SRV Ron

Extremely difficult to set up but most efficient.

Parking that parachute as high as possible on the capsule will help a lot with the COM issue. (One part ship)

A redesign of the one part ship. First stage Mainsail. Second stage Skipper. Short burn of the LV-N to orbit. Has the range to reach Jool and back by doing a direct from Kerbal burn.

A sample first two missions in Career; In Career Mode, your objective is to build rockets with the limited resources you have available and conduct missions to earn Science Points. With those Science Points, you can then spend them to unlock better parts which will allow you to build better rockets for earning more Science Points. Those Science Points are used to unlock your Tech Tree which will allow you some flexibility of where to spend your Science Points to further your space program. Tier Zero starts you out with some very basic parts. Because the decoupler has not been invented yet, you will be very limited on what you can build to land safely. Therefore, I recommend the following mission, Place a MK-1 Command Pod on the launch pad. With only the command pod on the launch pad, do the following; 1. Conduct a Crew Report. 2. EVA Jeb and do an EVA report. 3. Take a soil sample on the launch pad. 4. Return to the capsule and enter it. 5. Recover the capsule. Now, go to the Research Lab and spend some Science Points to unlock Tier one parts. This will give you a decoupler to separate the capsule from the spent rocket, Goo canasters for some simple research, and a bigger fuel tank. Your second mission; build a suborbital rocket; Using the MK-1 capsule, add the following; 1. Place a parachute on the top 2. Using symmetry mode, place 2 Goo canisters on the side of the capsule. Be sure that the crew hatch is clear or Jeb won't be able to exit to do an EVA. 3. Place a decoupler under the capsule. 4. Place a stack of three FL-T400 fuel cans under the decoupler 5. place the LV-30 engine under that. Do the mission as follows; 1. Press T to activate automatic stabilization for launch. 2. Hold the shift key down until the throttle indicator reads full. 3. When ready, press the Space key to launch. 4. Start a sub orbital turn at about 10,000 meters by pressing the D key and releasing it several times. It may help to press the F key to temporary turn off stabilization while making the turn. Practice will prefect what would be called a Gravity Turn. 5. If you find that the G meter is getting out of the green throttle back with the Ctrl key until it comes back. Too much acceleration in the lower atmosphere causes excessive drag and waste fuel. 6. Stage the rocket when it runs out of fuel and shuts down. 7. Now, activate one of the Goo canisters and save the report. 8. When you are in space, you will hear the music playing, do a Crew Report, activate and save the data on the second Goo canister, do an EVA but don't let go, do an EVA report, and return to the capsule. 9. Turn off the stabilization by pressing the T key before reentering the atmosphere. The capsule will stabilize bottom down for reentry. 10. When reentry heating and shock wave effect has completed and your speed has dropped below 500m/sec, hit the spacebar to deploy the parachute. It will deploy into drogue mode, then at 500 meters from the surface, deploy fully. 11. When you land, either in the water or on land, do an EVA, take a soil sample, and return to the capsule. If you are unable to reenter, don't worry. 12. Recover the capsule or Jeb. 13. If the capsule couldn't be recovered because Jeb was outside, go to the Flight Center and recover the capsule from there. Go to the Research center with the 50 Science Points you have just earned and unlock all the Tier 2 parts. You can now build a multistage rocket to place you into orbit, go to Mun or Minmus, return, and get enough Science Points to start unlocking Tier 3 Parts. Do multiple missions in different biomes of those three places to unlock a ton of Science Points.

The two mods, KW Rocketry and Novapunch, will fill the gaps in various size fuel cans and rocket engines in making efficient designs. They will work well in both Sandbox and career. Still, it is best to get familiar with the performance of stock before expanding your horizon with the additional parts of mods. To separate them from the original install, make a copy of KSP and place the mods there. Informational mods are good once you have learned the basics without them. Then, there the pure fun mods such as Dr Who's Tardis, Star Trek Enterprise, and Alternate Kerbal. Those are best used on a copy of your original KSP

Craft files, yes. Game save, no.

