What is your most facepalm-worthy moment regarding KSP?

[Lisias]

So, I have this megalomaniac need for building huge vessels.

I have a Mission? Great! Let's make even greater by using the GREATEST SHIP MY MACHINE CAN WITHHOLD! =P

So I spent weeks, more than a month, trying to make something that would fly without spaghetification, while also avoiding the easy way out of auto-strutting everything. Because I'm not only megalomaniac, I'm also perfectionist. Yeah, I already reserved a room on the loony bin near home.

I managed to make a blimp. A slightly big blimp. 380 Meters long.

So I launched that lady. And she flies. And she flies pretty well. Damn, she flies fast - 55m/s!!! No bad ! 

But then... Geesh, I'm somewhat low. Only 170 meters high, it's better to gain some altitude. But at 55m/s, a mere <5° inclination made the huge body start to get lift. 380 meters of lifting body to be more precise. Enough to make me loose control of her ~3.000 Tons. Lots of control to loose.

But hey, I'm at 170 meters high, right?

Well... Did I commented that she has 380 meters long? So, half 380 is 190 meters. And since I'm a good engineer-wanna-be, the CoM is at the (almost) exact center of the vessel. So she was 20 meters too longer. Or lower... #facePalm.

I cut the thrust and shoved the Joystick to front. No joy, her nose didn't stop climbing (and her butt, dropping).

I set the buoyancy to zero (she's a blimp!). Again, no joy. Her nose still raise - slower, but still raise. And her butt... #sigh

I know you know what happened. Valentina and 1025 more Kerbals became farmers.

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Lisias
alright, alright. bad grammars.

[Athen]

Forgot to add decouplers to detach the command module from the remaining fuel tanks. 'Nuff said. 

 

Pretty new to the game, so i dont have any other moments that i can remember, although im sure that is to change.

Edited June 7, 2018 by Athen

[Ok_Bruh]

my engine burns fuel instantly and weaker engines don't get off the ground

[mr. engino]

Well I'm back with another facepalm moment, and it's a whopper! It was only recently that I started playing more career mode, partially due to the fact that I was bored with science mode, and also due to installing some mods that added cool contracts. Anyhow, I accepted a rescue contract, figured it'd be easy despite not being that far down the tech tree. After designing a rescue craft that just barely fit the 30 part limit of the T1 vab, I launch the craft, and after a few maneuvers, I reach the stranded kerbal, who was in a command pod. All was going well until I got this message: "kerbal can't EVA, no crew hatch"

My simple rescue mission was SCRUBBED because of this! Good thing the mission doesn't end for a while, because I'm going to have to research some more tech tree nodes before I'd have the parts I need for situations like this!

[Terwin]

I launched an ISRU mun-hopper the other day with several open crew slots and took several rescue missions.

One was a high retrograde orbit so I went to get that one first, only to discover it was on a part with no hatch.

Reverted to earlier in the flight(I have a LS mod, so staying outside of 2km range lets them survive longer) and went in to land.

Landing went fairly well, and I even discovered that my landing site had a decent ore percentage, but after a few minutes, my fuel production dropped... I had forgotten radiators....

 

Welp, used some of the transmitted research from my new Gravioli detector to research the klaw and dent a 'rescue' ship with a screw driver, klaw, radiators and some LS supplies... 

 

[Gargamel]

On 6/2/2018 at 9:00 PM, Athen said:

Pretty new to the game, so i dont have any other moments that i can remember, although im sure that is to change. 

Don't worry, they still happen.  5+ years in this game and this:

Rest of the details in the "KSP today" thread, but needless to say, 90% of the intended lander burned up. 

[RealKerbal3x]

2 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Don't worry, they still happen.  5+ years in this game and this:

Rest of the details in the "KSP today" thread, but needless to say, 90% of the intended lander burned up. 

Eh, ‘tis just a scratch. It’ll buff out.

[Hummingbird Aerospace]

How to facepalm yourself THE KERBAL WAY:

1: Send up reusable rocket test with Jedediah, Bill, and Bob

2: Be to lazy to de-orbit it

3: Launch an Eve probe

4: Realise you are not at the transfer window

5: TTTIIIIMMMMEEEEEEWWWWWWAAAAARRRRRPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!

