cybersol

I can confirm your symptoms of a slow game interface, and that some mods cause it to be worse. Also, removing the UI does help everything a LOT here. I have no solution for you, but I am having similar behavior on Gentoo Linux with Nvidia drivers.

Are you graphics card temperatures normal during gameplay? It is probably KSP related, but I second that a overheating card also looks like this.

Whoaa, I missed that this had been updated for stock. Time to remove FAR only from the title again?

I also find this behavior darned annoying. I have recently been installing tiny little mods to fix things like this, but I have not seen one for this yet.

If you do a lot of these, the waypoint manager mod is pretty sweet. It simply adds the markers to your normal view instead of just your map view. Almost anything is possible in KSP, so if you want to try a rocket launched plane, go for it.

I've had good success with precoolers right before the ram intakes. They are basically intakes with a little LF, but they also have an emissive constant of 0.95, which is similar to other radiators like solar panels. Ironically, they work much better behind the intakes than before the engines. Intake area is the only thing you really need to know about intakes. Turbojets seem to be happy with 0.01 per engine, but to milk rapiers all the way I use more like 0.016 per rapier. Adding extra intakes is definitely awkward, especially since you don't want to add to much drag from radial attachments. Bicouplers, tailcone/intake combos, and precoolers seem to be the best I've found so far. You should control the rapiers manually, as you can get 500-800 more m/s speed out of them that way. Switch to closed cycle mode right as your speed stops getting faster. For reentry, cobra (belly first) is typically all I need now. I don't even have to use airbrakes, but I do recommend them if you are having trouble. Basically in 1.0.2 stock you need almost no wings (1 lift/5-7 tons), they are just for looks and only slightly for landing: You definitely have plenty of lift if you can take off by the end of the runway. LF versus LFO I always tune at the very end. In the craft above they ended up almost equal (numerically, not in their normal .81/1 ratio), other times you need 0-10% more LF depending mostly on drag.

In a similar design from my career save, I ended up using a Poodle instead of the Reliant. It could do 2 LKO rescues and launch a satellite that could fulfill 2-3 sat contracts all in one launch with full recovery. Edit: Turn on your rockets when you stop gaining speed, usually around 20km with turbojets. Turn off the jets when they flame out around 25km.

In my career save, I was using a Mk2 SSTO plane with turbojets and a poodle as both a rescue and small (3-6t) satellite launcher. It could do 2 LKO rescues and launch a satellite that could fulfill 2-3 sat contracts all in one launch with full recovery. Edit: Here's a picture:

The way I posted above routinely gets 3300-3450 vacuum dV to orbit, because I pay less gravity tax. Plus each launch is quicker for my time.

Ferdoni, that is great information for version 0.90 or before, but it has absolutely nothing to do with 1.0+. Terminal velocity is much higher now. Indeed it so high that it's hard to hit it, and if you do then you will likely overheat very quickly.

For me, throttle is always max. After all, I put the engines on the rocket to USE them. Plus my starting TWR is 1.7-2.1 because time is not your friend when you are fighting gravity. Does that mean I have to build better rockets? Sure, but the main concepts are simple enough: more control, less drag. With those TWR ratios and the ability to maintain control, I find the optimal ascent profile is something close to this: Start turn around 1 km or 100 m/s Aim for 45* mark at about 12.5 km Aim for 22.5* mark at about 25 km Horizontal by 50 km

Can you successfully fly a included stock or spacecraft exchange plane built by someone else? If so, then you know its the plane design that needs improvement. From your picture, that center of lift is too far forward and will easily get you spinning. Make sure to set yaw control only for the tail fin and turn off yaw for everything else. Also, arq has some good suggestions above. I also think you need more pitch control by switching the deluxe to av-r8 winglets or whatever the similar control ones are called.

You are basically at the point where we are going to need pictures. Especially helpful would be one with the aero drag arrows turned on at the point just after it starts happening.

A quick fix suggested in some other thread was to change its thermal mass modifier to 4.0 in the part.cfg file. Copy the modifier line from almost any of the Aero parts. Otherwise you will need to put enough airbrakes at the top of the craft to keep it pointed retrograde and then protect it inside the sonic shockcone of something like that heatshield.

If you make a lot of planes, especially bigger ones, then the Intake Build Aid mod can automatically re-order the engines and intakes for you.

In KAC, go to Settings > Specifics Tab > Warp to Drop Down > Warpto require confirmation

KAC does all of this better. It manages to warp without missing the target and you can enable double click for those warp to buttons. I find the buttons very occasionally useful, but mostly just annoying if not restricted to double clicks.

It could be worse, sometimes they crash into the Mun's surface within a couple of orbits after accepting the contract!

Karen is pretty far out, so she should be going relatively slow (check with mouse hover). Once out there, it will only cost you twice her velocity in dV to completely flip orbits by burning straight through retrograde. Alternatively, because she is going so slow, you can set up the rendezvous while still in opposite orbits and potentially use the awesome power of her EVA jet pack to switch directions instead.

This thread has some: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/96985-1-0-2-WAC-s-Delta-V-Map-%2824-05-2015%29 However, I would take the atmospheric numbers with a large grain of salt.

I like higher TWR for more optimal deltaV to orbit and for taking less time to get there. In order for my rocket SSTOs to punch through the sound barrier and remain easily flyable, they often have lots of control authority and low control fins. By the time I've optimized them to be stable facing prograde on the way up, they also strongly prefer to re-enter prograde. So after the deorbit burn I face prograde, but then lean into the blunt side of the rocket to control decent rate and fine tune the landing site. With the strong control authority I mentioned before I can almost always control the descent. In the rare case that I do manage to spin out though, it just seems to slow me down faster and I land short of the KSC.

You have 0.3 command torque and nothing else for control authority in your first stage. That would flip even in 0.90. Add a small reaction wheel and switch to delta deluxe winglets at the bottom. That should fix it. For the future, see these tips: Spinning out of control essentially comes down to a contest between drag and control. When the drag overcomes your control authority, you go for a spin. You can decrease drag by staying closer to prograde and building a more aerodynamic rocket. You can increase control using engine gimbals, stabilizer wheels, and control surfaces. Also note that drag increases significantly right around mach 1 (340 m/s). So you should stay pointed as prograde as possible at speeds around 280-400 m/s. On a rocket control fins should be as low and outside as possible. If you are using control fins on more than one stage, the CoL needs to stay below the CoM at all times, even as the tanks empty.

You should check out his web app beta site, which has those: http://meithan.x10.mx/KSP/engines/

The precoolers also have the same emissive constant as solar panels (0.95), so they do help radiate some heat.

Cool data. The engines with the highest ratio of thrust at 5 atm over their thrust at 1 atm were: Mammoth 0.67 Aerospike 0.64 Twin-Boar 0.53 Mainsail 0.52 Thud 0.51 Rapier 0.51 So these should be the first places to look for Eve first stage ascent engines.