blizzy78

Perhaps you might want to start off from a higher orbit so it will send you past the planet instead of into it.

Rendezvous Tutorial 1.1.0 is now available for download. Now including going back to previous tutorial pages, as well as improvements as suggested by PrivateFlip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation - it's the first equation at the top. Also note the Isp subformula right below that.

I think the "best" heavy lifter (or rocket in general) is one that gets the job done. That said, I recently made a generic lifter that can bring up to 80 t into 100 km orbit around Kerbin. It's not the most powerful lifter I've ever made, though. Also, it's rather easy to construct those once you know how many engines you need - there's less trial, error and tedium involved. See my signature for a calculator to produce engine layout configurations for a given payload mass.

Wouldn't this question be better suited in the mod's thread?

I think the label "Multiplier" is a bit confusing because what you chose from is how much to add/subtract from the values below.

MechJeb is not all about the autopilots. It also has some really useful informational readouts, which you can customize to your liking.

Also: http://ksp.olex.biz/

Do note that those struts are much heavier.

I'd say you need more struts. Yesterday I was building myself a lifter to transfer a payload of 80 t into orbit, but at least one of the 4 asparagus-style boosters kept falling off before the vehicle cleared the launch clamps. Believe it or not, simply adding more struts to tape the boosters to the main stack helped. I also added struts in an X fashion between every two boosters, just for good measure. The whole thing now flies like it should. Bottom line: Stock struts are not the most powerful. Also, I've seen Quantum struts fail.

Speaking of which, isn't there a way to get all resource types programmatically? I think I've seen it done deep down in Lazor's source code somewhere.

I've noticed a small typo when cycling through a tank's fuel type: It must be "Monopropellant", not "Monopropellent".

You're essentially trying to hit a moving target, only in space.

Looks like it's working like a charm, thanks alot! vessel.orbit.epoch = oldOrbit.epoch + (Planetarium.GetUniversalTime() - oldUT);

It comes down to this simple formula: To get more delta-v, you need to bring more fuel. To bring more fuel, you need to bring more fuel to get it up into orbit. To be able to bring more fuel to get more fuel into orbit, you need even more fuel. You get the idea. Tsiolkovsky rocket equation. In my opinion, a "perfect rocket" would be one that has enough delta-v to get the job done, but not substantially more. Everything else is just dead weight not needed for the job.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. Sounds like a simple fix

TL;DR: Looking for code to "teleport" a vessel to a previously-stored position, all the while restoring a previously-stored orbit of said vessel. Hi, in one of my mods I'm wanting to add a "back" button to tutorial pages. This would make the tutorial display the previous page as well as restore the current vessel's orbit as it has been before leaving said page. Now, the problem I have is in restoring said orbit. I've already gone so far as to looking at HyperEdit's source to see how an orbit can be manipulated, which is quite straightforward. So the problem is not so much restoring the orbit itself, that part works fine. It's the vessel's position in the orbit that I can't seem to find a way to restore. For example, if I have a vessel in a circular orbit with the vessel being right above KSC, then timewarp half an orbit, then restore the orbit back to where it was, the vessel should be right above KSC again. I've also already tried setting the vessel's orbit's "vel" and "pos" fields with values I've stored before, along with setting those in the vessel's OrbitDriver, to no avail. (sorry I can't quite remember the code, I'm at work right now) What's more, I've also tried to not use "orbit.UpdateFromUT(Planetarium.GetUniversalTime())", but "orbit.UpdateFromUT(oldOrbit.startTime)", also the same with the old orbit's epoch. (Again, sorry I can't remember the exact code right now.) Both changes did not help - they didn't even seem to affect anything. The best I got so far was that for a brief moment (like a flicker), the vessel was in the right position, then immediately jumped forward in its orbit as if its position did never change. (Although the orbit has been restored perfectly like I described.) Of course I can't be sure how the OrbitDriver works, but I'm suspecting it overwrites the vessel's position somehow in the next frame or something like that. Is there anything I could do to make it restore the vessel's position exactly like it was?

You might also want to check out my online engine layout calculator (see signature.) It allows you to enter payload mass (among other things), and it will tell you how to configure central stack and booster stacks for an asparagus-style staging, with the exact sum of thrust you need.

Docking alignment is actually pretty easy once you're docked. Undock the vessel/module/whatever, back off a few meters, rotate to align, thrust forwards to docking port again. There's also a mod named Docking Washers (or something like that) that provides for washers to put under docking ports, so you can rotate a module while it is docked. Personally I find that a bit too much. Also, what Apollo13 said, the Docking Alignment Indicator mod also includes a rotational indicator.

FWIW, I've made an in-game rendezvous tutorial mod, perhaps it's a bit of help. (see signature) Also, what Frederf said: If you can't get the intercept any closer, it's most definitely the relative inclination that is off.

You can just delete the parts you don't need, it won't crash. Be aware though that any vessel in your savegame will be removed from that savegame if it uses any of the deleted parts. Also, VAB/SPH craft files won't load if they use any of these parts. But other than that, everything else will continue to function as normal. As always, backup your savegames.

You can't do this without mods, because a newly-created PPD-10 has only vertical stack attachment nodes. I'd advise to use the SelectRoot mod, which is extremely helpful for doing these kinds of things. - Create a PPD-10, and attach a radial attachment point to it. - Create a Probodobodyne OKTO2, and attach it to the radial attachment point. - Select the OKTO2 to be the new root (Ctrl+Shift+click it.) - Now Alt+click the radial attachment point to create a copy of it and the attached PPD-10. Note that the combination now has an attachment node where it was attached to the OKTO2 before. - Attach the copy to the other side of the OKTO2. - Select one of the PPD-10's to be the new root. - Remove the OKTO2.

Just put everything in GameData\ into your GameData\ folder, and the stuff in saves\ into your saves\. Please note that when a folder already exists - such as saves\training\ - DO NOT delete your folder, but put the new stuff besides it. In the end, you should end up with GameData\blizzy\... and saves\training\E_RendezvousTutorial.sfs, all in addition to stuff that was already there.

Last I hear is the MechJeb developer has stepped down or taken some time off. Too bad there's nothing in the MechJeb thread OP about this. Like it says in the OP:

You, sir, seem to be a man of patience.