Why solar panels???? I keep forgetting them.

[kerbarara]

Hey,

I keep putting OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels and forgetting about orientation. I just had to share that.

Hello by the way.

[ZooNamedGames]

Welcome to the forums!

The static panels are annoying since they don't rotate, but they're cheaper, lighter and come lower in the tech tree. Best advice is to place enough of them to completely surround the circumference of the spacecraft in one axis (all vertical or all horizontal) and keep your spacecraft flat in that respective axis so no matter what point your spacecraft is st, you always get power.

Don't worry, we all learn our lesson the hard way. My usual fix is to just always place 2 RTGs. Granted I'm a sandbox player so cost has never phased me.

[Venusgate]

Reason #5 I let myself use revert flight :P

The alternative is to use the ingame vessel issue checker (as unexpansive as it is) or make your own pre-flight checklist!

_ Solar panels
_ Parachutes
_ Staging doublecheck
_ SAS
_ Darkness time battery power
_ Enough TWR for each powered landing

etc

[Claw]

[quote name='kerbarara']...and forgetting about...[/QUOTE]

I could say this about a lot of things. Even after two years, when I build that first basic rocket (Mk1 + parachute + small SRB), I [I]still[/I] forget to move the parachute out of the SRB ignition stage...

But what I really wanted to say was, welcome to the forums! :D

Cheers,
~Claw

[kerbarara]

Thanks everyone!

After 10 attempts getting to Dres (It's absolutely my limit in the current tech tree), I arrived and had no power. I...

I...

I used infinite electricity to rotate my craft just 30º.

Shameful.

[MrOsterman]

You're better than I!

I still can't seem to get a probe to even get into ~Orbit~ of Duna let alone landing on it. I'm pretty able to consistently land and return from the Mun though, which I consider an advance given that I stranded my first Kerbal there with a botched landing and then subsequent 100 or so failed efforts to get her a life boat to bring her home.

[tranenturm]

When I first used the extendable solar panels I forgot to extend them before my power ran out. Oops. Now I always have the basic ones scattered around the craft to have enough power to extend the bigger ones in case I forget.

[More Boosters]

[quote name='kerbarara']Thanks everyone!

After 10 attempts getting to Dres (It's absolutely my limit in the current tech tree), I arrived and had no power. I...

I...

I used infinite electricity to rotate my craft just 30º.

Shameful.[/QUOTE]

This is why it's always a good idea to disable access to at least one battery.

[RocketPropelledGiraffe]

The situation is only problematic when you have a probe with no power left at all. For manned flights you can always push the spaceship into rotation with an EVA Kerbal.

To prevent these cases I usually disable the electricity of the probe core. Normally there are additional batteries anyway, so these 10 units of charge are not relevant. But it's always enough to rotate the craft properly, when the solar panels are in the shadows.

[panzer1b]

Wow, and i thought everyone used RTGs these days and just didnt care about power at all.....

Also, solar panels dont quite look right on a capital ship (unless its made by pirates or some primitive race like humans).

Guess i need to actually play career sometime, but what saddens me with career is that there are no military contracts and the whole money system doesnt make ship on ship shootouts very profitable, even if one of those ships is a pirate trying to steal your fuel :D

[kerbarara]

[quote name='More Boosters']This is why it's always a good idea to disable access to at least one battery.[/QUOTE]

What if I also keep forgetting the battery? This satellite/lander rocket I sent to Dres arrived after that LKO mishap with power.

Then I noticed the missing battery, and the huge amount of energy the scanner module needs. (Anyone have any insight on how science is lost in incomplete transmissions?)

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

I have only returned from Mun and Minmus. Everywhere else, probe.

But I do have a spaceship with a mobile lab orbiting Ike with a full tank and two landers. I'll bring that back to LKO for a SSTO sometime - or get it to another planet.

[moogoob]

In each career save, the day I unlock RTGs my Kerbals just about throw a parade. Seriously, doing anything past Duna with solar panels and fuel cells is difficult and tedious without some real serious planning.

EDIT: Meant to quote two posts ago, so without that quote my post seems... off topic.

[Friend Bear]

[quote name='kerbarara']Hey,

I keep putting OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels and forgetting about orientation. I just had to share that.

Hello by the way.[/QUOTE]

Since the beginning until recently, it used to be REALLY bad.

If you time warped, electricity use wouldn't freeze, it would continue in real time. So, being that vessels with these panels generally had tiny batteries and were never oriented correctly, the second you time warped was the second you lost all power.

It was horrifying. Even on long trips to Eve and that when rotating around Kerbol would cause the ship to shade its panels unwittingly.

[Geschosskopf]

[quote name='kerbarara']I keep putting OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels and forgetting about orientation. I just had to share that.[/QUOTE]

At least you're remembering to put them on in the 1st place, which is a stumbling block for many :).

Also, be aware that once you get the ones that have to be extended to work at all, you'll probably forget to do that a few times :)