Crafts are... not Space Age Material.

[joespeed52]

Hi, I am somewhat an 'old' player since 0.20, but I feel kinda newbish. My crafts aren't space age material, and my skills are kinda bad.

I cannot get into a somewhat stable orbit without taking 2-3 tries or having mods. I want some advice on how to make my crafts better and how to become a great player.

[Mastikator]

Give us a picture of your best space craft.

Also Scott Manley did a tutorial for newbies on 1.0+ on how to do basic stuff.

[Red Iron Crown]

Some very general advice for improving craft:

- Smaller is better. Be ruthless in removing unnecessary parts/mass, especially in upper stages. Every kg of payload to orbit means another 5 kg in the rest of the rocket.

- Use engines where they make the most sense. Solids for an initial kick to get the rocket moving, high TWR engines for lower stages, high vacuum Isp engines for upper stages.

- If making a staged rocket, an easy rule of thumb is to have each stage weigh twice as much as the one above it.

- Make it look good. This is not essential to making it work well, but can be an important part of actually enjoying using it.

[Raptor9]

And keep playing When I look at screenshots of my craft files from just last year, I shake my head. The more you play and experiment with different design techniques, the better you'll get. Can't tell you how many of my designs went to the recycle bin.

[Snark]

Excellent general advice from previous posters. If you would like more specific advice, though, it would really help to have a pic of your craft, and/or a description of what sort of problem you're having.

There are many ways to fail-- without specifics, it's like asking a doctor "I'm not feeling well, what should I do?"

[ForScience6686]

And keep playing When I look at screenshots of my craft files from just last year, I shake my head. The more you play and experiment with different design techniques, the better you'll get. Can't tell you how many of my designs went to the recycle bin.

This is very important. Most of my game time is spent building, testing, and rebuilding until the craft is perfectly suited for the mission. Start with small rockets to get a feel for proper ascents, and gradually build larger.

[xebx]

Pics !!

IMO it's all about mission objective (start from the end and finish with the lifter) and how your creation will fit these objectives, size is not important, features are.

Is it SSTO, or sophisticated staging/docking ? (both can be good or bad)

Look at other's creations it will give you ideas to change yours.

Rebuild your old rockets after mission complete to make them better. (where was it annoying, where was is it good/efficient)

After few iterations you should have your own style that fit your missions, looks good to you and have things at the right place with the right amount.

Overbuild can happen, part limit and minimalism is a good step.

After lot of iterations maybe your rocket design will tend to match the same efficient design other experienced players are using after lot of their own iterations, but still have your personal style.

Build fashionitas or efficient beasts or ugly asymmetric, what you like and have fun with.

[Friend Bear]

I will try to find a previous post I had and post below.

But generally, as said above, the smaller the better. They are more stable and, because of their weight, have plenty of delta V.

Get Engineer Redux. It is a mod, but it has no autopilot. It merely tells you stage per stage delta V, thrust to weight, etc. Very handy dandy.

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Here is what I posted in another question in the forum. It is kind of out of place but discusses generally what to do with atmo, gravity, etc.:

The rocket is too tall. You can do a couple things, but I would suggest taking out one of the inside orange tanks. if you want to make up for that lost delta v, toss in an extra non-orange tank on the first and second stages to increase that overall initial thrust duration.

Next, you are probably turning down too suddenly. I do not know mechjeb (and I suggest playing without it. I imagine it is nice when you know all about the game and want to get lazy, but it fails to teach you how to play it better. Trial and error will help you with these analyses) but it sounds too me like you do not have enough vertical velocity OR you have too much vertical velocity and you are burning out those asparagus too early, forcing a climb at an altitude under 60k with the single, internal, 3rd stage mainsail. This is not always a problem, but when your rocket is hugely tall and your Thrust to Weight ratio is very low, it causes issues. Mainsail is buff, yes, but two orange tanks in dense atmosphere is rough, especially with a large final stage sitting atop.

As you launch, immediately, and VERY DELICATELY, aim the rocket a degree or two East. From there on, let gravity turn you and use about half throttle. The idea behind the best, most stable climb to orbit is not speed (although you need it to qualify the climb since too slow a climb destroys any chance of horizontal acceleration a minute into your climb to orbit) but instead burn time. (as for speed; what I mean is that a low speed reduces the usefulness of your overall deltav, while a high speed can do the same. If you are going fast at low altitude, even near horizontally in preparation for orbit, you lost a lot of potential delta v because you fight atmosphere. On the other hand, if you go too slow and lose your asparagus without burning any horizontal, sure you got into space, but now you have to burn 2000+ delta v horizontally to get an orbit in a short window with a single engine because once you are at the peak of your climb, it becomes harder and harder to stay out of the atmosphere with a low horizontal velocity). But careful; this means your gravity turn will be more aggressive. You do not necessarily need to aim into your prograde the entire time. Back off a bit and aim more vertically if it is too aggressive. 45 deg is ideal at 35-45k altitude, for example. This slow, natural turn prevents the bend you are seeing.

Lastly, if you have to have a long rocket, use struts. Make the entire thing as solid as you can throughout.

[Ripper2900]

Don't worry too much about having to do a few tries to get a good launch. No rocket builder get it right the first time (except for North Korea - at least they say so) use a mod like mechjeb or KER which can help you calculate twr and dv while you build your rockets. Test test test and practice practice practice to know ow what sort of values you'll need to do a nice smooth gravity turn on launch. Moderate twr, enough dv and quick but small true to the east is my recipe. Then just fly the prograde and level off at 50 60 km up, and accelerate to orbit fully.