New Kerbonaut

[Confutus]

I had a friend recommend KSP. I downloaded the demo, tried it and liked it, and got the full program. I've been playing about two weeks, and I have some not quite absolute beginner questions. I like the career game on moderate difficulty.

I don't have the science to duplicate the launch vehicle in the training scenario. I've successfully made orbit and returned several times with a simpler and smaller vehicle, but my vehicles don't turn well in the early launch stages. Is being overpowered a likely cause?

Getting around to do science out of the immediate area of the KSC is a bit tricky. I can do crew reports, temperature and pressure readings, EVA's on the ground, and the materials lab. What are some reasonable next steps?

Airplanes at the earliest tech possible routinely crash. I've only had one make it off the ground yet and haven't managed to duplicate the feat. How do I calculate how much lift a wing will give?

My apologies if these questions have been asked and answered many times.

 

[James Kerman]

Greetings @Confutus and welcome to the forums.

Getting your rocket to turn is pretty easy, unless you're trying to do it with an Solid rockets and no Stability assist.  In early career the swivel engine has a gimbal and will help you steer your rocket unlike the reliant.  Fins are another option.

If you can make orbit then you're halfway to everywhere.  For me I usually go to the Mun next, then Minmus then interplanetary depending on the missions I get and my tech level.

As to aircraft you should have your center of mass slightly behind your center of lift - that is rule #1 for aircraft.  This thread might help:

 

[Confutus]

My rockets do turn, but far more slowly than the training scenario demonstrates. I wind up with too high an apoapsis  and not enough horizontal velocity, so I have too little fuel left after making orbit to do anything but deorbit and get back down. If the Reliant engine doesn't have a gimbal like the Swivel does, that might account for it.

I have looked over the Basic Aircraft Design but perhaps not yet carefully enough.

 

[Starhawk]

olleH

57 minutes ago, Confutus said:

I don't have the science to duplicate the launch vehicle in the training scenario. I've successfully made orbit and returned several times with a simpler and smaller vehicle, but my vehicles don't turn well in the early launch stages. Is being overpowered a likely cause?

Hello Confutus and welcome to the KSP Forum!

The Reliant, unlike the Swivel, has no gimbal.  This makes Reliant based craft more difficult to steer.

57 minutes ago, Confutus said:

Getting around to do science out of the immediate area of the KSC is a bit tricky. I can do crew reports, temperature and pressure readings, EVA's on the ground, and the materials lab. What are some reasonable next steps?

Once you upgrade the Astronaut Complex, your Kerbals can EVA when off the surface.  A craft in orbit allows a Kerbal to EVA repeatedly and get EVA reports for each of the various biomes the craft passes over.  This an excellent next step in science collection.  The same can be done at the Mun and Minmus.

Glad to have you aboard.

Happy landings!

[Confutus]

@JamesKerman. I had it backwards with the COM ahead of the COL. Once I fixed that, I could take off just fine. Getting back down (in the same number of pieces that went up) is another problem entirely, but that's a matter of practice.

@Starhawk, I hadn't realized that the Reliant didn't have gimbals, That does make a difference.  I saw in another thread that Polar Orbit is good for global coverage. Thanks!