Nukes Are Thrifty But MANNNNNNN Are They Slow

[NeoMorph]

I'm in the middle of a nice long burn to reach Duna using a big lander and also a big LV-NB drive and tank. It's doing the job but man, do you have to be patient when you do the burn. Currently at 180 days into the mission lol. I bet the guys on board are really getting on each others nerves now... My Kerbal (NeoMorph Kerman) has cracked from all that time looking at SPACE... and all that SPACCCCCEEEEE, I think, and it's worrying Jeb and Bill...

It must be all that SPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.... *gibber, gibber*

EDIT: ARRRRRGHHHH.... AND KSP CRASHED WITH 11 SECONDS TO GO ON THE 30 MINUTE BURN..... ARRRRGHHHHHH!

Edited May 3, 2013 by NeoMorph

[HoY]

Weird. Jeb NEVER looks like that, even during EVA re-entry lol. Used crew manifest to mod him?

[Deadpangod3]

What are you doing? O.o jebs screaming and that takes a lot- you turned off his badass mode didn't you?-

[NeoMorph]

I haven't touched Jeb... I used Crew Manifest to make NeoMorph Kerman a Dumbass lol.

[Deadpangod3]

Then how is Jeb screaming? O.o

Or maybe his screaming because neomorph Kerman stole his "SPAAAAAAAAAACE!!!" scream...

[rryy]

Jeb is just screaming on how slow the acceleration is. He needs his MOAR boosters.

[NeoMorph]

Oooh... Jeb is just freaked out about how SPACED OUT NeoMorph is lol....

[Tobmaster]

As long as your ship isn't too wobbly, using physical warp during a burn makes it so you don't have to watch the burn for 30 minutes

[Deadpangod3]

I'm sorry, I can't breath... Laughing too hard...

XD

[NeoMorph]

As long as your ship isn't too wobbly, using physical warp during a burn makes it so you don't have to watch the burn for 30 minutes

How do you force physics warp?

[Tobmaster]

hold alt while pressing the time acceleration button

[NeoMorph]

hold alt while pressing the time acceleration button

Oooh... You learn something new every day... Cheers.

[Specialist290]

Alternatively, use more than one LV-N on your rig. It'll bring your total delta-v down just a little bit, but not quite as much as using a higher-thrust engine.

[CatastrophicFailure]

If you think that's slow try the stock ion engine lol. Set up the burn, start the burn, then go eat dinner & watch a movie for a couple hours. And hope your solar panels stay aligned. Didn't know about the phys warp thing myself.

[Levelord]

Neomorph Kerman.... That sounds ominous...

Alien chestburster, NSFW

Edited May 3, 2013 by sal_vager
Edited

[Deadpangod3]

Wtf is that? ^^ o.o

[Scotius]

Maybe that's why Jeb is freaking out. Jeb's stone cold pro - but chest ripping alien parasites can scare even him.

[sal_vager]

It's Xenomorph, and it's also a nsfw pic despite being so widely known

[Deadpangod3]

What does nsfw mean?

[ROFLCopter64bit]

Anyway, I use about 3-16 LV-Ns depending on the load of what I'm transporting interplanetaryly.

What does nsfw mean?

Not safe for work. And other inappropriate things.

[NeoMorph]

Neomorph Kerman.... That sounds ominous...

Alien chestburster, NSFW

Oooh... Spaghetti Bolognese.

Oh and NeoMorph means shape changer. Neo = New, Morph = Shape.

[BaneOfPilots]

About the multi-engine rig, I like to use the tricoupler and 3 Nukes. It's nice and efficient but not slower than a snail.

[NeoMorph]

This was my first long distance nuke rig... I have used Ion drive probes before but I expected them to be slow. As the LV-NB is 800 ISP I thought it would have more push lol. It does in total but takes its time to get there. I do have a four LV-N flying crane that I nicked the idea from Scott Manley's vids and I used that a lot. Not gone interplanetary with nukes though.

Want to know something funny though... I made a PERFECT approach to Duna and just got into circular 100K orbit when... I sneezed. AND HIT THE ABORT BUTTON. All my fault this time, darn it! I will be glad when I finalise the prototype panel so I can use the locking toggle switch to protect the abort button lol.

Edited May 3, 2013 by NeoMorph

[Eji1700]

I actually find this kinda bothersome. Even with physics warp it can take FOREVER to pull off some maneuvers. I really wish you could set a rocket to low burn and leave it and still have the game calculate correctly. Or at least a faster timewarp under burn for deepspace.

[Spatzimaus]

As the LV-NB is 800 ISP I thought it would have more push lol.

ISP is a measure of fuel efficiency, not "push". A high ISP just means that it won't burn through as much fuel for a given maneuver, but it's not the only statistic to pay attention to. The LV-N has a thrust of only 50kN, about a quarter of what the main stock 1.25m engines produce. So yeah, it takes a long time to get anywhere unless you put many of them on your design.