help a newbie out please.

[able wire]

hi there everyone!

 

I'm a Xbox ksp1 user I have both dlc's....

 

I was wondering how can I land my rocket booster back at the launch pad at the space centre every time ??? I can not use the engineering mod which I have herd can help you land accurately every time.  is there away to bring up a landing spot maker?? i.e. I see when people go to land there boosters or rockets back down to the ground they have this orangey/ red 3 prong landing maker or the 3 circle with a centre spot orange marker, on the spot they will land on. how can I get this up for me??? is it possible without mods?? 

[Vanamonde]

I do not believe there is any way to do this without modding the game. 

[able wire]

ok thank you for the reply

 

[Linkageless]

The red marker you've probably seen used is the Trajectories mod.  Other descent predictions are available in mods.

It is possible to do it without mods, but how reliably depends on your piloting skill and how much TWR (Thrust to Weight Ratio) and Delta-v (ie how much fuel) you have available.  The general technique has been covered many times before, I'm sure, but I've outlined my take on it below...

Spoiler

I haven't played on a console, so forgive me if any of the following is also not possible on console.

The general rule of thumb is that if you always start your manoeuvre from a known position, direction and speed, and repeat the same steps, the result will be the same.  It's a lot easier to repeat those initial conditions from a known good orbit, eg: a nice circular 80km x 80km equatorial (ie 0° inclination) orbit.  Initially, just landing within sight of KSC is the challenge.  Even 1km difference in Ap or Pe, or 0.5° of inclination can make all the difference to where you land.

You can then burn retrograde from the same spot each time (somewhere just before the opposite side of Kerbin from KSC, you'll need to determine this through experimentation).  You are basically aiming overshoot KSC, then The burn needs to reduce your Periapsis to probably somewhere between 35 and 20km depending on how aerodynamic your booster is tail first (again determine this by experimenting, if you overshoot too much, reduce the Pe next time, if you burn up that's too aggressive and you need to raise Pe next time).

Be sure to re-enter in exactly the same orientation (eg: retrograde all the way, or maybe always trim below a certain altitude so your nose is 5° lower than retrograde).  How well you repeat this will affect how far you overshoot or undershoot.  Any sideways angle (yaw) will not only reduce overshoot but also affect how far north/south you drift.

As you reach the start of the continent where KSC is (you'll see the mountains), hit quicksave.  You'll need that to repeat the landing sequence over and over.

The aim is to do your landing burn retrograde until you come to a halt a predictable distance above ground.  Try to determine at what altitude to start your landing burn (eg start with 1000m, then if you can come to a halt at 300m, you can reduce it to say 900m next time).  Ideally, when you come to a halt, you'll be at maybe 100m altitude pointing directly up and can then lock to radial out and balance your throttle to just enough to descend very slowly.

At this point your spare delta-v comes into play, and you can pitch and yaw slightly from radial out to nudge your booster in any particular direction.  I would settle for just being able to land vertically at less than 2m/s, and guesstimate how far you need to adjust your deorbit burn from how far you are from KSC.  Overshooting is always better than undershooting, as you can always start your landing burn at a slightly higher altitude.

Good luck and happy landings!