HeadHunter67

That's been my agency's motto from the start! (see sig)

I bought Take On Mars the day it came out... five weeks later, I still haven't played it yet because KSP has its hooks in me. I'm not addicted, though... I can quit any time I want! (I just don't want to...)

That's a great idea. I have been considering doing that for my next station - with each one I build, I am improving my technique in both design and delivery. My goal is for a low-part station that can be easily launched and assembled in orbit, to serve as a refueling station for interplanetary ops and later, to expand for scientific capability. I'm close - but I think your method will help me along that road.

I've taken a closer look at MOMS and I love what you've accomplished! I was working on a similar concept for modular space station design (called MOSS, ironically close nomenclature), but I don't think my design philosophy was as lean or well-balanced. Perhaps I will revisit the concept and see if I can make it work like you have done. Thanks!

Ah, OK. Thanks, I see it - missed closing the line. I edited the previous post - does that work now?

Just put the camera into Chase mode! Then you don't need to "convert" anything - I will always be down on your screen, L will always be right, etc. I don't understand why some eschew chase cam and then wrack their brains trying to overcome the very thing it's meant to solve.

I took a Falcon Heavy/Dragon Rider for a test flight last night - made it into a very high Kerbin orbit even after the boosters were gone, and had loads of Delta-V left afterwards. So yes, I agree that it could likely use some balance.

Also, if you don't even want to use the AR202 part at all (which means that your craft won't be broken if you decide to stop using MJ later), just create a .cfg for Module Manager with this line in it: @PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[ModuleCommand]] { MODULE { name = MechJebCore } } I could probably have typed it up more tidily but that should do it. Now, any part that the game considers to be a "command module" should have MJ functionality built in. [EDIT: I can't seem to get this to work with some stuff, like the LazTek SpaceX pack. Not sure what I've done incorrectly...]

Obviously a major malfunction!

Not correct. NavyFish's Docking Port Alignment Indicator is a far more powerful aid for docking. A camera can't tell you which way you need to orient to get the port in sight, which way to intuitively translate to move your prograde dead-center, or most of the other things that the DPAI can do. Honestly, a camera's not very useful for docking, because it only helps once you've already done most of the work.

Why not just use the "Abort" action group? It has the added benefit of the Backspace key being about a 50% larger target for a panic button.

That is fantastic news! It will change the way I build stations, because I often use tugs and they need somewhere to attach. This beats using a disposable port on a decoupler to move a module into place.

If the developers thought using mods was bad, they simply wouldn't have made the game mod-able. The fact that they did ought to answer the original question beyond any doubt - but in case it hasn't, the fact that they have hired more than one modder, and are implementing several mods into the base game, ought to make it abundantly clear.

In that case, I would highly recommend the SelectRoot plugin, which allows that and unleashes the real power of Subassembly Manager.

It's quite possible that his machine can't handle the tasks of playing the game while also recording it at that resolution. Seems like the most reasonable answer.

Looking forward to see what you can do with this!

Indeed - that's the ideal orientation for the most efficient and fastest docking, but I agree - now I can use the DPAI to dock without worrying about the small amounts of relative rotation... because essentially, that too is just velocity that I'm cancelling that out during translation. Three weeks ago, I could barely dock unassisted. Now I am assembling space stations as easily as a kid might play with Lego blocks. This plugin makes it go a lot smoother.

It's amazing how simply thinking about the approach information in a different way lets the pilot turn a few simple graphical indicators into a powerful docking assistant. When I stopped trying to move the needles (impossible, actually) and realized I had to move to the needles, docking became easy. When I realized today that all it takes is to line that prograde indicator up to the intersection and keep it there? Docking became dead simple. I don't think I'll ever need a docking autopilot again. I used this trick to accomplish a docking at a very atypical angle - which is good for those who can't exactly rotate a big station to orbit-normal.

Today, I learned how a tiny little feature in NavyFish's Docking Alignment Indicator can allow me to manually dock faster than any autopilot.

While adding some modules to my space station today, I had an epiphany and I'm going to tell you all about it. Here is how you can use what I said before to accomplish very fast, perfectly accurate docking, at any angle, without the need for overcorrection or slow approach. You don't even need to do the old Manley normal/anti-normal rotation trick. As usual, you'll do all the typical preliminaries - Match velocities with your target, set the camera to Chase Mode (essential), choose "Control from here" on the docking vessel's port, and target the chosen port on the target vessel. Then: 1) Using WASD, align your nose so that the orange crosshair is dead center in the window. You are now moving in a direction parallel to the target port. 2) Using Q and E, rotate the vessel to the desired roll angle. This will set the green needles to the proper orientation. 3) Here's the important part: Use IJKL to move the window's yellow prograde marker (not the one on the navball) over to the intersection of the green lines. Use H to thrust forward towards the target at a speed comfortable to your level of skill and actual distance to the target (the one in the window is the actual distance to the target port, rather than the center of the vessel). 4) As you approach, the green needles will inevitably move closer to the center of the orange crosshairs. Use IJKL to adjust the yellow prograde marker so that it remains centered on the intersection. (You are not wasting mono fuel here - you're simply cancelling out the necessary translation velocity from step 3) 5) When everything is dead-center, all that remains is to slow down at the proper time to ensure a soft docking (0.1 m/s works nicely). I apologize to those who knew how to do this already, or who may have intuitively but unconsciously understood it. But seriously, I can now use this plugin to complete dockings faster than any autopilot - and in less time than it took me to write this post. I hope I've helped someone to unleash the real power of this wonderful little plugin.

I submit that even with thrusters perfectly balanced using RCS Build Aid, on a ship that has used no fuel from the stage for which the thrusters are balanced... I've still seen MJ flop about spewing mono wastefully. I don't typically use MJ for docking any more (it's not even present on the build I currently play) but it's nice to know that the RCS balancer helps in that regard. I definitely recommend the RCS Build Aid plugin as well as TAC Fuel Balancer for people with these issues.

The most magnificent KSP video I've ever seen.

In addition to some from your list, I'd have to add: 2010 - The Year We Make Contact (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086837/)

Most people will tell you that the easiest way to get an "exploded view" of a ship is to simply try and launch it.

I think the best counterweight is... another rover! With their propensity for flipping or otherwise breaking, it's helpful to have a spare.