The forgoten part

[swjr-swis]

I'm pretty good about checking parts before launch, but especially early on in the career, the 'parts' I still regularly forget to check for are the ones labeled 'Scientist (leveled)' and 'Engineer (leveled)'.

Perfect launch, great intercepts, orbit, land, all going great. Get to where I am going, deploy rover, do some exploring, tyre blows, no problem, get out there Ms. Engineer and fix that... oh. Transfer vehicle in parking/survey orbit, deploy antennae, enable instruments, let's science the crap out of this rock, good transmit, aaand reset the .... oh.

[Col_Jessep]

Ladders. I once landed a fully equipped Eve return vehicle successfully only to realize that I had no way to get my Kerbal back into it!

(This was before you could climb. Although, I'd advise against trying that on Eve anyway.)

[Daid]

3 hours ago, Freshmeat said:

Enough battery for science has gotten me a couple of times, but far more common is missing either solar panels of radio antenna.

I discovered yesterday that you can toggle the antenna into a different mode and send science in the "old" way where it can do partial sends with low power.

I most commonly forget solar panels. Or when I have them I forget to unfold them...

[cantab]

8 hours ago, N_Danger said:

The light for sure.

The most embarrassing missing part was an un-kerbaled rover, with all the science instruments I had researched up till that point, that landed on Duna. Without an antenna. 

Oh dear Kraken, that reminds me of the mission where I forgot the antenna - on TEN probe landers! D'oh!

Still did all the landings anyway, just because.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

3 hours ago, Daid said:

I most commonly forget solar panels. Or when I have them I forget to unfold them...

Nothing worse that forgetting to unfold panels- I usually put 2 of the small panels on craft for emergency power just in case.

[Curveball Anders]

12 minutes ago, Waxing_Kibbous said:

Nothing worse that forgetting to unfold panels- I usually put 2 of the small panels on craft for emergency power just in case.

Same here.

Have resorted to hacks/cheats to restart dead sats or rovers so many times that I always add some small panels just to provide a trickle charge for the next time I goof and forget to deploy the big ones or to turn stuff off before a long hibernation :/

 

[Daid]

1 hour ago, Curveball Anders said:

Have resorted to hacks/cheats to restart dead sats or rovers so many times that I always add some small panels just to provide a trickle charge for the next time I goof and forget to deploy the big ones or to turn stuff off before a long hibernation :/

That reminds me, even worse then forgetting to opening your panels. Forgetting to open your panels, having emergency small panels in there for this case of "being an idiot". And then find out they are on the dark side of your ship and never provide power because of that. (Well, you could bump into your ship with something else to start it up then... hows that for a jump start?)

[Rocket In My Pocket]

2 hours ago, Curveball Anders said:

Same here.

Have resorted to hacks/cheats to restart dead sats or rovers so many times that I always add some small panels just to provide a trickle charge for the next time I goof and forget to deploy the big ones or to turn stuff off before a long hibernation :/

I've gotten into the habit of placing one of those little square batteries on somewhere and turning it off via the little "cancel" button, that way you've always got back up emergency power to turn something dead on.

That said, I have a weird fetish for covering every square inch of a crafts skin with solar panels.

I should prolly stop honestly, it's killing my part counts. Lol.

[SpacedCowboy]

I'm surprised the "Engineer Report" hasn't been mentioned yet. I know it doesn't cover everything but it's better than nothing. I've tried to form the habit of checking it every time just before hitting the launch button.  

It can also be amusing at times like "missing ladder" (on an unmanned probe).

 

[Superfluous J]

9 hours ago, Jetski said:

I generally get a scanning probe to Moho, catch a Polar orbit, open scanning array, and get a "No comms found on vessel".  Forgot an antenna again.  Same with MPL loaded with science

Thank you for saying this. My Grand Tour ship has just such a probe attached to it and now I have something to add to my checklist

2 hours ago, SpacedCowboy said:

I'm surprised the "Engineer Report" hasn't been mentioned yet.

When it stops telling me that I'm generating power I'm not using on a probe, I'll start using it more often.

(Note: I haven't checked this in 1.1)

[PnDB]

Antennas on probes and proper staging are my main "forgets".

[SpacedCowboy]

2 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Thank you for saying this. My Grand Tour ship has just such a probe attached to it and now I have something to add to my checklist

When it stops telling me that I'm generating power I'm not using on a probe, I'll start using it more often.

(Note: I haven't checked this in 1.1)

Yeah, well I'm not one of the chosen few who can experience 1.1. So is the engineer report a thing of the past? I'm a little concerned that you're treating it so flagrantly. Not dissing you, (I have learned many things from you) ie. videos and such, and yeah, to stay on topic, there are many things I forget, even with the little help of the engineers report.

