Pecan

To agree with Taki - it "should" work, otherwise docking/undocking would always kill any staging. Action groups are much more flexible and reliable though.

Can't give you an answer to your question but, possibly, a solution to your problem. Install the Action Groups Extended (AGX) mod. This lets you create and edit action groups (up to 250!) in flight. Using this you should be able to put all the required engines, decouplers, separatrons, etc. into a single action group and at least fire them that way rather than having to right-click each component in turn.

He's just remembered he left the car in the 'short term' carpark and will be bankrupt by the time he gets back.

For example: I thought I'd jump the gun on this one before mods have their hands full with a bunch of speculation threads <- you say 'speculation' yourself. How do you think the new Budgets system will work with science <- we have no way of knowing will it bring balance to the Force? <- we have no way of knowing what has SQUAD got in mind for .25? <- we have no way of knowing will that clear the way for optimization, aerodynamics upgrades or even multiplayer? <- we have no way of knowing How do you guys think it will affect existing saves? <- what we think is uninformed So uninformed, therefore pointless, speculation. As are ALL the "when will we get ...?", "what will be in ...?", "how will ... work?" threads.

I'm sorry my crystal ball has broken and the Tarot reveal nothing so I will refrain from pointless, uninformed speculation.

There is one particular set of things stock KSP won't show you - Easter Eggs! These are odd things that the devs have put into the programme "for fun" (or because they were bored at work one day). Using the SCANSat mod to generate maps of the various celestial bodies will reveal these as 'anomalies', so you can visit them and find out what they actually are ;-0 Good photo opportunities.

Verifying flight-stats for the tutorial I'm writing and/or planning an Interactive Fiction ("You are standing in the centre of KSC, next to a monument and surrounded by buildings").

FUD. Anything we say is pointless speculation until Squad make an announcement - which doesn't sound imminent.

Enough said

Wut? All I see at KSC is runway, SPH, VAB, launch pad, astronaut complex, R&D facility, tracking station. Where's this new observatory?

I'm not sure there is any part that designates a station, is there? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79594-Docking-and-Vessel-Type-Rules-%280-23-5%29 Captain Sierra's post (#5) suggests the cupola will normally designate a vehicle as 'lander'.

