Misconceptions you used to have

[nalfz]

When science first came out I thought you got more science by subjecting the experiment parts to different situations

That is to say I got really frustrated trying to get more science by taking goo experiments when reentering (high temperature) or pulling high g-forces or doing any number or bizzare things with it

[322997am]

I thought 1.0 would be good.

1.0 is a big improvement on the game.

[Streetwind]

Pssst, don't feed the troll

[Red Iron Crown]

I fell into many of the common misconceptions:

- Fly up to go to space!

- Parachutes help on the Mun!

- Can't get to orbit? More engines!

- Bigger is better!

[Corw]

1.0 is a big improvement on the game.

I didn't said it wasn't a major improvement, but I was hoping it would be a complete, stable and reliable product. If it was, we wouldn't need the (rather radically game changing) patches.

Pssst, don't feed the troll

I'm not a troll, just a disappointed fanboy.

[Wemb]

I thought an Apollo-style LOR mission profile would be the best way to the fly to the Mun and back. Took a while before I gave up and did it the von Braun way.

Wemb

[Enkiel]

When science first came out I thought you got more science by subjecting the experiment parts to different situations

That is to say I got really frustrated trying to get more science by taking goo experiments when reentering (high temperature) or pulling high g-forces or doing any number or bizzare things with it

i thought that a long time too... until i saw videos explaining science...

but that thinking made sense at least...

One misconception i still have, is concerning my landers... for some reason, i can't concieve anything that can get to duna or gilly, and that doesnt mine its fuel for the return trip.

it's... just.... not possible in my mind

[Scotius]

Before i learned what terminal velocity means in this game, i used to build huge stacks of SRBs to give my rockets massive TWR - so they would get out of the atmosphere faster, thus saving the fuel

[HoloYolo]

That your orbital velocity around the planet is how much delta-v you needed to orbit. Guess how many Eve ascents failed XD

[cantab]

I didn't realise struts broke off when the stage they were attached to was jettisoned. I thought that if I had a strut connecting a two sections, it would drag the jettisoned stage with me. So I came up with a number of methods to detach them, such as connecting them directly to a decoupler, or in one case to a plate attached to a decoupler.

This, so much this. I still used struts mind you, but it was a while before I found out they didn't need decoupling separately.

Other things? When I first played the 0.18.3 demo I didn't know about the whole "don't exceed terminal velocity" thing in the soup-o-sphere. So my first rocket to make orbit was this:

Note the speed, gees, and also the angled fins - this thing spun like a whirling dervish to stabilise it.

I did know that reaching orbit requires going fast sideways, and for at least one launch I even remembered that it's best to go in the direction Kerbin is spinning. So I pitched west. D'oh!

I thought controlling a Kerbal on EVA was difficult. In fairness the first time I tried it was. So when I needed to rescue a Kerbal stranded in orbit, I made sure he'd be able to grab onto the rescue ship:

[John FX]

I didn`t realise the game had RCS until after I built my first few stations. I also thought there would be stuff to do on the planets so I landed on all of them as one of the first things I did...

The biggest misconception I had was I thought the game worked like real life and that realistic drag was an issue, re entry heat would be a problem, chutes would take an amount of time to open etc and so I had to learn `the kerbal way` instead of using all the designs I had in my head from childhood which were based on real rockets.

It took me a while before I stopped trying to pitch just after launch and attempt a gravity turn and instead ignored drag that should rip apart my craft and turn 45 degrees at 7-10km and the speed of sound..

Now the game is catching up to the way I thought it worked in the first place, which is nice.

Oh, I also thought jet engines would work on all planets with an atmosphere.

[JetJaguar]

It took me awhile to figure out how to put things in a service bay. I didn't know you had to right-click on it and open it first.

Also, during my first manned Mun/Minmus landing missions, I didn't realize that astronauts could collect the data from the instruments while on EVA. I used a two-part mission profile that left the lander behind, so I thought I had to transmit everything, which left half of the science points on the table.

[Skylid]

When I started way back in .15, they had just added space planes.

I made the fatal mistake to think that "Space planes were easy".

Some of my other mistakes was instead of starting a gravity turn in the atmosphere, I would burn straight up till my Ap came to 100Km, then, upon reaching this, burn straight 90 degree's sideways. So many weird orbits because of that.

Another one, when landing on the Mun, i would burn straight sideways at about 25 Km up, till i was dropping straight down. Then suicide burn vertically.

