Amazing community

[Scarecrow88]

I have no idea why it took so long for me to hear about KSP, so I've only been playing for a few days. Having said that, the wealth and quality of tutorials out there have made trying to find my way around the game so much easier. I have already seen comments in the forum pro/anti the Mech Jeb add on, and can only say that thanks to the tutorials I have found, I can get in to orbit, have landed on Minmus and returned, and have even managed two successful rendezvous and docking manoeuvres, though I found this the most difficult so far and will need to practise a bit more.

If I can do that after a couple of days just following tutorials, I guess I won't be using Mech Jeb at the moment as I am getting a lot of satisfaction out of learning and doing things myself. I understand others could get frustrated if they can't get their mind around a particular principle, in which case Mech Jeb might be the answer, so I am not going to knock anyone who does use it, as I might find myself in the same position with some other aspect of the game that I haven't encountered yet.

Meanwhile I think this is a great forum, and to all the people who have gone to the effort of making the tutorials and providing answers and solutions in these threads, a big thank you from me.

p.s. I need to learn how to take pictures, as I sent a lander to Mun, and only when I lowered the gear when preparing to land did I realise that they weren't long enough! However, I managed a perfect landing resting purely on the engine nacelle but couldn't figure out how to take a picture to share.

[Trux]

F1 is screenshot, F2 hides your UI and F4 disables ship distance labels.

[Vanamonde]

And to share the pic, upload your screenshot to a free service like Imgur.com, and use their link in your posts.

[White Rider]

Ignore anyone trolling you for using MechJeb. It's a single player sandbox game. They have no right to.

As a relative newbie myself (only had the game a week) I can manually (no MechJeb) get into stable and near perfect orbits, land on the Mun, Minmus, return, and dock... Arguably the hardest maneuver in the game.

However my laptop is old and sloooooow. So I installed MechJeb when it got to the the point where coming within range of my space station/moon base got me down to 1fps.

Much better. It just allows me to do the things that would be impossible due to lag.

[RoboRay]

There's nothing wrong with using MechJeb... but there's also nothing to brag about if you let it play the game for you.

I use MJ on just about every flight for the additional information it provides (data and tools that you really would have access to when operating a spacecraft), but the autopilots generally stay turned off.

[PakledHostage]

There's nothing wrong with using MechJeb... but there's also nothing to brag about if you let it play the game for you.

[Felsmak]

There's nothing wrong with using MechJeb... but there's also nothing to brag about if you let it play the game for you.

I will forever wonder what it would've felt like to land on the Mun unaided.

[Custard Donut (In Space)]

I too love the community of this game, you should see the many tribute and cinematic videos on Youtube, they range from amazing to astounding.

[DerekL1963]

There's nothing wrong with using MechJeb... but there's also nothing to brag about if you let it play the game for you.

The smiley doesn't diminish the implied insult.

[nats]

I sent a lander to Mun, and only when I lowered the gear when preparing to land did I realise that they weren't long enough! However, I managed a perfect landing resting purely on the engine nacelle

You made the same critical mistake many of us have made - not road testing designs before sending them out! I always test my lander legs and ladder connections on Kerbin before I set off for the Mun to ensure I dont have any embarrassments. But it sounds like you got over the issue well enough. Good work. Its a game with lots and lots of ways to fail. But also lots and lots of ways to succeed. I think this is one of the things that makes the game great.

[SkyRender]

Any mention of the autopilot plug-in seems to draw in the pro-/anti- debate on it... Anyway, welcome to the community! I'm glad to see that your main questions have already been answered, and I'd just like to second the recommendation of "field-testing" anything you plan to send to other worlds on Kerbin first. Many a problem can be avoided, I find, with a bit of prototyping before official launch.

[CptNuts]

I have no idea why it took so long for me to hear about KSP, so I've only been playing for a few days. Having said that, the wealth and quality of tutorials out there have made trying to find my way around the game so much easier. I have already seen comments in the forum pro/anti the Mech Jeb add on, and can only say that thanks to the tutorials I have found, I can get in to orbit, have landed on Minmus and returned, and have even managed two successful rendezvous and docking manoeuvres, though I found this the most difficult so far and will need to practise a bit more.

