Hello! I need help!

[herv768]

So, i bought KSP some time ago, and i don't know how to reach and land in other moons. The max i did was a lunar fly-by, and i only did that by discovering rockomax thrusters.

Can someone help?

Image of the rocket that did the fly-by:

(note: this isn't the full rocket, but the 1st stage was 4 of the biggest SRB's, 1 medium Rockomax fuel tank and 1 small Rockomax fuel tank, alng with the Mainsail engine.

Edited December 7, 2017 by herv768
wow accidental post x2

[Snark]

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

22 minutes ago, herv768 said:

Can someone help?

I expect someone can.  You've come to a place full of helpful folks. 

Moving your post to "Gameplay Questions", since that's generally where folks go to look for answers, and you'll probably get the best traction there.

There are a lot of tutorials out there on the internet-- I'm sure a youtube search will turn up a lot, or you can look in the "Tutorials" sub-forum here for general advice.

KSP is a game with so many different ways of accomplishing any given task, though, that open-ended questions like yours can be tricky.  My suggestion?  Pick a ship that's giving you trouble, then post the following:

1. A statement of what exactly you're trying to accomplish.  (e.g. "I'm trying to build a Mun lander.")
2. A screenshot of your ship in the VAB.
3. A detailed description of what the problem is, i.e. where you hit difficulty.  (e.g. "It keeps flipping during atmospheric ascent."  or, "It gets to low orbit okay, but it runs out of fuel when I try to send it to the Mun".  or, "My lander keeps tipping over".  or, "I don't know how to steer the ship when it's landing, and I keep crashing."  or whatever your problem is.

By giving us a specific problem to solve, we can give specific answers.  It's a whole lot easier for us to look at your ship and find specific issues you can fix, than it is to give open-ended advice.

Looking at the ship can also help us understand whether this is likely to be a design problem ("oh, there's no way that ship has enough dV for a Mun landing") or possibly a piloting problem ("hmm, that ship looks like it ought to be okay, can you describe your flight path to us?").  Both design and piloting are important.  For example, a common problem that folks who are new to KSP often encounter is that they run out of fuel before they've done what they're trying to do.  But the reason for running out of fuel is crucial:  it might be because the rocket simply doesn't have enough fuel for the job... or it might be that the rocket is fine, but it's being flown in a way that wastes fuel, so that it ends up running out anyway.  Or it could be some combination of both.

In any case, good luck!  And we're happy to offer more detailed advice if you can give us a bit more to work with.  As I mention:  VAB screenshots are really helpful.

[herv768]

 

3 minutes ago, Snark said:

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

[...]

Thank you for helping! Anyway, what i need help is that i need more fuel to land on the Mun and get back, but if i do so, i don't have enough dV to use to go to the mun. That is what i am wondering.

 

[Snark]

21 minutes ago, herv768 said:

Thank you for helping! Anyway, what i need help is that i need more fuel to land on the Mun and get back, but if i do so, i don't have enough dV to use to go to the mun. That is what i am wondering.

Yes.  And what I am telling you is that we need a screenshot of your ship in the VAB so that we can help address your problem.

It might be that your ship design needs work.  Maybe you've built a thing that simply doesn't have enough dV, and you need some engineering advice about how to build the ship more efficiently so that it will have enough dV to get the job done.

Or maybe you've built a ship that has enough dV to get to the Mun and back, but you're flying it in a really inefficient way that wastes too much fuel, so it ends up not being enough.  (That's a very common problem for new KSP players.  "How to fly rockets for maximum dV efficiency" is a skill that takes time to develop.)

Or maybe it might be some of both problems.

Whatever the problem is ... we really need the screenshot, and a precise description of your mission profile (i.e. what you're doing when you're trying to fly it.  "The first <???> stages get me into a circular Kerbin orbit that's <???> kilometers high, then I do a <???> m/s burn to go to the Mun, then I do a <???> m/s burn to capture to Mun orbit at an altitude of <???>", that sort of thing.

 

That's the level of information that we need to be able to help you.  Without that, what you're asking us here is kind of like going down to your local auto mechanic-- without your car-- and saying to him "My car won't run, what do I do?"  He's not going to be able to help you unless he can look at the car. 

[herv768]

It's isn't my piloting (although i did waste fuel accidentally trying to orbit the mun) but i couldn't do a normal orbit on kerbin, not even if i didn't waste fuel.

Here it is (every symmetry mode object is in 4x, so no need for back or right)

Front:

 

Left:

[Draalo]

Welcome herv768

we do care about newcomers but for giving more specific advise we need more specific information. A mod that provides some to you (and us in screenshoots) is:

download it, unzip it and copy the content into your "game data" folder - assumming you are playing on PC.

Add the new KER-part to your vessel or just hit "settings" in the KER window in the VAB and set it to partless (i recommend that for different reasons)

 

Then bring us some pictures:

vessel in the VAB, KER Atmosphere ON

vessel in the VAB, KER Atmosphere OFF

vessel started, 10km altitude

map view when you have reached orbit, with planned maneuver for a Mun encounter.