Currently, the SRBs appear to use the star core. If you watch the acceleration on the initial launch, you see the burst in acceleration followed by a drop off. The later increase is the result of the loss of mass as fuel gets used up. It's a reminder of the designs of black powder model rocket engines where two of them with the same amount of propellent behaved in two vastly different performance. The F-7.6 had a low overall thrust but provided 10 seconds of powered flight. It was suitable for small light very stable rockets best launched using a rail stabilization system. The F-100.8 was a high powered engine requiring a strong mounting. It burned all of its propellent in 1/2 second. A two stage version of the F-100.0 F-100.8 sent its 3 ounce film camera payload over a mile away upwind. We had launched it at a 45* angle due to it being quite windy. Unknown to us modelers the F-100.0 booster had a built in 3 second delay. The rocket had gone horizontal by the time the second stage kicked in.

The ideal return trajectory to an aerobraking landing.

Note, my lander design uses onion staging. That is, when the descent stage is out of fuel, they eject to leave the core stage with a full fuel tank. Anyhow, once in low Mun orbit, a small retro burn will start you down to landing. Landing is like launch in reverse. Keep your marker centered as you get vertical so all horizontal drift is eliminated. If you run out of fuel on the outer tanks, stage them and abort the landing. Do a F5 to save before landing. That way, if you mess up, you can press F9 to get back to where you started. BTY, as pictured, the launch vehicle will place your lander in low Mun orbit with full fuel tanks.

Copy the KSP folder to another location, not the desktop. You can even copy it to your data file or another drive. Just run the exe file or create a shortcut to run from there. "Copy it, and launch the game from inside the folder. Steam won't work, but KSP will. " Creating a shortcut to the Steam folder version only runs the Steam copy without Steam. If you want to experiment with mods, you should do that to a copy of KSP in case something corrupts the game.

Two types of free return to aerobraking landing are possible. The Apollo Figure Eight is the most difficult to set up using the Add maneuver mode. Much more common.

Test flight of the Kerbal 5. (Staging corrected.) The Kerbal 5 modified for 0.23; You can ditch the SAS, all the fins, and replace the upper stage LV-45 with a LV-909. Flies much better without the fins. Add solar panels.

Here is the pic. Just keep in mind that the staging is not correct. The Kerbal 1A is the upper stage.

I periodically post simple designs listing if stock or mods, then leave it up to the player to build from the picture example. Mun lander from the demo; Move the legs further back or you may lose an engine on landing; Career Munar Orbiter. Simple three Kerbal orbiter; Mainsail for first stage, skipper on the second stage. In Orbit

The capsule on the launch pad, 7 points, enough to unlock decoupler and goo capsules. Suborbital flight with 2 Goo capsules, 50 points when you also do eva in space, reports, eva after landing and collecting surface sample on Kerbal. That unlocks all of tier 2. At least a hundred points taking the sub orbital rocket to a Mun or Minmus flyby. Fly to different biomes in all three places for more points. Then do landing and return with soil samples from Mun and Minmus for lots more points. Then send probes to the distant worlds. If you can return them to Kerbal with Goo canisters and the Science pod, they are worth a lot more points then just transmitting once. Manned mission with returns will net tons more.

You have to fly the probes down to the surface or else KSP will delete them once beyond 2.5 k

Do a Voyager mission and you will soon see that they become useless once you get past Eeloo.

Easy to land on Minmus; And, a 0.22 Career mode probe;

Are you using the Add Maneuver tool in map mode to plan your burn? Here is the ideal NASA figure eight maneuver. (Extremely difficult to set up.) Otherwise, set up a maneuver like this; Note, the return path in case you miss the orbital insertion burn will being you back home to an aerobraking landing.

A better measurement on reentry is the G factor when aerobraking. Faster braking generates more heat. If those forces are over 10G, you are probably coming in at too steep an reentry angle. Such G forces are usually fatal. With the right angle, I have been able to keep aerobraking reentry from Mun to under 6G.

This early Career ship did the orbital Mun mission with fuel and power to spare in 0.22 A similar design with an extra SRB, a second FL-T400 fuel can on the upper stage, and a pair of Goo canisters, did the Mun orbital mission last night and netted enough science points to start unlocking a bunch of tier three parts.

Replace those explodeable SRB pairs with single Rocomax SRBs. It will make things easier to build and fly. Asparagus staging was used on that demo ship which with parachutes on the desent stage, should be capable of landing on Duna and returning. It is even in use on the lander which will have more then enough fuel to land and return. This is what made it into 100k orbit on that demo design.

