Greeting fellow Kerbalnauts!

[Scrogdog]

Hello from a new user!

I've just received my new Alienware laptop! Am I playing Skyrim? Nope.

I'm an... *cough*... "experienced" armchair astronaut. I've played everything from Project Space Station to Apollo 18 to Oribiter to BARIS. I even have the board game called Liftoff! that BARIS was based upon!

Really having a blast with this thing but I have a couple of questions.

First, I can't seem to locate any sort of shrouds or fuselage breakaway panels so I am assuming the fact that I've seen them on youtube means that its an add-on. Perhaps there are several? Would like to add those pieces so any recommendations would be appreciated!

Secondly, one thing I think is a little weak might be re-entry sequence. The effects look good but I have surely come in too steep or shallow and have lived to tell the tale. I don't suppose there's an add-on because that would be in-game physics I'd imagine, but perhaps there is an add-on the simply tells me that the angle was bad and I draw my own conclusions.

Any other "must-have" add ons? Looking for reality, please. No autopilots.

Thanks!

[kerbomatic]

Yes the shrouds come with certain add-ons and there is something that is called the deadly re-entry mod iirc. You should be able to find all of this at the Spaceport. I believe there is even something that adds some sort of life support requirements but I don't use mods myself.

[Scrogdog]

Thanks! Deadly re-entry looks like just the ticket!

Yeah, I've looked at some of those parts mods like KW Rocketry. Looks ok, I suppose, even though it looks like a resource hog.

Wish I could get just the shrouds. I'll keep looking. There's a lot of good stuff! I'm just looking for s few minor reality tweaks, though. Nothing major. Life support sounds good.

[Specialist290]

Welcome to the forums!

A lot of your questions can easily be answered by the fact that KSP is still in development, and thus a lot of planned features are either unimplemented or in very rough form at the moment. Fairings and shrouds are add-on only parts for the moment (except for a few engines, which get shrouds placed around them automatically if you connect something under them), but there's also no real need for them, as the atmospheric drag model the game uses now is highly simplified. Realistically lethal reentry heat is also planned for a future release and will probably come along with the general atmospheric overhaul (or at least that's my best guess).

As for add-on recommendations, some of the ones I tend to use quite frequently are the Maneuver Node Improvement plugin, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Kerbal Engineer Redux, Haystack, Subassembly Saver / Loader, Kerbal Crew Manifest, and TAC Fuel Balancer. All of them add incredibly handy features, functions, and displays for you to use in-flight or on the launchpad. Kerbomatic's also mentioned Deadly Reentry and Ioncross Crew Support, which add an extra bit of realism for the challenge. Another popular one is the Kethane Pack, which allows you to survey and mine resource deposits and refine them into rocket fuel (although it's much simpler than the model Squad plans on implementing themselves in a future update).

If you every find yourself lost on a particular objective or just want to learn more about how the game works and how you can make it work for you, check out the Drawing Board (link in my sig). It has links to a number of different resources such as tutorials, delta-v maps, keymaps, and more. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the How To section, either; there's quite a lot of knowledgeable folks around here who like to share what they know.

Happy landings!

EDIT: Well, looks like you've already found Deadly Reentry. Ninja'd.

[Scrogdog]

Thank you very much!

That looks like some darn useful stuff alright!

[Capt'n Skunky]

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Scrogdog]

You guys will love this one. lol

Here's what all my vaunted space game experience has gotten me.

So, being no stranger to add ons, I figure the best plan is to add one or a couple, see how they work, add more, and so on. So I put in three, start a new universe, and use a stock craft for my test (ensuring that my design would not be the problem) and so off I went to place the stock mapping satellite package in to a simple orbit.

All went well with the launch, nice and stable rocket of course, orbital insertion ok. Now I am preparing to circularize and everything stops working! Wait, this thing responds but not this other thing! Drat! One of these darn add ons broke it!!!

So, grumbling, I delete and re-install from my archive.

Somewhat later, new universe. Launching my own humble satellite package in total vanilla. Everything goes exactly the same as above! What the heck!

Yep, then dawn broke over yonder marble head. I ran out of power on the dark side! Oh man, I laughed so hard I cried!

Lesson learned, even stock craft might need a little work. Like adding batteries! lol

[kerbomatic]

...and that's what I like so much about KSP. Failing can be more fun than success. It makes for great stories. Good luck with your future shakedown cruises!

[Specialist290]

Lesson learned, even stock craft might need a little work. Like adding batteries! lol

Yeah, learned that one the hard way myself. Every probe or satellite should have at least one battery pack and one static solar panel somewhere, in case of emergency.

[TheFlower69]

Yep, then dawn broke over yonder marble head. I ran out of power on the dark side! Oh man, I laughed so hard I cried!

I just swore a lot, because I now think I understand why my latest test shot went awry.

I've got a Stayputnik core on top of a pair of FL-T400 fuel tanks and an LV-T30 engine, with a helping hand from a pair of SRBs strapped to the sides! Note the lack of batteries on that list. I got off the ground fine, detached the SRBs without a hitch, and when I checked the orbital map I realised I could actually hit a decent LKO so decided to go for it. The mission log reads as follows:

Set maneuver node - check

Rotate towards node marker - check

Throttle up engine - ch*nowaitaminute*whyyounowork*aaaargh**

Having seen your issues I wonder if this was the problem I had?

[Scrogdog]

Sounds like it. Try clicking on the resource thing in the upper right corner that way it constantly displays without a mouse over.

Then just check your electric power level as you travel through the dark side.

[Scrogdog]

I just read your reply more carefully. It would seem that power can't be the problem if you can't even perform orbital insertion. Even if you don't have batteries you still have some inherent electrical power; I can't envision a scenario where you would use all of it before insertion.

Maybe if you post a pic of your design we might be able to figure it out. For now, I'm baffled.

[TheFlower69]

I had plenty of fuel left for the orbital insertion burn but my rocket wouldn't fire when I needed it to. I'm actually starting to wonder if it was just a glitch with the game?

I added a battery pack and a solar array to it and tried again, engine reignited as required and everything was going fine until I lost track of my navball and ploughed into the ground at a few hundred m/s!

On a side note, Shoestring Space Services has announced that pre-launch cocktails will cease immediately until further notice