Nice to be here and Newb question

[Alexwarhammer]

Hey , so I\'v been playing this game for a couple hours with SundayPunch\'s modpack and I\'v got the jist of building and taking off , the only problem is that there is a lot of things I am struggling with for example orbiting and I can only find tutorials on here and youtube for the basics , I was wondering if there is a complete guide type of thing that I could see to help me with this game

Thanks

Alex

[Phoxtane]

Well, I use this method:

1: Have a rocket that gets me past the atmosphere (70,000). Your high point of the jump should be about 120,000 meters.

2: Tilt east until I\'m level with the horizon.

4: Wait for the high point of the jump.

5: At 5,000 meters before said high point, fire kicker stage.

6: After that stage burns out, fire the orbital corrections stage to get up to 2300 m/s.

7: Congrats! You should be in an eccentric orbit well above the atmosphere.

I\'ll attach my rocket of choice, as it was designed specifically for this plan.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

[Alexwarhammer]

Well, I use this method:

1: Have a rocket that gets me past the atmosphere (70,000). Your high point of the jump should be about 120,000 meters.

2: Tilt east until I\'m level with the horizon.

4: Wait for the high point of the jump.

5: At 5,000 meters before said high point, fire kicker stage.

6: After that stage burns out, fire the orbital corrections stage to get up to 2300 m/s.

7: Congrats! You should be in an eccentric orbit well above the atmosphere.

I\'ll attach my rocket of choice, as it was designed specifically for this plan.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

Thanks!

Also , when is it wise to engage rcs? For most of my ships I just put it on with sas at the launch but I\'v found once I\'m in space it\'s hard to navigate without RCS as they act as ways to move outside your rockets iirc.

EDIT: sorry for all the questions , but when you say head toward the horizon , do you mean the one on the gimball or the real horizon? And should you tilt towards there after 70KM or 115KM?

I managed to get into an orbit where I would end up far from the earth at one point but come back on my map , I assume this is a \'eccentric\' orbit.

Thanks again!

[Capt'n Skunky]

Welcome to the KSP Forums!

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[Phoxtane]

I managed to get into an orbit where I would end up far from the earth at one point but come back on my map , I assume this is a \'eccentric\' orbit.

Thanks again!

Glad you figured it out. The orbit I usually get with this design has a high point (marked with AP on the map view) of about 250,000 meters and a low point (marked with PE) of 122,000 meters. That\'s eccentric. Technically, you\'ll never have a perfectly circular orbit, but the general idea is to match AP and PE as close as possible in altitude.

[Stevenator1]

To get into an orbit with little eccentricity you have to work at it. One or two things to point out when doing orbital corrections-

If you wish to modify the ap, do it at the pe, and vice versa.

If you wish to decrease the distance that your ap is from earth, burn in the opposite direction that you are going, while you are at your pe. Your ap will start to reign in. Do experiments like this when you reach a stable orbit to figure out how to best maneuver ypurself

[Alexwarhammer]

To get into an orbit with little eccentricity you have to work at it. One or two things to point out when doing orbital corrections-

If you wish to modify the ap, do it at the pe, and vice versa.

If you wish to decrease the distance that your ap is from earth, burn in the opposite direction that you are going, while you are at your pe. Your ap will start to reign in. Do experiments like this when you reach a stable orbit to figure out how to best maneuver ypurself

Thanks , I take it that if you do this for an extended burn it\'s what people call a retro burn and you can enter the atmosphere like this?

[Stevenator1]

Thanks , I take it that if you do this for an extended burn it\'s what people call a retro burn and you can enter the atmosphere like this?

Yes that is smart. Many people think to try to burn towards the planet to re-enter atmosphere. This most likely will result in you loosing all of your fuel pointlesly.

The best way to efficiently re-enter atmosphere is to do a retro-burn( firing your thrusters in your oppositite-velocity vector, which is the green circle with an X in it) while you are at your AP.

You will notice yoru PE decreasing rapidly, and you should find your orbital path re-entering atmosphere!

[your mom]

Hello welcome to the fourms.