starkllr

One more dumb question...where do I find the screenshots folder?

That was it - they were in the Staging group. Thanks - I would never have figured that out on my own!

That may be it. I put them in an action group - I stuck them in Custom 1 - at least, I thought I did, but maybe I put them in staging exactly like you said. That would certainly explain it. I hope so, because Space Station Babel needs those panels, and soon!

I'll check when I get home. They weren't deployed, and they're not touching anything - they're lined up in a row on the truss. I'll put up a screencap tonight, thanks!

Thanks! That's very helpful!

This is a new one for me. Up until now I haven't had problems with solar panels - I've mounted them to the sides of my ships, and I mounted 3 in a row on a strut as part of a space station, and they survived launch and orbital maneuvering with no difficulty. But I'm building a new, bigger space station, and last night I tried to launch a component - 5 of the long trusses connected together, with a row of 9 solar panels mounted on the truss. About two seconds after liftoff, I saw a shower of black solar-panel material raining down. All the panels broke on lift-off. They're still stuck on the trusses, but now they're listed as "broken". I've never seen that before, and it's the same rocket I used to launch previous missions with the same panels mounted on the side. Any ideas or advice?

Hopefully an easy question this time - how do you folks get such perfect screencaps? Are you just doing Print Screen and then editing, or is there a function in KSP to do it (I'm still learning all the controls and features as I go!)? Or is it a mod? And is there a mod to do video recordings of missions as well?

Oh, God. I can't believe I didn't realize that. Thank you!

This may be a VERY stupid question, but is there any way to attach a Clamp O Tron to the bottom of something? Every time I've tried it, I've been unable to dock with it, as the actual docking "latch" is on the "inside" wall of the component, rather than facing out as it would be if I put the Clamp O Tron on the side or on top of the component. am I missing something really obvious here, or is that just the way CoTs work?

It took three NERVA-powered spacecraft, and plenty of good luck, but the Kerbal Space Agency has finally achieved the goal of landing a Kerbal on the Mun and returning him to Kerbin! The mission truly lived up to the KSA's motto: Ex Kerbia Cum Ardua. In an effort at methodical thinking and infrastructure-building, the KSA first built a refueling station in LKO. Kerbin Orbital Terminal Alpha would serve as a home base for the future Kerbin-Mun Taxi spacecraft, and Kerbonauts would return to Kerbin aboard Kerbin Return Capsules docked at the station (so that our ships to the Mun would not need parachutes or any means of bringing their crew back home). We then launched a smaller version of the same station into Munar orbit. Munar Orbital Terminal Beta would serve as the destination for the Kerbin-Mun Taxi, and would also be the home base for the Mun Lander. It was launched into LKO on a heavy booster, and flew to the Mun under the power of a NERVA engine. It didn't quite work out that simply. We had...difficulties...getting the Munar Orbital Terminal Beta into Munar orbit, and it ended up in a "backwards" orbit. We didn't realize this until too late, however. We then launched the Mun Lander into LKO, where it would wait for the Kerbin-Mun Taxi to rendezvous with it for the voyage to the Mun. This went without incident, as the mighty NERVA propelled both craft into Munar orbit...a correct Munar orbit. Our cameramen fell down on the job, sadly, so our photographic record only begins with the actual Mun landing... The flag was planted by Neilbin and Milikin Kerman... Meanwhile, the Kerbin-Mun Taxi burned a massive amount of fuel reversing its orbit to dock with the Munar Orbital Terminal and pay a visit to Jebediah Kerman... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/Approaching%20Station%20in%20Munar%20Orbit.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/Taxi%20docket%20to%20Munar%20Station.jpg Unfortunately, this didn't leave the Taxi with enough fuel to rendezvous with the Mun Lander upon ascent from the Munar surface. So a robotic Mun tanker was launched, to rescue Neilbin and Milikin... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/unmanned%20tanker%20leaves%20kerbal.jpg The tanker successfully rendezvoused with the Mun Lander, and rather than burn too much fuel to reverse orbits and dock with the Munar Orbital Terminal, the robotic tanker brought the Mun Lander back to Kerbin orbit, and the Kerbin Orbital Terminal Alpha... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/Final%20approach%20to%20space%20station.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/Lander%20docks%20at%20space%20station%21.jpg After a brief stay in Kerbin orbit, Neilbin and Milikin boarded a Kerbin Return Capsule and headed back to the KSC... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/FLoating%20to%20landing.jpg And, after a long and unprecedented and horribly dangerous journey, our two pioneering Kerbonauts set foot back on native soil! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5069296/Home%20at%20Last%21.jpg Many lessons were learned for future Munar exploration: Ensure that Munar orbits are established in the correct direction. Make sure the lander's legs extend past the engine bell! We were very fortunate the lander didn't tip over. Now that this goal has been accomplished, the next challenge is to build a rover for motorized Mun exploration!

I actually did manage it on my own, but it was very ugly and horribly wasteful of fuel, even with MechJeb's help (please don't judge!). So I'm asking for advice: how do I efficiently put a ship in a reasonable (30km or so) Munar orbit? I can do the Hohann transfer (yeah, MechJeb is my copilot on that, too), but what do I do to insert into a good munar orbit, and when do I do it, ideally without burning all my fuel? Thanks!

