Newbie Saying "Hi"

[Monde]

Hey all.

I actually played KSP when it was in its infancy and other than a simple rocket never really got it to work. Since the Career made was added I  couldn't stay away. Although the learning curve is pretty steep and I am useless at some things at least my little dudes make it back in one piece.

So I am nearly out of cash because I could not figure out how to do the splash down missions and sent up loads of rockets into orbit, detached the rocket and then tried to land in the ocean. Needless to say I finally went online and realised I needed to be IN the water when I detach. DOH!!

I am still trying to figure out the science and how that works but have been "Goo'ing" it in Orbit to get some points.

My one rocket though is driving me to DRINK. I put 4 of the large solid rocket boosters around a central booster with the pod at the top. They are attached to decouplers that, well, don't seem to work. I hear them click when I try to detach the 4 side SRB but they seem to like their buddy in the middle and stay with him until I decouple him :). Problem for another day.

So money, the friendly boosters and then the infuriating "Heading to Mun part 1 tutorial"where you run out of gas trying to Orbit Mun......oh and figuring out how to get to certain areas to get a crew report  ......and maybe making a plane.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Monde

[James Kerman]

Greetings and welcome to the forum, @Monde.

The game has a really steep learning curve for beginners.  During missions, In the top right hand of screen, there are icons.  If you open the contract icon it displays success conditions for each contract you have selected.  When you see green ticks before each condition you are good to perform the required action.

If you could upload an image of your 'problem rocket' I'm sure the community can help.

The way to figure out where to take various reports:  Build your vessel (yes, aircraft are great for this), Launch but before you take off, go to the map view.  You should see a marker related to a contract you have selected - click on it and select 'activate navigation' - this marker should then appear on your navball.

[Monde]

1 hour ago, James Kerman said:

If you could upload an image of your 'problem rocket' I'm sure the community can help.

Will do. Just currently at the Salt Mine  Its definitely not pretty but it is functional.

 

Quick Edit (Sorry Mods) :  We seriously need  a Steam Achievement for the "Rocket Spin" . I think almost every time I have a small or simple rocket I forget to move the parachute to 0 and rocket ignition to 1 and end up flicking all over the place till the engine runs out of fuel.

Edited March 15, 2018 by Monde

[Monde]

The ROCKET

4 Prong

[Kerbal101]

Hey there,  @Monde !!

I think there is something wrong with your uploaded photo. I suggest using imgur instead, or similar service, that does not restrict photo embedding.

/ GL

[Vanamonde]

Can't see the pic either.  

By the way, it's easy to accidentally attach side stacks to the middle stack directly instead of the decouplers. They might not be ejecting the boosters because the boosters are not actually attached to them. 

[Monde]

Rushing to a wedding  and didn't check the link. apologies.

When i use the Insert button though it doesnt add the pic. How do i get that right?

Take 2

[James Kerman]

2 hours ago, Monde said:

When i use the Insert button though it doesnt add the pic. How do i get that right?

Just copy and paste the direct imgur link into the forum textbox and it should show you a preview.

The de-couplers and staging look like they should work but I would rebuild the outer booster setup just to make sure.  Try placing the decouplers closer to the end of your core stage (If they are placed behind the center of mass of your core stage there is less chance they will interfere with your rocket when staging). 

You also don't need the FL-T200 tanks on top - these contain incompatible fuel for solid boosters and will just be adding mass.  The capsule decoupler will be causing more drag than if you used the TD-12.

Solid rockets are cheap but they have some drawbacks.  They do not have gimbal (the ability to move around and provide stability and control), they cannot be throttled or shut down in flight and as they empty the thrust to weight ratio goes up quite quickly.  I generally just use them to get my rocket off the pad and then stage to liquid fuelled.  That said I have seen many players do great missions completely on solids.

 

[Monde]

 

5 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

Just copy and paste the direct imgur link into the forum textbox and it should show you a preview.

Awesome. Thanks. This is going to make life a lot easier and the Forums much prettier from posting my side.

5 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

Just copy and paste the direct imgur link into the forum textbox and it should show you a preview.

You also don't need the FL-T200 tanks on top - these contain incompatible fuel for solid boosters and will just be adding mass.  The capsule decoupler will be causing more drag than if you used the TD-12.

Thanks I will remove the FL-T200 tanks as that is good to know. The Capsule decoupler was me trying to complete multiple contracts at the same time and failing miserably.

That Rocket needs a complete redesign I think but learning a lot as we go.  