6: Realise you now have an Eve transfer window 

7: Realise you have left your reusable rocket crew in orbit for a YEAR AND A HALF

8: Bring poor Jebbie back home 

9: Switch to reusable second stage

10: Fail at landing 2nd stage

11: Realise you forgot to deploy the chutes on the command pod

12: Mourn the death of your best crew

13: RAGE QUIT

Edited June 16, 2018 by Imperial Star Destroyer
Oh yes and also build a Saturn V replica that has so much hydrofracking fuel that it doesn’t even get off the launchpad

[MDZhB]

I remember a while back when I sent a nuclear powered craft to Duna. I didn't realize until I was underway that nukes no longer used oxidizer, so I was stuck with half the fuel I could have had, and a huge amount of useless mass. Needless to say, they never came back.

[Moh1336]

I started a new career for 1.4, and this time I decided I wanted to be as efficient as possible in regards to delta v so I started to use delta v maps to help me plan out rockets rather than just winging it and over building.

Made a nice rocket for the intent of getting a Mun orbit and a bit of basic science stuff. Everything went well, I had a lovely fuel efficient rocket... But I forgot one very important thing. Jeb at some point wanted to come back from Mun orbit. Yep, I completely forgot to factor in delta v for the return trip.

[flantomas]

I have those kind of moments all the time, sending probes without proper antennas, sending rescue teams to help the rescue teams.

But the most notable one, was when I first started playing, after doing a bunch of suborbital and orbital flights, I was feeling pretty cocky at my string of successes, and sent a manned craft to the Mun, with intention to land.

So everything is good, aproaching the mun, I figured I should save some fuel for the return, so I wont burn the engines, instead I will use my parachutes to slow down as I quickly aproach the Mun surface, this will save me TONS of fuel, "I am a genius" I think to myself.

The exact facepalm moment was a fraction of a second after I pressed the spacebar

[XemnasTheLynxGaming]

Releasing the parachute, while going too fast for it to be safely released

[RealKerbal3x]

18 hours ago, flantomas said:

I have those kind of moments all the time, sending probes without proper antennas, sending rescue teams to help the rescue teams.

But the most notable one, was when I first started playing, after doing a bunch of suborbital and orbital flights, I was feeling pretty cocky at my string of successes, and sent a manned craft to the Mun, with intention to land.

So everything is good, aproaching the mun, I figured I should save some fuel for the return, so I wont burn the engines, instead I will use my parachutes to slow down as I quickly aproach the Mun surface, this will save me TONS of fuel, "I am a genius" I think to myself.

The exact facepalm moment was a fraction of a second after I pressed the spacebar

That's more like a *facedesk*

Or *facefloor*

Edited June 19, 2018 by RealKerbal3x

[riki2048ksp]

Career save.

I  have a  contract  to  return  to Kerbin  from  the  surface  of Minmus, but  the lander I  am  using  always  stays in orbit, and  only  the  crew  capsule  gets  back  to the ground.  So,  as I  had  done  in  previous  saves, I  attach to the reentry  vehicle a  probe  core  with  two  docking  ports and I  deliver it to the lander. The idea is to land that tiny  vehicle  attached  to  the  lander,  then   bring  back  it  with  the  crew  capsule.  So  I  undock  the lander and I  make it  suborbital.

But  I  have forgotten  the  probe

[Luc1fer]

On 6/19/2018 at 1:40 PM, RealKerbal3x said:

That's more like a *facedesk*

Or *facefloor*

Lmao i did the same xD

On 6/19/2018 at 1:40 PM, RealKerbal3x said:

That's more like a *facedesk*

Or *facefloor*

Lmao i did the same xD

[kerbinorbiter]

Coding something in kOS

forgot about the decimal point

script staged asoon as active guidance enabled

*facedoor*

[avengerki]

The plan: Put a mining rover on the Mun for refueling. Build a shuttle and rover to get to the Mun. Release the rover in low Mun orbit and land it, then land the shuttle. Refuel shuttle from rover on the mun and return. While in Mun orbit also release a polar relay satellite to aid comms. Release recovery vessels into Kerbin orbit for other contracts.

The build:  A large rover in the mk3 cargo bay oriented upside down so that it would fit and even though the wheels clipped through the cargo door would be fine and not explode on undock, also no cargo ramp needed because it is upside down and I will just use rcs to get it out of the bay in low Munar orbit then land using the twitches. Rover will have a mining rig to refuel the shuttle and send the shuttle back to kerbin.