CHAPTER 2: PROJECT PROLOGUE Starter rover, aeroplane and rocket. For learning the controls. SECTION 1: PROJECT BRIEFING Identity;Prologue – Starter Vehicles Background;KSC has a set of vehicles with which new appointees are required to become familiar. Ground-crew must learn the centre's procedures for preparing, launching and recovering these. Engineers, flight controllers and crews must also learn their flight and performance characteristics. Objectives;Find your way around KSC. 1) Understand vehicle construction in the VAB/SPH and launch/recovery. 2) Learn to control each of the vehicles. Payloads;N/A Vehicles;Rover – Mr. Kerman's Electrical Carriage Aeroplane – Trainer Mk1 Rocket – Rocket 1A. Execution;Visit the SPH and VAB to examine the types of vehicle you can build and operate. Rovers are not very useful in general but provide a simple way to start learning the controls. Planes provide an efficient way to fly in atmosphere. Rockets are the easiest way into space. Congratulations on your appointment to Kerbal Space Centre (KSC). The oversight committee have asked that before you begin new operations you follow the standard induction training and learn about the vehicles available to us. In driving the rover you will discover that KSC is quite a detailed setting, not just the game's main screen. The developers have included statues and … 'other things'. Flying an aeroplane allows you to go further and faster than driving a rover and, of course, is in three dimensions rather than two. Despite its low performance the Trainer Mk1 aircraft is a useful vehicle for short-range exploration so you may decide to use it for later missions as well. In contrast the Rocket 1A is completely useless in itself but learning to fly it is vital. The lessons here are just the main controls and instruments. NB: This prologue is somewhat different to the later chapters as it is just preparation for the main campaign. In particular you are not expected to build the starter rover and aeroplane yourself; please use the pre-built ships from Dropbox, even if you intend to build the others. Start a new sandbox game in KSP and unzip the .craft files for these vehicles to your KSP\Saves\<save game name> folder. This prologue is also much more prescriptive than the later chapters so has a lot of 'do this', 'look at that' and not much explanation of how or why the vehicles were built as they were. Don't worry, when the real stuff starts it's much more informative – this is just to give you something to start from. SECTION 2: MR. KERMAN'S ELECTRICAL CARRIAGE Electrical Carriage At Monument i) Data Sheet Identity;Mr. Kerman's Electrical Carriage (the rover). Purpose;Ground control familiarisation and local exploration. Statistics;1.69t SPH/Dry, 25 parts, cost 6,534 Design;It's a box with electric-powered wheels, batteries and solar panels to keep them charged. Important points are the girders for a longer wheelbase and the ladder at the back. Construction;Mk1 Lander Can, Cubic Octagonal Strut for Probodobodyne Okto 2 and Illuminator Mk1. 4 x M-Beam 200 I-Beam Pocket Edition with RoveMax Model M1 wheels. 2 x Z-100 Rechargeable Battery Packs. 10 x OX-STAT Photovoltaic panels. Telus-LV Bay Mobility enhancer. Action Groups;Light/brakes – standard. Stage – deactivate Mk1 lander can torque. Gear – toggle ladder. Performance;~20m/s, daylight only. Unsafe at any speed! Announcing “Mr. Kerman is proud to present his ELECTRICAL CARRIAGE, a wheeled contrivance powered by KERBOL itself, which will be a PUBLIC CONVENIENCE for all discerning Kerbals†caused a certain misunderstanding of this rover's purpose but ensured its instant popularity. We've cleaned it out as well as we can but it still smells a bit. It also still demonstrates the main drawbacks of rovers – lack of power and a tendency to flip when turning and/or braking sharply. ii) Construction Construction is first discussed properly in the Rocket 1A section and then at length throughout this tutorial. For now just have a look at the thing in the SPH and live with the notes below. (From the KSC screen click on the Spaceplane Hanger, click the Load button at the top-right of the screen, click Mr. Kerman's Electrical Carriage in the ship window, click the load button at the bottom of the window.) iii) Staging And Action Groups When you add lights and wheels to a vehicle KSP automatically assigns the appropriate action to the Light (U) and Brakes ( action Groups. Similarly, when you add landing-gear/legs, KSP will assign them to the Gear (G) group. As there isn't any landing-gear on this rover I've used G for the ladder below the hatch on the back of the rover. Stage (spacebar) should be used when you start this vehicle to deactivate the reaction-wheel torque in the lander can. Keeping things simple at the moment, this is to minimise the problems it can cause while you're trying to turn. Check the action groups in the SPH. In the SPH and VAB screen, just to the left of the vehicle name, are three buttons – parts, action groups and crew. Click the action groups button to see and set them, click parts to go back to the 'normal' view. iv) 'Flight' Electrical Carriage At An Anomaly MISSION 1: Driving With the rover loaded in the SPH click the Launch button at the top-right of the screen (or click the runway from the KSC main screen and select the rover from the ships menu). Mr. Kerman's Electrical Carriage will be placed on the runway, KSP's physics engine take a second or two to kick-in and then you'll see the rover and camera 'settle' a little and it is ready for action. Look at the navball at the bottom of your screen – the 'forward' direction is taken from the command pod orientation and is currently pointing straight into the sky. The Mk1 lander-can is upright and facing the right way but it's designed for rockets, not rovers, so KSP incorrectly assumes it will be