Trying to reach Mun, any advice?

[90VG]

@Streetwind Thanks for the simple "proof" video.  I'll give a shot later and see how I do. 

Edited March 24, 2018 by 90VG
Name was misspelled

[Zeiss Ikon]

@Tokoshoran Streetwind wasn't calling you out, he was replying to 90VG, and pointing out to you that 90VG was using an old, old method (which was required in pre-1.0 versions because the atmosphere was basically soup until 10-15 km, so you had to launch vertically until you were out of the soup).  Some of the older tutorials on YouTube use that technique, and it still works with a sufficiently overbuilt rocket, but with the current atmosphere, you do much better to start your gravity turn at or before 100 m/s (usually reached around 1 km), set the angle you know (from prior "simulation" or experience) that you need, and then set prograde hold and just watch the rocket until it's time to stage or shutdown for your coast to Ap and circuclarizing burn (in fact, done perfectly, there is no circularizing burn; you'll shut down at orbital altitude in a very nearly circular orbit).

I've got a rocket I use in the mid-game that flies like the training rocket; it uses a Twin Boar with a 6400 tank on top, large inline guidance unit (reaction wheel), a battery or two, decoupler, and up to 15 T of anything on top.  Flown even halfway well, you'll get LKO with enough dV left to deorbit the whole stack (there's also a version with more batteries and a probe core, with a dozen parachutes and six landing legs mounted for horizontal landing; it'll orbit more than 13T, decouple and deorbit itself and land back undamaged on not-too-steep land or water).  It's cheap, low parts count, and pretty efficient for a rocket launcher (as opposed to a HOTOL spaceplane that will have three times the parts count and five or six times the up front cost to carry the same payload, but might burn less fuel).

[Streetwind]

Yeah, What @Zeiss Ikon said

Weird, did the forum really glitch the name mention up into that sentence? On my end it looks like this.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Streetwind

[Zeiss Ikon]

@Streetwind I'm pretty sure you did it right, Tokoshoran's quoting made it look (if you didn't read carefully) like you were pointing that comment to him.

[Tokoshoran]

Eh, maybe it messed up when I hit quote and was trying to shrink down the content. I typically read what's in my own text box rather than scroll up a bit. Either way, I tried out reducing the reaction wheel's authority but to no avail. It was still way too powerful, guess I gotta nudge it repeatedly.

[Zeiss Ikon]

@Tokoshoran If you have SAS off, you want pretty slow rotation, because you'll have to stop the rotation manually.  That said, I usually don't have trouble with too much authority, even when I add a second, large reaction wheel to my launcher in addition to the built-in one in the Mk. 1-2 or Mk. 1-3.  Even after staging away the  booster, and with only the service and command stage, there's hardly any such thing as too much pitch or yaw authority.  Then again, I use the SAS holds a lot when I'm in orbit.  Even if I only have prograde and retrograde (as is the case in the early game -- once your pilot's been to orbit, that is), they're the main ones I need (I use them to get a close point near my maneuver node, even if it won't be on one of those directions when burn time comes up -- faster and easier to adjust from a hold point than rotate through 150 degrees manually).

[GoSlash27]

I found it!!

 My spreadsheet was double- counting the dry tank mass. *facepalm*

 

 

Edited March 24, 2018 by GoSlash27

[GoSlash27]

5 hours ago, Streetwind said:

Weird, did the forum really glitch the name mention up into that sentence? On my end it looks like this.

Nope. Same here.

Best,
-Slashy

[90VG]

@Streetwind  Well I flew a flew contracts with my normal vessels, and I used the technique you described and made a video of.   It was amusing because I was still carrying the orbit booster during the burn to get to the Mun.  I had 400 dv more than before.   So I did my mission (dock 2 craft, tourist flyby, plant flag) and put it away for the evening.

I came back just a little while ago and tried the "trainer" rocket you described.   Yeah, no problem at all making orbit, and no problem at all doing re-entry burn with a little to spare.  Thanks!

(This was the first attempt this evening, I forgot the decoupler)

2nd time I made it up and back.  Thanks again!

Had 30 less dv that time, but I still get 'er down.

[Zeiss Ikon]

Add one more tank and a suitable set of fins (I made mine from, IIRC, Delta Wing B and Elevon 1, the latter moved inward to give the correct projection at the tip), switch out the Swivel for a Reliant (mostly moved up inside the bottom tank), and you'll have a rocket that strongly resembles the Mercury Redstone -- except that, even with the bottom tank emptied, it'll almost make orbit (might well make it and strand Jeb, if I'd remembered to dump the monopropellant and shave down or delete the heat shield, and flown just a little more aggressive gravity turn).  Too bad Making History didn't give us a Launch Escape System scaled for the Mk. 1 Command Pod.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Zeiss Ikon