 

[Monde]

On 3/16/2018 at 12:38 PM, Monde said:

That Rocket needs a complete redesign I think but learning a lot as we go.  

Much knashing of teeth and unhappiness happened last night.  I loaded my Rocket that I used for escape and reentry to finally do a complete orbit and it kept falling over on the landing pad. fell over multiple times. In frustration I pulled out my plane I used on the weekend (Scott Manley Basic Plane) and that blew up on the runway.  Decided to take a walk quit the game in frustration, got a beer, had dinner. Wen back reloaded and suddenly nothing was falling over and I got my Orbit done whoop whoop. I did forget to to test the heat shield though.

Quick question as it is driving me to drink. I have a pod, Science jr and heat shield (1.6m I think, not the small one). I did my reentry at 30 -31km and blew the heatshield and Science jr. What am I doing wrong here?

[James Kerman]

Good work on the orbit, Mate and forgetting tests is something I specialize in too.

44 minutes ago, Monde said:

Quick question as it is driving me to drink. I have a pod, Science jr and heat shield (1.6m I think, not the small one). I did my reentry at 30 -31km and blew the heatshield and Science jr. What am I doing wrong here?

In early career I always build a mk1 pod with 2 science jr's and a heat shield 1.25m with no ablator below (you can right click the part in the VAB and remove it).  This always gets me down safely.

I'm assuming you were pointing retrograde () in surface mode (left click on the speed indicator above the navball to change modes) on the way down.  If you are a bit off while going through the hot part of the descent the science jr is not going to be occluded by the heat shield and may explode, taking the heat shield with it.

Did you see any brownish gold bars, that turn red before exploding, on any of the parts?

[Monde]

14 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

Good work on the orbit, Mate and forgetting tests is something I specialize in too.

In early career I always build a mk1 pod with 2 science jr's and a heat shield 1.25m with no ablator below (you can right click the part in the VAB and remove it).  This always gets me down safely.

I'm assuming you were pointing retrograde () in surface mode (left click on the speed indicator above the navball to change modes) on the way down.  If you are a bit off while going through the hot part of the descent the science jr is not going to be occluded by the heat shield and may explode, taking the heat shield with it.

Did you see any brownish gold bars, that turn red before exploding, on any of the parts?

Been working 18hrs so gonna go with bum towards the earth  .  My heat shield went super red but wasnt sure what popped first the shield or the jr. I did have a service bay below the jr but all 3 were going through brown into red.....

A friend said a similar thing and I have full ablator so thought it would be all good. I must check my settings when I get home.

[James Kerman]

It definitely sounds like you were off the retrograde vector. 

You can take the science from the experiment and load it in the capsule.

If you were having trouble controlling your ship you may be out of power.  The second icon down, in the top left is your "resources" - I would keep an eye on this for any vessel without power generation.

Edited March 20, 2018 by James Kerman
correction

[Monde]

1 hour ago, James Kerman said:

You can take the science from the experiment and load it in the capsule.

Dont you need to upgrade your Base to allow Kerbil EVA?

[James Kerman]

28 minutes ago, Monde said:

Dont you need to upgrade your Base to allow Kerbil EVA?

Yeah, sorry Mate, you need to upgrade the astronaut complex.

[Vanamonde]

The materials bay is notoriously sensitive to heat, and will sometimes go blooey even when it looks like it's protected. One big thing you can do to improve its surviviability is r-click on it and close the door. It retains the collected science but is much more resistant to heat in this state. 

[Kernel Kraken]

Heh heh... @Vanamonde minus the 'Vana' equals @Monde. 

Welcome to the forums, fine sir! It sounds like your still better at KSP than I am...

Edited March 21, 2018 by TheMadKraken2297

[Monde]

On 3/21/2018 at 1:04 AM, TheMadKraken2297 said:

Heh heh... @Vanamonde minus the 'Vana' equals @Monde. 

Welcome to the forums, fine sir! It sounds like your still better at KSP than I am...

Lol this Monde is from the Xhosa word that means "He who has Patience". Although this game can seriously test it from time to time

Thanks for welcome, I brought peanuts and beer.

[Kernel Kraken]

1 hour ago, Monde said:

Lol this Monde is from the Xhosa word that means "He who has Patience". Although this game can seriously test it from time to time

Thanks for welcome, I brought peanuts and beer.

I prefer those styrofoam circus penuts and Mr. Pibb extra 

[The Minmus Derp]

install planet packs.