going upwards. This means that your heading isn't the way you're facing and will wave all over the place as you cross slopes at different angles, making navigation difficult at best. For this reason the okto 2 at the top-front of the rover (it's what the headlight is attached to) is oriented forward properly. Right-click on it and select 'control from here' to align the navball to the horizon. Click the IVA button on your Kerbal's portrait at the bottom-right of the screen (or press 'C') to see the view from inside the lander-can. Press C again to return to the external view. Unfortunately the navball resets to the command-pod in IVA mode so you'll have to 'control from here' on the okto 2 again. In later designs, and especially when docking ships, which part you are controlling them from can become very important. It is quite likely that the rover is rolling forward a little by this time (KSP does that) so press 'B' to activate the brakes action group and bring it to a stop. Now click on the Resources button at the top-right of the flight screen – it looks like a fuel-can – and check the electrical charge. If it's night-time this will be draining steadily but otherwise the solar panels should be keeping the batteries topped-up. Electricity is the only fuel/resource that the Electrical Carriage uses. The Carriage is all in one piece so there are no 'stages' as such but press the spacebar to disable the reaction wheel in the lander-can. This has been set-up as an action group just because it's easier than right-clicking the parts each time you 'launch' the rover. Experiment with the camera modes (V) - Chase is probably best, with the camera behind the rover – and try out the light (U) and ladder (G). Drive around KSC and explore the buildings using the WASD keys. These correspond to pushing a joystick forward (W), back (S), left (A) and right (D); accelerating and steering the rover in the corresponding direction. You can slow down by 'accelerating' backwards or use the brakes (. Squad have included quite a lot of detail in the KSC model that you'll otherwise never notice. Between the VAB and SPH, for instance, is a 'Mk1 memorial' statue. Be warned that steering too sharply at speed will cause the rover to roll over. Stop somewhere, extend the ladder (right-click on it and select that action or just press 'G') and 'EVA' your Kerbal. Kerbals on EVA use the same WASD keys relative to the camera and you will be prompted for other available actions, such as grabbing a ladder or re-boarding a pod. On a ladder you're more or less restricted to W=up/S=down relative to the Kerbal's head. Once you've had enough, crashed or run out of electricity you can stop the 'flight' of the rover in any of three ways. First, come to a stop then move the mouse to the altimeter at the top of the screen. A green 'recover vessel' button will appear; clicking this removes the rover and takes you back to the KSC screen. The button does not appear if you are moving (the red 'abort' button which also appears is explained in the Trainer section). Second, click the blue 'space centre' button (or press 'esc'(ape) and select the 'space centre' button from the menu) to go back to the KSC screen but leave the rover where it is. Third, you can press escape and 'revert flight' from the menu and then select 'spaceplane hanger' or 'launch' to go back to that place and time. The passage of time will not be important at this stage but might be later on. v) Notes Things to note from this vehicle; rovers are relatively slow and have a tendency to roll or flip. Solar panels are vital on every vehicle, as are ladders if crew are present. Make sure you 'control from here' so the navball is pointing in the right direction every time you launch anything. WASD are the main controls for any craft. (To be completely honest, rovers aren't that slow – 20m/s is almost 45mph, which isn't bad for an off-road electrical vehicle light enough to be taken to the moons). SECTION 3: TRAINER MK1 Trainer Mk1 In SPH i) Data Sheet Identity;Trainer Mk1 Purpose;Flight training and short-range exploration. Statistics;3.504t SPH/3.1t dry, 25 parts, cost 16,191. Design;The Trainer is designed to be cheap and easy to fly. It is useful for short-range exploration even after training. Stability was the priority, performance was not. Construction;Mk1 cockpit, 2x structural fuselage, 1x basic jet engine. Tailfin and elevon 4, 2x advanced canards, swept wings, radial engine bodies, circular air intakes and fuel lines. 4 x elevon 1s, 3x small gear bays. Action Groups;Gear, lights, brakes:standard, abort:shutdown engine, 1:jets, 5:ladder Performance;Takeoff/Landing 30m/s, Ceiling 18km, max speed ~500m/s ii) Construction The manufacturer has not released details of the construction of this vehicle. No user-serviceable parts, warranty void if seal broken. KSC may develop its own planes in future but until then just use this vehicle 'as is'. (Plane construction is quite complex and will be discussed first in Chapter 4). iii) Staging And Action Groups Gear (G), lights (U) and Brakes ( are all standard and assigned by KSP automatically. 