Your Unusual Tricks of the Trade

[LaytheDragon]

1 hour ago, Corona688 said:

You can definitely fit Jeb inside one 1.25m service bay.  I once managed it by accident while spacewalking around the island airport and trying to get him back in the craft.  3 minutes of desperate searching for Jeb and randomly clicking everything and suddenly I get the popup, "store experiments?"

He was in the freaking service bay.  And I guess, when attached to the command pod, you can store experiments from there.

I have stuck a kerbal in a 1.25 m service bay before (with no command chair) for a rescue contract to save on mass.

Spoiler

A view where the inside and outside of the service bay can be seen:

Landed:

 

[magnemoe]

1 hour ago, Corona688 said:

You can definitely fit Jeb inside one 1.25m service bay.  I once managed it by accident while spacewalking around the island airport and trying to get him back in the craft.  3 minutes of desperate searching for Jeb and randomly clicking everything and suddenly I get the popup, "store experiments?"

He was in the freaking service bay.  And I guess, when attached to the command pod, you can store experiments from there.

Kerbal in external seat can store unlimited experiments. 

[Corona688]

21 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Kerbal in external seat can store unlimited experiments. 

Maybe he brought fridge magnets to stick them to the hull.

[Brownhair2]

Ok, I recently tried this, and lo and behold, it worked:

It's a parachute! It's great for slowing down during re-entry. I'd still recommend normal parachutes once you slow down enough, but the best part is that you don't have to. The Mk1-2 Command Pod can survive a splashdown with just this (haven't tried land though)

EDIT: You can not survive lithobraking

Edited June 19, 2016 by Brownhair2
moar testing

[AbacusWizard]

2 hours ago, Brownhair2 said:

Ok, I recently tried this, and lo and behold, it worked:

It's a parachute! It's great for slowing down during re-entry. I'd still recommend normal parachutes once you slow down enough, but the best part is that you don't have to. The Mk1-2 Command Pod can survive a splashdown with just this (haven't tried land though)

EDIT: You can not survive lithobraking

That's the second biggest mushroom I've ever seen!

[Michael R]

Really useful thread.  Lots of new tricks to try.

I've developed a rule of thumb that works for me, maybe it'll be useful to someone else:

If I give my first stage 1500dV, my rocket will invariably be high enough when staging that the second stage doesn't need in-atmo ISP efficiency.

[Corona688]

22 hours ago, LaytheDragon said:

I have stuck a kerbal in a 1.25 m service bay before (with no command chair) for a rescue contract to save on mass.

  Reveal hidden contents

A view where the inside and outside of the service bay can be seen:

Landed:

 

How did you get them in there, in EVA!?  They just bounce off..!

[LaytheDragon]

3 minutes ago, Corona688 said:

How did you get them in there, in EVA!?  They just bounce off..!

Rotate the craft so the Kerbal enters feet first from above or head-first from below into the entrance. Also, be sure to do this in LKO with physics warp, or by allowing timewarp and then jetpacking the kerbal back to the craft around 70,000 m above Kerbin, or else the kerbal will drift through the ship and off during timewarp.

[Corona688]

3 minutes ago, LaytheDragon said:

Rotate the craft so the Kerbal enters feet first from above or head-first from below into the entrance. Also, be sure to do this in LKO with physics warp, or by allowing timewarp and then jetpacking the kerbal back to the craft around 70,000 m above Kerbin, or else the kerbal will drift through the ship and off during timewarp.

Feetfirst works!  The head doesn't fit, but when you slam the hatch shut it kind of 'gulps' them in.

The warning about timewarp is quite helpful too.

When I tried this sideways, the entire craft spaghettified! 

Edited June 19, 2016 by Corona688

[luizopiloto]

The method I use to send heavy stuff into orbit, We all know the Delta-IV Heavy lifter right?
3 stages side-by-side, centre one throttled down... It seems to be the most simple and stable heavy-lifter design concept for KSP...
So... make a lifter that uses this same concept, and stack them to send really heavy stuff into orbit... like this:
 

 

Another trick I have. it's for rendezvous...
Launch when you target is 200Km away from you... Map view show you this info when you select a target and hover your mouse above it.
park in a orbit 20~10Km lower than target...
When the target mark on NavBall (Orbital Mode) get to +20°, burn prograde until your AP. get 200m close to your target's AP... then use RCS to adjust encounter... works for orbits between 90, 200Km... :3

Edited June 19, 2016 by luizopiloto

[Anth]

Right click on the Apoapsis/Periapsis and whatever else you usually mouse over to get information to pop up...and see the text slightly dim...and then move the mouse

away from that information...and it stays even if its moving. I saw that being done recently in a KSPTV broadcast by NathanKell.

