Beerkeg

So what I got out of this is that hacking gravity is allowed in Kerbin atmosphere. Wouldn't that mean that any craft will work? Also how big is big? I assume as big as you can make it inside the VAB. And if hacking gravity is allowed, can the UFO be assembled from multiple parts via docking? Clarification would be nice, Thank you !

Kinda hard to explain what I mean, but I'll give it a shot. (Badly drawn pain pic coming later on). Basically you land something really light on the Mun. Your lander will have a ring like hook thing streching into the air (Doesn't matter how big it is, but weight is an issue). Then you'll put a hook thing to orbit the Mun and grab the lander and take it to orbit. Your lander wont have thrusters or fuel, must carry atleast 1 Kerbal. The weight of the orbital hook doesn't matter, personal prefference, unbreakable links (or w\e in the debug menu) is allowed, but would like to see someone manage it without it. The orbital hook must keep an orbit while hooking (no slowing down, grabbing and then speeding up). Also I'd say don't use mods or modded parts. Videos would be awesome (even attempts) Cheers!

Well, sounds like alot of work for tomorrow. I'll try to give as much info as possible.

I know what a gravity turn is and what it looks like, I'm just telling you how I have to do it. More to the point, how do I get enough fuel and thrust to get my crappy stripped down Mun tower base thing, that I didn't really want, but rather wanted my other design, which is even heavier, into orbit ?

If I start the gravity turn at 10km I'll pass the AP at 18km. To have any chance of getting into orbit I have to start the gravity turn at 25km. A few patches ago it was fine, I could do whatever I wanted, but at some point I had to start making smaller ships, cause they just wouldn't get to orbit. Now I'm pretty much just launching probes.

Are we playing the same game? or am I just that bad at the game? I can get any probe or small 1-man lander anywhere. Getting one of those orange tanks (full of fuel) is not possible, I've never ever been able to do it. Re-fueling ships mostly have around 200 units of fuel in em. When I watch someones KSP video, it feels like they have alot more fuel in their tanks. I see people make giant replica ships and getting them to orbit and it wouldn't even take off for me. That launcher does not get me above 60k, trying different gravity turns, letting MechJeb try again (useless as always), no luck. I think my best option would be to just not try doing stuff I want to (Mun Base) and just do what I can do (Space Trash)....

Well I got a pic of a really scrapped down version of what I wanted to land, but no way of getting it to orbit. Even this majorly scrapped version can't reach orbit. The fuel and thrusters on it are for landing

Pictures soon. My conclusion right now is that anything above 5t (lander + landing fuel((not return fuel))) is not possible to get into orbit without cheating. I tried multiple designs I've seen other people use, I tried launching them myself, I tried letting MechJeb have a go (Watching rockets turn towards kerbin at 1000m) I can't get it into orbit. Also blizzy78, I tried some of the rockets you posted, they can barely lift themselves, there's no way they could lift anything along with em.

Well I tried a bunch of different launchers and I can't even get to orbit anymore... 36km was the highest I got. I even split the lander into 2 parts, so now its 14t I see people making much heavier landers than mine, but their launcher part is much much smaller than the colossal monster I have to make to even get it going up.

Okay, well I just got back from work and opened up the game. The lander is 41 t, has 240kN of thrust and a TWR (no idea what that is) of 0.59. With the launcher attached its 275t , 4500 kN thrust and TWR of 1.66 What kind of stats would I need to get this to the Mun? ( The lander part isn't a problem )

Needs more ducktape.... also... when will come the time when we no longer need to make out ships out of ducktape?

Is the max payload what you have after the orbit or your whole ship?

k, cause my lander + fuel for landing (not a return ship) is about 80-90 tons. I kinda made it to orbit, ran out of fuel trying to get to the Mun (using the landing fuel aswell) I have no idea what kind of launcher I'd need to get it to orbit with enough fuel to get to Mun and deorbit before using my landing fuel. I have been thinking of just launching and landing my lander in 2-3 parts cause whatever design I use, it fails. Also I forgot to use a ASAS module on my 2nd try and almost landed on the Mun, but again, ran out of fuel cause MechJeb didn't understand that I don't want it to do staging.

Maybe debug Hack Gravity, get to 100km, speed up, and at a reasonable orbit speed Unhack Gravity

How much thrust per ton do I need to get in orbit of Kerbin (100km) and then transfer to the mun, without using any of my planned landing fuel?