blizzy78

If he would just post a few pictures, we could tell.

It shouldn't need to refuel or transfer fuel between tanks during lifting when using a decent lifter. Personally I like to remove the tedium and guesswork when trying to come up with a lifter for a given payload. That's why I created an online engine layout calculator (see signature.) For a given payload, it can give you the exact layout you need to use, how many booster stacks, and the like.

To expand on that, clicking "control from here" has nothing to do with docking mode. Rather it switches the nav ball into "as seen from this part."

Which is exactly what I suggested in my first answer. OP's response was that it wouldn't help.

HyperEdit specifically looks for those and removes those parts from the vessel.

This question would be better asked in the mod's thread, not here.

No, you need to launch it first. But you can press Esc or F3 before the physics kick in, then use HyperEdit to edit the orbit, then let physics kick in for real.

You might want to try the SelectRoot mod. Using this you can attach a temporary probe core on the top, select it as root, use symmetry as usual, then select the original part as root again.

You need to change your inclination mid-flight. Set Eve as your target, then watch out for the ascending/descending node markers. This is were you want to burn normal/anti-normal to correct your inclination.

Oh, the point before "setup center stack" was to mean "add a fuel tank and put engines under it," according to the calculator's recommendations Please note that it can all be done using regular fuel tanks, if you're in for some tedium.

I'm not sure what you mean. Of course Engineer and MechJeb will not display a TWR value unless you put at least one engine under a fuel tank.

That is an excellent question, and I'm thinking about adding an FAQ section over time. Here's what I do to construct a complete vehicle: - Setup center stack according to the calculators recommendation. I use the Stretchy Tanks mod for the fuel tanks. - Resize the tank so that according to Engineer or MechJeb the center stage has a TWR of 1.23. (This is a figure I've taken from Temstar's original configuration guide.) - Add the booster tanks and engines and set up an asparagus-style staging for them so that TWR calculations from those mods will be correct. - Resize the booster tanks so that the complete vessel has a TWR ratio as calculated in the "Vessel Totals" section of the calculator. This has worked pretty well for me so far.

I guess that's because some forum functions are broken right now since the update. Check the Forum forum for more.

You need a TWR of greater than 1 to lift off. In reality, you want a bit more than that or you will be fighting gravity for too long, wasting fuel in the process. Total delta-v is not dependent on TWR, though. TWR is just that, thrust divided by mass. Delta-v on the other hand is a function of your engine's specific impulse and dry/wet masses of the vessel. It does not matter if your engine is slow (low thrust) or fast (high thrust), as long as the specific impulse (fuel efficiency) stays the same. You will just be accelerating faster/slower, but the total potential change in velocity stays the same with equal specific impulse.

You've already answered it yourself: Adding more mass reduces the thrust-to-weight ratio (TWR). Going below 1.0 TWR makes your rocket stay on the pad instead of lifting off. Of course adding more mass will decrease your total delta-v, but the impact on TWR is much harder. As for mass compensation, this should be obvious: You add more engines to gain more thrust. Perhaps this might still be a little too advanced for you, but in case you're feeling adventurous, you can try my online engine layout configuration calculator to work out engine configurations given a specific payload mass. (see signature)

I find it difficult to estimate when to start burning. I'm pretty sure it must be possible to calculate that using the lander's TWR and the current velocity - how would I go about that?

You can trick the editor into providing an attach node wherever you want using the method shown: - Put an OKTO2 below the bottom can. - Make the OKTO2 the new root. - Remove the can module. - Put the rest back onto the OKTO2. - Make any part the new root, then remove the OKTO2. - Put the removed can module on top. Notice that it has an attach node where it had been attached to the OKTO2. The trick is, once you remove part of the craft, the removed part will provide an attach node at the spot where it was attached before, regardless of what the craft currently looks like. Except for single parts, which will provide all their default attach nodes.

Yes, it does. Actually it's not so much about Subassembly Manager. After the parts are connected, it's the game that doesn't care anymore about how these parts got together. It's just the editor that's preventing you from attaching them in the first place.

Might want to try this technique.

You can use Procedural Fairings to add fuselages of any size.

If you're confused about orbital velocity changing - that is normal. It's quite hard to actually achieve a perfectly circular orbit, so a common orbit will always be elliptical. This in turn means that you will be going faster when nearer to the body, and slower when further away. This is usually not a problem for docking, though, since it's the relative velocity between vessels that matters. If the confusion is about relative velocity increasing and most possibly preventing you from docking successfully - that's a whole different can. To come down to a relative velocity of zero between two vessels, switch your nav ball into "Target" mode, then burn (or RCS thrust) towards the "retrograde" marker, which in nav ball "Target" mode changes its meaning to "decrease relative velocity between vessels here."

The trick is to just tap the keys really shortly - it's the same with docking. Remember that in space there is no atmosphere to slow you down, so the longer you press a key, the faster you will go. Let go of the key, and you will keep going. To actually come to a "stop" (in relative terms), you have to press keys to push you in the opposite direction. So to keep things under control, try to go slowly (in relative terms.) Admitted, this is all common sense, but I think it's well worth repeating anyway.

You're welcome. I wasn't sure my wording was good enough to get the point across.

Thanks, good to see it worked out for you.

Docking ports. It has been discussed quite a few times in the Questions forum in the last days.