Commissar

I find that, lately, after installing FAR, i'm using maybe 4k deltav, including circularization, to get to a 600km orbit. however, your last statement is quite correct. my 150t payload launcher probably uses a considerable amount of it's thrust just to lift itself, what with 7 titans under the big KW tanks in asparagus, plus 6 thor SRBs... used to use it for 50 ton launches till today, when I found that 2 liquid boosters is plenty I have had few problems with the autodock, most of those are due to my not turning on the SAS on the receiving end. it docks a full 160t tanker just fine using the KW 3.5m docking ring. however, those refinements in the pathing look pretty good... and the redenvous appears to compensate pretty well for low TWRs... such as my tankers again... lol also, suggestion: if this isn't in mechjeb already, and assuming it's possible, how about something like the SAS, that keeps a craft tidally locked when active. I can definately see some significant uses for this, particularly on satellites.

that may be off by an order of magnitude, it carries 1.5 big KW 3m tanks of LFO... not sure what that amounts to, but i'll check one I fix engineer redux... I know the monoprop is correct tho... 4 1000L tanks...

not sure why, but all of the sudden, after updating several other mods, and adding a couple, the Flight engineer chip part won't load anymore... even after I delete and replace this mod with a fresh DL of the newest version... the strange thing is... I look in ksp.log, and I see this: [LOG 20:02:28.781] Load(Texture): Engineer/ToolbarDisabled [LOG 20:02:28.831] Load(Texture): Engineer/ToolbarEnabled [LOG 20:02:28.848] Load(Texture): Engineer/Engineer7500/textures/model000 [LOG 20:02:28.977] Load(Texture): Engineer/EngineerChip/textures/EngineerChipHighRes [LOG 20:02:29.064] Load(Texture): Engineer/EngineerChipFlight/textures/EngineerChipHighRes I also see the model and config loads in the log, however, the chip does NOT show up in the VAB.... hey, i found the problem, sort of... [LOG 20:06:26.249] PartLoader: Compiling Part 'Engineer/EngineerChipFlight/part/EngineerChipFlight' [ERR 20:06:26.252] PartCompiler: Cannot clone model from 'Engineer/EngineerChipFlight' directory as model does not exist [ERR 20:06:26.253] PartCompiler: Cannot compile model [ERR 20:06:26.254] PartCompiler: Cannot compile part however, I look in the directory, and everything appears to be there... it's not the filename... I tried renaming... no dice... the thing I did with mods (today, was working just yesterday...) are: applied the novapunch2 hotfix added crew manifest added infernalRobotics updated toolbar, kethane, RealChute, and EngineerRedux added toolbar and FAR optional modules to MechJeb deleted ISA MapSat (it doesn't work, anyhow...) all mods are up-to-date, and engineer was working before I made these changes, and I would think that any conflicts between these mods would have been reported already, considering their popularity... edit: I got the part back by copying the model from the other chip, and replacing the existing model. also added a renamed copy as well... however, my flights don't appear to have returned...that's waht I get for not backing up the save... however, the craft files are no longer locked, so I just have to launch the 3 stations I lost... needed to revise them anyhow...

huh... that's an odd way of doing things... i'll try it next time I get logged out... edit: that seems to work... funny way of doing things, but whatever...

I don't know if everyone has this problem, but I get auto logged out of the forums within 20-30 minutes of logging in... it's really, really annoying to get logged out that frequently, especially in the middle of writing a post. I could see getting logged off after 24hrs or something, but 20 minutes is excessively short.

not to mention, reaction wheels are nice to have for pretty much any sort of rotation, even when you have RCS. batteries are much lighter than monoprop tanks, and you can recharge them without needing to dock with anything. I generally reserve RCS for docking. pretty much the only time I use RCS outside of docking, is when i'm on the final intercept phase of rendezvous with my tankers. the only reason I use RCS then is due to the mass (and associated inertia and momentum) of 120k units of fuel, accompanying LOX, and 4000 monoprop. the reaction wheels simply don't have enough oomph for rapid turning. otherwise, i'd be carrying way, way too much monopropellant, or i'd run out really fast. most of my spacecraft only carry 150-300 units of monoprop, because monoprop is really heavy. I don't even put any monoprop on craft I don't intend to dock, again, to save weight.

my latest Low Kerbin Orbit station, one with a tanker docked. pretty much just an orbital Gas station, but I have a science and a habitation module in orbit waiting for tugs to pull them over. I found that with my old 8-port station, I didn't anticipate having dorsal docking ports on as many of my craft as I do, so I modified my duna station design, and added 8 more docking ports, and spaced them out better. also put on a bigger docking ring for large craft such as tankers.

i seem to have problems occasionally, where the docking autopilot just wants to hover, and eats up all my RCS fuel. it's happened several times... the latest, well, it ate 3000 mono prop. I really don't want to try to dock a 100t tanker with my stations manually... edit: it turns out that i didn't have the SAS turned on in the station. maybe mechjeb can include a warning if possible?

