My First Trip to Duna

[jarratt]

Hi

 

I have been playing KSP for a while now, but never gone further than the Mun or Minmus.  

This is version 1.05 Moderate difficulty career mode.

I had a short break from KSP before attempting this..... I think I was a bit rusty!

 

Please feel free to comment on the Kerbaling as well as the Lets play style!

 

Thanks for watching!

[Geschosskopf]

Whoops!  Nice explosion, though . 

A few tips....

I noticed you were having trouble getting tanks to stack.  If you hold down L-ALT while positioning the tank where you want it, it will usually behave itself.

Also, to avoid your jettisoned SRBs taking out your central stack, use Sepratrons.  The force of the radial decouplers is exhausted breaking the struts you added so you need Sepratrons to actually kick the boosters out away from the rocket.  On SRBs, usually you just need 2 oriented horizontally and mounted more or less in the middle (even with the decoupler if the decoupler is in the middle)..  Maybe slide them around towards the outboard side of the booster 1 or 2 notches so their fire doesn't hit the inner tanks.  For tall asparagus stacks, you usually need 2 pairs, at the top and bottom.

Once you've got the Sepratrons attached, be sure they're in the same stage as the decouplers they're helping so they fire simultaneously with the decouplers.  The engineer's report doesn't like this---it will say engines are being jettisoned before use---just ignore that

 

[jarratt]

Hi Geschosskopf

 

Thanks for the advice about sepratrons.  This is one of the biggest rockets I have designed.  But it turns out it was all pilot error,  Cos things went much better .......... ish,  here:-

 

 

Thanks for watching.  Keep the advice coming!

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, jarratt said:

Thanks for the advice about sepratrons.  This is one of the biggest rockets I have designed.  But it turns out it was all pilot error,  Cos things went much better .......... ish,  here:-

....

Thanks for watching.  Keep the advice coming!

Hehehe, NICE abort-to--landing with that thing, and you were totally robbed by the cruel sea even in its friendlier 1.0.5 incarnation.  I'd have just let nature take its course to watch the explosions, then reverted.  Salute /o!

Anyway, staying vertical long enough to let the SRBs (and later the asparagus) run dry so they can just slip straight down the sides of the rocket isn't avoiding pilot error, it's wasting a lot of fuel.  You need to start gravity turning very early in the launch, which means the boosters won't be level when you drop them, which means the longer they are, the more chance they have of gravity making them fall into the rocket.  Thus, Septratons!

Seriously, Sepratrons are my favorite part in the game.  Not only do they keep my rockets safe from dropped boosters (which is what they're intended for), they power excellent homebrew (as opposed to BDA) weapons, beautiful pyrotechnics, and top-fuel dragsters that can flirt with Mach 2 on the runway .  You should use them.  It'll change your life.

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

23 hours ago, jarratt said:

Hi Geschosskopf

 

Thanks for the advice about sepratrons.  This is one of the biggest rockets I have designed.  But it turns out it was all pilot error,  Cos things went much better .......... ish,  here:-

 

 

Thanks for watching.  Keep the advice coming!

"The rocket was perfect. It just landed on the wrong planet"

                                                                                         - Wernher Von Braun 

Anyway, I saw your duna 4 on youtube. Good job!

Edited April 18, 2016 by LetsGoToMars!

[jarratt]

On 4/17/2016 at 9:44 PM, Geschosskopf said:

Hehehe, NICE abort-to--landing with that thing, and you were totally robbed by the cruel sea even in its friendlier 1.0.5 incarnation.  I'd have just let nature take its course to watch the explosions, then reverted.  Salute /o!

Anyway, staying vertical long enough to let the SRBs (and later the asparagus) run dry so they can just slip straight down the sides of the rocket isn't avoiding pilot error, it's wasting a lot of fuel.  You need to start gravity turning very early in the launch, which means the boosters won't be level when you drop them, which means the longer they are, the more chance they have of gravity making them fall into the rocket.  Thus, Septratons!

Seriously, Sepratrons are my favorite part in the game.  Not only do they keep my rockets safe from dropped boosters (which is what they're intended for), they power excellent homebrew (as opposed to BDA) weapons, beautiful pyrotechnics, and top-fuel dragsters that can flirt with Mach 2 on the runway .  You should use them.  It'll change your life.