If I can do that after a couple of days just following tutorials, I guess I won't be using Mech Jeb at the moment as I am getting a lot of satisfaction out of learning and doing things myself. I understand others could get frustrated if they can't get their mind around a particular principle, in which case Mech Jeb might be the answer, so I am not going to knock anyone who does use it, as I might find myself in the same position with some other aspect of the game that I haven't encountered yet.

Meanwhile I think this is a great forum, and to all the people who have gone to the effort of making the tutorials and providing answers and solutions in these threads, a big thank you from me.

p.s. I need to learn how to take pictures, as I sent a lander to Mun, and only when I lowered the gear when preparing to land did I realise that they weren't long enough! However, I managed a perfect landing resting purely on the engine nacelle but couldn't figure out how to take a picture to share.

My MJ Senses are tingeling ...

Anyway, to get back to the topic: welcome to KSP and welcome to the board. This Game/simulator/My-most-beloved-Killer-of-Time ( ) has one of the best communitys out there in the web, have fun and don't be afraid to ask questions, I wouold Bet my sapce programm on it, most of the forum members will try to help you

[Scarecrow88]

How do you road rest something like the landing legs on Kerbin?

[Specialist290]

The simplest way is just to put the lander on the launchpad with some launch clamps attached, then lower the landing legs to see if they reach below the engine nozzle.

If your thrust-to-weight ratio is high enough, you can also practice takeoff and landing.

[Scarecrow88]

Just figured that one, as I currently have a craft on the launch pad so I pressed 'G' to see what would happen. Don't know why I thought they would only work after you had launched.

[Stealth2668]

You made the same critical mistake many of us have made - not road testing designs before sending them out! I always test my lander legs and ladder connections on Kerbin before I set off for the Mun to ensure I dont have any embarrassments.

Ain't nobody got time for that.

... Admittedly that happened to me yesterday.

[Vanamonde]

The simplest way is just to put the lander on the launchpad with some launch clamps attached

The simpler-est way is to just send the lander to the pad, where it is generated sitting on the engine or other lowest point, then extend the legs. If it tips over or gives you any other trouble, it would probably have trouble landing anywhere anyway.

[LaydeeDem]

Snip......

Edited May 16, 2013 by Nutt007

[wbcundiff]

p.s. I need to learn how to take pictures, as I sent a lander to Mun, and only when I lowered the gear when preparing to land did I realise that they weren't long enough! However, I managed a perfect landing resting purely on the engine nacelle but couldn't figure out how to take a picture to share.

When I want to test the performance of landing legs I attach a strut to the top of my lander in a perpendicular orientation using docking ports to connect to the lander. then I put launch clamps on the ends of the strut. This allows me to extend the legs and drop the lander from a height. you can test the strength of the legs and the handling of the craft under landing engine power in this way. the launch clamps make it easy to ramp up the test, you just drag the craft up in the VAB if you want to test under greater acceleration. Its not as complete a test as landing it from orbit, but its good for avoiding the simple things. its kinda like Nasa's flying bedsteads.

[dom.stb]

With the Mechjeb autopilots, the game becomes about engineering rather than flying, which I'm perfectly happy with. If you don't have a well-balanced craft MJ can't fly it for you. If you haven't built the landing stage well, MJ will crash it into the ground, if your RCS isn't balanced, MJ will eat up all your monoprop trying to keep the ship level.

There's still a challenge there for sure. Especially when you start thinking bigger and more crazy.

[Epthelyn]

There's nothing wrong with using MechJeb... but there's also nothing to brag about if you let it play the game for you.

Unless you built the rocket, in which case there is everything to brag about.

Mechjeb can only do what is possible.

[Comrade Jenkens]

The KSP community is by far the nicest and most mature one i've come across on the internet. I actually enjoy talking to the people here and arguments, trolls and flame wars are relativly rare.

[ShachonianX]

The KSP community is by far the nicest and most mature one i've come across on the internet. I actually enjoy talking to the people here and arguments, trolls and flame wars are relativly rare.

Exactly what I think.

[Caelib]

Yes, I think the community here is very good -- mostly because the game doesn't appeal to the class of gamers that end up tainting the forums with negative posts.