 

More is sometimes less - 4 of the biggest SRBs are overpowered. (Allways ignite the main engine together with the SRBs, if needed reduce the thrust of the SRBs in the VAB - Engines with gimbal are allowing steering).

Make your Lander staged. Example:

MK1 pod, parachute, heatshield, decoupler

below a FL-T 400 Tank with a Terrier

radial attached: 2 more FL-T 400 with fuelpipes to the center tank and 2 legs attached to each radial tank. Put a nosecone on top for better aerodynamics.

After launching from the Mun just ditch the radial tanks when empty. 

 

This is my standard design in early career - in fact it can carry some more weight, add 2x Goo, thermo- and barometer.

 

Its possible to make a vessel only with 1,25m parts but to keep it simple just:

 

Mount a decoupler below the Terrier, adapter to 2,5m, medium tank and a Poodle. (= 2,5m version of the Terrier)

 

Liftstage should be some Rockomax tanks with:

a) a Mainsail but no booster (if you need boosters to lift off you have a design flaw in the stages above)

b) Skipper with 2 boosters to provide enough trust to lift off

 

Build.

Try.

Wonder.

Repeat

 

Provide pictures as stated above and get more specific advise,

c u,

Draalo

Edited December 7, 2017 by Draalo
some typos

[Snark]

3 hours ago, herv768 said:

It's isn't my piloting (although i did waste fuel accidentally trying to orbit the mun) but i couldn't do a normal orbit on kerbin, not even if i didn't waste fuel.

...Except that now that you've posted your screenshot, it seems likely that it is piloting.

Why do I say that?  Well, since you're running KER and have helpfully included the readout there, it looks like you have something like 8.5 km/s of dV.  That should be comfortably enough to do a Mun landing and return.   A typical dV budget for a Mun mission looks like:  About 3400 m/s to get to LKO, then about 850 m/s to get to Mun, then something like 250 m/s to slow to orbit, then 700 m/s to land, another 700 m/s to take off, another 250 m/s to go home.  So, a bit over 6 km/s altogether.  With 8.5 km/s on your ship, you should be able to do a Mun mission with over 2 km / s of dV to spare.

So... something's off, here.

You're wasting a bit more dV to aerodynamic drag than you need to, because you're using the "blunt" adapter between your 2.5m stack and your 1.25m stack; I'd recommend using the tapered adapter for better streamlining.  However, that's a pretty minor thing and can't explain what your troubles are.  If you can't even get that ship to Kerbin orbit, let alone the Mun, then there's something amiss.

Can you describe exactly how you get that ship to orbit?  What do you mean by a "normal" orbit, and when you say "couldn't", what do you mean?  Do you mean you run out of fuel when you're still on a suborbital trajectory?

Here are a few specific questions that will help us get a clearer picture:

• When your ship hits 10 km altitude, how fast are you going, and how many degrees from the vertical are you?
• When your Kickback SRBs burn out, how fast are you going, what's your altitude, and how many degrees from the vertical are you?
• Describe what you do to put yourself in orbit.  You launch off the pad and then what?  Step by step.

More questions may follow later, but those will suffice for now to get the ball rolling. 

 

[herv768]

2 minutes ago, Snark said:

...Except that now that you've posted your screenshot, it seems likely that it is piloting.

[...]

 

Well, it wasn't piloting at all, because with SAS on a "perfect" transfer, i've wasted 2x the fuel. so nevermind my skills of being dumb.

My manuever node was way off.

[herv768]

TRHEAD CLOSED ;-;

[Snark]

11 minutes ago, herv768 said:

Well, it wasn't piloting at all, because with SAS on a "perfect" transfer, i've wasted 2x the fuel. so nevermind my skills of being dumb.

My manuever node was way off.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not calling you "dumb" or anything like that.  I'm not even slightly criticizing you!  Just that there are different ways to get to orbit in KSP, and some of them are a lot more efficient than others.  It's not at all obvious to a new player which ways are more efficient than others.  You could be flying without realizing that there's actually a more efficient trajectory possible, not because you're dumb but just because you're new.  We live and we learn, so I'm just trying to help, here. 

Not sure what you mean by "SAS on a perfect transfer".  SAS just keeps your ship pointed in the direction you tell it to point-- it doesn't do piloting or plan transfers or anything.  So if you have SAS on, that's great, but that's not going to make the difference for whether you can get to orbit or not.

And when you say your "maneuver node was way off"-- well, that would do it.  That's an example of the category of problem that I classify as "piloting" -- i.e. anything at all involving the flying of the ship, rather than the design of the ship.

[Draalo]

I was typing while you posted more

Fell free to join my Discord:

https://discord.gg/M8x7DZ7

I am german but there is a channel "english only" and most of my mates speak english too.

Easy to share pictures there and get quick respose.

(Anyone is welcomed there)

[herv768]

1 minute ago, Snark said:

(explanation that made me feel dumb)

oh i get it, but the SAS part was about i made a node that i thought was perfect, but instead i wasted 2x the delta v normally used.

anyway, thanks for the help.

[Vanamonde]

Here's a guide I wrote. Comes with an example ship you can download.