LittleItaly

I currently have Kethane and Kerbal Engineer, I am just curious which aerodynamic mod you would recommend most, and which ones are compatible with the aforementioned mods and .23 Thank you all!

Does the game's engine account for those sort of things? So you could check where say a plane's center of mass would be midway through flight versus takeoff?

Jeb never dies. Similar to the Master Chief, he will always be listed as MIA...then turn up for duty eventually. Alternatively, if you are concerned about his vanishing because he isn't the "pilot" of the rescue ship, once he is on-board, you can right click on the command module and there should be an option that says "Control from Here," which would in fact make him the official pilot.

After updating to .23, I have noticed that quite literally everything that I build breaks...even the simplest module attached to an SRB and a parachute. In the VAB, everything is connected, but as soon as I launch it, when the physics engine kicks in, the connection between the command module/probe core (any of them) is severed from the rest of the build. Granted, I have a few mods (Deadly Reentry and Kethane to be exact) installed. Could those be the culprit? Has anyone else had this problem?

I've always regarded it as a nice flourish, but can never for the life of me hit anything but ocean...Any tips as to how to land at KSP without the use of things like MechJeb? Nothing against it, just don't want to be dependent when .23 comes out. Thank you!

I plan on doing orbital first yeah. Even though the EVA packs would be good, I'd feel bad sending them out there without a ladder to get back in after landing. Hopefully orbital operations will give me enough science to unlock the first tier of ladders

I am scrounging for science to unlock my exploration tech to facilitate landings on the moons of Kerbin. After a mission out to the edge of Kerbin's SOI, I feel confident enough with my deign to enter the SOI of either Minmus or the Mun and conduct science above their surface. My question is, does either moon offer more science than the other? Would the Mun be easier due to it's larger SOI, or would Minmus be easier due to its ease to escape back to Kerbin from? Thank you!

Darn. Well it was worth a shot haha. Probably will still go just to say I did...is the South Pole harder to get to than the North?

I am looking for new biomes on Kerbin to explore and exploit for science to get up to my next tier, where I plan to launch my Comsat network and Munar probes. I've already reached the northern ice cap, but does the game differentiate science-wise between the northern and southern ice caps? Or is it all the same in the game's code? Thank you!

While I was updating my ribbons in KSP Ribbon Generator, I noticed that Kerbol gets an "Overwatch" achievement, meaning that either a synchronous orbit has been achieved or that you have an extensive network of satellites overhead. Does this mean that one could place a ship or station into solar synchronous orbit? Do stars like suns have an axis of rotation? Both in real life and in game? If Kerbol does rotate, what altitude must one be at? Many thanks!

How low is too low? I don't have any plugins like Deadly Reentry, so how close to Kerbol could I make a stable, non decaying orbit around the Sun? Any helpful tips when dealing with strictly Solar Orbit? Thank you!

I will try to go out of my way to keep them safe. However, if I have a failing spaceship, I'm likely to put more effort into saving any member of the K Team than the White Suits. I will always save stranded Kerbals, though. As far as manned flights, however, I man my ships from the get go with little unmanned testing

Oops I apologize sorry about that

What is the largest, most complex space station you have built? Or alternatively, what space station are you most proud of?

So if one was to build a 100% stock moon base (I'm leaning towards Minmas due to the salt flats being easier to build and land on) would you recommend building a cluster of cores and structures near each other, or physically docking everything together? I don't have Keythane, so the only real purpose is to say that I did it so I don't know anything about function or cores or anything, but I would like to have a rover garage or something. Any tips?

I just always found it odd how the devs (so far) have only put in two types of Xenon Gas containers (and only on the smallest size) as well as only one kind of engine. Have the devs mentioned anything about further exploring and expanding Xenon gas an Ion engines to be broader in spectrum like liquid fuel engines? Are there any .21 compatible mods that serve this purpose? Thank you! P.S. I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place

I know that those little Ion engines aren't getting me anywhere, that is just what I hope simply ends up in space. I've tried strapping that whole thing to various lifter designs with limited success. The Ion engines are supposed to be used once I am already in space

So I have tried all day to get this bad boy into space. She's destined to be a deep space solar sailor; essentially going into other planets' SOIs to gather recon. I can't make anything powerful enough to get her into space without making it insanely unstable, yet I can't make it stable without giving it enough power to get into space. Any thoughts or help? This is all stock, mind you. Not even MechJeb since I can't get it to work on 0.21 (frustratingly) Thanks!

All awesome explanations! I figured I'd throw my hat in as well, though i may be going a little overboard. Big space stations (multiple parts) will get the prefix "LRM" (my initials) along with the name itself (at the moment, the Lotus). I'll try to name my ships after either Classical Greek/Roman names or Biblical names ( I have the Ulysses Lander, the Joshua Probe, the Argo Lifter, the Moses Shuttle, etc.) I always will start with "I" and will move up in the numbers for each major addition or subtraction of parts (so no number change for keeping the same parts but just rearranging them) though I really like Skyhook's system. Sounds just like a real military naming system!

Just curious as to how you all name/number your vehicles is there a "standard" system or is it really anything you feel like?

I've been considering taking up a challenge where I cannot consider a mission "finished" until either A: The Kerbals die or B: They are returned to KSC (preferably B ) anyways, this raises the challenge of creating a plane that can go pick up Kerbals that land far away from KSC. Are there any good designs or tips for building such a vehicle?

I am currently constructing my first VTOL and am wondering about the advantages of liquid versus jet fuel. Currently, my Manta Mk IV plane has four Aerospikes; two for vertical and two for horizontal. I made an earlier model using jet fuel, but I found the tanks placed vertically for the vertical engines looked unsightly and inefficient. After many (many) tests and failures, I am beginning to wonder if jet fuel was the way to go. Any thoughts or tips for an overly ambitious pilot? Thanks!

I finally got the nerve to exit my rocket comfort zone and am now learning how to do spaceplanes. At the moment, though, I am more focused on making just a simple jet, mainly something that I can fly from KSS to the secret runway and land. I designed a plane that can take off between 50 and 80 m/s and the ASAS I have installed helps with that initial bearing. However, my plane seems to always veer downwards as soon as I disable ASAS to make any kind of bearing change. Is it even possible to perfectly balance a plane? Currently, my CoM is ahead of and above my CoL. Is this the ideal configuration? Should I use more control surfaces? More lift surfaces? Any advice is much appreciated as I am out of my comfort zone haha. Thank you

I'm not sure if this question belongs here or in the Add-Ons forum, but I am having problems with MechJeb's Rendezvous on Ascent function on the Automated Ascent screen. I understand that you select a target and it time accelerates to put you in relatively close orbit to the target (in this case a space station). In all the vids I have seen, this "relatively close" distance is about four kilometers, but I have done over a dozen launches using this and the closest I can ever get is 100 kilometers. Am I doing something wrong? Thank you!

I've been developing my Lotus-class orbital tankers in the hopes of eventually reaching Duna, Eve, and beyond. I've been using the Oberth Effect to maximize my efficiency in getting the tanker up to altitude. Currently it is sitting at around 34,000,000 in Kerbin orbit (that's around midway between the Mun and Minmas). Is this a good altitude for interplanetary journeys to rendezvous with for liquid and RCS fuel? Thank you!