Edited April 5, 2016 by SpacedCowboy
turn can into can;t

[FancyMouse]

11 minutes ago, SpacedCowboy said:

So is the engineer report a thing of the past?

Nope he just meant he's not using the report now because it doesn't fit his needs, and willing to use it if 1.1 improves. He didn't imply anything whether 1.1 actually abandoned/improved/... about engineering report.

[Superfluous J]

15 minutes ago, SpacedCowboy said:

Yeah, well I'm not one of the chosen few who can experience 1.1. So is the engineer report a thing of the past? I'm a little concerned that you're treating it so flagrantly. Not dissing you

I don't feel dissed, no worries there

I assume it's in 1.1. I never check it. My opinion of the Engineer's report is that it would be very useful if it did 2 things:

1) Actually remind me when I miss things I tend to miss. That includes having enough batteries and power generation to power everything I have on the ship. It does not do this, and in fact it actually lies and tells me I'm generating power but not using it, when I need to generate power to keep a probe core running. If I blindly followed the report, my probe would die minutes after launch. If I can't trust what the report is telling me, what use is it?

2) Stop hiding in the corner. I want the report to get right in my face. "Hey, stupid. That ISRU scanner needs an antenna." I want a message like that (but nicer of course) when I click "launch." Not in a little button in the corner that I can forget to click. The whole point of the report is to remind us more forgetful folks to do things. Having to remember to click it just pushes the problem one step further. It doesn't actually fix the problem.

Both of these need to be present. I can't be yelled at that I'm generating unneeded power when power is in fact needed, and I can't be reminded that I forgot to remove the monoprop in a hidden window that I have to remember to click - because if I remembered to click it I'd remember to remove the monoprop.

Until those things happen, the report is almost useless to me, said flagrantly or not.

[The Optimist]

Lights? What are those?

[Kuansenhama]

That moment when you brought a full 2.5m RCS tank but no RCS Ports.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Kuansenhama

[SpacedCowboy]

Sorry, did not mean to offend anyone. Only meant to say that the engineers report is still a useful tool.

[Glaran K'erman]

16 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

My big forget it the opposite: I forget to REMOVE RCS fuel from command pods. My missions are never quite so well planned as for it to matter, but it still bugs me.

I could launch entire stations to Moho on the delta-v I have lost to the mass of monopropellant.

[richfiles]

I could tell you what parts or setups I always forget, except for the fact that I kinda forgot them! 

Edited April 5, 2016 by richfiles

[severedsolo]

Heatshields. Always with the heatshields.

Specifically when I start going to Mun in a career save, because I don't bother with them for orbital missions (not really needed) - so I forget to put one on when I modify the craft to go to Mun. This usually results in a 40km (ish) Pe and a prayer that the thing will not explode (they usually don't).

[Daid]

6 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

Heatshields. Always with the heatshields.

Specifically when I start going to Mun in a career save, because I don't bother with them for orbital missions (not really needed) - so I forget to put one on when I modify the craft to go to Mun. This usually results in a 40km (ish) Pe and a prayer that the thing will not explode (they usually don't).

Heatshields are overrated. I tend to use engines as heatshields, you already have them with you anyhow. And they might explode on the way down, but Jeb never had a problem with that.

I agree on the statement that the engineering report isn't that useful in its current form. But I also understand the complexity of making it actually work properly.

[mrclucks]

Seeing as I test almost every stage of my rockets, I rarely forget it from the actual launch.  If I was to test every single vehicle, ID need hyperedit for the Rovers, landers, and re-entry veichile for every atmospheric body that isn't kerbin

[John FX]

I used to forget something in the VAB almost every flight but in the last year or so I don`t think there have been any glaring omissions.

Lately I have been forgetting to extend my antenna in orbit which means I lose control of the craft after the ejection burn...

[Rocket In My Pocket]

You'd think the Engineers Report had stock shares in monoprop the way it's always yammering on about using it.

I'd like to see a set of buttons in the VAB/SPH for "Drain all fuel/Drain all monoprop"

90% of the time in early career I don't even bother taking the unused monoprop out of command pods cause I'm just too lazy and it has a minimal effect on DV.

 

[NorthernDevo]

The one thing I always, always forget: Fuel ducts.

On demo, I haven't got many options so I use a lot of droppable fuel tanks. It's really annoying getting to Minimus, descending to the surface, then realizing that a) my fuel level's going down waaaay faster than it should and b) I'm a lot heavier than I should be. "Wait a minute, what's going on?...oh."

Struts too: I can't count how many times I've launched off the pad and raced for the sky looking like Billy Johnson.