center f lift behind (by half a meter or so), and slightly above the COG. simple, effective means of stability

yeah. the TWR was only 2.42. it's a standardized design I use for most launches over 50t. i fixed it by changing the ascent to a 75deg turn. makes sense. thanks.

well, it's happened on multiple different payloads, the first was my orbital tug, which launched fine w/o a fairing. anyhow, this is a version, where I stuck a smaller fairing on. I just installed FAR maybe a week ago, but I see no way of telling what version it is. not in the xml, not in the .cfg.... edit: i see, it's in the UI. yes, it's 0.12.5.2

wat? it is a 3.5m diameter fairing, the same as the rocket beneath. i'm below what ferram says is terminal velocity as well. I should mention that this is a VAB, as opposed to SPH rocket.

does this mod have some sort of a problem with procedural fairings? i've had a couple of (different) rockets now, that do a funky turn and the fairing snaps off, destroying the payload. never happened before FAR, and they launch fine without the fairings..... almost as if the fairings produce an obscene amount of drag.

yeah. I find that it does affect even my rockets, to some extent. stuck a fairing over my tug, and it did loops... but that's probably due to staging issues. I need to rebuild the whole 1st5 stage. however, I didn't get habituated into the stock methods of building spaceplanes, as I really never did any before I installed FAR.

they do, if you update one of the sub-plugins. except, for me, they seem to attach at the center, rather than the end...

that's what i'm using.... got decent thrust, but the efficiency is **** poor. i guess that's the tradeoff....

i just go up to 25, 30km, and start a gravity turn. i think i'm gonna stick a pair of rockomax radial engines on because the hybrid engines gobble LFO in rocket mode, giving it a terrible range outside the atmosphere.

my HS-1 Kerbal Recue ship, developed from my X-1 I posted earlier. uses a pair of long landing gear to increase AoA on takeoff, but it makes it a real pain if I need to taxi, and it tips forward on the spool up, so I added a long langing gear to the nose to provide easy taxiing. I keep one parked a ways behind the runway, so if, for wahtever reason, i need to recue a kerbal or two from another ship, all I have to do is start the takeoff roll, and lower the takeoff gear. http://imgur.com/a/q74tO

first SSTO for me. love the SABRE, tried the rapier, but the fuel efficiency is bad, and the rapier has a 33% flameout... it burns oxy before the jets cut out. I had a helluva time getting it stable with FAR, and still ahve sufficient lift for takeoff at 15% AoA, but it's well worth it. kinda crashed into the runway due to piloting error (was overshooting the ksc runway, should have just gone for the island) fully fueled, it has a TWR of about 1.8. docking port, battery, RCS fuel, and the mechjeb module are all stashed inside the cargo bay.

ok, makes sense. seems like unity has trouble with much of kerbal's physics.

I think you misunderstand. we're not talking about a decoupler joint (i've been aware of that for a while now), rather the engine directly on the fuel tank. like this: strutting together vertically attached parts is tricky at best... and if the linkage failed, it would show up in the logs, no? the logs don't show it, and, aside from thrust physics, as far as kerbal is concerned, it's still attached. I've not seen any "structural failure on linkage" messages from the engine-tank interface.

wow, this is awesome. was usually at 2.7GB at load, with 1/8 textures, now 1.9GB in SPH, with 1/4 tex, even after installing a few more mods.

I also have that problem with the titans. they haven't broken off yet, but they float around as if they were held on by rubber bands. they stay on the same plane, but they wobble around...

i seem to have encountered an issue with the maverick-V (the 2.5m 1400kn thrust one)... KSP doesn't seem to be obtaining a mass value for it. if I have a maverick on my rocket, it won't display a center of mass, and both mechjeb and kerbal engineer show NaN or -- for the mass, and by extension, overall TWR. everything works fine otherwise, and the mass value and center of mass indicator both return if I take off the maverick. this doesn't seem to affect any other engines, as it still works with vesta's on, and with titans. (not sure about any others, I don't use the others very often). also, I think this is a problem on the B9 side, but I can't seem to get fuel to flow properly from B9 tanks to attached KW tanks, even using fuel ducts. the KW tanks in asparagus transfer to the kw tanks my engines are mounted on just fine, even with the ducts running to the b9 tanks (not too sure how the ducts actually work on the backend, tho). manually transfering fuel works just fine, but standard fuel flow is really wonky, as fuel flows really slow from the top b9 tank (as it normally would, except far slower), but not at all from the lower one.

my first rover. decided to skip the mun and minmus and go straight to duna. thanks to realchute, it make a really slow descent on chutes only. no retros needed beyond de-orbiting. in fact, if I try to retroburn, it lifts off. probably due to the 12:1 TWR.