"Test" phase complete??

[studley]

First post. I started playing this game a few months ago and got frustrated, so I stopped. The last couple weeks I've started playing again. I created a sandbox world titled "TEST" which was exactly what it is. It basically was a "world" I could create and not have to feel bad about how poorly things worked or how many Kerbals I killed.

Thus far my accomplishments have been:

-Learning basic rocket building

-Establishing orbits

-Installing a few helpful mods

-Learning to dock

-Orbiting the Mun

-Landing on the Moon

-Rescuing stranded Kerbals in Munor orbit and returning them to Kerbal.

I still feel like there are TONS to learn, but I feel so much more comfortable with what I'm doing and feel like I've gained the knowledge to continue my journey. My question is what else should I "Test" in the world before I move onto a new "real" one. Any tips or suggestions of things I should do next?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

PS: For those how are just learning to dock. It is the hardest thing I have had to learn. It takes time and patience to get it right, but it seemed like once I got it once, I could do it over and over again. I just watched about 5-6 different youtube videos on how to do it and put several hours into it.

[Fel]

Like Kerbal Test Associates

The more I think about it... the more I feel that Kerbin IS a testing ground. I haven't left the system yet... but my development into much crazier things is prepping me...

But the thing is, I've been actively playing for a while now and I STILL go to Test accounts when I want to work on something.

Thing is, I don't believe in spoilers unless specifically asked for... but I will say that a large amount of my "development" in KSP has been based on looking at old rocket designs and making nearly identical versions (Weight for Weight, Thrust for Thrust, delta-v's adjusted through ISP [part.cfg]). Actually FLYING what NASA would make has given me a massive appreciation for how things work.

[Eric S]

If you're asking what else should you learn before entering the sun's SoI, I'd say it depends on what kind of missions you want to do. Here's things you CAN learn, but don't have to before moving on to the other planets.

Transfer orbits between two bodies orbiting the same celestial object: You can practice this transferring back and forth between the Mun and Minmus, which in theory will give you a handle on how to transfer from Kerbin to the other planets orbiting the same sun.

Aerobraking: Aerobraking can save a lot of delta-V when it's applicable. You could practice returning from Minmus and aerobraking into a low kerbin orbit, a kerbin geosynchronous orbit, or even a Mun intercept orbit, though to be honest, once you get the idea down, fine tuning your technique probably won't help much as other planets will have very different atmospheric heights and densities.

Rover transportation: Landing a rover on a celestial body, especially as part of a manned mission, can be tricky without practice since we don't have the option of shipping the rover disassembled and assembling it in place. Skycranes are an obvious choice for an unmanned mission, but if you haven't tried it yet, maybe try one on the Mun or Minmus.

Separate orbiter/lander missions: There's no reason to do an apollo-style landing on the Mun or Minmus, except to get practice for doing it in other places. It's not necessary to use this kind of mission on most other planets, but it will help in at least some cases.

Any of these can be learned before reaching the solar SoI, or you can learn them as you need the ability in "real" missions. The only real advantage to doing them early is that having to refly a mission all the way to a different planet because how you thought of detaching a rover from a manned ship not working the way you thought can be especially frustrating.

[EndOfTheEarth]

The more I think about it... the more I feel that Kerbin IS a testing ground. I haven't left the system yet... but my development into much crazier things is prepping me..

This couldn't be more true. Most of the atmosphereless moons in the Kerbol system are within the same gravity range as the Mun and Minmus. Kerbin's gravity and atmosphere makes it fairly easy to test Duna and Laythe vehicles, having two moons lets you practice orbit transfers.

Technically, the only two things you can't practice in the Kerbin system are high-gravity no-atmosphere flights (like on Tylo) or high-gravity thick atmosphere flights (like on Eve)...but if someone has found a way to do this, please let me know!

[rryy]

Try building basic planes and suborbital spaceplanes. Once you have mastered this, you should try building an SSTO spaceplane. They are very difficult to make and fly, and once you get them in orbit, it will probably only have a sliver of fuel left.

[Scotius]

Probes. Probes are great to learn how to do interplanetary flights, landings, establishing polar orbits etc. Usually they are lightweight, low on part count, maneuverable...and when something goes south, you don't feel bad for a probe stuck forever in a orbit between Duna and Dres.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

I should make one called Aperture Space Laboratories. And I would need something to cover up all the missing astronauts (+1 if you understand the direct reference)

[TooManyErrors]

I should make one called Aperture Space Laboratories. And I would need something to cover up all the missing astronauts (+1 if you understand the direct reference)