Launch attempt 15 why can't I get this should to stop nose diving into the ground. Check the staging, looks good but man is there a lot of engines good thing I kept checking the staging when I was building everything. Ok, lets try launching it like a rocket. Looking good and nope still nose diving once the boosters are released. Lets try this then, and launch. Wait a minute why is there 6 little hotspots on the cargo bay door, doh the rovers twitch thrusters some how made it into my mess of staging and are firing. That is why it keeps nose diving. Ok staging is now fixed,  and the launch is good. Kerbin orbit achieved, off to the Mun.

Or maybe not, I used too much fuel on that ascent to burn for the Mun. Well at least this completes the kerbin station contract and I can drop off the recovery vessels into orbit to later do those contracts. I can also launch the polar scanner/relay satellite for the Mun. Maybe I should leave the rover, nah I would never be able to get it back in this bay without breaking something. Hey, I forgot I had those tourists with me,  I guess they won't get a close up of the Mun for free this time. Besides their fare just paid for the recovery vessels and satellite.

Time for kerbin deorbit. Time for my first time coming back in atmosphere with a shuttle, I feel like something is wrong. Oh man, thats right I wanted the should oriented the other direction on reentry not retrograde. Man this thing doesn't want to reorient, oh well I will come in like a normal rocket. Splash down, hmm came down a little harder than I thought.

Ok, new launch. Hey this thing is going easier without the extra recovery vehicles and satellite. Kerbin orbit achieved again, cool got enough fuel for the Mun still.

Alright the Mun is coming up, fire thrusters for orbit insertion. A highly eliptical orbit is achieved, dang almost out of fuel. Well look at that I can just lower my periapsis and land right there. Sweet, wait ummm I am coming into the surface a little to hot.

Ok, I can do this. Wasn't I supposed to do something before I landed the shuttle, oh well. Slowing down and here comes the Munar surface. Bounce, hop, bounce, back flip, roll, lose a wing but hey thats why the shuttle has emergency parachutes for the return, bounce, hop, is it ever going to stop. Oh look its stopping finally. Sweet I landed the shuttle on the Mun, sorta  and used up all of the fuel. Wasn't a graceful landing for sure.

I undocked the rover went great and didn't explode. Switch to the rover and activate rcs to get it out and it doesn't move. Wait it isn't activating the rcs thrusters, I did put rcs thrusters on it didn't I. I mean I swear I saw them firing earlier when using rcs to change the shuttles orientation, yep I see one peeking out right there. Oh, the probe core doesn't have a signal for control, hmm well I guess I will transfer a pilot over. Still nothing, oh ya the cupola module isn't a control module. Alright I can extend the antennas, but then they will get ripped off coming out of the bay lets try raising the relay antennas on the shuttle, and we are now in business I got control signal for the probe. Ok, activate rcs thrusters, I see them firing but the rover isn't moving.

While I had installed rcs thrusters along with monoprop tanks I hadn't installed enough thrusters to lift its weight. 

Ok, maybe I can get it out using the twitch thrusters I installed, hmmm nope they are oriented to drive the rover further into the bay. Oh, I know I planned on refueling the shuttle using the mining rig on the rover but ummm, I forgot a klaw and the other docking ports on the shuttle are either the wrong type or positioned in a blocked location with the shuttle in this orientation. Guess I will need to do a rescue mission, but I am not giving up on this rover yet.

Well I am already here lets try and reorient the shuttle onto the landing legs so that I can tilt the rover out. Dang it, why did I have to build such a heavy shuttle, I can't stand it up on its legs with just rcs. Maybe I might have just enough liquid fuel to, nope would need enough to take off and then reorient.

How about some landing gear fun, lets retract the side landing gear and try to rock the rover out with the shuttle only using its central landing gear. Grrr, thats not working either. I did manage to get it a wheel length out of the bay before what the rover was rocking on broke.

Well shoot. Hey I landed the shuttle on a hill I will just disengage the breaks and let it build enough speed and hopefully I hit a bump that sends the rover out of the bay. And I am rolling down the hill,  speed is picking up there is a bump coming up. Hit the bump and the rover pops up mostly out of the cargo bay, hit the rcs thrusters and proceed to curse as I just thrusted it back into the bay.