'Abort' (backspace) is set to shut-down the engine. This can also be triggered by moving the mouse over the altimeter at the top of the flight screen and clicking the red 'abort' button that appears. As an alternative to staging at start you may use Custom01 (1) to toggle the jet engine on and off. This becomes necessary for spaceplanes and Custom02 is reserved for them. Finally, as the Gear (G) group now has its proper use of raising/lowering the landing-gear the cockpit ladder function has been moved to Custom05 (5). iv) Flight Trainer Mk1 In Flight Launch, wait for physics to start, apply brakes and set camera mode/position as for the rover (Chase mode with the camera behind and slightly above the plane is probably easiest). The cockpit already faces 'forward' as you'd expect so there is no need to 'control from here' on any part. The main control keys remain WASD plus Q/E for roll left/right. Aircraft usually use roll instead of – or at least much more than – the yaw controls A/D. To turn left or right you roll in that direction and 'pull back on the stick' (S) to pitch the nose 'up' in that direction. The controls work in one of two modes – coarse and fine, which are toggled using the Caps-Lock key. In fine mode the pitch/roll/yaw indicators at the bottom-left of the screen change from red to blue and give you much better control of the aircraft. You are strongly advised to use fine controls whenever flying a plane. Fine is less useful for rovers and rockets but you may want it when performing more delicate manoeuvres such as docking. You should also become familiar with the trim controls if you will be flying aircraft much. Trim is used to adjust the 'natural' pitch/roll/yaw of the plane so you don't have to use the main controls to correct it as much. You adjust trim using the same control-keys but holding the 'mod'(ifier) key (not to be confused with installable game mods) at the same time. On Windows 'mod' is the 'alt' key so alt-S, for instance, will increase the pitch trim of the plane, increasing its tendency to nose-up on its own. Exactly how trim should be set depends on each aircraft, its speed, throttle and fuel-load at any time. MISSION 2: First Flight KSP defaults to 'launch' with 50% throttle (don't ask me why) and this 'plane will fly well at that setting. With the camera and fine controls set, just activate the engine (spacebar=stage or 1=toggle engines) for take-off. Jets take time to 'spool up' to full power so in real life pilots 'hold the plane on the brakes' to prevent it rolling down the runway at low speed. With the trainer you don't have to worry about that but you will want to for heavier aircraft. At any speed above about 30m/s rotate (“pull back on the stickâ€Â, S) to 20-degrees and the plane will climb. Retract the landing gear (G). Use short key taps/presses as planes are very sensitive to controls. Try to maintain a nose-up pitch of about 10 – 20 degrees. To counteract the nose-down tendency adjust trim-up (alt-S), when you get it right (about one 'tick' above centre on the lower-left indicators) the plane will more or less fly wherever you point it, without WASD correction. BY DESIGN it is harder to control the trainer without adjusting trim. Fly around – you have plenty of fuel for practice. Do not exceed the operational ceiling and try to avoid hitting the ground or buildings! It's probably best to press escape and 'revert to spaceplane hanger' or launch rather than trying to land on your first flight. MechJeb (MJ): If you are using this mod make sure it's not set to 'limit to terminal velocity' in its Utilities window, otherwise you may find it switching-off your engine at awkward moments. MISSION 3: Circuits & Bumps Real pilots spend an awful lot of time on 'circuits & bumps' - taking off, flying a circuit around the runway, lining-up for landing and 'bumping' down before immediately lifting off and doing the whole thing again. A standard procedure is: take-off and climb to 2-6km on heading 090 (East, 90 degrees, the direction the runway faces). Level-off and turn to 0 (North) then 270 (West) degrees. Fly past the runway and continue for ~20km; half-way to the mountains. Turn left to 180 (South) and then back to 90 degrees, reduce throttle (left ctrl-key) to 30% and line-up on the runway. Descend to ~1km at 10km from the runway and 100m down each kilometre closer (so 500m at 5km, etc.). Reduce throttle to just one or two 'ticks' on the navball gauge about 2km from the runway and control descent-rate using pitch and trim as speed decreases. 'Flare' (pitch-up more) to reduce speed and descent rate just before touch-down near the start of the runway, landing at under 100m/s horizontal speed and -10m/s vertical. For bumps immediately put the throttle back to half or more and go around again. It's relatively easy with this plane and practice works for larger/faster ones; don't forget you can pause or revert the flight (escape key) whenever you want. Don't worry too much about landing on the runway, any flatish space will do and there's plenty of it North of KSC. Also try circuits to the right instead of left and just generally exploring when you have the confidence. (Space)planes are something of a specialism in KSP – some people use them all the time and some people never do. This tutorial includes them as a significant and useful aspect of KSP but it is up to you whether you want to spend much time learning to fly them at this stage. Rockets are a lot easier in many ways and this is a space simulator, after all. v) Notes In 3-dimensional flight the pitch controls (W/S) move the nose down/up instead of forward/back as they do in a rover. Correct use of trim (alt-WASDQE) makes all the difference between a stable and unstable aircraft. Above their operational ceiling jets will run out of air and 'flameout' - re-igniting when you fall (or throttle) back enough that there is sufficient air again. This is not much of a problem in the trainer but in a high-performance multi-engine spaceplane can easily put you into an unrecoverable spin. SECTION 4: PROJECT ADDENDUM (Easter Egg Spoiler) Identity;Prologue Addendum 1 – KSC Anomaly Background;Test pilots have reported 'something' on the ground North of KSC. The oversight committee request, but do not require, that you send someone to investigate this. Objectives;Locate and identify the anomaly North-east of the start of the runway. Payloads;N/A Vehicles;Mr. Kerman's Electrical Carriage and/or Trainer Mk1 Execution;Use either or both the vehicles with which you have trained to find and identify whatever is out there, if anything. This is a photo opportunity more than anything else so skip it if you wish. 