Not sure if this is the proper thread, but I'm very proud of my Kerbals; they've established their first permanant (hopefully!) space station. Behold the Kerballed Orbiting Lab: There are currently two craft docked. On the left, you will note an Orbital Rescue Vehicle, Mark 11. On the right is docked a Kerbal Return Capsule, Mark 2. This particular Mark 11 ORV has already performed heroic service, retrieving stranded Kerbals from two separate stranded spacecraft and returning them to the safety of the Orbiting Lab. The Orbital Rescue Vehicle program has had its teething problems. The Mark 1 through 6 vehicles all failed, generally catastrophically, during unKerballed testing. The first and only Mark 7 craft was launched to retrieve a stranded Kerbal, but suffered structural failure during rendezvous maneuvers, requiring a rescue mission for the rescue mission. The Mark 8 through 10 models all failed in further unKerballed tests, but with the Mark 11, success was finally achieved! The next step is to upgrade the Kerballed Orbiting Lab with a second habitation module, and a large fuel tank to support deep space exploration.

I'm making slow progress, but I've got some more questions. I've got a small space station in orbit (Hitchhiker cannister, 4 solar panels, RCS, fuel tank and poodle engine, 4 clamp-o-trons). If I want to add a module, I just dock it to one of the open clamp-o-trons, is that right? Is there a more permanant way of attaching to the station, or is docking the only way? How do I transfer fuel from the station to a spacecraft I want to refuel? Is there a command for it, and do I need to arrange the parts in any particular way to make it possible? Thanks!

OK, now that I've finally managed to accomplish a docking, the next step is moving crew from one vessel to another. I've got several questions, and I hope y'all can help me... !. If I understand correctly, my Kerbonauts won't go through the docking port - if I want to move a Kerbal from my capsule to my "space station" (a Hitchhiker canister with a clamp-o-tron, two solar panels and an ASAS/RCS/RCS tank attached), I need to do EVA and maneuver him from the capsule to the station, is that right? 2. The Hitchhiker looks like it has one hatch (which I covered with a clamp-o-tron on my last effort, unfortunately) - is that where I'd send my Kerbonaut? 3. Can I stick enough ladders outside the capsule and the hitchhiker so that I don't have to make the Kerbal let go and use his RCS pack to move him? I tried that once and lost him in orbit - I had no luck at all controlling him and he just drifted off into his own orbit. It was quite sad. 4. Unrelated to EVA. I think I'm missing something blindingly obvious here, but when I click on the in-capsule view for one of my Kerbonauts, how do I switch back to the regular view so I can control the ship again? I can't see any control to do that, and I know there must be one staring me in the face. If it makes any difference, I'm still running version 0.19.

Thank you all for your very patient help! After watching several tutorials, three more attempts and much cursing at my computer, I finally managed an actual docking! Now I have to do it again!

OK, checking in again. Another failed and immensely frustrating effort. How do you keep the target marker lined up with the prograde (or retrograde) marker. I can't keep everything coordinated. Every time I thrust, forward or back, the target and prograde/retrograde markers drift, and by the time I've recovered with the RCS, the relative velocity has changed. It's also mystifying to me - I'm watching the relative velocity and I get it moving, and I'm pointing at the target, and it goes down from, say, 2 m/s down to 1 m/s, and the distance to the target is decreasing correspondingly. And then suddenly the distance starts increasing again. I feel like I need either Super Idiot mode, or at least a slowdown mode for when I get extremely close and I can't react quickly enough. I don't know if it's a lack of mastery of the controls, or a lack of understanding of the basic concepts and techniques. I feel as though I'm never going to figure this out.

I got to within 50M, and my relative velocity was down to about 1.5 m/s. I was in the Chase camera, using the IJKL keys,and H for thrust forward, N to thrust back. At that point, when I kept thrusting to get relative velocity to 0, it started increasing again, regardless of whether I thrusted forward or back. And then the target began drifting away from the yellow velocity marker, and I couldn't keep them centered. And I couldn't react fast enough to keep up with the movement of the navball.

Thanks for all the advice. Still no luck, though. I got to within 50M, and then nothing worked. No matter what I do, I can't keep the target lined up with my velocity markers. And I could never totally kill my relative velocity, no matter whether I thrusted forward or back. I don't know if I just need more practice, or if my brain simply isn't wired correctly to understand this game. Either way, it's driving me crazy.

Thank you! I'll try and see if I can follow this...

I've watched several video tutorials and read a dozen explanations, and I still DO NOT GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can get my ship to within 2 km of the target craft. Relative velocity is under 10 m/s. WHAT DO I DO NOW????????? Nothing I do works. I cannot get closer. No matter what direction I burn, no matter where the Navball is pointed or which icon I'm centered on, it isn't right. I do not understand what's going on at all. It is maddening, and I am at the point of either tearing my hair out or deleting the whole damn game, which I don't want to do. Can someone walk me through EXACTLY what I have to do, step by step, as though you were talking to a small child with serious learning difficulties?