Scarecrow

I wouldn't want to see unlimited fuel as the default option as it kind of defeats the whole object of KSP. One fuel tank and one engine can go anywhere in the system with unlimited fuel. That would negate the need to build crazy huge rockets that may or may may not explode and may or may not get you to where you want to go.

Maybe because the original demo is so far behind the current game that it no longer represents in any meaningful fashion what KSP is now about. Whilst it may give a glimpse of what Kerbal Space Program is, there are loads of videos on Youtube that do that, and the gameplay in the demo now appears rather simplistic when compared to the latest offering.

You can go anywhere you like. I've tried using ore mining after it was introduced but just found it too much hassle to set up, so have played without it ever since. Before it was introduced I sent manned missions to all the landable planets and moons and safely returned everyone. As far as I am concerned it is just a feature to add variety to the game but isn't a necessity. That may be different for someone who wishes to visit more than one planet on any particular flight, rather than simple out and return flights. In that case you may want to include refuelling via a mining operation somewhere.

Thanks for the answers guys. Didn't realise others had suffered the same problem. I've looked through the settings to see if I could switch it on. I will have to go and have a closer look at the key bindings.

I have just done a fresh install after suffering a few problems. I have found now that after focussing view on a planet/moon, the backspace key no longer re-focuses on my ship. I always thought that this was a default key and couldn't be turned on or off, so I have no idea why it isn't working. If anyone knows how I can switch it on I'd be very grateful.

I've had this problem too. I recently did a fresh install after suffering other problems, and reloaded the same mods that I have always used, which are not that many. I loaded my saves and started having this problem with craft that had behaved perfectly previously. Glad to see that someone thinks it is a known bug that is due to be fixed.

Escape velocity from Duna is around 1370 m/s so you don't have enough left in the tank to get to orbit and get home.

A couple of patches back Squad made some major changes to wheels - adjustable friction/springs/damping etc. An unfortunate side effect of this is that the wheels became extremely skittish on the ground, tending to wander all over the place. This side effect has been slightly improved with subsequent patches, but not completely eliminated. I find I am spending as much time now messing about with friction.spring/damping rates to try and get my craft to track straight as I am making tweaks to get the craft to fly properly, and it's a complete pain in the proverbial.

Any bonus for landing back on the runway at KSC, as that is where I aim to put most of my returning SSTOs?

Actually I haven't been paying that much attention to the cost of my vehicles, but having played a lot in Sandbox, I guess I have developed an instinct for what will or won't work for most situations without going over the top. I still haven't put that many hours in to my career save, but already I have all the facilities fully upgraded and that with contracts all within the Kerbin system. I think I am going to have to start going further afield for science though, as I still have a fair bit of the tech tree to unlock. The career mod mentioned by @ble210 sounds interesting though, so I might give that a look. ETA : I've just looked at the career mod, but it needs too many other mods to be installed to work for my taste, as I like to keep my install fairly basic.

Whilst I am not completely averse to mods - I use things like Alarm Clock, Engineer, Docking Indicator - I try and steer away from anything that changes the fundamental underlying essence of the game.

Hi guys. I've been playing KSP for quite a while now and feel that I am (at last) reasonably proficient. I've successfully sent manned missions to all bodies of the system and even managed to bring them all back. When career and science modes were added to the game, I had a look but found them too repetitive and too restrictive to hold my attention, and always reverted to Sandbox mode. Just lately, however, I've been running out of ideas for my Sandbox adventures, so thought I would again try a Career mode game. This time I have stuck with it. I still find it a bit repetitive - I've lost count of how many Kerbonauts I have had to rescue from Kerbin or Mun orbit, and I'm surprised the cost of a flight hasn't diminished the numbers of tourists wanting to go for a ride - but I am now finding the part restriction is leading me to have to think of different ways of fulfilling a contract that, in Sandbox mode, would be an absolute piece of cake to accomplish. So, for me, the game still has a lot of life left in it yet.

Instead of setting the camera to look down and seeing all the smoke, you could always change it to look up. With no ground or buildings to render, it should improve your frame rate a bit. Not ideal, but maybe a temporary fix.

Not very many compared to others as I like to stay close to the spirit of the game as published. The mods I do have are mostly to supplement gameplay, rather than change it. I use Kerbal Alarm Clock, Engineer Redux, Docking Port Alignment (this one because I find it more intuitive than using the navball when docking), and Kerbal Joint Reinforcement to cure the wet noodle rocket syndrome. I also use Hyperedit to help with placing craft when testing a concept.

Whilst Sandbox may seem overwhelming due to the number of parts, at least you don't fail because you haven't unlocked a part you really need. I found Career to be repetitive which rapidly became boring, which almost made me quit playing the game. Personally I don't think there is a best way to learn this game as far as the different game modes go, as they appeal to different people in different ways.

There are quite a few tutorials on YouTube. Some of them are quite old now and were made with earlieR versions of KSP so some of the parts used may be a bit different, and some of them the techniques made have changed slightly due to changes in how the game now works, but you can still learn a lot from watching them. As with steps that were made in real life, you will probably make better progress by taking small steps at a time - successful launch, sub-orbital flight, orbital flight and safe return, getting to Mun, orbiting Mun, landing on Mun, returning from Mun and so on. As you master each step you will be learning more about the physics in the game, and about the game itself as you go.

If I remember there is a button at top left that cycles through the network settings. Wait a mo and I will fire up my game to check. Yep, top left next to the mission timer. Buttons to allow you to toggle through the network settings as well as icons showing the signal strength.

Assuming you still have electrical power, are you playing with communications enabled? If you are you will need to establish a relay network that can transmit commands to your probe.

No, but I do use the KJR mod, as wet noodle rockets is one aspect of KSP that I really don't like and am surprised that Squad haven't fixed it in the vanilla game.

It's strange this topic should appear now, as within the last couple of days I have just put together another craft for venturing to Duna. This was in response to another thread where the OP was asking for advice on a rocket/lander that he was hoping to make his first trip to Duna in, but because he wasn't very good at docking, he wanted to take a lander that could return to Kerbin from the surface of Duna. Most of my Duna craft use a dedicated lander that is discarded once the crew have returned to orbit and transferred to a support vessel, so I thought it would be fun to put something together that requires no docking anywhere along the journey. This is what I came up with. It's sole purpose is to put 3 Kerbonauts on the surface of Duna, and then return them to Kerbin. There are no experiments on board or other superfluous items that are not required for that goal.

Just thought it might be useful feedback for any future challenges you might be considering, as I am sure there are others of a similar mindset who haven't replied.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of challenges that require you to download and install a mod to take part.

I am guessing that with your wheel layout, you are unable to get the tail down enough for your wings to start generating enough lift to take off. You can raise the rear wheels slightly, lower the front wheels slightly, or a combination of both, so that when the plane is sitting on the runway the nose is higher than the tail so that the wings can work well enough to take off.

If RCS was good enough for NASA, it's good enough for me in KSP.

A parking orbit is just a normal orbit before making a burn to go somewhere else. NASA chose this method for their moon missions, rather than just launching and going straight to the Moon, as it allowed them to check everything was OK once the vehicle was in space and it also gave them a slightly bigger window to make the lunar injection burn. In short, it's just a temporary orbit. In KSP a parking orbit allows you to fine tune a manoeuvre node to optimise your injection burn, which helps to minimise any correction burns during transition to intercept your target.