'Easter Eggs' are things the developers have put into the game 'for fun' (programmers get bored at work too). It is part of the structure of the campaign in this tutorial that the SCANSat satellites, while mapping, will reveal the location of these Easter Eggs – SCANSat reports them as 'anomalies'. SECTION 5: ROCKET 1A Rocket 1A Launch i) Data Sheet Identity;Rocket 1A Purpose;Construction and rocketry training. Statistics;0.763t VAB/0.262 dry, 4 parts, cost 1,450 Design;The Mk1 is our first functional rocket prototype and uses very few, simple, parts. Construction;Stayputnik Mk1, small inline reaction wheel, FL-T100, Rocomax 48-7S. Action Groups;abort, 3:rocket Performance;(Kerbin) TWR 4.01, 3,665m/s deltaV. ii) Construction In memory of the Sputnik satellite (not that Kerbals have ever heard of it, of course) we start with a Stayputnik Mk1 pod to control our first space-capable vehicle. This is a rocket, built in the VAB and launched from the pad, not the SPH and runway as the rover and plane are. For stability there is an inline reaction wheel beneath this. Early tests with our smallest engines – the LV-1 and LV-1R – showed that they were under-powered for the amount of fuel needed to reach space. Upgrading to the 48-7S we have had much greater success. Reports from the onboard computer (KER/MJ/VOID deltaV stats if you're using these mods) indicate that with an Fl-T100 fuel tank (45 units liquid fuel and 55 oxidiser) this gives a TWR of 4.01 and deltaV of 3,665m/s, although we have no idea what that means yet. Bob's gone to get a book so we can find out but we think it'll get to space. It is very simple to build this yourself. Exit from the SPH if you are still there then click on the VAB in the KSC screen. Every vehicle needs a manned pod or probe core to control it so start with the Stayputnik Mk1 by clicking on it in the 'pods' tab of the parts list. From 'command and control' select and add a small inline reaction wheel. Switch to the 'fuel tanks' tab and add an FL-T100 fuel tank below the Stayputnik and a Rocomax 48-7S engine, from the 'engines' tab, below the fuel tank. Pretty simple rocket, but it works. To see the performance figures add a (KER) ER-7500 computer flight unit from the 'science' tab or (MJ) MechJeb 2 (AR202 case) from the 'control' tab, depending on the mod(s) you are using. There is no way to see these figures in the game without mods and they are vital to rocket design. ****Save the vehicle once you've built it**** NB: as explained in 'flight' below it is a good idea to put KER/MJ or some other very light object on the front of the rocket so you can tell which way around it is later. iii) Staging And Action Groups Abort shuts-down the engine while Custom03 (3) toggles it on and off. It's a good habit to always provide some 'abort' safety action. The engine toggle is pretty redundant but is compatible with later vehicles. iv) Flight From the VAB click 'Launch' or, from the KSC screen, click the launch-pad and select the Rocket 1A from the vehicles menu. As with the other vehicles wait for the physics engine to kick-in, then press 'T' to engage SAS when you see the rocket and camera settle a little. SAS is a stability aid, making use of specific SAS units, inline reaction wheels and the torque provided by most manned pods, that attempts to keep a fixed heading when active or speeds-up the turn rate when not. It can be important for rockets as some of them will tend to fall over on the pad without it. The navball will be pointing straight up into the sky, as it did on the rover, but this time that really is the 'forward' direction we want. As with the plane, the primary flight controls are WASDQE and you can toggle coarse/fine with Caps-Lock (you shouldn't need to with this). Looking at a rocket on the pad the yaw and roll left/right keys (A/D, Q/E) work as you'd expect with 'forward' being towards the top of the rocket. The pitch controls (W/S) can be a little confusing, however, because there is no obvious 'up/top' - as opposed to 'forward' - direction, so what do 'pitch up' (S) and 'pitch down' (W) mean? To understand rocket pitch you have to know that the 'top' of the command pod/probe core is the side which faces right in the VAB when it is first placed, towards you as it appears on the pad. It's easier to see in the SPH as they are placed right-side-up but rockets are expected to launch standing on end so things are different in the VAB. For this reason it is a good idea to put something light – like KER or MJ – on that side so you can see where it is in-flight. Alternatively, and more flexibly, get used to using the navball, where the nose indicator is always the right way up and is the ideal way to navigate in space rather than looking at the rocket itself. MISSION 4: Up Like A Rocket Throttle to max (left shift-key/Z) and press space to go there – space, that is. Watch the rocket, watch the altimeter, watch the Vertical Speed Indicator (VSI, thing to the right of the altimeter), watch the navball and its speed reading. Enjoy the view, especially of the rocket between 7km-26km. When the fuel runs out the rocket will continue upwards a long way. When it starts to fall again (VSI points below horizontal) press F3 for a flight report and check the maximum altitude it reached. If it's above 69km, congratulations – you've made it into space! Close the flight report and press escape then revert the flight to launch or, if you're so inclined, watch the thing smash into the ground and destroy itself then prepare another one for launch. MISSION 5: Up Like A Wobbly Rocket After launching, as above, disengage SAS (T) and use the control keys (WASDQE) to steer the rocket. Getting into orbit not only means getting high enough to escape the atmosphere (70km) but also going horizontally fast enough to stay