Am I really not as bad as I thought?

[-Lysdal-]

So I recently found the Ancient Launchers pack (Link)

So I thought, why not try the Apollo 11 craft and land on the mun, with my skill I would need mechjeb, but that was no problem.

I slapped a mechjeb on the craft and launched it, after some time it was orbit (Used Smart A.S.S in mechjeb)

I was doing the transfer burn and got into orbit around the Mun.

I decoupled the lander from the returner, and burned retrograde with the lander.

I landed it with mechjeb landing autopilot and walked a little with EVA.

Then I went back to the craft and decoupled the lower lander, then I looked at the screen for around 10 seconds.

The mechjeb thing was at the lower lander.

But I can not leave 3 kerbals on the mun. They will either die or return (At this point I was sure they would die, but I would try.)

So I flied it to orbit (Not easy, but worked), and corrected the orbit to get an encounter.

I got around 10 Kilometers from the returned.

Shockingly I actually got it down to around 100 Meters!

I used rcs to get it down to 5 meters, and then used 5 minutes to dock. I was shocked that I actually had done this.

I then escaped from the Muns SOI and got back to kerbin, and landed the 3 kerbals safe.

I've never done anything harder than getting into orbit manually.

Am I really not as bad as I think?

[sal_vager]

Welcome to the community -Lysdal-

And what you did is something I'd consider pretty advanced, a manual launch and docking takes care and attention, and you have to have a sense of how things will move in space which you demonstrated by saving your Kerbals instead of just ending the flight

So I'd say you are a pretty good pilot!

[-Lysdal-]

Welcome to the community -Lysdal-

And what you did is something I'd consider pretty advanced, a manual launch and docking takes care and attention, and you have to have a sense of how things will move in space which you demonstrated by saving your Kerbals instead of just ending the flight

So I'd say you are a pretty good pilot!

Thanks

Any suggestions what would be the next step to learn more?

[Akalaël]

You're definitively not bad.

Docking is perhaps the more difficult part to do in this game.

For myself, I discovered MechJeb on the last, I learned to pilot and to dock by myself (serious willing of murder in certain cases untill I get the tricks).

Do not trust MechJeb is better than you, this maybe true in certain cases, but you can -at least- be as effective as this... computer !

And do not play all the time with it, it withdraws a lot of the fun !

[Scottiths]

I like mechjeb but I think it is more of a tool to alleviate tedium than for doing stuff for you. Why do a manual launch when you have successfully launched this same rocket 50 times before? Why work your ass off doing tiny corrections to get your ship pointed at the target when Smart A.S.S can spin for you (and save you from carpel tunnel syndrome)?

[Tw1]

Agreed, that's decent skill right there. Was that your first dock?

[Daze]

You're definitively not bad.

Docking is perhaps the more difficult part to do in this game.

For myself, I discovered MechJeb on the last, I learned to pilot and to dock by myself (serious willing of murder in certain cases untill I get the tricks).

Do not trust MechJeb is better than you, this maybe true in certain cases, but you can -at least- be as effective as this... computer !

And do not play all the time with it, it withdraws a lot of the fun !

Like me, this is what ALL the player of KSP should do... It's very useful to know what to do when the things go in wrong direction

[Akalaël]

You're right and I use it exactly this way : to launch this rocket for the 100th time, to land in my Mün base (how many diastrous landing at first times, but how many sucesfull after ?)

This is a tool, why not use it ? But keep in mind, when you see it's -almost- perfect trajectories, that you can do the same (human... humf, kerbal errors in bonus stage)

A word again : I think I'm really more efficient at docking in the final stage, I use less monopropellant !

[Alephzorg]

Mechjeb is a great tool, and I love the information panels it comes with, be it orbital information or vessel information. But in the end, it is just that, a tool. And it will only be as good as the pilot knows what s/he is doing.

[RawChicken]

with my skill I would need mechjeb

With that in mind, one will always need mechJeb.

I have never used mechJeb and jet made pretty much everything you can do in ksp...

I really think it spoils the game..

Just saying, if you want to improve your skill (which isnt bad), I recommend not using mechJeb.

[-Lysdal-]

Agreed, that's decent skill right there. Was that your first dock?

Yes, I've never even thought about docking. It sounds so hard and was so hard.

[SmallChange]

Exactly what RawChicken said. I've always worried about "needing mechjeb". Easiest way not to need it? Don't install it!

EDIT: Holy crud, I completely forgot to say congrats! Nice flying there, op!

Edited April 30, 2013 by SmallChange

[-Lysdal-]

Agreed, that's decent skill right there. Was that your first dock?

Yes, this is my first docking

[Scotius]

Congratulations In this one mission you did some things i never managed to do...um, mostly because i use probes for first landings, so i have no one to save when things go south

[Spatzimaus]

Mechjeb is a great tool, and I love the information panels it comes with, be it orbital information or vessel information.

If you want all of that, without the autopilot crutch that MechJeb provides, there's always the Flight Engineer mod. Its information panels aren't as detailed as MJ's, but it's got everything you need to help you do the maneuvers for yourself.

To the OP, very well done. Learning how to dock the hard way means you'll never NEED MechJeb again. When I started out, it took me several attempts to dock a small ship with a station. Last week, I assembled a multi-part ship in low Eve orbit (NOT an easy place to do docking), where the small part of the ship lacked RCS fuel and the large, ungainly (~150-ton) part had to fit around and between the small part's engines, and I still managed to get it right on the first try. (I was very surprised.) You don't get that sort of ability without some practice, so doing manual docking a few times is absolutely essential.

[-Lysdal-]

I've just tried again! (This time with only mechjeb info.) It went very well! Thanks you guys

EDIT: I just downloaded Flight Engineer so I don't get tempted while training

Edited May 1, 2013 by -Lysdal-

[sal_vager]

Docking is a pretty advanced thing to do in KSP, so I'm not sure what to suggest you try next, maybe surface docking to build a base on Laythe?

That'd require landing several craft at the same spot as well as docking them together without the help of freefall