Just a sample tutorial for those doing their first Career Mode missions; Your first Career Mode missions; In Career Mode, your objective is to build rockets with the limited resources you have available and conduct missions to earn Science Points. With those Science Points, you can then spend them to unlock better parts which will allow you to build better rockets for earning more Science Points. Those Science Points are used to unlock your Tech Tree which will allow you some flexibility of where to spend your Science Points to further your space program. Tier Zero starts you out with some very basic parts. Because the decoupler has not been invented yet, you will be very limited on what you can build to land safely. Therefore, I recommend the following mission, Place a MK-1 Command Pod on the launch pad. With only the command pod on the launch pad, do the following; 1. Conduct a Crew Report. 2. EVA Jeb and do an EVA report. 3. Take a soil sample on the launch pad. 4. Return to the capsule and enter it. 5. Recover the capsule. This simple mission should net you some 12 Science Points which will enable you to unlock Tier 1 Parts so you can build a proper suborbital rocket for your next mission. Now, go to the Research Lab and spend some Science Points to unlock Tier one parts. This will give you a decoupler to separate the capsule from the spent rocket, Goo canisters for some simple research, and a bigger fuel tank. Your second mission; build a suborbital rocket; Using the MK-1 capsule, add the following; 1. Place a parachute on the top 2. Using symmetry mode, place 2 Goo canisters on the side of the capsule. Be sure that the crew hatch is clear or Jeb won't be able to exit to do an EVA. 3. Place a decoupler under the capsule. 4. Place a stack of three FL-T400 fuel cans under the decoupler 5. place the LV-30 engine under that. Do the mission as follows; 1. Press T to activate automatic stabilization for launch. 2. Hold the shift key down until the throttle indicator reads full. 3. When ready, press the Space key to launch. 4. Start a sub orbital turn at about 10,000 meters by pressing the D key and releasing it several times. It may help to press the F key to temporary turn off stabilization while making the turn. Practice will prefect what would be called a Gravity Turn. 5. If you find that the G meter is getting out of the green throttle back with the Ctrl key until it comes back. Too much acceleration in the lower atmosphere causes excessive drag and waste fuel. 6. Stage the rocket when it runs out of fuel and shuts down. 7. Now, activate one of the Goo canisters and save the report. 8. When you are in space, you will hear the music playing, do a Crew Report, activate and save the data on the second Goo canister, do an EVA but don't let go, do an EVA report, and return to the capsule. 9. Turn off the stabilization by pressing the T key before reentering the atmosphere. The capsule will stabilize bottom down for reentry. 10. When reentry heating and shock wave effect has completed and your speed has dropped below 500m/sec, hit the spacebar to deploy the parachute. It will deploy into drogue mode, then at 500 meters from the surface, deploy fully. 11. When you land, either in the water or on land, do an EVA, take a soil sample, and return to the capsule. If you are unable to reenter, don't worry. 12. Recover the capsule or Jeb. 13. If the capsule couldn't be recovered because Jeb was outside, go to the Flight Center and recover the capsule from there. Go to the Research center with the 50 Science Points you have just earned and unlock all the Tier 2 parts. You can now build a multistage rocket to place you into orbit, go to Mun or Minmus, return, and get enough Science Points to start unlocking Tier 3 Parts. Do multiple missions in different biomes of those three places to unlock a ton of Science Points. Enjoy. Don't be afraid to experiment with different designs. That way, you will find out what works, and what doesn't.

Science should be based upon what is discovered, not just from a constant use. While planets visible to the Kerbal eye should appear in map and control center, the others would appear as they are discovered either by the telescope or, say a probe to Jool where its smaller moons become detectable. Long range, should interstellar flight become implemented, the telescope would be key for finding those nearby stars with planets where missions could be sent for exploration. Just an idea, of course.

Rather then going to Mun, Land on Minmus first. Then, go for Mun. The same ship design should work for both missions. This was done in the demo. It should be easier in Career even without batteries or thrusters. Just manage your power use. I have done orbital and return with plenty of power left. The trick, only use SAS during powered flight and remember that the LV-909 has no generator.