there. The most efficient way to do this is to gradually turn from straight-up on the pad to a heading of 90 degrees and pointing at the horizon around 40km. Don't worry about it too much at the moment, especially as the Rocket 1A can't get into orbit anyway (until mission 7), just get the feel of the controls. MISSION 6: Slow But Sure In your first couple of flights you should have seen white, then red, atmospheric effects around your rocket as it got faster and faster. This is the same thing that causes burning-up on re-entry and, simply, means you're going too fast. Specifically, you're going faster than 'terminal velocity', wasting a lot of energy to atmospheric drag and compressing the air itself so much that it is heating up and, eventually, getting to the point of plasma. That sort of thing can kill your rockets and crews and even if it doesn't that wasted energy means fuel you can't use later, in space. Drag means it isn't worth going any faster than terminal velocity but that velocity itself increases as you go higher and the atmosphere gets thinner – there's less of it to push yourself through. The best ascent profile accelerates very quickly at full throttle to terminal velocity then throttles-back to 'only' accelerate at the same speed terminal velocity is increasing. Beyond about 15km your rockets won't be able to keep up with this increase anyway so you can go full-throttle again without wasting fuel. The first balancing act of getting into space is that if you go too slowly gravity wins and you waste fuel to lift, if you go too quickly the atmosphere wins and you waste fuel to drag. Have another flight with the Rocket 1A, leave SAS engaged as in the first flight, but this time reduce to half-throttle at about 400m (altimeter at the top of the screen) and put it back to max at 15km. Get another flight report (F3) and compare your maximum height to the first flight. My figures are roughly 148km for the first and 234km for this – quite a big improvement and no danger of burning-up (which doesn't happen in stock KSP anyway, so don't worry). The only trouble with all this is that the sky is not notable for its speed-limit signs. KER/MJ/VOID can tell you when you're going too fast but otherwise you'll just have to check and test your designs/throttle against atmospheric effects and the terminal velocity figures for various altitudes (see the wiki and other places). Also note that MJ is an auto-pilot and amongst its Utilities settings is 'limit to terminal velocity'. If you enable this MJ will automatically control your throttle for you and, for instance, will reduce then gradually increase it as you get higher rather than just going flat out at 17km. MJ's about 5% better than my simple instructions above – with a maximum altitude of 244km – but some people think using an auto-pilot is 'cheating' (I don't). MISSION 7: Orbit Rocket 1B In Space So far the rocket has gone up and come more-or-less straight back down. Getting into orbit, so you stay in space, means going horizontally fast enough that you keep missing the ground as you 'free fall' towards it. The ideal 'low' orbit around Kerbin is generally taken as 75km; space starts at 70km, the extra is a safety-margin. As it is the Rocket 1A does not have enough fuel to establish orbit so go back to the VAB and give it a bigger fuel tank (FL-T200 instead of FL-T100 – save it as Rocket 1B). Note that the 'wrong' way to get to orbit is to go straight up and then turn to go sideways. Instead, as briefly mentioned before, you should gradually turn from straight-up to pointing at the horizon as you climb. The standard ascent instructions given to KSP beginners is "go straight up to 10km, yaw right (D) to 45 degrees pitch (from 90=straight up). Switch to map mode (M) and when your apoapsis reaches 50km yaw further right to reduce pitch to 20 degrees. When your apoapsis reaches 75km cut the throttle (X), create a manoeuvre node at apoapsis to bring your periapsis above 70km, coast to the node and burn into orbit." ...You probably want to read some 'getting into orbit' tutorials at this point... There is, as you will see, an awful lot to do and not much time in which to do it. With practice you'll get better at "gravity turns", using the manoeuvre-node editor, setting the node, turning to the navball indicator and timing the burn. Once you are reasonably confident that you can orbit you're ready for the first real projects of this tutorial. Oh yes! The real thing hasn't even started yet. (MJ, being an autopilot, can fly to orbit for you and much more. It's worth the effort learning to do it yourself though and only using MJ when the routine of many launches starts to get tedious. It's all up to you though, don't let anyone tell you "you're having fun the wrong way" if you decide to use it as a matter of course.) v) Notes It's easy to get into space, harder to get into orbit. Orbit means getting high enough and going sideways fast enough that your periapsis (low point of orbit) is over 70km, preferably 75km. You can't, efficiently, go faster than terminal velocity so may need to throttle-back at lower altitudes and throttle-up as you get higher. NB: the throttle-settings depend entirely on the performance of each craft and those given here are specific to the Rocket 1A/B; don't expect them to work with other vehicles. The best way to get horizontal orbital speed is to perform a "gravity turn" during your "ascent burn". Remember to disengage and re-engage SAS before/after each manoeuvre. Once your apoapsis reaches the desired altitude cut throttle, coast to Ap, then do an "injection burn" to increase your periapsis to orbital height as well. Cut engine again, wipe the sweat from your brow and breath. Enjoy the view and sense of achievement – getting into orbit for the first few times is quite an achievement. It's also just the start.