[moogoob]

2 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

So... make a lifter that uses this same concept, and stack them to send really heavy stuff into orbit... like this:

When in doubt, use one or more of your existing heavy lifters as a booster. Got it!

[Kertech]

Spamming tiny probes early on in career mode and sending them as far as you will sped the game up! Especially if you can fit 3+ in a launch

Normally before I make orbit I fling something into solar orbit, brute force straight up style!

[Corona688]

Just now I had to derbit sometthing with Bill aboard which didn't want to point its heat-shield down instead of up...

What I had to do was leave the ascent stage still attached, and force it to tumble during re-entry.  It heated up A LOT but by the time it was nearing overheat, other parts would be coming to the fore and they would cool down.  It made it, just barely.

[Corona688]

If you're flying at night, jet engine exhaust is an image intensifier!  Look through it to see how close the ground is.  It just saved me from an uncomfortable mountain impact...

Edited June 19, 2016 by Corona688

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Okay;

1. Backups.  I start a craft, then when I make a major design change, I save, then add a number to the end of the name, and make the change.  
2. Holding alt while attaching something forces it to attach at a node, rather than on the surface.
3. While rotating a part with the gizmo, move the mouse far away from the center of the gizmo for more precise rotation. (thanks to @Majorjim for this one)
4. Every craft is a tree, branching off from the root part.  Keep this in mind while building.  You can both be tricked by this (trying to attach a part to two places) and you can abuse it (offset something that needs to be stable, but has to be at the outer limits of the craft away from the root, then build backwards from it towards the root.

[fourfa]

I use this format for all named saves: (WW)y (XXX)d (YY)h (ZZ)m.  Sometimes with a useful descriptor ('duna mission ready to depart', 'etc).  Replace the letters and parentheses with the actual values, obv.

This way they line up in alphanumerical order, never have to hunt around to find the right one.  Note you need to use two numerals in Year, Hour and Minute, and three in Day.  I haven't yet needed three in Year though I'm sure that's happened!

Edited June 20, 2016 by fourfa

[Majorjim!]

2 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Backups.  I start a craft, then when I make a major design change, I save, then add a number to the end of the name, and make the change.  

THIS.

 I have done this for years now and it has saved hours of work many, many times. Every builder should do this. I save anytime I do something tricky or that took at least 15mins to do. Save save save save folks.

[g00bd0g]

I park a small rover just past each end of the KSC runway to give myself something to target when re-entering and landing. Poor man's ILS! Makes it very easy to land even at night or with clouds.

Edited June 20, 2016 by g00bd0g

[cantab]

Relating to what @luizopiloto posted, I've found that for very large lifters that might use asparagus staging, a square/rectangular arrangement of the stacks seems to work better than a hexagonal or other radial arrangement. By keeping everything at 90 degrees it all fits together well however many stacks you need.

[Cirocco]

I'm fairly certain this is common practice but I haven't seen it on this thread yet. Similar to what g00bd0g does:

put one flag on each side of the runway and name them "runway sea side" and "runway land side" or similar. You can use them to line up properly as well as get an idea of the distance to the runway. 

[aleis]

Frequently for smaller interplanetary landers, I'll build them up side down on top the launch booster with a "transfer" fuel tank inbetween the two.  

 

Launch to LKO decouple the lander with transfer tank.  Turn around the right direction,  burn to the next planet, decouple my transfer tank and land.  Make lander engines pull double duty

[Skystorm]

@g00bd0g and @Cirocco Check out this mod for all your landing needs.

And you might also find the following mod helpful for flying approaches down to the runway.

I use both of these and consistently make my landings in any weather day or night.

[The Thyroid Man]

Duna, Ike, minmus, mun, gilly, dres, pol, bop, Vall, and eeloo can all be landed on (and gotten back to low orbit) by a fuel tank with 360 liquid fuel  (and oxidizer) if your engine is a terrier engine. Use this to make small landers to save mass.

Edited June 20, 2016 by The Thyroid Man
It autocorrected 'dres' to 'fred'

[JoeNapalm]

12 hours ago, Majorjim said:

THIS.

 I have done this for years now and it has saved hours of work many, many times. Every builder should do this. I save anytime I do something tricky or that took at least 15mins to do. Save save save save folks.

That's why all my vessels have "Mk I" on up.

 

-Jn-