Hi Geschosskopf,

 

So you like  Sepratrons  then?  I will see if I can add a few to my next Rocket.

 

Well,  here goes 3rd time lucky,  hope I dont make any rookie mistakes here!

 

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, jarratt said:

So you like  Sepratrons  then?  I will see if I can add a few to my next Rocket.

Well, they'd save you a lot of fuel on the launch.  You're going straight up to over 30km to keep the radial stacks from killing you, which is quite inefficient.  If you did a gravity turn starting practically just off the pad, you'd already be close to horizontal by 30km and you'd get to orbit with way less fuel consumed.  But to be able to do that, you need to kick your boosters out with Seps.

1 hour ago, jarratt said:

Well,  here goes 3rd time lucky,  hope I dont make any rookie mistakes here!

Oh geez, that hurts!  But it happens to everybody at least once

Anyway, an MJ tip.  The app you wanted to get your Duna intercept once you left Kerbin's SOI was the "Fine-Tune Closest Approach to Target".  

[max_creative]

Congratulations! 

[jarratt]

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, they'd save you a lot of fuel on the launch.  You're going straight up to over 30km to keep the radial stacks from killing you, which is quite inefficient.  If you did a gravity turn starting practically just off the pad, you'd already be close to horizontal by 30km and you'd get to orbit with way less fuel consumed.  But to be able to do that, you need to kick your boosters out with Seps.

Oh geez, that hurts!  But it happens to everybody at least once

Anyway, an MJ tip.  The app you wanted to get your Duna intercept once you left Kerbin's SOI was the "Fine-Tune Closest Approach to Target".  

Thanks I will try that next time!

 

Thanks for watching!

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, they'd save you a lot of fuel on the launch.  You're going straight up to over 30km to keep the radial stacks from killing you, which is quite inefficient.  If you did a gravity turn starting practically just off the pad, you'd already be close to horizontal by 30km and you'd get to orbit with way less fuel consumed.  But to be able to do that, you need to kick your boosters out with Seps.

Oh geez, that hurts!  But it happens to everybody at least once

Anyway, an MJ tip.  The app you wanted to get your Duna intercept once you left Kerbin's SOI was the "Fine-Tune Closest Approach to Target".  

 

OK,  Here goes attempt number 4...... **Spoiler alert**  Things go better than the last 3 attempts!

 

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by jarratt

[Geschosskopf]

19 hours ago, jarratt said:

Thanks I will try that next time!

Cliffhanger

OK, some more MJ tips...

As you see, the Hohmann Transfer app requires you to be in the same SOI as  your target, so it's only good for going from orbiting a central body to something else orbiting the same central body.  Thus Kerbin --> Mun or solar orbit--> any planet.  The Hohmann also sends you out with the inclination you have to start with and takes zero account of the target's inclination, so if your target is in an inclined orbit, you won't usually get an encounter after this burn.  You're pretty much required to do a mid-course burn to change your inclination to actually hit the target (uinless you're going to Mun).

Regular Transfer to Another Planet is the same only doesn't require you to be in the same SOI.  But it will require a mid-course inclination burn to actually hit the target.

Advanced Transfer to Another Planet (1st app on the list) includes the inclination change in the departure burn so will usually give you an encounter right off the bat, unless something goes wrong or you throw things off by staging during the departure burn.  With this one, once you select your target, then select Porkchop Plot.  This is a graph of departure time vs dV.  The closer to the left edge, the sooner you leave.  The darker blue the color on the plot, the lower the dV required.  So look for the darkest blue area, zoom in on that with the mouse wheel (SLOWLY, 1 click at a time), then left-click on the spot you want, then hit the "create node" button.  Due to floating point errors inherent in KSP, you'll probably need a slight tweak burn after you leave Kerbin's SOI to get the Pe you want at the target, but it won't be nearly as big as required by the other methods.

In all cases, once you're on your way (and out of Kerbin's SOI if going to another planet), use the Fine Tune Closest Approach app to set up the mid-course tweak.

There's also a WONDERFUL mod by @Snark called "Better Burn Time".  It eliminates the problem of node burn times going to N/A when you leave the ship to warp ahead in at the space center.  The mod always shows you the real burn time, which MJ will then use, so you don't have to run the engines a little to see the burn time.  This is important because doing that little burn to reset the burn time screws up the node a bit.  Better Burn Time should definitely be stock.