Mystery to me, I'm afraid. It seems to be something KSP does all by itself, or not. They're usually grouped to a single icon if added with symmetry but if you change almost anything they're shown separately. A save and reload usually consolidates them but, to be honest, it's not something I worry about much - when you light them in flight they're all shown individually anyway, whatever you do.

The '+' sign next to a staging group (when you mouse-over it) lets you create a new, initially empty, stage. Similarly, the '-' lets you collapse and remove empty stages. Click any component in the stages and drag it to the stage that you want. Whole stages can be re-ordered by dragging the bar above them to the put them in the squence you need. Note also that the staging can sometimes be a bit limiting. If you want to do several things together that don't have 'staging' actions, such as decoupling docking-ports, or need to do something more than once - parachutes you've re-packed are the classic example - you will need to use action groups. These are set-up using the second tab at top-left of the VAB/SPH window.

EXPLORING THE SYSTEM A tutorial campaign for KSP vehicle design. KSP 0.90, Also available as PDF download (90 pages, 2.8MB) & Stock ships download (168KB). Hi-res pictures here (warning 49MB!) (7th April 2015 – PDF, ships and picture downloads definitive. This forum thread lacks some typographical corrections) Note: It is extremely unlikely that any of these vehicles will perform correctly in KSP version 1.0 This document is now moribund. Its replacement will be part of a set of KSP guides to be published on Amazon Table Of Contents: Introduction (this) Prologue. Starter rover, aeroplane and rocket. For learning the controls. Project Footsteps. Orbital satellites. Basic staging strategies. Project Persistence. Manned orbital flights, lunar satellites. Orbital manoeuvres to other bodies. Project Tenacity. Lunar landings, docking and interplanetary satellites. Project Lacuna. The Joy Of The Small. Light ancillary vehicles under 1 tonne. Project Fortitude. Kerbin-system space-stations. Building a reusable infrastructure. Project Endurance. Landers for other planets and their moons. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Purpose and organisation. SECTION 1: PREFACE This is a mission and vehicle design tutorial aimed at KSP beginner and intermediate players using a stock installation of the game. It is much longer and more involved than most tutorials, providing and explaining more than 30 vehicles from a rover to interplanetary transfer and space-stations. Four (space)plane designs are included but the focus is very much on rocket design because spaceplanes are hard to build and fly and do not scale well to larger payload sizes. Launch Into Space All the vehicles are intended to illustrate one or more design points while being easy to build and use. They are generally robust and capable rather than being 'the best'. Optimised designs tend to be hard for beginners to build and there are several different criteria you may choose to favour over others, so what 'the best' means is up to you. The intention is to explain the reasons for particular design decisions so that you will be able to create your own vehicles, when you want to, with more confidence. The tutorial is organised into 'project' chapters with a logical progression. Chapter 2 provides 'starter vehicles' for complete beginners who don't yet know how to drive and fly in KSP. Most people will want to start with chapters 3 – 5, which begin by putting unmanned satellites into Kerbin orbit and end with manned landings on Kerbin's moons. The step from 'beginner' to 'intermediate' is marked by Chapter 6 which is a reminder to keep things light. By the time you reach this you should have a fairly good idea of how you want to run your space missions. Chapters 7 and 8 are for more experienced players and look at building a cost-effective, reusable infrastructure throughout the system. Explore With Small Satellites Each chapter begins with a 'project briefing' outlining the background, objectives and vehicles for the project. Within projects each vehicle is introduced with a 'data sheet' giving its most important features. Following the data sheet there is a narrative discussion of the design, construction and staging/action groups. Each vehicle's section usually finishes with a number of missions that should be completed in order to follow the logical progression of the tutorial. It is, of course, up to you whether you actually build the vehicles and fly the missions but you should at least read-through these details. SECTION 2: THINGS YOU NEED TO LEARN Although no prior knowledge is assumed during this tutorial an awful lot isn't explained either. I hope I’ve covered the vehicle design/construction and missions properly but it’s largely assumed that you will know, or learn, how to use KSP yourself. Many giants have already written or filmed all you need to know, keep your browser handy and bookmark the KSP forum and wiki: Wiki: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Main_Page Forum: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum.php Tutorials: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/54-Tutorials Guide to tutorials: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/28352-The-Drawing-Board-A-library-of-tutorials-and-other-useful-information In particular, as you progress, you should become familiar with the controls for rovers, planes and rockets, getting into orbit, EVA, orbital manoeuvres, landing, rendezvous, docking and interplanetary transfers. In turn these will require that you understand and use figures for TWR, deltaV and (to a lesser extent) ISP. The most important for mission-planning is deltaV and you will almost certainly want to use a deltaV map such as http://i.imgur.com/NKZhU57.png (others are available and all this will be explained, even if not in detail). Map The System SECTION 3: MODS Modifications (mods) are add-ons for KSP made and distributed by ordinary players who have the necessary programming, 3d-modelling and/or graphics skills. Be nice to them, even if you don't like their mod – they are working for free just because they have an idea for making things better for everyone. The best place to find out about mods is, again, on the forum: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/35-Add-on-Releases-and-Projects-Showcase Some mods can be downloaded from their makers' hosting site (as will be explained in their relevant forum threads), otherwise the standard place to find and get them is Curse: http://kerbal.curseforge.com/ I tended to use a lot of mods, informational or cosmetic rather than game-changing, but my old computer can't cope with them any more. Be warned that mods, especially those that add a lot of parts, increase the memory and processing requirements for the game. In order to improve the looks and functionality of the vehicles in this tutorial I have used two parts-mods (mods that add/change parts), neither of them is necessary for following it. SCANSat adds maps and mapping sensors and has been used as the basis for the satellites. While this is helpful and nice for role-play you can just use a dummy satellite, such as that given in chapter 3. Procedural Fairings is a purely cosmetic mod in stock KSP. It allows you to make more streamlined vehicles but the parts can simply be omitted if you are not using it. Follow With Manned Spacecraft And Stations Even if you prefer 'stock' games I strongly recommend that you install and use the following mods. These are purely informational and do not change any parts so your craft and missions will be unaffected. Kerbal Engineer Redux (KER), MechJeb (MJ) and/or VOID – vital information you need for designing vehicles, such as TWR and deltaV stats. There is a lot of overlap in what these can display so you only need one of them. MJ is also an autopilot should you wish to use it for that. Kerbal Alarm Clock (KAC) - lets you set alarms for various events so you don't miss them. Not very important when you're starting but gets more and more useful when you have several vehicles in flight at the same time. By the time you have several interplanetary missions en-route, various satellites being emplaced in different orbits and a couple of ships about to re-enter the atmosphere it can be all too easy to forget when a manoeuvre is due. Navyfish's Docking Alignment or NavBallDockingAlignmentIndicator - docking can be needlessly tricky in some circumstances, especially when you're learning. Install one of these to make it easier; Navyfish's is better known and adds a docking window while the navball indicator, which is derived from it, is a simpler and more minimal tool. Beyond those mods there are many, many more that you might like to consider. The following are some of the more popular that, however, will require you to change your game play: RemoteTech (RT) – if you like leading with unmanned missions this adds communications satellites. Note that while this is installed you will NOT be able to control unmanned vehicles while they are out of communications. Getting things right is therefore pretty important (which adds to the fun). Ferram Aerospace Research (FAR), Deadly Re-Entry Continued (DRE) – for added realism these change the aerodynamics of KSP quite considerably. You will need to redesign your craft and re-learn how to fly them in atmospheres with these installed. (DO NOT USE WITH THIS TUTORIAL). Land On Planets And Moons

