DChurchill

I had a contract to expand my Minmus station, so I added a Convert-O-Tron 250 and a Hitchhiker a couple of the 4K batteries and 4 RTGs. This was after a second launch when I realized that I had only sea level dV turned on on MJ's dV doofer when I was building it, so I had a profane amount of dV left over when I got to orbit the first time. Once I figured it out the problem, it actually had like 12k of vac dV... to go to Minmus. So I rebuilt the lifter.

LOL This is post of the day. Well, yesterday. Konan the Kerbarian.

So, if I may sum up: Options: 1. Both hunky and dory 2. Hunky, but dory . . . not so much. 3. Not even close to hunky, but dory enough. 4. Neither hunky nor dory.

Single thing is probably rendezvous and docking. Whole thing is an Apollo style mission with an orbiter and lander.

MJ just does what it can with the resources it has. Over-correction is probably about not having enough attitude control for the amount of mass you're trying to push around. Add reaction wheels or RCS. If you think it's too quick, then remove some attitude control and save some weight. You can also use the part sliders to reduce the control authority of the attitude control assets you do have, rather than trying to add or remove them.

Pretty much this. It's not really an idiot, but it's not Einstein, either. It's not going to fly you to a soft touchdown atmospheric landing, definitely. @ValleyTwo If you're trying to say land on Duna or Eve with a heatshield then a rocket descent, you're going to just have to let it get into the atmosphere with a normal style reentry, then once the fire stops, you can dump your heatsheild and then choose "Land Somewhere" if you don't want to fly it down yourself.

You boyos is messin with forces beyond yer ken. The Magic Boulder be where the Kraken lives.

Hmmm. It shouldn't fight you at all unless you're trying to process a nav node or if smart ass is on. It shouldn't do anything. We're talking simple re-entry, right? Or you mean an actual landing? Like landing guidance? Did you have areobraking nodes checked?

Aero forces should do that automatically if you're balanced right. In any case, setting SMART A.S.S. to retro should point the heatshield toward the hot end. So should SAS.

Yeah, my engineers patted themselves on the back for that one, too. Had a press junket and everything.

Q: What building has killed more kerbals than any other? A: Yes.

This is exactly what I needed. Thanks, guys.

So, I've tried spaceplanes without too much success. I've gotten to LKO a couple times with barely enough dV to deorbit. This time, I started out with the turbojet/ramjet/aerospike and once this latest career got to the point where I had rapiers, I replaced all that with a pair of rapiers. My problem is this: my results are very inconsistent. One time, I'll get it to 80K without enough dV to circularize, the next I can't seem to get to out of the atmosphere. I'm sure it's the profile I'm flying. And, honestly, my profile is not really thought out. I'm tired of not getting to orbit. Can someone help me out?

Honestly, I've had zero stability issues with 1.1.2. Core i7 930 @2.9 GHz, 16 Gig ram, Geforce 960 GTX.

Struts. Struts are your friend.

This kind of tediousness is exactly why I let @sarbian do my transfers for me. I've thought about PreciseNode, but at this point, it really doesn't matter that much to me. The navigation is not really why I play the game anyway. Now if you want to talk about the lack of stock science instruments . . . But @DMagic has that covered so that's not really a big deal either.

Sounds like a mod to me.

1. MechJeb - Call me a cheater if you will, but I really can't express how much I don't want to actually fly the ascent anymore, or fiddle with the maneuver nodes to change planes or circularize an orbit. Or actually do the math for a planetary transfer. One kerbal's fun is another's tedium. 2. DMagic Orbital Science - Once science and tech came out it's what this game became to me. I no longer had to roleplay a science mission. 3. ScanSat - See #2. I just love watching the maps get uncovered, even though I've seen them a million times. 4. Kerbal Alarm Clock

Yeah I mainly feel the same way about planes. Probably because I haven't have much success with spaceplanes. I'm determined to try to get the hang of them, though. I've made it to VERY low orbit a couple times, back in .21 or .22. But making it out of LKO hasn't happened with a spaceplane for me.

@DMagic Have you thought of maybe adding a botanical type experiment? You could have a little radial mount greenhouse type thing. Might fit nice as a precursor to some of the full fledged greenhouses in some of the base construction mods.

Yeah I haven't noticed anything like that. It will flicker based on terrain though, as the changing projected flight path intersects with uneven ground. Has to be pretty rough ground tho. But it's always done that.

Yeah looks like a challenge.

Oh jeez I didn't even notice that. I however am not the necromancer, just the replier.

Yeah, it's bouncy for those last couple of meters for sure. I just kill the autoland when it starts to do that, or take over myself. I haven't noticed any accuracy problem, though. I put a lander to within a few meters of a station I had selected as target.

Juno is the first probe even as far as Jupiter to use solar. I imagine as solar technology continues to improve that the usable distance from the sun will only increase.