Which way do you do things?

[Wabbit]

I've noticed a lot about the way people control ships, build, and otherwise play. They usually fall into a few categories, like

a). People who gravity turn with A/D

. People who roll over and use W/S

a). People who kill horizontal speed, then vertical

. People who come in steep and suicide burn

a). People who use docking mode

. People who use I, J, K, L, H, N

Usually a few distinct categories. So which one do you fall into? I, personally just use A/D for getting to orbit, and do a gentler angled burn. I don't use docking mode. But you may be different, so tell me which categories you fall into, or some other ones you have noticed!

[Barefoot Friar]

You forgot C: Let's MechJeb worry about it.

[worir4]

1, a If i try roll my rockets usually blow up (They blow up most the time any way.

2 b I don't suicide burn, but i don't just kill horizontal and then drop down. Some where in-between the two.

3 I remapped the translation keys to the numpad. 2 up 3 down 1 left 3 right 6 forwards 9 backwards, like in orbiter. It is much easier for me than ijklhn.

[Uncle Mort]

a) a)

[magnemoe]

for me its A/D, tend to do landings a lot like mechjeb but I do an harder deorbit burn, then I do an braking burn, kill horizontal speed then its low and land.

Never use docking mode as I have to switch to rotate.

[Randazzo]

I appear to be a type A kerbaleer.

[Guest]

a). People who gravity turn with A/D

. People who roll over and use W/S

Depends on how the craft wants to fly, but generally a until I get out of the atmosphere, then a or b depending on how to get maximum exposure to my solar panels.

a). People who kill horizontal speed, then vertical

. People who come in steep and suicide burn

Depends on how I'm landing (precision a or general and from what starting altitude (a for low, b for high).

a). People who use docking mode

. People who use I, J, K, L, H, N

Docking mode is terrible, as is the chase cam. I do it entirely by eye using option b. Edited March 4, 2015 by regex

[monstah]

1 - I rotate my rockets IN THE VAB. Oh how I wish they'd start this way...

2 - SUICIDE!

3 - IJKLHN. Why switch modes when you can use both at the same time?

- - - Updated - - -

To expand a little on 2, while my craft is coasting down Suicide Avenue, I do some smaller burns to kill both vertical and horizontal speed, aiming to bring my apoapsis down to the ship's current position while keeping impact site in place. Works like a charm.

[FleshJeb]

MechJeb

MechJeb

[Taki117]

I follow realism in my launches. Therefore I roll first, then pitch. Secondly I come in shallow and suicide, works a large majority of the time. The last one, I don't use docking more. I find that I may also need to control roll, or pitch while translating (On more than one of my designs this is the case) and as such I need both hands. I'm also fairly certain it's more realistic.

[CDRW]

I use A/D to orbit, except for when using a vertical launch spaceplane (got one to work, I'm so proud!). I suppose I'm a suicide burner? I'm not entirely clear on what a suicide burn really is, but here's what I do. I keep my tail on the retrograde marker and burn at full throttle and try to get it so that my horizontal and vertical speed fall to zero as close to the surface as possible. I usually end up killing my horizontal speed well before the vertical though, and then make a powered descent straight down.

Why the hell would anybody use docking mode? It just means you have to switch back and forth to make adjustments, and the translation keys are perfectly intuitive in normal mode anyway.

[Randox]

Both, Both?, and B.

On a 4 or 6 way symmetry rocket, I'll usually gravity turn however it starts out and rotate it once I clear the atmosphere. For 2 and 3 way symmetry rockets, I rotate them prior to the gravity turn. I never rotate them in the VAB because it messes with the way I orient the camera for things like docking vs which way I perceive to be the top of my rocket.

I can land one way or the other, but most of the time it's a combo deal I think. I come in on whatever angle pleases me with a trajectory that has me slightly overshooting my landing target. I'm still burning to kill both lateral and vertical velocity together for most of the landing, but I like to make the final descent pretty much vertically so that I can use RCS to zero out lateral velocity perfectly, and I have time and means to inspect my ship and landing site properly and come in nice and gentle.

The majority of the time I am docking to a rotating target, so I need to be able to move laterally as well as rotate, so I find it easier not to use docking control. I'm also sometimes flying with a controller or joystick, and I don't feel the need for high fidelity RCS control.

[Renegrade]

For me it's a, a+b+combo, and a. I'm not afraid to ijklhn something for a simple correction, but it's delete for docking mode, and insert for staging mode, and docking mode has the exact same controls as an EVA kerbal in translate mode so.....

[problemecium]

A, A, B.

Although for landings I sort of suicide burn too, but from a shallow trajectory.

[monstah]

I never understood why SQUAD decided to "correct" the rocket to be sideways in the VAB, instead of, say, putting it properly on the launch pad?

[GoSlash27]

1) a

2) c- I use a different method.

3) b

Best,

-Slashy

[tater]

A

a/b

b

[AbacusWizard]

1) From the launchpad on Kerbin, I use D (if I felt a need to roll first, I'd just rotate it before putting it on the launchpad, but really roll doesn't matter for a radially symmetric craft anyway); when launching from anywhere else, I use whatever's needed based on the orientation I happened to land in.

2) Somewhere in-between: I burn retrograde until my trajectory meets the planet surface a little to the east of my destination (to account for the planet's rotation), coast in, and make adjustments as needed when I get close--an extra boost straight up if I'm not going to make it; a retrograde boost to kill horizontal velocity if it looks like I'm going to overshoot.

3) WASD to rotate; IJKLHN to translate. Why do we even have docking mode??

[Starwhip]

A, B, B.

Though I don't really do a "suicide burn", exactly. It's a "slow-down-then-drop", "last-moment-full-throttle" thing.

[Hcube]

I remapped the yaw/roll keys AND i use a french keyboard, so i end up using A and E to do my gravity turn

I tend to land in a different way : i just burn retrograde at very low thrust from high up and if i luck out my velocity reaches 0 when i touch the ground its like a very slow, long, and careful suicide burn.

I dock with the up/down right/left and +\- keys in staging mode because the docking UI is pointless (will get an upgrade in 1.0 btw) and i find HJIKLN to be impractical. No docking assists btw, i eyeball everything !

[Daze]

-Depend on how is the craft (ex. For STS style is use Q/W, for normal rockets A/D)

-Basically a reverse gravity turn that i use for every landing

-Actually I/J/... But there was a time which i loved docking mode

[OhioBob]

a). gravity turn with A/D

a). kill horizontal speed, then vertical (however I do set my periapsis low over the landing site so I have a fairly short fall)

. use I, J, K, L, H, N

[SelectHalfling0]

All A's

[worir4]

All A's

You must be really smart!

[Robotengineer]

(A)

(Niether)

(

I rarely rotate my rockets on launch, I slow down horizontal and vertical velocity simultaneously, and use I J K L H N for RCS/docking.