Nice work Claw, and useful info Capt. :-)

Doh! I only ever think of it as 'claw' and never recognise the real name. Thanks for that. Anyway - it's an interesting idea and I look forward to seeing how you get on with it. The reason I pointed to the inflight threads is just for information about the problem of controlling (or even having) two vehicles in an atmosphere at the same time. Good luck.

You might like to read the threads on inflight refuelling in regards to this eg; http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/74169-Has-anybody-ever-managed-Aerial-refueling). LOTS of parachutes may make it easier but I'd think Hooligan Labs' (mod) balloons would be better as they could give your non-lander neutral bouyancy. PS: What is "the new AGU"?

I voted 'other' because I'd like to see more information displays, re; the recent "should KSP have a deltaV display". There's lots of important, information already in the game that we can't see without mods. The analogue, logarithmic, Vertical Speed Indicator is big, intrusive and almost useless - put some good stuff there!

Videos are no use to me, pre-release or otherwise; I have to pay for my broadband and more than a few minutes per month (on top of everything I else I do) would breach my download cap. For the same reason I don't watch (m)any tutorial videos, just read all the text. Kudos to the tutorial-makers though, at least they are usually much more informative than some bloke just waffling without saying anything.

In the VAB, with KER main display shown, it should show you the mass, cost (not important), deltaV and TWR of each stage of your rocket as you build it. It is confusing though - I didn't have a clue what it was telling me when I first got it. As I said before, the important things in there are your TWR at launch (the bottom stage) and the total deltaV. It all starts to make sense when you see the figures changing as you build, rather than just showing a 'snapshot' of an existing vehicle. Try this: start with a 1-man command pod. Stick a parachute on top of it (you never know, you might want to fly this thing!) and a decoupler beneath it. So far - no fuel, no engines. Pretty clearly this isn't going to space today and KER won't tell you anything useful. Put a fuel tank beneath the decoupler. Put an engine under that. Which tank and which engine don't matter at the moment but now you have a rocket! On the bottom-right of the screen there should be two (or three) stages - pod, parachute and decoupler in the top one (the decoupler may be on its own in a middle stage, that's fine), engine in the bottom one. KER will now tell you how viable this rocket is ... look along the column headings for 'TWR' - if it's less than 1 (preferably 1.5) the engine isn't powerful enough to lift the rocket. If it's over 2 the engine's too powerful but at least you know it'll work ^^. Try different engines to see how the TWR changes with more or less powerful ones. Try different size fuel tanks and look at how that affects, primarily, the mass of the rocket and therefore also the TWR. What you really want is the biggest fuel-tank you can get with an engine that can push it at 1.5+ TWR. Meanwhile ... Alright, now I know what I'm talking about instead of just trying to remember it: A capsule, parachute, decoupler, tank and engine will give you three stages at bottom-right; parachute (stage 0, top, last), decoupler (1, middle) and engine (stage 2, bottom, first). KER shows cost, mass, ISP, thrust, deltaV, TWR and time. Cost and mass speak for themselves. The ISP is the efficiency of the engine but isn't immediately important. Similarly the thrust shows how hard the engine can push and isn't, immediately, important. DeltaV and TWR are important; TWR tells you how fast the engine can accelerate a vehicle of this mass. A more powerful engine can accelerate a lighter vehicle more quickly, so that's simple enough. The tricky one to understand is deltaV which is a matter of fuel-efficiency and how much fuel you have. A more efficient engine will generally be able to deliver higher deltaV but may not have enough sheer power to give a high enough TWR. Lower-efficiency engines may have the punch for a high TWR but burn the fuel so quickly that the deltaV is low. Read up on this when you have time but for now just know you want a TWR between 1.6 and 1.8 and deltaV at least 4,500m/s to get to orbit. Adjust the fuel tank and engine to see what figures you get. One way to make a rocket (with the pod, parachute, decoupler above) that will get to orbit is to use an S3-14400 fuel tank with a 'mainsail' engine under it. It is not a good way, but it gives a TWR (according to KER) of 1.72 at launch and total deltaV of 5,361m/s; enough to orbit with a nice cushion for not getting the gravity turn perfect. KER also shows the time for this (single) stage as 2:35.4s, which just tells you that at full throttle the engine will burn all the fuel in just over 2 and a half minutes. In summary - this engine with this much fuel will push, starting at TWR 1.72, for 2 and a half minutes, accelerating the rocket from 0 to 5,361m/s (most of which will be spent climbing out of the gravity well). More conventionally you may prefer to ditch the 'big bang' above. Instead stick a two FL-T800 fuel tanks (one above the other) under the pod's decoupler and add an LV-T30 engine. Rather smaller, TWR 1.95 and deltaV 4,515m/s. The deltaV's a bit of a pinch for orbiting but the TWR's a bit high so all you need is to add a touch more fuel (=more deltaV). An FL-T400 does it quite nicely. It is usually impossible to get a sensible single-stage rocket like this, however. In any case for landing on Minmus or anywhere else you'll need landing legs - which wouldn't reach the ground here! Freefall's advice about 'designing backwards' is a good route and the basis for "Long Tom" shown in pictures 4 - 9 of the album I posted above. Note that Long Tom is only the 'payload' space vehicle, it still needs something to launch it! Practice small, post again :-)

We all were when we started. Getting into orbit at all is no mean feat. Getting into orbit repeatedly and reliably is quite something. Designing your own vehicle that you can do it with is a significant achievement. Don't be discouraged Incidentally - the album above is for one of the chapters of a long tutorial I (really) am writing. You may be interested to look at the others; earlier ones for where to start, later ones for inspiration (or not). http://ksppecan.imgur.com/, text not yet published. Ask if you want the ship files.

Turn SAS OFF when turning, ON to stabilise. If you leave it turned on while trying to turn it will keep trying to fight you!

Sarbian is, I think, maintaining Crew Manifest but a newer and more complete option is Ship Manifest, which also allows transfer of all the other ship's stores (fuel, etc.). It's too late for your problem of course but it may have made it more 'interesting' - Ship Manifest supports Connected Living Space so Jeb wouldn't have been able to 'just' get out, he'd need a route by which to get out.

Start small. Much, much, smaller than that. Get KER, MJ or VOID (mods) - they will show you vital statistics about your ship. Vital statistic No.1: TWR. Thrust to Weight Ratio. If it's less than or equal to one the ship won't be able to lift itself off the pad. If it's 2 or more you'll be wasting fuel going up much too fast. In stock KSP an ideal launch TWR is 1.6 - 1.8. Vital statistic No.2: DeltaV. If TWR is how fast you can accelerate this is how long you can accelerate for. Broadly, you need at least 4,500m/s deltaV to reach Kerbin orbit. Design with mass, TWR & deltaV: If your TWR is too low a) remove stuff from the payload, add engines. The latter will probably reduce your deltaV. If your deltaV is too low add fuel. This masses more so it decreases your TWR - go back to the line above. Repeat. Fly a gravity turn to orbit: At launch go full-throttle (to terminal velocity ideally but don't worry about it if you are just starting) straight up to 10km. Turn to 45-degrees above the horizon (East is best) and switch to map mode. Watch the apoapsis marker on your orbit. When you apoapsis reaches 50km - if you aren't too rushed - pitch down to just above the horizon. When your apoapsis reaches 72-75km cut engines and create a manoeuvre node at apoapsis. Pull the prograde marker on the node (burning engines forward) until your projected orbit periapsis is over 70km as well. When you reach the node do the burn, then relax. So - Mass, TWR, deltaV, gravity turn. If you can get those 4 things in a row then you're in orbit :-) Images 4 - 16 in this album will give you some smaller ideas than Ron's otherwise excellent ones.