[Thomas988]

Before I thought KSP, I thought you could use letters as Action Groups.

I thought I could build a functioning space shuttle.

I thought there would be multiplayer already.

I had no idea how space physics worked at all.

[Terwin]

I made the fatal mistake to think that "Space planes were easy".

Some of my other mistakes was instead of starting a gravity turn in the atmosphere, I would burn straight up till my Ap came to 100Km, then, upon reaching this, burn straight 90 degree's sideways. So many weird orbits because of that.

Another one, when landing on the Mun, i would burn straight sideways at about 25 Km up, till i was dropping straight down. Then suicide burn vertically.

I thought that just because I had Rapier engines I could make a space plane.

Even now, I rarely have more than a 15 degree tilt when I hit ~24Km. 24Km is important because that is a height where I can start turning and be done shortly after 35Km where the atmosphere is thin enough I can thrust horizontally to get to orbit.

Similarly I generally orbit Mun and Minmus between 6 and 10km, burn down to ~10m/s horizontal velocity and then use stepped burns to land. (I keep some horizontal speed because far too often the place I came to a stop above was too steep to land on).

These vertical/horizontal burns are not at all fuel efficient, but they are very forgiving as far as aerodynamic and horizontal landing stability are concerned.

Perhaps once I get a space-plane into orbit(and back) I will be more confident with the less forgiving types of launch and landing, but as I have ISRU and nuke engines on all of the vehicles I currently send beyond LKO, burning a lot of fuel to circularize or land is not a big deal.

[Stryde]

Back when I played the demo for KSP when .90 was out, I made a lot of mistakes the first hundred times.

I though you could only stack one fuel tank on an engine,

I had angled wings to stabilize the craft before I found SAS,

I spammed SRBs to get out of the atmosphere as fast as possible

and I believed struts where my only true friend. How the times have changed.

[Randazzo]

I used to think Kerbal Space Program was a game.

Now I know, it is a way of life.

(it won't let go)

[windows_x_seven]

To orbit, go up.

This can reach orbit by going up:

When out of fuel, spaceships simply stop in space, forever.

One spaceship can go faster than the other at the same "orbit thingy".

[Windspren]

The first time I launched a satellite, it had the QBE probe core, 2 ASAS Reaction Wheels, 8 Gigantor XL solar panels, 8 of every science experiment, 8 Z-4K batteries, 8 Commutron-88s, 16 Commutron16s, and was launched using one of the biggest fuel tanks and the largest engine. This was back in 23.5, and it did not make orbit.

[windows_x_seven]

The first rocket I built was in the training thingy. It was a parachute, a MK1 capsule, decoupler, liquid fuel tank and liquid fuel engine.

I did not know how to take off. I pressed every single key. I eventually pressed WASD and the rocket fell over, followed by me pressing spacebar 3 times and the rocket not igniting, but splitting up instead.

[algeo]

I used to think that landing my entire craft (whether it was a 1 ton or a 5000 ton craft) was the only option when landing. Needless to say I hadn't learned to rendevouz back then.

Oh, and I used to believe that it was a brilliant idea to land my excessively tall ships/rockets/crafts (without a very large base) vertically on moons and the like. Tipping over gets old after a while.

[One-Way Films]

I thought the game was broken when my rockets didn't work. I stopped playing after the "Great Rage Quit" of 2013, where I boycotted the game for being broken for 2 months. I calmed down and set myself a few goals after those 2 months.

Goal 1) get to orbit

Goal 2) dock with something

Goal 3) land on the Mun and bring the kerbal back alive.

After roughly 4 months, all my goals were achieved (badly). I've been a massive fan since.

[StrandedonEarth]

I though you could only stack one fuel tank on an engine

I knew I could stack tanks, but I thought I had to connect them with fuel lines

I thought it mattered which way I was facing during reentry. It didn't then, but it does now.

[Anglave]

My ever first Mün lander had about 2 orange tanks, 6x2silver tanks, all equipped with mainsails in an asparagus staging (thanks to youtube). The actual lander was ontop of that thing, upside down with a docking port, a MK2 Pod, white 2.5m tank and a skipper engine as far as i can remember. Do not know the DeltaV as i haven't installed mechjeb or KER at that time.

Holy Overkill!

Edited July 10, 2015 by Anglave

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I remember never using wasd in the editors, because I didn't know that I could do that. I remember the first day I discovered I could right-click parts.