Crater Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hi all,I've been slaying Kerbins... errr I mean playing KSP for about a week, now. It took me less than an hour on the demo to decide I had to buy the full game, and I'm loving it! So far I've achieved orbit, though my first successful orbiter is still up there, pretty elliptical, and also inclined to the ecliptic... I've tried a rescue mission, but I don't yet have the skills to rendezvous... I'm calling them a communications satellite, since they're definitely in orbit, and definitely communicating, even if it is just screams O.oI've been to the Mun, and back.... though the lander that went down didn't have enough fuel to take off and return, so there's another Kerbin for me to rescue (there is a distinct pattern forming here, I think).So now I have the Crew Tank addon, and I'm building a serious rescue pod to get the Mun mission home If only I can get the (rather heavy) lander out there with the fuel to do it.It'll be a small step for a Kerbin, and very possibly a giant crater for Kerbin-kind (to gaze at through their telescopes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Happy Launching!Arrr!Capt'n SkunkyKSP Community Manager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal_vager Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hi Crater, welcome to the community Eccentric orbits and stranded landers are all in a days work for Jeb, Bob and Bill, have fun getting those guys and their brothers home, remember, if the first rocket didn't work just add moar boosters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crater Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hi Crater, welcome to the community Eccentric orbits and stranded landers are all in a days work for Jeb, Bob and Bill, have fun getting those guys and their brothers home, remember, if the first rocket didn't work just add moar boosters! Thanks Though I did have one design where I strapped on moar boosters, and they ripped the outer stages off my launcher as it cleared the tower (oops). I think I need moar boosters and moar struts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal_vager Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Actually, more boosters is a popular phrase here, but they can help Personally I like to keep the total size of my craft down for efficiency, and there are a few tricks that will let you do so as well.It's possible to run fuel lines from the base of your liquid boosters to the base of your core stage, keeping the core fully fueled and letting you drop the spent boosters sooner, reducing weight.It's possible to daisy chain pairs of boosters this way, with each feeding into the next, greatly increasing the mass you can loft at the cost of some complexity when building.If you set up your lander carefully, you can even add it's engines thrust to the total thrust at launch, eliminating the dead weight that landers usually are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crater Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 I'd never thought about getting the lander's engine down and clear to fire at launch-time. All my (successful) launches have been the classical stacked-stage design, though I have just started experimenting with the ring of liquid-fuel engines and fuel lines.Thanks I can see some fun exercises re-designing coming up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjwt Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 An old thread of mine with this taken to extream!Advanced-Super-Heavy-Lifter-MELISSA%21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crater Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 An old thread of mine with this taken to extream!Advanced-Super-Heavy-Lifter-MELISSA%21I'm gonna need a bigger PC!!! Maybe something built by Cray, to launch that baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
air805ronin Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Welcome! I used to be stationed at an RAF base just north of Oxford. I miss your country, or at least parts of it. I could personally do without London...except for quick trips in to do specific things.I only started a few weeks ago. You'll be surprised how fast you get good at things.A few tips on orbital rendezvous (from a guy who just learned to do it):First, if both orbits cross like an X you'll need to reduce your rescue inclination to 0 degrees (the tilt of your rescue orbit). To do this you wait until your ship is almost to the point where the X crosses. If the orbit you're trying to match is below your orbit from that point, you'll need to point towards 0 degrees (north) to lower your orbit to match theirs. If the orbit is above yours, you need to point towards 180 degrees (south) to raise your orbit to match theirs. Burning at this point requires the least fuel, and if you do it from the map its very easy to see when you match up.For the most part you will do most of your burns on the equator of the navball. this is the line where brown meets blue.There is a great thread in the how to section on the rest of the mechanics for orbital rendezvous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts