How do you Kerbal Rate your ships?

[Guest]

Proof of concept flights: unmanned.

Procedural shakedown flights: minimal crew, typically no more than three.

[Tortfeasor]

It depends on how far I'm sending my Kerbals and how complicated the rocket is. Up to a Mun landing I pretty much just build the rocket and stick a 'brave' test pilot in. Landing on the Mun or Minmus, I'll have a test launch for staging which, if the staging works, will turn into the real thing. It's only once I start heading to other planets that the stakes get high enough and the rockets get big enough that I feel like I have to start testing all the phases of the mission in Kerbin orbit.

[RocketBlam]

If the Kerbals survive, it's a great design!

If they don't... probably needs work! Maybe.

[Skorpychan]

Kerbed testing. If it doesn't kill Jeb, it works. If it does, revert to VAB. If it strands him somewhere, I send a rescue mission and build the rescue's fuel into the next mission.

[KerikBalm]

If it is going to LKO:

Has it flown before?

If No - It is experimental; Do I have probe cores?

...If Yes, use a probe core and fly it

...If No, use a test pilot and fly it (Good luck test pilot and May the Revert button watch over you)

If Yes; were there any issues?

... If Yes, make a design change and go back to step one.

... If No -> Kerbal rated, send up the tourists!

If it is going beyond LKO, but within Kerbin's SOI:

Is it going to land on the Mun?

... If No, check dV, and test it as if it was LKO only

... If Yes, Has it (or something with minor differences) flown before?

...... If No - It is experimental; Can it do anything useful with probe cores?

......... If Yes, use a probe core and fly it

......... If No, can I reuse it and do I have a fuel depot + ISRU to refuel it?

............ If Yes, use a probe core and fly it

............ If No, use a test pilot and fly it (Good luck test pilot, and May the Quick Load button watch over you)

......If Yes; were there any issues?

......... If Yes, make a design change and go back to step one.

......... If No -> Kerbal rated, send up the tourists!

If it is going beyond Kerbin's SOI:

It is experimental, to the first crew: Good Luck, May Quick Save never occur after its too late to make a difference.

- I plan to re-use the interplanetary transfer craft, and the landers will all be reusable SSTOs for everywhere except Eve, I doubt I'll make multiple copies of each ship, so they will each be unique and experimental.

--> Caveats:

> Laythe landers/spaceplanes will be tested on Kerbin (including launches and landings not on the runway, and the ability to reach 1,900 m/s orbital, even if they don't reach orbit on Kerbin)

Bop, Pol, Gilly need no testing... just check the dV figures.

Ike, Val, Eeloo, Moho... I might test them on the Mun (during the mission, I might dock and my Mun Fuel depot, then leave Mun SOI with PE right above Kerbins atmosphere so I can make use of the Oberth Effect for the ejection burn) if I don't just have a tug eject them from Kerbin Orbit.

Val and Moho are quite a bit bigger than Mun, but I'd be confident in the dV and TWR calculations (I at least do the RPing and send probes to each destination first, and measure the atmosphere and gravity).

[StarStreak2109]

I usually mimic EFT-1... And go to a high apoapsis to simulate munar return...

[Commander Zoom]

I maintain two saves - my "real" save, and a separate "test" save, which I use for this (including lander testing, with HyperEdit to put them in orbit of the body they're going to) and also general messing around in sandbox mode.

[Frozen_Heart]

I use what was one of my cargo rockets. Build and tested a spacecraft and stuck it on top of that. Made sure it has an abort system as well.

The launch vehicle has a flawless record of over 30 launches so I considered it safe enough for crew.

[totos_totidis]

Simple add a parachute a decoupler and above tat a heatshield and a command pod. And that system has worked almost ​flawlessly.

[Skorpychan]

I maintain two saves - my "real" save, and a separate "test" save, which I use for this (including lander testing, with HyperEdit to put them in orbit of the body they're going to) and also general messing around in sandbox mode.

That's not a bad idea, actually.

[Superfluous J]

I maintain two saves - my "real" save, and a separate "test" save, which I use for this (including lander testing, with HyperEdit to put them in orbit of the body they're going to) and also general messing around in sandbox mode.