Shuttle is still rolling maybe I can hit another bump, uh oh. The shuttle is starting to tilt over and I am moving 30 m/s. Hey maybe this will work to my advantage. Yep the shuttle is rolling over, the rover is out of the bay and now the shuttle is continuing to roll over. Got the rover oriented onto its wheels in time but that shuttle is still coming at the rover time to move. Nope, slam. The shuttle pile drives the rover into the ground killing the rover and starts an explosion chain reaction.

Once all the explosions end all that is left of the shuttle and rover is a cupola, a drill and a set of landing gear. No sign of the 13 brave kerbonaut souls that were aboard to 2 vessels.

All because I didn't put enough rcs thrusters on the rover. The rover which I had taken so much care into designing so that once it was undocked would not snag any bits on the cargo bay, the rover I had taken 6 hours to build and adjust parts. The rover which then made me spend another 10 hours redesigning the shuttle to lift it to the Mun. I even remembered ladders for the rover and shuttle just in case.

Not sure how many face palm moments there were in that mission. It took a week of trial and error to even get that far. Sorry for the long windedness. Oh ya this was all done on the xbox enhanced edition.

[Gargamel]

While looking up Kerbal Space Program on Amazon for a question asked elsewhere on the forum, I found that along with a few books on astrodynamics ( I might pick one of those up), there was a Book on Anger Management listed on the first page of results...... 

[avengerki]

33 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

While looking up Kerbal Space Program on Amazon for a question asked elsewhere on the forum, I found that along with a few books on astrodynamics ( I might pick one of those up), there was a Book on Anger Management listed on the first page of results...... 

Nah, I can't see why a book on anger management would be listed... maybe a book on patience. I mean it is not like we build things and then have to wait 20-30 minutes sometimes more depending on how massive a ship was built, just to find out something wasn't set up right and watch as it explodes and then go back over and over to try to fix said issue.

[JoeNapalm]

 

Do I have to pick just one? :P

I've been known to do things like put fixed solar panels on just one side of a probe...

...build and inverted orbital stage, so that the NERVs are facing upward on launch, then screw up the staging such that you not only fire said NERVs before separating from the launch stage, but also before your main engines have cut out (Spoiler alert: this does not end well)...

...or make an automated rescue vehicle and send it off to the Deep Dark to save the day, only to realize when you get there you forgot to deselect the crew from the Command Module, and it's full of stowaways...

 

...yeeeeeah.

 

-Jn-

[Lisias]

Well… My latest one.

I'm going cheap as possible on tech and facilities on my career, so I delay any upgrading until I'm really stuck. Trying to send tourists to specific orbit inclinations is not feasible now - not enough avionics. So I'm trying to figure out something to accomplish the mission. The whole history is here and here.

My low tech solution for the problem is going Virgin Galactic: my "best" airplane (ha!) would ferry the rocket until the launch coordinates and bearing, climb using the very rocket's engines as boosters (and using its internal fuel tanks, saving the rocket's own) until the launch moment, and then release the rocket and from now the rocket is on its own. Simple - What could possible go wrong?  

But since I'm somewhat hardened by previous experiences ("what doesn't kills me, makes me stronger"), I choose to put the contraption to be tested by "real" life. I put the whole thing to circumnavigate Kerbin, testing velocity limits, altitude limits and to figure out the best launch profile. Since no one was going to space today, some sigh viewing, PR screenshots and Kerbin scanning were on the order of the day too - I'm still bean counting. (I tried to charge the tourists an extra, no success until the moment. )

But then… "Oh me, oh my, oh dear… Oh doomsday…" (Hard Har Har feelings).

Kerbin's circumference is about 3.770km. At the speed I was traveling, it would took 18500 seconds to circumnavigate - or about 5.2 hours. Almost a full day.

However, at the inclination I choose to travel (almost polar), it also means that I took the whole voyage by night. I was essentially running from the Sun. So, no nice pictures!

Ok, at least I mapped some Kerbin using Scansat's Altimeter Senson, right? no. I forgot to activate it. DAMN.

I scratched the mission and will try again tomorrow.  

Edited June 28, 2018 by Lisias
typos and bad grammar

[Gargamel]

So I had a few adult beverages with dinner tonight, and for some reason I started counting the OSHA violations in the VAB.  OMG that tanker driver needs brought up on charges!

