in the VAB through the "Crew" tab, which should be the third blue tab from the left along the top of the screen.

And sadly, all "raging xbox cod kids" aren't 14 years old either, or even under 21. The state of society these days...

Specifically for the Mun: If you're coming down over a heavily-cratered field, aim for the center of one of the craters as your landing site. While the edge of the crater is obviously very steep, the center tends to be flat enough to safely land on.

Pretty much, yeah; that was the main "unforseen circumstance" I had in mind. I have to admit that I was rather surprised on my very first Mun landing attempt when my lander hit the ground well before the altimeter reached zero

Could very well have meant either one, I'll concede. The real question is, who's going to write the off-the-wall short story where they both get merged together into some unnatural chimera of a pilot, a la The Fly?