Also, when warping ahead multiple days, it's best to do it in the tracking center so you don't get the epilepsy-inducing day/night screen flashing.  You have Kerbal Alarm Clock so there's no need to count the days going by.  Set up KAC to default to creating alarms 5 minutes prior to the actual event.  Then, when you create a node for a ship, click KAC's "Create Alarm" button.  This will automatically create an alarm 5 minutes before the maneuver node you just made.  Then you can go to the tracking center and warp full speed and KAC kill the warp and throw up the alarm in the tracking center.  Click "Go to ship and restore maneuver nodes".  Once you're at the ship, click "Restore maneuver node" again, then close and delete the alarm.  Finally, tell MJ to execute the next burn and off you go.

[jarratt]

16 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Cliffhanger

OK, some more MJ tips...

As you see, the Hohmann Transfer app requires you to be in the same SOI as  your target, so it's only good for going from orbiting a central body to something else orbiting the same central body.  Thus Kerbin --> Mun or solar orbit--> any planet.  The Hohmann also sends you out with the inclination you have to start with and takes zero account of the target's inclination, so if your target is in an inclined orbit, you won't usually get an encounter after this burn.  You're pretty much required to do a mid-course burn to change your inclination to actually hit the target (uinless you're going to Mun).

Regular Transfer to Another Planet is the same only doesn't require you to be in the same SOI.  But it will require a mid-course inclination burn to actually hit the target.

Advanced Transfer to Another Planet (1st app on the list) includes the inclination change in the departure burn so will usually give you an encounter right off the bat, unless something goes wrong or you throw things off by staging during the departure burn.  With this one, once you select your target, then select Porkchop Plot.  This is a graph of departure time vs dV.  The closer to the left edge, the sooner you leave.  The darker blue the color on the plot, the lower the dV required.  So look for the darkest blue area, zoom in on that with the mouse wheel (SLOWLY, 1 click at a time), then left-click on the spot you want, then hit the "create node" button.  Due to floating point errors inherent in KSP, you'll probably need a slight tweak burn after you leave Kerbin's SOI to get the Pe you want at the target, but it won't be nearly as big as required by the other methods.

In all cases, once you're on your way (and out of Kerbin's SOI if going to another planet), use the Fine Tune Closest Approach app to set up the mid-course tweak.

There's also a WONDERFUL mod by @Snark called "Better Burn Time".  It eliminates the problem of node burn times going to N/A when you leave the ship to warp ahead in at the space center.  The mod always shows you the real burn time, which MJ will then use, so you don't have to run the engines a little to see the burn time.  This is important because doing that little burn to reset the burn time screws up the node a bit.  Better Burn Time should definitely be stock.

Also, when warping ahead multiple days, it's best to do it in the tracking center so you don't get the epilepsy-inducing day/night screen flashing.  You have Kerbal Alarm Clock so there's no need to count the days going by.  Set up KAC to default to creating alarms 5 minutes prior to the actual event.  Then, when you create a node for a ship, click KAC's "Create Alarm" button.  This will automatically create an alarm 5 minutes before the maneuver node you just made.  Then you can go to the tracking center and warp full speed and KAC kill the warp and throw up the alarm in the tracking center.  Click "Go to ship and restore maneuver nodes".  Once you're at the ship, click "Restore maneuver node" again, then close and delete the alarm.  Finally, tell MJ to execute the next burn and off you go.

Wow Geschosskopf,   Thats a lot of info,  I hope you have that on copy and paste not written just for me!  So you noticed I didnt know what I was doing with the MJ then?  As I said,  my first time past Minmus!  

 

Well I have copy and paste this info into my notes and will try it out next time I head for Duna!

 

Thanks for the help! and Thanks for watching!

 

In case anyone has not subscribed on my youtube account (www.youtube.com/aylwickUK) here is the next video in the series

 

Aylwick

Edited April 20, 2016 by jarratt

[Geschosskopf]

1 minute ago, jarratt said:

Wow Geschosskopf,   Thats a lot of info,  I hope you have that on copy and paste not written just for me! 

No, that was just for you.  I type over 60wpm so no big deal.  And you're welcome.  

 

[KingPhantom]

i laughed my balls off in the 3rd attemp when you realize that you forgot the solar panels. awesome reaction on the right bottom :). i absolutly know that feeling, bro!