DrMonte

I bet it's just all about gimbals in engines. Had lots of designs where turning gimbals off helped to stabilize a rocked. Even without gimbals four engines are not so stable as single Mainsail. Not to mention that T30 does not have gimbals at all and Mainsail does. Which would lead to vice-versa issue - lack of control in lower part of the rocket. Fuel flow is a bit different topic. If you have a statement that X-couplers has issues with fuel flow you should provide some evidence.

This gives some ideas for Tylo mission - you can launch from some higher mountain directly sideways (even down to gain speed faster) Note that this literally applies for landing as well. There is a video on most efficient landing somewhere

There are even more - different perspective to the space game. Added KAS, Infernal Robotics and now I'm building some cranes

Play career mode and don't forget to go to Minmus not the Mun as your first landing spot! It's literally x10 times easier.

Oh it has. SAS can even smack your ship to pieces if you put it wrong.

SAS - I'm not sure about putting them in the center of mass. Usually everyone is trying to put SAS as far to the rocket ends as possible (front or back). Test it! - that's the fun of KSP. One or two is enough to have in space on average rocket. You might get quite funny effects by putting more SAS on big rockets in various places. SAS-Autopilot gets useless in that cases. So if you can't rotate the ship with somewhat 3 SAS in timely manner I would suggest using RCS. Talking about liftoff - don't overdo with SAS. Winglets! - don't forgets about this magical part: it is very light, adds a good amount of stability. Note that there are few types of winglets: some rotates, some don't (Try "AV-R8 Winglet" or "Delta-Deluxe Winglet"). Winglets on lower stages can hold up any size rocket without adding mass to it (somewhere up to 50km). RCS is not for liftoff. You might use it in upper stages for super heavy, super unstable rockets.

Might be. I think game loads all parts to RAM in the VAB. I was experiencing better performance during simulation than in the VAB with more mods installed. Not using B9 mixed with KW since then. You might try texture redux mods. Didn't try these myself.

I think you are right in common sense. In orbit there shouldn't be difference between burning low or high. Although if you don't have plans for high burns why bring big engines? In ascent there will be big difference as it is all about escaping gravity ASAP. The longer you burn, the longer you stay affected by down force. In casual use I don't see the need for throttle limiting. Limiting throttle might be useful in achieving perfect ascent path in planets with atmosphere. But limiting itself already means that construction is not perfect.

I might a bit disagree with "building rockets in space" tactics. As this is efficient in real life because safes a lot of fuel it is quite fun and a bit of a challenge to bring 500t to orbit. For really it is a good challenge to learn more about rocket building. If you'll get to 100km orbit 10 full orange tanks, then there is no payload which will stop you. For example no one is building EVE landers in space and they weight from 70 to 200t.

Finally I found my own way of docking. I never get the angles right. 1. Collide the docking ports at about 0.5m precision at about 0.2m/s speed. The angle still has to be at least 45deg. 2. Gently rotate to the required direction till you are docked. Magnet of the docking port holds one end of the ship in place. Now I can dock an average sized ship even without a monopropellant.

Note that struts are not included in parts count but definitely reduces performance. And mods...

Yep, LV-N's for the core. Even one might be enough. In Jool orbit solar panels works in ~1/2 efficiency. No batteries or generators are good for Ion engines. Only direct sunlight at gigantor array and you'll need two per engine. Docking ports are good if you are planning to dock to satellites later. If not and I think that you are not you should use decoupler. Put "Cubic Octagonal Strut" into the structure (reverse 180 deg) on the side and you'll have a connection node for the decoupler. Think how many satellites you really need. There are only 1+5 bodies in the Jool orbit.

And one day you realize that MechJeb su..s at everything unless you are having a dinner while your ships are docking.

I think that's a carrier not a lifter.

I'm in similar stage of 0.23 carrier and have quite reliable simple lifter for up to 10t. Using 2x4 symmetry asparagus of: - FL-T400+T800 - LV-T30 - TT-70 Radial Decoupler - Winglet for outer/Inline Reaction Wheel for core 9 columns in total. Sorry no pictures at work.

I'm pretty sure that you can land on the Mun with just EVA JetPack or liftoff if you were not lucky with landing (if there is anyone to grab you in low orbit). Jeb just couldn't resist stepping on the Mun when their very very first rocked was passing by it.

Here it is: Kerbonaut smoothly goes from the ladder beginning to its end. Meaning you must place next ladder at the previous end and never cross them (direction does not matter). Even a gap or an angle will not hurt just NO INTERSECTIONS. I say smoothly because with some twinkle winkle around (to left and right) Kerbonaut can get to the next ladder even if it is placed badly (or falloff into deep space).

Ha staging, look what mess you will get when you dock to a space station.

Are these the stock legs?

Note that you can land a ship at 10m/s at Kerbin but you can brake it to pieces at 3m/s on Eve.

Wiki says: "The highest peak on Eve in 0.21.1 is 7540 m near (25° S, 158.5° W)" Takeoff dV required from this height - 7968m/s You are feeling lucky

Part load limit is somewhat 2.25km in all directions, so about 4.5km in total. Quite a work to be done to build such a structure. In one Scot M. video I've seen some over limit behavior. As I understand parts of same ship will just disappear. KAS connection to other ship should break unless it attracts the Kraken :+)

Are you sure? Or that was just identical reports? Visited Minmus yesterday and kind of got interested in same problem myself. Can't say for sure but I didn't get anything saying something like - "you can't store more experiments here". I was bringing different EVA reports and different biome samples.

I had a situation but with absolutely different solution. Stacked multiple sputnicks with their own reaction wheels were breaking the whole ship. Solution was to remove the struts and allow loose wobbling. Reaction wheels were not transferring their power to the core no more.

Whackjob m1xte, how much weight does they lift to the orbit? Cordeos, what is your heavy lift? 50t, 100t, 1000t?