I used to do this. I even used linking in the OS so the two saves shared a "ships" folder, so whatever I did in one save automatically was available in the other.

These days I just install Holodeck and use that + Hyperedit to test my ships wherever I need to, while guaranteeing that I can (and must) always revert back before doing the mission for real.

[InterCity]

The only thing I do are one-kerbal atmospheric test flights of SSTOs (Not switching to rockets) and atmospheric testing shuttles. Rockets are ready to go if KER says that TWR is over 1.10 and Delta-V over 4000 (Always). If the craft is bad, the poor kerbals get either rescue mission or a star on the MIA board.

[Itsdavyjones]

I intend to have a LES on my rockets, when i get the 1.25 docking port then I will modify my rockets with the said LES and docking port, and then add the parachutes on the sides...

[Wallygator]

Step 1- Insert Kerbal

Step 2 - Launch

Step 3 - Rate: Works ok? then Its Kerbal rated. Fails? not Kerbal rated.

[Feradose]

A TWR of 1.2 and stable CoL for launch stage, and 7000 ∆v on orbit, then ship will be kerballed.

[Joshwoo70]

my corvus 2 kerbaled crew launcher. with 4 lfo boosters and one central tank... oh a small docking port and LS. and solar panels. with the ability to dock and de orbit.

EDIT. with less than 2 TWR on the pad.

[Samniss Arandeen]

I fly a similar but lesser mission to test the craft in all stages of flight. Mun flybys in preparation for a landing. Dummy payloads to target orbit for cargo SSTO. The like.

[Rakshasa]

Hard mode and if it looks like it might fly it's Kerbal Rated.

[RidingTheFlow]

Bah, safety smafety. Its not a Kerbal way.

All these airbags and LES are just pointless waste of deltaV and TWR

[AndyMt]

Abort action group? I use that one during "basic action group support" for deploing the fairings... And who needs escape towers? They just lower dV and TWR.

So - my vehicles are Kerbal rated by default . Then I "simulate" ascents and landings using F5 and F9. Or in other words: I cheat.

[Scotius]

I do couple of simulations (Read: I revert to VAB if/when vessel explodes or flips around in flight). When all bugs are ironed out, ship gets saved in the final configuration and is considered safe for crew flights.

[RidingTheFlow]

Then I "simulate" ascents and landings using F5 and F9. Or in other words: I cheat.

I don't consider its cheating, but a simulation. Like in RL, you don't launch rocket without extensive computer testing even if you can save the crew.

[FlyingPete]

Launch vehicles undergo extensive 'simulations' (i.e. revert flight) before the 'real' launch. Mostly I'll have some form of abort mechanism too- usually cut engines, separate the capsule and deploy parachutes tied into the abort button. Rovers, landers etc usually get tested for real around KSC- just to check they work and the ladder isn't obstructing the hatch etc.

[Edax]

This is how I test my SSTOs for manned use.

Can it reliably take off the runway?

This often requires refinement, phantom forces and wobble can kill a design.

Can it reach low Kerbin orbit?

This is perhaps the hardest part of the test, since it's time consuming and requires fiddling with fuel ratios. I usually conduct this test before putting on the bells and whistles such as science gear, airbrakes and rcs.

And can I fly it and land it on the Island Runway?

This is sometimes the last test, or the second test, which I run to see how airworthy a spaceplane is. If it has enough control to land on the Island Runway, takeoff again and land at KSC, then I know that this spaceplane can reenter from orbit safely, and can conduct emergency landings if necessary.

[Geschosskopf]

Or, do you just throw Kerbals in and hope it works out? My career save is on hard so that gets expensive fast.

I just don't get questions like this. Designing lifters is the most trivial thing in all of KSP. Once you've done it 2 or 3 times, you know what works and what doesn't, and after that it's just the 2-minute finishing touch you apply to the mission payload that you put all your real design effort into. So I don't "hope" the lifter will work, I am always 100% sure it will work. I waste no time or dV on carrying launch escape systems because I know I'll never need them, and most of my Kerbals go up in ships without even parachutes because they're usually not going to be coming home in those ships anyway (and if they're permanent exiles colonists, they're not coming home at all).