New player looking for advice

[Dalekirk5885]

First off great game few hours in and I am hooked

now my problem is orbit! I cannot do it, I have tried everything I can think of but I am most certainly doing something wrong. I can get into space and change from surface to orbit but then this is where my problems begin.

I started learning via YouTube tutorials but when I press the M key to go into map view my view looks slightly different to the tutorials. They have a green line and can seem to get info about when to engage engines etc whereas I just have a white line and cannot seem to manipulate anything. It is probably just something ever so simple I am missing so if someone could put me out of misery that would be great.

another thing I have tried looking few the threads to look for tips etc but it does seem there is a fair few threads if someone could point me in the right direction I would be greatful.

New to these types of games more of a grand strategy guy so please go easy on me also sorry for rambling!

Edited June 23, 2015 by Dalekirk5885

[Landwalker]

I started learning via YouTube tutorials but when I press the M key to go into map view my view looks slightly different to the tutorials. They have a green line and can seem to get info about when to engage engines etc whereas I just have a white line and cannot seem to manipulate anything. It is probably just something ever so simple I am missing so if someone could put me out of misery that would be great.

The reason yours looks different has to do with your KSP buildings. What you're referring to ("green lines" and "when to engage engines") has to do with setting up maneuver nodes, and you can't do those until (if memory serves) both your Mission Control and Tracking Facility buildings are upgraded to Level 2. Until then, no maneuvers for youâ€â€have to fly it by ear/eye/taste/whatever!

I would highly (highly highly highly highly) recommend

. This is what I watched when I first came back to KSP for the first time since 0.22 a couple of weeks ago, and it helps immensely. Despite being brilliant at it, Scott does a great job of making it clear what he's doing and why he's doing it so you can extrapolate to other situations.

[TrueProphet]

I just have a white line and cannot seem to manipulate anything.

I think I have your answer: on the map screen, have you brought up the navball? Until you do, you can't control your craft. If you don't see it at the bottom of the screen, you should see a small arrow in the middle of the bottom of the screen. Hit that, and the navball will appear.

[Dalekirk5885]

The reason yours looks different has to do with your KSP buildings. What you're referring to ("green lines" and "when to engage engines") has to do with setting up maneuver nodes, and you can't do those until (if memory serves) both your Mission Control and Tracking Facility buildings are upgraded to Level 2. Until then, no maneuvers for youâ€â€have to fly it by ear/eye/taste/whatever!

I would highly (highly highly highly highly) recommend

. This is what I watched when I first came back to KSP for the first time since 0.22 a couple of weeks ago, and it helps immensely. Despite being brilliant at it, Scott does a great job of making it clear what he's doing and why he's doing it so you can extrapolate to other situations.

Thank you this makes things more clear

[Snark]

The reason why they have blue lines and yours are gray is that you haven't progressed far enough in your career. To get the blue lines (which opens up lots more info display and enables things like maneuver nodes), you need to upgrade the Tracking Station, which costs a few hundred thousand funds and therefore will need to wait until later in your career.

For now, without that added info, here's how you get to orbit the low-tech way:

1. Build a ship that has enough dV to get to orbit. This is not too hard, as long as you've unlocked decouplers and some liquid-fueled engines. 3 stages should do it. SRB on the bottom, liquid-fuel engine with fuel tank(s) in the middle, liquid-fuel engine with small fuel tank (and command pod) on top.

2. Launch straight up

3. After hitting 100 m/s or so, gradually start tipping over towards the east. Ideally, you want to be tipped over at around 45 degrees by the time you get to about 10-12 km of altitude.

4. Floor it and accelerate as hard as possible until you get your apoapsis up to, say, 80-90 km or so. Then turn off your engine.

5. When you get up near your apoapsis, point your rocket horizontally (i.e. level with the horizon on the navball) and accelerate as hard as you can until your orbit turns into a circle and your periapsis is raised above atmosphere (i.e. above 70 km, on Kerbin).

Presto, you're in orbit. When you're ready to come home, point your rocket retrograde and do a small burn to lower your periapsis into the atmosphere (say, to an altitude of 30 km or so), then keep your rocket pointed retrograde all the way down. You'll speed up a little first, as you fall, but then start slowing down as you get into the thicker part of the atmosphere. Wait until your speed drops below 250 m/s or so, then pop your parachute and drift to ground.

[Starwhip]

Yep, basically what everyone has said above. Learning how to orbit is not a small feat, nor is any part of this game. One step at a time.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Orbiting requires roughly 4.5 Km/s of Delta-V, so make sure you've packed all that. When to perform an orbital insertion is dependent on your Thrust-to-Weight ratio. Instead of burning at Apopasis, burn a little before. If you want to get really specific, you can do a bit of math to find out the best possible time.

TWR of 1 = 9.81 m/s^2. Take your own TWR, and multiply it by 9.81 to get your current acceleration. Take the average orbital velocity of Kerbin, and subtract your own velocity to figure out how much Delta-V you need. Take that number and divide it by your acceleration to get your burn time in seconds, divide it by 2, and you have your answer. Burn X seconds before reaching Apoapsis.

[NathanKell]

4.5km/sec is from .90. It's more like 3.5 now.

[Arkalius]

Orbiting requires roughly 4.5 Km/s of Delta-V

It's more like 3.5km/s in 1.0. You can get it down to maybe 3.3 or 3.2 if you're really efficient with your ascent. More awkward loads may require more as a result of extra drag or difficulties in flying them efficiently.

[Xannari Ferrows]

It's more like 3.5km/s in 1.0. You can get it down to maybe 3.3 or 3.2 if you're really efficient with your ascent. More awkward loads may require more as a result of extra drag or difficulties in flying them efficiently.

Well, nonetheless it is always good to pack extra.

[Dalekirk5885]

Would like to say thank you to all who gave me advice etc after some playing around I made an orbit round kerbin and landed successfully too, onwards and upwards

[Pedro29]

You can also play the in-game trainings.

While not being as informative as Scott's videos, they allow you to practice a wide range of maneuvers.

[Zargg]

This page helped me a lot! it isn't specific to the most recent version so there are some things not covered, like having to upgrade buildings to get maneuver nodes.

http://mykspcareer.com/faqs/starting/

Edited June 25, 2015 by Zargg
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