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Since I've been playing KSP for a very long while, I don't know exactly what my biggest facepalm moment is, but this has got to be near the top of the list:

I (or rather a script I wrote) catastrophically damaged one of my shuttles during ascent. It made orbit, but was incapable of return. So I launched a second shuttle on a rescue mission manually. I set up a 0.0km intercept and for some reason in my little brain I thought "Great!". 0.0km... 0.0km!!! Predictably they crashed into eachother, so then I had two shuttles stuck in orbit.

This of course contests with the first time I launched a rocket back in 0.13. When the instructions popped up I immediately closed them thinking "Eh, who needs instructions anyways?". I then realized I didn't know how to launch, so I just started mashing keys. Eventually I hit I believe the "d" key, and I watched as my rocket slowly fell over on the pad. *KABOOM!!!*

Edited July 9, 2018 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[Geonovast]

I didn't take any screenshots, since it didn't seem relevant at the time.

Some of you may know (but probably not) that I'm fine-tuning my third generation of space shuttle.

For the most part, things are going well.  I've finally got three separate versions of the shuttle designed and ready for testing, and I'm doing the first launch test now.  The shuttle is about the size of the short-lived Gen 2 shuttle, so I'm using the same launcher, since that worked very well.  (I could hit prograde at 100 m/s and the thing would nearly put itself into orbit with only needing a 30-40 m/s circularization, no control or computer input, with a 40 ton payload).

But I could not get it to orbit.  Not only could I not get it to orbit, but getting above 30km was a chore, and it would just start coming back down.  Tried the prograde setting, empty cargo bay, nothing I did seemed to matter.

Now, I had recently installed Throttle Controlled Avionics, because in orbit, the SSMEs didn't quite line up the CoT and CoM.  I just wanted smoother burns in orbit.  After playing with the mod a bit, I decided it wasn't for me, and I uninstalled it.

Note: Uninstalling TCA does not remove its Thrust Limit settings on your stored craft.

The launcher for this shuttle uses 10 vector engines.  4 on the main tank, 3 on each booster.  Of those 10, only 4 were still set at 100%.  2 were set around 70%, two set around 25%, and the other two were at 9 PERCENT.  The two 9s were on the main tank.

 

A couple sliders later, and I'm in orbit waiting for my 56 m/s circularization burn...

[MaverickSawyer]

Okay, got an old one and a new one...

Old facepalm: in a past save, several versions ago, I had set up a science station around Minmus. I proceeded to fly a crew out on an Apollo-esque ship, docked, transferred the crew, whole nine yards. No sweat. When it comes time to go back to Kerbin, and I undock, I remembered that I had shut down the service module engine. I dutifully close my throttles...

And out of force of habit, I stage once.

My service module happily ejects from the crew capsule and sails off into the void, while my crew capsule, still aligned with the docking port it had just undocked from, redocks quite firmly, but manages to not break anything.

Cue facepalm.

I eventually run a new, compact, service module out to the station on a trans-orbital tug, and gleefully use KIS to strap it onto the stricken crew module and fly the crew home, arriving at Kerbin some 12 days later than originally planned. (I used a somewhat faster and less efficient transfer to Minmus with the service module.)

 

New facepalm: Was using @akron's absolutely glorious Landvermesser probe system to gather science from the Mun. I park in a polar orbit with the transfer stage and use the deorbit motor, descending to the south pole. All is running as smooth as could be. Smart Parts altimeter ticks over and ejects the now spent motor at 16 km, arms the landing engines and deploys the gear at 15 km. Use Translatron on Mechjeb to perform a flawless suicide burn, and land on the side of a mountain.

Then everything starts going sideways, quite literally.

The probe slides down the side of the mountain, losing nearly 200 meters of elevation and putting it in a deep bowl before it finally, grudgingly, skids to a halt. I activate my science instruments and gather that sweet, glorious science, then begin to transmit it back to Kerbin. I manage to get out two smaller experiment results before I run low on power, then begin to look around to see how long until the sun hits the probe.

Turns out, I found myself a Shackleton Crater. The probe is apparently in perpetual darkness. The sun is below the horizon of the surrounding mountains, no matter the time of "day".

Cue facepalm.