Nibb31

It doesn't seem to support losing focus (switching to the tracking station or launching a 3rd spacecraft). Don't forget that this is a quick first try to get something working, not a finished mod.

Why so big ? This will get you to the Mun and back and have fuel to spare:

This really is an encourageing start. It needs some polishing, but you really should release it properly on the mods forum. For cosmetic purposes, I edited the cfg of one of the old Dockur adapters from the Kosmos packs to turn it into a proper docking adapter. If your going into space, you might as well do it with style Note the Mumech Hull Cam above the docking ring. Below the docking ring is a modified Fuel Transfer module. Using the hull cam as a docking camera makes following the target easier. Also, the MechJeb Rendezvous information pane gives you the distance and relative speed. Hard dock achieved at 500.000m altitude. Technological demonstrations included attitude control, propulsion systems, and fuel transfer (with the Fuel Transfer Mod). Protip: Disable the Smart ASS on one of the ships so that they don't interfere. Before undocking, Jeb performed an EVA to inspect the docking adapters. After confirmation with ground control, the two spacecraft undocked and reentered safely.

Munoliths and arches are hardcoded. Some of them are in very specific places, so it doesn't make sense to randomly generate them.

You can just edit the cfg to set the CrewCapacity to 3. Dragon can shuttle 7 people to the space station, but you wouldn't want to be cramped like that for a Mun mission. I stick on a service module containing RCS fuel. The internal fuel is only used for deorbit and landing so no risk of running out.

You can't build it yourself. You need to load the .craft file.

Will you need to complete low-level scenarios to access the higher ones ? I feel it would remove a lot of the sense of achievement out of the game if you could just launch a scenario to get to the new moons and planets. You should deserve them IMO. They should be hard to get to, out of the reach of newbie players. You shouldn't be able to land on the Mun before you've had at least moderate success in reaching orbit. You shouldn't be able to approach Duna until you've built a Mun base.

Another niggle: the dome fairing fires of in front of the spacecraft, and sometimes hits you when you accelerate. A split fairing would be better (and would allow to mount a docking adapter or a spare chute under the fairing. There also seems to be some kind of light source inside the pod. On my screen, it washes out the capsule and the faces of the Kerbals.

This is pure awesome ! It works much better than the Durgun. I have one (very minor) niggle and two requests: Niggle: I think the heat shield texture is upside down when the capsule reenters heads-up (with the hatch on top). Request: It would be nice if it had a service module/trunk with solar panels (like the real dragon, it could contain extra RCS for orbital manouvers, flush solar panels, and maybe Zox). Also, dedicated decouplers would be great.

In the VAB, click + to insert a new step in the staging sequence and move your decoupler there.

There is no such thing as a straight line in orbital flight. First you need to learn how to reach orbit around Kerbin. Just getting "out of the atmosphere" is not good enough, because unless you are on orbit, your ballistic flight path will just be a parabolic line up and down. You need to reach a certain speed so that your parabolic arc "misses" the ground and makes a circle around Kerbin. Once you've got that laid down, you can learn how to raise and lower your orbit to reach the altitude you want. Reaching the moon is simply a matter of raising your orbit high enough that it intersects with the Mun's orbit around Kerbin, and a matter of timing to reach that intersection at the moment when the Mun is actually in the right place.

Looks like the perfect equipment for rescue missions !

GSO is 2868km, not 4868km. I'm sorry for causing the confusion.

What are you trying to do ? The only way to counter Kerbin's rotation is to go up to geostationary altitude, which is 2868km. To get a good aim, first you must get a circular orbit around 475km (geostationary transfer orbit), and burn when you are 90° before your target, as described in my previous post. If you want to be above KSC at -74.6°, then burn when you are at -164.6°.

Raise your apoapsis when you are on the opposite side of where you want it to be (assuming you are in a nearly circular orbit of course, if not, then circularize first.)

That happens because the CrewCapacity is set to 0 in the CFG file. Just change it to some other value.

The tank is upside down ! And the real shuttle would fly the gravity turn on its back so as to compensate for the extra weight of the ET.

Sorry, I screwed up. Yes, the magic altitude for GSO is 2868.4km, not 4868, but 2868 is as close as the MechJeb will get you. You can later fine-tune your orbit by looking at the Orbital Information pane. It's pretty hard to get a perfect orbit and some drift is inevitable, which is why you will need to do some station-keeping over time. You should equip your GSO sat with RCS and fuel for station keeping, like in real life. The 90° angle from the 475km transfer orbit works like this: KSC is at -74°.6 longitude, so if you want to get your satellite above that target, you want to start your burn at -164.6°. You can see your current position in the Surface Information pane. Depending on your rocket, this should get you between plus or minus 1 or 2 degrees of your target longitude.

Use the Ascent Computer to get to a 475km orbit. Once you're in orbit, wait until you are 90° before your target longitude and use the Orbital Operations to set your Apoapsis to 4868. Warp to Apoapsis. Circularize.

Make it low and wide for stability. Make it light so that it lands with just enough fuel to get you home. Don't forget a ladder. I suggest using the "crasher stage" concept, which is probably the most efficient method and was planned to be used by the Russians. Basically, you burn off most of your speed with the large upper stage of your rocket, that you jettison just before the final descent, so that your spacecraft lands with its tanks practically full.

I'm pretty much with you Aramchek. None of the stuff mentioned above really buzzes me. Crew transfer through a UI is perfectly enough for me, watching Kerbals do backflips in zero-G will get old after the second time, and I don't really want to micromanage to the level of making my Kerbals press buttons individually when I can press them myself. I feel that IVA is one feature that could have been implemented much later. I'm much more looking forward to the new planets, and crossing my fingers for docking in 0.18.

Also, make sure any Remotetech pods or modules always have an antenna.

The annoying problem that I encounter with this is solar eclipses, which happen quite often because the Mun and Kerbin are on the same orbital plane. Several times my crew has died simply because Kerbin blocks the pinpoint of light from Kerbol, regardless of the fact that Kerbol's disc should be much larger than Kerbin's. Will this be fixed in 0.17 as Kerbol gets a body ?

I agree with you about the aerospike. It is a very specific engine that only makes sense on an SSTO spacecraft. I would put the Isp of the Nerva to 0 in atmosphere. See it as a security valve to prevent it from making Kerbin uninhabitable after one launch. Something insane like 1000 in vacuum sounds good, which is balanced by its huge mass (it is supposed to include a nuclear reactor, so 5 to 10 tons doesn't seem outrageous). The size is fine. It should be used as an upper stage only, so there is no reason for it to be used on 3m tanks. Some of the other engines need rebalancing. I tend to find that there is a plethora of crazy insanely powerful engines and not much choice in the small and medium thrust engines. Some of those large engines could be turned into 300, 400 or 500 thrust engines.

You don't need a Mun Orbiter relay sat if you land on the near-side of the Mun. The lander will always be in the line of site, whereas the relay sat will be behind the Mun half of the time. Just put a dish on the lander (instead of the parachute and heatshield which are useless).